Old Fogey's Quotes for Friday

"In politics you'd have to be a 6-year-old virgin to ever pass the test."
Ed Hughes, a supporter of Republican Sen. Allen in Virginia
Another Day, Another Dozen Apologies From Sen. Allen
[Allen is not being criticised for whom has sex with, but for a history of insensitive remarks about minorities uttered to rally his conservative base]

"I think we have taught history as some kind of fragmented stew of moods and events, rather than some kind of proper narrative."
John Howard, Australia's conservative prime minister
A Down-Under Lesson for the GOP?
[I never thought I would agree with Howard on anything, but he is right to insist on the importance of teaching history. I may be biased by my almost thirty years teaching history; nevertheless, an ahistorical culture doesn't know how to evaluate the present correctly]

"Americans have known for a long time that Iraq was a mess, and the only thing that changed is proximity to Election Day."
Bill Burton, spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, regarding Rep. Christopher Shays' (R-Conn.) statement that the Bush administration should set a time frame for withdrawing U.S. troops.
Shays Urges Iraq Withdrawal
[Those spineless wonders who followed Bush's marching orders are now seeing the political light. The American people aren't excited about spending billions of dollars and losing troops to fight a losing battle. Don't they know when you're in a hole the first rule is to stop digging?]

"Maybe natural disasters strike them because they're corrupt -- same logic. I'd like to see some evidence."
Paul C. Light, a professor of government at New York University, regarding a study linking corrupt state governments to the amount of disaster aid they have received
Weathering Corruption
[Apparently, to the authors of this study, FEMA should shut down. Better to have hundreds die than to risk abetting corruption]

"The intelligence community is dedicated to predicting the least dangerous world possible."
Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, explaining some Republicans' dissatisfaction with the C.I.A. reporting on Iran
Wanted: Scarier Intelligence
[Something seems very wrong with the theory that a bureaucracy would seek to downplay the reason for its existence]

"It's a sordid business, this divvying us up by race."
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.
Bush Administration Opposes Integration Plans
[The desire for color-blindness seems to have emerged only after race-conscious remedies for past discrimination emerged]

"Up to now, EPA's track record in addressing the effects of pesticides on endangered species has been abysmal. Instead of solving the problem, they simply weakened the rules. The court has put a stop to that."
Jamie Rappaport Clark, former director of the Fish and Wildlife Service and now executive vice president of Defenders of Wildlife, regardingding a court ruling against the Bush administration's regulation that streamlined approval of pesticides by eliminating reviews by wildlife officials responsible for protecting rare animals and plants
EPA's Pesticide Streamlining Rejected
[Yet another ruling that the Bushies broke the law. How many does it take before we call this a crime wave?]

"They fail, of course, to mention the hypocrisy of Hollywood selling little girls to millions of people in a highly sexualized way."
Self-avowed "girl lover" on an Internet bulletin board
Rosa Brooks: No Escaping Sexualization of Young Girls
[What are parents thinking when they allow their daughters to dress like cute, little rock stars while still in elementary school? The 'girl lovers' of the world thank them]