« 2014-07-05
Home Page
2014-07-03 »

Quotes of the day: P.T. Barnum
(permalink)

Published Friday, July 04, 2014 @ 7:58 PM EDT
Jul 04 2014

Phineas Taylor Barnum (July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman and businessman remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus. Although Barnum was also an author, publisher, philanthropist, and for some time a politician, he said of himself, 'I am a showman by profession...and all the gilding shall make nothing else of me,' and his personal aims were 'to put money in his own coffers.' Barnum is widely, but erroneously, credited with coining the phrase 'There's a sucker born every minute.' (Click here for full Wikipedia article)

-----

Ask Bailey what the box office was at the Garden last night. (reported last words)

But however mysterious is nature, however ignorant the doctor, however imperfect the present state of physical science, the patronage and the success of quacks and quackeries are infinitely more wonderful than those of honest and laborious men of science and their careful experiments.

Clowns are the pegs on which the circus is hung.

Every crowd has a silver lining.

I am a showman by profession... and all the gilding shall make nothing else of me.

Men, women, and children who cannot live on gravity alone need something to satisfy their gayer, lighter moods and hours, and he who ministers to this want is, in my opinion, in a business established by the Creator of our nature. If he worthily fulfills his mission and amuses without corrupting, he need never feel that he has lived in vain.

Money is a terrible master but an excellent servant.

Politeness and civility are the best capital ever invested in business.

The best kind of charity is to help those who are willing to help themselves.

The common man, no matter how sharp and tough, actually enjoys having the wool pulled over his eyes, and makes it easier for the puller.

The desire for wealth is nearly universal, and none can say it is not laudable, provided the possessor of it accepts its responsibilities, and uses it as a friend to humanity.

The plan of 'counting the chickens before they are hatched' is an error of ancient date, but it does not seem to improve by age.

The public is a very strange animal, and although a good knowledge of human nature will generally lead a caterer of amusement to hit the people right, they are fickle and ofttimes perverse.

The public is wiser than many imagine.

Whatever you do, do it with all your might. Work at it, early and late, in season and out of season, not leaving a stone unturned, and never deferring for a single hour that which can be done just as well now.

-----

"There's a sucker born every minute."
Commonly attributed to Barnum, there is much testimony of contemporaries that he never actually said this, and in P.T. Barnum Never Did Say 'There's a Sucker Born Every Minute,' R.J. Brown asserts that it actually originated with a banker named David Hannum, in regard to one of Barnum's hoaxes: a replica of the Cardiff Giant.
-Wikiquote


Categories: P.T. Barnum, Quotes of the day


Home  

KGB Stuff   Commentwear   E-Mail KGB


Donate via PayPal


Older entries, Archives and Categories       Top of page

Happy Independence Day from Bizarro World
(permalink)

Published Friday, July 04, 2014 @ 3:20 PM EDT
Jul 04 2014

Where men are people, corporations are people, and women apparently just don't make the judicial cut...

Corporations are people, my friend. Women? Not so much.
-Erin Gloria Ryan

-----

This is the kind of ruling where you look at the dissent and you think, 'Oh yeah, this is definitely going to get overturned on appeal,' and then you realize 'Oh God, there's no appeal.'
-Rachel Maddow

-----

Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
-Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

-----

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (dissenting):

In the Court’s view, RFRA demands accommodation of a for-profit corporation’s religious beliefs no matter the impact that accommodation may have on third parties who do not share the corporation owners’ religious faith- in these cases, thousands of women employed by Hobby Lobby and Conestoga or dependents of persons those corporations employ. Persuaded that Congress enacted RFRA to serve a far less radical purpose, and mindful of the havoc the Court’s judgment can introduce, I dissent...

...Religious organizations exist to foster the interests of persons subscribing to the same religious faith. Not so of for-profit corporations. Workers who sustain the operations of those corporations commonly are not drawn from one religious community. Indeed, by law, no religion-based criterion can restrict the work force of for-profit corporations... The distinction between a community made up of believers in the same religion and one embracing persons of diverse beliefs, clear as it is, constantly escapes the Court’s attention. One can only wonder why the Court shuts this key difference from sight...

The court, I fear, has ventured into a minefield.

-----

-----

Justice Sonia Sotomayor (dissenting):

Those who are bound by our decisions usually believe they can take us at our word. Not so today.

