Posted on 08/10/2004 8:45:56 PM PDT by pubmom
According to Benjamin Franklin himself, many of the proverbs and aphorisms found in "Poor Richard's Almanack" were gleaned from the "wisdom of the ages and nations." In the dictums and maxims that follow, one hears echoes of the Bible, the ancients, and collections of proverbs readily available in Franklin's own time. Yet, in recrafting many older sayings, Franklin, who was among other things an inventor and musician, brought new design and melody to timeworn truisms. Franklin once created a list of 13 virtues to live by. This baker's dozen included temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility. The reader will see these virtues emphasized again and again in these quotes culled from Franklin's "Poor Richard's Almanack."
Did Franklin himself listen to Poor Richard's advice? Sometimes. Sometimes not.
"Be temperate in wine, in eating, girls, and cloth, or the Gout will seize you and plague you both," Franklin wrote. Franklin relished his food, basked in the company of women, and at times used items of apparel to influence the way people perceived him. And, indeed, gout plagued Franklin for much of his life.
One thing that makes these aphorisms so compelling is that Franklin, while divine in apprehension, was in action very much a mortal. Take these morsels in moderation -- Franklin would have it no other way.
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Eat to live, and not live to eat.
After three days men grow weary, of a wench, a guest, and weather rainy.
Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.
Fish and visitors stink after three days.
To err is human, to repent divine; to persist devilish.
Those who in quarrels interpose, must often wipe a bloody nose.
What you seem to be, be really.
Tim was so learned, that he could name a horse in nine Languages. So ignorant, that he bought a cow to ride on.(This made me think of Teraaayzza.)
People who are wrapped up in themselves make small packages.
He that speaks much, is much mistaken.
Glass, China, and Reputation, are easily crack'd, and never well mended.
Silence is not always a Sign of Wisdom, but Babbling is ever a folly.
To be proud of virtue, is to poison yourself with the Antidote.
Thanks for the update. Hope she's back online and visiting with us soon.
The Anti-Guild
The Toon Was Just Ahead of his Time
received in this morning's emails:
If you support the policies and character of George W. Bush, please drive with your headlights on during the day on Monday
If you support John Kerry, please drive with your headlights off that night.
The rich kids at the Young Patrons of Guild Hall Summer Gala benefit last Saturday got more than they paid for — a free strip show with their lobster dinners. The event was held at an empty East Hampton house rented especially for the occasion and featured a 1930s German burlesque theme.
Hired performers clad only in skimpy red underwear and feather headresses wandered the party entertaining the crowd. But one dancer apparently thought guests including Chris Heinz, TV anchor Gigi Stone, designer Cynthia Rowley and Russian heiress Anna Anisimova, were far too buttoned up. The long-haired blonde suddenly stripped down and plunged into the pool at the end of her official performance. Then, dripping wet and clad only with a few well-placed tattoos, she headed straight for the middle of the crowd huddled by the buffet tables. "Uh, gross!" exclaimed some guests while others ran to get a better look. Two men seized on the occasion to chat her up, [Chris?] ignoring dirty stares from girls in party dresses around them.
Other performers, in skin-tight leopard costumes, also seemed to have a different kind of party in mind. They hid in the dark before attacking shocked guests like wild animals. source
Good morning, everyone.
The McGreevey debacle suggests why all Americans, gay and straight alike, have a stake in universalizing marriage. The greatest promise of same-sex marriage is not the tangible improvement it may bring to today's committed gay couples, but its potential to reinforce the message that marriage is the gold standard for human relationships: that adults and children and gays and straights and society and souls all flourish best when love, sex and marriage go together. Nothing will ever make the discovery of homosexual longings easy for a young person. But homosexuality need not mean growing up, as Jim McGreevey and I and many others did, torn between marriage and love. link
No bias at the Associated Press, nosirree: on the AP wire (and available at Yahoo News) is a photo of x42 flying over a flooded area in the summer of 1993, with the caption,
President Clinton looks at floodwaters of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers as he flies over the St. Louis area in Marine One in this July 17, 1993, file photo. Once Hurricane Charley is gone from Florida, it's a safe bet President Bush will sweep in. Natural calamities present political opportunity, and many crucial electoral votes are in the path of Charley's howling winds.
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Hillary Clinton is flying high within the Democratic Party as a marquee star that many hope will launch a presidential run in 2008 or 2012 or join up as a vice presidential contender. But previously unknown federal documents outlining potentially serious election law violations could spell trouble for the junior senator from New York and some high-fliers in the Democratic Party.
At the same time, according to legal and federal law enforcement sources who have spoken to Insight on condition of anonymity, the failure to pursue alleged wrongdoing by Clinton's senatorial campaign in 2000 and among a variety of party and White House officials involved in fundraising at the time raises questions about the integrity of the Justice Department which has failed to bring indictments against key players in Hollywood, Washington, New York and Florida despite mounting evidence.
