* “Things change (at) kind of warp speed.”–Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her first meeting with Egypt’s new, Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi.
* “Iran is not seeking to have the atomic bomb, possession of which is pointless, dangerous and is a great sin from an intellectual and a religious point of view.”–Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
* “If we could sit down with Stalin and Mao, why are the Ayatollah or (Iranian President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad so far beyond the pale?”–Patrick Buchanan, Creators Syndicate.
* “They are getting squeezed. It’s too much trouble to buy Iranian oil. Why alienate the United States and Europe? And the rest of OPEC is not very happy with Iran either.–Sadad Al Husseini, former executive vice president for exploration and development of Saudi Aramco, the state oil company.
* “If you want the American Dream–go to Finland.”–British Labour Party leader Ed Miliband.
* “If we could get a few big things right today–a Simpson-Bowles-like grand bargain on spending and tax reform that unleashes entrepreneurship, a deal on immigration that allows the most energetic and smartest immigrants to enrich our country and a plan on energy that allows us to tap all these new sources in environmentally safe ways–no one could touch us as a country.”–Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times.
* “It’s not that they’re running a ‘Do Nothing Congress’–they’re running an “Undo Everything Congress.’ Any jackass can kick down the barn.”–Retiring U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-NY, bemoaning the passing of “moderate Republicans.”
* “Because our legislative, judicial and executive branches of government hold the 10th Amendment in contempt, I’m beginning to wonder if it would have been best had the South won the Civil War. Our Founding Fathers’ concept of limited government is dead.”–Entertainer-turned-conservative activist Ted Nugent.
* “I will not be attending this year’s convention, nor any Republican convention in the future, until the party focuses on a bigger, bolder, more confident future for the United States–a future based on problem-solving, inclusiveness and a willingness to address the trust deficit, which is every bit as corrosive as our fiscal and economic deficits.”–One time GOP presidential hopeful and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman.
* “No economy can grow faster than its transportation network allows.”–U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
* “What Obama wants to muster is this time when Americans worked together to achieve certain goals. But the actual story was much more tawdry and often revolved around people making a lot of money.”–Richard White, Stanford University historian.
* “President Obama believes in ‘insourcing.'”–Tag line from a pro-Obama super PAC (Priorities USA Action) TV ad.
* “People don’t mind rich politicians. … But a significant number are bothered by people who fetishize their wealth or use tricks (like offshore tax havens) to avoid the burdens of normal citizens.”–Timothy Egan, New York Times.
* “All the evidence we have so far suggests that drones do better at both identifying the terrorist and avoiding collateral damage than anything else we have.”–Bradley J. Strawser, assistant professor of philosophy at the Naval Postgraduate School.
* “Penn State should keep the Joe Paterno statue. Just move it so he is looking the other way.”–Mike Rosenberg, Sports Illustrated.
* “Travel is the search for meaning, not only in our own lives, but also in the lives of others. The humility required for genuine travel is exactly what is missing from its opposite extreme, tourism.”–Ilan Stavans, Amherst College professor of literature.
* “Preventing illness is the surest way to combat health care costs. It is the cheapest and best ‘public option.’ Eat right, move more, don’t smoke and drive carefully.”–Rao Masunuru, M.D., president of the Pasco County Medical Society.
* “The president has made restoration of the Everglades a national priority.”–U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in announcing that an additional $80 million has been set aside for wetlands restoration.
* “If we come across as a plain vanilla business school, we won’t get far.”–Moez Limayem, the new dean of USF’s College of Business.
“Give me Liberty, or Give me Death!” – Patrick Henry
What a brilliant ruling by the United States Supreme Court on the affordable health care act (Obamacare). Stunningly brilliant in my humble opinion. I could not have ask for a better ruling on a potentially catastrophic healthcare act than We The People Of The United States received from our Supreme Court.
If the court had upheld the constitutionality of the individual mandate under the commerce clause it would have meant the catastrophic loss of the most precious thing we own. Our individual liberty. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Supreme Court.
There is no mandate to buy private for-profit health insurance. There is only a nominal tax on income eligible individuals who don’t have health insurance. This is a HUGE! difference. And I suspect that tax may be subject to constitutional challenge as it ripens.
This is a critically important distinction. Because under the commerce clause individuals would have been compelled to support the most costly, dangerous, unethical, morally repugnant, and defective type of health insurance you can have. For-profit health insurance, and the for-profit proxies called private non-profits and co-ops.
Equally impressive in the courts ruling was the majorities willingness to throw out the whole law if the court could not find a way to sever the individual mandate under the commerce clause from the rest of the act. Bravo! Supreme Court.
Thanks to the Supreme Court we now have an opportunity to fix our healthcare crisis the right way. Without the obscene delusion that Washington can get away with forcing Americans to buy a costly, dangerous and highly defective private product (for-profit health insurance).
During the passage of ACA/Obamacare some politicians said that the ACA was better than nothing. But the truth was that until the Supreme Court fixed it the ACA/Obamacare was worse than nothing at all. It would have meant the catastrophic loss of your precious liberty for the false promise and illusion of healthcare security under the deadly and costly for-profit healthcare system that dominates American healthcare.
As everyone knows now. The fix for our healthcare crisis is a single payer system (Medicare for all) like the rest of the developed world has. Or a robust Public Option choice available to everyone on day one that can quickly lead to a single payer system.
We still have a healthcare crisis in America. With hundreds of thousands dieing needlessly every year in America. And a for-profit medical industrial complex that threatens the security and health of the entire world. The ACA/Obamacare will not fix that.
The for-profit medical industrial complex has already attacked the world with H1N1 killing thousands, and injuring millions. And more attacks are planned for profit, and to feed their greed.
To all of you who have fought so hard to do the kind and right thing for your fellow human beings at a time of our greatest needs I applaud you. Be proud of your-self.
God Bless You my fellow human beings. I’m proud to be one of you. You did good.
See you on the battle field.
Sincerely
jacksmith – WorkingClass 🙂