There are moments that I've had some real brilliance, you know. But I think they are moments. And sometimes, in a career, moments are enough. I never felt I played the great part. I never felt that I directed the great movie. And I can't say that it's anybody's fault but my own.
-- Dennis Hopper (17 May 1936 - 29 May 2010), American actor, filmmaker and artist
Monday, May 31, 2010
Friday, May 28, 2010
Investigative Journalists
We still get most of our information from investigative journalists. If you can't protect sources, there is a lot of public corruption and private malfeasance that will go undetected and unpunished.
-- Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) on a bill to provide greater protections to reporters. New York Times, 31 October 2009
-- Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) on a bill to provide greater protections to reporters. New York Times, 31 October 2009
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Daring Liars
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Common Enemy
As Americans we must always remember that we all have a common enemy, an enemy that is dangerous, powerful and relentless. I refer, of course, to the federal government.
-- Dave Barry (3 July 1947-), Pulitzer Prize-winning American author and columnist, Knight Ridder syndicate, New York Daily News, 12 December 2004
-- Dave Barry (3 July 1947-), Pulitzer Prize-winning American author and columnist, Knight Ridder syndicate, New York Daily News, 12 December 2004
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Unpossible
It would be impossible, or perhaps close to impossible, for any energy company that is smaller than the super majors, smaller than the national oil companies, to operate in the OCS. $10 billion in strict liability would preclude their ability to obtain financing, to obtain the bonds or insurance for any exploration.
-- Senator Lisa Kurkowski (R-AK), on the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Liability Act, which aimed to increase the liability cap from $75 million to 10 billion, before the vote that defeated the bill, 20 May 2010
-- Senator Lisa Kurkowski (R-AK), on the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Liability Act, which aimed to increase the liability cap from $75 million to 10 billion, before the vote that defeated the bill, 20 May 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Purest Form
Friday, May 21, 2010
Drain The Swamp
Mr. Secretary, it is long past time to drain the safety and environmental swamp at the Minerals Management Agency, which of course is the lead federal agency over oil drilling. Now, my view is that this agency had been denial about safety problems for years.
-- Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), in a hearing on the Gulf oil spill, regarding BP's exemption from comprehensive environmental review of the project that resulted in the spill, May 2010
-- Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), in a hearing on the Gulf oil spill, regarding BP's exemption from comprehensive environmental review of the project that resulted in the spill, May 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Dope
I don't feel guilty at all about having doped. I did what I did because that's what we [cyclists] did and it was a choice I had to make after 10 years or 12 years of hard work to get there, and that was a decision I had to make to make the next step.
-- Disgraced cyclist Floyd Landis in an interview on ESPN admitting he cheated in the 2006 Tour de France, 19 May 2010
-- Disgraced cyclist Floyd Landis in an interview on ESPN admitting he cheated in the 2006 Tour de France, 19 May 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
A Message
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Grudgingly And Suspiciously
The machine has got to be accepted, but it is probably better to accept it rather as one accepts a drug -- that is, grudgingly and suspiciously. Like a drug, the machine is useful, dangerous, and habit-forming. The oftener one surrenders to it the tighter its grip becomes.
-- George Orwell (1903-1950), novelist
-- George Orwell (1903-1950), novelist
Monday, May 17, 2010
At Least One
Friday, May 14, 2010
Good And Bad Things
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Normal State
Zen is not a particular state but the normal state: silent, peaceful, unagitated. In Zazen neither intention, analysis, specific effort nor imagination take place. It's enough just to be without hypocrisy, dogmatism, arrogance -- embracing all opposites.
-- Taisen Deshimaru (1914-1982), Japanese Soto Zen Buddhist teacher, quoted in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Buddhist Wisdom (2000) by Gill Farrer Halls, p. 162
-- Taisen Deshimaru (1914-1982), Japanese Soto Zen Buddhist teacher, quoted in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Buddhist Wisdom (2000) by Gill Farrer Halls, p. 162
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Game Over?
The party that claims to represent all progressive interests in this country proceeds with its impervious, self-interested agenda. The administration's stated priorities for the near future are to balance the budget before a deep recession has abated and to commit the nation to a long-running war in a dysfunctional Asian country that we neither understand nor care about -- thereby promising to repeat, simultaneously, the two worst mistakes made by liberal presidents in the past seventy-five years. As for the long term, the White House will form a commission bent on cutting 'entitlements,' such as Social Security and Medicare, that are the bedrock of retired Americans' prosperity ...
It is increasingly clear that [Obama] never intended to challenge the power structure he had so skillfully penetrated .... There is no longer any meaningful reformist impulse left in our politics. The idea of modern American liberalism has vanished among our elite, and simply voting for one man or supporting one of the two major parties will not restore it.
-- Kevin Baker, "The Vanishing Liberal", in the April 2010 issue of Harper's Magazine, quoted by Morris Berman in his blog of 1 April 2010
It is increasingly clear that [Obama] never intended to challenge the power structure he had so skillfully penetrated .... There is no longer any meaningful reformist impulse left in our politics. The idea of modern American liberalism has vanished among our elite, and simply voting for one man or supporting one of the two major parties will not restore it.
-- Kevin Baker, "The Vanishing Liberal", in the April 2010 issue of Harper's Magazine, quoted by Morris Berman in his blog of 1 April 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Combination
Her open-mindedness may disappoint some who want a sure liberal vote on almost every issue. Her pragmatism may disappoint those who believe that mechanical logic can decide all cases. And her progressive personal values will not endear her to the hard right. But that is exactly the combination the president was seeking.
-- Walter Dellinger, an acting solicitor general in the Clinton administration who is close to Elena Kagan, President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, New York Times, 11 May 2010
-- Walter Dellinger, an acting solicitor general in the Clinton administration who is close to Elena Kagan, President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, New York Times, 11 May 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Contentment
Friday, May 07, 2010
American Phenomenon
You've no doubt figured out my bias by now. I've hardly kept it a secret. In this regard, I take my cue from the late Edward R. Murrow, the Moses of broadcast news. Ed Murrow told his generation of journalists bias is okay as long as you don't try to hide it. So here, one more time, is mine: plutocracy and democracy don't mix. Plutocracy, the rule of the rich, political power controlled by the wealthy. Plutocracy is not an American word but it's become an American phenomenon.
-- Broadcaster Bill Moyers signing off for the final time on his weekly PBS series, Bill Moyers Journal, 30 April 2010
-- Broadcaster Bill Moyers signing off for the final time on his weekly PBS series, Bill Moyers Journal, 30 April 2010
Thursday, May 06, 2010
Political Jiu-Jitsu
The main goal of terrorist attacks anywhere is to drive the victims crazy: to goad them into doing stupid, violent things that ultimately play into the hands of those who planned the attacks. Terrorism is a kind of political jiu-jitsu in which a relatively weak group attempts to trick a far stronger enemy into a self-defeating response.
-- Gwynn Dyer, Brisbane Times, 6 May 2010
-- Gwynn Dyer, Brisbane Times, 6 May 2010
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Never Wrong
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
Evidence
I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement, and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I'll believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be.
-- Isaac Asimov (1920-1992), scientist and writer, The Roving Mind, page 43, 1983
-- Isaac Asimov (1920-1992), scientist and writer, The Roving Mind, page 43, 1983
Monday, May 03, 2010
Center Of The World
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