"Congress is best viewed from a distanceâ€”the farther the betterâ€”because up close, it is truly ugly. I saw most of Congress as uncivil, incompetent at fulfilling their basic constitutional responsibilities (such as timely appropriations), micromanagerial, parochial, hypocritical, egotistical, thin-skinned and prone to put self (and re-election) before country."

-- Robert M. Gates

#Country Quotes #Distance Quotes #Responsibility Quotes

“In the frank expression of conflicting opinions lies the greatest promise of wisdom in governmental action.”
“It is imperative that the entire Christian community in the United States come to realize the grave threats to the Church's public moral witness presented by a militant atheism which finds increasing expression in the political and cultural spheres. The seriousness of these threats needs to be clearly appreciated at every level of ecclesial life.”
“The one who praises you is a thief. The one who criticizes you is your true friend.”
“My family are all storytellers, and I think I inherited a lot more of that gene than other people in my family. I guess I was fun to have around.”
“Oh, give us pleasure in the orch-ard white, Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night.”
“Perhaps it’s when you come to the realization that the point of life isn’t to be rich, or secure, or even to be loved - to be any of the things that people usually think is the point. The point of life is to live as deeply as possible, to experience fully. And that can be done in so many ways.”
“TV has gotten so boring that the only thing I watch is the news.”
“The best justification governments can find to shut down information is that lives are at risk. In fact, lives have been at risk as a result of the silences and lies revealed in these leaks.”

Source : "Why did I back Julian Assange? It's about justice and fairness" by Jemima Khan, www.theguardian.com. December 11, 2010.

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