Citatepedia^®.com

I think it's less risky for the Kerry campaign to embrace former President Clinton than it is to reject him.

quote by Stuart Rothenberg
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Risky

Ripop/sakamoto/laswell
Born in a corporate dungeon
Where people are cheated of life
I knew I could never stay home no
As you lie in the dark
With your pink dress on
You look risky lovely risky lovely
Child of the whispering skies
Risky thats your name
Risky unashamed
Risky show your style
Risky loves on trial
You make me feel that this heart is real
When you hold me love me hold me love me
Girl with the scream in her eyes
Risky thats your name
Risky unashamed
Risky show your style
Risky loves on trial
People fall apart all the time
Ive been hit enough to know why
Climb to this point move on
Climb to this point move on
Career, career acquire, acquire
But what is life whithout a heart
Theres standing room only
Somebody better tell the truth
Proceed at your own risk
Risky thats your name
Risky unashamed
Risky show your style
Risky loves on trial
Why feel so sad
Let your heart be glad
Love is risky lovely risky lovely
Child of the whispering skies
Born in a corporate dungeon
Where people are cheated of life
I knew I could never stay home
Risky love, risky love, risky love, sweet love
Risky love, risky love, give me love, sweet love, risky love, risky love

song performed by Iggy Pop
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

We Can Create A Modern International Community

And I wonder when Congress will allow public nationwide schools...
in the United States to set aside time for children again to pray?
To pray for, or quietly reflect on behalf of, their once great Nation!

To pray for their nation during this proclaimed danger time...
of struggle against the forces of evil dark international terrorism!
But in the White House lurks a dark soul of 100% fetus murder!

Barack against murder international terrorism with Pro-Abortion Record!
Like Pharaoh in the time of the birth of Moses, like King Harold at the birth of Jesus, killing innocent children based on state law is ok in America today!

Why? How can this be? On 9th of March 2008 Barack proclaimed “We were once were, we are no longer a Christian nation, at least not just....”
No Ten Commandments, No God’s law displayed in government buildings!

15th April 2009 Barack proclaimed “We can create a modern international community that is respectful that is secure that is prosperous....
(in an aside to himself) and like Baal Worshippers we will support propagate

State Policies funding killing innocent children against the will of the majority of Americans and I Barack will use tax payer dollars to kill innocent unborn! We will fill White House high office with Pro Abortion all! Yes We Can!

Darth Vader will create a universal New World Order!

And in the on going baby killing sweepstakes infant killer Obama selects: -

Pro-Abortion Sen. Joe Biden as Obama’s vice-presidential running mate. Pro-Abortion Rep. Rahm Emanuel as Obama’s White House Chief of Staff.
Pro-Abortion former Sen. Tom Daschle as Obama’s Health and Human Services Secretary.

Former NARAL legal director Dawn Johnsen to serve as a member of Obama’s Department of Justice Review Team. Next appointed Assistant Attorney General for the Office of the Legal Counsel.

Betta check Obama’s rap sheet Pro-Abortion Record, for the rest of his all star elite baby killing machine selections.

'President Barack Obama's Pro-Abortion Record: A Pro-Life Compilation

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) - The following is a compilation of bill signings, speeches, appointments and other actions that President Barack Obama has engaged in that have promoted abortion before and during his presidency. While Obama has promised to reduce abortions and some of his supporters believe that will happen, this long list proves his only agenda is promoting more abortions.

During the presidential election, Obama selected pro-abortion Sen. Joe Biden as his vice-presidential running mate.

Post-Election / Pre-Inauguration
November 5,2008 - Obama selects pro-abortion Rep. Rahm Emanuel as his White House Chief of Staff. Emanuel has a 0% pro-life voting record according to National Right to Life.

November 19,2008 - Obama picks pro-abortion former Sen. Tom Daschle as his Health and Human Services Secretary. Daschle has a long pro-abortion voting record according to National Right to Life.

November 20,2008 - Obama chooses former NARAL legal director Dawn Johnsen to serve as a member of his Department of Justice Review Team. Later, he finalizes her appointment as the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of the Legal Counsel in the Obama administration.

November 24,2008 - Obama appoints Ellen Moran, the former director of the pro-abortion group Emily's List as his White House communications director. Emily's List only supports candidates who favored taxpayer funded abortions and opposed a partial-birth abortion ban.

