Category: Media Watch

A lot of people have been weighing in on the death of Dick Clark. Here’s more perspective.

I grew up in one of the row-house neighborhoods of Philadelphia. We knew Bandstand before it was “American Bandstand.” And once, while still in 8th grade, three buddies and I took advantage of a holiday (in honor of the patron saint of St. Timothy’s Catholic Church and School) to cross the city via bus and elevated train to West Philly and the WFIL studios where American Bandstand played out each weekday from 3:30 to 5 pm.

Garbed in coats and ties, we queued up with the early-arriving out-of-towners and were admitted, although underage. We were mesmerized, pimply and out of our league. The regulars were cool and celebrity-like; they even received fan mail. There they were: Arlene and Kenny, Bob and Justine. Yo, this was way more fascinating than a Phillies game. Plus, an almost-attractive girl from New Jersey asked me to dance on a “lady’s choice.” Wow, I was on TV.

But we had been warned by the director on the way in not to mug for the camera or chew gum. Left unsaid: “Teens across the country are tuning in to see the regulars–not you. You’re lucky we let you in. Don’t forget it. Enjoy.”

The revelation, in addition to how good Bobby Freeman (“Betty Lou’s Got a New Pair of Shoes”) could lip sync was, well, how uncool Dick Clark was. He had that Fred Astaire hair that made him look older–to us–than 30. He was short enough to need a fruit crate to stand on behind that iconic bandstand.

But he was nice. Not just TV nice. Or image nice. You could tell off camera. He didn’t just mingle with the regulars and line up his Clearasil cue cards.

Over time I would realize that while rock music would always be a generational divide, Dick Clark helped bridge it. My parents didn’t like Little Richard or Jerry Lee Lewis. Not even close. But Dick Clark gave them pause. He was pleasant; he was polite. He was a gentleman. If Dick Clark approved, how threatening could this music be? That would matter. In his own way, he made being nice cool.

* “No wonder (Israeli Prime Minister) Bibi (Netanyahu) is frustrated. If there is no U.S. attack on Iran by November, and Obama wins, there may never be a U.S. attack on Iran. Israel cannot do to Iran what Bibi wants done to Iran. Only Obama can. But how does Bibi get Obama to do it, before November?”–Patrick J. Buchanan, Creators Syndicate.

* “Vile, evil and America-hating.”–Ted Nugent’s characterization of the Obama Administration.

* “I’m all for tax efficiency and efficient government. But I tend to look at Tax Freedom Day from a different perspective. To me, it’s Tax Freebie Day. We live in a five-star resort of a country, and people whine about having to pay for the umbrella drinks.”–Bill Saporito, Time magazine.

* “Satire is thriving right now, probably more so than at any time in our culture’s history. Sometimes the smartest political analysis of the day is being done by comedians.”–Robert Thompson, director of the Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University.

* “Texting and posting let us present the self we want to be, and we can edit at will.”–Sherry Turkle, author of “Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other.”

* “People tell me, ‘You can’t legislate morality.’ Yes, you can. Every bill we pass is founded in somebody’s value system.”–Rep. Dennis Bexley, R-Ocala.

* “Common sense dictates that when criminals are removed from society, they can no longer commit crimes in society. Early release undermines government’s obligation to ensure the safety of citizens. Our system is successful because it sends a clear message. Inmates cannot play the system for an early release.”–Grady Judd, sheriff of Polk County.

* “I simply think people won’t be going to baseball games in large numbers 20 years from now. Nor do I think they will be going to hockey, football or basketball games. Why? Because the in-home sports entertainment experience is increasingly offering a superior value to live sports.”–Sean Lux, assistant professor of entrepreneurship at USF.

* “We know tobacco kills, we know it’s a carcinogen. For us to not encourage them to stop would be silly. … If you have to walk halfway across campus to smoke, you may quit.”–Gina Firth, associate dean of wellness at the University of Tampa, where smoking is banned indoors and within 25 feet of any building or entrance.

