I take the risk of sounding like a bleeding-heart liberal or some such, but it has recently begun to dawn on me, (i mean, how late am i), that some of the world's greatest influences had the greatest flaws. I mean the Clinton scandal ruined Clinton's rep, but it didn't erase his accomplishments. Alfred Nobel sacrificed the lives of many of the poor with his dynamite factories. (they were known for the occasional explosion, and because of the areas in which they were located the "insignificant" lives of the "insignificant" poverty were taken.Only when he realized what people really thought of him did he, by some stoke of genius create the Nobel prize, which then covered up his previous indiscretions.) Martin Luther King's a great man, a fine man, was a cheater. Lots of guys fool around, but the fact that his wife stood by him no matter what should have gave him a clue. Vladimir of the Ottoman empire gave us Dracula, but he was a terrible guy too begin with, but the point is that he was a very powerful guy who abused his power and besmirched his name. Their are countless names of many other people, Shakespear, King Henry V, King Luis of France, Chinggis Khan, Kubilai's grand children, plenty of Kings, countless emperor's, conquerors, people with power, even those without power but hold considerable prestige.

This post is just a reflection. Many of you already know these things, they are history and therefore insignificant, but really thinking on this doesn't really give hope for a peaceful future. There is always that someone who will do whatever it takes to gain power or authority or both or anything. People who will go to extremes and stop at nothing to cover up their dirty secrets. It makes me wonder if every great guy is only passionate about change only to cover up some dirty secret or to make everyone forget the bad. Or is it that every genuine good guy who does something bad will always have that bad paraded about their name or vise versa. It just makes me wonder. Who really does care?

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What it do?

You lost me when you included Clinton with the world's greatest leaders.

These people are all flawed just like the rest of us. That doesn't mean they can't do great things. Most people who start in any endeavor do it for some selfish reasons.Some don't have the foresight to see problems ahead and some don't care.Some great men like Nikola Tesla, who had over 700 patents when he died, sold his rights on alternating current to Westinghouse and barely gets any mention at all in the company of great inventors. Men like Charles Goodyear,who invented vulcanized rubber, never saw a dime from his invention which was used many years later to make millions. He died a poor man. Martin Luther King did great things even though he was tempted by the lust in his heart.Much like Jimmy Swaggert who could not resist temptation. All of us fall short in one way or another. Be careful who your heroes are. Welcome to the human race. Some good and a lot bad.( the bad we call liberals)

Temptation and greed are powerful forces.

P.S.:
TERRORISTS ARE A PRODUCT OF THE POLITICAL,ECONOMIC, AND CULTURAL FAILURES OF THE UNDER DEVELOPED COUNTRIES.

What all this points out is the inherent flaw of history. Let's face it. History is story telling, primarily for the purpose of getting us all on the same page. We turn historical figures into characters, historic events into dramatic ones. For everything we tell, there's something we don't. It's like analyzing a dream, trying to pull a story-modeled after our cultural storytelling preferences- out of a series of images, words, and stuff.
History is the least scientific of social disciplines. But it is the most used. People prefer to use a story from the past to justify how one thing fails or succeeds, often ignoring a lot of the other data, often ignoring new ideas, often idealizing old ideas.
Collection of scientific data is important and I give props to those historians that do use the fragments they get in a scientific rather than anecdotal, episodic, or purely descriptive manner. Bu for the bulk of us, especially a lot of the history buffs- it's mostly just a sacred form of entertainment, a replacement for the pagan traditional side of religion.
Heroes and villains of history are characters. Many who achieved just as much do not exist. Others who achieved relatively little are symbols for entiire events. Events are made to read like literature.

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"It's never over... BOY!"
The Tall Man, Phantasm III

Lyrical stuff, big guy. I think maybe Homer started the whole thing. Blame it on the Greeks, they were handy at the time. Now that I think of it, Bubba would have fit right in, chasing slave girls around a granite-lipped pool.

"And now, boys and girls, instead of the story of Gilgamesh, let's instead tell you the story of the Porker Who Stained a Presidency...."

History will be kinder to Bubba than he deserves.

(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*).

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Delivering tasty bite-sized Clues to liberals since 1965.

Great men (and women) are not great because they ar eperfect, they are great because the manage greatness even with (despite off) their flaws.

Now that is greatness

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“The subject no longer has to be mentioned by name. Someone is sick. Someone else is feeling better now. A friend has just gone back into the hospital. Another has died. The unspoken name, of course, is AIDS.”
“From the point of view of the pharmaceutical industry, the AIDS problem has already been solved. After all, we already have a drug which can be sold at the incredible price of $8, 000 an annual dose, and which has the added virtue of not diminishing the market by actually curing anyone.”

Great men (and women) are overrated and idealized. In most cases all the ideas and inventions and such attributed to them can be found in other people who have no place in history. They are great, sure. But what makes a great person over a person who history forgets is often a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

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"It's never over... BOY!"
The Tall Man, Phantasm III

Survivors, maybe, if Shrill's any good throwing things after he gets caught schtupping some bimbo. It's not that Shrill minds another woman doing what Shrill won't. It's the idea Bubba gets caught at it before she makes the White House.

Roughly thirty years ago I noticed that conservatives think of the future of the country, and liberals the future of only themselves. But the best comment might be this one, because it applies right here on this board....

The news media is liberal---the ones unwilling to keep national secrets. You can fill in the missing parts yourself to see the connection. Liberals would only blab it around if we did tell them.

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Delivering tasty bite-sized Clues to liberals since 1965.

"Martin Luther King did great things even though he was tempted by the lust in his heart.Much like Jimmy Swaggert who could not resist temptation."

comparing MLK to Swaggert?

what is the word you like to use? Kook? yes, that's it. Kook.

Admirable sentiments. What would Cecil Rhodes have said?

I think Julius Nyere and Jomo Kenyatta will achieve historical greatness. The impression I drew from both men was quiet forward-thinking diligence. That alone merits praise.

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Delivering tasty bite-sized Clues to liberals since 1965.

Now i never compared Swaggert with King, except to say that they were both "tempted". Swaggert did a lot of good also whether you like it or not.

They both loved the women and who can blame them. (temptation runs deep, into your soul it will creep)

How about you Kaladrew are you ever tempted???