Monthly Archive: October 2010

Politics in America: It’s The Water!

OK.  Here’s the situation.  Economists worldwide agree with the background facts:

Eight years of Bush policies, including deregulation of Wall Street, banks, tax breaks for the rich, and corporations’ offshore and outsourcing policies resulted in a major depression. So we elected a Democrat to fix it.

The past two years, the Republicans have blocked every possible thing the President has tried. The Republicans have voted, as a bloc and in filibuster, to keep any proposal from the Democrats from passing.  Even ones which were originally Republican ideas.  For example, tax breaks for small businesses.

Also, Republicans have blamed the President for things that were clearly results of the Bush Presidency: for example, TARP and the decision to not prosecute those two or three guys calling themselves the “New Black Panther Party”.  They even tried to blame him for causing the BP Gulf Oil Disaster.

And the Republicans are proposing:  more tax breaks for the wealthy, repeal of limitations on corporations, repeal of the first real almost-universal health coverage…  and are currently leading the polls in most areas.  (We’ll know the outcome for sure on Tuesday.)

The Republicans — and their media mouthpieces, such as Rush and Glenn — are of course not racists.  Granted, racism is the only explanation for their activities which meets the simple test of Occam’s Razor, as they have worked with previous Democratic administrations (and Democrats have worked, perhaps TOO well, with previous Republican administrations).  They each and all scream to high heaven if you call them racists.  Their constant blame of the Liberal Media (which, if you haven’t been noticing, is mostly owned by Conservatives) for these claims sounds more than hollow, but it must be true; Rush said so.  So did Glenn.

So there must be at least one other explanation for these moves on the part of the Republicans.

It was hard, but I found one.

Fluoridation.

Radical right-wingers have been saying since the 1940s that adding fluoride to drinking water was a Nazi/Communist plot to make the populace stupid.

They were right.

Or Republicans really are racists.  Our President is no shadier than the last 8 Presidents we have had, has actually made more forward-thinking suggestions (which have to be passed by Congress, of course) than the last three.  If you don’t hate him because he’s black, why would you vote for Republicans with their current plans, the same ones that got us into the current mess and have stonewalled plans to get out of it?

Fluoridation makes people stupid.  That must be it.

You think I’m wrong? 

Prove it on Tuesday.

Me

I opened a new Yahoogroup the other day.  A few people in my ALT-therapies4bipolar Yahoogroup (almost 400 members! Yay!) wanted to work on Recovery International techniques, based on the writings of Abraham A. Low, M.D. (primary text: Mental Health Through Will Training), something that Beth and I both had experience with (in fact, we tried a group like this before, but didn’t get much input so we closed it).  So I now have Bipolars4RecoveryDrLow .  If you’re bipolar or anything like it, feel free to join.  This is not a support group (if you want one of those, I have ALT-therapies4bipolar), but rather a training group, learning to use the Recovery Method that Dr. Low set out.

To the dump again! Good things from my phone…

Honor your calling.  Everybody has one. Trust your heart and success will come to you. – Oprah

You are today where your thoughts have brought you.  You will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you. – James Allen

Do the hard jobs first.  The easy jobs will take care of themselves. – Dale Carnegie

Those who insult others are usually describing themselves. – Jay Huff

Great souls have wills; feeble ones have only wishes. – Chinese proverb

All that we are is the result of what we have thought!  Our thoughts are so powerful, so choose great ones! – Buddha

For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories. – Plato  [Moss’ note: conquering yourself is not the same as feeling defeated.]

A strong sense of separateness in the past has brought about competition and warring.  But now we are more interdependent.  So we need to communicate, hold dialogs, and compromise. – Dalai Lama

Anything I’ve done that was ultimately worthwhile initially scared me to death. – Better Bender

The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done. – Arnold Palmer

However long the night, the dawn will break. – African proverb

I don’t measure a man’s success by how high he climbs, but by how high he bounces when he hits bottom. – George Patton

If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves. – Thomas Edison

All dreams come true if we have the courage to pursue them.

You’re never a lose until you quit trying. – Mike Ditka

Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses. – Confucius

I believe that every single event in life happens in an opportunity to choose love over fear. – Oprah

The best thing to hold oneo in life is each other. – Audrey Hepburn

The reputation of a thousand years may be determined by the product of one hour. – Japanese proverb

Every saint has a past. Every sinner has a future. – Warren Buffet

One day, you’ll just be a memory for some people.  Do your best to be a good one.

Those who excel in virtue have the best right of all to rebel, but then they are, of all men, the least inclined to do so. – Aristotle

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. – Rumi

Ignorance of one’s misfortuned is clear gain. – Greek proverb

To the world, you may just be one person; but to one person, you may be the world.

There’s no such thing as quitting.  Just sometimes there’s a longer pause between relapses. – Alan Moore

Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it. – Confucius

When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. – Frankline D. Roosevelt

When you choose to forgive those who have hurt you, you take away their power over you.

Every thought we think is creating our future. – Louise Hay

Because we are all one, when we forgive others we forgive ourselves, which is the first step in the healing process.

