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We think ourselves possessed, or, at least, we boast that we are so, of liberty of conscience on all subjects, and of the right of free inquiry and private judgment in all cases, and yet how far are we from these exalted privileges in fact!
There exists, I believe, throughout the whole Christian world, a law which makes it blasphemy to deny or doubt the divine inspiration of all the books of the Old and New Testaments, from Genesis to Revelations. In most countries of Europe it is punished by fire at the stake, or the rack, or the wheel. In England itself it is punished by boring through the tongue with a red-hot poker. In America it is not better; even in our own Massachusetts, which I believe, upon the whole, is as temperate and moderate in religious zeal as most of the States, a law was made in the latter end of the last century, repealing the cruel punishments of the former laws, but substituting fine and imprisonment upon all those blasphemers upon any book of the Old Testament or New. Now, what free inquiry, when a writer must surely encounter the risk of fine or imprisonment for adducing any argument for investigating into the divine authority of those books? Who would run the risk of translating Dupuis? But I cannot enlarge upon this subject, though I have it much at heart. I think such laws a great embarrassment, great obstructions to the improvement of the human mind. Books that cannot bear examination, certainly ought not to be established as divine inspiration by penal laws. It is true, few persons appear desirous to put such laws in execution, and it is also true that some few persons are hardy enough to venture to depart from them. But as long as they continue in force as laws, the human mind must make an awkward and clumsy progress in its investigations. I wish they were repealed. The substance and essence of Christianity, as I understand it, is eternal and unchangeable, and will bear examination forever, but it has been mixed with extraneous ingredients, which I think will not bear examination, and they ought to be separated. Adieu..
~ John Adams ~ (1735-1826)
Founding Father, 2nd US President
Source.. One of his last letters to Thomas Jefferson, January 23, 1825
POLITICAL JOKES GET ELECTED
*We have met the enemy and he is us.*
*~Pogo~ **aka Walt Kelly*
*If God wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates.*
~Jay Leno~
*The problem with political jokes is they get elected.*
~Henry Cate, VII~
*We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office*
~Aesop~
*If we got one-tenth of what was promised to us in these State of the Union speeches, there wouldn't be any inducement to go to heaven.*
~Will Rogers~
*Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even
where there is no river.*
~Nikita Khrushchev~
*When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm
beginning to believe it.*
~Clarence Darrow~
*Why pay money to have your family tree traced; go into politics and your opponents will do it for you.*
~Author unknown~
*Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel.*
~John Quinton~
*Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign
funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other.*
~Oscar Ameringer~
*I offer my opponents a bargain: if they will stop telling lies about us, I will stop telling the truth about them.*
~Adlai Stevenson, 1952~
*A politician is a fellow who will lay down your life for his country.*
~ Tex Guinan~
*I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.*
~Charles de Gaulle~
*Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks.*
~Doug Larson~
*There ought to be one day -- just one -- when there is open season on
Congressmen.*
~Will Rogers~
Great Orators of the Democrat Party
I didn't check out every quote. In reviewing them however, they all seem believable.
Great Orators of the Democrat Party - PAST:
"One man with courage makes a majority." ~ Andrew Jackson
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
"The buck stops here." ~ Harry S. Truman
"Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your
country." ~ John F.Kennedy
AND NOW:
Great Orators of the Democrat Party - TODAY:
"It depends what your definition of 'is' is?'' ~ President William
Jefferson Clinton
"Those rumors are false. I believe in the sanctity of marriage." ~ John
Edwards
"What difference does it make?" (re: Benghazi) ~ Hillary Clinton
"I invented the Internet." ~ Al Gore
"America is, is no longer, uh, what it, uh, could be, uh, what it was once
was, uh, and I say to myself, uh, I don't want that future, uh, for my
children." ~ Barack Obama
"I have campaigned in all 57 states." ~ Barack Obama (Quoted 2008)
"You don't need God anymore; you have us Democrats." ~ Nancy Pelosi
(Quoted 2006) (A really, really stupid remark.)
