President George W. Bush’s Final Press Conference

Part 1 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEkY7_i7MJs

Part 2 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIwt8xnwS0Y

I don’t agree with him on many matters (I’m a Conservative Democrat), but I don’t hate him. I recognize that he had to make a lot of tough decisions. I am thankful that he had the guts to move forward with Iraq, after we spent 12 years playing games with Saddam Hussein. History will look very favorably on that war, despite its problems. I wish you all the best Mr. President.

Matt Damon Rips Sarah Palin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6urw_PWHYk

Matt is right, the choice of Sarah Palin was absurd. My favorite part of the video is where he says that he wants to know if Palin believes dinosaurs existed 4,000 years ago. I really love that he is calling her out on her whacky religious beliefs. There is much too much political correctness about religion in the USA. To get elected to high positions like the presidency, you have to believe that God was a jewish guy with long hair and sandals. How ridiculous.

Allah Plays the Sustenance Game

Sahih Bukhari Volume 4, Book 56, Number 670: Narrated Abu Huraira: that he heard Allah’s Apostle saying, “Allah willed to test three Israelis who were a Leper, a blind man and a bald-headed man. So, he sent them an angel who came to the leper and said, ‘What thing do you like most?’ He replied, “Good color and good skin, for the people have a strong aversion to me.’ The angel touched him and his illness was cured, and he was given a good color and beautiful skin. The angel asked him, ‘What kind of property do you like best?’ He replied, ‘Camels (or cows).’ (The narrator is in doubt, for either the leper or the bald-headed man demanded camels and the other demanded cows.) So he (i.e. the leper) was given a pregnant she-camei, and the angel said (to him), ‘May Allah bless you in it.’

The angel then went to the bald-headed man and said, ‘What thing do you like most?’ He said, ‘I like good hair and wish to be cured of this disease, for the people feel repulsion for me.’ The angel touched him and his illness was cured, and he was given good hair. The angel asked (him), ‘What kind of property do you like bests’ He replied, ‘Cows,’ The angel gave him a pregnant cow and said, ‘May Allah bless you in it.’ The angel went to the blind man and asked, ‘What thing do you like best?’ He said, ‘(I like) that Allah may restore my eye-sight to me so that I may see the people.’ The angel touched his eyes and Allah gave him back his eye-sight. The angel asked him, “What kind of property do you like best?’ He replied, ‘Sheep.’ The angel gave him a pregnant sheep.Afterwards, all the three pregnant animals gave birth to young ones, and multiplied and brought forth so much that one of the (three) men had a herd of camels filling a valley, and one had a herd of cows filling a valley, and one had a flock of sheep filling a valley. Then the angel, disguised in the shape and appearance of a leper, went to the leper and said, I am a poor man, who has lost all means of livelihood while on a journey. So none will satisfy my need except Allah and then you. In the Name of Him Who has given you such nice color and beautiful skin, and so much property, I ask you to give me a camel so that I may reach my destination. The man replied, ‘I have many obligations (so I cannot give you).’ The angel said, ‘I think I know you; were you not a leper to whom the people had a strong aversion? Weren’t you a poor man, and then Allah gave you (all this property).’ He replied, ‘(This is all wrong), I got this property through inheritance from my fore-fathers’ The angel said, ‘If you are telling a lie, then let Allah make you as you were before. ‘

Then the angel, disguised in the shape and appearance of a bald man, went to the bald man and said to him the same as he told the first one, and he too answered the same as the first one did. The angel said, ‘If you are telling a lie, then let Allah make you as you were before.’

The angel, disguised in the shape of a blind man, went to the blind man and said, ‘I am a poor man and a traveler, whose means of livelihood have been exhausted while on a journey. I have nobody to help me except Allah, and after Him, you yourself. I ask you in the Name of Him Who has given you back your eye-sight to give me a sheep, so that with its help, I may complete my journey’ The man said, ‘No doubt, I was blind and Allah gave me back my eye-sight; I was poor and Allah made me rich; so take anything you wish from my property. By Allah, I will not stop you for taking anything (you need) of my property which you may take for Allah’s sake.’ The angel replied, ‘Keep your property with you. You (i.e 3 men) have been tested and Allah is pleased with you and is angry with your two companions.”

http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/056.sbt.html#004.056.670

* So first God has these people living in abject poverty and illness, then He makes them rich and heals them, and then he tests them by having a poor person (an angel in disguise) approach them for help. 2 out of the 3 of them say they are unable to help the person and now God is angry with them. This is a ridiculous game of charades.

