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  • ON POWER
    **************************************
    Men in a position of power need flattery
    as much as a starving man needs bread.
    Their intolerance and hatred of dissent
    is rooted in vanity and not
    in some kind of ideological opposition.
    They don’t give a damn about ideas and ideologies
    which they consider a waste of time.
    To them intellectuals are no better than children
    and ideas their invisible toys or
    verbal hallucinations or ghosts
    and they don’t believe in ghosts.
    Words are good only when they glorify
    and flatter their egos.
    In their own eyes power is a blessing from God.
    It follows, whatever they do
    bears God’s seal of approval.
    Hence degenerate rulers
    and moronic multimillionaires
    operating on the assumption
    they are the uncrowned kings of the community.
    *
    History is clear on this point.
    Power drives men mad.
    Power is not a blessing but a curse.
    At the turn of the last century
    in the Ottoman Empire the sultan
    had a thousand concubines
    and as many versifiers,
    among them Armenians,
    singing his praises.
    *
    Talaat was more enlightened.
    He counted among his friends
    several intellectuals
    among them our own Zohrab.
    But as soon as he acquired power
    he had Zohrab assassinated.
    Napoleon put it best when he said
    “A man with an idea is my enemy.”
    #
    MORE ON TURCOCENTRISM
    *********************************************
    Turcocentrism may also be defined
    as an ideology that says
    we are not the architects of our destiny.
    It follows, the only logical explanation
    of our misfortunes is: “Shit happens.”
    *
    Consider earthquakes as a case in point.
    What we are not told is that
    according to experts
    “Earthquakes don’t kill people; buildings do.”
    *
    Nothing comes more naturally
    to a compulsive and habitual liar than
    to cover up and to lie.
    *
    The priority of all businessmen is profit.
    The more profit the better.
    Likewise, the priority of all politicians
    regardless of race, color and creed is power –
    the more power the merrier,
    even if it means the destruction of the nation.
    *
    Our dealers in chauvinist crapola
    expect us to believe
    what applies to all politicians
    does not apply to our own
    who rule and divide by the grace of God.
    #
    FOREIGNER
    ***********************
    To me, the ultimate odar (foreigner)
    is the Ottomanized and Sovietized Armenian.
    *
    ON SURVIVAL
    ********************
    We have survived – no one denies that –
    but survived as what?
    *
    PARADOX
    *************************
    Armenians who classify themselves as the best,
    sooner or later expose themselves as the worst.
    #
    “We are a people like any other people.”
    “Don’t flatter yourself.”
    #
    ZOHRAB & CHARENTS
    **********************************
    “We are a people like any other people.”
    “Don’t flatter yourself.
    Even our greatest intellectuals and poets,
    like Zohrab and Charents, were dupes
    of enemy propaganda.”
    “What would you have done in their place?”
    “Probably what they did and having done so
    I would deserve universal ridicule and contempt.”
    *
    SAROYAN
    *********************
    I will never forget the angry letter
    one of our elder statesmen sent me
    after reading one of my anti-Soviet tirades:
    “Saroyan loves the regime.
    You think you are smarter than Saroyan?”
    *
    GUILTY AS CHARGED
    *****************************
    You say I simplify complexities?
    What does propaganda do?
    What is propaganda if not the mother tongue
    of self-satisfied idiots and their dupes?
    *
    GUILTY AS CHARGED II
    *************************************
    “You repeat yourself.”
    “Not as often as our propagandists.”
    #

    Comment


    • WHO IS A GOOD ARMENIAN?
      *******************************************
      Sartre: “It is the rich man who is virtuous
      and wants everyone else to be.
      His values are a defense if the status quo.”
      *
      Everyone is against dividers,
      but everyone seems to be for the status quo,
      especially if he belongs to the privileged classes –
      namely bosses, bishops, benefactors and their assorted hirelings and dupes.
      *
      Who is a good Armenian?
      “An Armenian who has Mt. Ararat in his heart,”
      -- whatever the hell that means.
      *
      I am not a Biblical scholar
      but the scholars I have consulted inform me
      the Bible does not mention “Mt. Ararat.”
      It says “mountains of Urartu,”
      of which there are about a thousand
      and most of them are not in Armenia.
      #
      CAREER MOVES
      *******************************
      For a good number of years
      my sole ambition in life
      was to be a brown-nosier.
      It took me quite a few years
      to realize it was a bad choice –
      and bad not on moral grounds
      but bad because
      the competition was too stiff.
      *
      MEMO
      TO MY PATRIOTIC READERS
      *********************************************
      The difference between you and me
      is that you like to brag
      and I don’t.
      #
      OUR LORDS AND MASTERS
      **************************************
      Some readers,
      among them former friends,
      disagree with me for an
      understandably compelling reason:
      they are financially dependent
      on the charity of swine.
      They may preach freedom
      but they are afraid
      not only of free speech
      but also of fellow Armenians
      who engage in it.
      *
      Our political and religious leaders
      are neither God’s nor people’s servants;
      they are our Lords and Masters.
      Deviate an inch
      and you are shish-kebab!
      #

