Divided Government

Is it perfect? No. I'd be the first to admit it's flawed. But welcome to divided government.

-- Speaker of the House John A. Boehner (R-OH), on a measure to finance the government through September, New York Times, 15 April 2011

Whose?

When a man tells you that he got rich through hard work, ask him: "Whose?"

-- Don Marquis (1878-1937), American humorist, journalist, and author

Difference Of Opinion In Religion

Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of a Censor morum over each other. Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth. Let us reflect that it is inhabited by a thousand millions of people. That these profess probably a thousand different systems of religion. That ours is but one of that thousand. That if there be but one right, and ours that one, we should wish to see the 999 wandering sects gathered into the fold of truth. But against such a majority we cannot effect this by force. Reason and persuasion are the only practicable instruments. To make way for these, free enquiry must be indulged; and how can we wish others to indulge it while we refuse it ourselves?

-- Thomas Jefferson (13 April 1743 - 4 July 1826), 3rd President of the United States, political philosopher, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVII (1781-1785)

Bewildering Paradoxes

They know of no solutions to the paradoxes of the Middle East and Europe, the Far East and Africa except the landing of Marines. Being baffled, and also being very tired of being baffled, they have come to believe that there is no way out -- except war -- which would remove all the bewildering paradoxes of their tedious and now misguided attempts to construct peace. In place of these paradoxes they prefer the bright, clear problems of war -- as they used to be. For they still believe that "winning" means something, although they never tell us what.

-- C. Wright Mills (1916-1962), American sociologist and author, The Causes of World War Three (1960)

Political Economy

In the United States a handful of corporations centralize decisions and responsibilities that are relevant for military and political as well as economic developments of global significance. For nowadays the military and the political cannot be separated from economic considerations of power. We now live not in an economic order or a political order, but in a political economy that is closely linked with military institutions and decisions. This is obvious in the repeated "oil crisis" in the Middle East, or in the relevance of Southeast Asia and African resources for the Western powers.

-- C. Wright Mills (1916-1962), American sociologist and author, Character & Social Structure (1954)

Budget

My problem lies in reconciling my gross habits with my net income.

-- Errol Flynn (1909-1959), Australian-born actor

Our Justice System

Had this case proceeded in Manhattan or in an alternative venue in the United States, as I seriously explored in the last year, I am confident that our justice system could have performed with the same distinction that has been its hallmark for over 200 years. Now, unfortunately, since I made that decision, members of Congress have intervened and imposed restrictions blocking the administration from bringing any Guantanamo detainees to trial in the United States, regardless of the venue. As the President has said, those unwise and unwarranted restrictions undermine our counter-terrorism efforts and could harm our national security.

-- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on his decision to go forward with military tribunals for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others accused in the attacks of 11 September 2001, 4 April 2011

What You Do Know And What You Don't

An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't. It's knowing where to go to find out what you need to know; and it's knowing how to use the information you get.

-- Anatole France (1844-1924), member of the French Academy, 1921 Nobel Laureate in Literature

Plenty Of Protein

I call it the table of gore. There's plenty of protein up in that nest.

-- Bob Anderson, executive director of the nonprofit Raptor Resource Project, discussing his Eagle Cam, 4 April 2011


A conservationist has a camera mounted in a bald eagle's nest 80 feet up in a tree. Two eaglets hatched live on camera over the weekend. A third egg is expected to hatch within 24 hours. The live feed currently has 158,000+ viewers.

http://www.raptorresource.org/
http://www.raptorresource.org/falcon_cams/decorah_eagle_xcel.html

Article at wired.com: http://tinyurl.com/44oev5g

Root Of Superstition

[T]he general root of superstition [is] namely, that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss; and commit to memory the one, and forget and pass over the other.

-- Francis Bacon (1561-1626), essayist, philosopher, and statesman, Sylva Sylvarum Century X (1627)

Pickup Ballgame

What the opposition needs as much as anything right now is some training, some command and control, and some organization. It's pretty much a pickup ballgame at this point.

-- Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, on the Libyan rebels, New York Times, 1 April 2011

Two Kinds Of Fool

There are two kinds of fool. One says, "This is old, and therefore good." And one says, "This is new, and therefore better."

-- John Brunner (1934-1995), science fiction writer, The Shockwave Rider (1975)

As If

It is good to act as if. It is even better to grow to the point where it is no longer an act.

-- Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832), British author, clergyman, and art collector

Be Thankful

Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for.

-- Will Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist and entertainer, as quoted in The Wordsworth Dictionary of Quotations (1998) by Connie Robertson

Rabid

If you could employ an associate who pretends to be sympathetic to the cause to physically attack you (or even use a firearm against you), you could discredit the public unions.

-- Indiana prosecutor Carlos Lam, in an email to Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin; Lam resigned 24 March 2011 after first denying, then later admitting to authoring the email

Test Your Memory

If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.

-- E. Joseph Cossman (1918-2002), American direct marketer and entrepreneur, largely known in the marketing circle for selling ant farms and shrunken heads through direct door-to-door sales

Ethnic Cleansing

As the report illustrates, the continued pattern of settlement expansion in East Jerusalem, combined with forceful eviction of long-residing Palestinians, are creating an intolerable situation that can only be described in its cumulative impact as a form of ethnic cleansing.