At the center in much of this legal thicket is Peter Franklin Paul, a colorful figure and former international lawyer who spent time in jail in the 1970's for cocaine possession and an elaborate scheme that scammed Cuban dictator Fidel Castro out of $8 million. Paul subsequently became a successful businessman in Miami, Fla., and then in Los Angeles, Calif., where he co-founded along with legendary comic book creator Stan Lee the Stan Lee Media company (SLM).
Paul was indicted in 2001 on a variety of securities and bank fraud charges both in California and in New York stemming primarily from his borrowing money on margined SLM stocks that he used to pay for elaborate luncheons, dinners and an extravagant Hollywood tribute to President Bill Clinton that was tied to a major fundraising event for Hillary Clinton's senate campaign in the summer of 2000.
In all, according to Paul and extensive documents reviewed by Insight, he provided in-kind contributions in excess of $1.7 million to Clinton's campaign that never has been properly accounted for in her Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings. Clinton and her campaign have denied receiving such large contributions from Paul. rest of story
Getting back to the McGreevey affair, there's an interesting story on how it unfolded in the Ny Times.
"The political people all said that the public might accept that he was gay and overlook the fact that he had an affair," said one person involved in the debate. "But having a lover on the payroll, in a job where they weren't really qualified, whatever their sexual preference, would be devastating."
Mr. McGreevey soon began preparing a speech to make to the public about his life and current circumstances. In doing so, he began conferring with directors at the Human Rights Campaign, a prominent gay advocacy group in Washington with which Mr. Fox was familiar. The most dramatic line the governor eventually uttered — "I am a gay American" — was developed by the group and was a poll-tested phrase used to reframe the debate about gay causes from one about sexual liberation to one about civil rights. link to story
It is any wonder we consider the Dems so dishonest?
African-American. Gay-American. What's the diff? The world's gone insane.
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It's moving-day for Stewart...last chance to make the Ryder Cup team. Please keep him in your thoughts. J
The world's gone insane.
***
We have a winner!
Satan's having a ball these days.
Have a super round, Stewart - fairways and greens, up and down.
TV coverage starts in a few minutes. I see Stewart doesn't tee off until 12:40 or so, but we'll be pulling for him. Looks like it's going to be a nailbiter both for his Ryder Cup hopers and for the handful of guys at the top - very close!
Oops, 12:20 p.m., my bad.
Heinz Kerry's eldest son lives with his physician wife, Kristann, on a wooded 163-acre farm near Philadelphia, refusing all inquiries about Kerry's campaign, the Heinz foundation or his own work and ambitions.
He operates a small Buddhist high school for troubled teens nearby, and makes reproduction ironwork in a studio on his secluded property, land he has conserved so it can never be developed.
On a much larger scale, Teresa Heinz Kerry has steered money to the environment, education and local art and cultural groups as chairwoman of the Pittsburgh-based Heinz Endowments.
Heinz Kerry told The Washington Post in a 2002 profile that John started "hating her" after his daughter Astrid — her only grandchild — was born in 2000. She did not elaborate and her eldest son did not comment afterward. But he continues to serve with her on the board of one of the Heinz charities.
Is the entire eff'n clan deranged, or what?
Prayers for Stewart, let's hope that he makes it to the Oakland Country Club.
13th place! Two more birdies and he'll be in 8th!!!!
(Of coure, that assumes no one else does anything to change the board. LOL!)
New, new update:
Stewart bogied and has made his task harder...BUT...
Steve Flesch just dropped waaaaay down. He was in 9th place on the Ryder Cup standings b/4 this tournament. So his place is now vulnerable.
As I read the points system, stewart still has to get to 8th place in the tourney to garner enough points to know Flesch down. It's a nail-biter!
From another thread:
I live in Iowa. My hardcore, pro-Bush brother-in-law went to the Iowa State Fair today. He said, "I never thought I'd see the day that Iowa turned FOR Bush. But everywhere at the Fair today there were people walking around carrying 'Bush' yard signs!"
I pressed him further, and he said that all folks were talking about was the 'Kerry Vietnam thing' and the Cambodia story in particular and how mad they were. He was absolutely amazed.
He also said that the Democrat's booth was like a 'dead zone' and the Republican booth was swarmed to the point that he couldn't even get close to it. People milling around it, talking about the Kerry Vietnam stories and how mad they were.
He had come immediately to my house after he got back from the Iowa Fair to tell me about all of this and ask me what all the fuss was about. (His wife recently died, hence he's been way out of the news loop.)
When I filled him in on the details about Kerry, his jaw about hit the floor and he exclaimed, "No WONDER these people are so MAD!! I NEVER thought I'd see the day that Bush took Iowa, but I've gotta tell ya... he's gonna win this state!
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