Posts
Smedley Darlington Butler | I might have given Al Capone a few hints
in Smedley Darlington Butler"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."
Smedley Darlington Butler
Dr. Angela Merkel | all the major decisions did not have a demoscopic majority when they were made
in Angela Merkel, Dr. Angela Merkel"But that is precisely why I am also deeply convinced that it is right that we have a representative democracy and not a plebiscitary democracy, and that representative democracy gives us the opportunity for certain periods of time to make decisions, then within these periods of time also to campaign for these decisions and thus to change opinions. Looking back at the history of the Federal Republic, we can say that all the major decisions did not have a demoscopic majority when they were made. The introduction of the social market economy, rearmament, the treaties with the East, the NATO dual decision, the adherence to unity, the introduction of the euro and also the increasing assumption of responsibility by the Bundeswehr in the world - almost all of these decisions were made against the majority of Germans. Only in retrospect did the attitude of the Germans change in many cases. I also think it's reasonable for the population to look at the outcome of a measure first and then form a judgment about it. I think that is an expression of the primacy of politics. And that should also be adhered to."
Dr. Angela Merkel
Jon Rappoport | Socialism is
in Jon Rappoport"Socialism is: The taking of money (taxes) from some people who work for it and giving it to others who don't work for it. On a grand scale. The vast expansion of freebies doled out by central government. In order to create and sustain dependence. The government protection of favored persons and corporations, permitting them and aiding them to expand their fortunes without limit, regardless of what crimes they commit in the process. (Monsanto would be a fine example.) The squeezing out of those who would compete with the favored persons and corporations. The dictatorship by and for the very wealthy, pretending to be the servant of the masses. The lie that the dictatorship is being run by the masses. The gradual lowering of the standard of living for the overwhelming number of people. The propaganda claiming socialism is the path to a better world for all. In other words, socialism is a protection racket and a long con and a heartless system of elite control, posing as the greatest good. It is just another form of top-down tyranny---as old as the hills."
Jon Rappoport
Albert Jay Nock | The State, both in its genesis and by its primary intention, is purely anti-social
in Albert Jay Nock"The State, both in its genesis and by its primary intention, is purely anti-social. It is not based on the idea of natural rights, but on the idea that the individual has no rights except those that the State may provisionally grant him. It has always made justice costly and difficult of access, and has invariably held itself above justice and common morality whenever it could advantage itself by so doing."
Albert Jay Nock
Thomas Jefferson | A government big enough to give you everything you want
in Thomas Jefferson"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is a government big enough to take away everything that you have."
Thomas Jefferson
Ludwig von Mises | The champions of socialism
in Ludwig von Mises"The champions of socialism call themselves progressives, but they recommend a system which is characterized by rigid observance of routine and by a resistance to every kind of improvement. They call themselves liberals, but they are intent upon abolishing liberty. They call themselves democrats, but they yearn for dictatorship. They call themselves revolutionaries, but they want to make the government omnipotent. They promise the blessings of the Garden of Eden, but they plan to transform the world into a gigantic post office. Every man but one a subordinate clerk in a bureau."
Ludwig von Mises, Bureaucracy
Friedrich Nietzsche | for what one has forbidden so far as a matter of principle has always been — truth alone.
in Friedrich Nietzsche"for what one has forbidden so far as a matter of principle has always been—truth alone."
Friedrich Nietzsche
C.S. Lewis | I do not like the pretensions of Government
in Clive Staples Lewis“I do not like the pretensions of Government -- the grounds on which it demands my obedience -- to be pitched too high. I don't like the medicine-man's magical pretensions nor the Bourbon's Divine Right. This is not solely because I disbelieve in magic and in Bossuet's Politique. I believe in God, but I detest theocracy. For every Government consists of mere men and is, strictly viewed, a makeshift; if it adds to its commands 'Thus saith the Lord', it lies, and lies dangerously. On just the same ground I dread government in the name of science. That is how tyrannies come in. In every age the men who want us under their thumb, if they have any sense, will put forward the particular pretension which the hopes and fears of that age render most potent. They 'cash in'. It has been magic, it has been Christianity. Now it will certainly be science. Perhaps the real scientists may not think much of the tyrants' 'science'-- they didn't think much of Hitler's racial theories or Stalin's biology. But they can be muzzled.”
C.S. Lewis
Russel Brand | the mainstream media is not your friend
in Russel Brand"I’ve made a lot of mistakes, I’ve been wrong many times but I’m beginning to think I’m right about this: the mainstream media is not your friend, the culture is not your friend, the government is not your friend, big business is not your friend. They are operating collegiately in unison to create a set of systems that are beneficial to them and disadvantage you."
Russel Brand
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce | ELECTOR, n. One who enjoys the sacred privilege
in Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce"ELECTOR, n. One who enjoys the sacred privilege of voting for the man of another man's choice."