* “They’re not in meetings 24 hours a day. What do you think they’re going to be doing at night? You can only eat so many steak dinners. You can only look at so many sunsets.”–Night Moves adult trade magazine publisher Paul Allen on the potential business for strip clubs during the GOP Convention.

* “North Korea is only further isolating itself by engaging in provocative acts and is wasting its money on weapons and propaganda displays while the North Korean people go hungry.”–White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.

* “Superiority in military technology is no longer monopolized by imperialists.”–North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

* “Don’t let anyone tell you the enhanced interrogation program didn’t work. It did.”–Former Vice President Dick Cheney.

* “We let the boss down.”–Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on the Pentagon’s investigation of allegations of U.S. military misconduct in Cartagena, Colombia before the Summit of the Americas.

* “I wish they weren’t called the ‘Bush tax cuts.’ If they’re called some other body’s tax cuts, they’re probably less likely to be raised.”–Former President George W. Bush.

* “This Administration would do well to stop disrespecting stay-at-home moms and listen to them.”–Penny Nance, president of the conservative organization Concerned Women for America.

* “When did it become axiomatic that to care about people in economic distress you have to be personally familiar with it? … If privilege equals an inability to relate, then we apparently misjudged and must reappraise many politicians from the past, including the Roosevelts, the Kennedys and even George Washington.”–Frank Bruni, New York Times.

* “We need a president who will stand up for the rights of hunters and sportsmen and those seeking to protect their homes and their families. President Obama has not. I will.”–Mitt Romney in his speech to the NRA.

* “We address an urgent summons to our fellow Catholics and fellow Americans to be on guard, for religious liberty is under attack, both at home and abroad.”–U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

* “Black-on-black crime, like black-on-white crime, does not fit the liberal narrative of the continuing problem of white racism.”–George Mason University Economics Professor Walter E. Williams.

* “Any observer of the relationship between the United States and the Americas knows that Florida really is in many respects the connective tissue that links the U.S. economy to the Latin American economy.”–Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications.

* “No matter what you think is the proper value of testing, Florida is at the overkill level.”–Bob Schaeffer, public education director for FairTest, an organization that opposes high-stakes testing.

* “Plainly, the case for Florida Polytechnic University has not been made.”–Steven Halverson, president of the Florida Council of 100.

* “If you come here to get a message across, to exercise your First Amendment rights, we are 100 percent on your side, and we will facilitate that any way we can.”–Kirby Rainsberger, Tampa Police Department attorney, on what GOP Convention demonstrators can expect.

* “Completely unworkable. We need to go back to the drawing board.”–City Council member Mary Mulhern on the proposed “Clean Zone” ordinance.

* “I consider this a victory for our whole community.”–Hassan Shibly, Tampa director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, on the reaffirmation of Hillsborough County School Board policy–caution but no new restrictions–allowing outside speakers into classrooms.

* “We’re not a museum piece; we’re an operating theater. The way the industry is, we must have this technology to stay current. If not, we won’t be a first-run film house anymore.”–Tampa Theatre President and CEO John Bell explaining TT’s digital conversion by year’s end.

* “We’re so pumped about Ybor. We want to be part of the movement to re-enrich that part of the city. It has such a great, rich cultural heritage and so many great businesses are moving there.”–Nick Friedman, president of College Hunks Hauling Junk which, along with sister company College Hunks Moving, is relocating its national franchise operation to a 10,000-square-foot corporate headquarters in Ybor City.

* “This goes right to the heart of who we are as a community and how we treat people.”–Mayor Bob  Buckhorn after signing the ordinance creating the area’s first domestic partnership registry.

* “Better baseball players make you a lot smarter manager.”–Joe Maddon.

* The rebranded Miami (nee “Florida”) Marlins knew they were getting a media high-wire act with new manager Ozzie Guillen. With that futuristic, new Debt Payment From Hell stadium, some pricey free agents and renewed Latin interest, ownership aggressively pursued the marketable Venezuela native who was sure to be as colorful and controversial as he was profane and unpredictable. But he would be worth it in Little Havana and environs, where insouciance would no longer be hip.