November 24,2008 - Obama puts former Emily's List board member Melody Barnes in place as his director of the Domestic Policy Council.

November 30,2008 - Obama named pro-abortion Sen. Hillary Clinton as the Secretary of State. Clinton has an unblemished pro-abortion voting record and has supported making unlimited abortions an international right.

December 10,2008 - Obama selects pro-abortion former Clinton administration official Jeanne Lambrew to become the deputy director of the White House Office of Health Reform. Planned Parenthood is 'excited' about the selection.

[...] Read more

poem by Terence George Craddock
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

On The 09 All Ireland Football Final

For the Cork Gaelic Footballers another humbling defeat
By their neighbours Kerry in Croke Park once more they've been beat
In Gaelic Football in Ireland Kerry to the fore
With 36 All Ireland titles and their fans hoping for more.

My mum was from Kerry that I cannot deny
But why it aches me when Cork lose a big game I do wonder why?
Though long absent from Ireland a sense of parochialism I do retain
Some-things from our past always with us do remain.

But Kerry fans with their 09 All Ireland victory need not get carried away
As their hurlers are quite poor though that does seem a sad thing for to have to say
Like Kilkenny Ireland's premier hurling County Kerry G A A rankings low
The lowest even in Munster as all G A A fans do know.

For the Liam Mcarthy Cup Kerry Hurlers never allowed for to play
For that not deemed to be good enough by the administrators of the G A A
Like the Kilkenny Footballers Kerry Hurlers amongst the lowly rate
Though their many Football victories their fans have to celebrate.

Kerry are 09 All Ireland Senior Football Champions their neighbours Cork they did outplay
In Croke Park in Dublin Ireland on September's third sunday
But Cork the only winners of the Hurling and Football double for them an amazing feat
With Ireland best Football and Hurling Counties at the highest level do compete.

poem by Francis Duggan
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

If I Was President

Election times coming.
Who you gonna vote for?
If I was President,
I'd get elected on Friday,
Assasinated on Saturday,
Burried on Sunday, then go back to work on Monday.
If I was President, If I was President, If I was President
Instead of spendin' Billions on the war,
I could use that money so I can feed the poor.
Cause I know some so poor, when it rains that's when they shower
Screamin' "Fight the power!" That's when the vulture devours.
If I was President,
I'd get elected on Friday,
Assasinated on Saturday,
Burried on Sunday. Then go back to work on Monday
If I was President, If I was President, If I was President.
I know some soldiers that sleep but they can't dream,
Wake up with screams, sounds of them succeed.
So take this medal of honor for your bravery,
I wish you the best care for you and your family.
If I was President,
I'd get elected on Friday,
Assasinated on Saturday,
Burried on Sunday, then go back to work on Monday.
If I was President, If I was President, If I was President.
But the radio won't play this. They call it rebel music.
How can you refuse it? Children of Moses.
Tell the children the truth, the truth.
It's not all that bling that's dimonds.
Tell them the truth, the truth.
Most of yall wear cubics of zycomians.
Tell them the truth, the truth.
Your soldiers worth more than diamonds.
Yeah, If I was President
All blacks have reperation no segregation
Feed the nation until there's no famine Muslims, Jews, Christians
would all hold hands, every week on the beach party by the sand
Word up, take trips on Air Force One,
No need to bring no homless with no sneaks to Air Force One.
Better schools in the hood, better teachers for the classes,
making money, paying no taxes.
Find the best scientist tell'em come up with an answer, I want the
cure for aids and cancer. But I gotta watch my back sniper gonna
heal with the steel waitin for JFK.
If I was President, If I was President.
I'd get elected on Friday,
Assasinated on Saturday,
Burried on Sunday, then go back to work on Monday.
If I was President, If I was President.
I feel the rain comming let me play the guitar for them right now.

