"...The flag's been hijacked and turned into a logo - the trademark of a monopoly on patriotism. ...official chests appear adorned with the flag as if it is the Good Housekeeping seal of approval. ...When I see flags sprouting on official lapels, I think of the time in China when I saw Mao's Little Red Book on every official's desk, omnipresent and unread. But more galling than anything are all those moralistic ideologues in Washington sporting the flag in their lapels while writing books and running Web sites and publishing magazines attacking dissenters as un-American. They are people whose ardor for war grows disproportionately to their distance from the fighting. They're in the same league as those swarms of corporate lobbyists wearing flags and prowling Capitol Hill for tax breaks even as they call for more spending on war. So I put this on as a modest riposte to men with flags in their lapels who shoot missiles from the safety of Washington think tanks, or argue that sacrifice is good as long as they don't have to make it... I put it on to remind myself that not every patriot thinks we should do to the people of Baghdad what bin Laden did to us. The flag belongs to the country, not to the government. And it reminds me that it's not un-American to think that war -- except in self-defense -- is a failure of moral imagination, political nerve, and diplomatic skill. Come to think of it, standing up to your government can mean standing up for your country."
(Bill Moyers NOW: Friday, February 28, 2003)

"Until you do right by me, everything you even think about is gonna crumble... everything you try is gonna fail."  (Celie, The Color Purple by Alice Walker)

"Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace."
(Amelia Earhart)

"Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle." (Phillip Brook)

"...We see now how individuals and groups around the country are acting in any way they can to help their fellow citizens in Louisiana, Mississippi and other devastated places near the Gulf of Mexico. They refuse to stand idly by and wait for President Bush and his morally-bankrupt, pirate administration to respond in an appropriately urgent and compassionate manner to the escalating agony and desperation of our fellow citizens. This agony and desperation was caused in large part by a near complete absence of adequate federal government funding, preparedness, and leadership. We the people will continue to help Americans and non-Americans alike, with or without the participation or approval of George W. Bush and his Neo-Conservative cohorts. While it is true that what is most important right now is to rescue, feed, house, and in any way possible care for those immediately affected by the disaster, it is equally true that in the long run those directly responsible for aggravating the tragic situation must be held accountable. The mounting evidence of the Bush administration's criminal mismanagement of the nation, as well as its consistently arrogant disregard for our planet's people and natural environments must be confronted immediately...
(Viggo Mortensen "Impeach, Remove, Jail" quoted from PercevalPress.com)

"Why should I give them my mind as well?"
(The Dalai Lama, when asked if he wasn't angry at the Chinese for taking over his country)

"Nobody in the rap community thought I could go from music to becoming successful in a TV show... Their doubt was what I needed.  All it takes is just one person telling me I can't do it, and I'll use the fear of failure as fuel. I might get knocked out, but I'm going to fail swinging."
(Will Smith)

"I'm living one day at a time and that day is tomorrow." (Bear)

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