"Paying taxes is voluntary." ~ Sen. Harry Reid
"Bill is the greatest husband and father I know. No one is more faithful,
true, and honest than he is." ~ Hillary Rodham Clinton (Quoted1998)
"You have a business. You didn't build that. Someone else did!" ~ Barack
Obama (Quoted 2012)
And the most ridiculous gem of wisdom, from the "Mother Superior Moron":
"We just have to pass the Healthcare Bill to see what's in it." ~
Nancy Pelosi (Quoted March,2010) (As one Doctor said: That is also the
perfect definition of a stool sample.)
HOW FORTUNATE WE ARE TO HAVE SUCH BRILLIANT MINDS IN CHARGE OF OUR ONCE-
GREAT COUNTRY!!
"Life is tough ! It's even tougher when you're stupid.'' ~ John Wayne
The curious task of economics
is to demonstrate to men how little they really know
about what they imagine they can design..
~ Friedrich August von Hayek ~ (1899-1992)
Nobel Laureate of Economic Sciences 1974
Source.. The Fatal Conceit
Were parties here divided merely by a greediness for office,...
to take a part with either would be unworthy of a reasonable or moral man..
~ Thomas Jefferson ~
Source.. letter to William Branch Giles, 1795. ME 9:317
Government can do something for the people only
in proportion as it can do something to the people..
~ Thomas Jefferson ~ (1743-1826)
I believe that political correctness can be a form of linguistic fascism, and it sends shivers down the spine of my generation who went to war against fascism.
P D James
Political correctness does not legislate tolerance; it only organizes hatred.
Jacques Barzun
"The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the greatest liars: the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth." - H. L. Mencken (1880-1956)
Even more so today with the unholy alliance between big business, big government and big media?
It is frequently said that speech that is intentionally provocative and therefore invites physical retaliation can be punished or suppressed.
Yet, plainly no such general proposition can be sustained.
Quite the contrary.. The provocative nature of the communication does not make it any the less expression.
Indeed, the whole theory of free expression contemplates that expression will in many circumstances be provocative and arouse hostility.
The audience, just as the speaker, has an obligation to maintain physical restraint..
~ Thomas I. Emerson ~ (1907-1991)
Lines Professor of Law, Yale University, author
Source.. The System of Freedom of Expression, 1970
In questions of science
the authority of a thousand
is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual..
~ Galileo Galilei ~ (1564-1642) Astronomer
I swear by my life, and love of it,
that I will never live for the sake of another man,
nor ask another man to live for mine..
~ Ayn Rand ~ (1905-1982) Author
Source.. Atlas Shrugged
The KKK wears white robes and scares black people.
The current Supreme Court wears black robes and scares white people.
-Unknown-
Excessive bail shall not be required
nor excessive fines imposed,
nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted..
~ The Eighth Amendment to the Constitution ~
The right of the people to be secure
in their persons, houses, papers and effects
against unreasonable searches and seizures,
shall not be violated..
~ The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution ~
No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property,
without due process of law..
~ The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution ~
Thieves for robbery have their authority
When judges steal themselves..
~ Shakespeare ~
Source.. Measure for Measure
The one great principle of English law
is to make business for itself..
~ Charles Dickens ~
Source.. Bleak House
Thanks Vex, 2 of these made my Facebook. And yes they have become despots or worse, selling the US out to the NWO corporations and their plans.
Jefferson's full statement:
To consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions [is] a very dangerous doctrine indeed,
and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy.
Our judges are as honest as other men and not more so.
They have with others the same passions for party, for power, and the privilege of their corps.
Their maxim is boni judicis est ampliare jurisdictionem [good justice is broad jurisdiction],
and their power the more dangerous as they are in office for life and not responsible, as the other functionaries are, to the elective control.
The Constitution has erected no such single tribunal,
knowing that to whatever hands confided, with the corruptions of time and party, its members would become despots.
