Love it! The "Right" is within each of us and no one has power or dominion over that. I don't care where you get it from as long as you get it! Do suicide bombers think they are doing the right thing? Do our soldiers fighting in an occupying force think they are doing the right thing? When we are waterboarding prisoners do we think we are doing the right thing? The sentiment is good but is that reality? What is Right for a follower of Jesus Christ (his true teachings are contrary to Christianity) may be wrong to a Muslim or a Jew or any other religion or belief. All we can do is what's right in our heart and trust that it is the right thing to do.

Excellent! when you have courage others have courage when you have doubt others have doubt, and so on and so on...

Better to be original if not imitate - at least you are doing something - a good imitation is sometimes better than the real thing

Only his public affaires – public trust must also be real trust

Excellent! let's do it... Now Charlie Crist wants to drill in the Gulf - O how easy politicians change their stance - I know, there's many more examles.

Anarchy is the road to freedom and most democracies are subject to it. What is this thing we call FREEDOM -- for an individual it can be so elusive and yet so easy to acquire; it means so many different outcomes depending on your state. What is slavery but submission? Freedom will always endure the wrath of dictators, oligarchies, fundamentalists and theocratic ideologies. I believe there is one primary precondition for Freedom and that is simply to be left alone. I suggest all should be free from the process of state obligation, and until that moment Freedom will allude us. We do not have the right to call ourselves a free people, if our nation stifles the individual right to freedom with obligation. As many great minds have expressed, the first to go in a totalitarian state is their biggest threat 'free thinkers.' It is they that ignite the fire for freedom. Government and corporate America doesn't want you to think (give as little as possible to education) they just want you to accept and be their slave. Max Eastman said it best of all: "The real guarantee of freedom is an equilibrium of social forces in conflict, not the triumph of any one force."

Wow! "Logan's Run"

All this from a really dumb statement... Please Editor no more dumb statements

Expletives aside; Yes, Yes, Yes

Now, just imagine Bush saying that...

Wow! His last great word for the day is "Testy" in a speech he made while visiting one of his puppets in London. Bush and his cohorts must stand trail for treason, they have betrayed the American people for their own greed and caused thousands to die in the process. He has created more terrorists than any terrorist organization -- it will take years to repair the damage he has perpetrated on the American People and the rest of the world. What is unbelievable is that he was elected in the first place, and secondly, that he has been in power for nearly eight years. To become President of the most powerful nation in the world and you don't even have to submit a resume (you know what I mean). There is no intelligence test (just a low IQ would do -- not to low), no means test, no job interview -- they say a leader reflects its people, well if that's the case we are in big trouble -- Yes, Ignorance is Strength. Robin Hood where are you? All is forgiven. America needs to be rid of three things: Bushtality, the Fed, and Religious Fundamentalists.

Indeed prophetic! What's next? Iran? Anything to take our mind off the real issues - we have been obscuring the real issues of corporate greed and political corruption with threats of terrorism, Gay marriage, and stem cell research.

Perfect - the essence of a liberal attitude. Unfortunately it's the attitude of indifference and theocratic dogma that leads to hate and intransigence.

Integrity is keeping yourself honest and ethical – every time you loose a little integrity you loose a little of yourself. Live by the 10-1 principle; for every unkind thought or deed have ten kind thoughts and ten good deeds – then, and ONLY then, do you start to repair your integrity.

Great! it reminds me of Omar Khayyam's: "The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all your tears wash out a word of it." Good deeds are done and not said.

"Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather we have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit"

"The measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out." -- Baron Thomas Babington Macauley, English historian and statesman (1800-1859)

It's as obvious as it is... and he certainly knew about excellence; Plato's student and Alexander's tutor

The most socialized country has the lowest birth rate - O love the first line "You must study to be frank with the world" Perhaps we should give flat screens to men who................

I'll give it five but three to the author - Jack I believe we are working on the assumption of "a good character" (and don't ask me to define that) There are those with bad character that do nasty things and those with a good character that do good things - and you are right both have character. All words have an opposite and in most cases the same word can be used negatively as it can be used positively it all depends in the context of the expression - for instance something can be terribly good. An evil person can keep integrity as much as a good person can keep character - sorry, I hope that hasn't bored you all to death.

I agree with Mike; alas, we have forgotten these great ideals - very well put Reston - very delicate

I believe so too, though I would add indifference

This is beautiful...God, whats wrong with you guys

Great quote - perfect example of repressed sexuality - we are more concerned about the naked body than we are about killing innocent people

Sorry, logan, I just went back and saw your excellent reply - well done. Thanks, Robert P.s it's an intersting debate "The Good the Bad and the Ugly" have you read Cicero's "On the Good life"?