Quote of the Day/Week/Month/Year

Wilber · April 10, 2009

David Suzuki, Environmental Activist, 72
QUOTE

"I love Kitsilano and Vancouver, but there are too many people and too many cars. I think we can have greater density if we made the city much more hostile to cars. The cars have made our city unattractive, and thus I like to spend more of my time in a smaller place at Quanta [ed, Quadra] Island where we also have a home."

How does he get there?

August1991 · April 10, 2009

How does he get there?

Aside from how he gets there, Suzuki makes plain that he has two homes.

I don't expect him to live as an ascetic but this is clearly a case of "Do as I say and not as I do". He wants the rest of us to change our lifestyles while he himself is not subject to the same constraints.

kimmy · April 10, 2009

Aside from how he gets there, Suzuki makes plain that he has two homes.
I don't expect him to live as an ascetic but this is clearly a case of "Do as I say and not as I do". He wants the rest of us to change our lifestyles while he himself is not subject to the same constraints.

The comments regarding the undesirability of cars represents the real values of a lot of the enviroweenies.

It's not the emissions, it's the cars themselves and the lifestyle they allow.

Some time ago I sent an internet acquaintance links about the Tesla Roadster, an all-electric car with performance to rival a Corvette. He felt that it was the worst thing since Hitler. More practical consumer-oriented products like the ultra-low emission SmartCar or the upcoming no-emission Chevrolet Volt will likewise not satisfy them. It just makes them angrier, because it takes away their favorite guilt-stick. "You're not reducing emissions, you're just moving the tailpipe!" is the response. Well, considering the far greater efficiency of electrical generation and electrical motors compared to the internal combustion engine, combined with greater capacity of industrial plants to clean their own emissions, plus the large and growing percentage of our electrical generating capacity that doesn't generate emissions anyway, and that argument falls apart quickly. And then they get to the real objection: urban sprawl, and the amount of arable land covered by roads and parking lots, and the ecological badness of big homes that people can only have because they can drive long distances to get to work.

Although the sentiment is wonderful it is not clear to me how she can attribute her current position to anything other than the ancient tradition of marrying the right man.

Succinct, and accurate.

-k

jbg · April 10, 2009

The comments regarding the undesirability of cars represents the real values of a lot of the enviroweenies.
It's not the emissions, it's the cars themselves and the lifestyle they allow.

I think you really hit the nail on the head on this one. Kyoto is all about lifestyle and not about environment. When getting rid of true poisons didn't change lifestyles much, they changed focus to take dead aim at a non-poison; CO2.

August1991 · April 15, 2009

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, 56, discussing a merger with Chrysler:

“The minute you talk to me about historical entitlement in an organization that is technically bankrupt, it's a nonsensical discussion,” he said.
“There is no wealth to be distributed.”

ROB

August1991 · April 19, 2009

Nicolas Sarkozy, French president:

«L’important dans la démocratie, c’est d’être réélu. Regardez Berlusconi, il a été réélu trois fois.»

Liberation

jbg · April 19, 2009

Nicolas Sarkozy, French president:Liberation

That means?

August1991 · April 20, 2009

That means?

"The important thing in democracy is to be re-elected. Look at [silvio] Berlusconi. He has been re-elected three times."

Guardian

BubberMiley · April 20, 2009

It's even more important to get elected. It also greatly improves the odds of getting re-elected.

jbg · April 20, 2009

Guardian

Thanks. My French skills are sorely lacking. My area is functionally bi-lingual but with Spanish. I know enough Spanish to transact limited business in Port Chester, New York. I just love eating empanadas (not so good for my weighy) and I need to order them in Spanish.

August1991 · May 1, 2009

Ken Lewenza, 55, CAW President:

"It is shocking that a company with Chrysler's stature and history should be forced into bankruptcy protection," said CAW President Ken Lewenza. "But this development is just one part of a bigger process that we hope will reposition the company for recovery and future success."
...

"It is infuriating that a couple of hedge funds that caused this to happen," he said. "After all, it was financial speculators, not auto workers, who created this crisis in the first place. And now they are the ones pulling the plug."

CNW

August1991 · May 2, 2009

Conrad Black, 64, erstwhile corporate titan, writes from his prison cell in Florida:

So far, while in Europe, President Obama has indicted his country and his predecessors for arrogance, dismissive-ness, genocide, torture and insufficient respect for the Muslim world. Does the poor old U. S. A. really deserve this, and deserve the message to be delivered by its leader in the continent that gave the world totalitarian Communism, Nazism, Robespierre's Reign of Terror and all the pogroms and massacres of Russia, Armenia and Bulgaria? All of these have occurred in the time that the United States has been continuously constitutionally governed by 43 elected presidents and 110 elected congresses.

