Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Quotes
The person who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare.
~ Dale Carnegie
What do you call media without bias? Journalism.”
Gravity
Step by step
a new-born lamb
eternal spring
Zen Master Soen Nakagawa
1955
In his "Preface" to Endless Vow: The Zen Path of Soen Nakagawa (presented with an Introduction by Eido Tai Shimano, Shambhala 1996) Kazuaki Tanahashi writes: "Zen Master Soen Nakagawa was a key figure in the transmission of Zen Buddhism from Japan to the Western world. As abbot of the historic Ryutaku Monastery, he trained monks and lay practitioners. Among them were Robert Aitken and Philip Kapleau, who later became two of the first Westerners to teach Zen in the United States . . . Soen Nakagawa was also an extraordinary poet. In Japan his haiku are renowned, even though no substantial collection of his work has been made available to the general public."
Eternal Spring
Step by step
a new-born lamb
eternal spring
Zen Master Soen Nakagawa
1955
In his "Preface" to Endless Vow: The Zen Path of Soen Nakagawa (presented with an Introduction by Eido Tai Shimano, Shambhala 1996) Kazuaki Tanahashi writes: "Zen Master Soen Nakagawa was a key figure in the transmission of Zen Buddhism from Japan to the Western world. As abbot of the historic Ryutaku Monastery, he trained monks and lay practitioners. Among them were Robert Aitken and Philip Kapleau, who later became two of the first Westerners to teach Zen in the United States . . . Soen Nakagawa was also an extraordinary poet. In Japan his haiku are renowned, even though no substantial collection of his work has been made available to the general public."
Action Creates Abundance
"Think like a man of action, and act like a man of thought."
- Henri Bergson
Meaning:
Think and analyze quickly and thoroughly, but don't act impulsively. Come up with a plan quickly, but take your time putting it into action.
“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.”
- Henri Bergson (French Philosopher, 1927 Nobel Prize in Literature, 1859-1941)
Life does not proceed by the association and addition of elements, but by dissociation and division.”
- Henri Bergson
“Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”
“Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.”
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (German Playwright, Poet, Novelist and Dramatist. 1749-1832)
“We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe.” ~Goethe
“Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid.”
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“Behavior is a mirror in which every one displays his own image”
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.”
- Plato
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Quotes
"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting."
- e.e. cummings
"If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves."
- Thomas Alva Edison
"Life is not about discovering our talents; it is about pushing our talents to the limit and discovering our genius."
- Robert Brault
"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Don't find fault. Find a remedy."
- Henry Ford
"The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do."
- Sarah Ban Breathnach
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Capitalist Quotes
When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.
Henry Ford, 07/30/1863 - 04/07/1947
Founder of the Ford Motor Company
Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.
Henry Ford
Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.
Henry Ford
Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.
Henry Ford
It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.
Henry Ford
One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn't do.
Henry Ford
Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement.
Henry Ford
Chop your own wood, and it will warm you twice.
Henry Ford
A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.
Henry Ford
If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right.
Henry Ford
It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste.
Henry Ford
If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability.
Henry Ford
You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.
Henry Ford
Speak Out Now!: Readings
I am not completely sure how I landed on a socialist leaning site... Gabor Mate appeared in something connected. He is a drug exopert and a psychiastrist author with some wild ideas of his own about addiction. Next thing you know........
Speak Out Now!: Readings
Speak Out Now!: Readings
Readings
Still Updating…
Publications
Where We Stand
The world we live in today has enormous possibilities — the potential to open up the most challenging epoch of humanity’s existence. We have the prospect of living in a conscious fashion, using all the advances of human knowledge and engaging the creative potential of each person on the planet. Instead we see the world moving in the opposite direction — increasingly ruled by prejudice and fear, a world of widespread violence and war, where exploitation and oppression are the rule, with the many dominated by the few.
The Force For Change Exists Today
Everywhere, working people’s labor makes society run. The exploitation of labor is what generates profits, which are at the heart of capitalism. Working people have the power to bring this system to a halt and bring about the changes needed to transform our lives. Like slavery, feudalism and other systems that enriched the minority at the expense of the majority, capitalism’s removal is long over due. The time for socialism has come.
We Stand For Socialism
A world based on peaceful collaboration and international cooperation of working class people — not the exploiters who rule today.
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The common ownership and sharing of the world’s resources and productive capacity under the democratic control of the world’s peoples.
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An egalitarian and democratic government, organized and controlled from the bottom up, which facilitates people’s active participation in making decisions about how society is run.
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Protection of the world’s ecological systems, putting science to work to sustain life, not destroy it.
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A society where human relations are based on respect, equality and dignity of all peoples, not racism, sexism or homophobia.
