Looking at this PHOTO, I'd say that Cheney might be in for a surprise when he gets back.

A sad example of The madness of religious fundamentalism. Exactly why I think our problems with terrorism is multifaceted.
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Lauryn Hill Unplugged
She was at the top of the music scene a few years ago and then sort of disappeared. Now she's back with a different sound and a different view of the music business. "This is the first time y'all are meeting me. Don't think that you met me before." Whoa!? -----------

Movies opening this weekend include Showtime and Ice Age. Reviews Here

On being yourself

Marcus Aurelius warns us not to worry about the perception of others, but to tend to our own honesty and integrity. Chuang-tzu gently chides us for worrying so much about what others think that we forget who we are, Thoreau reflected, “If I am not I, who will I be”.

The Tax man Cometh

The major component of the new tax law is the restructuring of the rates at which the four highest income brackets are taxed. Check out the chart and see where you rate.

Airport porn
New pervy airport scanning machines let security staff probe your innermost innards with EM waves. Link  .... Yet another reason to dislike airports and flying. (Via Boing Boing )

The Blame of Sept 11th: Al-Qaida or Capitalism. Let the lawyers decide?


"Things are getting back to normal in the Big Apple. At last count, some 1,300 people have given official notice that they may sue New York City for a total of $7.18 billion because of the city's alleged negligence in the wake of the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center."

"...The line at the courthouse is growing exponentially. Building owners are targeted for "failure to evacuate," the airlines and private airport security firms provided "inadequate safety measures," landlords were "negligent" about the asbestos dust in the apartments near Ground Zero, Florida flight schools that trained the hijackers were "reckless," and New York City is at fault for "business interruption."

Seems to me that the lawyers are going to have a field day.

All the world's a stage

Shakespeare wrote:

All the world’s a stage
And all the men and women are merely players
They have their exits and their entrances
And one man in his time plays many parts …

With regard to Shakespeare's thoughts, I think that in our lives, the curtain has gone up and the play is in progress. We haven’t read the script; the plot remains unknown. We can’t foresee the scenes yet to be played out or when the play will end because, as in live theatre, the plot is developed extempore [ ?] as line follows line and scenes follow scenes. On rare occasions, however we may get a glimpse of comprehension, inspiration, and vision. It is at at those moments, that seizing the opportunities can make all the difference.

No jail sentence will be harsh enough for These Creeps
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Dubya leaves the script for a few minutes and hints that Jerry Springer may have duped Al Qaeda:

"They didn't think we were a nation that could conceivably sacrifice for something greater than our self, that we were soft, that we were so self-absorbed and so materialistic that we wouldn't defend anything we believed in. My, were they wrong. They just were reading the wrong magazine, or watching the wrong Springer show." Read on.

Come to think of it, The Springer Show could very well be why they hate us so much.

September 11 a Holiday?

A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll finds that 48% of Americans want to make Sept. 11 a national holiday; the same percentage oppose the idea.

I'm not sure I would support the idea. Why celebrate the day of an attack? I can understand a day of rememberance but not a national Holiday. We don't need a Holiday just to remember. We should never forget 9/11, just like (as the article suggests) we never forgot Pearl Harbor.

But think about it, would we take the day off from work to reflect on those tragic events and remember the fallen heroes? or would most people perform all their reflecting and remembering while lying on their backs at the beach just like we do now during memorial day weekend? The answer is quite obvious.

On being a Philosopher

As an amateur philosopher, I’m committed to pondering the largest possible perspective, the weightier, more stubborn problems of human nature. It is to think, to wonder, to question, to speculate, to reason, to formulate and even to fantasize – in the search for wisdom.

Ever since Socrates spent his days in the marketplace engaging the Athenian citizens in thoughtful conversations, the message of philosophy has been that everyday thinking is inadequate to solving the important problems of life. If we are serious about finding solutions, then we need to learn to think critically and precisely.

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...And while thinking, at times we are inspired to act. Very often, we can unknowingly inspire others to act with the quality or passion in our thoughts. For example, after reading Trina's post today, I was inspired to think about writing a personal mission statement of my own. You see, Quality thoughts are self perpetuating.