Quote of the Day/Week/Month/Year

[August1991]

Linden McIntyre, 71, CBC journalist, attempts to defend the CBC:

"Brian Mulroney, in the early nineties, famously appointed a western hog farmer as minister of culture with responsibility for the CBC."

Globe & Mail, 19 Nov 2014

[August1991]

Mikhail Kasyanov, 56, ex-Prime Minister of Russia:

I asked Mr. Kasyanov if he thought Mr. Putin is mad.

“I don’t think, ­I’m sure­ he isn’t mad. He is bluffing. He would like to be viewed as mad, so the West comes to him with a compromise. He is nervous that the West has taken a principled position because he expected to be offered a compromise,” he said. “He believes that Russia is an inevitable partner on many challenges in the world. Russia is a very important country but the leader of the country cannot behave like this in the 21st century.”
...

“Mr. Putin believes he will run forever but I think it will not be for a long period of time. Within two years there will be big changes. Society will start to realize what he has been saying about the Crimea and Ukraine is wrong. They will understand that change is necessary and inevitable. I hope it can be done peacefully,” he said.

National Post

[Big Guy]

A Sunday morning pundit when referring to the current state of the American government; "When obstruction meets arrogance then dysfunction is born".

[August1991]

A Sunday morning pundit when referring to the current state of the American government; "When obstruction meets arrogance then dysfunction is born".

I don't know who said that but I suspect that it was someone who is pro-Obama.

When American liberals/progressives face opposition, they typically use terms such as dysfunction, racism, homophobia, denier, Islamophobia, white privilege to respond and supposedly stop debate.

Yet, the US Constitution was written with great care precisely to obstruct arrogance, and create "dysfunction" (as many Europeans at the time thought it would).

To turn the tables, what the pundit calls "dysfunction", I descibe as "speaking truth to power".

Edited November 28, 2014 by August1991

[Michael Hardner]

I don't know who said that but I suspect that it was someone who is pro-Obama.

Who do you think represents "arrogance" in that quote ?

[August1991]

Mathew Dowd, 53, Republican political guy:

"Well, he definitely grabbed the initiative in a way that would put his policies through. I think, one, we need to do something about immigration. That -- it's absolutely crucial that we do something about it. I think the manner with which the president did it doesn't do anything to help the political discourse in our country and doesn't do anything to fix the fundamental problem that exists in Washington, which is the means of government is broken, on both sides of the aisle. And as I said earlier this week, where -- when obstructionism meets arrogance, dysfunction is born. And that's what we have in Washington."

23 Nov 2014

Link

Edited November 30, 2014 by August1991

[August1991]

Dar al-Ifta, Egyptian religious organization, comments on latest Charlie Hebdo cover:

"This action is an unjustified provocation against the feelings of 1.5 billion Muslims," the Dar al-Ifta said in a statement on Tuesday, January 13, cited by Agence France Presse (AFP).

"This (magazine) edition will result in a new wave of hatred in French and Western society. What the magazine is doing does not serve co-existence and the cultural dialogue Muslims aspire to," the statement added.
...

"We call on all Muslims not to participate in violence," he said.

"We denounce violence and respect freedom of opinion. But the other side has to understand that we love the Prophet Mohammed."

AFP

[August1991]

Bernard Landry, 77, ex-PM of Quebec comments on the decision of Jean-François Lisée to no longer seek the leadership of the PQ:

« Jean-François Lisée a évalué la situation. Il ne s'est pas trompé. Il a pris la bonne décision dans la dignité, c'est-à-dire dans la fidélité au parti et aux objectifs de ce parti », a estimé M. Landry en entrevue à l'émission 24/60.

« Il a choisi de favoriser le parti et la patrie plutôt que son intérêt personnel. Je trouve ça assez noble. »

Radio-Canada

Edited January 24, 2015 by August1991

[jbg]

Bernard Landry, 77, ex-PM of Quebec comments on the decision of Jean-François Lisée to no longer seek the leadership of the PQ:

Radio-Canada

Can you translate into either Canadian or English?

[August1991]

Can you translate into either Canadian or English?

"He favoured party and country before personal interest."

[jbg]

"He favoured party and country before personal interest."

Thanks.

[AngusThermopyle]

Bernard Landry, 77, ex-PM of Quebec

I was not aware that Provinces could have a Prime Minister. When do the rest of us get ours? Or did you mean to say Premiere?

[Michael Hardner]

I was not aware that Provinces could have a Prime Minister. When do the rest of us get ours? Or did you mean to say Premiere?

You *can* call them that, but it's not usually done:

"In Canada, a premier is the head of government of a province or territory. Though the word is merely a synonym for prime minister, it is employed for provincial prime ministers to differentiate them from the Prime Minister of Canada."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premier_(Canada)

[AngusThermopyle]

I see. Thanks for the clarification.

