The Voice of Treason

“What’s in your head,
In your head,
Zombie, zombie, zombie?”

– The Cranberries

“I would muuuuch rather have a phony, competent person in the White House than an incompetent, authentic person. I’m not sure the two aren’t correlated: The greater competence you’ve got, the more you’ve got to be phony in order to get the job done. I want my president to put a mask on. When they’re negotiating for a national-security agreement? Put the mask on. When they’re negotiating with Congress? Put the mask on. If someone says to me a politician is phony, my response, at some point, is, ‘Well, they gotta be. That’s their job.’”

– Bob Kerrey

“There’s no emotion. None. Just the pretense of it. The words, the gesture, the tone of voice, everything else is the same, but not the feeling.”

“They’re like huge seed pods!”

“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next…”

– Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 1956

I just couldn’t resist. Here’s a link to a really fun article: Jennifer Senior’s “The Politics of Personality Destruction.” It’s been out there for months, but it’s a good read, the photos are a hoot, and there might just be an explanation or two in it of why some continue to cast votes for p-zombies.

Why, what a treat. I woke up in the middle of the night and KKOB’s Program Director, Pat Frisch, was on with Bill O’Reilly. Well, I just perked up immediately. See, I’ve always been fond of Pat – like me, he’s from Northern Illinois, he likes baseball, he lived in Prescott… and he has very little patience with Liberals. Loved his morning show, but he stepped down last year, prompting my switch to Neal Boortz on KTBL. Local Democrats felt Pat was too “antagonistic” and “mean,” primarily because he never hesitated to point out that Patsy Madrid is… well, an idiot.

Speaking of which, Pat was on there to discuss a hot news story from Nuevo Mexico that demonstrates what we Nuevo Mexicans do best. Commit voter fraud? Nah – that’s number two on the list. No, we just can’t manage to drive sober. This was the story, if you haven’t already heard, about the drunk father who took his two teenage daughters out for a thrill ride and they called 911 and had him arrested… again. No problem – he’ll be back on our scenic highways and byways in no time.

But the idiot I’m talking about is our governor. He has to stop trying to convince us in these silly debates that he can do wonders for the country in healthcare, education, jobs, crime, energy – you name it – when he’s had every opportunity to do something in Nuevo Mexico. Look, we’re only talking about two million people here. When you’re rock bottom on the list of 50 states – no wait, we’re 49, Louisiana’s 50 – how hard is it to make some kind of improvement?

It’s clear he’s sucking up to Hillary to get on the ticket or snag Secretary of State, but she needs to think this one through. Can she really afford to have both Arkansas and Nuevo Mexico so closely examined during the same campaign?

Michael Corleone: I have to go to the bathroom. Is that all right?

McCluskey: You gotta go, you gotta go… I frisked him, he’s clean.

Sollozzo: Don’t take too long.

McCluskey: I frisked a thousand young punks.

You know that scene in The Godfather, where Michael’s in the restaurant with McCluskey and “The Turk,” and it’s right after he comes out of the bathroom and sits down again? There’s some restaurant noise, McCluskey’s chewing his veal – the best in the city, Sollozzo’s talking, there’s a train… but it’s all the same noise. Just this noise, and all you see is Michael’s face and you know his mind is racing — he just hears noise — and his eyes are a little wild, a little glazed over…

Yeah, that was me tonight. I feel like I’ve watched a thousand of these debates. Did I really hear someone pledge that he… or she… is going to attack Pakistan with carrot sticks?

“Just saw that Jim Leyland has won the AL Manager of the Year award. I’ve said here before on The V.O.T. why I like and respect Leyland, and I’m happy to see him acknowledged.

– The Voice of Treason, November 15, 2006

I swear – sometimes I think baseball is its own worst enemy. After Joe Torre was publicly humiliated by the Yankees organization, he did the right thing and told them precisely what they could do with their new contract. Maybe it’s an Italian thing but, after being publicly humiliated, I would have done the same. Good for Joe. Now that’s Yankee pride.

Rudy Giuliani hinted that he would love to have someone like Joe Torre working for him, so stay tuned. But once Torre bowed out of the Yankees, it was reported that Don Mattingly was next in line for the manager spot. Mattingly was T’s favorite player, so I know about his history with the organization. I was happy for Don, but at the same time wondered how the Yankees would screw him over.