* There is no certain set of rules that obligates these men to help total strangers.

* There are a number of reasons a person should not start handing out their wealth to others. Doing this can invite freeloaders or thieves. 

* Living a life as a human being, which seems to be going nowhere but ending in death, means that whatever you hand out from your own wealth is gone. Why should anyone do anything without any real incentive for doing so? Charity is something people do out of the kindness of their heart, and it gives them pleasure, not something done out of coercion. How does Allah even expect to coerce people into highly moral behavior if what he sends them is a bunch of ridiculous intangible myths every thousand years? The whole Islamic story line is absolutely absurd.

* Perhaps after living in such abject poverty these men are afraid to part with any of the wealth they have received? If Allah wanted these people to become philanthropic, maybe He shouldn’t have traumatized them so much with poor living conditions. Changing someone’s living conditions from extreme poverty to extreme wealth doesn’t automatically produce happy philanthropic individuals. There are all types of psychological effects these charades can have on people.

* The angel disguised as a stranger warns the men about lying to him. Why should the men disclose anything about their wealth to total strangers? This is an unreasonable expectation.

* In the Quran it speaks about how man is by nature hasty and greedy. If this is the case, what is the purpose of this test? It is already established that people are looking out for themselves before anyone else. It is already established that people make hasty decisions. In addition, Allah created people this way. Thus this “test” is a rigged test to begin with. It is yet another absurd aspect of the story.

* When the angel healed these men and made them rich he never warned them about being tested or so much as offered a reminder to the men about charity and good will. Isn’t some prior notice called for? How do you test men on something while they were never given a clear lesson? Especially if passing or failing the test might effect your eternal destiny. 

* Did the angel even reveal itself to these men as an angel from God? That would probably effect them greatly if they knew that with certainty. Wouldn’t it effect you if an angel of God healed you and made you rich and you knew without a doubt that it was an angel? Would you not live the rest of your life completely differently? Would you be failing simple tests like giving a guy one animal out of your valley of animals? This story is made up to teach a moral lesson, there isn’t anything realistic about it. There were no angels who appeared on the scene, snapped their fingers, and made tons of wealth appear. Nor is the reaction of these people to meeting angels who magically snap valleys of wealth into existence realistic.

* Perhaps if God were accessible to begin with, didn’t fill the world with all sorts of confusing messages, didn’t create people with a nature that is opposite of what He wants them to do, and didn’t leave it up to the people to make the right guess about Him, He wouldn’t have to be angry with them. He expects them to act respectfully toward Him as if He exists while He is nowhere to be found? He expects specific beliefs and actions while He has made everything around human beings to the contrary?

* What is the effect of this sustenance game in the end? God is still inaccessible and to boot He is angry at the people for acting on the very impulses He built within them. He knew this was going to happen. Shouldn’t He come up with a scheme that actually works for people? Isn’t there something more constructive He can do for people than playing games with them, tempting them to land themselves in Hell for eternity? If Allah was a president we would need to move to immediate impeachment, and probably on to a number of criminal trials. 

Islam Derived from Jewish Tradition

Mohammed (riding the horse) receiving the submission of the Banu Nadir, a Jewish tribe he defeated at Medina. From the Jami’al-Tawarikh, dated 1314-5. In the Nour Foundation’s Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, London.

Sahih Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 56, Number 670: Narrated Abu Huraira: that he heard Allah’s Apostle saying, “Allah willed to test three Israelis who were a Leper, a blind man and a bald-headed man. So, he sent them an angel who came to the leper and said, ‘What thing do you like most?’ He replied, “Good color and good skin, for the people have a strong aversion to me.’ The angel touched him and his illness was cured, and he was given a good color and beautiful skin. The angel asked him, ‘What kind of property do you like best?’ He replied, ‘Camels (or cows).’ (The narrator is in doubt, for either the leper or the bald-headed man demanded camels and the other demanded cows.) So he (i.e. the leper) was given a pregnant she-camei, and the angel said (to him), ‘May Allah bless you in it.’

