Quote of the Day/Week/Month/Year

[capricorn]

Ignatieff in a speech to the Canadian Club in Ottawa, September 14, 2009.

"Under this government, Canada is becoming a country that dares not speak its name."

http://www.winnipegsun.com/comment/editori...926231-sun.html

[Smallc]

I really wish he'd quit with that. The government isn't Canada. It's getting to the point where I simply may not vote in the next federal election. I have no real choices left that I can support.

[August1991]

Lily Allen, 24, British musician:

"You don’t start out in music with Ferraris. You start with a huge debt from your record company, which you spend years working to repay. When you get a contract, all those videos and posters have to be paid for — and you, the artist, pay for them.

"I’m lucky that I have been able to pay back the money I owe the record company, but not everyone is so fortunate. The more difficult it is for new artists to make it, the fewer new artists we will see and the more music will be nothing but puppets paid for by Simon Cowell."

London Times

[capricorn]

The gems just keep pouring from Michael Ignatieff's mouth.

"I want a country where everyone sets their sights on going overseas at some point in their lives."

http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/600353

This must be part of his "big Canada" theme.

[jdobbin]

On government ad spending.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2009/...tml?cid=rssnews

“People see it as an abuse of tax dollars,” Gerry Nicholls, a right-wing commentator and former Harper colleague at the National Citizens’ Coalition, said Tuesday.

“Governments should not be using Canadian tax dollars to basically run partisan advertising, and I don’t think anybody looking at those ads could mistake them for anything else. They were clearly partisan, clearly Conservative propaganda.”

and...

“When he was at the NCC he used to denounce these kinds of ads all the time as being improper. I find it disappointing that even under his government they’re doing this kind of stuff.”

Edited September 22, 2009 by jdobbin

[August1991]

Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, on being absent from a UN meeting:

“It is important that countries that have a moral compass stand up and make their views known. And our absence there will speak volumes about how Canada feels about the declarations of President Ahmadinejad,” Mr. Harper said.

“President Ahmadinejad has said things particularly about the state of Israel, the Jewish people and the Holocaust that are absolutely repugnant. It is unfitting that somebody like that would be giving those kinds of remarks before the United Nations General Assembly,” the Prime Minister said.

“Canada does not want to be equivocal at all in terms of our view on that. We find it disgraceful, unacceptable and we're going to be absolutely clear on that.”

“There are other things that bother us beyond these repugnant comments, also obviously the crackdown in Iran on any kind of legitimate dissent. The fiasco there around the elections is quite disturbing as well.”

G&M

Edited September 23, 2009 by August1991

[August1991]

Michael Steele, 50, chairman of the Republican National Committee on a video of children singing:

"I'm so outraged and stunned by its content...see the indoctrination of our nation's greatest treasure -- our children. In the video, impressionable youngsters at a public school in New Jersey, most of whom are no more than six or seven years old, have been instructed to sing the praises of 'Barack Hussein Obama.' One song is even set to the tune of The Battle Hymn of the Republic. This is the type of propaganda you would see in Stalin's Russia or Kim Jong Il's North Korea. I never thought the day would come when I'd see it here in America."

Link

[jbg]

A collection of quotes from Qaddafi's UN General Assembly Speech, 9-23-2009 (link):

"This is terrorism," Qaddafi said through a translator. "Anyone who says 'I am higher than the General Assembly' should leave and be alone."

********

Qaddafi praised Mr. Obama as "a son of Africa" and said the world would be happy if Obama remained president forever.

"You are the beginning of a change," the Libyan leader said. "Obama is a glimpse in the dark."

***********

"Perhaps America will be targeted again, perhaps by a rocket and tons of heads of state will die".

[August1991]

Christina Romer, 50, Chair of the US Council of Economic Advisors:

"Since Paul Volcker’s pioneering crusade to bring down inflation in the early 1980s, the Federal Reserve has proven itself a reliable steward of price stability. Both ordinary citizens and sophisticated bond traders are confident—with good reason—that the Federal Reserve will take actions to keep inflation from either falling much below two percent or rising much above. In the current episode, this confidence has prevented the development of expectations of deflation that would have exacerbated the other shocks affecting the economy. It has also allowed the Federal Reserve to engage in a rapid expansion of its balance sheet with no rise in inflationary expectations."

White House Edited September 27, 2009 by August1991

[August1991]

Pierre Paquette, 53, federal MP of the Bloc Quebecois:

«À partir du moment où on reconnaît que le Québec [...] forme une nation, il faut s'assurer que cette nation ne voie pas sa voix diluée dans les institutions fédérales. Dans ce sens-là, nous, on veut maintenir la proportion de 25% de la députation à la Chambre des communes», a soutenu le leader parlementaire bloquiste, Pierre Paquette.

....

«C'est très clair qu'on va prendre tous les moyens parlementaires pour retarder le plus possible un vote sur ce projet de loi. Je suis convaincu qu'au Québec, il va y avoir une levée de boucliers. Ce qu'on voudrait en faire, c'est un enjeu électoral».

