Horace Mann

Some Philosophical quotes to think about by Horace Mann.

"Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity"

“A house without books is like a room without windows. No man has a right to bring up his children without surrounding them with books, if he has the means to buy them.”

“A teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on cold iron.”

“Avoid witticisms (Jokes or witty remarks) at the expense of others.”

“Doing nothing for others is the undoing of ourselves.”

“Education is our only political safety. Outside of this ark all is deluge(water or floods).”

“Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery.”

“Generosity during life is a very different thing from generosity in the hour of death; one proceeds from genuine liberality and benevolence, the other from pride or fear.”

“Habit is a cable(Habits are cables); we weave a thread of it each day, and at last we cannot break it.”

“If any man seeks for greatness, let him forget greatness and ask for truth, and he will find both.”

“If evil is inevitable, how are the wicked accountable? Nay, why do we call men wicked at all? Evil is inevitable, but is also remediable (capable of being remedied).”

“It is well to think well; it is divine to act well.”

“Let us not be content to wait and see what will happen, but give us the determination to make the right things happen.”

“Lost, yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered for they are gone forever.”

“Manners easily and rapidly mature into morals.”

“Much that we call evil is really good in disguises; and we should not quarrel rashly with adversities not yet understood, nor overlook the mercies often bound up in them.”

“Resolve to edge in a little reading every day, if it is but a single sentence. If you gain fifteen minutes a day, it will make itself felt at the end of the year.”

“Scientific truth is marvelous, but moral truth is divine and whoever breathes its air and walks by its light has found the lost paradise.”

“To pity distress(pain) is but human; to relieve it is Godlike.”

[To feel sorry for someone's pain is human, but to relieve it is godlike. A better translation if the original quote was hard to read for you.]

“Unfaithfulness in the keeping of an appointment is an act of clear dishonesty. You may as well borrow a person's money as his time.”

“When a child can be brought to tears, and not from fear of punishment, but from repentance he needs no chastisement. When the tears begin to flow from the grief of their conduct you can be sure there is an angel nestling in their heart.”

Source

~~Phoenix

Peace

A simple plea, from a humble soul:

Imagine the world without war...hope this ends...why can't we all live in peace?

And my response to their plea:

We can't live in peace, because not enough people are getting up and building it.

Peace is a building, it's a job, it's a hard days work.

But everyone forgets it, and no one puts in the effort to build it.

We don't want peace, we want greed, we want to be special, we want to have power.

If you want to help, you have to first get up, but no one will stand with you, I stand alone now as it is.

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Look into the eyes of a person, peer into their soul.

Don't listen to them, don't let them sway you, watch them, and see their inner desires.

Power is what you'll see most of the time, then comes greed, then comes the need to be special.

Peace will come, when the lazy stand up, and the powerful feel pain; not physical, but emotional pain.

Peace will come when people remember their death, remember this life is as quick as a dream.

All i hear is peace out of the mouths of people, yet all i see is greed inside the souls deep within.

Sincerity is a dying commodity and most people know not what they truly want.

~~Phoenix

Economic divide

This post wasn't made because of the above amazing video but because of a very important comment.

It read:

"what you fail to mention is, these people in the top 1% already pay a higher percentage of tax, and they are the guys that MAKE jobs also. If we are going to tax the guys that use money to create jobs, the free market economy will fail, and we will become socialist like France. I suppose we will see that happen now that Obama has won. You'll be sorry. All the great everyday aspects of life will disappear because no one will strive to innovate since Obama will take their hard earned money anyway."

Oh wow did that fire me up lol.

I came shooting back with:

"Oh and btw for that other guy who said taxing the rich was bad for the economy, I've just got to say:

'Hey buddy... cars don't buy cars, homes don't buy homes, and the economy doesn't buy itself.

The better the spending power from below, the better the top does. It's simple logic.

Or did that commenter think that cars magically sold to faeries?' "

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The rich can't afford it

It's not just him, lots of people believe this very amusing ideology.

The commenter is basically saying we have to ease the stress on the richest Americans so they can afford to hire people to make more money.

We're talking about rich people being able to afford something...

Isn't this some kind of oxymoron?
You're not labeled rich, or in the top .1% unless you have access to VAST amounts of resources... so why are we worried about how much THEY can afford.

What about the 25% of Americans making less than 30k, who can barely afford living...

You know if you empowered them, their spending power would go up, and more people could make money as a result.

But no... that's illogical, letting people keep more money, to spend more, to stimulate the economy... that doesn't make sense... right?

It makes more sense to lower taxes on the super rich, without asking them to use that extra money...

Right?

Yea... people really need to analyze their logic before they go off spewing it all over youtube or Libertarian forums.

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The Majority of America Uplifted by Less taxes

I don't like Barack as you saw from my last post but his plan doesn't raise a dime in taxes for people who make $250k or less.

As you saw from the video, he's protecting more than 95% of America that way.

And again, if someone is allowed to keep more money, he can spend more, which lets business flourish.

This was seen during the New deal by FDR, where he kept the economy going through government programs and government work organizations.