Empty pockets never held anyone back.  Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that. – Norman Vincent Peale

Your mistake does not define who you are.  You are your possibilities. – Oprah

The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential – are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence. – Confucius

The first step before anyone else in the world belies it is that you have to believe it. – Will Smith

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you. – Maya Angelou

We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves happy.  The amount of work is the same. – Carlos Castaneda

Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement. – Brian Tracy

Follow your hopes, not your fears.

I never did anything worth doing by accident. – Plato

Failure is a detour, not a dead end street. – Zig Zigler

We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are. – Max De Pree

People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. – Maya Angelou

Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured. – Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

Danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark. – Michaelangelo

When you engage ion fulfilling the needs of others, your own needs are fulfilled as a by-product. – Dalai Lama

If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one. – Mother Teresa

Before you can win, you have to believe yourself worthy. – Mike Ditka

You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves. – Abraham Lincoln

The great question is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with failure. – Chinese proverb

Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes rise to the stars. – Henry Ford

Every individual matters.  every individual has a role to play.  Every individual makes a difference. – Jane Goodall

The Fully Enlightened One said that all he can do is teach us the Dharma, the path to liberation from suffering.  It is up to us to put it into practice–he washes his hands of that responsibility. – Dalai Lama

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. – Winston Churchill

All glory comes from daring to begin. – Alexander Graham Bell

He that takes medicine and neglects diet, wastes the skill of the physician. – Chinese proverb

All dreams come true if we have the courage to pursue them.

A mere friend will agree with you, but a real friend will argue. – Russian proverb

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all. – Helen Keller

The time is always right to do what is right. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

To understand your parents’ love you must raise children yourself. – Chinese proverb

Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.

You got to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there. – Yogi Berra

We can let our circumstances rule us, or we can take charge and rule our lives from within. – Earl Nightingale

Problems grab us where we are weak.  They’re a call to get strong and master that area of our life. – Tony Robbins

Whether I fail or success shall be no man’s doing but my own. – Elain Maxwell

Love is the joy of the good, the wonder of the wise, the amazement of the Gods. – Plato

I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying. – Michael Jordan

A gem cannot be polishes without friction, nor a man perfected without trials. – Chinese proverb

Your beliefs about reality become your beliefs about yourself. – Steve Pavlina

Small acts, when multiplies by millions of people, can transform the worls. – H. Zinn

Take the first step in faith.  You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Courage is knowing what not to fear. – Plato

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. – Plato

You weill not be punished for your anger.  You will be punished by your anger. – Buddha

The grass must bend when the wind blows across it. – Confucius

Happiness doesn’t depend on any external conditions, it is governed by our mental attitude. – Dale Carnegie

If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. It’s the hard that makes it great. – Tom Hanks

You can’t base your life on other peoples’ expectations. – Stevie Wonder

Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn’t. – Erica Jong

The harder I work, the luckier I get. – Samuel Goldwyn

The rich would have to eat money if the poor did not provide food. – Russian proverb

Happiness cannot come from without.  It must come from within. – Helen Keller

Ability can take you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there. – Zig Ziglar

You take your life in your own hands, and what happens?  A terrible thing: no one to blame. – Erica Jong

As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust and hostility to evaporate. – Albert Schweitzer

Oooh, gifties…

I got an unexpected package in the mail today from my boss (at Damnation Books, LLC).  A salt cellar, sometimes called a salt pig.  It looks something like this one (but I don’t think it has the ears): http://www.touchofeurope.net/13600/RSVP+Stoneware+Salt+Pig+Salt+Keeper+with+spoon+Oat+Color.html

She included a large bottle of Celtic Sea Salt, and a scented candle… and intended to include some rosemary from her garden, but apparently forgot that at the last minute and will mail it later.

A very nice card came with it, thanking me for all the work I do.

It’s nice to be appreciated.

Hugs,
Me

Tweet Dump Time Again

Alas, it is yet again time to clean out my phone of all the good thoughts I have accumulated, to make room for more.  I hope you enjoy these offerings. — Me

You will never do anything in this world without courage.  It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor. – Aristotle

I have found that the greatest degree of inner tranquility comes from the development of love and compassion.  The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being.  Cultivating a close, warmhearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at east.  It is the ultimate source of success in life. — Dalai Lama (3 tweets)

I’m tired of hearing about money, money, money.  I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, wear Reebok. — Shaquille O’Neal

You’ll never plow a field by turning it over in your mind. — Irish proverb

Men are disturbed not by the things that happen, but by their opinion of the things that happen. — Epictetus

The whole point of being alive is to evolve into the complete person you were intended to be. — Oprah

The observation that good people suffer and evil people keep enjoying benefits and recognition is shortsighted.  If one analyzes carefully, one finds that troublemakers are definitely not happy. — Dalai Lama (2 Tweets)

Every problem has in it the seeds of its own solution. If you don’t have any problems, you don’t gtet any seeds. — Norman Vincent Peale

Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come. — Chinese proverb

You can’t turn back the clock.  But you can wind it up again. — Bonnie Prudden

Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure. — Confucius

Wisdom begins in wonder. — Socrates

You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world. — Lucille Ball

You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you. — John Wooden

Success is not something you pursue.  Success is something you attract bgy the person you gbecome. — Jim Rohn

Nothing is ever wrong.  We learn from every step we take.  Whatever you did today was the way it was meant to be.  Be proud of you.

