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“Men never do evil so fully and cheerfully as when we do it out of conscience.” – Blaise Pascal

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“It’s hard to be humble, when you’re as great as I am.” – Muhammad Ali

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“Umm Qasr is a city similar to Southampton.” – UK defence minister Geoff Hoon

“He’s either never been to Southampton or he’s never been to Umm Qasr. There’s no beer, no prostitutes and people are shooting at us. It’s more like Portsmouth.” – British Squaddie patrolling Umm Qasr

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“To oppose the policies of a government does not mean you are against the country or the people that the government supposedly represents. Such opposition should be called what it really is: democracy, or democratic dissent, or having a critical perspective about what your leaders are doing. Either we have the right to democratic dissent and criticism of these policies or we all lie down and let the leader, the Fuhrer, do what is best, while we follow uncritically, and obey whatever he commands. That’s just what the Germans did with Hitler, and look where it got them.” – Michael Parenti

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“This is the wrong war, at the wrong time, in the wrong place, with the wrong ally, against the wrong enemy.” – Alan Bleasdale

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“The promise of this “road-map” to a Palestinian state is repeated without asking why, 12 years after identical promises at the last Gulf War, it seems to have re-emerged right now. I remember this technique from when I was 17. I’d agree to tidy up, then make no effort until I wanted to borrow the car, and renew the promise. Every Gulf War the Americans say to the Arabs: “We’re just getting round to it. Now just support our invasion and we’ll do it in the morning.” – Mark Steel

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“Nationalism … is like cheap alcohol. First it makes you drunk, then it makes you blind, then it kills you.” – Dan Fried

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“Ironically, Reagan’s official rationale for his Grenada assault was that Cuban commies were on the island. This is ironic because the Cubans are still there. Reagan brought war to the island, then left, the Cubans came back and, far from being a menace, have helped the impoverished Grenadians with such basic needs as building a new hospital. If any members of Ollie’s tourist brigade get sick, they could be treated there for free. Now there’s a lesson in international relations: Make health, not war.” – Jim Hightower

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“In the end, I think we are just tired of being lied to.” – Robert Fisk

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“If I were alive in Rubens’ time, I’d be celebrated as a model and Kate Moss would be used as a paint brush.” – Dawn French

Plus ça change

“Ma fellow citizens… god… freedom… god… patriots… god… enemies… god… washington… god… founding fathers… god… evil english redcoats… god… change… god the creator… bob the builder… yes we can… god bless you, america.”

Pass the bucket, please.

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“(The Palestinians) would be crushed like grasshoppers … heads smashed against the boulders and walls.” – Yitzhak Shamir, 1988

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“We must use terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation, and the cutting of all social services to rid the Galilee of its Arab population.” – David Ben-Gurion, May 1948

Money-grubbing bastards

From the Graun:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jan/18/heathrow-third-runway

MPs suggest go-ahead for a third runway is down to influence of former Labour officials now working for BAA

Senior MPs are demanding a Commons investigation into evidence of a “revolving door” policy between Downing Street, Whitehall and airport operator BAA, following last week’s decision by ministers to approve a third runway at Heathrow. MPs believe that BAA and British Airways were able to crush the environment lobby thanks to an intricate network of contacts with the government and the Labour party.

[...]

Joe Irvin, former head of corporate affairs at BAA, who has switched to Number 10 to be a key adviser to Gordon Brown. Irvin was also involved with one of the main aviation lobby groups, Freedom to Fly, which was funded by BAA and BA – as was Stephen Hardwick, a former adviser to John Prescott and ex-head of public affairs at BAA. BAA also employs financial PR company Finsbury, which is headed by Roland Rudd, a close friend of business secretary Peter Mandelson, who was in favour of the third runway.

BA has fostered close links with government for years through PR firms Brunswick, headed by Gordon Brown’s friend Alan Parker, and Lexington Communications, run by Mike Craven, a former Labour press chief. Senior Labour figures, paid to help the runway lobby funded by BAA, include Lord Soley, a former chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party, who has appeared in the media to promote the runway for Future Heathrow, one of the BAA-backed successors to Freedom to Fly.

And they have the cheek to call themselves socialists. Money-grubbing bastards, all of them.

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“When I was the boss of an oil company I would never tell the truth. It’s not part of the game.” – Colin Campbell, Oil Depletion Analysis Centre