It has more wisely made all the departments co-equal and co-sovereign within themselves..
~ Thomas Jefferson to William C. Jarvis, 1820. ME 15:277 ~
You seem ... to consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions
a very dangerous doctrine indeed
and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy...
The Constitution has erected no such single tribunal..
~ Thomas Jefferson ~ (1743-1826)
US Founding Father, drafted the Declaration of Independence, 3rd US President
1820
Since when do you have to agree with people
to defend them from injustice?
~ Lillian Hellman ~ (1905-1984)
American playwright and memoirist
All ideas having even the slightest redeeming social importance
unorthodox ideas, controversial ideas
even ideas hateful to the prevailing climate of opinion
have the full protection of the guarantees [of the First Amendment]..
~ Justice William J. Brennan ~ (1906-1997)
U. S. Supreme Court Justice
Source.. Roth v. United States, 1957
Man free, man working for himself
with choice of time, place, and object..
~ William Wordsworth ~ (1770-1850)
Source.. The Prelude, 1805
As a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights.
Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected.
No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions..
~ James Madison ~ (1751-1836)
Father of the Constitution for the USA, 4th US President
Source.. National Gazette Essay, March 27, 1792
Comments about this quote:
We hold this truth to be self evident ! ! ! One only needs look at government licensing to understand the accuracy of the statement. A license is: A right given by some competent authority to do an act, which without such authority would be illegal (Bouviers Law Dictionary) A personal privilege to do some particular act or series of acts ? The permission by competent authority to do an act which, without such permission would be illegal, a trespass, a tort, or otherwise not allowable. (Blacks Law Dictionary, 6th Edition) What or where is the legal nexus that took away the individual sovereign's inalienable right to participate in the religious sacrament of marriage - giving carnal gods and masters competent authority to make such union an illegal act, requiring a purchased privilege (license) to enter into or take part with such illegal act. License replacing the right to travel, conduct commerce or impairing the obligation of contracts, etc., etc., etc. is an extremely terse list demonstrating the accuracy of the quote. Lastly, here for brevity's sake, "his possessions" is not recognized by the occupying statist theocracy infesting this land. A perfected allodium does not exist for anything - there are only titles or patents only.
Mike, Norwalk
Must a citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator?
Why has every man a conscience, then?
It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right..
~ Henry David Thoreau ~ (1817-1862)
American author, poet, philosopher, polymath, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and transcendentalist
Give a man secure possession of a bleak rock
and he will turn it into a garden;
give him nine years lease of a garden
and he will turn it into a desert..
~ Arthur Young ~ (1741-1820)
English writer on agriculture, economics, social statistics, and activist for agricultural workers' rights
Source.. Travels of 1787
What I like about the Tao is that is not a dogmatic church. It has no Pope, needs for money, etc. Just me and the 81 Chapters, which by the way I finished 81 today, will go back to 1 tomorrow. I still got a long ways to go.
A central theme of the Tao Te Ching is the nature of the relationship between the two principles that govern the universe, Yin and Yang.
To understand the principles of Yin and Yang is to understand the interconnectedness of all things, and to begin to see ourselves not as separate and isolated, but as interconnected fragments of a single unified and all-encompassing whole. It is from this recognition of ourselves as parts of the Universal Oneness of everything that virtue, integrity and goodness spring.
Makes perfect sense, along with the outside influences constantly tearing at its base perception in order to prevent its mass conception.
ORDO AB CHAO and still spinning.
Thanks for sharing that.
Here it is about the strife in China.
http://taobookproject.com/?page_id=581
Interesting, TY.
I read and will search for a link later, that the Tao was written to help people survive and find happiness in the evil Chinese dictatorship at about 500 B. C., which happens to be about the time the Old Testament is reported to have been written. But, I think it is larger than that for me. With the coming NWO, it might gain more influence since the NWO will be a dictatorship same as the Chinese government in 500 B. C, very evil.