[...] Read more

song performed by Wyclef Jean
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Embrace

(r gibb)
I dont know what you want, I dont hear what you said
Truth behind the lies
cause I cant see whats in your head
And spread your wings and fly, out in a brave new world
Let this be my prayer, to keep you safe when Im not there
Can we love and live apart, I dont know,no, I dont know
How can we divide the heart, I dont know, no, I dont know
And when the night falls, and when the sky falls,
I long for your embrace
And in the cold night, under the street light
I long for your embrace
Living separate lives, I have faith in you, away from you
Like a lonely child, I will hang on every word
Embrace
Through the mists of time, lovers can be friends
The power of the human heart
The secrets in the souls of men
All my blessings in disguise
I dont know, no, I dont know
Reunited we will rise
I dont know, no, I dont know
And when the night falls, and when the sky falls,
I long for your embrace
And in the cold night, under the street light
I long for your embrace
Living separate lives, I have faith in you, away from you
Like a lonely child, I will hang on every word
And when the night falls, and when the sky falls,
I long for your embrace
Another daybreak, another heartache
I long for your embrace
Living separate lives
Away from you
Embrace, embrace
The lonely, lonely life
Lonely days and nights
We can live our life
Embrace, embrace
With our separate lives
Embrace, embrace
The lonely, lonely lives
Lonely days and nights
I will never send away
Embrace, embrace
The lonely, lonely lives
Embrace the child inside
The lonely, lonely lives

song performed by Bee Gees
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Convex

Hold, hold me down, make me wish, make me wish for air
Call out your name, slowly drain the hate out of me
You're all the same, half inane, lack of brains.
Too much time I'm on my own again
Too much thought to ever see again
Too much sense to ever hear again
Too much hate to see a different end
Too much fear to concentrate again
Too much love to ever feel again
Ugly fears, Ugly face
Ugly thoughts, Leave no trace
Of innocence
The world inside breaking down
The world inside breaking down
Murder all these feelings trapped inside
Murder all these feelings trapped inside
reject everything reject everything
reject everything reject everything
reject everything reject everything
reject everything reject everything
Too much time I'm on my own again
Too much hate to see a different end
Too much fear to concentrate again
Too much love to ever feel again
Ugly fears, Ugly face
Ugly thoughts, Leave no trace
Of innocence
Holding on to words that let go softly
As you whisper into my ears only
Drowning in a pool of all of the tears
Nights and days they seem to drag on
All around you sense the sound
You don't even listen any more

song performed by Velvet Acid Christ
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

My Dreams are Born

Ladies and Gentlemen

There is nothing more than an idea whose time has come
Durkheim knows that and everybody knows that
Thanks to Andrew Heywood for defining to us what is meant by the term democracy
The rule of people by people and for people
In South Africa Jackop Zuma was a Deputy President - for past 15 years of democracy

However he was not seen as somebody who might become president
He has was just an entertainer in the political field of ANC
The time came when the questions were being asked wether this person can serve as a president

The complains originate out of Organic Society

An organic Society that is an Industrialised and teach people to define according to their occupation
This is to say you are a nurse, engeneer and or pilot - often you must be educated

But all of that shall end today by means of a vote
Hold on: world hold on right now
Tonight is the night
The tables are overtuned - we are going to have a new South African President - who is democratically elected.
Thankyou to you Lincolin for teaching the universe about what does democracy means
Yesterday Jackop Zuma was taken for granted more especially by those who are highly educated
They a person who is not educated cannot lead the Parliament - he cannot become a president
But people kept on insisting that we want him to lead us and we don't care whether he is educated or not.
If you have been my poem reader and my true proponent you should also remember the poem: by the name South Africa The World's Greatest News.

Where I see a light burning inside of Jackop Zuma's Heart
Where I see some politicians trying to push him off the ruling party through trials and several charges that were all ought to be disapproved and it did indeed happen.
Today: 22 April 2009 is election day and people are going to confirm him to become the South African President - because he had already defeated many troubles and trebulations

However he was not alone in this battle and he does need to wake up in by the next morning or next week and say or I am the state president and I am very happy for that I have overrule my enemies.

There were more than millions people his battle
1 God himself who does not like gays and lesbians that cause his opponet Thabo Mbheki lost popularity

2American proponent who taught us what is democray: that is to say it is not about being educated that qualifies someone to become a president but it is the rule for people - theyare the ones who elect who is to lead.
3Who else can forget the power of Zwelinzima Vavi for observing that the charges that were thrawn to Jackp Zuma were just falsely created fantasy to obscure him from becoming a president

5 Latter on we had young tigers like South Africa honest Judges of the Judges - Van de Merwe and the lattest Judge who discover that there was political intervention in the Prospective President Jackop Zuma charges - and thereby lead to the ousting of immorral politician including Thabo Mbheki

6 Julius Malema is highly visible

Lastly I should like to conclude by my words of inspiratation that are directed to Jackop Zuma and any leader of the world.

