Quotes of the Week

From the Light:

“One should never underestimate the power of abstract concepts to shape how human beings see the world. Once one accepts the idea that government is necessary for peace and order and that it can function objectively, one’s imagination will allow one to see the hand of government wherever there is law, police, and courts and render the non-political provision of these services invisible. But if you lay aside this conceptual framework long enough to ask where these services originated and where, to a large extent, they still come from, the world assumes a different aspect. If you want the strongest argument for anarchy, simply remove your self-imposed blinders and look around.”
John Hasnas

“Here's how it breaks down from the statist perspective: When civilians carry firearms because they don't know who the bad guys are, we're being pathologically insecure; when police not only carry them but routinely use them to make others submit to their will without reasonable cause, they're merely exercising a professional prerogative.”
Will Grigg

“Where would the state be without the private sector to provide its technology? Probably still bonking us on the head with wooden clubs, a form of coercion somehow less threatening than artificial intelligence that digitally scans conversations within a crowd.”
Jeffrey Tucker

“If morality is dictated by government, morality will change with every election.”
Ron Paul

“You and I still have all the rights we were born with, but our freedom to exercise those rights without being killed by representatives of the government are all but gone.”
Kent McManigal

“The phrase consent of the governed exists only on paper, and has not been honored in practice. Usurpation of political power has been the guiding principle of the governing.”
Jerome L. Wright

“Aggression is always wrong and the skin color of the aggressor or the agressee isn’t what’s important. What’s important is that it STOPS. It’s not a race issue, it’s a police-state issue and we all need to withdrawal our support for a growing security apparatus that is designed to control, not protect”
From the Motorhome Diaries, July 30, 2009

"Almost everyone is hurting in this economy, and sadly for many workers across East Texas and America, Pilgrim's Pride, one of the largest poultry producers in the country, recently had to file for bankruptcy. Where's their 'cash for cluckers' program?"

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R- Texas) [A rare ray of light from a politi-gangster.]

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From the Darkness:

“I was not going to be the Federal Reserve chairman who presided over the second Great Depression.”
Ben Bernanke, defending his bailouts.

"That is why we must remain committed to strong bilateral and multilateral coordination. And that is the example we have set by acting aggressively to restore growth, prevent a deeper recession and save jobs for our people."

Barry Obama, trying to to convince the Chinese he know what he’s doing. [Coordinate! Yes, we MUST coordinate! Otherwise the world would collapse. It seems that “coordinating” has created the problems that you plan to “coordinate” the solution to.]

“Tough guys don't pack firearms. Fearful guys do — people who see everyone around them as a threat and think the worst of every face they don't recognize. Guns don't showcase strength, they showcase weakness.”
Anonymous editorial authors at the Deseret News

"If you've got something to address, do it later. Do what he says, or else only bad things can happen." Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, on how us peons should react to police orders.
"I hope they will extend the program because it was such a win on so many levels -- for the consumers, for the environment, for all the car manufacturers. It got a lot of people to go car shopping who wouldn't have otherwise."

John Sackrison, executive director of the Orange County Automobile Dealers Assn. about “Cash for Clunkers.” [People can do a LOT of shopping when you hand out free money.]

"Now, people when I say that look at me and say, 'What are you talking about, Joe? You're telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?' The answer is yes, that's what I'm telling you."

Joe Biden, Obama Wise Man