Our Political Heritage
We base ourselves on the ideas and actions of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky, on the model of the Russian Revolution of 1917 when the working class showed its capacity to take over and exert its power, and on the revolutionary ideas of the Fourth International in its struggles against Stalinism.
We Must Go Beyond Reforms
We support the struggles of those who are fighting against the oppression of capitalism, even if the goals of those struggles are not aimed at replacing the capitalist order. We support the right of people to determine how they will live and to throw off the forces of imperialism — be it the domination of the corporations, the World Bank, the IMF, military forces or other agents of imperialism. We support the fight against racial and sexual discrimination. We fight against attacks on the standard of living of working people — wage and benefit cuts, attacks on health care, education, housing and other basic rights.
Socialism cannot come through a modification of the existing system. It is not replacing corrupt politicians or union officials with those who are more honest or who are willing to see more of society’s resources shared with the poor. It is not getting better contracts or laws. These systems based on privilege and exploitation must be removed and replaced by one that can guarantee the reorganization of society for the benefit of all.
What Is Needed To Bring This Change About?
It will take a massive social struggle, a revolution, by the majority, the workers and poor of the world, with the working class at its head, taking power in its name and reorganizing society.
It will take the construction of an international revolutionary leadership actively engaged in these struggles.
It will take the development of a party, based in the working class, in the U.S., the richest country of the world, as part of this international leadership. The fate of the world depends on building such an organization, though today it is represented only by individuals or small groups, scattered and marginalized, who share those goals.
Profits versus People
Their Profits Are Making Us Sick
We are all becoming more sick and tired. Attacks to our
health are happening on every level – whether from the boss, the
politicians or the insurance companies – they all want a piece. Our
quality of life is being stolen from us only to further fill the bank
accounts of the rich and it’s making us sick – literally! To the
wealthy, our health is just another source of untapped profit and we are
being pushed to our limits.
Work itself has been making us sick. We’re doing more work to make up for short staffing, and we’re more stressed because of it. The latest figures show that workers are doing the most work since 1929, when these stats were first recorded. Many of us are getting hurt on the job and more often we’re just working through it because we need the money to pay for our rising costs of care. And the more stressed out and sleep derived we are, the more often we get sick.
At the same time, we are noticing our breaks being rushed and skipped and we’re finding ourselves eating whatever’s quick and cheap – never what’s healthy. We are more caffeinated, increasing our daily doses of coffee, energy shots or No Doze pills. Even while we are constantly doing more with less, sales for energy drinks increased over 30 percent last year.
All this is our attempt to keep up with the worsening conditions of our lives – whether it’s extra hours or overtime, doing the work of two or more people on the job, or having enough energy to spend time with our families or even go out after work. Either way, we just don’t have the time.]
As conditions at our jobs are getting worse, those of us who still might have health care have seen it increasingly under attack. Our health care plans are being picked apart as the bosses try to figure out ways to pay less and less for our coverage. Co-pays and deductibles are going up and monthly payments have been getting to the point where many of us are being forced to go without any coverage at all. We are seeing all this happen while the profits of the companies we work for are going through the roof.
Millions of others are losing medical coverage because of layoffs. After years on a job, and having some form of health coverage, we’re not only thrown out of work, but we lose our health insurance as well. So, as we struggle to get by with less money, now we have to pay for healthcare out of our pockets or turn to public assistance and hospitals or clinics.
And what is the status of this public assistance or our public hospitals? Across the country, in every state, making further cuts to social services is the solution to deal with this growing need. Using public health assistance is becoming harder as more restrictions are added to even qualify. And those of us who use public hospitals know that increasingly it will be an all day, if not an overnight, affair because of the long wait times due to overcrowding.
But this isn’t anything new – social services have been cut for decades by both Democrats and Republicans alike – the only difference now is that they are bigger. For many of us, these deep cuts could mean the impossible choice of quitting our jobs to care for a loved one or keeping our jobs to keep a roof over our heads. Either way – this is not a choice anyone should have to make.
It is no surprise that last year doctor visits decreased by 15 percent. This is not because people were healthier but simply because we can’t afford to go to the doctor. So, we are working under more stressful conditions, and making record profits for companies. And at the same time, we are either paying more for worse coverage or we can’t afford any medical care at all. And the result is we are getting sicker and have fewer options of getting treatment. This doesn’t make any sense.
We are living in a world where it has been decided that the health of bank accounts is more important than the health of the people who live in this sick society.
Source:
http://speakout-now.org/
Work itself has been making us sick. We’re doing more work to make up for short staffing, and we’re more stressed because of it. The latest figures show that workers are doing the most work since 1929, when these stats were first recorded. Many of us are getting hurt on the job and more often we’re just working through it because we need the money to pay for our rising costs of care. And the more stressed out and sleep derived we are, the more often we get sick.