The angel then went to the bald-headed man and said, ‘What thing do you like most?’ He said, ‘I like good hair and wish to be cured of this disease, for the people feel repulsion for me.’ The angel touched him and his illness was cured, and he was given good hair. The angel asked (him), ‘What kind of property do you like bests’ He replied, ‘Cows,’ The angel gave him a pregnant cow and said, ‘May Allah bless you in it.’ The angel went to the blind man and asked, ‘What thing do you like best?’ He said, ‘(I like) that Allah may restore my eye-sight to me so that I may see the people.’ The angel touched his eyes and Allah gave him back his eye-sight. The angel asked him, “What kind of property do you like best?’ He replied, ‘Sheep.’ The angel gave him a pregnant sheep. Afterwards, all the three pregnant animals gave birth to young ones, and multiplied and brought forth so much that one of the (three) men had a herd of camels filling a valley, and one had a herd of cows filling a valley, and one had a flock of sheep filling a valley. Then the angel, disguised in the shape and appearance of a leper, went to the leper and said, I am a poor man, who has lost all means of livelihood while on a journey. So none will satisfy my need except Allah and then you. In the Name of Him Who has given you such nice color and beautiful skin, and so much property, I ask you to give me a camel so that I may reach my destination. The man replied, ‘I have many obligations (so I cannot give you).’ The angel said, ‘I think I know you; were you not a leper to whom the people had a strong aversion? Weren’t you a poor man, and then Allah gave you (all this property).’ He replied, ‘(This is all wrong), I got this property through inheritance from my fore-fathers’ The angel said, ‘If you are telling a lie, then let Allah make you as you were before. 

Then the angel, disguised in the shape and appearance of a bald man, went to the bald man and said to him the same as he told the first one, and he too answered the same as the first one did. The angel said, ‘If you are telling a lie, then let Allah make you as you were before.’

The angel, disguised in the shape of a blind man, went to the blind man and said, ‘I am a poor man and a traveler, whose means of livelihood have been exhausted while on a journey. I have nobody to help me except Allah, and after Him, you yourself. I ask you in the Name of Him Who has given you back your eye-sight to give me a sheep, so that with its help, I may complete my journey’ The man said, ‘No doubt, I was blind and Allah gave me back my eye-sight; I was poor and Allah made me rich; so take anything you wish from my property. By Allah, I will not stop you for taking anything (you need) of my property which you may take for Allah’s sake.’ The angel replied, ‘Keep your property with you. You (i.e 3 men) have been tested and Allah is pleased with you and is angry with your two companions.”

http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/056.sbt.html#004.056.670