National Post

August1991 · May 2, 2009

Lhamo Döndrub,73, Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibetans:

After his speech, the Dalai Lama answered questions, including one about model leaders. He singled out President George W. Bush for his straightforwardness, but stopped short on complimenting him for much else.
“I love him”, said the Dalai Lama of President Bush, “but as far as his policies are concerned, I have reservations.”

MIT Tech

capricorn · May 4, 2009

Michael Ignatieff addresses PM Harper directly in a speech accepting the Liberal leadership, May 2, 2009.

"You have failed to understand that a prime minister has one job and one job only, which is to unite the people in this country."

http://www2.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=1558041

Gee, that's news to me. :huh:

August1991 · May 6, 2009

Clifford S. Asness, Managing and Founding Principal, AQR Capital Management:

The President’s attempted diktat takes money from bondholders and gives it to a labor union that delivers money and votes for him. Why is he not calling on his party to “sacrifice” some campaign contributions, and votes, for the greater good? Shaking down lenders for the benefit of political donors is recycled corruption and abuse of power.
...

This is America. We have a free enterprise system that has worked spectacularly for us for two hundred plus years. When it fails it fixes itself. Most importantly, it is not an owned lackey of the oval office to be scolded for disobedience by the President.

NYT

August1991 · May 6, 2009

Michael Sabia, 56, CEO of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec:

"Almost 100 years ago, my grandfather arrived here in Montreal with nothing, nothing, nothing in his hands. Why did he stay here? Because he was convinced that Quebec is an open society," Mr. Sabia said. "I grew up with this perception. I am not going to accept your position. I have an understanding of Quebec and I chose to work here - over a lot of other opportunities in Asia and in the United States - to render service to Quebec."

G&M

August1991 · May 7, 2009

Unnamed federal Liberal MP referring to Ruby Dhalla:

“I don't get the sense that too many people are feeling all that sorry for her,” one MP said.

G&M

August1991 · May 8, 2009

Alan Blinder, 63, economics professor at Princeton University:

Why did Obama hold the meeting? “I think he wanted to hear the [opposing] arguments right in front of him,” says Blinder. “All I can say is if the president of the United States devotes that much personal time, and it was about two-hour dinner, he must want to hear what people outside the administration are saying and hear what his own people say in rebuttal to that. Why would you do that if you aren’t at least turning over your mind what to do next?”
But after Krugman and Stiglitz made their now-familiar case for nationalizing the banks and forcing other dramatic changes, Obama gave no indication he was changing his policies, Blinder added.

Newsweek

August1991 · May 9, 2009

Walter Natynczyk, 51, Chief of Defence Staff:

"The Taliban hate our guts," noted Natynczyk. "So if we're in there, the Taliban will come. You have the Taliban who can move into some areas and intimidate people, which makes it very hard on them."

Ottawa Citizen

August1991 · May 13, 2009

Stephen Harper in response to Michael Ignatieff's employment insurance reform proposal:

"If that leader wants to go out and tell Canadians that he thinks they should pay higher payroll taxes so that people can work 45 days and then collect EI for a year, every single year in every single region of the country, well, we're ready to take him on," he said.

CBC Edited May 13, 2009 by August1991

August1991 · May 13, 2009

Brian Mulroney, 70, former PM of Canada:

"I had lived my whole life without any accusations of any sort. I am an honest man, and my family is honest," Mulroney said.
"And now, all of a sudden the world is being told — without any proof, without even consulting myself, without giving me any chance to explain myself or to even comment on the issue, without even being informed of the allegations — all of a sudden out of the blue I'm a criminal."

CBC Edited May 13, 2009 by August1991

August1991 · May 14, 2009

Paul Krugman, 56, Nobel Prize-winning economist at Princeton University:

“The market seems to be looking as if this is going to be an average recession, but it’s not.”

Bloomberg

capricorn · May 25, 2009

At a rally with provincial Liberals on Sunday May 24, 2009 in Dartmouth, NS, Michael Ignatieff cautioned Stephen Harper.

"Don’t trifle with me. Don’t try this rough stuff with me. I can take a punch and I can dish a punch out."

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1123819.html

About Stephen McNeil, the provincial Liberal Leader, he said:

"You just look at the guy and you think he’s a safe pair of hands. He could be the premier of this province," Mr. Ignatieff said. "It’s just as clear as day."

daniel · May 29, 2009

"If the right had their way, there'd be nobody working."

John Kenneth Galbraith in a radio interview c 1995s

August1991 · June 2, 2009

Stephen Harper comments on his decision to use Canadian taxpayer's money to buy 12.5% of US GM stock at a price of $US 9.5 billion:

"It's difficult for me as a Conservative to come to terms with this," Harper said. "But the fact is this, the reality is this: either we put this money in to save all of those jobs, to make sure we have a viable company in the long term, or the entire thing moves to the United States and will not come back."

CTV