He allowed people to work and spend, and kept the economy ticking away until WW2 took us out of the depression.

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Inspiration comes at weird times

So as i mentioned in previous posts I only write when I'm inspired and a sure fire way of doing that is holding positions that the above commenter held. These positions he held were complete misconceptions and untruths about the economy and opinions based on nothing but the rumors and lackluster logic.

Anyways the comment did allow people on this blog to see that amazing video so I guess the commenter did do some good after all.

Economic standpoints:
Cars don't buy cars, if you want spending power and you want to stimulate the economy you must give that power to those who need it the most and those that number in the most.

Moral standpoint:
A people are only as good as how they treat the lowest members of their society.

No matter how you look at it, uplifting the lowest rungs of society is never a bad thing.
That's why I'm a socialist.

~~Phoenix

North Korea

Watch this video, before reading this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FZMwoY7DyM

I'd embed the video here, but embedding is disabled.

Also watch this video:




For more information or to help this cause you can visit:
http://www.linkglobal.org/
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The Media's Enemies, scapegoats to keep you busy and looking away from the real ones.

Where in Syria do you have concentration camps?

Where can you find a brutal dictatorship in Jordan?

What kind of people are enslaved in dungeons in Iran?

Under Saddam Hussein did people suffer from hunger and disease, as famine ravaged their bodies and caused them to grow slower than a normal human would?

Does Venezuela constitute a Nuclear threat?

Since when did Cuba go on killing rampages and try to starve off it's own people?


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Our true enemies lie hidden

It's simple, the media has been painting a picture that is clearly false.

None of the countries listed above has anywhere near a track record as bad as North Korea.

Yet what has this Government been doing, in talks with North korea?

It has been scaling back measures, appeasing the North Koreans by taking them off the list of Terrorist Nations(thereby helping their economy and stopping certain sanctions).

Source "U.S. Declares North Korea Off Terror List"

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A man of Hitlers Caliber

Have we not looked into the Eyes of Hitler before? He is Kim John Il, and yet we do nothing. Have we not learned from WW1 and WW2?

Every year, every moment, every time i hear of North Korea, I shudder, I stand still, i wait, seeing if anyone else looks into the evil that i see.

Where is our shining beacon of hope America?

Where is the peace we offer to the rest of the world?

When will we valiantly come to help, as we say we do, as we say we've done in Iraq?(Although those intentions were far less selfless)

Where is our hand that holds, the shadow that protects, the ever watching policeman of the world?

Has he failed us?

America, have you left the North Koreans to fend for themselves?

And what of Somalia, The Congo, and Darfur?

Where are you United Nations?

Have you failed us yet again?

As the Gaza strip (Palestine) lies in Darkness, with 500,000-600,000 people living in Darkness (50% of them Children), I feel as if a veil has lifted over the world.

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The shining new spirit that fills the whitehouse, leaves the world in pieces


Barack Obama, you may have shined some happiness and hope in the world, but you do nothing when it comes to fighting true evil.


Mr. President Elect, I call you a failure and a coward for not addressing the starving and enslaved people of the world.

Mr. President Elect, there remains at least 1 person that sees the world as it truly is.

Mr President Elect, there remains at least 1 person, who watches you walk by, as the world lays in tatters on the floor.

You have 4 years, yet you look away from the problems that we truly face.

Mr. President Elect, I am the first person whom you have failed but i won't be the last.

~~Phoenix

California Proposition Results

So here are the results of our propositions for 2008:

Legend:

• The Numbers below the propositions represent the percentage of votes.

• The left number is the "yes" votes and the right number is the "no" votes.

• An X next to a proposition means it didn't match my vote.

• ## Represents a Bond. Those Props are 1, 3, 10, and 12.

## X 1) High speed rail: Yes
52.1 to 47.9

2) Farm Animal treatment: Yes
63.1 to 36.9

## X 3) Children's Hospitals: Yes
54.8 to 45.2

X 4) Abortion Notification: No
48 to 52

X 5) Drug offense leniency: No
40.1 to 59.1

X 6) Increased spending for Cops: No
30.8 to 69.2

X 7) Renewable Energy, 50% provided by Renewable by 2025: No
35.2 to 64.8

8) Gay Marriage Ban: Yes
52.5 to 47.5

9) Victim's rights: Yes
53.5 to 46.5

## 10) Alternative Fuel Cars: No
40.3 to 59.7

11) Redistricting by Registered Voters not Politicians: Yes
50.6 to 49.4

## X 12) Veterans Bond for Loans: Yes
63.5 to 36.5

Source (Check out the source to see some interactive information. Check proposition results in counties and see detailed spreading of votes.)

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Analysis:
So 7 of the propositions did not folllow my vote, but luckily 5 did.
That's a 41.66% success rate. Not ideal but for politics that's definitely an A.

Sadly the one initiative i wanted to pass most was Prop 7. The reason it failed was supposedly weak wording or creation by lawyers. Regardless it's not hard to write on a piece of paper, "50% of our electricity will be renewable by 2025".