Sahih Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 3, Number 124: Narrated Ubai bin Ka’b: The Prophet said, “Once the Prophet Moses stood up and addressed Bani Israel. He was asked, “Who is the most learned man amongst the people. He said, “I am the most learned.” Allah admonished Moses as he did not attribute absolute knowledge to Him (Allah). So Allah inspired to him “At the junction of the two seas there is a slave amongst my slaves who is more learned than you.” Moses said, “O my Lord! How can I meet him?” Allah said: Take a fish in a large basket (and proceed) and you will find him at the place where you will lose the fish. So Moses set out along with his (servant) boy, Yusha’ bin Nuin and carried a fish in a large basket till they reached a rock, where they laid their heads (i.e. lay down) and slept. The fish came out of the basket and it took its way into the sea as in a tunnel. So it was an amazing thing for both Moses and his (servant) boy. They proceeded for the rest of that night and the following day. When the day broke, Moses said to his (servant) boy: “Bring us our early meal. No doubt, we have suffered much fatigue in this journey.” Moses did not get tired till he passed the place about which he was told. There the (servant) boy told Moses, “Do you remember when we betook ourselves to the rock, I indeed forgot the fish.” Moses remarked, “That is what we have been seeking. So they went back retracing their foot-steps, till they reached the rock. There they saw a man covered with a garment (or covering himself with his own garment). Moses greeted him. Al-Khadir replied saying, “How do people greet each other in your land?” Moses said, “I am Moses.” He asked, “The Moses of Bani Israel?” Moses replied in the affirmative and added, “May I follow you so that you teach me of that knowledge which you have been taught.” Al-Khadir replied, “Verily! You will not be able to remain patient with me, O Moses! I have some of the knowledge of Allah which He has taught me and which you do not know, while you have some knowledge which Allah has taught you which I do not know.” Moses said, “Allah willing, you will find me patient and I will not disobey you in aught. So both of them set out walking along the sea-shore, as they did not have a boat. In the meantime a boat passed by them and they requested the crew of the boat to take them on board. The crew recognized Al-Khadir and took them on board without fare. Then a sparrow came and stood on the edge of the boat and dipped its beak once or twice in the sea. Al-Khadir said: “O Moses! My knowledge and your knowledge have not decreased Allah’s knowledge except as much as this sparrow has decreased the water of the sea with its beak.” Al-Khadir went to one of the planks of the boat and plucked it out. Moses said, “These people gave us a free lift but you have broken their boat and scuttled it so as to drown its people.” Al-Khadir replied, “Didn’t I tell you that you will not be able to remain patient with me.” Moses said, “Call me not to account for what I forgot.” The first (excuse) of Moses was that he had forgotten. Then they proceeded further and found a boy playing with other boys. Al-Khadir took hold of the boy’s head from the top and plucked it out with his hands (i.e. killed him). Moses said, “Have you killed an innocent soul who has killed none.” Al-Kha,dir replied, “Did I not tell you that you cannot remain patient with me?” Then they both proceeded till when they came to the people of a town, they asked them for food, but they refused to entertain them. Then they found there a wall on the point of collapsing. Al-Khadir repaired it with his own hands. Moses said, “If you had wished, surely you could have taken wages for it.” Al-Khadir replied, “This is the parting between you and me.” The Prophet added, “May Allah be Merciful to Moses! Would that he could have been more patient to learn more about his story with Al-Khadir. “

http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/hadith/bukhari/003.sbt.html

Sahih Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 4, Number 226: Narrated Abu Wail: Abu Musa Al-Ash’ari used to lay great stress on the question of urination and he used to say, “If anyone from Bani Israel happened to soil his clothes with urine, he used to cut that portion away.” Hearing that, Hudhaifa said to Abu Wail, “I wish he (Abu Musa) didn’t (lay great stress on that matter).” Hudhaifa added, “Allah’s Apostle went to the dumps of some people and urinated while standing.”

http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/hadith/bukhari/004.sbt.html

* In another narration we will see Muhammad saying the same thing about Bani Israel and urine. In this narration it is one of the Sahabah, who may have heard it from Muhammad. Muhammad and his followers are using these Jewish stories as important sources of instruction. 

Sahih Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 5, Number 277: Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, ‘The (people of) Bani Israel used to take bath naked (all together) looking at each other. The Prophet Moses used to take a bath alone. They said, ‘By Allah! Nothing prevents Moses from taking a bath with us except that he has a scrotal hernia.’ So once Moses went out to take a bath and put his clothes over a stone and then that stone ran away with his clothes. Moses followed that stone saying, “My clothes, O stone! My clothes, O stone! till the people of Bani Israel saw him and said, ‘By Allah, Moses has got no defect in his body. Moses took his clothes and began to beat the stone.” Abu Huraira added, “By Allah! There are still six or seven marks present on the stone from that excessive beating.”

Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, “When the Prophet Job (Aiyub) was taking a bath naked, golden locusts began to fall on him. Job started collecting them in his clothes. His Lord addressed him, ‘O Job! Haven’t I given you enough so that you are not in need of them.’ Job replied, ‘Yes!’ By Your Honor (power)! But I cannot dispense with Your Blessings.’ “

http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/hadith/bukhari/005.sbt.html

Sahih Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 12, Number 828: Narrated ‘Aisha: Had Allah’s Apostle known what the women were doing, he would have forbidden them from going to the mosque as the women of Bani Israel had been forbidden. Yahya bin Said (a sub-narrator) asked ‘Amra (another sub-narrator), “Were the women of Bani Israel forbidden?” She replied “Yes.”

http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/hadith/bukhari/012.sbt.html

* Muhammad and his followers look at Bani Israel as a source to derive teachings from. The Muslims do end up coming up with a practice of banning women from mosques.