If you are a leader you must not practice immorrality or get related in criminal in any way because the world is your facebook and you will repent over that.If you hate someone you must not use courts and or trial method to oust him because law is independent of political plot and it will show off with you all over the world.

Discrimination if you are a president is very bad whether it is covet or overt discrimination it will always pop out to show off the world how corrupt the world is.

[...] Read more

poem by Mthokozisi Ntokozo Maphumulo
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Virginia's Story

Elizabeth Gates-Wooten is my Grand mom.

She was born in Canada with her father and brothers.
They owned a Barber Shoppe.
I don't remember exactly where in Canada.
I believe it was right over the border like Windsor or Toronto.
I never knew exactly where it was.

When she was old enough she got married.

First, she married a man by the name of Frank Gates.
He was from Madagascar.
He fathered my mom and her brother and sister.
The boy's name was Frank Gates, Jr.
Two girls name were Anna and Agnes.

Agnes was my mother.

Frank Gates went crazy after the war
He drank a lot and died
Then grandma Elizabeth married a man by the name of Mr. Wooten.
He had a German name, but I don't think he was German.
She took his last name after they got married.

Then they moved to West Virginia in the United States.

Their son, Frank Gates Jr. Became a delegate in the democratic party.
He use to get into a lot of trouble because he liked to fight.
He was a delegate from the 1940's to 1970's.
He died of gout in the 1970's.

Anna was a maid and cook.

She baked cakes and stuff for people as a side line.
She had a hump on her back (scoliosis) .
She had to walk with a cane.
She could cook good though.
She did this kind of work all of her life, just like her mom, Elizabeth

They were both good cooks

They had a lot of money because they had these skills
Especially when people had parties.
Because they would make all of this food and then they would have left-overs.
We got to eat a lot of stuff we normally wouldn't get because of that.
When they cooked, they didn't use no measuring stuff, they would just use there hand.

My moms name was Agnes Barrie Gates.

She married James Wright and moved to Cleveland.

[...] Read more

poem by Talile Ali
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

What Is A Cigar?

Even Sigmund Freud
said that sometimes
a cigar is only a cigar.
Not a phallic symbolic

sensual sexual object.

Obviously President
U.S. of A. Clinton
did not graduate past
the phallic symbolism.

Has Clinton not got the Freudian
message down to political pat?

Cigar language is multicultural!
Lewd cigar games are probing
business psychology deeper than
Clinton with Monica Lewinsky!

During Oval Office Intimate Party Games!

Clinton smoked sexually used Lewinsky
cigars; with powerful Japanese businessmen?

Clinton knows a cigar. Is not
just a spent phallic symbol!
Representing a sexual object.

It is an extended aid; to established dominant!
For an ailing, impotent, spent hormonal politician?
Spent definitely. Impotent? Not by a long shot!

‘I did not have sexual relations with that woman! ’
The issue was pergury! He lied under oath!

Willfully and knowingly
stated a whopper falsehood under oath!
The BJ act itself was never unlawful
under the Constitutional Bill of Rights!

Copyright © Terence George Craddock
See also ‘Presidential Impeachment’.

poem by Terence George Craddock
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Here Comes President Kill Again

Here comes president kill again,
Surrounded by all of his killing men.
Telling us who, why, where and when,
President kill wants killing again.
Hooray, ring out the bells,
King conscience is dead.
Hooray, now back in your cells,
Weve president kill instead.
Here comes president kill again.
Broadcasting from his killing den.
Dressed in pounds and dollars and yen,
President kill wants killing again.
Hooray, hang out the flags,
Queen caring is dead.
Hooray, well stack body bags,
For president kill instead.
Aint democracy wonderful?
Them russians cant win!
Aint democracy wonderful?
Lets us vote someone like that in.
Here comes president kill again,
From pure white house to number 10.
Taking lives with a smoking pen,
President kill wants killing again.
Hooray, everythings great,
Now president kill is dead.
Hooray, Ill bet you cant wait,
To vote for president kill instead...

song performed by Xtc
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Here Comes President Kill Again

