Quotations

"...refusing to communicate with leaders with whom we disagreed was counterproductive." - Jimmy Carter, Palestine Peace Not Apartheid

Amen, Mr. Carter. The stubborness expressed towards disagreeing leaders (in this case, Syrian President Assad) gets America nowhere.


"Some [Palestinians] showed us the wreckage of their former homes, which had been demolished by Israeli bulldozers and dynamite, with claims by Israel that they had been built too near Israeli settlements, on property needed by the Israeli government, or that some member of the family was a security threat.
In assessing these claims, the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem explained that, on average, twelve innocent families lost their homes for every person accused of participation in attacks against Israelis, with almost half of the demolished homes never occupied by anyone suspected of involvement in any violent act against Israel, even throwing stones." - Jimmy Carter, Palestine Peace Not Apartheid

But they're just collateral, right? Lives don't matter unless they belong to people on your side of the fence. Then, (and only then,) it's injust and inhumane.



This makes me smile:
"I want it to be said that the Bush administration was a results-oriented administration, because I believe the results of focusing our attention and energy on teaching children to read and having an education system that's responsive to the child and to the parents, as oppposed to mired in a system that refuses to change, will make America what we want it to be - a literate country and a hopefuller country." - President George W. Bush; Washington, D.C.; January 11, 2001.

All those big words like oriented, responsive, and mired.. and then he ruins it all with hopefuller. *sigh*


"It is clear our nation is reliant upon foreign oil. More and more of our imports come from overseas." - President George W. Bush; Beaverton, Oregon; September 25, 2000

You think?



"I cannot honestly say, however, that the voice in this book is not mine-that I would tell the story much differently today than I did ten years ago, even if certain passages have proven to be inconvenient politically, the grist for pundit commentary and opposition research." - Barack Obama, Preface to the 2004 version of Dreams from My Father

The sad but true reality of politics. Once you're big enough to be a threat to your opponents, all the dirty little secrets from your past will be dug out and get exaggerated, exploited, and obsessed over. That's the price that comes with being honest and open.