That single line was enough for me. I guess it wasn't enough for the vast majority of California though. :(

Bonds:

3 of the 4 that we proposed passed. I hope people actual looked at their General Election Voting Guides because I get the feeling they didn't...

I swear it's like we're in a mall, and we see some shiny toys, and regardless of the price we want it. It's a crazy shoppers mentality.

I would have been happy loosing to Prop 12, that doesn't make me angry. It's a small bond and it has a good chance of being paid back.

But prop 1.... was a joke, anyone doing a little research would have figured it out.
Prop 3 was a scam, giving money's to institutions that don't CATER to children. You'd think by the name of the proposition that they would, but the exact definition of Children's hospital was so vague that it allowed MOST hospitals to receive funding....

Private hospitals that have nothing to do with children would be eligible.... by simply treating a large number of children.

It's sad, 2 bonds, both scams, both passed, and one of them being the biggest project that California has ever funded. Prop 1 will drive us into a hole, financially, by being the biggest project ever constructed here.

All for what? So we can pay $50, as the voter's guide said, to get on a train to San Francisco? Yea, like going there is important, while we watch our own infrastructure crumble.


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We can't afford it:


On a final note, to all those people who said we couldn't afford health care, that we couldn't pay for better schools, that we couldn't pay our firefighters or cops more, that 1 trillion dollars to rebuild all of America's Infrastructure was just too much, that the minimum wage was too costly to increase, and that lowering taxes would cripple our economy

I'd just like to ask them one thing:

HOW DID YOU FIND $700 BILLION DOLLARS FOR A BAILOUT OF THE BANKING SECTOR!!!!!

That's $700,000,000,000

Oh and on another note

HOW DID YOU INCREASE OUR DEFENSE BUDGET TO $515.4 BILLION DOLLARS.(The highest military budget since WW2)

THAT BUDGET IS A 74% INCREASE SINCE 2001!!!

Source (PDF) Source (Link)

Follow up:

NY Times article entitled "Proposed Military Spending Is Highest Since WWII"
Link

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We can't afford it.... yea right....

One day you'll have to have a bake sale to buy bombs and we'll be doubling OUR budgets!!

~~Phoenix

Priorities

(I need my peers to stop following the crowd and start following what's important)

Life is all about priorities.
For some reason, my generation doesn't seem to understand that.

The inspiration for this post came from watching a small group of people in front of my college, protest for a proposition on the Ballot.

It was proposition 8 and it includes removing the right of Gay people to vote.
There were 2 groups of protesters, one for the proposition and one against.
I asked myself one thing, that probably no one there did, "Is this the most important issue on the ballot, the most important proposition that needs to pass or fail?"

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Prop 7

The answer was simple, it wasn't the most important issue, or even near it.

The most important proposition in my mind was proposition 7.

California Proposition 7 would, if approved, require California utilities to procure half of their power from renewable resources by 2025. California utilities will be required to increase their purchase of electricity generated from renewable resources by 2% annually to meet Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) requirements of 40% in 2020 and 50% in 2025. Under current law, investor-owned utility companies must comply with an RPS of 20% by 2010.

Source

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Marriage or Energy independence?

So I know proposition 8 only affects gay couples, but just to be fair, I'll assume my right to marriage is in jeopardy.

So i ask myself, what's more important, Marriage or Energy independence?

The answer for me and millions of Californian's is simple, Energy independence.
Are we blind or something?
Is this question a joke?
Is this even a contest? Should we even be comparing such things that clearly have a night and day difference of importance?

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My peers

So being told that... why are those protesters focused on prop 8?

I don't get it... i've seen them there almost every time i go to college, for more than 2 weeks.

Why put so much focus on marriage?

Have they even heard of proposition 7, or the other amazing ones that NEED to pass, that NEED our support to change America and California?

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Potential movements Die, with the power of 1,000 civil rights movements.

I lower my head now, and i ask the people of the future who read this, to pity me.

To pity me as they see me in history, having to deal with such problems.

This isn't the period of hatred and violence, back with racism and segregation.

This is the period of Ignorance and laziness, the time where we thirst for no knowledge and quench our questions with biased water.

I ask the people of future years to help me never let this happen again, to never allow the media to so totally push us away from the CENTRAL issues of our time.

Please, help me, as i watch the important things in life drift away, as i watch a potential movement as strong as the civil rights, die.

I watch potential movements, with the power to bring down nations, wallow away.


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Spreading information, Shining the light that will start the movements of my time

I watch as my peers sit by complacently, as if the world is as it should be.

I see the world and treat it as it should be, not how it is, and what we have now, will never be acceptable to me.

If a movement won't start and a people will not rise, I will turn on a light so bright, that no one will be able to look away.

I just hope others can help me carry the burden, helping to awaken the mass of sleeping people, put there by their manipulators(Dual party system) and their media(ABC, CBS, FOX, MSNBC, and CNN).

Rest well my peers, soon you'll be awakened and actualized.
We'll have third party candidates and Governmental coalitions some day.

A light bright enough to awaken my peers, where can such a light be found? How can such a newspaper be made? Might this blog serve as that first candle?

The information will get to them, the question is how.

~~Phoenix