"They dare not admit the truth lest they look like complete fools for launching our country into a reckless, discretionary war against a nation that posed no immediate threat to us whatsoever..."
-- Al Gore

"I have nothing to do, and I'm doing it tomorrow."
-- Elaine Stritch, At Liberty, HBO

"Whether I'm speaking, I'll leave that up to them. If they're smart, they'll have me obviously in prime time."
-- Arnold Schwartzenegger, on plans for the Republican National Convention, as quoted in The New York Times.

"Once you've reached an age of accountability and you make a mistake, you don't have any excuses. But, there are explanations and only a fool does not seek to understand why he or she makes a mistake... Whenever I am angry, or exhausted, or under great stress I was more likely to make a mistake, to run into the dark alley of my parallel lives... That is not an excuse, but it is a partial explanation."
-- Former President Bill Clinton, on Oprah yesterday. (Photo from the Oprah site).

"I'm a huge homo. Which means, of course, that I can't be married ­not now, not in the United States. Allowing me to marry my boyfriend would imperil lasting, stable heterosexual marriages like the one Britney Spears enjoyed for 55 hours earlier this [year]. Still, I've been with the same guy for nine years now (78,840 hours so far, but who's counting?); he stays at home and looks after our kid, and I go to work and sort through e-mail from freaks like you. We act pretty married for a couple of non-married threats to the sacred institution. Oh, if only we lived in Canada, where gay people can get married, despite the damage gay marriage does to lasting, stable heterosexual unions! Canadian pop star Celine Dion recently fled to Las Vegas to save her marriage from marauding gay married couples in Toronto, Calgary, Halifax, and Vancouver."
-- Dan Savage in Savage Love.

"I decided that if I could paint that flower in a huge scale, you could not ignore its beauty."
-- Georgia O'Keeffe

"The Clinton alpha instinct on Monica, fueled by a heady cocktail of testosterone and opportunism, was the same one that led W. into his march of folly with Iraq... But one thing you can say for Bill Clinton: His 'Who's gonna stop me?' Oval Office power surge produced a much lower body count."
-- Maureen Dowd, The New York Times

"The United States should never go to war because we want to. We should only go to war because we have to."
-- Senator John Kerry

"Anarchy doesn't mean out of control. It means out of 'their' control."
-- Jim Dodge

"There is one energy in the Universe. Everything is derived from this one energy. This energy is love. Under the principle of free will, we may use this energy -- love -- any way we wish. Everything we think, feel, say or do is love transformed by each of us into the precise experience our soul wishes us to have. And in a miraculous way, into the precise experience everyone else's soul wishes them to have... Since each of us is just an entity of love, our capacity to love is limitless. In fact, our most basic purpose is to feel love under every conceivable circumstance... This love that we are derives from our divinity. We are each a God Presence exploring new ways of feeling and expressing our love. When we are willing to step back and see our lives and the lives of others from this broader perspective, we become eager to enjoy the richness and fullness of generously sharing our unlimited supply of unconditional love."
-- Arnold Patent, ArnoldPatent.com

"I've always loved rap music...Don't we all? It's downright American."
-- Carol Channing, quoted backstage after the 2004 Tony Awards

"The years have done a lot to clarify the strengths of this man. As a candidate for any office, whether it be the state attorney general or the president, Bill Clinton showed incredible energy and great personal appeal. As chief executive, he showed a deep and far-ranging knowledge of public policy, a great compassion for people in need, and the forward-looking spirit that Americans like in a president... [Clinton] could always see a better day ahead, and Americans knew he was working hard to bring that day closer. Over eight years it was clear that Bill Clinton loved the job of the presidency. He filled this house with energy and joy. He's a man of enthusiasm and warmth, who could make a compelling case and effectively advance the causes that drew him to public service."
-- President George W. Bush

(Photo from b0x0rz)

"Jesus' burial only lasted three days. Ronnie, a whole week. It proves our glorious country is starved for heroes."
-- Cindy Adams, New York Post