Love is the only thing we don’t need in moderation.

No one has ever made himself great by showing how small someone else is. — Irvin Himmel

When you react to a situation, do not re-enact it. Wait until the emotional nature has completely composed itself, then study your reaction.  — Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami

I’d rather be a failure in something that I love than a success in something that I hate. — George Burns

It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop. — Confucius

Always give without remembering and always receive without forgtetting. — Brian Tracy

If you’re going through hell, keep going. — Winston Churchill

My idea of heaven is a great big baked potato and someone to share it with. — Oprah

Success is not permanent and failure is not fatal. — Mike Ditka

You are today where your throughs have brought you.  You will be tomorrow where you thoughts take you. — James Allen

You cannot escapte the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today. — Abraham Lincoln

Ingenuity plus courage plus work equals miracles. — Bob Richards

The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism. — Norman Vincent Peale

If you don’t like something, change it.  If you can’t change it, change your attitude. — Maya Angelou

Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out. — John Wooden

You have a solemn obligation to take care of yourself, because you never know when the world will need you. — Rabbi Hillel

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. — Eleanor Roosevelt

The most effective way to manage change is to create it. –Peter Drucker

Don’t beg for the key to your heart back; change the locks.

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. — Aristotle

There is little success where there is little laughter. — Andrew Carnegie

The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn but to unlearn. — Gloria Steinem

To be uncertain is to be uncomfortable, but to be certain is to be ridiculous. — Chinese proverb

Life isn’t about finding yourself, it’s about creating yourself.

Why are you trying to hard to fit in when you were born to stand out?

It’s never too late to be what you might have been. — George Eliot

To successfully open the door to heightened awareness, we must open it inward. — Wayne Dyer

My advice to you is to get married.  If you find a good wife, you will be happy; if not, you will become a philosopher. — Socrates

Sometimes we expect more from others because we’d be willing to do that much for them.

We are what we think.  All that we are arises with our thoughts.  With our thoughts, we make the world. — Buddha

The best portion of a good man’s life is in his little, unremembered acts of kindness and love.

Twitter Dump

Time to do a Twitter dump again.

Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses. – George W. Carve

It always seems impossible until it’s done. – Nelson Mandela

The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear. – Socrates

You can outdistance that which is running after you, but not that which is running within you. – Rwandan proverb

He who fears something gives it power over him. – Moorish proverb

Don’t think outside the box. Think like there is no box.

Never let a problem to be solves become more important that a person to be loved. – Barbra Johnson

Anyone who says they only have one life to live must not know how to read a book.

Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass.  It is about learning to dance in the rain.

Worry often gives a small thing a great shadow. – Swedish proverb

He who asks the question is a fool for a minute. He who does not is a fool forever. – Chinese proverb

Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you’ll never, ever have enough. – Oprah

Hate is not the first enemy of love. Fear is. It destroys your ability to trust.

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. – Rumi

If you have never made a mistake, then it means you have never tried something new.

If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary. – Jim Rohn

Life consists not of holding good cards, but of playing those cards you hold well.

We all at certain times find ourselves broken.  True strength is found in picking up the pieces.

The best and most beautiful things in life cannot be seen, nor touched, but are felt in the heart. – Helen Keller

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. – Lao Tzu

People too weak to follow their own dreams will always find a way to discourage yours.

The secret of happiness is to count your blessings while others are adding up their troubles.

Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.

Success is not something you pursue.  Success is something you attract by the person you become. – Jim Rohn

Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them. – Aristotle

There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path. – Morpheus

In these times you have to be an optimist to open your eyes when you awake in the morning. – Carl Sandberg

Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find that they haven’t half the strength you think they have. – Norman Vincent Peale

Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing. – Mother Teresa

If the wheels fall off your canoe, how many pancakes would it take to build a doghouse? It doesn’t matter. Ice cream doesn’t have bones!!!

A man needs a little madness or else he never dares to cut the rope and be free. – Nikos Kazantazkis

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I ended up where I intended to be. – Douglas Adams

It is not joy that makes us grateful. It is gratitude that makes us joyful. – David Rast

Because we are all one, when we forgive others we forgive ourselves, which is the first step in the healing process.

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. – R. W. Emerson

When men speak of the future, the gods laugh. – Chinese proverb

We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same. – Carlos Castaneda

I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. – Thomas Jefferson

Hugs,
Me

I’m all there… somewhere

The move went well.  I lost one piece of equipment, broke a couple things, but all that is replaceable.  Everything is wonderful, and gets better the more boxes I manage to unpack.  Dottie is fine, Ariadne took down her first live rat (and it was pretty big), Rainbow is doing swimmingly… I love it here.  The views are beyond incredible, the people I live with are wonderful, and the surrounding towns are totally tourist-oriented so they HAVE to be friendly.  Whole different atmosphere from Asheville.

Hugs,
Me