But what owner Jeffrey Loria wasn’t counting on was Guillen going beyond controversy. Going beyond political sacrilege in the sovereign state of South Florida. “I love Fidel Castro,” he recently told Time magazine–and, in effect, shouted it into the media ether. Say what?

Of course there was context–it was a shout-out for Castro’s sheer survival and longevity. Doesn’t matter. Those four words can’t appear in the same sentence around Miami. The Marlins went into damage-control mode and issued a knee-jerk condemnation of Castro. Guillen called a closed-door session with the team’s beat writers to dial down the Castro ardor, apologize to the exile community, limit backlash and set the geopolitical record straight: He does not–repeat, does not–approve of Castro’s repressive, 60-year track record. Then the Marlins suspended him for five games.

Perhaps Miami fans will be forgiving or forgetful if the team wins. Perhaps.

After all, it’s not as if Guillen had condemned the Cuban embargo, advocated for normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations and strafed Marco Rubio for his self-serving, exile-parentage back story and disingenuous positions on immigration. That would have meant he knew what he was talking about.

* The late Mike Wallace has passed on to that ultimate interview, and those who knew him best are affirming what we always knew. Wallace, a reporter-performer hybrid, was, indeed, the standard for television interviewers. It went beyond the theatrics: the ambush advantage, the leading question, the incredulous double-take and the thrust-and-parry dynamics.

Other constants were always on display. While Wallace was a natural for TV–and won his final Emmy Award at age 89–he never relinquished his well-honed, old-school tools. While he could be the consummate inquisitor, Wallace was always an assiduous listener. That arched brow wasn’t pure theater.

And Mike Wallace always did his homework. Any epitaph would be remiss not to highlight his preparation ethic that should be media mantra: You have to master the basics before you’re ready for prime time. Don’t leave it all to researchers and producers.  And regardless of forum or style, never forget that truth–including the statistical sham that characterized the selling of the Vietnam War–is its own end.

* Page One-upsmanship: Once again the two local dailies played a major story very differently. There’s getting beat–and there’s just not getting it. It’s likely more the former as last Friday’s Tampa Bay Times went with a front page, above-the-fold, graphic package on a story about Lightning owner Jeff Vinik and partners making a bid for Channelside Bay Plaza, the financially troubled, under-performing, high-potential entertainment complex. The Tampa Tribune buried it that same day on page three of the Metro section as a four-graph business “brief.”

For a paper whose survival mandate is “all things local,” that should be embarrassing. If not, that’s embarrassing too.

* But it’s not all one-sided. The Trib did hustle and score with a Sunday piece on EB-5 visa financing, an intriguing but obscure federal immigration program that enables wealthy foreigners, most notably Chinese, to buy their way into a green-card and then permanent American life. It’s a quid-pro-quo for job-producing investments. Get enough investors  (minimum $500,000 each) teaming up, and there could be enough to make a difference in financing high-impact, high-profile projects. Such as a sports (read: baseball) stadium. There’s precedent.

* To Bryant Gumble, it was “embarrassing.” To the general public, it was more like: “That’s show business.” That was the upshot of NBC’s Today show booking political diva Sarah Palin as a guest host one day last week. It was Today’s programming counter to ABC’s Good Morning America that was featuring week-long guest co-host Katie Couric.

It was really yet another sobering reminder that the worlds of political leaders and pop culture personalities are often uncomfortably entwined. And increasingly in this society, synonymous.

The Katie Courics, however, are infotainers. The electronic-media/show business firewall has been down for some time–from Edward R. Murrow and John Cameron Swayze to today’s talk radio and cable TV hucksters.

However, we now live in a parallel political universe, where candidacies can lead either to elected office or a Fox TV gig. And that notorious shuttle goes both ways. But now NBC has jumped in with the quintessential political harlot. Yeah, that is embarrassing.

