What does education often do? It makes a straight-cut ditch of a free, meandering brook.

—Henry David Thoreau

It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mostly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wreck and ruin without fail. It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty.

—Albert Einstein

The secret of education lies in respecting the pupil. It is not for you to choose what he shall know, what he shall do. It is chosen and foreordained and he only holds the key to his own secret.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

“If a million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.”:”Liberty Letters(Hat tip to Liberty Letters for this quote)”:http://libertyletters.blogspot.com/2005/08/truth-about-moral-relativism.html

Anatole France

UNIX is user friendly…it’s just selective about who its friends are.

“One single object…[will merit] the endless gratitude of the society: that of restraining the judges from usurping legislation.” —Thomas Jefferson

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising them the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over a loose fiscal responsibility, always followed by a dictatorship.

–John Tyler, in his 1770 book, “Cycle of Democracy”

The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is no force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist.

–John Adams

“No other success can compensate for failure in the home.”

David O. McKay (1873-1970)

Masculinity is out, “hybrid man” is in? I think not, and neither does James Lileks:

ScreedBlog

I hate to break it to these theorists, but it does not take guts for a young man to want to have multiple sex partners. It takes guts to settle down and have a family and rein in the roaming libido.

Amen! Yea, verily! Be a real man and get married, settle down and raise a family!

A worthy addition to the better get your facts straight before you open your mouth file.

Liberty Letters – The Great Pillars of American Liberty

Coming to the ACLU member’s defense, one of the interviewers cited as proof that America was not founded by Christians — nor upon the principles of Christianity — the 1796 Treaty of Tripoli, which declared in Article XI: “the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.”

He asserted this as legal proof, under the supremacy clause, that this must be and still is the case — but more than that, with key founder President John Adams’ signature on it, a personal, in-your-face testimony against Christians and their incessant claims about God’s hand in founding this nation.

Sure, we’re all convinced.

What follows is a most thorough fisking of the assertion that John Adams would have said any such thing. A very worthy read, and good information to have in case you are ever faced with debunking the same assertion at some future point.

Hat tip: Michelle Malkin.

The 40 Most Obnoxious Quotes Of 2004

Jeff Lindsay, champion Mormon apologist, has some great comments on an incredibly intolerant editorial over at slate.com. The ire of so-called “progressives” over the outcome of the election is deafening. How ironic it seems to me that otherwise “liberals” would adopt such grossly dogmatic and unsympathetic rhetoric. From their usual claims one would assume that such behavior was exclusive to conservatives.

I’ve been looking for a good source of these since I read about it. Here’s what I found:

CBS News | Cosby Stands His Ground | July 2, 2004 05:29:04

Here are a few of the comments by Bill Cosby which stirred debate following his May 17th speech at a Brown v. Board of Education anniversary celebration in the nation’s capital:

“People marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an education, and now we’ve got these knuckleheads walking around. . . . The lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal. These people are not parenting.”

“I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit. Where were you when he was 2? Where were you when he was 12? Where were you when he was 18 and how come you didn’t know that he had a pistol? And where is the father?”

“People putting their clothes on backward: Isn’t that a sign of something gone wrong? . . . People with their hats on backward, pants down around the crack, isn’t that a sign of something, or are you waiting for Jesus to pull his pants up? Isn’t it a sign of something when she has her dress all the way up . . . and got all type of needles (piercing) going through her body? What part of Africa did this come from? We are not Africans. Those people are not Africans; they don’t know a . . . thing about Africa.”

“With names like Shaniqua, Taliqua and Mohammed and all of that crap, and all of them are in jail. Brown versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person’s problem. We have got to take the neighborhood back. . . . They are standing on the corner and they can’t speak English.”

“People used to be ashamed. . . . [Today] a woman has eight children with eight different ‘husbands,’ or men or whatever you call them now.”

“The idea is to one day get out of the projects. You don’t just stay there.”