Easy. They offered the job to Joe Girardi. I’m still steamed that the Cubs didn’t sign Girardi last year, but I’m used to incompetent Cubs management. Now Mattingly, understandably hurt/disappointed/offended, has told the Yankees that he won’t be coaching for them in 2008. Doesn’t Mattingly still live in Iowa? I’d suggest continuing his career with the Cubs, but – after the public humiliation dealt by the Yankees – a job with the Cubs might be too much of an insult.

And, finally, the Red Sox. They clearly outplayed the competition and deserved to win. Wasn’t the outcome I’d hoped for, but these things happen in baseball. Unfortunately, what also happens is bad behavior by the fans. Shame on the Boston fans for causing trouble in the streets of their city after their team’s victory.

I can guarantee that Chicago Cubs fans would never react that way after a World Series win. I can say that with confidence, of course, because I know, as a Cubs fan, the Cubs will never experience a World Series win.

Wait ‘til next season? Oh, pshaw.

“The strongest thing that baseball has going for it today are its yesterdays.”

– Lawrence Ritter

The similarities between the Colorado Rockies and the Chicago Cubs do not begin and end at that brick wall.

Earlier I posted a link that told a little of Lt. Michael P. Murphy’s story, but I intentionally chose an article from the Navy SEALS website – one that announced in February that Murphy was being considered for the nation’s highest combat award. Today another article appeared – one by Mark Lasswell – and I feel it’s appropriate to direct you to it.

There wasn’t a lot of fanfare this week when President Bush awarded the lieutenant his Medal of Honor – posthumously – but the event was covered by some of the major news channels. I watched and was struck by how young his mother looked and how lovely, how decent she and her husband seemed to be. What a terrible loss: A son whose actions during the last moments of his life were so lovely, so decent. When he communicated by phone to HQ what he needed in order to help his comrades, he didn’t forget to say “thank you” at the end of the exchange.

It’s in the Lasswell article, but I had also heard that before. What I heard only once was that Mr. and Mrs. Murphy had presented a gold dog tag on a chain to President Bush, who fastened the gift around his neck and tucked the piece under his shirt before the Medal of Honor ceremony.

For anyone to suggest that this war is merely for the Commander-in-Chief’s amusement is an indication that many in Congress haven’t an ounce of the dignity and class displayed by our troops.

“Many years ago, on this day, I was able to intercept a surface-to-air missile with my own airplane, which was no mean feat to say the least.”

– Senator/Presidential candidate John McCain, October 26, 2007

During the Republican debate on FNC the other night, when John McCain masterfully delivered one of the best lines ever (“I was tied up at the time”), I gasped. I immediately understood the significance of the remark but, just as quickly, I wondered if anyone else would. The standing ovation, of course, answered that question. But consider the audience: a large group of Republicans of a certain age.

I had to laugh when I read Peggy Noonan yesterday, recounting another false New Republic story about “young Republicans… crude and ignorant pot-smoking alcoholics in search of an orgy.” Says Noonan: “It, um, startled me. After years of observation, I was inclined toward the view that there’s no such thing as a young Republican.”

But that observation, similar to mine on debate night, was what had me wondering. Since Ken Burns pointed out that one of the reasons he decided to tackle his most recent documentary — The War — was that he had heard an astounding number of high school graduates believed that the U.S. fought with the Germans against the Russians during the conflict of the century. He was stunned.

So, considering the absence of history in our government schools, is everyone aware of how John McCain was checked in at the Hanoi Hilton? Of how he ejected from his A-4E Skyhawk as it was shot down, and how he was found – a leg and both arms broken – then beaten, imprisoned, and left to die? Four years of high school or college might seem like a long time to the average youngster, but just imagine 5 ½ years of torture in a jungle prison, your arms broken and rebroken, coping with unimaginable pain and fear.

“I put the Vietnam War behind me a long time ago. But I harbor no anger nor rancor. I’m a better man for my experience, and I’m grateful for having the opportunity of serving.”

Perhaps it’s a good idea McCain is reminding us of that service. Of his sacrifice. Unlike his colleague John Kerry, who gave one the impression that just because he served he deserved the presidency, McCain deserves serious consideration for the job.

Michael Cronin, Ralph Gaither, Paul Galanti, Wesley Schierman, Orson Swindle, and Bud Day – who shared accommodations with the young Naval officer at the Hanoi Hilton and who is credited for nursing him back to health – have presented a solid argument on behalf of their favored candidate:

“Prisoners of war in Hanoi faced a grim reality. Torture and deprivation were the norm, but some were singled out for further torment. Senior officers were likely to spend years in solitary confinement in an effort to deter them from leading their fellow prisoners. Those injured suffered gravely. Broken bones — never set — were left to heal at peculiar angles. Wounds festered for years without dressings or antibiotics. While all prisoners were tortured to obtain statements to be used as propaganda, prominent prisoners received extra attention. As an officer with serious injuries, and with his father serving as the commander-in-chief of the Pacific Command, John McCain qualified — three-fold — for additional, unwanted attention from our captors.

