Quotabull

You know, America is probably wondering why, why do you care? And one of the reasons we care about the suffering in Sudan is because we care about the human condition all across the face of the earth. And we fully understand that when people suffer, it is in our interest to help. And we also understand that when people suffer it makes it more likely that some may turn to the ideology of those who use murder as a weapon. So it’s in our national security interest and it’s in our — in the interest of our conscience to confront this, what we have called a genocide.

— President Bush at a Jan. 17 press briefing after meeting with Rich Williamson, U.S. special envoy to Sudan.

In light of today’s results, which were released nearly two years after the Enhance trial ended, it is easy to conclude that Merck and Schering-Plough intentionally sought to delay the release of this data.

— Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., a nember of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, charging that negative results of a study, known as Enhance, on the effectiveness of cholesterol drugs Vytorin and Zycor added to suspicions that the companies had deliberately sat on their findings for two years, a charge the companies deny.

I don’t know, maybe at times. It’s not a big deal to me. You’ve just got to abide by the rules, that’s all. I made a mistake and I’ll live with it.

— Professional basketball player Lebron James, asked if he would continue to speed following his not-guilty plea on a charge of speeding 101 mph in a 65-mph zone on his 23rd birthday.

The next thing is they’ll just have cameras everywhere. They’ll have software programmed with algorithms, and the algorithms will be able to detect these so-called anomalies. And so you may be distraught because you’re flying home to your grandmother’s funeral, but the algorithm has detected an anomalous behavior, and the next thing you’re being strip-searched by a couple of FBI agents.

— Shoshana Zuboff, a Harvard social psychologist who coined the phrase “anticipatory conformity” in 1988, on the impact of pervasive surveillance technology.

Judge Maynard and myself are friends. It just came out in conversation that we would be staying in the same place.

— Don Blankenship, head of Massey Energy Co., after pictures of he and West Virginia Chief Justice Elliott ”Spike” Maynard “sitting side-by-side, smiling over empty glasses at a cafe along the Riviera as the Mediterranean sun sets behind them” led to efforts to have Justice Maynard “removed from a $76.3 million case before the court that involves his travel companion’s coal company.”

This exemption will enable the Navy to train effectively and to certify carrier and expeditionary strike groups for deployment in support of worldwide operational and combat activities, which are essential to national security.

— from a Jan. 16 memo by President Bush that would “override a federal court order that restricts the Navy from using mid-frequency active sonar within 12 miles of the coast and shutting down the powerful submarine-detection device when marine mammals come within 2,200 yards.”

Bush and Cheney are clearly guilty of numerous impeachable offenses. They have repeatedly violated the Constitution. They have transgressed national and international law. They have lied to the American people time after time. Their conduct and their barbaric policies have reduced our beloved country to a historic low in the eyes of people around the world. These are truly “high crimes and misdemeanors,” to use the constitutional standard.

— former Sen. George McGovern, Democratic nominee for president in 1972, in a Washington Post op-ed headlined “Why I Believe Bush Must Go — Nixon Was Bad. These Guys Are Worse”; Jan. 6.

Govenor Huckabee has message momentum. He has a terrific message that resonated with voters — not only in the early-primary states, but throughout the country. Our challenge has been to create opportunities, particularly on TV, that allow him to take his message directly to the people.

— Kirsten Fedewa, a campaign spokeswoman who handles a majority of television bookings for presidential candidate Mike Huckabee; Gov. Huckabee has become known for his use of “free” media; Jan. 16.

The era of indulgence is over. When oil goes to $100 a barrel, the romance of a V-8 under the hood diminishes pretty quickly.

— John A. Casesa, managing partner at the Casesa Shapiro Group, an investment firm in New York, on the accelerating demise of the high-horsepower, ego-satisfying, eight-cylinder engine.

If I am President, I will not rest until Michigan is back. Michigan can once again lead the world’s automotive industry.

— Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney at the Detroit Economic Club; Jan. 14.

