Bullet Points

It's dangerous because it can create the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control. Some problems in the world are not bullet-izable.

-- Army General J. R. McMaster, on the growing use of PowerPoint presentations among military commanders, New York Times, 27 April 2010

What's Best

I have decided to sign Senate Bill 1070 into law because, though many people disagree, I firmly believe it represents what's best for Arizona.

-- Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, signing a new law forcing police officers to check the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being an undocumented immigrant, 23 April 2010

You Know

I don't think he's American, personally. You know, if you're not willing to produce an original certificate like a birth certificate, then you've got something to hide.

-- Champaign, IL Mayor Jerry Schweighart at a Tea Party Rally, 15 April 2010

Unconscious Instruments

No greater mistake can be made than to think that our institutions are fixed or may not be changed for the worse. ... Increasing prosperity tends to breed indifference and to corrupt moral soundness. Glaring inequalities in condition create discontent and strain the democratic relation. The vicious are the willing, and the ignorant are unconscious instruments of political artifice. Selfishness and demagoguery take advantage of liberty. The selfish hand constantly seeks to control government, and every increase of governmental power, even to meet just needs, furnishes opportunity for abuse and stimulates the effort to bend it to improper uses. ... The peril of this Nation is not in any foreign foe! We, the people, are its power, its peril, and its hope!

-- Charles Evans Hughes (1862 - 1948), politician, Secretary of State, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Conditions of Progress in Democratic Government (1909)



COSMIC UNCONSCIOUS

Shivers

It is a damned place. It sends shivers down my spine.

-- Aleksander Kwasniewski, former president of Poland, on the site of a plane crash in western Russia that killed the Polish president and dozens of Poland's leaders, that was also the site of a Soviet massacre of Polish officers in World War II, New York Times, 11 April 2010

And Proudly

When I was the most junior Democrat in the Senate, I voted for John Paul Stevens. He was a Republican nominated by a Republican president who was going to be up for election, and we voted for him, and proudly.

-- Senator Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT), now chairman of the Judiciary Committee, on his respect for the associate justice, who is retiring, New York Times, 10 April 2010

Ashes Vs Ashes

A nuclear war does not defend a country and it does not defend a system. I've put it the same way many times; not even the most accomplished ideologue will be able to tell the difference between the ashes of capitalism and the ashes of communism.

-- John Kenneth Galbraith (1908 - 2006), Canadian-American economist and author, The Ashes of Capitalism and the Ashes of Communism, interview with John M. Whiteley in Quest for Peace: an Introduction (1986)

Waist Deep In Gasoline

The nuclear arms race is like two sworn enemies standing waist deep in gasoline, one with three matches, the other with five.

-- Carl Sagan (1934-1996), astronomer and writer, debate transcript with William F. Buckley, aired after the first showing of the ABC TV movie "The Day After", November 20, 1983

Daylight

New construction in East Jerusalem or the West Bank undermines that mutual trust and endangers the proximity talks that are the first step toward the full negotiations that both sides say they want and need. And it exposes daylight between Israel and the United States that others in the region hope to exploit. It undermines America's unique ability to play a role, an essential role, in the peace process.

-- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Democracy Now, 23 March 2010

Tide

If the anti-incumbent tide is as strong as some people think it is, I will be swept out, despite all my efforts. If the anti-incumbent tide is a lot of conversation, but has no center of gravity as a true political movement, then I'll be just fine. There's no way to know.

-- Senator Robert F. Bennett (R-UT), New York Times, 26 March 2010

Virtues

No government is perfect. One of the chief virtues of a democracy, however, is that its defects are always visible and under democratic processes can be pointed out and corrected.

-- Harry S Truman (1884 - 1972), 33rd US President, to a joint session of the US Congress (12 March 1947), outlining what became known as The Truman Doctrine

What Change Looks Like

This legislation will not fix everything that ails our healthcare system, but it moves us decisively in the right direction. This is what change looks like. In the end, what this day represents is another stone laid firmly in the foundation of the American Dream. Tonight we answered the call of history as so many generations of Americans have before us. When faced with crisis, we did not shrink from our challenge; we overcame it.

-- President Barack Obama, regarding the new healthcare bill, Democracy Now, 22 March 2010

Walking And Bicycling

The DOT policy is to incorporate safe and convenient walking and bicycling facilities into transportation projects. Every transportation agency, including DOT, has the responsibility to improve conditions and opportunities for walking and bicycling and to integrate walking and bicycling into their transportation systems. Because of the numerous individual and community benefits that walking and bicycling provide -- including health, safety, environmental, transportation, and quality of life -- transportation agencies are encouraged to go beyond minimum
standards to provide safe and convenient facilities for these modes.

