Quotes to make you think
For your summertime browsing, check these quotations, gleaned from a growing and burdensome mass on my desk of torn-out items from newpapers, magazines and Internet blogs. They may make you think. I hope so. As President Kennedy once commented, "Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."
I’m uncertain how well, if at all, these morsels may relate to one another except that they caught my fancy for one reason or other. See if you can detect any biases in my selection.
* Our elite softies: “Among our opinion-shapers and political leaders, passivity toward the illegal-alien invasion aligns roughly, though not exactly, with passivity toward global jihad…Contrast this passive stance…to the hyperactive policies urged by many leaders on global warming – a theoretical threat supposedly justifying bigger government, vast expense, and widespread sacrifice. What you see is an American elite that has lost its nerve, its head, its soul, or all three.”-- Author John Andrews of the Claremont Institute.
* Build the fence? “Even if the border could miraculously be made airtight…it would do nothing to stop foreigners from coming on tourist or student visas and then staying after they are supposed to have left…as many as 45 percent of the foreigners here illegally arrived with the blessing of the law.”—columnist Steve Chapman.
* Jay Leno: “The President said today he would go along with Congress' request to establish benchmarks regarding Iraq. For example, the Iraqi government would have to show results by certain dates before theyare given any more money. Forget Iraq. Why don't we try that here?”
* White House critique: “I suspect the White House and its allies have turned to name calling because they are defensive…they know they have produced a big and indecipherable mess of a bill [on immigration]—one that is literally bigger than the Bible, though as someone noted last week, at least we actually had a few years to read the Bible.”—columnist Peggy Noonan.
* Bush Bashing: “As for President Bush, it was the cowardice and incompetence of his Administration that led Mr. Libby to this pass [jail sentence for perjury]. Feeling ‘terrible’ won’t keep his man out of prison.” –Wall Street Journal editorial.
* We’re getting cleaner. Notes blogger Henry Payne. “…as Joel M. Schwartz reveals in a National Center for Policy Analysis study, ‘pollutants have been reducing steadily for the past several decades.’ Schwartz points out that air quality in America's cities is better than it has been in more than a century. Between 1980 and 2005, lead air levels dropped 96 percent, sulfur dioxide reduced 63 percent, and carbon monoxide concentrations fell 74 percent…All this improvement has come at a time of increased motor vehicle use, energy production and economic growth.”
* Hooray for Jamestown. John Rolfe arrived in Jamestown in 1610. “He began experimenting with tobacco seeds he'd brought from the Caribbean. By 1630, Virginia was exporting 1.5 million pounds of tobacco to England. Jamestown became a profitable colony shortly after Rolfe started growing tobacco, and England's foothold in the New World was secure. To the PC crowd, Jamestown is all disease, genocide, slavery and ecological devastation. To wiser heads, it represents the American values of hard work,self-sufficiency, entrepreneurship and community” --New Hampshire Union Leader
* Cause and effect: “It’s one of those delicious moments when Washington’s hypocrisy is on full and unembarrassed display. On the one hand, some of America’s leading politicians condemn high gasoline prices and ...On the other, many of the same politicians warn against global warming and implore us to curb our use of fossil fuels…” –columnist Robert Samuelson.
* T.S. Eliot (1888-1965): “Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don’t mean to do harm—but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.”
* No fire in the belly? “…the emergence of Thompson shows that a fatigued Republican Party is not interested in making any difference at al—just in hanging on. What commends Thompson…is his TV fame. If that’s all it takes, Thompson can look forward to being more than a president. He’ll be an American Idol.”—columnist Richard Cohen.
* Re:Inequality. “A new study by the Congressional Budget Office says the poor have been getting less poor…low-wage households with children had incomes after inflation that were more than one-third higher in 2005 than in 1991…The earnings of these poor households are about 80 percent higher today than in the early 1990s.”—Wall Street Journal
Who knew?
See what's free at AOL.com.
I’m uncertain how well, if at all, these morsels may relate to one another except that they caught my fancy for one reason or other. See if you can detect any biases in my selection.
* Our elite softies: “Among our opinion-shapers and political leaders, passivity toward the illegal-alien invasion aligns roughly, though not exactly, with passivity toward global jihad…Contrast this passive stance…to the hyperactive policies urged by many leaders on global warming – a theoretical threat supposedly justifying bigger government, vast expense, and widespread sacrifice. What you see is an American elite that has lost its nerve, its head, its soul, or all three.”-- Author John Andrews of the Claremont Institute.
* Build the fence? “Even if the border could miraculously be made airtight…it would do nothing to stop foreigners from coming on tourist or student visas and then staying after they are supposed to have left…as many as 45 percent of the foreigners here illegally arrived with the blessing of the law.”—columnist Steve Chapman.
* Jay Leno: “The President said today he would go along with Congress' request to establish benchmarks regarding Iraq. For example, the Iraqi government would have to show results by certain dates before theyare given any more money. Forget Iraq. Why don't we try that here?”
* White House critique: “I suspect the White House and its allies have turned to name calling because they are defensive…they know they have produced a big and indecipherable mess of a bill [on immigration]—one that is literally bigger than the Bible, though as someone noted last week, at least we actually had a few years to read the Bible.”—columnist Peggy Noonan.
* Bush Bashing: “As for President Bush, it was the cowardice and incompetence of his Administration that led Mr. Libby to this pass [jail sentence for perjury]. Feeling ‘terrible’ won’t keep his man out of prison.” –Wall Street Journal editorial.
* We’re getting cleaner. Notes blogger Henry Payne. “…as Joel M. Schwartz reveals in a National Center for Policy Analysis study, ‘pollutants have been reducing steadily for the past several decades.’ Schwartz points out that air quality in America's cities is better than it has been in more than a century. Between 1980 and 2005, lead air levels dropped 96 percent, sulfur dioxide reduced 63 percent, and carbon monoxide concentrations fell 74 percent…All this improvement has come at a time of increased motor vehicle use, energy production and economic growth.”
* Hooray for Jamestown. John Rolfe arrived in Jamestown in 1610. “He began experimenting with tobacco seeds he'd brought from the Caribbean. By 1630, Virginia was exporting 1.5 million pounds of tobacco to England. Jamestown became a profitable colony shortly after Rolfe started growing tobacco, and England's foothold in the New World was secure. To the PC crowd, Jamestown is all disease, genocide, slavery and ecological devastation. To wiser heads, it represents the American values of hard work,self-sufficiency, entrepreneurship and community” --New Hampshire Union Leader
* Cause and effect: “It’s one of those delicious moments when Washington’s hypocrisy is on full and unembarrassed display. On the one hand, some of America’s leading politicians condemn high gasoline prices and ...On the other, many of the same politicians warn against global warming and implore us to curb our use of fossil fuels…” –columnist Robert Samuelson.
* T.S. Eliot (1888-1965): “Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don’t mean to do harm—but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.”
* No fire in the belly? “…the emergence of Thompson shows that a fatigued Republican Party is not interested in making any difference at al—just in hanging on. What commends Thompson…is his TV fame. If that’s all it takes, Thompson can look forward to being more than a president. He’ll be an American Idol.”—columnist Richard Cohen.
* Re:Inequality. “A new study by the Congressional Budget Office says the poor have been getting less poor…low-wage households with children had incomes after inflation that were more than one-third higher in 2005 than in 1991…The earnings of these poor households are about 80 percent higher today than in the early 1990s.”—Wall Street Journal
Who knew?
See what's free at AOL.com.
posted by Ben Blankenship at
7:15 PM
