Nietzsche

“Why am I alive? What lesson should I learn from life? How have I become what I am, and why do I suffer from so being?”

-- Friedrich Nietzsche

PIcs

Elvis preforming at the age of 21, 1956. Photo: Alfred Wertheimer

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Dowding the Republicans

Who would ever have thought blacks would get out and support the first black president? Who would ever have thought women would shy away from the party of transvaginal probes? Who would ever have thought gays would work against a party that treated them as immoral and subhuman? Who would have ever thought young people would desert a party that ignored science and hectored on social issues? Who would ever have thought Latinos would scorn a party that expected them to finish up their chores and self-deport?

-- Maureen Dowd at The New York Times

This is not a new thought, but it is a well-put thought. It also begs the question: what can the Republican Party do to become a majority party, without cheating, and still be Republican?

All Days Holy, All Men Divine

”To the poet, to the philosopher, to the saint, all things are friendly and sacred, all events profitable, all days holy, all men divine.”

-- Emerson

Nietzsche liked to quote this, as well, to describe his philosophy, at least as it pertains to those who can overcome the death of God.

Hamlet (3,3) Know Thou a More Horrid Hent

Hamlet cannot believe his luck! There lies Claudius unarmed and vulnerable. Fate has opened the door to the answer of all his problems. He takes his sword in hand; he is now an agent of Death ready to deliver up the wicked king’s soul.

Hamlet

Now might I do it pat, now he is praying;
And now I'll do't.

Rosenberg notes, “In another moment Hamlet is up behind Claudius, weapon upraised in one hand, or two, muscles clenched to strike. The praying man is unprotected, but so had been Hamlet’s father.”

But then there is doubt and Hamlet withdraws back.

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