* How odd that North Korea, an otherwise hermit nation, has opened guided tours for Western media desiring an on-site look at preparations for its controversial three-stage, long-range, rocket launch of an observation satellite.  The launch would violate United Nations resolutions on missile activity. Coverage has already been beamed around the globe. Possible motive? Give outsiders, who have been toyed with by the Pyongyang bi-polars for years, a first-hand look at internal strength, determination and unity as only North Korea can orchestrate it.

* Given the Trayvon Martin case, there couldn’t be a worse time for 20th Century Fox to be seriously bankrolling and sending out trailers on its space-alien spoof with the ill-omened title: “Neighborhood Watch.”

* Speaking of the Martin case, how unconscionably negligent was it for an NBC News producer to have edited a recording of George Zimmerman’s call to police the night he shot Martin? The network hustled to air it on its Today morning show. The edited version–“This guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black.”–gave the impression that Zimmerman, without prompting, volunteered that Martin was a black kid. In fact, Zimmerman was asked by Sanford police if the person in question was “black, white or Hispanic.” It obviously makes a difference, especially if a case for racial profiling is easily in the offing.

While NBC ultimately fired the producer, it won’t be able to erase the impression among skeptics that the media has its own agenda. That’s how skeptics become cynics.

* “Our number one geopolitical foe.”–Mitt Romney’s characterization of Russia.

* “Ronald Reagan, who as I recall was not accused of being a tax-and-spend socialist, understood repeatedly that when the deficit started to get out of control that for him to make a deal he would have to propose both spending cuts and tax increases. He did it multiple times. He could not get through a Republican primary today.”–President Barack Obama.

* “Romney needs to address his serious problem among Latino voters. It may not be possible, at this point, to do more than contain the damage. During two presidential cycles, Romney has methodically employed the immigration wedge against Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani, Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich. Romney’s pledge to veto the DREAM Act–legislation supported by nine out of 10 Hispanic voters–was a major error.”–Michael Gerson, Washington Post.

* “Obama never should have waded into the health care thicket back when the economy was teetering. He should have listened to David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel and not Michelle.”–Maureen Dowd, New York Times.

* “The president is very good at dividing this country, but Republicans need to stay on the issue of the economy and not be pulled into a phony war on women or phony contraception war.”–Fort Lauderdale’s Sharon Day, vice chairwoman of the Republican National Committee.

* “The heyday of exurbs may well be behind us.”–Yale University economist Robert J. Shiller.

* “Blacks and Muslims who face the insults of being profiled might direct their anger toward those who’ve made blacks and crime synonymous and terrorism and Muslims synonymous.”–George Mason University Economics Professor Walter E. Williams.

* “Our conclusion is that this (Stand Your Ground) law ought to be repealed. We don’t think it’s a thing we can tweak.”–Buddy Jacobs, general counsel for the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association.

* “We welcome Hillsborough County’s money. As long as somebody else is footing the bill and paying the cost of the facility’s use, they can have any kind of themed event they want.”–St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster on Hillsborough County Commission voting to spend some $400,000 to throw a Tampa-specific, GOP Convention eve, welcome party for media and delegates at Tropicana Field.

* “History has shown us that special ordinances passed in anticipation of National Special Security Events such as the RNC are not only often unconstitutional, but have also repeatedly failed to enhance public safety.”–Heidi Boghosian, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild, a protestors’ rights group.

* “If you come here to get a message across, to exercise your First Amendment rights, we are 100 percent on your side, and we will facilitate that any way we can.”–Kirby Rainsberger, Tampa Police Department attorney, on what GOP Convention demonstrators can expect.

* “Completely unworkable. We need to go back to the drawing board.”–City Council member Mary Mulhern on the proposed “Clean Zone” ordinance.

