Quotes

Juan Williams isn't always my favorite guy, but he's making a lot of sense as far as I'm concerned in this opinion piece in today's WSJ.

While civil rights leaders have raised their voices to speak out against this one tragedy, few if any will do the same about the larger tragedy of daily carnage that is black-on-black crime in America.

The most recent comprehensive study on black-on-black crime from the Justice Department should have been a clarion call for the black community to take action. There is no reason to believe that the trends it reported have decreased since 2005, the year for which the data were reported.

Almost one half of the nation's murder victims that year were black and a majority of them were between the ages of 17 and 29. Black people accounted for 13% of the total U.S. population in 2005. Yet they were the victims of 49% of all the nation's murders. And 93% of black murder victims were killed by other black people, according to the same report.

Less than half of black students graduate from high school. The education system's failure is often a jail sentence or even a death sentence. The Orlando Sentinel has reported that 17-year-old Martin was recently suspended from his high school. According to the U.S. Department of Education's Civil Rights Office, in the 2006-07 school year, 22% of all black and Hispanic K-12 students were suspended at least once (as compared to 5% of whites).

This year 22% of blacks live below the poverty line and a shocking 72% of black babies are born to unwed mothers. The national unemployment rate for black people increased last month to over 13%, nearly five points above the average for all Americans.

The killing of any child is a tragedy. But where are the protests regarding the larger problems facing black America?

I think we might be closing in on the real reason Socrates picked up that cup of hemlock.

It looks a little like ol' Socratese took at least one good shot to the nose.

Because clearly, I have way too much time on my hands and am far too sore from colt riding to muster much enthusiasm for anything more strenuous than sitting and thinking, I've been sitting here thinking.

And that which I've been sitting here thinking is the following;

Aren't the consequences of ignoring reality simply continued reality?

I think so.

Therefore, maybe you can ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.

Just not safely.

A hungry stomach cannot hear.

By the work one knows the workman.

I bend and do not break.

In short, Luck is always to blame.

It is impossible to please all the world and one's father.

The strongest passion is fear. 

Everyone believes very easily whatever they fear or desire.

Everyone has his faults which he continually repeats: neither fear nor shame can cure them.

Everyone calls himself a friend, but only a fool relies on it; nothing is commoner than the name, nothing rarer than the thing.

Help thyself and Heaven will help thee

Man is so made that when anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish.

Never sell the bear's skin before one has killed the beast.

A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.

The assassination probably has nothing to do with the quote, I was just pretending to be the Freep.

Click this here little gear here for the story of one of the more interesting trials in American History, that of Charles Guiteau for the murder of President James A. Garfield wherein he admitted to the shooting but claimed innocence for the murder, pinning Garfield's death on lousy doctoring.

He might have had a point there.

Click this here little gear here for a photgraph of Mr. Guiteau's brain in a mason jar ..... seriously.

Clearly, Mr. Guiteau's defense was unsuccessful.

I keep wondering, who is us in this conversation?

The first time I read this quote, I thought it was bonehead.

As I got a little older, maybe a bit more mature and learned a little about meditation, I decided that Mr. Thomson gets it right and have come to the conclusion that a little internal silence today will frequently result in a little blinding revelation tomorrow.

While not one of my favorite musicians ... I'm giving it a 32 Dick, you can't dance to it ... his film scores always feel very warm and very American to me.

Click on the photo for the famed 1937 documentory The Plow that Broke the Plains which along with The River is widely regarded as an American film treasure, both of these films were scored by Virgil Thomson.

Recommended.