      Comment


      • A SKETCH OF MY LIFE
        *************************************
        In my formative years
        I was carefully brought up to be a garbage can
        Of prejudices, lies, and propaganda.
        If I understand my fellow Armenians today
        it may be because once upon a time
        I was one of them
        and I refuse to pretend otherwise.
        *
        It was very late in life
        that I realized deep inside somewhere
        I harbored a human being.
        *
        I wasted most of my life
        trying to please individuals
        whom I now classify as somewhere between
        moral riffraff and the scum of the earth.
        *
        When I say I loathe dupes
        what I really mean is that
        I loathe the dupe in me.
        The only thing I am willing to brag about
        is the fact that in my childhood
        I experienced homelessness, destitution,
        war, and discrimination in an alien environment.
        *
        Did I survive?
        Who can really tell?
        I feel more like that English soldier
        on the battlefield who,
        when informed by his king that he was wounded,
        replied: “Nay, Sire, I am dead.”
        #
        RECYCLING
        **************************
        To live in oppression means to believe in things
        that you don’t and to trust the judgment of individuals
        with the morality of pimps.
        As a nation we have lived in oppression
        for so many centuries that
        we are no longer in a position to tell
        the difference between
        freedom and oppression.
        Hence the saying:
        “Once upon a time we were slaves;
        we are now slaves of former slaves.”
        Progress is our least important product.
        *
        One of the most useful tools
        in criminal investigations is to ask:
        “Who benefits?”
        Who benefits from our divisions?
        *
        “A bourgeois is a bourgeois
        regardless of nationality,” Lenin said.
        So is a divider, a charlatan, and a deceiver.
        *
        “You repeat yourself.”
        So do our dealers in chauvinist crapola.
        *
        I don’t write to achieve fame, fortune,
        and immortality.
        I write to share my understanding.
        #
        WHAT I BELIEVE
        ***********************************
        I believe in the Incomprehensible,
        the Unknowable and in the commandment
        “Thou shalt not bear false witness.
        As for “Thou shalt not kill”:
        I believe a system that has legitimized
        the burning of heretics and more recently
        war and massacre is an invention of the Devil.
        The rest is metaphysics, mumbo jumbo,
        propaganda, and taxation without representation.
        *
        My aim in life is not to achieve
        fame, fortune, and greatness
        but to be less dishonest.
        *
        As the offspring of perennial losers,
        I have a soft spot for all losers
        even when they are identified as the enemy.
        #
        TRASHLAND
        **********************
        If Gogol and Kafka were to come back to life and collaborate on a book about reality in present-day Armenia, the result would be Denis Donikian’s VIDURES or AGHPASTAN, in Ruzanna Vartanian’s excellent Armenian translation (403 pages, Yerevan, 2013).
        Aghpastan, literally Trashland, is a biting satire and a horror story written with withering wit that utilizes many genres and styles reminiscent of James Joyce.
        *
        During a walk two friends discover the corpse of a woman in a garbage dump, an obvious victim of foul play.
        “I know who she is,” one of them says. “I recognize her by her hair and the undamaged side of her face. We should go to the cops.”
        The other is outraged.
        “The cops! The cops? Can you picture me walking into a police station? Walking in is easy. The trick is coming out. And sometimes you never come out.”
        “But it is against the law not to report a murder. If we ignore this murder and another murder next day, what happens if you or I are the next victims? If you and I and everybody else ignores a murder we become a nation of amnesiacs at the mercy of others.”
        “Maybe so -- but what happens if we are detained by the police? And when I say detained I don’t mean for an hour or a day but for months. Think of my piglets: what happens to them?”
        The conclusion is obvious: “Aghpastan” has become a country that swims in crime, criminals, executioners, and their victims.
        *
        The book begins and ends with the same two words: “Der Voghormia” (Lord have mercy).
        #

        Comment


        • ********************************
          INTERVIEW
          ****************************************
          Q: Raffi writes about bad as well as good Armenians.
          You write only about the bad. Why?
          A: Raffi was a great writer and a good man.
          Obviously I am not qualified to tie his shoes.
          Q: If propaganda is bad, why so many engage in it?
          A: So many also engage in adultery, drugs,
          smoking, war and massacre.
          You see, like you, I have more questions than answers.
          Q: Is it true that you love Turks and hate Armenians?
          A: I hate all liars and dupes regardless of nationality.
          Q: Why are you against patriotism?
          A: Because the ultimate aim of all patriotism is slaughter.
          I therefore say: F*** politicians who motivated by lust for power
          invent conflicts and brainwash the brainless.
          #
          TRYING TO MAKE SENSE
          ************************************
          Leaders are first and foremost moronizing agents.
          The world is being systematically moronized today
          by Americans as surely as
          the Middle East and the Balkans were moronized
          by the Ottomans and the Soviet republics
          were sodomized by the Russians.
          *
          What we think of ourselves
          is never the same as what others think of us.
          In that sense we are not much different from the groupie
          who once declared:
          “I am not a groupie! I don’t have sex with the boys.
          I don’t use my body. I only do blow jobs.”
          *
          The secret ambition of all victims is to be a victimizer.
          This may explain why an Armenian
          is another Armenian’s Turk.
          *
          Where propaganda is over-developed,
          literature will be under-developed,
          and in our case, non-existent!
          #
          MEMO TO MY CRITICS
          ********************************************
          Please note that I hate neither myself
          nor my fellow countrymen.
          What I really hate is the Turk in all of us
          and when I speak of Turks
          I don’t mean Turks as they are
          but as they appear to be in our history
          and collective experience.
          *
          READERS
          ***********************
          I don’t write for readers who know better.
          I write for readers who know as much as I did
          when I was a dupe.
          *
          ON A COMMON FALLACY
          **************************************
          We all share the same illusion:
          namely, that people will judge us by our propaganda
          and not by our history.
          *
          ON LITERATURE
          *********************************
          There is nothing wrong in admiring great writers
          provided you remind yourself that
          even the great ones, like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky,
          had their share of contradictions
          which they could not resolve.
          *
          MORE ON PATRIOTISM
          ***********************************
          A patriotic Armenian,
          like a patriotic Turk,
          knows very little or almost nothing
          about the history of his nation
          and most of what he knows is a lie.
          *
          ON INFALLIBILITY
          *******************************
          Arrogance and ignorance
          are at the root of all infallible assertions.
          *
          TO BE NOTED
          ****************************
          Compared to non-existence,
          existence lasts no more than a fraction of a second.
          #
          BROTHERS
          *****************************
          Thomas Mann is right.
          Hitler was not an alien creature but “a brother.”
          There is a Sultan and a Talaat in all of us.
          *
          ON FRIENDSHIP
          ***************************
          I have so few friends that if I were to lose one
          I would be friendless.
          *
          SOMETHING TO BRAG ABOUT
          *************************************
          I have been hired and fired many times
          but I have never hired and fired anyone.
          *
          ON SPEECHIFIERS
          AND SERMONIZERS
          **********************************************
          There is a natural tendency
          in all speechifiers and sermonizers
          to underestimate the value
          of dialogue, compromise, and consensus.
          *
          ON FRIENDSHIP (II)
          **********************************
          Because I write as I do,
          my patriotic friends pretend we have never met.
          *
          ON SURVIVAL
          ************************
          Perhaps to be an Armenian means
          to be a survivor with a gaping wound.
          *
          ON DUPES
          ******************
          One of the hardest things in life
          is to convince the average idiot
          that he is not a patriot but a dupe.
          #
          ALL BARK AND NO BITE
          *********************************
          It could be said of our Turcocentric ghazetajis
          that they are all bark and no bite.
          Something similar could also be said
          of Armenian literature from the Golden Age
          to the present. As for our speechifiers and sermonizers:
          they at least make a more or less comfortable living.
          *
          As a child I trusted adults if only because
          whenever I asked an inconvenient
          or difficulty question I was told
          “You’ll find out when you grow up.”
          *
          In a recent issue of an Armenian academic periodical
          I read the reviews of six recently published books,
          five of them about the Genocide.
          *
          What’s being done to arrest or slow down
          the present rate of assimilation in the Diaspora
          and exodus from the Homeland?
          I am grown up and I still don’t have
          the answer to that question.
          But if you do, please feel free to share it with us.
          #
          MORE QUESTIONS
          THAN ANSWERS
          ***************************************
          Is there a single Armenian
          in a position of power today
          whom you trust?
          Someone you would go to for advice?
          Someone you would vote for
          if he were running for office?
          Someone you don’t suspect of being
          a former KGB, CIA or both?
          *
          Three sure ways of improving
          a writer’s reputation of work:
          verbal abuse, censorship, starvation.
          *
          Why are superstition and propaganda
          more believable than science and knowledge?
          *
          Jews have acquired the reputation of a people
          that enjoy mutual support.
          The same cannot be said of Armenians.
          #
          FROM ALPHA
          TO OMEDGA
          ********************************
          If cathedrals are concrete and towering proofs
          of man’s faith in the existence of God,
          what are wars and massacres?
          *
          As for free will;
          it may apply to the Napoleons
          and Hitlers of the world
          but not to the average soldier
          who does the killing and dying;
          and certainly not to the civilian casualties.
          *
          The question, the real question, is not
          whether God exists or not
          but whether He gives a damn!
          *
          Am I shaped by my past
          or by my projects and hopes for the future?
          After I answer metaphysical questions
          I see more merit in their contradictions.
          *
          When the weak are led by the ruthless,
          the result will be a succession of catastrophes,
          that is to say, history as we know it.