* “We’re so pumped about Ybor. We want to be part of the movement to re-enrich that part of the city. It has such a great, rich cultural heritage and so many great businesses are moving there.”–Nick Friedman, president of College Hunks Hauling Junk which, along with sister company College Hunks Moving, is relocating its national franchise operation to a 10,000-square-foot corporate headquarters in Ybor City.

* “You know, the political people, they come, they go. I’m into my second mayor now.”–Tampa Bay Rays’ owner Stu Sternberg.

It’s always intriguing to see movies made in countries with repressive regimes. At one end of the spectrum is propagandistic piffle for the masses. At the other are cinematic vehicles that artfully let off ideological and anti-government steam, largely for export. Double entendres, ironic situations and symbolic acts often abound amid universal themes.

Iran and Cuba come readily to mind. In fact, the Iranian-made “A Separation” won an Oscar last month for Best Foreign Film.

Cuba’s churned out numerous well-received, ideological envelope-pushers over the years. A lot more than just the award-winning “Strawberry and Chocolate” (1993) and Suite Havana (2003). This year, there’s the ballyhooed “Juan of the Dead” (“Juan de los Muertos”), a black-comedy zombie flick, and the animated “Chico and Rita,” currently playing at Tampa Theatre.

We caught up with “Juan” last weekend at the Gasparilla International Film Festival. Hyde Park’s Cine Bistro was the well-attended venue. For those of us looking for more than anti-revolutionary jabs amid hokey black comedy, it was disappointing. “Juan” would give bad camp a bad name.

The plot consists of zombies invading Havana. Their presence is explained away as the work of dissidents in the employ of the United States. Panic is arrested when Juan, a local hustler, plays to his entrepreneurial strength by starting up a business whose sales slogan is “we kill your loved ones.” No, it’s not as funny as it seems.

What is apparent is this: The cachet of made-in-Havana doesn’t warrant a pass because we’re curious about any kind of window into Cuban society. Even a poorly made one. But you always learn something. It turns out that Cuba can make lowest common denominator zombie movies too.

* “Our policy is one of prevention, not containment. We are determined to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”–Secretary of Defense Hillary Clinton.

* “Our number one geopolitical foe.”–Mitt Romney’s characterization of Russia.

* “Democracy? Anthony Kennedy decides if 30 million Americans get health care. Bernanke decides how many Americans have jobs. Congress decides nothing.”–Robert Reich, former secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton.

* “I love the military. This is not meant to be a black eye.”–Sgt. Justin Griffith, the main organizer of a military atheist concert, “The Rock Beyond Belief,” on the main parade ground at Fort Bragg, N.C.

* “The truth is, I’m trying to save the Republican Party from themselves.”–Ron Paul.

* “There are a lot of other people out there that some of us wish had run for president–but they didn’t.”–Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

* “For years what we’ve heard is the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism or a lack of judicial restraint–that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law. And I’m pretty confident that this (Supreme) Court will recognize that and not take that step.”–President Barack Obama.

* “If this effort flames out, it would be many years before there is a friendly political environment to return to health care reform.”–Larry Levitt, senior vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

* “Heavily marketed as havens of prestige and a sure footing on the social ladder, gated communities in Florida also create an insidious fortress mentality.”–Bonita Burton, vice president of the Society for News Design and former deputy managing editor of the Orlando Sentinel.

* “Blacks and Muslims who face the insults of being profiled might direct their anger toward those who’ve made blacks and crime synonymous and terrorism and Muslims synonymous.”–George Mason University Economics Professor Walter E. Williams.

* “Where there is no justice, there will be no peace. Soon, and very soon, the law of retaliation may …be applied.”–Minister Louis Farrakhan’s tweet on the Trayvon Martin case.

* “The NRA has been a victim of their own success. They’ve won every big issue, so they’re left trying to fight over fringe issues. Lots of elected officials are afraid to cross them.”–Dan Gelber, former Florida State senator and Minority Leader of the Florida House.

* “If we tried to regulate guns, it wouldn’t have worked.”–City Attorney Jim Shimberg explaining why Tampa’s GOP Convention “clean zone” will, for example, ban air pistols but not actual firearms. Florida law (Chapter 790 of Florida Statutes) prohibits local governments from placing any restrictions on gun-carrying in public places.

