REWIND - A Week of Quotes & Cartoons

SUNDAY

Quote of the Day
September 19, 2010

'What a contrast. In a year that's on track to be our
planet's hottest on record, America turned "climate
change" into a four-letter word that many U.S.
politicians won't even dare utter in public. If this
were just some parlor game, it wouldn't matter. But the
totally bogus "discrediting" of climate science has had
serious implications. For starters, it helped scuttle
Senate passage of the energy-climate bill needed to
scale U.S.-made clean technologies, leaving America at
a distinct disadvantage in the next great global
industry. And that brings me to the contrast: While
American Republicans were turning climate change into a
wedge issue, the Chinese Communists were turning it
into a work issue.

'"There is really no debate about climate change in
China," said Peggy Liu, chairwoman of the Joint U.S.-
China Collaboration on Clean Energy, a nonprofit group
working to accelerate the greening of China. "China's
leaders are mostly engineers and scientists, so they
don't waste time questioning scientific data." The push
for green in China, she added, "is a practical
discussion on health and wealth. There is no need to
emphasize future consequences when people already see,
eat and breathe pollution every day."

'And because runaway pollution in China means wasted
lives, air, water, ecosystems and money - and wasted
money means fewer jobs and more political instability -
China's leaders would never go a year (like we will)
without energy legislation mandating new ways to do
more with less. It's a three-for-one shot for them. By
becoming more energy efficient per unit of G.D.P.,
China saves money, takes the lead in the next great
global industry and earns credit with the world for
mitigating climate change.

'So while America's Republicans turned "climate change"
into a four-letter word - J-O-K-E - China's Communists
also turned it into a four-letter word - J-O-B-S.'

Columnist Thomas Friedman
New York Times
September 19, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2e6y4w3

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/28d9atn
My Corner
Ed Stein

MONDAY

Quote of the Day
September 20,. 2010

'These are terrible times for many people in this
country. Poverty, especially acute poverty, has soared
in the economic slump; millions of people have lost
their homes. Young people can't find jobs; laid-off 50-
somethings fear that they'll never work again.

'Yet if you want to find real political rage - the kind
of rage that makes people compare President Obama to
Hitler, or accuse him of treason - you won't find it
among these suffering Americans. You'll find it instead
among the very privileged, people who don't have to
worry about losing their jobs, their homes, or their
health insurance, but who are outraged, outraged, at
the thought of paying modestly higher taxes.'

Columnist Paul Krugman
New York Times
September 20, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2g358m6

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/2abdwj7
Off Our Backs
Jim Morin - Miami Herald

TUESDAT

Quote of the Day
September 21, 2010

'... far-right conservatives are ready to roll back
many of the civilizing advances of the 20th century,
including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Republicans are also gunning to repeal and replace
President Obama's health-care overhaul -- and the 20 or
so states already fighting to overturn health-care
reform in the courts would be emboldened by a
Republican victory. Meanwhile, according to Bloomberg,
"Wall Street is preparing for a Republican surge in
Congress that could help it block proposed taxes on
banks and investments, blunt new financial regulations
and regain some of the lobbying firepower it lost."

'These prospects should concentrate the mind. This is
indeed a choice election. We're not talking about a
simple change of power in Congress, we're talking about
a fundamental reordering of America in terms of its
priorities and possibilities.

'Of course, there is an alternative. Rather than
sitting out, progressives can sit in. We can channel
our disappointment and anger (and fear of a GOP
takeover) into organizing and campaigning for the
principles we believe in, as the One Nation march on
the Mall in Washington will seek to do on Oct. 2. After
all, the change we seek isn't going to come through one
election, or one president. It will come from building
coalitions, supporting progressive candidates and
organizing independently.'

Nation magazine editor
Katrina vanden Heuvel
Washington Post
September 21, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2e9ayec

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/28ycg8f
Tea & Crumpets
Tom Tomorrow- Salon

WEDNESDAY

Quote of the Day
September 22, 2010

'We have lost our way through our misadventures in Iraq
and Afghanistan, and we have to come home. Not only do
we have to come home from Iraq and Afghanistan, but we
also have to take a different look at America's
presence in the rest of the world. Unless we start to
focus on a global position for the United States that
is not hegemonic, but is cooperative with international
institutions, we're looking at nothing but one
nightmare after another.'

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio)
interviewed by: Maya Schenwar,
executive director, t r u t h o u t
September 20, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2uf26v8

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/2g856be
Recovery?
Rob Rogers

THURSDAY

Quote of the Day
September 23, 2010

'The Alan Simpsons and John Boehners of the world talk
about raising the retirement age and cutting Social
Security benefits for "greedy geezers." If they have
their way and the federal budget deficit commission-of
which Simpson is co-chairman-ends up recommending
raising the retirement age, cutting benefits or even
privatizing Social Security, women will be the hardest
hit.

'Here are some sobering statistics from Retirement USA
and the Social Security Administration (SSA) that show
just how vital Social Security is to older women.'

By Mike Hall
AFL-CIO Blog
September 22, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/25whpqj

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/2ctr4g4
Socialism
Tony Auth - Philadelphia Inquirer

FRIDAY

Quote of thet Day
September 24, 2010

'Obama had absolutely nothing to do with the causes of
the financial meltdown, but he wasted two precious
years being misled by Summers and Geithner as to how to
respond to it. The key error, and it is not too late to
rectify it, was the failure to force the bailed-out
Wall Street titans to give back something significant
to the public in the way of mortgage relief. A
temporary moratorium on mortgage foreclosures at a time
when 11 million homeowners are "underwater," at risk of
joining the almost 4 million who have already lost
their homes, is a must to recharge the economy. That is
what Obama should have initiated when he first came
into office, and I hope it will be done now that the
dead hand of Summers has been lifted.'

Robert Scheer
Editor of Truthdig.com,
Author, The Great American Stickup'
Huffington Post
September 22, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2a7utsk

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/29gkmru
Transparency
Ed Stein

SATURDAY

Quote of the Day
September 25, 2010

"We are invisible to the majority in this country at
this moment. Prosperity is decreasing while diversity
is increasing. We look at this and say we've got to
tell the nation that job creation is priority number
one in America, so we can not only impact the national
debate but give the disempowered a sense of being part
of something bigger than themselves."

Ben Jealous, President of the NAACP,
a key coalition partner for One Nation
Working Together Washington rally October 2.

FireDogLake.com
September 23, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2dbhzdn

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/2dx857u
Nice Kitty
Tom Toles - Washington Post

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