Wednesday, November 09, 2005

NOTABLE QUOTES #4

"According to the Treasury Department, from 1776-2000, the first 224 years of U.S. history, 42 U.S. presidents borrowed a combined $1.01 trillion from foreign governments and financial institutions, but in the past four years alone, the Bush administration borrowed $1.05 trillion."

"The seriousness of this rapid and increasing financial vulnerability of our country can hardly be overstated," said Rep. John Tanner (D-Tenn.), a leader of the Blue Dog Coalition and member of the House Ways and Means Committee."

"No American political leadership has ever willfully and deliberately mortgaged our country to foreign interests in the manner we have witnessed over the past four years," said Tanner. "If this recklessness is not stopped, I truly believe our economic freedom as American citizens is in great jeopardy."

Melanie Hunter,
CNSNews.com, Senior Editor, November 4, 2005

"Seventy-two percent of the public believe oil companies gouged gas prices in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, according to an ABC News poll. Four out of five Americans support a tax on windfall profits to benefit alternative energy sources, the Civil Society Institute recently found. "The polling numbers are so bad for Washington Republicans that there are only two groups less popular than they are right now," the Cato Institute's Jerry Taylor recently told CNBC's Lawrence Kudlow, "Oil companies and mass murderers."

Ari Berman,
"Oil Tycoons Grilled on Windfall Profits", The Nation, November 9, 2005

"These days, Americans suspected of no wrongdoing can suddenly find themselves caught up in FBI surveillance operations."
"It's as easy as saying "national security letter."
"Using this little-noticed but potent tool, the FBI can demand, for example, that an Internet provider, bank or phone company turn over records of who you call and e-mail, which websites you visit, how much you spend, where you work, fly and vacation, and much more. No judge has to approve the demand, a common check required on more typical subpoenas.
You'd never learn about the secret intrusion, either. It's all classified."
USA Today, November 9, 2005

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