          #

          Comment


          • REFLECTIONS

            **********************************

            A single priest may brainwash

            as many as a thousand children,

            but a thousand bishops cannot convert

            a single imam.

            All victimizers are experts at least in one field:

            in their choice of victims.

            *

            If you are an adult,

            you know something about history,

            and you are a nationalist,

            you may safely declare yourself

            a public nuisance and a retard.

            *

            If we were to judge a religion by its history,

            who would dare to brag about

            being a religious person?

            *

            I have never said none of our

            bosses, bishops, and benefactors is an honest man.

            What I have said is that

            I never had the pleasure of meeting one.

            #

            MASTERS & SLAVES

            ********************************

            As the offspring of perennial losers,

            I tend to divide my fellow men

            into masters and slaves,

            or top dogs and underdogs.

            *

            I fear and respect top dogs

            and I have as much respect for underdogs

            as I have for myself, which is none.

            That’s why my respect

            for our bosses, bishops, and benefactors

            knows no bound.

            Sometimes I even go as far as classifying them

            as architects of our collective destiny,

            when in fact they have as much power

            as a sardine in a pool of sharks;

            and when speechify and sermonize

            in the name of God and Country

            what they really mean is

            the KGB and the CIA.

            *

            HOW TO RECOGNIZE

            A RIGGED ELECTION

            **************************************

            If the winner is an enemy agent,

            he has the charisma of a robot

            and the eyes of a reptile, it’s rigged.

            #

            JUNKIES

            ****************************

            Notwithstanding the fact that

            our writers have been consistently misunderstood,

            rejected, starved, even betrayed

            and murdered in cold blood,

            there are boys and girls today

            whose ambition is to be a writer.

            There is a reasonable explanation

            for this strange phenomenon:

            ignorance of history.

            *

            The official version of our past

            has been bowdlerized so drastically that

            if reality and our school texts ever met

            they wouldn’t recognize each other.

            *

            We have this in common with Turks:

            we are junkies of state propaganda.

            There are well-established academics today

            (not all of them Turks)

            who believe Talaat was a great statesman.

            *

            Talaat’s arrogance was such that

            he dared to parade in the streets of Berlin

            as if he were a universally respected royalty in exile.

            Until reality caught up with him,

            as it caught up with us

            in successive waves of massacres

            whose message we

            (or rather our leadership)

            chose to ignore.

            *

            The problem with compulsive and habitual liars is that

            they end up believing in their lies.

            #

            MEMO TO A CRITIC

            **********************************

            My aim in life is to understand reality.

            Your aim, if I understand it correctly,

            is to assert some kind of superiority

            motivated by patriotism,

            which is also the aim

            of all speechifiers, sermonizers,

            and propagandists, who at

            least get paid for their work,

            *

            You may have noticed by now

            that I have a handful of favorite themes

            on which I compose endless variations.

            To those who accuse me of repeating myself

            I plead guilty as charged.

            My aim is not to achieve immortality

            or even earn minimum wage,

            but to speak of reality as I see it

            and not as I am told to see it

            by someone who may or may not be

            a compulsive liar, a child molester,

            or an inbred moron.

            *

            The trouble with Christianity

            as an organized religion is that

            99% of Christians were brainwashed as children.

            The same applies to all organized religions:

            they are organized to lie, deceive

            and when necessary to kill and die

            in defense of a god who has no need

            of their protection.

            *

            We need to talk!

            #

            Comment


            • RANDOM THOUGHTS



              ******************************



              After moronizing its own people America



              is now engaged in moronizing the world.



              *



              Describe someone objectively



              and deep inside somewhere



              one of his defensive walls is bound to collapse.



              *



              Most of my critics are not idiots



              but they appear to enjoy acting the part.



              *



              More often than not



              when I try to solve a problem



              I succeed only in compounding it.



              *



              My piano teacher taught me



              the only way to learn a piece marked presto



              is by playing it lento.



              *



              One way to be brilliant is



              by writing a hundred different versions



              of the same line and choosing the best.



              #



              MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE CONCEPTS



              *********************************************



              A wolf and a vegetarian diet.



              A closed mind and dialogue.



              An Armenian and a Turk.



              An Armenian and an Armenian.



              *



              What I write is free –



              like cheese in a mousetrap.



              *



              American saying: “90% of everything is crap.”



              Armenian translation: “99%.”



              #



              NOTES & COMMENTS



              ***********************************



              If the world were a room,



              the U.S. would be the elephant in it.



              *



              If you assume to be right



              you are automatically disqualified to engage in dialogue.



              *



              A liar’s best friend is another liar.



              *



              A snake’s ideal food is another snake.



              *



              Thirst for knowledge and thirst for blood



              are mutually exclusive concepts.



              *



              A dupe cannot have an open mind.



              *



              When the Nazis said “Gott mit uns”



              they meant of course the Devil.