Sahih Bukhari, Volume 2, Book 24, Number 574f: Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, “A man from Bani Israel asked someone from Bani Israel to give him a loan of one thousand Dinars and the later gave it to him. The debtor went on a voyage (when the time for the payment of the debt became due) but he did not find a boat, so he took a piece of wood and bored it and put 1000 diners in it and threw it into the sea. The creditor went out and took the piece of wood to his family to be used as fire-wood.” (See Hadith No. 488 B, Vol. 3). And the Prophet narrated the narration (and said), “When he sawed the wood, he found his money.”

http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/hadith/bukhari/024.sbt.html

Sahih Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 31, Number 222: Narrated Ibn ‘Abbas: The Prophet came to Medina and saw the Jews fasting on the day of Ashura. He asked them about that. They replied, “This is a good day, the day on which Allah rescued Bani Israel from their enemy. So, Moses fasted this day.” The Prophet said, “We have more claim over Moses than you.” So, the Prophet fasted on that day and ordered (the Muslims) to fast (on that day).

http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/hadith/bukhari/031.sbt.html

* Here Muhammad is literally taking over a fasting day from the Jews in order to become competitive with them. This was his idea all along – to create an Arab Abrahamic religion that rivals and surpasses Judaism.

Sahih Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 55, Number 611: Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, “Were it not for Bani Israel, meat would not decay; and were it not for Eve, no woman would ever betray her husband.”

http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/hadith/bukhari/055.sbt.html

* Muhammad uses Judaism and Jewish oral tradition as a major source for Islam, but at the same time he is very critical of the Jews. He felt that they were not religious enough. 

Observation:

* Muhammad transmits a large amount of oral tradition from the Jewish community to his followers.

Problem:

* Islam is clearly built using other religious traditions, such as Jewish oral tradition, not a Divinely guided Prophet.

Prince Harry “Paki” and “Raghead” Comments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRMJQEdX9qc

U.S. Rejected Israeli Plea for Weapons to Attack Iran

WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush rejected several Israeli requests last year for weapons and permission for a potential airstrike inside Iran, the author of an investigative report told CNN.

Israel approached the White House in early 2008 with three requests for an attack on Iran’s main nuclear complex, said New York Times reporter David Sanger. His article appears in the newspaper on Sunday.

According to Sanger, Israel wanted specialized bunker-busting bombs, equipment to help refuel planes making flights into Iran and permission to fly over Iraq to reach the major nuclear complex at Natanz, the site of Iran’s only known uranium enrichment plant.

The White House “deflected” the first two requests and denied the last, Sanger said.

“They feared that if it appeared that the United States had helped Israel strike Iran, using Iraqi airspace, that the result in Iraq could be the expulsion of the American troops (from Iraq),” he said.

Bush, instead, persuaded Israeli officials to not proceed with the attack by sharing with them some details of covert U.S. operations aimed at sabotaging Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Sanger said.

The ongoing operations are designed to undermine Iran’s ability to produce weapons-grade fuel and designs it needs to produce a workable nuclear weapon, the newspaper said.

“We know that the U.S. has been trying to conduct covert industrial espionage, if you will, against Iran’s nuclear program for many years,” said CNN’s Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr. “[They have been] going to the suppliers, going other places; trying to make sure that things get messed up, if you will; that parts may not be what they should be; that certain processes may not work right. Anything that they can do to jam the work to delay the program.”

Sanger said he based his report on conversations with intelligence officials, none of whom would speak on the record because of the topic’s sensitivity.

“I suspect the Bush administration probably isn’t going to comment very much on the details of this story, given the nature of this kind of intelligence operation and the sensitivity of the relationship with Israel,” he said.

Sanger said President-elect Barack Obama, who said during the campaign he wants to engage in dialogue with Iran, now inherits the operation.

“He has got to figure out how to square the circle of having direct talks with the country while these are going on, or he could elect, I imagine, to modify this program or suspend it,” Sanger said.

In his first post-election news conference, Obama said a nuclear-armed Iran would be “unacceptable.” He also said he would help mount an international effort to prevent it from happening.