Let me be absolutely clear: I do not doubt that Wheaton genuinely believes that signing the self-certification form is contrary to its religious beliefs. But thinking one's religious beliefs are substantially burdened... does not make it so. Not every sincerely felt 'burden' is a 'substantial' one, and it is for courts, not litigants, to identify which are.

The Court's actions in this case create unnecessary costs and layers of bureaucracy, and they ignore a simple truth: The Government must be allowed to handle the basic tasks of public administration in a manner that comports with common sense.

-----

-----

The men who wrote this decision on behalf of the Supreme Court have entered into a war on women. They have become a blatantly political activist anti-women political organization. There are some [religious] beliefs that are so heinous that government should not respect them… Withholding basic health care from women is bigotry, plain and simple. We should not accept it, no matter how ‘sincerely’ the belief is held.
-Terry O'Neill, President, National Organization of Women

-----


Guess which justices supported corporations' refusal to pay for female contraceptives?

-----

It's good to know that the Supreme Court is dominated by the town elders from "Footloose."
-Frank Conniff

-----

John Fugelsang:

Supreme Court rules in #HobbyLobby case that religious preferences don't have to follow laws.
Your move, Rastafarians.

Hobby Lobby covers Viagra, not IUD; because a fertilized egg is clearly God's will but impotency clearly isn't.

-----

It may be time for some personal sidewalk counseling by liberals outside of Hobby Lobby doors.
-Susan Gardner

-----

KGB:

The U.S. Constitution and the Bible have a lot in common. Few people have read them in their entirety; they are quoted out of context and cherry-picked; their official interpreters wear robes and issue pronouncements that sometimes benefit an entitled few or discriminate against women and minorities; and their decrees and commandments are simply ignored when they interfere with the interests of those in power.

The Roberts court has certainly made history. Does the name Dred Scott ring a bell?

Let me see if I understand this: the Supreme Court upheld the Religion Freedom Restoration Act by allowing corporations, which the Court considers to be people, to force their religious beliefs upon those who do not share those beliefs. Ok. Got it. (facepalm)

-----

Re: today's Supreme Court cases: How many 2000 Nader voters still think it made no difference whether Bush or Gore won?
-@JeffGreenfield

-----

Pastafarian business owners free to deny coverage of celiac disease.
-@OmarJorge

-----

My corporation was Wiccan for 1-2 yrs after college and would only cover hyssop for purification and yarrow flower to dispel negative energy.
-@KenJennings

-----

Take away our sex ed, contraception, and access to abortions, then condemn us for having children, then make sure we get unfair wages so we can't support the children we have. Then take away the social safety net so we're totally screwed. Then call us irresponsible sluts.
-@Kelly Fineman

-----

@pourmecoffee:

Closely held 21,000 employee, 572 store $2.28 billion dollar retail craft store chains are people, my friend.

Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray my Boss my benefits keep
He watches me through day and night
Telling me what's wrong and right
Amen

-----

Religious freedom is your freedom to live according to the dictates of my religion's misconceptions, no matter how wrong.
=Mary W. Matthews

-----

@LOLGOP:

Conservatives are fierce defenders of your freedom to practice their religion.

It's just a coincidence my religious liberty concerns only target women and gays. And you pointing that out violates my religious liberty.

A Christian business that takes a stand against divorcees would impress since Jesus actually, you know, mentioned divorce.

If corporations could have abortions, abortion would be tax deductible.

Work's tough now that my boss decided that coffee breaks actually cause abortions.

This birth control mandate violates my religious belief that Obama shouldn't be president.

If forcing you to provide a resource to your employees that they could use in way you find wrong is immoral, only slavery would be moral.

Be back in a few hours. Boss is making me get circumcised.

Newt Gingrich can now object to your birth control coverage on moral grounds. Rush Limbaugh. Donald Trump.
On moral grounds.


Categories: Church and State, First Amendment, Religion, Supreme Court


Home  

KGB Stuff   Commentwear   E-Mail KGB


Donate via PayPal


Older entries, Archives and Categories       Top of page

Tradition
(permalink)

Published Friday, July 04, 2014 @ 1:57 AM EDT
Jul 04 2014

Who's drunk enough for fireworks?
(from The New Yorker)

Remember: The combination of sun, beer and fireworks makes July 4th the Final Four weekend of Darwin Awards. Make wise choices.
-@pourmecoffee


Categories: Cartoons, Holidays


Home  

KGB Stuff   Commentwear   E-Mail KGB


Donate via PayPal


Older entries, Archives and Categories       Top of page

« 2014-07-05
Home Page
2014-07-03 »