Archive for the 'Quotes' Category

Scarcely have we seen ’straight talk’ statements such as this spoken by an American : a ‘real’ American that is.

(Incidentally, huge heads-up hat-tip to fellow Brit blogger ‘Gert ‘ for this.)

First, just some small snippets from Charles Freeman’s recent personal statement:

The libels on me and their easily traceable email trails show conclusively that there is a powerful lobby determined to prevent any view other than its own from being aired, still less to factor in American understanding of trends and events in the Middle East. The tactics of the Israel Lobby plumb the depths of dishonor and indecency and include character assassination, selective misquotation, the willful distortion of the record, the fabrication of falsehoods, and an utter disregard for the truth. The aim of this Lobby is control of the policy process through the exercise of a veto over the appointment of people who dispute the wisdom of its views, the substitution of political correctness for analysis, and the exclusion of any and all options for decision by Americans and our government other than those that it favors.

There is a special irony in having been accused of improper regard for the opinions of foreign governments and societies by a group so clearly intent on enforcing adherence to the policies of a foreign government – in this case, the government of Israel. I believe that the inability of the American public to discuss, or the government to consider, any option for US policies in the Middle East opposed by the ruling faction in Israeli politics has allowed that faction to adopt and sustain policies that ultimately threaten the existence of the state of Israel. It is not permitted for anyone in the United States to say so. This is not just a tragedy for Israelis and their neighbors in the Middle East; it is doing widening damage to the national security of the United States.

The outrageous agitation that followed the leak of my pending appointment will be seen by many to raise serious questions about whether the Obama administration will be able to make its own decisions about the Middle East and related issues. I regret that my willingness to serve the new administration has ended by casting doubt on its ability to consider, let alone decide what policies might best serve the interests of the United States rather than those of a Lobby intent on enforcing the will and interests of a foreign government.

Now read Chas Freeman’s full personal statement.
Next, be your very own court, prosecutor, defender, jury and judge.

We realise of course that’s it’s simply stupidity of the silliest sort to even venture to suggest that anyone should ever act as one’s own executioner, as well : nevertheless …..

This ‘real’ old Brit’s just saying…..

(Cross posted from How This Old Brit Sees It)

Cartoon from Toothpaste for Dinner (click to inflate)

Well, it looks like Ralph Nader is running for president again, which really puts me in a bind. I was going to support Obama, because he’s the most liberal candidate who has a shot at winning. But I was bothered by the fact that he’s not pushing a Canadian-style universal access, single payer health plan.

Then I heard that Cynthia McKinney is running for the Green Party nomination. McKinney doesn’t have a shot at winning, but she’s more liberal than Obama on just about every issue. Voting for McKinney makes it more likely that McCain will win, and therefore makes it more likely that we’ll go to war with Iran, and more likely that we’ll have four more years of lunatic right-wing judges and encroachments on our civil liberties. But at least I won’t have to compromise on a single iota of my political philosophy.

But now Ralph Nader is running for president as an independent. He’s running on a platform that’s nearly identical to that of McKinney and the rest of the Green Party hopefuls. And unlike McKinney, he’s never held elected office. But I gravitated toward him anyway, because I didn’t like McKinney’s plan to rely primarily on tax incentives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Sorry, Congresswoman, but having an agenda that’s nearly identical to mine isn’t the same thing as having an agenda that’s identical to mine.

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Awrh, shoot!

Ain’t it so aggravatingly awful how easily and how often one can suddenly suffer so many silly, stupid, excruciatingly embarrassing memory lapses as one ages?

Now, then …

… erm … can some kind soul remind us … where were we?

What and who the hell was it that were we wanting to write about?

Oh, yeah. Now we remember. We were wanting to set a little quiz.

You know. Sort of short, sweet and simple.

So, here’s said quiz question.

Which US politician was it who said:

“If one candidate’s trying to scare you and the other one’s trying to get you to think, if one candidate’s appealing to your fears and the other one’s appealing to your hopes, you better vote for the person who wants you to think and hope.”

Here’s your answer — in the article’s very last sentence.

Good night. And good luck.

And don’t forget.

*(Cross posted at How This Old Brit Sees It)

Deputy White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, on President Bush’s decision to veto the Iraq Accountability Act using a pen that once belonged to a Marine who was killed in Iraq:

Even thought the Democrats won’t say so on the record, it is a trumped-up political stunt that is the height of cynicism and it’s very disturbing.

***
Frank C. Urbancic, the State Department’s Acting Coordinator for Counterterrorism, discussing a sharp increase in the number of terrorist attacks during 2006:

This is not the kind of war where you can measure success with conventional numbers.

Maybe if we used Super Mathematics instead of conventional numbers, it would look like we were winning the war on terror:

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There’s been a lot of great quotes floating around in the media during the past few days:

Alec “Superdad” Baldwin, on an insult-laced voicemail message to his 11 year-old daughter:

You have humiliated me for the LAST TIME!

The message was immediately leaked to the national media, causing Baldwin to suffer much public humiliation.

Terrorist Quotes

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, on why Osama bin Laden should get a pass for killing 3,000 Americans:

It’s not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person.

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