              *



              I repeat myself?



              What about our sermonizers, speechifiers,



              and Turcocentric fanatics?



              *



              All corrupt regimes need enemies.



              Hatred is a glue and all politicians need scapegoats.



              #





















              Wine























































































































              Comment


              • ON POPULARITY
                ******************************
                Popularity is overrated.
                Neither Socrates nor Jesus was popular.
                Bach was neglected for a hundred years.
                Kafka was known only to a handful
                of close friends.
                Hegel’s last famous words:
                “No one understood me except one,
                and even he didn’t understand me.”
                My guess is Elvis and the Beatles
                made more money in a year than
                Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms combined
                throughout their lifetime.
                *
                Have I said this before?
                No matter.
                Some things are worth repeating.
                #
                HOW TO BE OBJETIVE
                ***********************************
                The only way to be objective
                is to see oneself through alien eyes.
                The alternative is to view Catholics
                through the eyes of the Pope,
                the Soviets through the eyes of Stalin,
                and the Chinese through the eye of Mao
                on the grounds that these gentlemen know better.
                *
                One of the most important rules in dialogue:
                neither side is allowed to say “Yes, sir!”
                *
                Ideas like “All men are created equal,”
                should be judged by their history
                and not by their intentions.
                *
                Archie Bunker is dead,
                long live the Tea Party!
                #

                ON LAWYERS
                & RELATED ATROCITIES
                ************************************
                Where lawyers prosper, justice suffers.
                The function of a jury, it has been said,
                is to decide which side had the more competent
                legal representation.
                *
                Where advertisers prosper,
                the line that separates fact from illusion
                will be blurred.
                *
                Where there is great wealth,
                there will also be crooks.
                Plato’s explanation for this phenomenon:
                unlike honest men who will employ only honest means,
                crooks will employ honest as well as dishonest means.
                *
                We live in a land of bankers, investment brokers,
                public relations men, advertisers and lawyers.
                It follows, we are in deep sh*t.
                #
                BOOK REVIEW
                ***********************
                130 TALISMANS. By Kardash Onnig.
                Foreword by Alexander Boccialini Shundi.
                Illustrated. 2013. Published by Baraka
                (P.O. Box 145, Stanfordville, NY 12581).
                **************************************
                Are talismans, also known as “charms,” objects with mystical powers over evil or mumbo jumbo? My reason tells me they belong to the mumbo jumbo department of life, but my subconscious sings a different tune.
                After a black cat crosses my path, I feel better if I find a penny on the sidewalk. Accuse me of being superstitious and I will deny it. Figure that one out if you can.
                This illustrated booklet of 130 talismans is the latest opus by our Renaissance man of arts and letters, Onnig Kardash. Each talisman costs $400.00. If they weren’t beyond my income bracket I would love to buy a dozen of them (one for each room in the house) and forever after feel less vulnerable.
                (For more information write to Transformer @gmail.com).
                #

                Comment


                • DECEPTION (I)



                  ***************************



                  Everything that needs to be said has been said. The role of our propaganda today is to deceive us into thinking everything that needs to be done is being done when in fact nothing is being done.



                  *



                  DECEPTION (II)



                  In our official version of the story the Genocide was inevitable. Which raises the question: if our leaders cannot foresee the inevitable, what are they good for besides raising funds?



                  *



                  OVERHEARD



                  ***********************



                  “Make friends when you don’t need them.”



                  *



                  “You have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince.”



                  #



                  TWO OBSERVATIONS



                  ********************************



                  If a closed mind makes you happy, by all means, follow your bliss. Only be warned. A fool’s happiness is a house without foundations.



                  *



                  In the eyes of some I am a self-hating Armenian because I refuse to rely on the support of men who could be useful to me – bosses, bishops, benefactors, their hirelings, hangers on and dupes. They fail to see the obvious: if I am against these gentlemen it is out of self-respect, and I suggest self-respect and self-hatred are mutually exclusive concepts.



                  #



                  ON THE ORIGINS



                  OF PATRIOTISM



                  *********************************



                  If I had a choice between visiting Venice or Paris and the ugly little Greek slum where I was born and raised, I would choose the slum but I can’t because it’s no longer there – it was reduced to rubble by the Germans during World War II.



                  *



                  My doubts outnumber my certainties a thousand to one. I am one of those who feel guilty even when they say the right thing and do what must be done.



                  *



                  Judge an underdog by what he would do if he were a top dog.

                  Comment


                  • HOW TO SOLVE OUR PROBLEMS
                    **************************************
                    Tribal divisions are not a verdict without appeal.
                    All we need is a Mandela.
                    If Africans can do it, why can’t we?
                    To those who say,”
                    Why don’t you apply for the job?”
                    I say: I am a failure as a writer.
                    I would be a disaster as a political leader.
                    My job consists in telling it like it is.
                    Mandela?
                    Hell, we couldn’t even come up with an Ataturk.
                    #
                    IN PRAISE OF OLD AGE
                    ***********************************
                    I have been young
                    and I have been old
                    and old is better.
                    *
                    If you are young and you assume to be right,
                    you will be closer to the truth
                    if you assume to be not just wrong
                    but dead wrong; so wrong, in fact,
                    that you may have to spend the rest of your life
                    suffering the consequences of your blunder.
                    *
                    One advantage of old age is that
                    you exercise more freedom
                    in your choice of misery.
                    *
                    I write for dupes and idiots like myself
                    when young.
                    #
                    EXPLANATIONS
                    ***********************************
                    If you have trouble understanding why
                    successive American administrations
                    have refused to recognize the reality of the Genocide
                    here are some easily accessible explanations:
                    Even when dead wrong, might is right.
                    (Please note, I don’t make rules;
                    I only state them as I see them.)
                    Empires speaks a language
                    tribal people don’t understand.
                    Taking care of #1 is their #1 concern.
                    Regimes don’t have principles, only interests.
                    If you refuse to see the light
                    it may be because you prefer to live in darkness
                    (isn’t that what we did for 600 years?)
                    Ignorance is a heavy burden.
                    Lincoln was wrong.
                    You can fool all the people all the time.
                    Consider the long history of organized religions
                    According to Toynbee
                    (who quotes the Bible on almost every page he writes)
                    our demands were unreasonable.
                    It follows; the Turks did what they did
                    because they had no other choice.
                    To those who dismiss my short list
                    of explanations as bullshit,
                    allow me to quote another familiar proverb:
                    “Life is a shit sandwich.
                    The more bread you have
                    the less shit you eat.”
                    #
                    NOISE
                    ****************************
                    The Chinese pictograph for noise
                    is three women under the same roof –
                    or so I remember to have read somewhere.
                    The same word in an imaginary Armenian pictograph:
                    two men.
                    *
                    Homo sapiens? Hell, no!
                    Homo capable of being sapiens? Maybe.
                    *
                    Compared to nothingness
                    (before we were born and after we die)
                    being is an ephemeral dot so tiny
                    that it might as well be invisible to the naked eye.
                    One is almost tempted to say
                    the reason we exist is to experience
                    our own insignificance or nothingness.
                    *
                    When two selfish individuals meet,
                    they learn the importance of altruism.
                    #

