"In nineteenth century Britain, the sugar that sweetened the tea of oh-so civilized, afternoon teatime was harvested by brutalized, Caribbean slaves, who rarely lived past the age of thirty, as, for example, in our time, in our blood-wrought moments of normalcy, we trudge about in sweatshop sewn clothing, brandishing i-Phones manufactured by factory enslaved teenage girls who are forced to work 14 hour plus shifts."

"The prospect of inadequate health care, loss of the family home due to medical bills, and isolation all contribute to a distrust of the future. Add to that, the sometimes not too subtle message, that 'old people' are using up too much of medical resources and thus 'stealing' from their grandchildren. The guilt trip this places on the elderly is very painful. Not only the elderly, but also the disabled and those who need ongoing medical care, are marginalized in our culture. While having safe conversations, some admit that they are prepared. They have a plan for self-authorization when the time comes - before it is too late to take the necessary action."

"It is clear that Israel has no plans to reach any form of lasting peace with Palestinians or concede to a two-state solution. Its spread of illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory has created new facts on the ground that make it impossible to form a contiguous Palestinian state, even on the 22 percent of historic Palestine that Palestinians have been reduced to and agreed upon."

"Jordan and other Arab countries that supported this last initiative in Amman now have even greater responsibility and obligation to explain to the other interested parties that Israel has proven reluctant to grasp this opportunity for actual engagement. They need to help communicate the message that simply extending these talks without changing their substance and without encouraging the partners, especially Israel, to engage in a way compatible with international law will not bring about any better chances for peace."

"...the Quartet can assert that "any kind of dialogue is better than none" only up to a point. Rather than reassessing the failures of the Oslo formula and coming up with a new model, the Quartet pursues a path of folly. If I didn't know better, I would have to invoke that definition of insanity often attributed to Albert Einstein: "doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results".

"The truth is, when the Palestinians, along with the Europeans and even the Americans say that settlements are an obstacle to peace, it is a gross understatement. With the network of settlements in the West Bank and especially in and around Jerusalem, there is zero chance for a viable, independent Palestinian state to ever come into being. That is hardly an obstacle; it is a train wreck."

"The students who are fortunate enough to be a part of this experience are being connected to the world in a very personal way and out of this experience a new generation of global leaders is being created. And because these students are being transformed by their encounters here, they will be better able to heal the many divides they face in our increasingly complex world."

"American groups identified as minorities by virtue of their not being direct descendants of Europeans have been tracked into patterns of discrimination no longer officially acceptable. But alleged social changes that only transform certain individual members of an ethnic or other identity group and leave larger populations still operating as second class citizens while being manipulated into showing pride in the fact that they are hyphenated and not whole Americans is hardly social progress."