Here comes president kill again,
Surrounded by all of his killing men.
Telling us who, why, where and when,
President kill wants killing again.
Hooray, ring out the bells,
King conscience is dead.
Hooray, now back in your cells,
Weve president kill instead.
Here comes president kill again.
Broadcasting from his killing den.
Dressed in pounds and dollars and yen,
President kill wants killing again.
Hooray, hang out the flags,
Queen caring is dead.
Hooray, well stack body bags,
For president kill instead.
Aint democracy wonderful?
Them russians cant win!
Aint democracy wonderful?
Lets us vote someone like that in.
Here comes president kill again,
From pure white house to number 10.
Taking lives with a smoking pen,
President kill wants killing again.
Hooray, everythings great,
Now president kill is dead.
Hooray, Ill bet you cant wait,
To vote for president kill instead...

song performed by Xtc
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Modern Love LXXI (Kama Sutra-Sat Nam)

Kama Sutra, simple kiss
straight kiss, first kiss
bent kiss, movie kiss
stolen kiss, spicy kiss
forehead kiss, eye kiss
cheek kiss, throat kiss
bosom kiss, breast kiss
lip kiss, mouth kiss
Hear the click clack
Kiss of intention
Kiss that kindles love
Kiss that awakens
Kiss that turns away
Kiss back of knees
Kiss insteps
Kiss ear lobes
Sat Nam
Embrace forehead
embrace eyes,
embrace face
embrace breasts
smoldering slow dance
embrace twining of a creeper
embrace climbing a tree
embrace thighs
piercing embrace
embrace of the jaghana
Mixture of sesamum seed
with rice
feel those dark clouds disappear
Sat Nam
Touch, encircle, entwine
Milk and water embrace
Auparishataka
Nominal Congress
Inside and outside pressing
Sucking a mango fruit
Swallowing it up
all the dream is you
sat nam
Tickle the peacock feather
Draw out trunk of elephant
Worship at the gate
Congress of the crow
Widely opened position
Hear the ring of far off gongs
Yawning position
Hear music playing
Splitting of the bamboo
Fast, slow echo endlessly

[...] Read more

poem by Liberatore Suffoletta
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Kerry

Kerry, so cool and so clever
I know, cause you told me so
Youve got it bad for yourself
And nobody else can hold a candle to you
So lm told
Wont you give us a break
Dont take it too far
Wont you give yourself a chance
Youre enough as you are.
Yeah, you might be o.k.
And it might be all wrong
To carry on
Oh kerry you can carry on
Just dont get carried away
Oh kerry, its o.k. to carry on
But dont get carried away,
Watch it now, kay oh kerry
I must have been crazy to think
That I could find you
When you were lost
Girl, you cant know what youre saying
When you slip away
Teil me baby, is it worth the cost

song performed by Hall & Oates
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Kerry Packer

Kerry Packer was the richest man in Australia until he died the other year.....

I sometimes think of Kerry Packer
And if he’s doing well
Did he make up to heaven
Or was he sent down to hell.

A strange man, Kerry Packer
He was so rich when he was born
Yet what he loved to eat in life
Was just burgers and pop corn.

Not a nice man – I don’t think so
Nor of gentle sentiment
A man who wanted his own way
And didn’t care on whom he leant.

A bully! And a braggart!
And with money he could buy
Those who would agree with him
When he looked them in the eye.

I still think of Kerry Packer
And if he’s doing well
But I now hope that he’s in heaven
Where his soul he cannot sell.

poem by David Keig
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Paddy Murphy's Wake

The priest had been here earlier and the rosary was said
and relatives and friends in single file were offering condolences.
'Sorry for your troubles, ' one by one they said,
bending over Maggie Murphy, silent in her rocker,
a foot or so from Paddy, resplendent in his casket,
the two of them much closer now than they had ever been.
A silent guest of honor, Paddy now had nothing more to say,
waked in aspic, if you will, in front of his gothic fireplace.

But the hour was getting late and still the widow hadn't wept.
Her eyes were swept Saharas and the mourners wanted tears.
They had fields to plow come morning and they needed sleep
but the custom in County Kerry was
no one leaves a wake until the widow weeps.

Fair Maggie could have married any man in Kerry,
according to her mother, who almost every day reminded her of that.
'Maggie, ' she would say, 'you should have married Mickey.
His limp was not that bad, ' but Maggie wouldn't listen.
Instead, she married Paddy, 'that pestilence out walking'
as her mother often called him
even on a Sunday but only after Mass.