                    Comment


                    • comments

                      THE DEFENSE
                      ************************
                      The Turkish line of defense is simplicity itself:
                      “We did to the Armenians what you did to your Indians.”
                      *
                      The only people who refuse to acknowledge
                      the finality of this statement are our fund-raisers and
                      Hai Tahd (Armenian Case) tax collectors.
                      *
                      If the Greeks in their Golden Age ...
                      found Socrates guilty of a capital offense
                      and executed him,
                      how dare we hope we can get justice
                      from a jury of convicted liars and cut-throats?
                      #
                      ON STATESMANSHIP
                      ****************************************
                      You say he was a great statesman?
                      Tell me, how many of our problems did he solve?
                      A statesman is first and foremost a man of action:
                      he formulates and implements policies
                      which he can do only after developing a consensus.
                      *
                      You say Armenians are ungovernable?
                      In that case a statesman’s function is
                      to make the ungovernable governable.
                      If he cannot do what must be done,
                      he is a failure or, at best, a man not of action
                      but of contemplation.
                      He is more like Naregatsi
                      and less like Gandhi, Churchill, and Mandela.
                      *
                      “He was a man of vision, a great patriot,
                      sincere in his commitments to ideals?”
                      So were Hitler, Mussolini, and Mustapha Kemal Ataturk.
                      #
                      A STORY WITH A HAPPY ENDING
                      *******************************************
                      When asked to name his favorite role model,
                      one of our intellectuals
                      (let’s call him Comrade Panchoonie)
                      named one of our benefactors
                      (let’s call him Jack S. Avanakian)
                      and was amply rewarded.
                      *
                      SHAHAN SHAHNOUR SPEAKS
                      ****************************************
                      "A French whore is a whore.
                      A German whore is a whore.
                      A Greek whore is a whore.
                      But a whore who writes is an intellectual."
                      *
                      QUESTION
                      ***********************
                      To the anonymous critic
                      who reads and curses everything I write:
                      “Are you the one I once called an inbred moron?”
                      *
                      JUST A GUESS
                      **************************
                      I wouldn’t be surprised if they said:
                      “Let’s do to our Armenians
                      what the Americans did to their Indians.”
                      But I would be surprised
                      if one of our revolutionaries said:
                      “What if they do to us
                      what the Americans did to their Indians?”
                      #

                      Comment


                      • BAH-HUMBUG
                        *********************************
                        Where would the 1% be
                        without the full cooperation, dedication, and hard work
                        of the 99%?
                        *
                        To be a good Armenian it is not necessary
                        to be a bad human being with a closed mind.
                        *
                        Crooks have their uses:
                        they make us appreciate the importance of honesty.
                        *
                        Being smart also means not repeating idiotlc blunders
                        like dividing the community
                        and abusing children by brainwashing them
                        to brag about our genius for survival.
                        #
                        MEMO TO A WRITER
                        *******************************
                        If you say the opposite
                        of what your average reader wants to hear
                        you can’t go wrong.
                        *
                        ON POPULARITY
                        ***********************
                        Popularity is an American aberration
                        and best-sellers the surest symptoms of mediocrity.
                        *
                        A CRITIC SPEAKS
                        ***************************
                        “You have been writing for thirty years now
                        and you have changed nothing,”
                        a reader writes implying
                        either shut up or change your tune.
                        Change begins in the heart
                        and what happens there doesn’t make headlines,
                        neither does it penetrate the hick skulls
                        of those in a position to change things,
                        especially if the status quo has been good to them.
                        *
                        WHY ENGLISH?
                        *******************************
                        I write in English because 99% of what I write
                        would be considered unprintable by our 1%.
                        #
                        My greatest liability:
                        I never mastered the art
                        of flattering the powerful and the rich --
                        i.e. the scum of the earth.
                        #
                        Was Santa good to you?
                        *
                        Both capitalism and communism
                        have been good to their 1%.
                        What does that tell you
                        about ideologies and belief systems?
                        *
                        My own answer:
                        They introduce meaningless divisions
                        even when they know the result may be
                        the slaughter of countless innocent victims;
                        even when they have been warned
                        “a house divided against itself cannot stand.”
                        #
                        TO MY CRITICS
                        ******************************
                        Gentle reader:
                        Unlike you, I don’t pretend to speak the truth,
                        the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
                        Think of me only as the voice of another school of thought.
                        *
                        Knowledge and understanding are not your enemies.
                        There is no need for you to defend yourself against them.
                        *
                        To think that you can speak the truth
                        and be popular is an American fallacy.
                        *
                        So many first-class literary works
                        have been rejected by publishers
                        or ignored by the public that
                        one is tempted to define writing
                        as composing music for the deaf.
                        #
                        A HISTORY OF DECEPTION
                        ***********************************
                        Turks have been successful in convincing the Yanks
                        (a) we are their Red Indians, and
                        (b) whenever we don’t get our way
                        we engage in acts of terrorists;
                        which is what happened in the Ottoman Empire
                        at the turn of the last century and more recently
                        all over the world including America.
                        *
                        DUPES
                        ****************
                        We are born dupes.
                        First we believe in the friendly disposition
                        of the Young Turks and now
                        we believe our own leaders
                        when they tell us with our financial support
                        they will have the Genocide recognized by the Yanks.
                        *
                        DUPES (II)
                        ******************
                        Where would tyrants be
                        without cowardly dupes?
                        *
                        Q
                        *******************
                        “Melonsmellonous osculations.”
                        Can you guess what’s being said
                        and the identity of the author?
                        #
                        LESSONS
                        *****************
                        If history teaches us anything it is this:
                        we can be wrong;
                        we can be wrong even when we are right;
                        we can be dead wrong even when
                        God and the Great Powers are on our side.
                        *
                        The #1 concern of our 1% is not to solve our problems
                        but to defend and protect their powers and privileges,
                        which means Plan B only for themselves.
                        *
                        My ideal reader is one who hates to read;
                        which means he has been at the mercy
                        of speechifiers and sermonizers and is thus
                        virgin territory easily impregnated with new ideas.
                        *
                        When I was young, unemployed and unemployable,
                        two senior members of the Party came to see me.
                        Someone had told them I love books and reading.
                        “We are willing to subsidize your university education,”
                        they said, “provided you agree to work for us.”
                        Meaning: We have no use for your garbage;
                        we have our own.
                        Which may explain my present status
                        as an abominable no man.
                        Mart bidi ch’ellank!
                        #