"... No one has more strenuously tried to emulate the 40th president in both style and substance than George W. Bush. Reagan's body was barely cold when Ed Gillespie, the Republican chairman, said: "The parallels are there. I don't know how you miss them." Yes, the parallels are there — hammered in by Mr. Bush's packagers so we can never miss them. But Karl Rove and company may have overplayed their hand. The orgiastic celebration of Reagan's presidency over the past week, an upbeat Hollywood epic that has glided past Iran-contra, Bitburg and the retreat from Lebanon with impressive ease, has brought into clear focus the size of the gap between the two men. To say that difference in stature is merely a function of an actor's practiced skill at performance is both to understate the character of Ronald Reagan and to impugn the art of acting."
-- Frank Rich, First Reagan, Now His Stunt Double, The New York Times

"People disqualify alcoholics sometimes and that's not fair. It's not something you get a kick out of. It's something that can kill you... It can steal the life right out from under you... You don't know it's a disease. You don't know you have it. So you just suddenly feel better than you ever felt, and you just go along - until it's running you, you're not running it."
-- Liza Minnelli

"I remember one of the things they tried to save my sight for as long as they could was to have my mama keep me away from too much light. It took me about two years to completely lose all sight, but by the time I was seven, I was completely blind. That's when I went to St. Augustine's school for the blind... Strangely enough, losing my sight wasn't quite as bad as you'd think, because my mom conditioned me for the day that I would be totally blind. When the doctors told her that I was gradually losing my sight, and that I wasn't going to get any better, she started helping me deal with it by showing me how to get around, how to find things. That made it a little bit easier to deal with. My mother was awful smart, even though she'd only gotten to fourth grade. She had knowledge all her own; knowledge of human nature, plus plenty of common sense."
-- Ray Charles, 1930-2004, Autobiograpy, in Newsday.

"He'd probably have hosted 'Unsolved Mysteries,' and Robert Stack would have finished out his own career, still making movies."
-- Ron Reagan, Jr., on what might have happened if his father had not become president of the United States.

"I knew these long legs would come in handy,"
-- Hugh Jackman, at the 2004, Tony Awards, after performing in a kickline with the Rockettes.


(Photo from theboyfromoztickets.com)

"Often I've wondered what does it take for this to happen. And now I know. It takes effort and grace, tremendous self-effort and amazing grace. And in my life that grace has taken numerous forms."
-- Phylicia Rashad, on accepting the 2004 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

"Sixty years ago the soldiers of freedom landed here, rising up from the sea under a deluge of iron and fire to liberate France. Every one of these brothers in arms who fell on the field of honor will remain in our hearts for eternity."
--President Jacques Chirac, of France, at D-Day ceremonies over the weekend.

"Sixty years ago today, the free world held its breath. In America, daily life paused almost completely, subdued by the news that the invasion of Europe — D-Day — had begun... This is a day to respect the memory of 60 years ago and, perhaps, to wonder what we might rise to if only we asked it of ourselves."
-- Editorial, The New York Times

"Whatever else history may say about me when I'm gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears: to your confidence rather than your doubts."
-- Ronald Reagan, 1911-2004

"When the Lord calls me home, whenever that may be, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal optimism for its future... I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead."
-- Ronald Reagan, 1911-2004

"Who in this administration will be the next to go? It is time for the President to come clean with the American people about how he is going to hold his administration accountable for the mistakes it has made."
-- Terry McAuliffe, Chairman, Democratic National Committee

"If you blog it, they will read."
-- Mr. Hell's Kitchen, Blogging 101, Postcards from Hell's Kitchen

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less travelled by.
And that has made all the difference”.
-- Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken.

“Five frogs are sitting on a log. Four decide to jump off. How many are left? There are still five - because there’s a difference between deciding and doing”.
-- Mark L. Feldman & Michael F. Spratt, Five Frogs on a Log

"It has long been clear that the Bush administration's claim that it can simultaneously pursue war, large tax cuts and a "compassionate" agenda doesn't add up. Now we have direct confirmation that the White House is engaged in bait and switch, that it intends to pursue a not at all compassionate agenda after this year's election... That agenda is to impose Dooh Nibor economics — Robin Hood in reverse. The end result of current policies will be a large-scale transfer of income from the middle class to the very affluent, in which about 80 percent of the population will lose and the bulk of the gains will go to people with incomes of more than $200,000 per year..."
-- Paul Krugman, The New York Times