* “It’s the biggest thing we’ve ever undertaken, and also the thing with the greatest risk, the most moving parts.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn on this summer’s GOP National Convention.

* “The war’s on trial. I’m not putting the war on trial, but the war is on trial.”–John Henry Browne, attorney for Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, the alleged murderer of 17 Afghan civilians.

* “Development does not work unless local people own it. If local people haven’t decided to do what it takes, it won’t happen.”–World Bank President Robert Zoellick.

* “Find new models, with patience, and in a constructive way.”–Pope Benedict XVI’s advice to Cubans.

* “The dominant power  of the 21st century will depend on human capital. The failure to produce that capital will undermine American security.”–Council on Foreign Relations task force co-chaired by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Joel Klein, former chancellor of New York’s school system.

* “Ours for the most part is a system of pleas, not a system of trials.”–U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy.

*”It’s a very good time to be Anthony Kennedy, there’s no doubt about that. You have a court with four conservatives and four liberals and that leaves only one vote in play.”–CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin on the impact of the Supreme Court’s swing vote on the blockbuster Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act case.

* “A decreasing number of primary and secondary schools are teaching any foreign language. That’s one sign of a continued disengagement between Americans and a planet they have such a big impact on–and that they could gain so much from engaging more closely with.”–Charles Kenny, senior fellow, Center for Global Development.

* “We in the mainstream media shouldn’t distort the (Medicare) argument by the careless use of language. Voucher proposals would ‘overhaul’ Medicare, ‘transform’ it or ‘convert’ it. They wouldn’t ‘end’ or ‘privatize’ it. Words matter. Let’s keep the debate honest.”–Robert Samuelson, Washington Post.

* “Some people will feel sad about it and nostalgic about it. But we have a better tool now.”–Jorge Cauz, president of Encyclopedia Britannica, which is discontinuing its reference books to focus on its online encyclopedias and educational curriculum for schools.

* “If I had another choice, I’d never have played (football), at all, in my life. … It would be golf or tennis.”–Detroit Lions’ Hall of Famer Lem Barney, who says he now knows he had at least seven to eight concussions in his 10-year career.

* “This deal that somehow we’ve got to be mad and puffed up, it’s interfering with our ability to think. We need to be around people who disagree with us; nobody is right all the time.”–Former President Bill Clinton, speaking at the Straz Center last week.

* “After months of dragging his feet on supporting weak front-runner Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush today held his nose and gave Romney an unenthusiastic nod–much like the GOP electorate across the country.”–Florida Democratic spokeswoman Brannon Jordan.

* If he does get asked, it will be very hard to say no. … You get the feeling with Marco, he’s not planning on growing old in the U.S. Senate.”–Ana Navarro, Republican fundraiser and friend of Sen. Marco Rubio, on Rubio’s prospects for a vice presidential nomination.

* “By every account, what we accomplished, especially when combined with the successes of 2011, is astounding. In my 12 years in the Florida Legislature, I have never seen the Senate take on more big-picture ideas or influence the landscape of Florida with more transformative changes to public policy.”–Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos.

* “I am so sorry.”–Former gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink referencing her close loss to Rick Scott to the Suncoast Tiger Bay Club.

* “I’m willing to be the boyfriend that causes the divorce.”–Hillsborough County Commission Chairman Ken Hagan on the possibility of proactively reaching out to the Tampa Bay Rays.

* “The progress the University of Tampa has made in the past 25 years, in academics, athletics and the entire college experience, has been impressive. I’m pleased to support such a fine institution and future generations of its students.”–Vince Naimoli, who is paying for a new (turf) athletic field at UT.

* “Shame on JD Alexander for what he did.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn.

* Always interesting to see how the two dailies handle the same story. Usually comparably, but sometimes there’s a notable disparity. Case in point: Coverage of the story about how a number of students and employees at the University of Tampa had sensitive information about them accidentally posted on the Internet.