                        Comment


                        • ON WEALTH
                          ******************************
                          Someone like Obama could never be as wealthy
                          as someone like Romney because, according to Plato,
                          an honest man will employ only honest means
                          and a dishonest man will employ honest
                          as well as dishonest means to amass his fortune.
                          I am not saying Plato speaks the truth,
                          the whole truth, and nothing but.
                          All I am doing is paraphrasing an opinion
                          and an opinion is not a dead end
                          but only a tentative beginning.
                          *
                          ON MORMONISM
                          *******************************
                          Shaw says somewhere
                          all professions are conspiracies against the laity.
                          Likewise, all religions may be said to be
                          conspiracies against all other religions.
                          The same applies to ideologies
                          and closed systems of thought.
                          *
                          MORE ON OBAMA
                          ****************************
                          He made many mistakes?
                          Maybe. But had he done the opposite of what he did,
                          he would have been impeached.
                          Who wants a pope in the White House?
                          #
                          FROM MY NOTEBOOKS
                          ****************************************
                          If you speak the truth you will be contradicted not only by liars but also by dupes and idiots.
                          *
                          I don’t understand everything. Only god does; and if god wanted me to understand everything he would have created not men but gods.
                          *
                          For every truth there is a lie and sometimes a thousand of them.
                          *
                          A man who is his own worst enemy cannot be anyone’s friend.
                          *
                          The closer I get to the final answer the more certain I feel of my final failure.
                          *
                          Two mosquitoes may achieve more than one; a thousand of them may inflict serious damage.
                          #
                          Wednesday, January 01, 2014
                          **************************************
                          HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!
                          ****************************
                          ...to one and all!
                          *
                          ON LEADERSHIP
                          **************************
                          Political leaders hate to admit error. Hence the existence of hirelings – meant to say, nationalist historians – and the importance of patriotism which is easily confused with loyalty to the leadership even when the leaders happen to be swine.
                          *
                          ON COMFORT & JOY
                          ******************************
                          When told I am a comfort to our enemies, I say, we are a greater comfort when we divide ourselves.
                          *
                          ON HUMAN NATURE
                          **************************
                          No matter what you say, you will get on someone’s nerves. Consider what happened to Socrates and Jesus. You say that was then and this is now? I say: technology may change but human nature stays the same. There are as many violations of human rights today as there were in the 5th century BC and 1st century AD.
                          #
                          INTOLERANCE
                          ************************
                          Intolerance makes men stupid. You can guess a man’s IQ fairly accurately by the manner in which he welcomes new ideas.
                          *
                          At least once every day we should remind ourselves of the vastness of the universe and our own insignificance in it.
                          *
                          Inaction can create as many problems as wrong action.
                          *
                          Some of the greatest men in the history of mankind were persecuted, even executed, for daring to challenge the authority of the 1%. What does that tell you about the IQ of mankind?
                          #
                          ON POPULAR MUSIC
                          ************************************
                          Popular music is incapable of achieving greatness.
                          *
                          There is something fundamentally wrong in a culture whose musical standards are set by teenagers and the CEOs of the recording industry.
                          *
                          I am reminded of the king who, after visiting America, said he was impressed by the manner in which parents obeyed their children.
                          *
                          One of the things that I love about America is the readiness with which they acknowledge their “ugly” specimens. There is even a best-selling book titled THE UGLY AMERICAN and a movie based on it with Marlon Brando in the title role.
                          #
                          NOTES & COMMENTS
                          ************************************
                          As a child I don’t remember an adult saying “I don’t know.” What they said was “You’ll find out when you grow up.”
                          *
                          I don’t write for readers; I write against them beginning with myself.
                          *
                          As a failure I am free; as a success I may be a slave to my success. Isn’t that what happened to Arlen and Saroyan?
                          *
                          When we divide ourselves the message we send to our enemies is: “No need to kill us; we are committing suicide.”
                          *
                          Armenians may be said to have a Turkish problem. I am that rarest of all Armenians: an Armenian with Armenian problems.
                          *
                          In a disagreement, you cannot defeat your adversary by insulting him; you can only expose your own limitations and inability to entertain new ideas.
                          #
                          ON WRITING
                          ****************************
                          The best opening line is the one you delete, according to Chekhov who probably wrote more opening lines than any other writer.
                          *
                          I remember to have read somewhere, as soon as you write a brilliant line, delete it. As far as I know, Simenon, one of the most successful and prolific writers of all time, never wrote a single brilliant line in his life.
                          *
                          Q
                          **********
                          Who benefits from wars, volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis? Surely, not God. Who then? Is Mother Nature in cahoots with the Devil? What else?
                          *
                          ON PROFIT
                          *****************
                          If you are in the business of making money, your greatest assets are the ignorance and stupidity of the masses. Something similar could be said of politics.
                          *
                          PARTY DISCIPLINE
                          ***************************
                          It has happened to the best of my childhood friends. On their own they were more like wolves; but after joining a political party, they turned into sheep. Were they emasculated by party discipline?
                          #