-- Secretary Ray LaHood, in the US Department of Transportation Policy Statement on Bicycle and Pedestrian Accommodation Regulations and Recommendations, 11 March 2010

When

We only think when we are confronted with problems.

-- John Dewey (1859-1952), American philosopher, educator

Wolves

We have the greatest opportunity the world has ever seen, as long as we remain honest -- which will be as long as we can keep the attention of our people alive. If they once become inattentive to public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, judges and governors would all become wolves.

-- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), third US president, architect and author, in a letter to Edward Carrington

Something Different

I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let's try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.

The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.

Joe Stack (1956-2010)
02/18/2010


-- Closing paragraphs of a blog entry posted by Joseph Andrew Stack III just before he crashed an aircraft into the Austin office of the IRS, 18 February 2010

I Do Not Love Congress

After all these years, my passion for service to my fellow citizens is undiminished, but my desire to do so by serving in Congress has waned. For some time, I have had a growing conviction that Congress is not operating as it should. There is too much partisanship and not enough progress -- too much narrow ideology and not enough practical problem-solving. Even at a time of enormous challenge, the peoples' business is not being done.

... All of this and much more has led me to believe that there are better ways to serve my fellow citizens, my beloved state, and our nation than continued service in Congress.

To put it in words most people can understand: I love working for the people of Indiana, I love helping our citizens make the most of their lives, but I do not love Congress. I will not, therefore, be a candidate for election to the Senate this November.

-- Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN), announcing his retirement from the Senate, 15 February 2010

RIP Howard Zinn

If those in charge of our society -- politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television -- can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves.

-- Howard Zinn (24 August 1924 - 27 January 2010), American historian, political scientist, playwright and activist, Declarations of Independence: Cross-Examining American Ideology (1991): "American Ideology"

Until The Day

The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.

-- Alexis de Tocqueville

We Cannot Have Both

Nations have recently been led to borrow billions for war; no nation has ever borrowed largely for education. Probably, no nation is rich enough to pay for both war and civilization. We must make our choice; we cannot have both.

-- Abraham Flexner, educator (1866-1959)

Do Something

All I ask is this: Do something. Try something. Speaking out, showing up, writing a letter, a check, a strongly worded e-mail. Pick a cause -- there are few unworthy ones. And nudge yourself past the brink of tacit support to action. Once a month, once a year, or just once.

-- Joss Whedon (1964-), writer and film director

No Interest

The absence of a time frame for transition would deny us any sense of urgency in working with the Afghan government. America has no interest in fighting an endless war in Afghanistan.

-- President Barack Obama, 1 December 2009, in a speech announcing the addition of 30,000 troops to the fight in Afghanistan, coupled with a plan to begin removing troops in July 2011

A Village Of 100 People

If the world were a village of 100 people ....

6 people (all in the USA) would own 59% of all the village's wealth,
74 people would share another 39%, and
20 people would share the remaining 2%.

-- David Copeland, in Value Earth

Next Time

The next time it will be a far worse reality than a reality TV show.

-- Rep. Peter T. King, who called on Congress to investigate how 2 uninvited guests appeared at the White House for a state dinner while aspiring to be featured on "The Real Housewives of Washington", New York Times, 27 November 2009

Where The Silence Is

Go to where the silence is and say something.

-- Amy Goodman (b. 1957), investigative journalist, columnist and author

Next In Importance

Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained.

-- James A. Garfield (1831-1881), 20th President of the US, letter accepting the Republican nomination to run for President, 12 July 1880

Maneuverability

There won't be a lot of guilt-innocence maneuverability there.

-- Thomas H. Dunn, former defense lawyer for the Army, on possible defense strategies for Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who is accused in the Nov. 5 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, TX, New York Times, 16 November 2009

In Sarah We Trust

Who calls a shot like that? Who makes a decision like that? It's a disturbing trend.

-- Sarah Palin, on a 2005 decision approved by President George W. Bush to put "In God We Trust" on the edge -- rather than the face -- of new presidential dollar coins, November 2009

Safe To Assume

Although CREW has been unable to uncover the demographic makeup of [these companies], it seems safe to assume the vast majority of their employees are not pregnant women, infants and children, young adults up to 24 years old, and healthcare workers.

-- Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, after more than a dozen companies were given the vaccines, including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, 5 November 2009

Berlin Wall

Niemand hat die Absicht, eine Mauer zu errichten! (No one has the intention of erecting a wall!).

-- DDR State Council Chairman Walter Ulbricht, press conference, 15 June 1961, prior to the 13 August 1961 establishment of the Berlin Wall, which finally came down on 9 November 1989

Small Enough To Fit

I want a government small enough to fit inside the Constitution.

-- DownsizeDC.org co-founder Harry Browne (1933-2006)

Karzai Wins!