Maggie married Paddy the day he scored the only goal
the year that Kerry took the trophy back from Galway.
That goal was no small thing, Paddy would remind us all forever
until one of us would gag and buy him another drink.
That goal, he'd shout, was something historians would one day note,
even if they hadn't yet, and every time he'd mention it,
which was almost daily, Maggie's mother would remind her daughter
that she should have married Mickey and had a better life.
The final time her mother praised poor Mickey,
a screaming match ensued, so loud it woke the rooster
the day before her mother, feverish in bed,
gurgled like a frog and died.

This evening, though, as the wake wore on,
the mourners grew more weary
waiting for the tears the widow hadn't shed.
Restless in his folding chair, Mickey put his bottle down
and rose to give the eulogy it had taken days to memorize.
'Folks, ' he said, 'if all of us would holler down to Paddy now,
he'd holler back, I'm sure, and tell us,
despite the flames and all that smoke, that Kerry
winning over Galway is all that ever mattered, even now.
We'll always have cold Paddy over there to thank for that.'

[...] Read more

poem by Donal Mahoney
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Tim Kennelly

A mighty Gaelic Footballer he inspired the bards to rhyme
He played centre half back for Kerry when he was in his prime
A stalwart of the Listowel Emmetts a famous Gaelic Football Club
And in the Town of listowel he owned a well known pub.

His name was Tim Kennelly one of the Kingdom's best
And he was not found wanting when he was put to the test
But he did not live to be an old man to grow stooped and old and gray
In his very early fifties the great man passed away.

With the greats of Gaelic Football he is surely one to rate
The Listowel Emmetts Clubman was a Kerry G A A great
For Listowel Emmetts and for Kerry he played many a marvellous game
And his name destined to live on in Gaelic Football's Hall Of Fame.

His son Tadgh is a star of Aussie Rules Football for the Sydney Swans Today
And though the mighty Tim Kennelly in eternal rest now lay
He will always be remembered as a Gaelic Footballer supreme
Who won five All Irelands with a famous Kerry team.

poem by Francis Duggan
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Suppliant

Father, I lift my hands to Thee:
Reject me not!
Mine eyes are blind, I cannot see.
Be Thou the lamp unto my feet,—
Guide to the rock of my retreat;
O Light, my darkness cries to Thee!
Reject me not!

Father, mine eyes with tears are wet,
Reject me not!
Though Thou forgive, shall I forget?
Nay, though thy mercy fall like rain,
My spirit still must bear the pain
And burden of a vast regret.
Reject me not!

To whom, unfriended, should I flee?
Reject me not!
To whom, my Father, but to Thee?—
Ah! 'T was thy child forgave the sin
Of the repentant Magdalen
And blessed the thief on Calvary!—
Reject me not!

poem by Florence Earle Coates from Poems (1898)
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Clinton cost John Kerry more votes than he gained for him whenever they appeared together. Imagine being part of a crowd enraptured by the presence of Bill Clinton, and then having to listen to a speech by John Kerry!

quote by Pat Sajak
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Splitting Infinitives

Chief Justice Roberts hates to split
infinitives, and boldly goes
towards the future without wit,
his path as prim as that prim rose
that once Polonius boldly took,
advising Hamlet not to dally.
The Constitution almost shook
when he refused to shilly-shally,
and tried to wander in a way
that was unfaithful to the text
the oath of office. The next day
the problem was resolved, and now,
Queen’s English and our own unregal
language must agree that splitting
of infinitives is legal,
although pedantically unfitting,
since we’ve a President who swore
appropriately, and a Justice
who like Polonius is a bore
and clearly just as dry as dust is.

