Quote of the Day/Week-Angela Davis

Yes, we may well be the only between here and Dushanbe, Tajikistan, to post back to back entried from former veep Dick Cheney, who is we believe to the right of Attila the Hun (forgive the in-joke), and sixties radical activist Angela Davis, who is we believe to the left of Barney the Dinosaur, whom the Rev. Joseph Cambers of Charlotte, NC, cites as an example of socialist propaganda.

Davis was one of many African-Americans photographed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders as part of his The Black List series which was shown at the Smithsonian National Portraits Gallery in Washington, DC.

Here is the quote from Davis:

"First of all, I didn't suggest that we simply get rid of all prisons."

Quotes of the Day/Week- Hugo Chavez

Today, we conclude our quotes from famous Latin Americans with the always engaging, far-left leader Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. 2011 was a bad year for dictators as both Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, and more recently Kim Jong Il of North Korea (the later of natural causes) died. Others were deposed and imprisoned, and some like Chavez dealt with health issues.

Chavez is suffering from cancer, but exactly what kind of cancer and just how bad it is are not certain. But, Chavez, ever the headline-maker, proclaimed yesterday (according to "The Daily Beast") that the United States was deliberately spreading cancer across South America.

On the other extreme, the American far-right has been a bit paranoid about Chavez, with the whacko evangelist Pat Robertson actually going to the point of calling for the assasination of the Venezuelean leader.

Here is the quote from Chavez, who turned 57 this year:

"We must confront the privildged elite who have destryoed a large part of the world."

Happy Holidays from Barney the Dinosaur

Though I disagree with the politics of former "Washington Post" film critic and novelist Stephen Hunter, who is a conservative pro-guns proponent,I fully agree with his sentiment that he prefers dinosaur movies where the dinosaurs eat people.

Nevertheless, as harmless as Barney the Purple Dinosaur may seem, he was tagged by the Rev. Joseph Chambers, the evangelical extremist from Charlotte, NC, who is also believed to be the first person to proclaim that Bert and Ernie of "Sesame Street" were a gay couple, said that Barney was 'a tool of Satan and homosexuals' who was also attempting to teach children Marxist ideology.

The PBS dino first aired in 1992, some five years after he was created by Sheryl Leach of Dallas, Tex., and the show lasted an amazing 268 episodes. Though, Barney has been on hiatus since September 2009, ironically the same time when "Sesame Street" was celebrating its 40th anniversary.

The theme song from "Barney," which is "I Love You" was actually usehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifd by the very liberal filmmaker Michael Moore in a tv segment in the 1990s in which he tried to get Serbian and Croatian leaders to resolve their differences through the song.

But, in a more sinister effort, "I Love You," as reported in a recent issue of "Mental Floss," was actually used by Guantanamo Bay guards to torture alleged terrorists.

Nevertheless, we are using Barney here to wish everyone a Happy Holidays, even if you would rather be stuck on a desert island with Michele Bachmann.

Quote of the Week- Red Emma Goldman

Today, we conclude our series of quotes from left-wing radicals with a quip from Red Emma Goldman (1869-1940), who may even more lived a more interesting,well-travelled, and certainly less tragic life than her fellow Bolshevik Leon Trotsky.

Goldman is described by Wikipedia as being known for anarchism and giving fiery speeches.

She helped develop the anarchist philosophy of North America. Goldman was born in Lithunia, which became a republic of the Soviet Union (today it is an independent state). She moved to New York in 1885, where she would help create the anarchist journal "Mother Earth" (not to be confused with "Mother Earth News"). The publication lasted from 1906 to 1917.

Goldman was exiled back to the Soviet Union in 1917, but she was not impressed by what she saw. Though it did not change her political ideology, the experience lead to Goldman's penning "My Disillusionment in Russia" (1923), which was very critical of the violence that she witnessed there.

The anarchist leader eventually moved to Canada, where she died in Toronto at age 70.

We should add that while we find Goldman an interesting political figure, and we aren't certainly not in Newt Gingrich's corner (in fact, we think he and Goldman are more or less equally far apart from the political center), by any means, we think it is safe to say Goldman's views are startling to this day and we in now way endorse them. This quote by her illustrates that point quite vividly:

"We Americans claim to be a peace-loving people. We hate bloodshed; we are opposed to violence. Yet, we go into spasms of joy over the possibility of projecting dynamite bombs form flying machines upon helpless citizens."