-- U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Richard Falk, discussing his report to the UN Human Rights Council, 22 March 2011

Wants To Be Stupid

Sometimes a man wants to be stupid if it lets him do a thing his cleverness forbids.

-- John Steinbeck (1902-1968), novelist, Nobel laureate, East of Eden, 1952

Disappeared

I voted to uphold the death penalty. And I thought, at the time, that if the universe of defendants eligible for the death penalty is sufficiently narrow, so that you can be confident that the defendant really merits that severe punishment, that the death penalty was appropriate. But what happened over the years is the court constantly expanded the cases eligible for the death penalty, so that the underlying premise for my vote in those cases has disappeared, in a sense.

-- Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, reflecting on the court's decision in 1976 to uphold the death penalty, which he now describes as "incorrect" and the "one vote I would change." NPR interview, 4 October 2010

Too Often

It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes. Distinctions in society will always exist under every just government. Equality of talents, of education, or of wealth can not be produced by human institutions. In the full enjoyment of the gifts of Heaven and the fruits of superior industry, economy, and virtue, every man is equally entitled to protection by law; but when the laws undertake to add to these natural and just advantages artificial distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society -- the farmers, mechanics, and laborers -- who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their government.

-- Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), 7th President of the US (1829-1837), hero of the Battle of New Orleans (1815), a founder of the Democratic Party, Veto Mesage Regarding the Bank of the United States, 10 July 1832

Another

If Fukushima becomes another Three-Mile Island or Chernobyl, then we may never be going back.

-- Akio Sanpei, a 61-year-old acupuncturist who arrived in Yamagata on Thursday from the town of Futaba, within the evacuation zone, New York Times, 18 March 2011

No Comparison

There is no comparison between our weapons and theirs. They're trained, they're organized. They got their training in Russia and I don't know where. We're not an army, we're the people and even if we had weapons, we wouldn't even know how to use them.

-- Mohammad Al-Houni, a fighter in the rebel forces in Libya, New York Times, 11 march 2011

He's Done So Much

We're all ready to die for him. He's done so much for us, after all.

-- Elhadj Maiga, who is recruiting young men in Mali to fight for Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the Libyan leader, New York Times, 16 March 2011

Right On Three Counts

What is being done to Bradley Manning is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid on the part of the Department of Defence.

-- State Department Spokesman PJ Crowley in remarks at MIT about alleged WikiLeaker Manning's treatment in military prison; Crowley was forced to resign when President Obama backed the Pentagon's handling of the matter, 11 March 2011

Swaying Like Trees

What was scariest was to look up at the skyscrapers all around. They were swaying like trees in the breeze.

-- William M. Tsutsui, a professor at Southern Methodist University, who was in Tokyo when the earthquake hit, New York Times, 12 March 2011

The Day Before

People learn something every day, and a lot of times it's that what they learned the day before was wrong.

-- Bill Vaughan (1915-1977), American columnist and author

It's Not Possible

We have found over and over again: Mistakes have been made. Innocent people have been freed. It's not possible to create a perfect, mistake-free death penalty system.

-- Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, signing legislation to abolish the death penalty, referring to 13 wrongly-condemned men; Quinn also commuted the sentences of all 15 inmates remaining on death row to life in prison with no hope of parole, 9 March 2011

As A Physician Does His Patient

A physician is not angry at the intemperance of a mad patient; nor does he take it ill to be railed at by a man in a fever. Just so should a wise man treat all mankind, as a physician does his patient, and look upon them only as sick and extravagant.

-- Lucius Annaeus Seneca (The Younger, BCE 3 - 65 CE), Roman philosopher, Morals, Chapter VIII

Cleaving

It is not life and wealth and power that enslave men, but the cleaving to life and wealth and power.

-- Buddha (c. 563-483 BCE)

We Don't Have Parties

Our task isn't easy. We don't have parties, we don't have a constitution, we don't have political organizations, we don't have an effective civil society. We have to create a completely new state and we have to do it in the middle of a war and revolution.

-- Mahmoud Bousalloum, a graduate student and political organizer in Libya, New York Times, 7 March 2011

Unfair

In view of the fact that God limited the intelligence of man, it seems unfair that he did not also limit his stupidity.

-- Konrad Hermann Josef Adenauer (1876-1967), West German Chancellor from 1949-1963, as quoted in Through Russian Eyes: President Kennedy's 1036 Days (1973) by Anatoli-Andreevich Gromyko

Head Examined

In my opinion, any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should "have his head examined," as General MacArthur so delicately put it.

-- Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, in a speech to West Point cadets, New York Times, 26 February 2011

Inside Job

Forgive me, I must start by pointing out that three years after a horrific financial crisis caused by massive fraud, not a single financial executive has gone to jail--and that's wrong.

-- Charles Ferguson, director of the Academy Award-winning documentary Inside Job, about the nation's financial crisis, in his acceptance speech, 27 February 2011

Don't Lend It

Borrow trouble for yourself, if that's your nature, but don't lend it to your neighbors.

-- Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936), English author

Preposterous

Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed.

-- Herman Melville (1819-1891), novelist and poet

DOMA Dumped

After careful consideration, including review of a recommendation from me, the President of the United States has made the determination that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act ("DOMA"), 1 U.S.C. 7, i as applied to same-sex couples who are legally married under state law, violates the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 530D, I am writing to advise you of the Executive Branch's determination and to inform you of the steps the Department will take in two pending DOMA cases to implement that determination. ...

As described more fully below, the President and I have concluded that classifications based on sexual orientation warrant heightened scrutiny and that, as applied to same-sex couples legally married under state law, Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional.

-- Letter from Attorney General Eric Holder to Speaker of the House John Boehner, in which DOJ abandons defense of DOMA, 23 February 2010

Rights

What would happen if citizens acted on the assumption that they have rights? If one person did it, he would become a martyr; if two people did it, they would be labeled an enemy organization; if thousands of people did it, they would be a hostile movement; but if everyone did it, the state would have to become less oppressive.

-- Ludmilla Alexeyeva, cited in Benjamin Nathans, "The Dictatorship of Reason: Aleksandr Volpin and the Idea of Rights" (Slavic Review, Winter 2007), p. 631-632.

FABulous

I had a problem with the Saddam regime. I wanted to get rid of him and now I had this chance. ... They gave me this chance. I had the chance to fabricate something to topple the regime. ... Believe me, there was no other way to bring about freedom to Iraq. There were no other possibilities.

-- Former Baghdad-based chemical engineer Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, codenamed "Curveball", in an interview with the Guardian newspaper admitting that he fabricated claims of mobile biological weapons and clandestine factories that were used to justify the Iraq War, 15 February 2011

Daniel Grant Schum

This is a little late, but I want to welcome into the world ...

Daniel Grant Schum, born 1 February 2011 during Blizzard 2011, the second child of my eldest daughter, and my third grandchild.

Welcome!

I for one welcome our new computer overlords.

-- Ken Jennings a former "Jeopardy!" quiz show champion, writing on his video screen as he faced certain defeat by IBM's Watson computer, New York Times, 17 February 2011

A Bit Like A Dog

I'm a bit like a dog ... always willing to have a go.

-- Jeannie Longo, 52, reigning French time trial champion, as she contemplates a possible 8th Olympic Games in London 2012

Ignorance Is Vice

Duty arises from our potential control over the course of events. Where attainable knowledge could have changed the issue, ignorance has the guilt of vice.

-- Alfred North Whitehead (15 February 1861 - 30 December 1947), British mathematician who became an American philosopher, The Aims of Education (1929)

Worrying Works

Worrying works. About 90% of the things I worry about never happen.

-- Woody Paige (1946-), sports columnist, on ESPN's "Around the Horn"

Mubarak Out

In these grave circumstances that the country is passing through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave his position as president of the republic. He has mandated the Armed Forces Supreme Council to run the state. God is our protector and succor.

-- Egyptian VP Omar Suleiman, on the resignation of Hosni Mubarak after 29 years in power, bowing to an 18-day wave of pro-democracy demonstrations by hundreds of thousands, 11 February 2011

Vote No

Many members of Congress, including those supported by my friends in the Tea Party, maintain their goal is to get rid of big government, get government out of their lives. Well, how about the PATRIOT Act, which has the broadest reach and the deepest reach of government into our daily lives? Shouldn't we be thinking about that? Some want to get government out of healthcare, some want to get government out of retirement security. How about getting government out of people's bedrooms, out of people's financial records, out of people's medical records? Vote no on extending the PATRIOT Act.

-- Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), speaking to the House of Representatives before a vote on extending provisions of the Patriot Act, 8 February 2011

Absence Of Leaks

Iraq, Vietnam: those weren't caused by too many leaks, they were caused by an absence of leaks beforehand.

-- Daniel Ellsberg (April 7, 1931-), former US military analyst who, in 1971, released the Pentagon Papers, "Countdown with Keith Olbermann", 10 December 2010

Go Already!

Go already! My arms are getting tired!

-- Sign held aloft by a protester in Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt, 6 February 2011

Satire

Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own, which is the chief reason for that kind of reception it meets in the world, and that so very few are offended with it.

-- Jonathan Swift( 1667-1745), satirist, The Battle of the Books, preface (1704)

IPv4 No More

This is truly a major turning point in the on-going development of the Internet. Nobody was caught off guard by this, the Internet technical community has been planning for IPv4 depletion for quite some time. But it means the adoption of IPv6 is now of paramount importance, since it will allow the Internet to continue its amazing growth and foster the global innovation we've all come to expect.

-- Rod Beckstrom, Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)'s President and CEO, announcing the assignment of the last remaining block of IPv4 address space, 3 February 2011

Now Started Yesterday

I want to be clear. "Now" started yesterday.

-- White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on President Obama's call on Tuesday for a political transition in Egypt to begin now, New York Times, 3 February 2011