Iran maintains its nuclear program is for energy purposes only. It has been engaged in an escalating war of words with Israel, whom it accuses of trying to destabilize the republic.

Israel has said it will not rule out military action to halt Iran’s nuclear aspirations.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/11/iran.israel.nuclear/index.html

Video:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/11/iran.israel.nuclear/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

Maxims of Epicurus 21-40

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9IOQS_gIPs&feature=related

21. He who understands the limits of life knows how easy it is to procure enough to remove the pain of want and make the whole of life complete and perfect. Hence he has no longer any need of things which are not to be won save by labor and conflict.

22. We must take into account as the end all that really exists and all clear evidence of sense to which we refer our opinions; for otherwise everything will be full of uncertainty and confusion.

23. If you fight against all your sensations, you will have no standard to which to refer, and thus no means of judging even those judgments which you pronounce false.

24. If you reject absolutely any single sensation without stopping to discriminate with respect to that which awaits confirmation between matter of opinion and that which is already present, whether in sensation or in feelings or in any immediate perception of the mind, you will throw into confusion even the rest of your sensations by your groundless belief and so you will be rejecting the standard of truth altogether. If in your ideas based upon opinion you hastily affirm as true all that awaits confirmation as well as that which does not, you will not escape error, as you will be maintaining complete ambiguity whenever it is a case of judging between right and wrong opinion.

25. If you do not on every separate occasion refer each of your actions to the end prescribed by nature, but instead of this in the act of choice or avoidance swerve aside to some other end, your acts will not be consistent with your theories.

26. All such desires as lead to no pain when they remain ungratified are unnecessary, and the longing is easily got rid of, when the thing desired is difficult to procure or when the desires seem likely to produce harm.

27. Of all the means which are procured by wisdom to ensure happiness throughout the whole of life, by far the most important is the acquisition of friends.

28. The same conviction which inspires confidence that nothing we have to fear is eternal or even of long duration, also enables us to see that even in our limited conditions of life nothing enhances our security so much as friendship.

29. Of our desires some are natural and necessary others are natural, but not necessary; others, again, are neither natural nor necessary, but are due to illusory opinion.

30. Those natural desires which entail no pain when not gratified, though their objects are vehemently pursued, are also due to illusory opinion; and when they are not got rid of, it is not because of their own nature, but because of the person’s illusory opinion.

31. Natural justice is a symbol or expression of usefullness, to prevent one person from harming or being harmed by another.

32. Those animals which are incapable of making covenants with one another, to the end that they may neither inflict nor suffer harm, are without either justice or injustice. And those tribes which either could not or would not form mutual covenants to the same end are in like case.

33. There never was an absolute justice, but only an agreement made in reciprocal association in whatever localities now and again from time to time, providing against the infliction or suffering of harm.

34. Injustice is not in itself an evil, but only in its consequence, viz. the terror which is excited by apprehension that those appointed to punish such offenses will discover the injustice.

35. It is impossible for the person who secretly violates any article of the social compact to feel confident that he will remain undiscovered, even if he has already escaped ten thousand times; for right on to the end of his life he is never sure he will not be detected.

36. Taken generally, justice is the same for all, to wit, something found useful in mutual association; but in its application to particular cases of locality or conditions of whatever kind, it varies under different circumstances.

37. Among the things accounted just by conventional law, whatever in the needs of mutual association is attested to be useful, is thereby stamped as just, whether or not it be the same for all; and in case any law is made and does not prove suitable to the usefulness of mutual association, then this is no longer just. And should the usefulness which is expressed by the law vary and only for a time correspond with the prior conception, nevertheless for the time being it was just, so long as we do not trouble ourselves about empty words, but look simply at the facts.

38. Where without any change in circumstances the conventional laws, when judged by their consequences, were seen not to correspond with the notion of justice, such laws were not really just; but wherever the laws have ceased to be useful in consequence of a change in circumstances, in that case the laws were for the time being just when they were useful for the mutual association of the citizens, and subsequently ceased to be just when they ceased to be useful.

39. He who best knew how to meet fear of external foes made into one family all the creatures he could; and those he could not, he at any rate did not treat as aliens; and where he found even this impossible, he avoided all association, and, so far as was useful, kept them at a distance.

