"Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to mind?/ Should auld acquaintance be forgot/And auld lang syne. For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne/We'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne. We two have run about the braes, And put the gowans fine/But we've wandered many a weary foot, Since auld lang syne.
We two have paddled in the burn/From morning sun till dine/But seas between us braid have roared, Since auld lang syne. And there's a hand, my trusty friend/And gives a hand o thine/And we'll take a right guide-willie waught/For auld lang syne. And surely you'll be your pint-stowp/And surely I'll be mine/And we'll take a cup of kindness yet/For auld lang syne."
-- Robert Burns

"Help me to be aware of the many blessings which are mine. Often we chase what we think we desire and in so doing miss what You are trying to give us."
-- Renaissance Unity, a meditation.

"Just do your job, plus a little bit more"
-- George W. Stockman, on how to succeed with an employer for a long range career without ever elevating their expections by your overachieving.

"The tourists are back... For the last few weeks, they have packed the streets of Midtown Manhattan like a motley invading army, tilting their heads back to gaze at the skyscrapers and filling the air with a broken music of French and Bengali, Slovak and Texan... Official statistics are hard to come by. But for the last week, more than 1,000 tourists a day have been dropping by NYC & Company's Visitor Information Center, a level not reached since before Sept. 11, 2001, a spokeswoman said... 'We have been seeing the numbers we used to see,' she added. 'It's like a new beginning.'
-- Robert F. Worth, The Tourists Are Back in New York, in Case You Haven't Noticed
The New York Times

"Believe it or not, it may be helping us because it's driving people to drink."
-- Matthew Maher, owner of McSorley's Old Ale House, on New York's ban on smoking, as quoted by The New York Times.

"The great lesson from the true mystics is that the sacred is in the ordinary, that it is to be found in one's daily life, in one's neighbors, friends, and family, in one's back yard." So said psychologist Abraham Maslow. Of course that's always true, but in 2004 it will be far more true for you than ever before. You won't have to travel to exotic paradises to drum up life-changing epiphanies, Cancerian. You won't have to hunt for miracles in all-night revels at the edge of reality. All the amazement you'll need will glide right up to you while you're washing dishes or taking a walk or buying peanut butter."
-- Rob Brezny, Real Astrology

"Joy comes not through possession or ownership, but through a wise and loving heart... "
-- Buddha

"We have to take pleasure seriously."
-- Charles Eames

"Before the beginning, after the great war between heaven and hell, God created the earth and gave dominion over it to the crafty ape he called man. And to each generation was born a creature of light and a creature of darkness.
And great armies clashed by night in the ancient war between good and evil. There was magic then, nobility, and unimaginable cruelty. And so it was until the day that a false sun exploded over Trinity. And man forever traded away wonder for reason."
-- Michael J. Anderson as Samson in Carnivale.

"He's a good boy... I raised him good, and so I'm not too worried about other things that's happened."
-- Joe Jackson, on his son, Michael Jackson

"New York has the lowest overall crime rate among cities with more than one million people, according to their presentation of the preliminary Uniform Crime Report compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the first half of the year.

Crime dropped 7.4 percent in New York City, the statistics show, compared with 3.1 percent in the nation as a whole, and 4.4 percent in cities with a population greater than a million. The murder rate was up slightly in New York, as it was nationwide, but the city's rate was still far below its peak in 1990.

The city's crime index, a figure adjusted for population, is on par with much smaller cities, like Ann Arbor, Mich., and ranks 194th out of 200 cities with more than 100,000 residents, making it one of the safest."
-- Shaila K. Dewan, The New York Times

"He was just caught like a rat."
-- U.S. Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno on the capture of Saddam Hussein, at a news conference in Tikrit.

"I'd like to thank all of you heteerosexuals... it takes two of you to make one of me."
-- Boy George

"The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."
-- Walter Bagehot

"Good to begin well. Better to end well."
-- Fortune Cookie

"Only the shallow know themselves."
-- Oscar Wilde

"What happened is that when I was in Afghanistan and Iraq, speaking with a lot of our soldiers, who I think are doing an extraordinary job under dangerous and difficult circumstances, they asked me on one particular occasion, `Well, you know, what do people think of us and what we're doing back home?'... I'm not going to lie to an American soldier, particularly a soldier in the 10th Mountain Division from Fort Drum, New York... And what I said is: `I think you have universal support among the American people. They cannot be prouder of you. And there are questions being raised about the administration's policies.' "
-- Hillary Rodham Clinton

"I thank God I was raised Catholic, so sex will always be dirty."
-- John Waters

"In the most famous picture from his trip to Baghdad, President
Bush had
himself artfully photographed to look like he was serving turkey to the
troops. The image was emblazoned on front pages throughout the country -
and
now appears to be an entirely false depiction.

According to the Washington Post, Bush was actually holding "a
decoration,
not a serving plate." In other words, he was holding a prop, not
real food,
and thus only pretending for the cameras to be serving up the holiday
meal.

The Post notes that "the foray has opened new credibility questions
for a
White House that has dealt with issues" like this in the past. In
fact, the
flap marks the second such distortion in as many days about his trip to
Baghdad. Just yesterday it was revealed that the White House's tall tale
of
Air Force One crossing paths with a British Airways plane was entirely
false.

The deceptive picture also harkens back to the controversy surrounding
the
President's "Mission Accomplished" banner. On May 1, he stood
on the deck of
the U.S.S. Lincoln in front of the giant sign and declared that
"major
combat operations have ended." Since that time, more troops have
been killed
or wounded than before he made that statement, prompting more questions
about his photo-op.

When asked why he chose to stand in front of the "Mission
Accomplished"
banner at a press conference six months later, Bush "disavowed the
background banner," saying the White House staff had nothing to do
with
producing it. But then Navy and administration officials admitted the
President had been dishonest, saying that "the White House actually
made
it." White House spokesman Scott McClellan specifically said,
"We took care
of the production of it. We have people to do those things."

Of course, Bush's penchant for taking misleading and dishonest photos
has
not been confined to Iraq. In July of 2002, the President visited a
low-income housing development in Atlanta to tout his commitment to
funding
it. He then proposed a budget that eliminated its funding. Similarly, the
President visited a Boys and Girls Club in January of 2003 to tout the
organization's efforts. He said the club "has got a grand history of
helping children."
Just four days after his photo-op, he proposed to cut 15% out of funding
for the Boys and Girls Club."

-- The Daily Mislead, online.

"There is nothing wrong with going to bed with someone of your own sex. People should be very free with sex, they should draw the line at goats."
-- Elton John

"A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin."
-- H.L. Mencken

''Eat a lobster, eat a pound of caviar - live! If you are in love with a beautiful blonde with an empty face and no brains at all, don't be afraid. Marry her! Live!''
-- Arthur Rubenstein