Mr.Piffka's Quotes

<so pleased to see Panz around again>

Heyyyy...I'm not that scarce. It's just that I was posting an insane amount last year...almost 30 a day. Now I'm posting less and enjoying it more.

I was reading about the struggle between science and Creationists and found a clever quote from Richard Dawkins.

"The creationists' fondness for "gaps" in the fossil record is a metaphor for their love of gaps in knowledge generally. Gaps, by default, are filled by God. You don't know how the nerve impulse works? Good! You don't understand how memories are laid down in the brain? Excellent! Is photosynthesis a bafflingly complex process? Wonderful! Please don't go to work on the problem, just give up, and appeal to God. Dear scientist, don't work on your mysteries. Bring us your mysteries for we can use them. Don't squander precious ignorance by researching it away. Ignorance is God's gift to Kansas."

(Before you Kansians complain...it's used as a metaphor)

And a good metaphor, too. I'm glad to being seeing you here, Panzade. I guess I liked those insane posts.

"It became obvious to us as we reviewed the evidence that, in many cases, we had simply gotten the slowest guys on the battlefield."

- Lt. Col. Thomas S. Berg, 10/25/04, referring to prisoners being held at Guantanamo.

"The only actual news that he reads is the sports section. All the national news, all the opinions that he gets have been filtered, and it goes to his daily briefing that has already been pre-screened to give him what he wants to read. He doesn't read any books, and he doesn't talk with people that don't already agree with him. He's surrounded himself with ideological sycophants. And the biggest ass-kisser of all is Dick Cheney."

Jim Moran (D-VA)

"The whole world is nothing but you."

Hsueh-Feng (c1620-1680)

Yes!



(& good morning to you from Oz, Piffka! )

Good morning to you, Olga!!! (I like that one, too. Nice & simple.)


"In all unbelief there are these two things: a good opinion of one's self, and a bad opinion of God."

Horatius Bonar (1808-1889)

"Successful politicians are insecure and intimidated men. They advance politically only as they placate, appease, bribe, seduce, bamboozle or otherwise manage to manipulate the demanding and threatening elements in their constituencies."

Walter Lippmann (1889-1974)

"To lead an uninstructed people to war is to throw them away."

Confucious (551-479 BCE), Analects, 62

Great quote.

I liked that one, too, Osso.


Today's is about Judicial Nominations:

"It may be granted that the Senate ought generally to be deferential to Presidential nominations involving the operation of the executive branch . . . The case is quite different, however, when the President is appointing members of a third branch. The judiciary is supposed to be independent of the President, not allied with him. It hardly needs emphasis that the judiciary is not intended to work under the President. This point is of special importance in light of the fact that many of the Court's decisions resolve conflicts between Congress and the President. A Presidential monopoly on the appointment of Supreme Court Justices thus threatens to unsettle the constitutional plan of checks and balances."

Cass Sunstein

Bravo Cass Sunstein! I LIKE his reasoning.

He's at The University of Chicago Law School where my daughter graduated.

She was very impressed with him.

Jjorge, is your daughter an attorney? Did she have any classes with sunstein? What a lucky girl if she did get to know him.

--- William Shakespeare

Great quote, Diane!

((((Jjorge!!!!)))))
Glad to know somebody recognized Sunstein.

Hi Diane! Hi Piff!

Yes, my dtr is an attorney in NYC.

I don't know if she had any classes with Sunstein but she knew him.

I first saw Sunstein on one or more TV talk shows during the Clinton 'Impeachment' fiasco. He was very articulate, and in a calm way, he commanded respect instantly because he was so brilliant without being a ham or a prima donna.

When I saw that he was from U Chicago i asked my dtr (who was in her second year there I think)
about him. I remember that she was very impressed with him but I can't remember if she was in one of his classes or not.


P.S.
Want to check out my Villa?
http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=52711&highlight=

"Only reason can convince us of those three fundamental truths without a recognition of which there can be no effective liberty: that what we believe is not necessarily true; that what we like is not necessarily good; and that all questions are open."

Clive Bell (1881-1964)


So good I'm separating out those truths for their better glory:

What we believe is not necessarily true.

What we like is not necessarily good.

All questions are open.




Thanks for giving us the address of your new villa, Jjorge.

"The surface of American society is covered with a layer of democratic paint, but from time to time one can see the old aristocratic colours breaking through."

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859)

As long as we're doing Alexis lovely ladies...

"All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and shortest means to accomplish it."

He did have a good clear perspective. Scary. Today's is much lighter, perfect for a Friday.


"If you want me I'll be in the bar."


Joni Mitchell (1943- ), A Case of You