40. Those who were best able to provide themselves with the means of security against their neighbors, being thus in possession of the surest guarantee, passed the most agreeable life in each other’s society; and their enjoyment of the fullest intimacy was such that, if one of them died before his time, the survivors did not mourn his death as if it called for sympathy. 

http://classics.mit.edu/Epicurus/princdoc.html

Maxims of Epicurus 1-20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1SNhMxtd_g

1. A happy and eternal being has no trouble himself and brings no trouble upon any other being; hence he is exempt from movements of anger and partiality, for every such movement implies weakness

2. Death is nothing to us; for the body, when it has been resolved into its elements, has no feeling, and that which has no feeling is nothing to us.

3. The magnitude of pleasure reaches its limit in the removal of all pain. When pleasure is present, so long as it is uninterrupted, there is no pain either of body or of mind or of both together.

4. Continuous pain does not last long in the body; on the contrary, pain, if extreme, is present a short time, and even that degree of pain which barely outweighs pleasure in the body does not last for many days together. Illnesses of long duration even permit of an excess of pleasure over pain in the body.

5. It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and well and justly, and it is impossible to live wisely and well and justly without living pleasantly. Whenever any one of these is lacking, when, for instance, the person is not able to live wisely, though he lives well and justly, it is impossible for him to live a pleasant life.

6. In order to obtain security from other people any means whatever of procuring this was a natural good.

7. Some people have sought to become famous and renowned, thinking that thus they would make themselves secure against their fellow-humans. If, then, the life of such persons really was secure, they attained natural good; if, however, it was insecure, they have not attained the end which by nature’s own prompting they originally sought.

8. No pleasure is in itself evil, but the things which produce certain pleasures entail annoyances many times greater than the pleasures themselves.

9. If all pleasure had been capable of accumulation, — if this had gone on not only be recurrences in time, but all over the frame or, at any rate, over the principal parts of human nature, there would never have been any difference between one pleasure and another, as in fact there is.

10. If the objects which are productive of pleasures to profligate persons really freed them from fears of the mind, — the fears, I mean, inspired by celestial and atmospheric phenomena, the fear of death, the fear of pain; if, further, they taught them to limit their desires, we should never have any fault to find with such persons, for they would then be filled with pleasures to overflowing on all sides and would be exempt from all pain, whether of body or mind, that is, from all evil.

11. If we had never been molested by alarms at celestial and atmospheric phenomena, nor by the misgiving that death somehow affects us, nor by neglect of the proper limits of pains and desires, we should have had no need to study natural science.

12. It would be impossible to banish fear on matters of the highest importance, if a person did not know the nature of the whole universe, but lived in dread of what the legends tell us. Hence without the study of nature there was no enjoyment of unmixed pleasures.

13. There would be no advantage in providing security against our fellow humans, so long as we were alarmed by occurrences over our heads or beneath the earth or in general by whatever happens in the boundless universe.

14. When tolerable security against our fellow humans is attained, then on a basis of power sufficient to afford supports and of material prosperity arises in most genuine form the security of a quiet private life withdrawn from the multitude.

15. Nature’s wealth at once has its bounds and is easy to procure; but the wealth of vain fancies recedes to an infinite distance.

16. Fortune but seldom interferes with the wise person; his greatest and highest interests have been, are, and will be, directed by reason throughout the course of his life.

17. The just person enjoys. the greatest peace of mind, while the unjust is full of the utmost disquietude.

18. Pleasure in the body admits no increase when once the pain of want has been removed; after that it only admits of variation. The limit of pleasure in the mind, however, is reached when we reflect on the things themselves and their congeners which cause the mind the greatest alarms.

19. Unlimited time and limited time afford an equal amount of pleasure, if we measure the limits of that pleasure by reason.

20. The body receives as unlimited the limits of pleasure; and to provide it requires unlimited time. But the mind, grasping in thought what the end and limit of the body is, and banishing the terrors of futurity, procures a complete and perfect life, and has no longer any need of unlimited time. Nevertheless it does not shun pleasure, and even in the hour of death, when ushered out of existence by circumstances, the mind does not lack enjoyment of the best life.

http://classics.mit.edu/Epicurus/princdoc.html