(no subject)

I've seen this quote a few times recently in a couple of the communities I'm in. It really gets to me, so I thought I'd share:

Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar.
-- attributed to Julius Caesar

(no subject)

This was going to be a comment sparked by the comments to this post from littledevi, but there were so many issues I wanted to address it would have been much too long.

First, I am currently of the childfree/childless mindest. I do not want kids, but I am not completely eliminating the possibility from my life. I've spent several years knowing I wanted to be A only to discover that in fact I want to be B. As I am not resolute in my opinion, it may be easily dismissed but ( here goes )