The Eternal Tao
by Zen Gardner
Jun 7, 2015
Tor Matson, Contributor
Waking Times
When I first read the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, I didn’t understand it, and that bothered me, particularly when I read about the three types of men. The first type is the inferior man, and when he hears the Tao, he laughs, because he is a fool, and wisdom seems like foolishness to him. The second type is the mediocre man. When he hears the Tao, he is troubled, because he recognizes both the elusive wisdom of the Tao and his own incapacity to fully perceive it; he knows there’s something to it, and he knows he doesn’t fully understand, and so is troubled. The superior man, upon hearing the Tao, laughs like a fool but for a different reason; the superior man immediately recognizes the truth of what is being said, as well as appreciating the irony that the only people really able to hear wisdom are those already past any need of it. Laughter is the only possible response…
When I read about the three types of people for the first time, I was deeply troubled, which was repeatedly compounded by the realization that I was after all the mediocre man in this situation. I wasn’t comfortable with that. All my life, I’d built my ego on a foundation of being competent, superior, capable, a smart guy. Here I was clearly playing a mediocre role, occupying a mediocre level of existence. That troubled me, and then I was troubled again, as my distress was recurrent evidence of my mediocrity… Like a mental Chinese finger trap, the more I struggled, the tighter it got. So I quit thinking about it for a while, which is a popular, if largely ineffective, coping strategy.
Many years passed, and I became a different person, several times over. One fine day, I realized that I understood exactly what old Lao Tzu was talking about, and the instant it hit me, I laughed out loud, long and hard, like a proper fool, because I finally got it. I had always assumed that the three kinds of people were permanent categories, for some reason. I’d resigned myself to being stuck in that mediocre class, permanently. In an instant, I understood that the three kinds of people are states and stages we occupy, not necessarily permanent existential categories. We can move from one to the other, sometimes in a single lifetime, and I had. I’d transcended my mediocrity, finally.
I had the inspiration to somehow bring the Tao to a modern American audience, and in working with that, I’ve realized something: America hates the Tao. Civilization hates the Tao. The essence of civilization is the opposite of the Tao.
Okay, let’s back up: What is the Tao, anyway? That is an impossible question to answer. It’s like “Who is God?” or “What is Life?”- a question to which there is no possible adequate response within the confines of language. We can’t engage with God, Life, or the Tao on a purely mental level; these are not merely concepts to be analyzed and manipulated, mentally processed, but experiences, realms, realities that must be entered into, engaged with on a whole-being level, and ultimately allowed to transform one’s essence.
What is the Tao? It is the Way of things. It’s not possible to precisely or neatly summarize it. Lately, we’re used to describing things in terms of equations, and that’s a very powerful technique. However, we’ve ignored many phenomena that don’t lend themselves to simple quantitative analysis, like plasma and fluid dynamics, preferring to model more linear phenomena. Well, most everything in the universe is chaotic plasma, and in avoiding engaging with it, we’ve cultivated a skewed view of physical reality. Likewise, by refusing to engage with the Tao, we’ve cultivated a limited perception of metaphysical reality.
What is the Tao? It’s the Way things work, the Way things flow. You can know it, meaning that you can enter into relationship with it. You can dance with it, but you can’t control it.
I’ve been working with an idea I call Taoist Equations. You can’t write them down, but you can find them and use them. Part of the idea is the unknown term, the mystery. You have to allow the mystery, somewhere in the equation. What everyone is trying to do these days it to control all the terms. We want to dictate what we do, how we do it, and the result. Well, we can’t do that. We have to pick one fixed term, and let the other be what it is.
So, we can decide to be fixed on a particular approach, but we must accept the results. Or, we can commit to a particular result, and accept whatever means are necessary to achieve it. But we’re attempting something impossible. We’re attempting to determine both method and outcome, to wage wars for peace, to create abundance through capitalism, to manufacture justice through force… Not surprisingly, this just doesn’t work.
