"...I will remember Ted Kennedy, not only for what he has given to our nation, but what, in the most trying of times, he gave to me and my community--a restored sense of belonging."

"Today, the gap between mainline big media and the grassroots is just as wide. Top policymakers for what has become Obama’s Afghanistan war can find their assumptions mirrored in the editorials of the nation’s mighty newspapers -- at the same time that opinion polls are showing a dramatic trend against the war."

"Eliminating the “public option” may win a few Republican votes for health care reform, but will, in all likelihood, result in the loss of support of many liberal Democrats who see the “public option” as central to the entire health care reform effort."

"Despite the harshness of these attacks, and the hurt, no doubt, they have brought to Ms. Robinson, I am convinced that this entire episode had less to do with her than it does with the President. And the charges against this distinguished Irish leader though not only wrong headed, hurtful to her, and unfair, were also a case of political misdirection."

Death by natural selection is how life renews itself—the maladapted die off so that new life may flourish. With that fact firmly established, I’d like to turn to the man-made world, man-made dinosaurs and man-made selection.

"Routinely, the dominant political and media calculus renders the dead as digits and widgets, moved around on spreadsheets and news pages. The victims of war are hardly seen as people by the numbed sophisticates who can measure just about anything but the value of a human life."

"I am reminded of similar developments that occurred in 1919 at the beginning of the “Red Scare.” Then too, a national movement, fueled by fears of immigration, economic dislocation and war-time anti-foreign bigotry was exploited by some, ignored by others, until it got out of control, with lethal consequences."

While the healthcare policy outcomes are looking grim, the supposed political imperatives are fueling the desires of Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill to produce a victory that President Obama can tout as healthcare reform. Consider this quote from “a prominent Democrat” in the August 10 edition of Time magazine: “Something called health-reform legislation will pass. The political consequences of not passing anything would be too great.”