SIDEBAR- It has been quite the scorcher in the states of Virginia and North Carolina since Sunday. Over the last two days, the following high temperatures were either reported or expected in Virginia: Richmond, 97; Roanoke, 92; Blacksburg, 90; and Appomattox, 100 (?!). Meanwhile in North Carolina, things are not any cooler: Raleigh, 98; Charlotte, 98, Greensboro, 97; Wilmington, 94----perhaps it is a good time to escape to Maine!

Quote of the Week- Lillian Hellman

Today, we continue quoting figures who were either socialists or communists this month since May 1 is associated with Marxism. Though I'm not one myself, I consider Marxists to be a bit more intellectually sound than the radical Chicken Little evangelists who are forecasting mushroom clouds on Saturday.

And, we turn our attention to the great playwright Lillian Hellman (1905-1984) who is best known for three plays in particular, "The Children's Hour" (1934), "The Little Foxes" (1939) and "Toys in the Attic" (1960).

According to Wikipedia, Hellman was blacklisted because her long-time lover the noir novelist Dashiel Hammett was a communist and because Hellman also refused to name names.

Here is her quote:

"Belief is a moral act for which the believer has to be held responsible."

SIDEBAR: I must profess that I could not agree with my friend Chris Knight in Reidsville, NC, who tweeted the following today: "Call me old-fashioned, but if a man can't be trustworthy with his wife, he can't be trusted with elected office." I think Knight was eluding to a certain actor/body-builder who became the governor of California, but it did remind me of current Republican presidential candidate newt Gingrich.

A former congressional rep from New York put in the former house speaker in his rightful place by saying: "Newt will be knocked off his message more times for his own actions than by others."

SIDEBAR TWO: Since there are times when I can be a bit overbearing around others, I was wondering if there was a term for a male diva. And, according to the Urban Dictionary, there is. We are divos. But, we should not be confused with people who can be called devo, though we love the '80s New Wave band Devo. That term refers to male divas are possibly homosexual or meterosexual!

Quote of the Week- Jean Paul Sartre

While putting this piece together, I was struck by the irony that my late Turkish father and the late French Marxist philosopher Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1980) both enjoyed smoking pipes even though my father was a bit of a right-wing Turkish nationalist!

Sartre, who was also among the leading atheist intellectuals in France, is known for his widely-read short story collection "Le Mur/The Road" (1938) and his philosophy collection "Being and Nothingness" (1943).

I found a copy of a book called "Sartre for Beginners" (1998), written by Philip Thordy and Howard Reed and published by Icon Books, at the Internationalist Bookstore in Chapel Hill, NC.

Icon Books recently published a book by English author Kate Munro called "The First Time" about modern sexuality, which also sounds like an interesting read.

Due to time constraints are quote today is going to be extremely short; we are planning to have quotes from many French people past and present in July. This entry is part of our month-long series on quotes from left-wing, radical figures. Here is the quip from Sartre:

"Hell is other people."

SIDEBAR: While I was trying to put this entry together at the Wilson, NC, public library (not really where I am at!), a group of children came through the doors and they really annoyed me. As the late American comic actor W.C. Fields once said: "No one qho hate dogs and children can be all that bad."

I don't dislike children as individuals, but when there are large groups of them, they get on my last nerve, which is perhaps why it is a good thing that I am not a father.

But, I found this interesting disclosure from someone who did not give their name or hometown on myworstsecret.com who professes an even more profound distaste for children than I do. This person and I are probably very different in other aspects of life, which I will go into after showing what he or she said:

"I hate children. I really do. Oddly enough, I'm pro-life and have a 2 year old. I don't want kids to DIE, I just can't stand them."

Personally, I am a moderate liberal (though I love to quote socialists; it must come from being surrounded by Yosemite Sam Republicans) and I am pro-choice. Also, I would not use the word hate for how I feel about children, but in groups of two or more, they do tend to profoundly annoy me!

Ironically, I had a post on this blog for Children's Day in Turkey, which is on April 23rd....