                          Comment


                          • Sunday, January 12, 2014
                            ***************************************
                            THOMAS MANN SPEAKS
                            **************************************
                            Where there is too much talk of love, there will be very little love.
                            Who will dare to disagree with Thomas Mann (who probably wrote more about music than any other major modern writer) when he said:
                            “The past half century has witnessed a regression of humanity, a chilling atrophy of culture, a frightening decrease in civility, decency, sense of justice, loyalty, and faith, and of the most elementary trustworthiness.”
                            #
                            ON MARRIAGE
                            **********************
                            Even if you marry the most beautiful woman in the world,
                            sooner or later she will stink of garlic.
                            Richard Burton on Elizabeth Taylor in his recently published diary:
                            “She stinks of garlic – who has garlic for breakfast?”
                            He probably stank of booze morning, noon, and night.
                            #
                            AS I SEE IT
                            ***********************
                            There is no such thing as a lovable nation.
                            For every American who loves Armenians
                            there will be at least two or more who love Turks.
                            *
                            I was the most disappointed man on earth
                            when I met my first Turk.
                            He was short, skinny, and timid.
                            No fez. No yataghan. No shalvars. No bloodshot eyes.
                            *
                            When a face in the crowd smiles and says hello,
                            the chances are it’s to the fellow behind you.
                            *
                            Books changed my worldview
                            but music changed my life.
                            I became a church organist.
                            *
                            Where the art of advertisement is developed,
                            the brain will be underdeveloped.
                            *
                            There is an Armenian Christian heresy that believes
                            the world was created not by God but the Devil.
                            The evidence is overwhelming.
                            *
                            A generation of dupes will be followed by another.
                            #
                            FAMILIAR QUOTATIONS
                            **********************************
                            “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn!”
                            “I could have been a contender.”
                            Can you identify the following two? “Gee, I wish we had one of those doomsday machines!” and “The cat is in the bag and the bag is in the river.”
                            #
                            ON COWARDICE
                            *****************************
                            If you speak in the name of patriotism, do so only in time of peace.
                            Attack only individuals who are in no position to defend themselves.
                            Attack anonymously and from a safe distance.
                            *
                            ON BEING AN ARMENIAN WRITER
                            ***************************************
                            As a failure you will be despised. As a success you will be hated unto death.
                            *
                            TWINS
                            ******************
                            To be corrupt and incompetent are Siamese.
                            *
                            MEN AND WOMEN
                            ****************************
                            On their own they can be good; it’s when they get together that the excrement hits the ventilator.
                            *
                            YOU WANT TO BE POPULAR?
                            **************************************
                            Recycle a fashionable propaganda line – like Bolshevik shit under Stalin and Nazi crap under Hitler…
                            *
                            POLITICS
                            *********************
                            To be in politics means to expose the double-talk of the opposition and to cover your own triple-talk.
                            #
                            CONSPIRACY
                            ****************************
                            Ever since I was born as an Armenian,
                            there has been a carefully orchestrated conspiracy
                            to convince me that being an Armenian
                            is a rare privilege and I should consider myself
                            the luckiest of men.
                            The question that I cannot answer to this day is:
                            Are members of this conspiracy
                            our saviors or our grave-diggers?
                            *
                            If “a man is another man’s wolf,”
                            is not an Armenian another Armenian’s Turk?”
                            #

                            Comment


                            • Sunday, January 26, 2014
                              **************************************
                              THE BLAME GAME…
                              AMONG OTHER THINGS.
                              *****************************************
                              If you master the rules of the blame-game
                              you can easily represent yourself as a statesman of vision
                              and the opposition as a cesspool
                              of corruption, incompetence and stupidity.
                              *
                              When in doubt
                              I always do that which is against my own interests.
                              *
                              Whatever I have done,
                              I have done out of necessity and under duress.
                              The choice was thrust on me
                              the way subservience is thrust on the 99%.
                              *
                              Bishops, imams, rabbis:
                              they share a common wish to be trusted and respected,
                              but they neither trust nor respect one another.
                              *
                              If a single man can be wrong,
                              so can two or two thousand or two million,
                              especially when they speak of
                              the Incomprehensible and the Unknowable.
                              *
                              The Scriptures tell us to turn the other cheek
                              not to drop our pants...
                              *
                              We are midgets perched on the shoulders
                              of lesser midgets.
                              *
                              We are told there are two kinds of statistics,
                              lies and damn lies.
                              What about belief systems?
                              #
                              ALPHA MALES
                              ****************************
                              Bosses, bishops, benefactors:
                              alpha males whose #1 concern is #1.
                              The rest is propaganda.
                              *
                              PATRIOTISM
                              *****************************
                              There are Armenians – and I know some of them myself –
                              who view intolerance, ignorance, and stupidity
                              as authentic expressions of their patriotism
                              and moral superiority.
                              *
                              DIALOGUE
                              *******************
                              In dialogue there are no losers
                              because both sides learn from each other.
                              Which may explain why dialogue
                              happens to be quintessentially un-Armenian.
                              *
                              WRITING
                              *********************
                              I write.
                              It’s an inexpensive hobby – the cheapest I know.
                              It costs me nothing.
                              #
                              ON WHAT WE KNOW
                              *************************************
                              Nobody knows everything about anything.
                              Some of the worst blunders in the history of mankind
                              were committed by very smart men
                              (self-assessed, of course) who thought
                              they knew all there is to know about the enemy.
                              *
                              We know now that even Wall Street
                              doesn’t know everything about Wall Street.
                              *
                              The 99% hate the 1% -- their secret role models.
                              *
                              The 1% are at their best
                              when it comes to deceiving and exploiting the 99%.
                              *
                              We like to pretend we know more about ourselves
                              than anyone else until we are cornered, assaulted and defeated
                              by our own irrational impulses.
                              *
                              Once upon a time we were ruled by kings.
                              We are now ruled by moneyed morons
                              with the charisma of apes.
                              *
                              There are always two schools of thought
                              and we tend to favor the school
                              that is more favorable to our vanity.
                              *
                              We say “shit happens”
                              even when we micro-managed the catastrophe.
                              #
                              AS I SEE IT
                              ******************************
                              Leaders: Blind men who pretend to have 20/20 vision.
                              *
                              There are two kinds of failures:
                              (a) those who make less than minimum wage
                              (Armenian writers come readily to mind) and
                              (b) those who make a million a day (guess who).
                              *
                              In the eyes of the 99% the 1% might as well be Turks.
                              *
                              Speaking of Turks:
                              We know what they did to us.
                              My question is: What did we do to them?
                              If something, what?
                              If nothing, why not?
                              *
                              You tell me I simplify complexities?
                              Am I then the only one?
                              *
                              More on the 1%:
                              Two reasons they are free men:
                              (a) They can afford a dream team, and
                              (b) they know the judge.
                              *
                              A headline in my morning paper:
                              “Neanderthal genes found in modern humans.”
                              So what else is new?
                              #
                              PHILOSOPHICAL INVESTIGATIONS
                              ***********************************************
                              Justice is on the side of the more competent lawyers
                              in the same way that victory is one the side of bigger battalions.
                              *
                              Turks don’t need a dream team.
                              They have Yanks on their side.
                              *
                              My philosophy of writing?
                              To be readable.
                              *
                              I don’t write to make you feel good.
                              What I do is hold up a mirror
                              and make you wish you were dead.
                              *
                              Some problems don’t get solved
                              because we don’t have a clear awareness of their existence.
                              *
                              There are truths which we take for granted
                              until we consider their contradiction.
                              *
                              The 1% are dead men who will do anything
                              to keep their money beginning with staying alive.
                              *
                              Progress is possible in all branches of human endeavor
                              except religion.
                              *
                              A single pope can brainwash millions of Catholics
                              but not a single imam.
                              #
                              A WORTHY AMBITION
                              ********************************
                              The secret ambition of every Muslim terrorist
                              is to defeat America and to acquire a harem
                              of Hollywood starlets.
                              *
                              THE TYRANNY OF RELATIVITY
                              ***************************************
                              Virtues like self-reliance, initiative, originality and perseverance
                              in the wrong hands become dangerous vices.
                              *
                              85% VERSUS 86%
                              ******************************
                              We are told 85% of TV commercials are misleading
                              and the law can’t put a stop to that
                              because law-makers (i.e. politicians)
                              mislead the people 86% of the time.
                              *
                              WHAT THEY SHARE
                              *****************************
                              Defeats are planned as carefully as victories.
                              #