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce
Prof. Christoph Degenhart | The broadcasters adopt government lines in an undifferentiated manner
in Professor Christoph Degenhart"In the portrayal of political processes, I often see a certain political one-sidedness. For example, when it comes to the topics of ecology or Europeanization, critics are always put in the right-wing corner. [....] The broadcasters adopt government lines in an undifferentiated manner. ARD and ZDF are increasingly acting as an acclamation forum for politics."
Professor Christoph Degenhart
Edmund Burke | Their passions forge their fetters
in Edmund Burke"Until you could make out practically that great work, a combination of opposing forces, "a work of labour long, and endless praise," the utmost caution ought to have been used in the reduction of the royal power, which alone was capable of holding together the comparatively heterogeneous mass of your states. But at this day, all these considerations are unreasonable. To what end should we discuss the limitations of royal power? Your king is in prison. Why speculate on the measure and standard of liberty? I doubt much, very much indeed, whether France is at all ripe for liberty on any standard. Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites, — in proportion as their love to justice is above their rapacity, — in proportion as their soundness and sobriety of understanding is above their vanity and presumption, — in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters."
Edmund Burke
Barack Obama | Ordinary men and women are too small-minded
in Barack Obama"Ordinary men and women are too small-minded to govern their own affairs, that order and progress can only come when individuals surrender their rights to an all-powerful sovereign."
Barack Obama
George Bernard Shaw | We want a few mad people now
in George Bernard Shaw"We want a few mad people now. See where the sane ones have landed us!"
George Bernard Shaw
George Orwell | If you want a picture of the future
in George Orwell"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever."
Friedrich August von Hayek | all forms of collectivism lead eventually to tyranny
in Friedrich August von Hayek"Through the inevitable mismanagement of resources and goods at the disposal of the state, all forms of collectivism lead eventually to tyranny."
Friedrich August von Hayek
Tom Clancy | What the government is good at is collecting taxes
in Thomas Leo Clancy Jr."What the government is good at is collecting taxes, taking away your freedoms and killing people. It's not good at much else."
Tom Clancy
Erich Fromm | Indeed, freedom and the capacity for disobedience are inseparable
in Erich Fromm"Indeed, freedom and the capacity for disobedience are inseparable; hence any social, political, and religious system which proclaims freedom, yet stamps out disobedience, cannot speak the truth."
Erich Fromm
Roland Baader | Let us free ourselves from the true evil (state counterfeit money)
in Roland Baader"It may be too late to avert the financial disaster that lies ahead of us, but we must at least prevent the road to financial ruin from also becoming a road to servitude. Let's talk our heads off and write our fingers to the bone, let's make ourselves outsiders and ridiculed figures if necessary, but let's fight to ensure that the basis of people's freedom, the market economy, is not presented to them as the alleged culprit and executed by the henchmen of power under the false pretext. Otherwise, it is we ourselves, our happiness and prosperity and freedom, who die with the market. Let us free ourselves from the true evil, from the fuel of presumptuous domination and destructive lies: from state counterfeit money."
Roland Baader
Klaus Kinski | If the government was replaced by the mafia
in Klaus Kinski"If the government was replaced by the mafia we'd probably have half as much corruption and twice as much fun."
Klaus Kinski
Benjamin Constant | When you pay the representatives of the people
in Benjamin Constant"When you pay the representatives of the people, you do not arouse in them an interest in performing their functions conscientiously; rather, you interest them only in continuing to secure for themselves the exercise of those functions."
Benjamin Constant
John Edgar Hoover | a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists
in John Edgar Hoover"The individual is handicapped by coming face-to-face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists. The American mind simply has not come to a realization of the evil which has been introduced into our midst. It rejects even the assumption that human creatures could espouse a philosophy which must ultimately destroy all that is good and decent."
John Edgar Hoover
Ayn Rand | He is free to evade reality
in Ayn Rand"He is free to evade reality, he is free to unfocus his mind and stumble blindly down any road he pleases, but not free to avoid the abyss he refuses to see."
Ayn Rand
Friedrich Nietzsche | We live in a system
in Friedrich Nietzsche"We live in a system in which one must either be a wheel or get crushed by the wheels."
Friedrich Nietzsche
Edward Osborne Wilson | We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom
in Edward Osborne Wilson"We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. The world henceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able to put together the right information at the right time, think critically about it, and make important choices wisely."
Edward Osborne Wilson
William Egan Colby | The CIA controls everyone of significance in the major media
in William Egan Colby"The CIA controls everyone of significance in the major media, where it spent about 30% of its budget on covered press personnel and programs"
William Egan Colby
Albert Einstein | The masses are never militaristic
in Albert Einstein"The masses are never militaristic until their minds are poisoned by propaganda."
Albert Einstein