* “True peace is not a balancing of opposing forces. It’s not a lovely facade which conceals conflicts and divisions. Peace calls for daily commitment.”–Pope Francis.
* “The United States on the eve of 2014 is still the world’s strongest power, but it is not as powerful as it once was. Uncomfortably aware that it may have few reliable friends and many potential enemies, America is now considering a return to a more isolationist policy. Is America now reaching the end of its tether, as Britain did before it?”–Margaret MacMillan, author and warden of St. Antony’s College, Oxford.
* “There is no Fourth Estate. And as a matter of fact there is no Second or Third Estate. There is just the First, just the presidency. That’s the way things are today in Russia.”–Vladimir Posner, prominent Russian television journalist.
* “The choice of the U.S. is never between doing nothing and sending in the Marines. How do we use a host of tools at our disposal?”–U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power.
* “For me, in terms of personal satisfaction, the mission’s already accomplished. I already won.”–NSA leaker Edward Snowden.
* “The government learned from its (pre-2001) mistake and adapted to confront a new enemy: a terror network capable of orchestrating attacks across the world. It launched a number of counter-measures, including a bulk telephony metadata collection program–a wide net that could find and isolate gossamer contacts among suspected terrorists in an ocean of seemingly disconnected data.”–Federal Judge William Pauley II in ruling that the NSA’s massive collection of domestic telephone data does not violate the Fourth Amendment.
* “The fundamental fiscal challenges we identified in the 2010 report of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, and the need for reforms of entitlement programs and the tax code, go unaddressed.”–Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, who co-chaired the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.
* “Early retirement is in retreat.”–Robert Samuelson, Washington Post.
* “Before the Affordable Care Act, hospitals and other providers were paid almost solely based on how much work they did, not on how well they did.”–Jonathan Blum, deputy administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
* “Preserving the majesty of the high court is the core of the argument against cameras, but the idea that the court as an institution requires insulation is wrong. … The U.S. Supreme Court is now one of the last major institutions of Western civilization that has not entered the 21st century technologically.”–Maureen O’Connor, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio.
* “FAMU is at a critical point to move forward in creating more diversity in the student body.”–Former state Sen. Al Lawson, who recently applied for the Florida A&M University presidency.
* “The current (Scott) administration is not receptive to the rights of the individual. There’s so much at stake this election, you’ll see trial lawyers participate at a very significant rate.”–Lance Block, former chairman of the Academy of Trial Lawyers.
* “The only sure outcome of (Kathleen) Peters and (David) Jolly spending their time and their cash trashing each other is that independent Pinellas voters will undoubtedly be turned off by both of them.”–Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman David Bergstein.
* “The truth is this flood insurance problem is affecting people with very modest incomes, and nobody can really prove otherwise. What’s going on in Congress now is just not right.”–Pam Dubov, Pinellas County property appraiser, on the impact of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012.
* “Our future years look stronger and stronger. If Bollywood can deliver the way it’s supposed to deliver … we’re projecting a very good year.”–Visit Tampa Bay CEO Santiago Corrada on Hillsborough County’s rebounding tourism.
* “I think that all of that land around there is generally going to become more valuable. Money follows money in real estate.”–City economic opportunity administrator Bob McDonaugh on developers’ interest in land near Encore Tampa.
* “I’m not happy with the delay. But when it’s all said and done, I care more about the outcome than I do about the process.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn on the federally required historic review process that is delaying city plans for the Bro Bowl in Perry Harvey Sr. Park.