Dr. King kept guns in his home to protect himself and his family. After firebombing and numerous death threats by racists, his application for a permit to carry a gun was denied by the 'may issue' white power structure (Democrat) in that time and place. Let the holiday that celebrates this man’s life include some reflection on the importance of the Second Amendment. - Massad Ayoob
It's worth noting that these were Southern Democrats, who were at odds with the national party ever since the latter became involved in civil rights after World War II. After the Equal Rights Amendment, these Democrats abandoned their party, almost to a man, and became Republicans. It's also worth noting that gun rights people in California became strangely silent when the Black Panthers advocated that every black person be armed. The point of the preceding paragraphs is not to provoke a discussion about gun control, for which there is no purpose and no end, but to caution people about equating political parties and political stances. They end up being alliances of convenience rather than conviction.
I like that one because it reminds me of two other adages, which I may have posted before: There's an old aviation saying: "Good judgment is the product of experience. Experience is the product of bad judgment." And there's a sign that my father saw in an office at the Central Intelligence Agency, where he worked: "Adventure is the result of poor planning."
If a lie is only printed often enough, it becomes a quasi-truth, and if such a truth is repeated often enough, it becomes an article of belief, a dogma, and men will die for it. - Isa Blagden
This dinner began almost one hundred years ago as a way to celebrate the birthday of General Robert E. Lee. If he were here with us tonight, the General would be 202 years old. And very confused. - Barack Obama at the 2009 dinner of The Alfalfa Club.
The only source I have for this quote is a youtube comment thread from someone calling themselves 'Derps with Wolves': If an engineer is not presented with a suitable problem, they will create their own.
Death’s a funny thing. I used to think it was a big, sudden thing, like a huge owl that would swoop down out of the night and carry you off. I don’t anymore. I think it’s a slow thing. Like a thief who comes to your house day after day, taking a little thing here and a little thing there, and one day you walk round your house and there’s nothing there to keep you, nothing to make you want to stay. And then you lie down and shut up forever. Lots of little deaths until the last big one. - Neil Gaiman
The trouble with unemployment is that the minute you wake up in the morning, you're on the job. - Slappy White
"You are so wrong that you'll never be right again!" - From a short film of which the title escapes me. Something about the opposite of the gun, flows in the style of simple animation. Narrated by a man, directed and written by a woman (or two perhaps). Then again, I might be so wrong... I doubt it.
He only said that because he didn't live on a rough council estate in Manchester and have bricks chucked through his Nissan Micra every other morning.
My cousin Helen, who is in her 90s now, was in the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. She and a bunch of the girls in the ghetto had to do sewing each day. And if you were found with a book, it was an automatic death penalty. She had gotten hold of a copy of ‘Gone With the Wind’, and she would take three or four hours out of her sleeping time each night to read. And then, during the hour or so when they were sewing the next day, she would tell them all the story. These girls were risking certain death for a story. And when she told me that story herself, it actually made what I do feel more important. Because giving people stories is not a luxury. It’s actually one of the things that you live and die for. - Neil Gaiman