                              Comment


                              • Sunday, January 26, 2014



                                **************************************



                                THE BLAME GAME…



                                AMONG OTHER THINGS.



                                *****************************************



                                If you master the rules of the blame-game



                                you can easily represent yourself as a statesman of vision



                                and the opposition as a cesspool



                                of corruption, incompetence and stupidity.



                                *



                                When in doubt



                                I always do that which is against my own interests.



                                *



                                Whatever I have done,



                                I have done out of necessity and under duress.



                                The choice was thrust on me



                                the way subservience is thrust on the 99%.



                                *



                                Bishops, imams, rabbis:



                                they share a common wish to be trusted and respected,



                                but they neither trust nor respect one another.



                                *



                                If a single man can be wrong,



                                so can two or two thousand or two million,



                                especially when they speak of



                                the Incomprehensible and the Unknowable.



                                *



                                The Scriptures tell us to turn the other cheek



                                not to drop our pants...



                                *



                                We are midgets perched on the shoulders



                                of lesser midgets.



                                *



                                We are told there are two kinds of statistics,



                                lies and damn lies.



                                What about belief systems?



                                #



                                ALPHA MALES
                                ****************************
                                Bosses, bishops, benefactors:
                                alpha males whose #1 concern is #1.
                                The rest is propaganda.
                                *
                                PATRIOTISM
                                *****************************
                                There are Armenians – and I know some of them myself –
                                who view intolerance, ignorance, and stupidity
                                as authentic expressions of their patriotism
                                and moral superiority.
                                *
                                DIALOGUE
                                *******************
                                In dialogue there are no losers
                                because both sides learn from each other.
                                Which may explain why dialogue
                                happens to be quintessentially un-Armenian.
                                *
                                WRITING
                                *********************
                                I write.
                                It’s an inexpensive hobby – the cheapest I know.
                                It costs me nothing.
                                #



                                ON WHAT WE KNOW
                                *************************************
                                Nobody knows everything about anything.
                                Some of the worst blunders in the history of mankind
                                were committed by very smart men
                                (self-assessed, of course) who thought
                                they knew all there is to know about the enemy.
                                *
                                We know now that even Wall Street
                                doesn’t know everything about Wall Street.
                                *
                                The 99% hate the 1% -- their secret role models.
                                *
                                The 1% are at their best
                                when it comes to deceiving and exploiting the 99%.
                                *
                                We like to pretend we know more about ourselves
                                than anyone else until we are cornered, assaulted and defeated
                                by our own irrational impulses.
                                *
                                Once upon a time we were ruled by kings.
                                We are now ruled by moneyed morons
                                with the charisma of apes.
                                *
                                There are always two schools of thought
                                and we tend to favor the school
                                that is more favorable to our vanity.
                                *
                                We say “shit happens”
                                even when we micro-managed the catastrophe.
                                #



                                AS I SEE IT



                                ******************************



                                Leaders: Blind men who pretend to have 20/20 vision.



                                *



                                There are two kinds of failures:



                                (a) those who make less than minimum wage



                                (Armenian writers come readily to mind) and



                                (b) those who make a million a day (guess who).



                                *



                                In the eyes of the 99% the 1% might as well be Turks.



                                *



                                Speaking of Turks:



                                We know what they did to us.



                                My question is: What did we do to them?



                                If something, what?



                                If nothing, why not?



                                *



                                You tell me I simplify complexities?



                                Am I then the only one?



                                *



                                More on the 1%:



                                Two reasons they are free men:



                                (a) They can afford a dream team, and



                                (b) they know the judge.



                                *



                                A headline in my morning paper:



                                “Neanderthal genes found in modern humans.”



                                So what else is new?



                                #



                                PHILOSOPHICAL INVESTIGATIONS



                                ***********************************************



                                Justice is on the side of the more competent lawyers



                                in the same way that victory is one the side of bigger battalions.



                                *



                                Turks don’t need a dream team.



                                They have Yanks on their side.



                                *



                                My philosophy of writing?



                                To be readable.



                                *



                                I don’t write to make you feel good.



                                What I do is hold up a mirror



                                and make you wish you were dead.



                                *



                                Some problems don’t get solved



                                because we don’t have a clear awareness of their existence.



                                *



                                There are truths which we take for granted



                                until we consider their contradiction.



                                *



                                The 1% are dead men who will do anything



                                to keep their money beginning with staying alive.



                                *



                                Progress is possible in all branches of human endeavor



                                except religion.



                                *



                                A single pope can brainwash millions of Catholics



                                but not a single imam.



                                #



                                A WORTHY AMBITION



                                ********************************



                                The secret ambition of every Muslim terrorist



                                is to defeat America and to acquire a harem



                                of Hollywood starlets.



                                *



                                THE TYRANNY OF RELATIVITY



                                ***************************************



                                Virtues like self-reliance, initiative, originality and perseverance



                                in the wrong hands become dangerous vices.



                                *



                                85% VERSUS 86%



                                ******************************



                                We are told 85% of TV commercials are misleading



                                and the law can’t put a stop to that



                                because law-makers (i.e. politicians)



                                mislead the people 86% of the time.



                                *



                                WHAT THEY SHARE



                                *****************************



                                Defeats are planned as carefully as victories.



                                #

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