Despite this treatment, John turned down an offer to be released early because of father’s position in military command. He knew well that the Vietnamese wanted to use him as a propaganda tool and refused to accept early release until those captured ahead of him were freed. It took great self-discipline and courage for a severely injured man to refuse the chance to leave that hellhole. John McCain passed that test and emerged from his experience as a POW with the respect of his comrades in arms…

He is a man of great courage. He has faced vicious enemies, armed with nothing but his character and determination.

Throughout his life, John has fought for what he believes is right for the United States. He lives to serve causes greater than himself. He is running for president not to be somebody, but to do something.

That is courage. That is leadership.”

That is a ringing endorsement. And I believe John McCain and the others who fought that war should be recognized for their service. It’s peculiar to me how we so easily discriminate in war and choose to recognize the heroes who fight the battles we approve of. World War II veterans – the small number who survive – are regarded as heroes because they fought the “good” war. Heavens, if you watched the Ken Burns series, one thing was clear: all wars are the same. One conflict and its soldiers are merely echoes of the others. The Second World War was no exception – mistakes were made and terrible things happened. Yet somehow we are capable of moving beyond that and we remember it as a war worth fighting.

We aren’t as quick to recognize our current heroes – those who fight the unpopular war. There are Michael Murphys who won’t be studied in school, who won’t appear on the front page of newspapers. There will be no parades, their names will not be remembered. Their stories now are overlooked, sometimes buried, so I appreciate a publication like National Review that routinely recognizes the bravery of our soldiers. Some of these stories of young men who, without hesitation, protect their comrades from live grenades with their own bodies, seem inconceivable. Where does courage like that come from? How does one maintain, in that situation, such presence of mind? How does selflessness like this still exist?

I’m not sure I know. It is a good thing, then, that there are survivors like Senator McCain who might.

“… Nurses have a loud voice these days with none of the responsibility. I have seen the very worst type of women, women who you wouldn’t accept a cup of tea off in their own homes go into nursing and quickly become puffed up with their own sense of importance, I have also seen women who would make ideal nurses be driven out by the sheer pointlessness of the stuff they are learning and the fact they are discouraged from physically helping patients.”

– From a nurse who knows well the National Health Service

Melanie Phillips made some fairly bold statements about the NHS and the state of the nursing profession in the article I cited in yesterday’s post, so she received some feedback – lots of it.

There was, of course, a response from a nurse who disagreed with the premise that the change in attitude about nursing and the “evolution” of nursing education has contributed to the problems in healthcare:

“Your suggestions about education are ludicrous as we do not want a return to the ‘handmaiden’ situation. Nurses need to be well educated to allow them to treat patients appropriately and empower them with knowledge. We do not need a workforce of automatons that follow instructions but lack the ability to think for themselves.

Welcome to the twenty-first century Ms. Phillips. Florence Nightingale would be proud of the care we give our patients, don’t tar us all with the same brush. Your article is inciting further denigration of a valuable and essential workforce.”

This is like the teacher who takes offense when an assertion is made about the state of public education. It’s not the teachers’ fault that the chiiillldrunnn are illiterate, they say. Well… yeah, it kinda is. No one is saying that there aren’t good teachers and good nurses, because there are. It’s just that they’re hopelessly outnumbered by incompetent ones, and nurses and teachers alike work in systems that are beyond repair.

Says Phillips:

“I think this nurse is in a state of denial. I also think that the crisis in nursing is part of a much broader de-moralisation of the NHS and our wider culture. We have to restore to our public services and general society a sense of duty and obligation to others. This cannot be achieved by a top-down, massive state bureaucracy set up to deliver unrealisable demand. That means accepting that the NHS is bust, and replacing it with a European-style system of social insurance embodying and promoting individual, professional and social responsibility. Much of the public already gets this. How long will it take our politicians to wake up?”

Ouch. What’s so wonderful about Phillips’ follow-up piece to her original article are some of the responses that fully support her analysis. Anyone who has had any interaction with healthcare professionals within a healthcare facility has probably witnessed already the symptoms of a system in crisis. And our politicians and citizens really believe that a government takeover is the answer?

