Quotes of the Week

From the Light:

"The lies the government and media tell are amplifications of the lies we tell ourselves. To stop being conned, stop conning yourself."
James Wolcott

“The vain effort to purify the world through force is always self-defeating. Those who insist that the world can be molded into their vision are the most susceptible to violence as antidote. The more uncertainty, fear and reality impinge on this utopian vision, the more strident, absolutist and aggressive are those who call for the eradication of “the enemy.”
Chris Hedges

“Until men are willing to cut off the political funding of the established church of America, they will see the educational crisis escalate. The visible sign of sovereignty is the ability to pay for a service and the willingness to do so. Nothing short of this will suffice to solve the crisis in the schools, for the educational crisis is ultimately a conflict over sovereignty. He who pays with his own funds will win; he who continues to pay by voting cannot possibly win.”
Gary North, 1976

“Our American ancestors were easily able to avoid conflating the federal government and the private sector. They had learned an important lesson from history and from personal experience, a lesson that unfortunately has been lost on many modern-day Americans: the greatest threat to the freedom and well-being of a citizenry lies not with foreigners but rather with their own government, especially a government with a large standing military force.”
Jacob Hornberger

“There is no crueler from of tyranny that that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice.”
Montesquieu

From the Darkness:

“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. Things that we had postponed for too long, that were long-term, are now immediate and must be dealt with. This crisis provides the opportunity for us to do things that you could not do before.”
Rahm Emanuel, President-elect Obama’s chief of staff-designate.

"We've already stepped forward and made enormous concessions said Friday at a news conference. But as we made it clear ... , we were prepared to make further sacrifices. But we could not accept the effort by the Senate GOP caucus to single out workers and retirees for different treatment and to make them shoulder the entire burden of any restructuring."
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger, who apparently isn’t concerned about the “burden” shouldered by the lowly taxpayer.

“As far as I’m concerned, the automotive industry is the arsenal of democracy.”
Donald J. Andrews, a lawyer in the Detroit area.

“Saving workers’ jobs is every American’s duty; it’s what the government should have done.”
Dan Keros, restaurant manager in Detroit.

"The political systems of the developed world have become sclerotic. We have to overcome the paralysis that has prevented us from acting and focus clearly and unblinkingly on this crisis rather than spending so much time on O.J. Simpson, Paris Hilton and Anna Nicole Smith."
Al Gore, The Climate Christ, upset that the celebrity worship cult is competing with his anti-carbon cult.