Old Fogey's Quotes for Saturday

"There are two kinds of terrorism in the US: the external kind; and, internally, the IGs have terrorized the Regional Administrators."
GSA Administrator Lurita Alexis Doan, a Bush political appointee and former government contractor, who has proposed cutting $5 million in spending on audits, referring to Inspector General Brian D. Miller
GSA Chief Seeks to Cut Budget For Audits
[Seems like there is a terrorist under every bed in the current White House]

"Misguided policies that create harsher sentences for nonviolent drug offenses are disproportionately responsible for the increasing rates of women in prisons and jails."
Marc Mauer, executive director of the Sentencing Project
U.S. Prison Population Sets Record
[This article notes that one in every 32 adults in the US are in jail. An incarceration rate that high sounds more like a repressive regime than what we believe we are. Jailing is a short-term solution to long term problems. As in other matters our ADD culture likes quick fixes in order to ignore fundamental problems.]

"Self-interest has intersected with reality. To have open spaces and nice places, people realize, they cannot be a bunch of individuals pursuing self-indulgence. They have to act collectively."
Patricia Nelson Limerick, chair of the board of the Center of the American West at the University of Colorado at Boulder, referring to western voters rejection of ballot measures that could have shredded state and local land-use rules limiting growth, controlling sprawl and ensuring open space
In West, Conservatives Emphasize the 'Conserve'
[Let us pray that this is part of a wider movement seeking to support the public good at the expense of self-interest. If we really want a 'moral' America, our people must begin to reject the recent Republican glorification of greed and stop treating life like a competitive sport]

“The Musa Qala project has sent two messages: one, recognition for the enemy, and two, military defeat.”
Mustafa Qazemi, a member of Afghanistan’s Parliament and a former resistance fighter with the Northern Alliance, which fought the Taliban for seven years
Afghan District Makes Own Deal With the Taliban
[I thought our war was with the Taliban in Afghanistan that provided a haven for Osama. Instead we turned to Iraq, where have yet to find the Taliban or weapons of mass destruction--yet we remain there]

"In another example of President Bush's post-election loss of control over the national agenda, the debate in Washington is now officially no longer about how we achieve victory in Iraq, but how we cut our losses."
Dan Froomkin in WaPo
Bush Losing Control of Agenda
[It must be terrifying to little Georgie boy to find so many terrorist abettors right in his own home town]