It’s so simple. The image of the yin-yang, the positive and negative energies, in flux and flow, interpenetrating and co-creating each other and all things. It’s a balance, a flow. If you push it, it will push you. If you pull on it, it will pull on you. And if you do violence to it, it will do violence to you. When we try to control everything all at once, we’re doing violence to the Tao, to reality, and it reciprocates. In the end, it is nothing at all. It is zero, and all manifest phenomena are positives and negatives that are created from it.
Lao Tzu walked away from the City, which is what wise men do if they can. As he was leaving forever, the guard at the gate begged him to write down his wisdom before departing. Ah, how lucky Lao Tzu was to live in a time when the City still had boundaries, could still be left behind. Now, it’s everywhere, and the only way to leave is feet first. If there was a forest wherein I could freely wander, you’d find me there.
There is a balance that must be preserved for life to continue. There is a Way of being that preserves this balance. It’s not something you just mentally grasp or understand or comprehend; it’s something that you are, that you live. Right now, our culture has lost the Way, and we see the results everywhere. What can be done? Find your Way. Find the Way inside of you, because it’s there, right now. Reach out and find it. Reach in and find it.
When you do, all the frantic activity will cease. You’ll see how ridiculous most everything we’re doing really is, and you’ll stop. Stop being useful to a useless system. Be useless and you can’t be used. What do you want, anyway? Who are you? Simply experience what is, and you’ll realize that anything we could possibly want to create is already there, if we let it be. All of our activity is ruining the world, transforming it into a hell.
We need to do less, to the point of doing nothing extra. Chop wood, carry water. What is the point of all this industry, the dark satanic mills that manufacture hell on earth, as Waters said? To what sort of terrible climax is this all building? I really don’t want to find out. What I would like is organic veggies from my garden, and time to play the guitar. I’d like a balanced life in a balanced world, which I have, sometimes, in my dreams. But somehow, someday, the Tao will balance here on Earth, as well. It always does. Best if we flow with it.
http://www.zengardner.com/eternal-tao/
I would rather have a mind opened by wonder
that one closed by belief..
~ Gary Spence ~
My morning reading opens my eyes a bit
Those of ancient times who were adept at the Tao
Used it not to make people brighter
But to keep them simple
The difficulty in governing people
Is due their excessive cleverness
Therefore, using cleverness to govern the state
Is being a thief of the state
Not using cleverness to govern the state
Is being a blessing of the state
Know that these two are both standards
Always knowing these standards
Is called Mystic Virtue
Mystic Virtue: Profound! Far-reaching!
It goes opposite to material things
Then it reaches great congruence
WOW, so much deceit going on in our fascist government right now. And the above was written about 500 B.C. I am not pushing a religion here, just this one verse. I see good aspects in most all religions, except for "The Religion of Political Correctness", and even there some good points, to try to be objective.
http://taoism.net/ttc/complete.htm
Here are two great court cases that explain why no corporation, including the government or the church, has jurisdiction over the common people who are sovereign.
“The law subscribes to the king (in America, the people) the attribute of sovereignty; he is sovereign and independent within his own Dominion; and owes no kind of subjection to any other potentate upon earth. Hence, it is, that no suit or action can be brought against the king, even in civil matters, because no court can have jurisdiction over him; for all jurisdiction implies supremacy of power”.
Chisholm vs. Georgia, 2 Dall. 419,458.
“The people, or the Sovereign are not bound by general words in statutes, restrictive of prerogative rights, titles or interests, unless expressly named. Acts of limitation do not bind at the King, nor the people. The people have been ceded all the rights of the king, the former Sovereign. It is a maxim of the common-law that when an act of parliament is made for the public good, the advancement of religion and Justice, and to prevent injury and wrong, the king shall be bound by such an act, though not named; but when a statute is General, and any prerogative rights, titles or interests would be divested or taken from the king (or the people) in such case he shall not be bound”.