The Tampa Tribune, whose survival strategy dictates increasingly prioritized local news, ran it as a page-one, above-the-fold headliner. The Tampa Bay Times ran it as a page-eight, Tampa round-up in the Local section–right under dateline items from Gibsonton and Sun City.

Arguably, the Trib’s treatment, including potential fraud scenarios, was more appropriate. Those who had been at UT between January 2000 and July 2011 would likely agree.

* The Times made news by pulling an installment of “Doonesbury” last week over language that didn’t meet the paper’s standards for taste and appropriateness. The offending strip dealt with Texas law regarding abortions.

Two points.

First, the Times exercised its legal and ethical prerogative. “Doonesbury’s” syndicate, Universal, does not permit editing, even though many syndicates do. So, the Times pulled the plug.

Second, isn’t it time that “Doonesbury” was moved to the editorial page? Put it this way: What’s sonogram satire doing next to “Marmaduke” and “Family Circus”?

* “The generation gap in Russia is stunning. Young Russians from the post-Soviet generation lack the fear and timidity instilled in their parents and grandparents.”–Trudy Rubin, Philadelphia Inquirer.

* “Some have argued that the president is required to get permission from a federal court before taking action against a United States citizen who is a senior operational leader of al-Qaida or associated forces. This is simply not accurate. Due process and judicial process are not one and the same, particularly when it comes to national security. The Constitution guarantees due process; it does not guarantee judicial process.”–U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

* “The best Republican candidates have taken themselves out of the running. The party has fielded a roster of second-rate candidates and in a frenzy of mutually assured destruction is thinning this list down to the one it dislikes least.”–Clive Crook, Bloomberg News.

* “Every day that goes by that they campaign against each other, particularly with the tenor of this campaign, the unfavorables of Mitt Romney go up and it’s a day lost where he is not able to campaign against President Obama.”–Sen. John McCain.

* “The rise of the independent voter (40 percent of Americans, according to Gallup) signals a deep dissatisfaction with both parties.”–Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

* “Women who assumed that electing Obama would lift all minority boats are beginning to think: Maybe he’s not enough.”–Maureen Dowd, New York Times.

* “Decades after the dawn of feminism, women are still seen through an erotically censorious prism, and promiscuity is still the ultimate putdown.”–Frank Bruni, New York Times.

* “When sacred objects are threatened, we can expect a ferocious tribal response. The right perceives a ‘war on Christianity’ and gears up for a holy war. The left perceives a ‘war on women’ and gears up for, well, a holy war. … But when your opponent is the devil, bargaining and compromise are themselves forms of sacrilege.”–Jonathan Haidt, University of Virginia professor of psychology.

* “The firm changed the way it thought about leadership. Leadership used to be about ideas, setting an example and doing the right thing. Today, if you make enough money for the firm–and are not currently an ax murderer–you will be promoted into a position of influence.”–Greg Smith, the recently resigned head of Goldman Sachs’ U.S. equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

* “Wherever we want to go, we can only get there from where we are. Not where we think we are, or wish we are, or where we want others to think we are, but where we are, in fact, right now.”–Thomas Sowell, senior fellow, Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

* “You have a lot of these state legislators that work part-time and a lot of time they’re relying very heavily on lobbyists. There’s no one really checking to make sure that those relationships are kosher.”–Caitlin Ginley, project manager for the national State Integrity Investigation report that looked at states’ transparency in government.

* “My general belief is Tampa thinks Polk County should be landfills, prisons and things they don’t want. I don’t see our future that way.”–Sen. JD Alexander, R-Lake Wales.

* “Our County Center is made of glass. It’s a no-brainer.”–Tax Collector Doug Belden on the rationale for closing the County Center during the GOP Convention.

* “All of the business, we know, will be here in the city of Tampa. We will be the place to get away.”–St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster on St. Petersburg’s niche during the GOP convention.