You’ve seen it here, in furniture. You’ve seen the textile industry, where Washington watched, saw the jobs go and go. … Can I guarantee that we’ll be able to protect every industry and every job and be successful keeping every job? I don’t think any person can make that guarantee. But I can guarantee that I’ll fight and do my best.

— Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, campaigning in Bluffton, S.C.; Jan. 16.

There is such doom and gloom in Michigan after seven years of declines in employment every single year. There is a lot of anger about it. And there is a lot of anxiety about it. The public doesn’t truly believe that there is relief on the horizon. The public does not believe in rosy predictions of a rosy future.

— Michigan political analyst Craig Ruff; Jan. 14.

I can’t recall what he was talking about, but he really impressed me. It’s kind of like when you meet someone and you immediately like them or don’t like them. It’s hard to put into words.

— Greenville, S.C., voter Barbara Poole after listening to Republican presidential candidate John McCain at a campaign stop; Jan. 16.

Voters really don’t vote on the issues to any significant extent. It’s mostly because they don’t know how the candidates differ on the issues. The difference are so subtle, particularly in primaries, that even analysts have a hard time keeping them straight. So [voters] rely on the candidates’ persona instead.

— Ken Warren, pollster and political scientist at St. Louis University; Jan. 16.

A moral cloud hangs over our candidates. Just how much today’s federal policies, favoring the old over the young and the past over the future, should be altered ought to be a central issue of the campaign. But knowing the unpopular political implications, our candidates have lapsed into calculated quiet. They pay lip service to children but ignore the actual programs that will shape their future.

— Washington Post columnist Robert J. Samuelson; Jan. 9.

We’re scared of failure, aging, vulnerability, leaving too soon, being passed up — and in the quest to conquer these fears, we are inspired by those who do whatever it takes to rise above and beat these odds. We call it “drive” or “ambition,” but when doing “whatever it takes” leads us down the wrong road, it can erode our humanity. The game ends up playing us.

— former Major League Baseball player Doug Glanville, writing in The New York Times on the role of steroids in baseball; Jan. 16.

I have never heard a baseball official, a union official, a general manager, a manager, a coach, a player or an agent mention attention deficit disorder. No fielder has ever blamed it for an error. No pitcher has ever blamed it for a home run. No hitter has ever struck out and said “it was A.D.D.”

— New York Times sportswriter Murray Chass on reports that “last season, 103 players said they had it. That’s 7.6 percent of the 1,354 players who were at one point on a 40-man major league roster. That’s a mind-boggling increase from the 28 players who supposedly had it in 2006.”

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— a sales pitch at the Cafepress.com site.

I don’t know Mr. Simpson what the heck you were thinking — or maybe that’s the problem — you weren’t. I don’t know if it’s just arrogance. I don’t know if it’s ignorance. But you’ve been locked up at the Clark County Detention Center since Friday because of arrogance or ignorance — or both.

— Las Vegas District Judge Jackie Glass to O.J. Simpson as Judge Glass doubled Simpson’s bail for “violating terms of his original bail by attempting to contact a co-defendant in the armed robbery case against him”; Jan. 16.

You know that feeling when you find the perfect size. And we’re not talking diamonds.

— copy for the Natrelle Breast Enhancement Collection ad in the November issue of Elle magazine.

You know that feeling when you find the perfect pair. And we are not talking shoes.

— from a breast augmentation ad in the January issue of Elle.

My plastic surgeon told me that my saline implants should last forever.

— KristaSchell, 29, of Colorado, who, according to The New York Times, “said she first spent $6,500 in 2003 on breast enhancement surgery with a doctor in California. She had a second operation with that doctor last April to replace a deflated saline implant whose collapse made her left breast look ‘hollow’; her implants were still under warranty, but she did have to pay for the trip to California and lost a week’s pay … Last November, Ms. Schell had a third operation, which cost $6,000, this time with a surgeon in Denver who removed both implants as well as extensive scar tissue …”

xpost: Scholars & Rogues

Quotabull is a weekly feature of Scholars & Rogues.

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