From just one of many who responded to Phillips:

“My father was senior pathologist at the Kent and Sussex Hospital in Tunbridge Wells during the late 1930s and early 40s - one of the three involved in the present scandal of course - and I particularly remember the high standards that prevailed at the time throughout the hospital with a daily inspection of every ward by the Matron, feared by everyone, nurses and patients alike. Woe betide the Ward Sister should any spot of dust or dirt be found. The nurses were trained up in a hierarchy with incentive to move into more responsible posts higher up, but the sense of duty and vocation was never lost. The aim of the nursing profession was to help the patient to recover. Hospital food certainly was not brilliant but it was at least nutritious and no patient was left to feed themselves if they were unable to do so, and it was the responsibility of the nurses to keep the wards spotless. As a result there was no MRSA nor Clostridium Difficile.

During my National Service in the late 1940s I volunteered for nursing in the RAF and was trained accordingly. Despite the Service ambiance, we were expected to behave in the same way towards patients as our confreres in civilian life and similar regimes were applied to us. It was obligatory to keep patients clean and comfortable in accordance with the principles established in the last century by Florence Nightingale. This was held to be the basis of the nursing care of patients.

However, many years later, as a Principal Lecturer in philosophy, I found myself involved in setting up the new BSc in Nursing. It quickly became obvious to me that through its dependence upon the attitudes of the feminism of the time it would inevitably lead to a collapse in patient care. Vocation was out - as demeaning to nurses. No more were nurses to be involved in keeping patients clean, in helping them to avoid bedsores, in seeing that they were adequately fed, and especially, a task required to fight infection, to keep the wards and beds clean and sterile. Instead nurses would be quasi professionals, steeped in silly and irrelevant subjects and with only a half-baked and book-learnt understanding of arbitrarily chosen ’scientific’ subjects. Nursing as such was to disappear - and so it inevitably turned out. But who was to be left to look after the patients? Nobody was interested in that because it was beneath the ‘professionals’…

… The position has now become serious. The NHS culture is rotten - and is made worse by the huge numbers of drones carried in the so-called management echelons. It now takes a highly paid ‘Bed Manager’ for example, equipped with a suitable clipboard and with an office of her own, to go round the hospital recording how many beds are vacant when the Ward Sisters can report that number in a few seconds. Only a tiny example of the massive waste, of course. Nor are things made better by the employment of thousands of foreign nurses with hardly any English, nor it seems much in the way of qualifications to assume the responsibilities they undertake. But of course one cannot say much in that connection for fear of prosecution for racism - or ‘nursism’?! In short, as you yourself are very much aware, the problems go much wider and are symptomatic of the implosion of our entire cultural values and attitudes.”

It’s a good long read, but Phillips has documented the responses from both patients and nurses, and if you – like me – have experienced a hospital visit with an elderly relative, please take the time to read what Phillips and her readers have so earnestly presented. I’m reminded of my own experience earlier this year with my 83 year-old mother – deaf, demented, and riddled with C. diff – and the variety of care, diagnoses, and medications she received.

Says a nurse who responded to Phillips:

“I’m horrified at the situation in the NHS hospitals today. I honestly believe that if the truth were known, there would be a national outcry. But sadly the real victims, often the elderly, don’t always have anyone to speak up for them. The standard of care on medical and elderly ‘care’ wards is outrageous. I don’t really understand why there isn’t more of an outcry.”

Yes, read it and weep. And if you don’t see that this is what’s already happening here in America, you, my friend, are living in a fantasy world.

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”

– Charles Dickens

“How in God’s name have we come to this? In three hospitals in Kent, at least 90 patients have died from a superbug infection caused by filthy conditions with unwashed bedpans, staff ‘too busy’ to clean their hands and — most appalling of all — nurses telling patients with diarrhoea to ‘go in their beds.’

This unspeakable situation reveals not just callousness towards suffering and indifference to human dignity but a breakdown of some of our most basic civilised values.

Nor is this an isolated scandal. Last October, an internal memo warned the Government that virtually every NHS trust was reporting superbug infection. The health service, in other words, is institutionally polluted.

The Government’s response? To ignore this crisis, and then belatedly to bring forth Gordon Brown’s pathetic commitment to a sporadic hospital ‘deep clean.’

What has happened to the duty of care in our flagship public service? What has happened, indeed, to our sense of common humanity?”

