Adeimantus QOTD

Lady Liberty

2006-04-09T21:08:00.000-07:00

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

Words inscribed
at the Statue of Liberty
(from Emma Lazarus' poem,
The New Colossus)

When history comes a-calling . . .

2006-03-02T20:44:00.000-08:00

When history comes a-calling, you never have a choice between good or bad options. They're only between bad and much, much worse options. And the reality of today is that we're dealing with problems that could have been, would have been easier to settle twenty years ago. If we don't settle them now, they'll be much more difficult, if not impossible to settle in ten years time.

Mark Steyn

Here's A Better Question: How Come Anyone on God's Green Earth Thinks It's Possible to Negotiate with Iran

2006-02-12T18:52:00.000-08:00

How come insulting the prophet of Muslims worldwide is justified within the framework of press freedom, but investigating about the fairy tale Holocaust is not?

Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Fire Extinguisher Sold Separately

2006-02-11T14:25:00.000-08:00

If the bits of burning material land on anyone's skin or eye, they will stick and cause serious injury or blindness.

"Warning for Flagburners"
published by MrFlag.com
on its internet sales site
(full story here)

How Dare They Suggest That Followers of Muhammad Are Bloodthirsty Fanatics!

2006-02-03T19:01:00.000-08:00

We will not accept less than severing the heads of those responsible [for unflattering cartoons of the Prophet].

Unidentified "Preacher" Appealing to
"Worshipers" at a Palestinian Mosque

No Skiing? Then I Might As Well Jet Back to D.C. for a Quick Filibuster

2006-01-27T19:54:00.000-08:00

Q: Can I also ask you, on Senator Kerry's comments, what is your reaction to the filibuster call by Senator Kerry, on Judge Alito?

WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY SCOTT McCLELLAN: On his call yesterday? It was a pretty historic day. This was the first time ever that a Senator has called for a filibuster from the slopes of Davos, Switzerland. I think even for a Senator, it takes some pretty serious yodeling to call for a filibuster from a five-star ski resort in the Swiss Alps. (Laughter.)

Q: But you know he's not there skiing.

MR. McCLELLAN: Les, I didn't ask you to yodel. I can hear you. (Laughter.

White House Press Briefing
January 27, 2006

Jacques Has Been Reading My Blog Again

2006-01-19T19:49:00.000-08:00

The leaders of states who would use terrorist means against us, as well as those who would consider using in one way or another weapons of mass destruction, must understand that they would lay themselves open to a firm and adapted response on our part. This response could be a conventional one. It could also be of a different kind.

France's President Jacques Chirac

Economically and Morally

2005-12-18T17:41:00.000-08:00

Our state is bankrupt. . . . Even if it would sell to the Japanese the Palace of Versailles at a high price, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre Museum, all of our patrimony, the French state could not honour her commitments for retirees or salaries. The king is completely nude.

Pascal Gobry
French Institute of Actuaries

The Will to Win

2005-11-28T21:20:00.000-08:00

[T]he Iraqi people are in reach of a watershed transformation from the primitive, killing tyranny of Saddam to modern, self-governing, self-securing nationhood--unless the great American military that has given them and us this unexpected opportunity is prematurely withdrawn. . . .

What a colossal mistake it would be for America's bipartisan political leadership to choose this moment in history to lose its will and, in the famous phrase, to seize defeat from the jaws of the coming victory.

Democrat Senator Joe Lieberman

Leaks about Leaks about Leaks about Leaks (Otherwise Known as "Journalism")

2005-11-21T22:36:00.000-08:00

I hardly find it surprising that comments from this [internal Washington Post] forum would get leaked to the Times or any other news organization. . . . journalists leak to other journalists when it comes to the in-love-with-ourselves gossip of the media reporting on the media.

Comment of Washington Post Reporter Sara Goo,
leaked from a WaPo internal message board,
wherein Goo opined about leaks of statements
WaPo staffers had posted (on that same board)
about Bob Woodward misusing leaks

Pour apprécier l'arome d'un cocktail de Molotov . . .

2005-11-07T20:57:00.000-08:00

France is still a country where one can go.

French Foreign Minister
Philippe Douste-Blazy

A Proposed U.N. Resolution

2005-11-07T05:33:00.000-08:00

The violence will not end until the occupation has been defeated. Therefore, France must immediately set a firm date to withdraw its forces from Paris.

Overheard at the United Nations

Mother Superior Puts Upstart POW in His Place

2005-09-27T19:16:00.000-07:00

He's a warmonger, and I'm not.

