"Will democracy take hold in modern Muslim societies? The next few months are poignant with agonizing fear and great hope, and the answer hinges on whether Malaysians and Turks will succumb to the intimidation of the power hungry or show the maturity and courage worthy of free and principled people."

"If Obama surrenders to his advisers and to the Satan whispering in his ear, he may gain votes from the other camp but lose his credibility, and not only in his own camp. The public may decide, instinctively, that "he hasn't got it". That, after all, he is not the leader one can trust."

"ONCE UPON a time, the Israelis were absorbed both by football games and the political game. There was a profound emotional involvement in both. Now only football remains, a game played by transparent rules. What one sees is what is there. One can watch it without revulsion, while politics arouses general contempt and abhorrence."

"A CEASEFIRE is not peace (salaam), and not even an armistice or truce (hudnah). It is no more than an agreement between combatants to stop shooting for some time."

"...Sarkozy called on Israel to stop settlement in the West Bank and said, “There cannot be peace without an immediate and complete halt to settlement. There cannot be peace without recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of two states and the guarantee of free access to the holy places for all religions.”

"Given that we are supposedly a nation of believers, it might be better if we prayed for guidance from immaterial forces before letting hysterical crackpots push us into supporting material action of ever more murderous intolerance and stupidity."

It’s painful to watch Sen. Barack Obama slide over to the Right on so many important issues, as the presidential election heats up in ‘08. FISA, NAFTA and Israel are a few. He’s also met with Colin Powell and suggested that he might keep Robert Gates on as his Secretary of Defense. What’s next? Irv “Scooter” Libby as head of his Justice Department? If Obama doesn’t want to flop, like Sen. John Kerry did in ‘04, he better ponder changing his ways.

"No social worker took enough time or cared enough to make sure that Sean and his siblings were being taken care of properly. Since the children were not dogs, no neighbors called the animal police to report the abuse or torture that continued both inside and outside the premises where the Paddock family lived. And though Wake County Protection Services had been involved with Sean and his siblings since birth, they were negligent about the children’s care, were blind to the abuse the children endured, and need to share part of the blame for Sean’s murder."