Quotes of the Week

From the Light:

“Far from encouraging a “fraternity of nations,” it is in the nature of government to actively set groups of people apart from and against one another. While “nations” tend to coalesce on the basis of common language, culture and ancestry, and to further re-form themselves through trade and commerce, “nation-states” are artificial agglomerations created for the purpose of asserting, and enforcing street-gang-style turf claims writ large.”
Thomas L. Knapp

“A dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot.”
Robert A. Heinlein

“Real crimes involve some variety of force and fraud to deprive someone of something to which he is entitled. Nobody is entitled to take the property of another through taxation, even if such pilferage is "authorized" by a majority of 300,000,000 to 1.”
Will Grigg

“The machine (government) can only accomplish that which it was designed to do: all governments, in their evolutionary process, eventually turn on their progenitors; the machine eventually rules the individual, no matter what "safeguards" have been put in place.”

Michael Gaddy

“The real America is the host organism, not the glorified corporate-state tapeworms living in our colon.”
Kevin Carson

“A military not strictly for defense of U.S. borders, shores, coasts, and skies is nothing more than the president’s personal attack force staffed by mercenaries willing to obey his latest command to bomb, invade, occupy, and otherwise bring death and destruction to any country he deems necessary.”
Laurence Vance

“Why wouldn’t the U.S. be better off simply exiting Afghanistan and bringing the troops home? After all, they’ve had a free hand to kill terrorists to their heart’s content for more than 8 years, and the situation is worse than ever. If they exited the country and came home, at least they would no longer be serving as a permanent terrorist-producing machine.”
Jacob Hornberger

“Even though the old constitution wishes to bestow blessings and liberty on their posterity, it has no power whatsoever to achieve this goal. Further, it never showed any intention toward future generations other than to offer useful recommendations to their posterity toward the blessings of liberty. If they were in some way able to bind future generations to the Constitution, they would not have bestowed liberty but slavery upon their posterity, since their children would be bound to it from birth, like it or not.”
Russell D. Longcore

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From the Darkness:

"In an innovative society, people must be free to take unpopular decisions, disagree with conventional wisdom, know they are safe to peacefully challenge accepted practice and authority.”
Hillary Clinton [Except when they challenge the Queen, of course.]

“This additional assistance will be especially important in the coming months, as countless seniors and others have seen their retirement accounts and home values decline as a result of this economic crisis."
B. Obama, explaining why he is sending $250 to seniors not receiving a cost of living adjustment.

“Media will not be allowed to photograph or record video of U.S. personnel killed in action.”
A ground rules document issued Sept. 15 by Regional Command East at Bagram Air Field. [It’s okay, of course, to show killed and injured ragheads.]

"If we do not reach a deal at this time, let us be in no doubt: once the damage from unchecked emissions growth is done, no retrospective global agreement, in some future period, can undo that choice.
"So we should never allow ourselves to lose sight of the catastrophe we face if present warming trends continue."
Gordon Brown

“This strategic assurance is absolute, absolute, Mr. Prime Minister. It is a solemn obligation. Make no mistake about it: Our commitment to Poland is unwavering.”
Joe Biden

"We ignore the failed states at our own peril."

"We have to advocate for a better life for people and a democratic life for people."

"Yes, we've got to get Afghanistan right. We're going to have to do it with a sense of patience and a sense of urgency."

"It doesn't matter where you came from, it's where you're going."

"Today's headlines and history's judgments are rarely the same."
Condi Rice, setting a record for cliches in one recent speech in Dallas, concerning Afghanistan.