Cindy Sheehan,
after her meeting with Sen. John McCain,
who was a POW in Vietnam for five years

Why Bother to Wait for the Facts, When It's So Obviously Bush's Fault?

2005-09-13T21:53:00.000-07:00

The moral choices in America are not about hot-button social issues that get everybody mad. Moral choices are about making sure that folks don't drown at a nursing home before they can get evacuated.

Howard Dean, Democrat Party Chairman,
implying that President Bush was to blame
for deaths at St. Rita's Nursing Home

¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤

I said, "We've got two buses and two drivers that'll take you anywhere you want to go. Do you want the buses?" She said, "No".

Byran Bertucci, St. Bernard Parish Coroner,
describing how the owners of the nursing home
refused multiple offers to evacuate its patients

¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤

Thirty-four people drowned in a nursing home when it should have been evacuated . . . The pathetic thing in this case is that [the nursing home owners] were asked if they wanted to move [their patients] and they did not move. They were warned repeatedly.

Lousiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti,
announcing negligent homicide indictments
against the owners of St. Rita's Nursing Home

The Fire of Outrage

2005-09-11T21:41:00.000-07:00

Prayer and pity for loss is a cleansing thing but it is fire of outrage than fuels forward motion. It dawned on me in the buildup to the nonstop theater of [9/11] anniversary angst how manipulative sentimentality can be. Those whose goal it is to make us miserable weaken our resolve. Those who convince us that we are cold and unfeeling if we even for a moment entertain thoughts of justice, and yes, revenge, seek to disarm us. They seek to subjugate us by making us inadequate to any task other than weeping and rending our garments.

Lucianne Goldberg

Why I Hate the New York Times

2005-09-07T10:55:00.000-07:00

No one would accuse [Houston] of being timid in the scramble to profit from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

NY Times' International Herald Tribune
Article Trashing Houston for Its Efforts
to Aid Katrina Victims

Don't Even Think About It

2005-09-02T22:57:00.000-07:00

Stop Using My Son

2005-08-29T12:38:00.000-07:00

I wish [Cindy Sheehan] would just stop. . . . But don't use my son--just don't.

Charlotte Smette
mother of Sgt. Keith Smette
who gave his life fighting in Iraq

And at That Very Moment, the Stars Became Visible in Daylight and a Saintly Blush of Humility Irradiated Her Care-Worn Face

2005-08-26T16:03:00.000-07:00

I'm just so honored that the universe chose me to be the spark that has set off a raging inferno.

Cindy Sheehan

The Answer, My Friend, Is Blowin' in the Wind

2005-08-24T12:55:00.000-07:00

I ask myself if musicians ought to act like politicians . . . . They're only musicians.

Eric Clapton

Cindy Sheehan Crossed the Line

2005-08-18T22:53:00.000-07:00

When [Cindy Sheehan] put that cross up, with my husband's name on it, that's when she crossed the line.

Linnie Blankenbecler,
whose husband, Sgt. Maj. James Blankenbecler,
gave his life fighting in Iraq, Oct. 1, 2003

Another Mom's Opinion

2005-08-17T21:32:00.000-07:00

I don't care what [Cindy Sheehan] says or does. She is no more important than any other mother.

Robin Griffin
mother of Spc. Kyle Andrew Griffin
who was killed in Iraq May 30, 2003

Thanks to the Europeans

2005-08-15T12:53:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the negotiations with Europe we gained another year in which we completed the [Uranium Conversion Facility] in Esfahan. . . . Today we are in a position of power: [The UCF] in Esfahan is complete and UF4 and UF6 gases are being produced. We have a stockpile of products, and during this period, we have managed to convert 36 tons of yellow cake into gas and store it. In Natanz, much of the work [on centrifuges to enrich uranium ] has been completed. . . . Thanks to our dealings with Europe, even when we got a 50-day ultimatum, we managed to continue the work for two years. This way we completed [the UCF] in Esfahan. This way we carried out the work to complete Natanz, and on top of that, we even gained benefits. . . . During these two years of negotiations, we managed to make far greater progress than North Korea.

Hosein Musavian, Chairman
Iran Supreme National Security Council
Foreign Policy Committee

We Honor His Commitment

2005-08-12T11:18:00.000-07:00

My brother volunteered to go. He wanted to go, and we honor his commitment.

Jim Krause,
whose brother, Sgt. Elmer C. Krause,
died fighting in Iraq

Steven Vincent - Rest in Peace

2005-08-03T12:01:00.000-07:00

You know, Captain, sometimes American values are just--better.

Steven Vincent
Journalist and Patriot
Murdered in Iraq