Quotes of the Morning: This and That

“President Bush lamented the deaths of 14 Marines in Iraq Wednesday, calling the deadly attack a ‘grim reminder’ America is still at war.
‘These terrorists and insurgents will use brutal tactics because they're trying to shake the will of the United States of America. They want us to retreat,’ Bush told some 2,000 state lawmakers, business leaders and public policy experts gathered here.
The president spoke on a day when a Marine amphibious assault vehicle patrolling during combat operations in the Euphrates River valley hit a roadside bomb, killing 14 Marines from the same Ohio battalion that lost six men two days ago.
‘Make no mistake about it,' Bush said. ‘We are at war.’''
-New York Times, August 4, 2005

“Thank you Dubya for reminding us of that. You may now return to your five week vacation.”
-Skippy

“In 1994, then-Archbishop of Portland William Levada offered a simple answer for why the archdiocese shouldn't have been ordered to pay the costs of raising a child fathered by a church worker at a Portland, Ore., parish.
In her relationship with Arturo Uribe, then a seminarian and now a Whittier priest, the child's mother had engaged ‘in unprotected intercourse … when [she] should have known that could result in pregnancy,’ the church maintained in its answer to the lawsuit.”
-LA Times, August 3, 2005

“Yes, this would be a case of the Catholic church claiming that they shouldn’t have to pay to raise a child born out of wedlock to a man who is now a priest because the woman should have used protection.. I would like to note that not only is this entirely against the teachings of the church (which states that using protection can cause little problems like eternal damnation), but it also absolves the man for any wrongdoing. Ever hear of a condom, Padre? Protection can work for either gender..
The worst thing is that I was just happy to read that this wasn’t another pedophile case..”
-Skippy

“A White House council on volunteerism said Friday it's taking another look at how the President's Call to Service Award -- accompanied by a laudatory letter from President Bush -- was issued to Stanley ‘Tookie’ Williams, a California Death Row inmate who has written a series of books warning young people against the gang life.
A spokesman for the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation said that neither the council nor Bush had any way of knowing that the person they were honoring was a condemned multiple murderer. “
-San Francisco Chronicle, August 6, 2005

“You know, I would have thought that when you’re mailing that laudatory letter to death row, well, that should have been a hint. Maybe looking things up on the ‘internets’ would have helped.””
-Skippy