Ashamed

So at Bush's behest, the Congressional lapdogs have authorized the United States to torture whomever it pleases. The United States. In the 21st Century.

On this day, I am ashamed to be an American.

Justice

Justice is as simpleminded as the sword slashing at the knot, rending even as it releases.

The poverty of the past

It is important to remember that it is precisely the poverty of the past—a poverty grossly magnified through the partial and providential preservation of what has gone before—which so impresses its exceptional productions upon us.

The bubbling sound

To locate the faults and fissures in a society, listen for the bubbling sound.

Monoculture

Monoculture is the goal of corporatism, for it is inefficient to cater to multiple markets when you can manufacture one.

The point of terrorism (Schneier)

The point of terrorism is to cause terror. The people terrorists kill are not the targets; they are collateral damage. And blowing up planes, trains, markets or buses is not the goal; those are just tactics. The real targets of terrorism are the rest of us: the billions of us who are not killed but are terrorized because of the killing. The real point of terrorism is not the act itself, but our reaction to the act. And we're doing exactly what the terrorists want.

Bruce Schneier

Understanding

Understanding is not a requirement of living, of survival. How could it be? The ability to understand evolved long after we were already living successfully. But to take the next step, from existence to something more, will be impossible without a commitment to understanding far beyond that which society has yet made or encouraged.