The People vs. Herkimer, 15 American Decisions 379, 4 Cowen (NY 345, 348 (1825).
"When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker a raving lunatic."
Dresden James
wow_happens thought>>>
The well packaged lie is liberalism, it has failed everywhere it has been tried, look no further than Cuba, or even closer, Detroit. And liberalism today is nothing but protecting the super rich's money by keeping or making everyone else poor and trying to tell the masses they are equal, except to the rich, of course, thus making the masses SLAVES to the super rich and insures that the super riches' offspring carry the lie and money forward.
What must government give the people?
A de jure representative republic
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
The dog reference is as property owned by a superior. If a man's actions are compelled (wear a seat belt even though it may kill where, not wearing the belt would save life - the individual is owned by a superior) as are the dog's actions (sit, roll over), the individual man is not any more free than the dog.
When government allows people "The Dignity To Fail", the meaning of what is learned only reinforces the acceptance of tyranny.
The only thing our government has to give it's people
Is a de jure representative republic..
That one just made my Facebook
Government must give people "The Dignity To Fail". That is the only way learning means anything.
Don't remember where that came form
The free man owns himself
He can damage himself with either eating or drinking; he can ruin himself with gambling
If he does he is certainly a damn fool, and he might possibly be a damned soul
but if he may not, he is not a free man any more than a dog..
~ Gilbert Keith Chesterton ~ (1874-1936)
British essayist, critic, poet, and novelist
Source.. Broadcast talk, June 11, 1935
To punish a man because we infer from the nature of some doctrine which he holds,
or from the conduct of other persons who hold the same doctrines with him,that he will commit a crime, is persecution,
and is, in every case, foolish and wicked..
~ Thomas Babington Macaulay ~ (1800-1859)
[Lord Macaulay] 1st Baron Macaulay, British historian
Source.. Hallam, 1828
We have not passed that subtle line
between childhood and adulthood
until we move from the passive voice
to the active voice --
that is,
until we have stopped saying, 'It got lost,'
and say, 'I lost it..'
~ Sydney J. Harris ~
The whole drift of our law is toward the absolute prohibition
of all ideas that diverge in the slightest form from the accepted platitudes,
and behind that drift of law there is a far more potent force of growing custom,
and under that custom there is a natural philosophy which erects conformity
into the noblest of virtues and the free functioning of personality
into a capital crime against society..
~ H. L. Mencken ~ (1880-1956)
American Journalist, Editor, Essayist, Linguist, Lexicographer, and Critic
Source.. quoted in New York Times Magazine, 9 August 1964
If you want to make enemies
try to change something..
~ Woodrow Wilson ~ (1856-1924)
28th US President
Many politicians... are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition
that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom.
The maxim is worthy of the fool...
who resolved not to go into the water till he had learned to swim..
~ Thomas Babington Macaulay ~ (1800-1859)
[Lord Macaulay] 1st Baron Macaulay, British historian
He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file
has already earned my contempt.
He has been given a large brain by mistake,
since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice..
~ Albert Einstein ~ (1879-1955)
Physicist and Professor, Nobel Prize 1921
Mass television-watching would be seen as Huxley's "brave new world" of anesthetized human consciousness, where people love servitude to invisible authority through greatly improved techniques of suggestion. Television would seem to have taken us into Orwell's "1984" where a television screen in every room exists in perpetual vigilance of the individual, where human consciousness is engineered by technicians of "goodthink," and where the worst horror is that no one realizes their condition of servitude because the oppressors remain invisible -
~ Ronald Schenk ~ (Spirit in the Tube)
If people let government decide
what foods they eat and what medicines they take,
their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state
as are the souls of those who live under tyranny..
~ Thomas Jefferson ~
We can accept god becoming man to save man
but not man becoming god to save himself..
~ Vernon Linwood Howard ~ (1918-1992)
What is the motive that makes people refute that statement?
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