[August1991]

Josh Earnest, 37, US President's Press Secretary in referring to the beheading of 21 Copts:

"ISIL’s barbarity knows no bounds. It is unconstrained by faith, sect, or ethnicity. This wanton killing of innocents is just the most recent of the many vicious acts perpetrated by ISIL-affiliated terrorists against the people of the region, including the murders of dozens of Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai, which only further galvanizes the international community to unite against ISIL"

www.whitehouse.gov

[jbg]

Josh Earnest, 37, US President's Press Secretary in referring to the beheading of 21 Copts:

"ISIL’s barbarity knows no bounds. It is unconstrained by faith, sect, or ethnicity. This wanton killing of innocents is just the most recent of the many vicious acts perpetrated by ISIL-affiliated terrorists against the people of the region, including the murders of dozens of Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai, which only further galvanizes the international community to unite against ISIL"

www.whitehouse.gov

What's glaringly missing from the statement is any identification of the religious motives for the killings.

[August1991]

A comment to an article in Le Devoir, 8 June 2015:

"PKP aurait pu donner l'exemple, en faisant un vrai sacrifice, celui de se départir de sa participation dans Quebecor, mais non, lui aussi veut le beurre et l'argent du beurre. Un vrai leader aurait fait le sacrifice et donné l'exemple; pas M. Péladeau parce que ce n'est pas un vrai leader."

Le Devoir

[August1991]

Barack Obama, July 2015:

"This deal is not contingent on Iran changing its behavior, it is not contingent on suddenly operating like a liberal democracy. It solves one particular problem which is making sure they don't have a bomb."

New Yorker

[August1991]

Brad Wall, 49, PM of Saskatchewan, July 2015:

"I think if more Canadians knew that we import foreign oil from places like Venezuela and Saudi Arabia and that Energy East would end that, there would be great support for it, but we have to say it," he said.

"We've got to be direct and say that bluntly. And that's what I am trying to do."

CP

Edited July 17, 2015 by August1991

[August1991]

Barack Obama in Kenya, July 2015:

“I’ve been consistent all across Africa on this,” he said, during a joint press conference at the state house in Nairobi. “When you start treating people differently, because they’re different, that’s the path whereby freedoms begin to erode. And bad things happen.

...

“When a government gets in the habit of treating people differently, those habits can spread. As an African-American in the United States, I am painfully aware of the history of what happens when people are treated differently, under the law, and there were all sorts of rationalisations that were provided by the power structure for decades in the United States for segregation and Jim Crow and slavery, and they were wrong. So I’m unequivocal on this.”

...

He added that for “a law-abiding citizen who is going about their business, and working at a job and obeying the traffic signs and not harming anybody, the idea they will be treated differently or abused because of who they love is wrong, full stop.”

The Guardian Edited July 30, 2015 by August1991

[August1991]

Bryan Cranston, 59, Hollywood actor who played Walter White in Breaking Bad talks about Donald Trump:

“I actually like his candor,” Cranston said. “There’s something so refreshing about shaking up that world that is all about being handled and here comes this loose cannon who has terrible ideas and would be a horrible president, but there’s something great about his ‘I-don’t-give-a-shit’ attitude that really kind of keeps others honest.”

Cranston said that he looked forward to the upcoming political debates, calling Trump’s candidacy a “surprise benefit to the country.”

“I hope he stays in for a long, long time. And just collapses that whole tent of his,” Cranston concluded.

Breitbart 14 August 2015

Edited August 17, 2015 by August1991

[August1991]

Irina Bokova, 63, graduate of MGIMO, ex-Bulgarian MFA, UNESCO DG describes destruction in Palmyra:

“This new destruction shows how extremists are terrified by history and culture — because understanding the past undermines and de-legitimizes their claims — and embodies an expression of pure hatred and ignorance,” Bokova said.

She said Palmyra “symbolizes everything that extremists abhor — cultural diversity, dialogue between cultures (and) the encounter of peoples of all origins.”

“There will be no impunity for war criminals, and UNESCO will make every effort, at its level, and in close cooperation with the International Criminal Court, to make sure that the perpetrators of the destruction are tried and punished,” Bokova said.

Arab News, October 2015 Edited October 6, 2015 by August1991

[August1991]

Tim Wasylko. former 24 Sussex chef, about Stephen Harper and family:

“He put anyone I've ever met to shame when it came to work,” he said of Stephen Harper. “The man worked hard. You had to make sure he was fuelled properly.”

The former chef said he never felt like a servant or a butler.

He recalled the first thing Laureen Harper saying to him as “I want you to cook for my family the way you cook for your family.”

Ottawa Sun

Edited November 7, 2015 by August1991

[August1991]

Harjit Singh, 45, Canadian Minister of National Defence:

"ISIS is a threat, no doubt about that. Should we fear it? No. The Canadian population should have full confidence in all the security services to keep us safe."

CBC 12 Nov 2015

[August1991]

Justin Trudeau, 45, Prime Minister of Canada:

"My responsibility as prime minister is to make sure that on national projects, we're behaving in a way that both contributes to the economy, to a secure environment, to bringing people together and mostly to creating a better future," Trudeau said in Montreal on Tuesday morning.

CBC 26 January 2016

Edited January 27, 2016 by August1991