Canoe

[Riverwind]

Pierre Paquette, 53, federal MP of the Bloc Quebecois:Canoe

There are two ironies here:

1) By voting for the BQ Quebecers have forced all of the other parties to give up on Quebec seats. This means they need those extra seats outside of Quebec to increase the chance of a majority. To put it another way: this is a good example of why voting for a party that cannot be government actually undermines the interests of Quebecers.

2) Most countries do not use the lower house to balance regional interests - they have an upper house for that purpose. If Quebecers are so keen on protecting their regional interests while voting BQ they can start by backing senate reform. They would likely get further than telling people in BC, Alberta and Ontario that they should accept less representation than their share of the population.

[jbg]

There are two ironies here:

1) By voting for the BQ Quebecers have forced all of the other parties to give up on Quebec seats. This means they need those extra seats outside of Quebec to increase the chance of a majority. To put it another way: this is a good example of why voting for a party that cannot be government actually undermines the interests of Quebecers.

2) Most countries do not use the lower house to balance regional interests - they have an upper house for that purpose. If Quebecers are so keen on protecting their regional interests while voting BQ they can start by backing senate reform. They would likely get further than telling people in BC, Alberta and Ontario that they should accept less representation than their share of the population.

Is this a translation of Post Number 310?

[August1991]

Denis Coderre, 56, resigns as Quebec lieutenant in the federal Liberal Party:

"I always believed the head office of the Liberal Party in Quebec was in Montreal and not Toronto," Coderre said.

The Gazette

[Pliny]

Denis Coderre, 56, resigns as Quebec lieutenant in the federal Liberal Party:The Gazette

Significant.

[Pliny]

Found this one by George Bush:

"I've abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system to make sure the economy doesn't collapse"?

[August1991]

Michaëlle Jean, 52, Governor General of Canada:

"I, a francophone from the Americas, born in Haiti, who carries in her the history of the slave trade and the emancipation of blacks, at once Quebecoise and Canadian, and today before you, Canada's head of state, proudly represents the promises and possibilities of that ideal of society," she said.

Times-Colonist Edited October 8, 2009 by August1991

[August1991]

Bill Ayers, 64, founder of the Weather Underground:

Then, unprompted he said-- "I wrote Dreams From My Father." I said, oh, so you admit it. He said--"Michelle asked me to." I looked at him. He seemed eager. He's about my height, short. He went on to say-- "And if you can prove it, we can split the royalties." So I said, stop pulling my leg. Horrible thought. But he came again-- "I really wrote it, the wording was similar." I said I believe you probably heavily edited it. He said-- "I wrote it."

Blog

[August1991]

Dalia Mogahed, 33, White House advisor on Muslim affairs:

"I think the reason so many women support Sharia is because they have a very different understanding of sharia than the common perception in Western media.

"The majority of women around the world associate gender justice, or justice for women, with sharia compliance.

"The portrayal of Sharia has been oversimplified in many cases."

Daily Telegraph

[Pliny]

Dalia Mogahed, 33, White House advisor on Muslim affairs:Daily Telegraph

Women should know their place!

[August1991]

Alexander Downer, 58, former Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs about Barack Obama and the Nobel Peace Prize:

"He has been in office for less than nine months when it is announced that he has won the prize, so they would have made the decision a few weeks ago I suppose. It does make the whole system a bit of a farce," he said.

"There are people out there like Morgan Tsvangirai, the Zimbabwean leader, who have been struggling for years and years for human rights and for a fair deal for their people who have been ignored," he said.

"While somebody who is, admittedly a very great global celebrity who has just come to office, gets the Nobel Peace prize.

"So it is clearly a completely political decision. Not a decision based on merit.

"Frankly to be nominated after he has been in office for 11 days and to win the prize after he has been in office for less than nine months, I think it discredits the whole system."

ABC Edited October 12, 2009 by August1991

[August1991]

Stephen Harper, PM of Canada:

“While you relax and celebrate this Thanksgiving weekend, I would ask that you remember and be thankful for the bravery and sacrifices of our men and women serving in Afghanistan. These men and women spend this holiday away from their own families and friends so that Afghan families may also experience the freedom and security that Canadians hold dear."

Link

[August1991]

Jack Layton, 59, leader of the federal NDP:

Assalam-O-Alaikum.

Dear brothers and sisters,

When the community comes together to mark the end of Ramadan, it is an opportunity to renew the spirit and faith in Islam. We are not celebrating the end of Ramadan, but thanking Allah for the help and strength given throughout this special month and asking for that blessing to be extended throughout the year to all of humanity.

NDP

[kimmy]

Jack Layton, 59, leader of the federal NDP:NDP

what the

-k

{wtf?}

[M.Dancer]

My revulsion for Mr Chow grows daily

[Pliny]

My revulsion for Mr Chow grows daily

The pinnacle was reached long ago for me.