Quotes of the Morning: Beating a Dead Horse

“One brief moment further on the lovely tradition of rendition..”
-Skippy

“The Bush administration based a crucial prewar assertion about ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda on detailed statements made by a prisoner while in Egyptian custody who later said he had fabricated them to escape harsh treatment, according to current and former government officials.
The officials said the captive, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, provided his most specific and elaborate accounts about ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda only after he was secretly handed over to Egypt by the United States in January 2002, in a process known as rendition.”
-New York Times, December 9, 2005

“So the rendition to Egypt to torture a captive (which of course, we don’t allow) gave us faulty information which was used to prop up support for the Iraq War. You see, rendition doesn’t just hurt those tortured. It has also helped to kill at least 2,135 American soldiers and at least 25,000 Iraqi civilians and it costing the American public billions of dollars a week. I guess there is only one thing to do..”
-Skippy

“The House today passed a $56 billion tax cut bill that extends for two years a reduction in tax rates for capital gains and dividend income.
After spirited debate, the House voted 234 to 197 to approve the bill, the fourth tax cut passed by the body in two days. The four tax cuts combined would slash federal revenue by $94.5 billion over five years, an amount nearly double the budget savings in a spending-reduction bill that Republicans pushed through the House last month.”
-Washington Post, December 8, 2005

“You see, the deficit has never been higher, and the middle class and the poor are being squeezed into non-existence to help pay for this war, so we need tax breaks for the wealthy. Don’t believe me? Look at the tax cuts listed. Dividend income (show me a poor person with a stock portfolio) and capital gains (which of course people only make if they own property.. and the more the merrier). And for the poor?”
-Skippy

“The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Friday to cut $700 million from the food stamp program as part of a broad bill to reduce federal spending by $50 billion, despite objections from antihunger groups.
Some 235,000 people would lose food stamp benefits under the House bill, according to one analysis.”
-Reuters, November 18, 2005

"’This is the crown jewel of the Bush administration's tax cut agenda,’ said Daniel Clifton, chief economist of Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative advocacy group. ‘This is what took us out of the bear market and started propelling the stock market gains, getting the liquidity to businesses to invest and to hire workers.’
Republicans had delayed the vote several times, first after Hurricane Katrina last summer fomented a rebellion by House conservatives over spending, and again after a rebellion among Republican moderates last month on spending cuts that targeted Medicaid, food stamps and other poverty programs.”
-San Francisco Chronicle, December 9, 2005

“Well all of that liquidity had better bear fruit quickly.”
-Skippy

“So far this year, U.S. employers have announced 964,232 job cuts, 3.6 percent more than the 930,690 cuts announced through November 2004.”
-Reuters, December 7, 2005

“Some people just have all of the luck I guess..”
-Skippy

“As Gillette's CEO, James M. Kilts had reason to expect a lucrative 2005, with annual pay likely exceeding $23 million. But this turned out to be an especially eventful year: The razor maker, one of America's best-known brands, agreed to be acquired by consumer-products giant Procter & Gamble Co. (PG ). For selling Gillette Co., Kilts received even more than his anticipated pay -- a lot more. The companies promised him a package valued at $165 million, including stock options and severance. On top of this, P&G has said it will give him stock and options worth $23 million in return for serving as its vice-chairman for one year and agreeing not to join a rival before 2009. Excluding $6.5 million he stands to earn during his year as vice-chairman, Kilts could eventually pocket an astounding $188 million.”
-Business Week, December 12, 2005 edition