– Melanie Phillips, Daily Mail, 15 October 2007

Phillips paints a rather Dickensian picture of healthcare in Britain, but this is an article that should be required reading for anyone who thinks socialized medicine is a swell idea. I had a meeting this week with two people who work at a local hospital and I asked point-blank: “Do you think this is the future of healthcare in America?” The answer was yes, and from what I’ve seen since I’ve been ushering my ailing mother through the system then embarking on a (possibly misguided) training program to enter the field, all roads are leading to Kent.

And now, Governor/Presidential candidate/possible VP Bill Richardson has announced his plan to implement universal healthcare in Nuevo Mexico by the year 2010. No word, of course, on how the governor plans to pay for this, but it’s something that must be done – crisis alert! – because 400,000 Nuevo Mexicans don’t have health insurance. (This is now one of the governor’s campaign trail priorities. Never mind the fact that there are a good number of Nuevo Mexicans who are also illiterate and unemployed. But this is assurance, I guess, that he hasn’t forgotten us back here in the desert.)

You see, there are already so many forms of government insurance programs fo’ the po’ in this state and variations on SCHIP (I like to refer to it as SCHIPs ‘n’ Salsa), but Govzilla is hoping to get on the ticket, so he’s ready to promise something for everyone. If he succeeds and goes off to D.C. with Hillary, he won’t have to deliver. Either way, I suspect my taxes will be going up again.

Anyway, back to Melanie Phillips. I loved the unflinching look at the NHS (actually, I flinched as I read it):

“Two things have combined to cause this awful situation. The first is the Government’s Stalinist control of the NHS which directly conflicts with patient care. The Kent hospitals focused on meeting waiting time targets to the exclusion of just about everything else; and the NHS management’s byzantine structure ensures an almost total absence of accountability.

But that is far from the full explanation. Much more important is what has happened to the nursing profession, where there has simply been a collapse of that ethic of caring first promulgated by the inventor of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale.”

And here is where it gets harrowing. Phillips gets right to the heart of it and illustrates that something has gone wrong with the fundamentals in healthcare. In short, that nurses have taken the care out of caring.

“Nursing is not a job but a vocation. That means it is governed by a sense of moral duty to the patient rather than by the self-interest of the nurse.

That sense of vocation lay at the heart of Nightingale’s vision. It was no accident that in her seminal Notes On Nursing, published in 1860, she wrote that ‘the greater part of nursing consists in preserving cleanliness.’

It was not just that cleanliness was essential for recovery and health. Keeping both hospital and patients clean meant the nurse needed to have the most elevated of motives to put the care and dignity of her patients first.

Accordingly, lowly functions such as washing, dressing and administering bedpans — where dignity was most fragile — were the functions that in nursing were invested with the highest possible significance. Simply, these were moral acts.

Accordingly, wrote Nightingale, if a nurse declined to do these kinds of things for her patient because she was so concerned about her own status, nursing was not her calling. ‘Women who wait for the housemaid to do this, or for the charwoman to do that, when their patients are suffering, have not the making of a nurse in them.’

Florence Nightingale belongs in the first rank of pioneering Victorian feminists. But the tragedy is that modern feminism has all but destroyed what she stood for.

In short, nursing ditched its core vocation to care.”

Amen, sister.

Mark Twain:

“…We all know that in all matters of mere opinion that (every) man is insane — just as insane as we are… we know exactly where to put our finger upon his insanity: it is where his opinion differs from ours…  All Democrats are insane, but not one of them knows it.  None but the Republicans.  All the Republicans are insane, but only the Democrats can perceive it.  The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane.”

Congressman Pete Stark, representing California’s 13th District:

“The Republicans are worried that they can’t pay for insuring an additional 10 million children. They sure don’t care about finding $200 billion to fight the illegal war in Iraq. Where are you going to get that money? Are you going to tell us lies like you’re telling us today? Is that how you’re going to fund the war? You don’t have money to fund the war on children, but you’re going to spend it to blow up innocent people? If he can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the President’s amusement.”

Mark Twain:

“Is a person’s public and private opinion the same? It is thought there have been instances.”

Senator/Presidential candidate John McCain:

“A few days ago, Senator Clinton tried to spend one million dollars on the Woodstock concert museum. Now my friends, I wasn’t there. I’m sure it was a cultural and pharmaceutical event. I was… I was tied up at the time.”

“I will follow Osama Bin Laden to the gates of hell and I will shoot him with your products.”

Senator Ted Kennedy:

“Why don’t we just ask Osama bin — Osama Obama — Obama what — since he won by such a big amount. Seriously, Senator Obama is really unique and special.”

