Hall of Fame

[TheMercenary]

Excellent insight, could be said about most TV news.

TV tabloidism and their goal is to quickly and cheaply develop exciting and controversial stories, not to dig for the truth. Did they make a follow-up call to Johns Hopkins? ƒuck no, that's the boring part! We don't need to understand the story, just to be alarmed by pretty girl who can only walk backwards. That's how you score ratings amongst the people who watch syndicated tabloid TV in early nighttime. A self-selecting audience of the gullible.

http://cellar.org/showpost.php?p=614575&postcount=511

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by Elspode

Okay, I've had a moment to think about this, and now I'm going to try to respond intelligently.

I...*we*...all live in a society where the norm has become accusation, finger pointing and character assassination. We live in a society where *one side* claims to own the keys to all things Right, Good and True. This One Right Side, while doing everything humanly (and often, religiously) possible to besmirch anyone who doesn't fall into lockstep with them, also makes claims that their *spirituality* is being suppressed - that their *religious freedom* is being subdued...by "evil forces". Yes, *evil*. Not misguided. Not disagreeable. *Evil*. As in, "In league with Satan". As in, "you disagree with us and our motives, therefore you are minions of Darkness." Egad.

Meanwhile, the "other side", being equally inept and misguided, spends all it's time trying to tear down other perfectly functional standards of public legality because it might be abused or inflated by the "other side" to further restrict processes that the "other side" doesn't yet want put down.

What I, as a thinking, ostensibly free, American, don't like is this whole notion of "all or nothing". I especially dislike politics being furthered through the addition of Damnation and Hellfire as a lever. Yes, we have moral issues that need to be sorted out in this country. Yes, there are things that were better in the God-fearing 50's than they are now. There are also things that are much better now (anyone remember when it was okay to hate black people because God didn't like 'em either?).

In summary, I'd like to say that injecting (insert your religious path here) and holding it up as the be-all, end-all of Life on Earth is *never* the right answer, and as long as anyone tries to shove it down my throat and call me a moron for not swallowing it, I'm going to complain.

[Flint]

Originally Posted by DanaC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8604663.stm

Originally Posted by Carruthers

It's obvious, surely? They were trying to get him on board as carrion baggage.

[Flint]

Originally Posted by classicman

...
You have a perspective that is very different than mine. Thats one of the things I love about interacting here. The diversity.
...

Originally Posted by Cloud

(happy)

[Shawnee123]

(breaks into song)

We are the world
We are the children

[monster]

xoxoxobruce telling it like it is

[Spexxvet]

Well said by Glatt.

Originally Posted by glatt

I think there should be some sort of system where people like this are charged with the crime, and the police get to show the evidence they have that these guys did it, and these guys get a chance to show it wasn't actually them, and then someone, or a group of people act as a sort of referee where they decide if they are pretty sure that the guy did it or not. And then they look at how bad the thing was that the guy did, and then they look at what the rules are for the punishments you give for the kind of bad thing these guys did, and then the referee(s) decide on the punishment, working within those rules. And I think it should be a calm and thoughtful process where these referee(s) use their minds. Oh, and these referees, they shouldn't be a bunch of snooty rich people. They should be regular people.

[BigV]

I thank you Griff for this beautiful poem and for another of your consistently worthy observations about our world. I hope you never stop sharing with us.

Originally Posted by Griff

Revenge

At times ... I wish
I could meet in a duel
the man who killed my father
and razed our home,
expelling me
into
a narrow country.

And if he killed me,
I’d rest at last,
and if I were ready—
I would take my revenge!

*

But if it came to light,
when my rival appeared,
that he had a mother
waiting for him,
or a father who’d put
his right hand over
the heart’s place in his chest
whenever his son was late
even by just a quarter-hour
for a meeting they’d set—
then I would not kill him,
even if I could.

*

Likewise ... I
would not murder him
if it were soon made clear
that he had a brother or sisters
who loved him and constantly longed to see him.
Or if he had a wife to greet him
and children who
couldn’t bear his absence
and whom his gifts would thrill.
Or if he had
friends or companions,
neighbors he knew
or allies from prison
or a hospital room,
or classmates from his school...
asking about him
and sending him regards.

*

But if he turned
out to be on his own—
cut off like a branch from a tree—
without a mother or father,
with neither a brother nor sister,
wifeless, without a child,
and without kin or neighbors or friends,
colleagues or companions,
then I’d add not a thing to his pain
within that aloneness—
not the torment of death,
and not the sorrow of passing away.
Instead I’d be content
to ignore him when I passed him by
on the street—as I
convinced myself
that paying him no attention
in itself was a kind of revenge.

Nazareth
April 15, 2006

Taha Muhammad Ali

[morethanpretty]

In response to this post http://cellar.org/showpost.php?p=664798&postcount=302
UT and Shaw rewrote the theme of the Beverly Hillbillies just for Zip, and did a dern good job.

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Well a-one day Zip was a-shootin at some food
And up from the ground come a bubblin' poo

shit that is
blackwater
texas dookie

Originally Posted by Shawnee123

Well the next thing you know ol' zip's a millionaire
The Cellar folk said "ZIP, move away from there."
They said Pennsylvania is the place you oughta be
So he loaded up his pool and he moved right to Philly.

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Burbs, that is
Dumb neighbors... bad traffic...

[BigV]

Nothing is better than this:

Originally Posted by Son of Clodfobble

Out of nowhere this evening, my son gave me a hug and said, "I love you" for the first time ever.

[classicman]

HOORAH! Good one V

[lookout123]

mrs L and I were talking about that one last night. we've come to the conclusion that the assholes can pretty much slash and burn the cellar on a regular basis but posts like clodfobble's are what makes the cellar continue to grow.

Happy for you fobble family.

[Flint]

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Right, because the Republicans did so well by us the previous 8 years.
Oh that's right, they took good care of you wealthy people. Well until the end there, with that little global meltdown and all. But really, the wealthy are bouncing back nicely, even with the hand wringing, they aren't worried about trivial shit like Doctor bills, car payments or food, just about the pudginess of their portfolios.

And who cares about the middle class, they were just a relic from the days when the wealthy needed managers for their mills and factories. But since the wealthy found out they could outsource stuff to countries that make cheap shit, that can't be repaired and must be replaced, they're in clover.

Since the middle class is expendable, we can hardly worry about the rest of the country who are well and truly fucked for many years to come... if not for good.
Yes sir, bring back the rich man's friend, that way the rich man won't have to spend so much on lobbyists, and live happily ever after.

[BigV]

the Imam's words belong here

Originally Posted by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf

Ninety-nine-plus percent of Muslims all over the world, I assure you, absolutely, totally find extremism abhorrent. Let there be no mistake, Islam categorically rejects the killing of innocent people. Terrorists violate the sanctity of human life and corrupt the meaning of our faith. In no way do they represent our religion. And we must not let them define us. Radical extremists would have us believe in a worldwide battle between Muslims and nonMuslims. That idea is false. The real battlefront today is not between Muslims and nonMuslims, but moderates of all faith traditions against the extremists of all faith traditions.