At the same time, we are noticing our breaks being rushed and skipped and we’re finding ourselves eating whatever’s quick and cheap – never what’s healthy. We are more caffeinated, increasing our daily doses of coffee, energy shots or No Doze pills. Even while we are constantly doing more with less, sales for energy drinks increased over 30 percent last year.
All this is our attempt to keep up with the worsening conditions of our lives – whether it’s extra hours or overtime, doing the work of two or more people on the job, or having enough energy to spend time with our families or even go out after work. Either way, we just don’t have the time.]
As conditions at our jobs are getting worse, those of us who still might have health care have seen it increasingly under attack. Our health care plans are being picked apart as the bosses try to figure out ways to pay less and less for our coverage. Co-pays and deductibles are going up and monthly payments have been getting to the point where many of us are being forced to go without any coverage at all. We are seeing all this happen while the profits of the companies we work for are going through the roof.
Millions of others are losing medical coverage because of layoffs. After years on a job, and having some form of health coverage, we’re not only thrown out of work, but we lose our health insurance as well. So, as we struggle to get by with less money, now we have to pay for healthcare out of our pockets or turn to public assistance and hospitals or clinics.
And what is the status of this public assistance or our public hospitals? Across the country, in every state, making further cuts to social services is the solution to deal with this growing need. Using public health assistance is becoming harder as more restrictions are added to even qualify. And those of us who use public hospitals know that increasingly it will be an all day, if not an overnight, affair because of the long wait times due to overcrowding.
But this isn’t anything new – social services have been cut for decades by both Democrats and Republicans alike – the only difference now is that they are bigger. For many of us, these deep cuts could mean the impossible choice of quitting our jobs to care for a loved one or keeping our jobs to keep a roof over our heads. Either way – this is not a choice anyone should have to make.
It is no surprise that last year doctor visits decreased by 15 percent. This is not because people were healthier but simply because we can’t afford to go to the doctor. So, we are working under more stressful conditions, and making record profits for companies. And at the same time, we are either paying more for worse coverage or we can’t afford any medical care at all. And the result is we are getting sicker and have fewer options of getting treatment. This doesn’t make any sense.
We are living in a world where it has been decided that the health of bank accounts is more important than the health of the people who live in this sick society.
Source:
http://speakout-now.org/
The Rich Who Rule America
Who Is In the 1%? – The Rich Who Rule America
Last year’s Occupy Wall Street movement turned the world’s
attention toward the suffering caused by an economic system that
benefits only the wealthiest people, or the so-called 1%. But who are
the 1%? You will not find their children in our overcrowded public
schools that are constantly under financial attack. They also do not
ride the bus, and they do not wait beside you in an emergency room for a
health care system that’s disintegrating. In other words, there is a
ruling class in this country that lives much differently than the rest
of us. This is their system but we’re forced to live in it.
Who Is In the 1%?
The majority of the 1% make their money by owning and running big businesses and corporations, or by providing services to them.
The problem is not these individuals. Who they are personally doesn’t matter. Their system is the problem. It allows a tiny minority of society to own everything, while the rest of us do the work that makes this society function. And we pay the price for their profits.
It is absurd that we have to accept a system that only benefits the wealthy. The fact is that they are outnumbered – we are the majority and we do one hundred percent of the work.
Who Is In the 1%?
The majority of the 1% make their money by owning and running big businesses and corporations, or by providing services to them.
- 31% are executives, managers, or supervisors for corporations.
- 15.7% are owners and managers of health care and pharmaceutical companies.
- 13.9% are high-paid employees of banks and financial firms.
- 8.4% are lawyers who provide services for big companies.
- 4.3% simply don’t work.
- The remaining 26% range from celebrities, sports figures, to scientists.
- The top one percent of Americans own 40 percent of all financial wealth.
- 1.6% of Americans receive $100,000 or more a year in inheritance— They’re born rich and guaranteed to stay rich.
- The 1% in the U.S. owns and controls nearly over 50 percent of the world’s stocks and mutual funds.
- The 1% in the U.S. controls half of all the stocks and mutual funds.
The problem is not these individuals. Who they are personally doesn’t matter. Their system is the problem. It allows a tiny minority of society to own everything, while the rest of us do the work that makes this society function. And we pay the price for their profits.
It is absurd that we have to accept a system that only benefits the wealthy. The fact is that they are outnumbered – we are the majority and we do one hundred percent of the work.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Quotes
"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."
- Eleanor Roosevelt
I cannot consent to place in the control of others one who cannot
control himself.
--Robert E. Lee
"The reason for so much bad science is not that talent is rare, not at all; what is rare is character."
- Sigmund Freud
"Money is a handmaiden, if you know how to use it; a mistress, if you do not." - Horace
There is joy in work. There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something.
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