Governor/Presidential candidate Mitt Romney:

“Just look at Osama… Barack Obama said just yesterday. Barack Obama calling on, on radicals, Jihadists of all different types to come together in Iraq.”

Senator/Presidential candidate Barack Obama:

“… that happens …I don’t pay too much attention to that.”

Mark Twain:

“When we are young we generally estimate an opinion by the size of the person that holds it, but later we find that is an uncertain rule, for we realize that there are times when a hornet’s opinion disturbs us more than an emperor’s.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid:

“As you know, one reason that we have the fires burning in Southern California is global warming. One reason the Colorado Basin is going dry is because of global warming.”

Mark Twain:

“We are discreet sheep; we wait to see how the drove is going, and then go with the drove. We have two opinions: one private, which we are afraid to express; and another one — the one we use — which we force ourselves to wear… until habit makes us comfortable in it, and the custom of defending it presently makes us love it, adore it, and forget how pitifully we came by it.  Look at it in politics.”

California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi:

“I got some doubt about the value of President Bush coming out here.  How many times did he go to New Orleans and still made promises, but hasn’t delivered?  It’s public relations.  Okay, President Bush comes out, we’ll be polite.  But frankly, that’s not the solution.  How about sending our National Guard back from Iraq so that we have those people available here to help us?”

Senator Barbara Boxer:

“Right now, we are down 50% in terms of our National Guard equipment because they’re all in Iraq, the equipment, half of the equipment.”

Mark Twain:

“We all break over the rule two or three times in our lives and fire a disagreeable and unpopular private opinion of ours into print, but we never do it when we can help it, we never do it except when the desire to do it is too strong for us and overrides and conquers our cold, calm, wise judgment.”

Senator/Presidential candidate Christopher Dodd:

“… In a Dodd Administration, never again will our houses be on fire because our troops are taking fire in Iraq.  Never again will our first responders be left without the support they need because our President failed to do what it took to keep our communities safe…”

Mark Twain:

“Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul in this world — and never will.”

Senator Dianne Feinstein:

“I do not think there is any blame to be cast on anyone.  I think everyone is responding — the Governor, the Mayors, Homeland Security, FEMA, and, of course, the President.”

“I think Judge Southwick made mistakes by concurring in the two opinions in question, but I don’t think those rulings define his views.  I don’t believe they outweigh the other factors that suggest Judge Southwick should be confirmed… Is he not a person inclined to protect civil rights?  For some, is he a racist?  I looked very carefully at him.  I really came to the conclusion that he is none of the above.”

“In this body, what goes around comes around.  I have been on the Judiciary Committee for 15 years, and I have watched it go around and come around, and it has got to end.  Somebody has to be part of an effort to step forward and try and see if that can happen.  We are going to have another president, perhaps a Democratic president, and we want this person to have an opportunity to present their nominees.”

Mark Twain:

“We are nothing but echoes. We have no thoughts of our own, no opinions of our own, we are but a compost heap made up of the decayed heredities, moral and physical.”

Congressman Charles Rangel, representing New York’s 15th District:

“Two people, six spouses. It’s a little complicated if you’re not religious, especially when you’re running against a Mormon, but I’m just saying that America has to look at all of these things and that there are enough moles on this man that embarrasses those of us who have sought public life.  When we get involved in public life, it means we’re in a goldfish bowl, and it would seem to me with all the breaks that the mayor has had in touching with Kerik and being involved, uhhh, with his personal problems, that he would thank God he’s got as far as where he did go without making the politicians get involved in his personal life.”

Mark Twain:

“I am not one of those who in expressing opinions confine themselves to facts.”

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and senior national correspondent Claire Shipman of ABC:

SHIPMAN: So, you think the comparison to Katrina that everybody’s making in the back of their mind these days is a good one in terms of state and federal.

SCHWARZENEGGER: All you have to do is just look around here and see how happy people are.  No one is screaming.  No one is complaining about anything.

SHIPMAN: Well, you’re saying everybody’s working together, but you have heard there have been some complaints from officials.  For example, in Orange County who say, ‘If we’d only had more resources earlier, more planes, more firefighting resources, we might have been able to head off the fires ravaging Orange County right now.’

SCHWARZENEGGER: Anyone that is complaining about the planes just wants to complain because it’s a bunch of nonsense.  The fact is that we have all the planes in the world here.  We have 90 aircraft here and they can’t fly because of the wind situation…

Trust me when I tell you, you’re looking for a mistake and you won’t find it because it’s all good news, as much as you maybe hate it, but it’s good news. Trust me, okay?