Anybody can win unless there happens to be a second entry.

-- George Ade (1866 - 1944), American writer, newspaper columnist, and playwright

Recession Over

Anyone who thinks the recession is over just because the economy grew in the 3rd quarter is an economist.

-- Ron Elving, NPR's "It's All Politics" podcast, 29 October 2009

That Great Fiction

The State is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else.

-- Frederic Bastiat, French economist of the 19th Century

I Don't Know

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I just really don't know.

-- Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana), on his health plan's chances of passing, New York Times, 28 October 2009

Remarkable

He's a semi-literate individual who has met with no more than a handful of non-Muslims in his entire life. And he's staged one of the most remarkable military comebacks in modern history.

-- Former CIA officer Bruce Riedel, on Mullah Muhammad Omar, the reclusive leader of the Taliban, New York Times, 11 October 2009

Too Many

When there are too many policemen, there can be no liberty. When there are too many soldiers, there can be no peace. When there are too many lawyers, there can be no justice.

-- Lin Yutang (10 October 1895 - 26 March 1976), Chinese writer and translator, as quoted in Alexander, James (2005). The World's Funniest Laws. Cheam: Crombie Jardine. pp. page 6

Insurmountable Opportunities

We are confronted with insurmountable opportunities.

-- Walt Kelly (1913-1973), creator of the Pogo comic strip

Paid For Taking Too Much Risk

The simple proposition should be that you don't want people being paid for taking too much risk, and you want to make sure that their compensation is tied to long-term performance.

-- Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, New York Times, 19 September 2009

Civil Forfeiture

While few would argue that criminals ought to be able to keep the proceeds of their crimes, civil forfeiture allows the government to seize and keep property without actually having to prove a crime was committed in the first place. ... Proceeds from civil forfeiture at the state and local level usually go back to the police departments and prosecutors' offices, giving them a clear and unmistakable incentive to seize as much property as often as possible.

-- Radley Balko, (1975-), American libertarian writer and speaker, reason.com, 8 September 2009

Zelaya

My greetings to the United Nations. Anybody who had any doubt that a dictatorship is taking hold of my country, now with what has happened in the last ninety-three days of repression, I think that any of those doubts that might have subsisted are dispelled. But besides being subject to a coup d'etat, Honduras is being subjected to a fascist rule, which is suppressing the rights of its citizens and which is oppressing the Honduran people.

-- Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, addressing the UN via cell phone from the Brazilian embassy in Honduras, 28 September 2009

Sneak And Peek

Let me tell you why I'm concerned about these numbers. That's not how this was sold to the American people. It was sold, as stated on DoJ's website in 2005, as being necessary, quote, "to conduct investigations without tipping off terrorists." I'm going to say, it's quite extraordinary to grant govenment agents the statutory authority to secretly break in to Americans' homes in criminal cases. And I think some Americans might be concerned that it's been used hundreds of times in just a single year in non-terrorism cases.

-- Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI), on sneak and peek warrants authorizing secret break-ins into US homes and businesses. Of 763 requests last year, just three had to do with terrorism investigations. 23 September 2009

Freedom To Offend

What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.

-- Salman Rushdie, writer (b. 1947)

Grand Things

This positions us as a grand city where grand things happen.

-- Alejandro Rojas Diaz, Mexico City's tourism secretary, who organized an event at which 12,937 people danced to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" in pursuit of a world record, New York Times, 8 September 2009

Obama School Speech

The story of America isn't about people who quit when things got tough. It's about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.

It's the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask you, what's your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?

-- President Barack Obama, addressing students from Wakefield HS, 8 September 2009

Vindicated?

He likes to rub it in to the West that he was vindicated, that he's becoming an internationally recognized figure again.

-- Dirk J. Vandewalle, associate professor of government at Dartmouth College, on Libyan leader Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's planned September trip to New Jersey, New York Times, 26 August 2009

Too Much

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.

-- Thomas Jefferson, to Archibald Stuart, 1791

RIP Ted Kennedy

We are all Americans. This is what we do. We reach the moon. We scale the heights. I know it. I've seen it. I've lived it.

-- Edward Moore (Ted) Kennedy (22 February 1932 - 25 August 2009), US Senator (D-MA) from November 1962 until his death, speaking in August 2008

Party Of "No"

"Just say 'no'." This is going to be our chant from now until election day. In fact, we've been saying 'no' for a long time.

-- Rep John Shimkus (R-IL), at the Illinois State Fair, on the Republican agenda, 20 August 2009

Seminar

It has been the largest seminar in my life and I have been the sole student. I connect back to the people because I have heard them, and I have heard some very harsh things.

-- Ashraf Ghani, on his presidential campaign in Afghanistan, New York Times, 14 August 2009