Inspired by Stephen Pinker’s Op-Ed article in the NYT, January 22,2009, appropriately titled “Oaf of Office, ” commenting on the fiasco created by Chief Justice Roberts when administering the oath of office to President Obama according togrammatical rules that conflict with the original text of the oath:
In 1969, Neil Armstrong appeared to have omitted an indefinite article as he stepped onto the moon and left earthlings puzzled over the difference between “man” and “mankind.” In 1980, Jimmy Carter, accepting his party’s nomination, paid homage to a former vice president he called Hubert Horatio Hornblower. A year later, Diana Spencer reversed the first two names of her betrothed in her wedding vows, and thus, as Prince Charles Philip supposedly later joked, actually married his father. On Tuesday, Chief Justice John Roberts joined the Flubber Hall of Fame when he administered the presidential oath of office apparently without notes. Instead of having Barack Obama “solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, ” Chief Justice Roberts had him “solemnly swear that I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully.” When Mr. Obama paused after “execute, ” the chief justice prompted him to continue with “faithfully the office of president of the United States.” (To ensure that the president was properly sworn in, the chief justice re-administered the oath Wednesday evening.)
How could a famous stickler for grammar have bungled that 35-word passage, among the best-known words in the Constitution? Conspiracy theorists and connoisseurs of Freudian slips have surmised that it was unconscious retaliation for Senator Obama’s vote against the chief justice’s confirmation in 2005. But a simpler explanation is that the wayward adverb in the passage is blowback from Chief Justice Roberts’s habit of grammatical niggling. Language pedants hew to an oral tradition of shibboleths that have no basis in logic or style, that have been defied by great writers for centuries, and that have been disavowed by every thoughtful usage manual. Nonetheless, they refuse to go away, perpetuated by the Gotcha! Gang and meekly obeyed by insecure writers. Among these fetishes is the prohibition against “split verbs, ” in which an adverb comes between an infinitive marker like “to, ” or an auxiliary like “will, ” and the main verb of the sentence. According to this superstition, Captain Kirk made a grammatical error when he declared that the five-year mission of the starship Enterprise was “to boldly go where no man has gone before”; it should have been “to go boldly.” Likewise, Dolly Parton should not have declared that “I will always love you” but “I always will love you” or “I will love you always.”
Any speaker who has not been brainwashed by the split-verb myth can sense that these corrections go against the rhythm and logic of English phrasing. The myth originated centuries ago in a thick-witted analogy to Latin, in which it is impossible to split an infinitive because it consists of a single word, like dicere, “to say.” But in English, infinitives like “to go” and future-tense forms like “will go” are two words, not one, and there is not the slightest reason to interdict adverbs from the position between them.
Though the ungrammaticality of split verbs is an urban legend, it found its way into The Texas Law Review Manual on Style, which is the arbiter of usage for many law review journals. James Lindgren, a critic of the manual, has found that many lawyers have “internalized the bogus rule so that they actually believe that a split verb should be avoided, ” adding, “The Invasion of the Body Snatchers has succeeded so well that many can no longer distinguish alien speech from native speech.” In his legal opinions, Chief Justice Roberts has altered quotations to conform to his notions of grammaticality, as when he excised the “ain’t” from Bob Dylan’s line “When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose.” On Tuesday his inner copy editor overrode any instincts toward strict constructionism and unilaterally amended the Constitution by moving the adverb “faithfully” away from the verb. President Obama, whose attention to language is obvious in his speeches and writings, smiled at the chief justice’s hypercorrection, then gamely repeated it. Let’s hope that during the next four years he will always challenge dogma and boldly lead the nation in new directions.

1/22/09

poem by Gershon Hepner
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Middle Class Bucks

People who abuse the art of making excuses...
By using them to protect themselves,
To slander someone else.
Will experience a slow unvealing of their deeds,
To produce what others would not believe.
And when this happens,
The ostracizing for them becomes unbearable.
They begin to wear,
Their hearts on their sleeves!

And they do the 'Victim I've Become' campaign.
With the 'No One Understands Me'...
Claim to remove their shame!
To gain themselves sympathy,
To ease the guilt that strains...
Their sleepless nights,
In a struggle with their thoughtless...
That does not release them,
From the ooze of their shallow brains.

People want others to believe,
They are who they say they are...
And not what people see.
They are clever with deception,
Using this before...
To some successful degree,
That has been clinically explored!
With a cloaking that goes ignored.

Until it becomes obvious,
What they use has been a crutch!
They would love to see themselves as 'angels'...
But they wallow in envy.
And this shows much too much!

And they do the 'Victim I've Become' campaign.
With the 'No One Understands Me'...
Claim to remove their shame!
To gain themselves sympathy,
To ease the guilt that strains...
Their sleepness nights,
In a struggle with their thoughtlessness...
That does not release them,
From the ooze of their shallow brains!

They do the 'Victim I've Become' campaign.
With the 'No One Understands Me'...
Claim to remove their shame!

And they hand this 'legacy' down to their children.

[...] Read more

poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!