08/23:
Newt speaks on the shortcomings of our presidential election process:
"Our system to elect a president is not working for the American people. The
big-city-machine bosses of the past have been replaced by professional
political consultant bosses. Sadly, the role of the candidate -- the man or
woman who would lead the most powerful nation on Earth -- largely has been
reduced to raising the money to hire consultants and then reading what the
consultants scrawl on 3-by-5 cards. It's a stunningly dangerous development
for a democracy."
-- Newt Gingrich
08/20:
Laws are only for the "little people":
Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority have charged Representative
Robert Filner of California with assault and battery following an incident
at Dulles International Airport Sunday night.
Police say they were called to the baggage claim area around 6 p.m. when a
passenger attempted to enter an area authorized for airline employees only.
ABC 7 spoke with several witnesses who say they saw Filner push aside an
United Airlines employee and refused to leave the office.
-- WJLA News
08/16:
This is a mouthful... or a mindful. But it is a great shapshot of the
current credit market and the role of the Federal Reserve System:
"The Federal Reserve's proper mission is not to produce a particular rate of
economic growth or unemployment, or to cure injuries -- least of all,
self-inflicted ones -- to certain sectors of the economy. It is to preserve
the currency as a store of value -- to contain inflation. The fact that
inflation remains a worry is testimony to the fundamental soundness of the
economy, in spite of turbulence in a small slice of one sector."
--
George Will
07/01:
Amity Shlaes writes about the myths of the New Deal:
"My own sense is that there is a final reason we have all paused at the New
Deal--a generational one. To insult the New Deal is to insult the Social
Security that we, our parents, or grandparents receive. The Baby Boomers
have a reputation as being selfish. But their reverence in regard to Social
Security, not to mention Medicare Part D, is overly unselfish, and comes
out of misplaced filial piety. Younger Baby Boomers and the generations
after them will doubtless pay higher taxes because of our current
unwillingness to criticize entitlements. Americans owe them as much as we
owe senior citizens."
--
Amity Shlaes
06/26:
Dr. Thomas Sowell on "a sign of the times":
"The problem is not just with people who want to get attention by the way
they dress, act, talk, or show off in innumerable other ways. The more
fundamental problem is that the society around them pays its attention to
such superficial and often childish stuff."
"The media attention lavished on Anna Nicole Smith and Paris 24/7, while
paying little attention to Iran's movement toward nuclear weapons that can
change the course of history irrevocably, is one of the most painful signs
of our times."
"In a "non-judgmental" world, what is there to determine who deserves
notice, except who can make a big splash?"
"[T]he problem is not that particular people do particular things to get
attention. The problem is that the society at large no longer has standards
by which to deny or rebuke attention-seekers who have nothing to contribute
to society."
"Do not expect sound judgments in a society where being "non-judgmental" is
an exalted value. As someone has said, if you don't stand for something,
you will fall for anything."
--
Thomas Sowell
06/19:
Statement from the the U.S. Department of Agriculture regarding feeding children in school:
"Please be advised that we have finalized the process of translating the
Free and Reduced Price School Meals Application package into 25 different
languages . . . Arabic, Cambodian, Chinese (Mandarin), Farsi, French,
Greek, Haitian, Hindi, Hmong, Japanese, Korean, Kurdish, Laotian, Polish,
Portuguese, Russian, Samoan, Serbo-Croatian, Somali, Spanish, Sudanese,
Tagalog, Thai, Urdu, and Vietnamese."
--
Phyllis Schlafly
