It is no use painting the foot of the tree white, the strength of the bark cries out from beneath the paint.
~ Aime Cesaire

"As my ancestors are free from slavery, I am free from the slavery of religion."--Butterfly McQueen

"Circus dogs jump when the trainer cracks his whip, but the really well-trained dog is the one that turns his somersault when there is no whip."--George Orwell

Kind of Pavlovian.

"And the people bowed and prayed... to the neon god they made.." ~ Simon & Garfunkel, but aint it the freakin truth?

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Painting is a language which cannot be replaced by another language.
::: Balthus :::

"A million dollars never justified a million lies..." Joe Jackson

"Waste a little of your precious time..."
"Just a smile's enough... just some of that human stuff..." ~ Joe Jackson

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Innumberable Meanings:
(an excerpt)

...and over and again penetrating deeply into the nature of existence.

According to its nature, such a condition emerges.
According to its nature, such a condition continues.
According to its nature, such a condition transforms.
According to its nature, such a condition vanishes.
.

"Over and over people in this country describe the world as pre-September 11 and post-September 11. Yes, this is a significant date, for now, but it takes history to determine whether or not it will become a teleological fault line. For me time and chronology can be divided in an infinite number of combinations: pre-April 4, 1968 (assassination of MLK) and post-April 4, 1968; pre-summer of 1963 and post-summer of 1963 (bombing of the little girls in the Birmingham church); pre-summer of 1955 and post-summer of 1955 (murder of Emmett Till).

Each of these events made me feel less safe, less secure, less able to lay claim to any notion of myself as American. But, now I am learning that September 11 is the dividing line I must use if I am ever to claim "real" citizenship. All other notions of what is or is not important become subjugated to this new indicator that is reinscribed in every newspaper, every broadcast, and ever popular media outlet."

~ Gloria Ladson-Billings

"...it's hard to imagine any aspect of public life where ignorance or delusion is better than an awareness of the truth, even an unpleasant one. Only children and madmen engage in 'magical thinking,' the fallacy that good things can come true by believing in them or bad things will disappear by ignoring them or wishing them away"--Steven Pinker

quote:

Originally posted by Santana St. Cloud:
"...Only children and madmen engage in 'magical thinking,' the fallacy that good things can come true by believing in them or bad things will disappear by ignoring them or wishing them away"--Steven Pinker

I'm with you SSC... but try telling the makers & purchasers of The Secret book and DVD that.

The Secret! Ack! Shhh...don't tell, but I actually watched the video. I mean with Oprah endorsing it and all.

:insert sarcastic smilie here:

Seriously, I was curious. I actually went on a job interview where the interviewer asked if I'd read the book. WTF?

In the beginning of the movie they try to make it so provocate,so titilating this so-called "secret," like something out of the Da Vinci Code.

Let's just say I wasn't all that attracted to the laws of attraction.

So now you've watched the DVD and are banking 6 figures I can hit you for a loan SSC?

"These guys are fighting demons, and they don't know how to cope."
PAUL BRAND, a psychologist, on contract workers in Iraq who return home with mental health problems.

Well we all have our "demons" - but maybe not the fat pack packets that drew the contractors there in the first place. And according to Paul there mustn't have been any female contractors over there.

quote:

Originally posted by FireFly:
So now you've watched the DVD and are banking 6 figures I can hit you for a loan SSC?

Nah! I'm hardly rollin' in the dough after watching it. But watch the video/read the book yourself FF. Learn the laws of attraction. Maybe you'll get the six figs, big house, fancy car, hot guy, etc.

quote:

Originally posted by Santana St. Cloud:

quote:

Originally posted by FireFly:
So now you've watched the DVD and are banking 6 figures I can hit you for a loan SSC?

Nah! I'm hardly rollin' in the dough after watching it. But watch the video/read the book yourself FF. Learn the laws of attraction. Maybe you'll get the six figs, big house, fancy car, hot guy, etc.

my time's too valuable to spend watching the secret!

Our comedy program The Chaser did a skit on the Secret which was so wrong... in fact the US actor in it is trying to sue them methinks.... but they did sum it up quite 'appropriately'. It's pitched as realizing 'dreams' but it's really just about greed that...I want it, I should get [fill in blank with consumerist desire] without any effort... because... ummm... well damn...

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quote:

Originally posted by FireFly:
It's pitched as realizing 'dreams' but it's really just about greed that...I want it, I should get [fill in blank with consumerist desire] without any effort... because... ummm... well damn...

OMG! George W. Bush & Co. read The Secret!

Is an asphalt road modern? If a traditional peddler is walking on a modern road, does the road become more traditional or the peddler more modern? Both, either, neither?

~ Renato Rosaldo, from Nestor Garcia Canclini's 'Hybrid Cultures'.

"If I was the patriarch of the family, if soldiers came from another country and did this to my family, I would be an insurgent too."--Staff Sergeant Timothy John Westphal, who served in Iraq for one year.

'Our lives improve only when we take chances - and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves.'
Walter Anderson