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REWIND - A Week of Quotes and Cartoons

MONDAY

Quote of the Day
March 10, 2014

'I continue to believe that the most important voices in
this debate are being left out. Mr. (Paul) Ryan, as
Chair of the Budget Committee, as refused to allow
people living in poverty a chance to testify at his
hearings. And while I have arranged to have those
stories and testimonies inserted into the record, what
we really need is for everyone to come to the table to
discuss how to eradicate poverty in America.

'In addition, I have a bill, HR 2182, The Half in Ten
Act, which would set a goal of ending poverty in our
country, with the initial goal of cutting it in half in
ten years and ensure that we coordinate anti-poverty
spending on the federal, state, and local level. We can
eliminate poverty, if only we have the political will.
It will take political action and community support.'

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Ca.)
Huffington Post
March 10, 2014

Toon of the Day

Weird
Jeff Koterba
Omaha World Herald

TUESDAY

Quote of the Day

March 11, 2014

'Immigrant workers in the suburbs, especially the
undocumented, are accustomed to low wages and scarce
jobs. They are inured to the risk of wage theft and
exploitation. Indignities and danger are rife in a
dysfunctional system in which workers toil without hope
of legal status. But when the armed man who steals from
them is a police officer - this is a deeper and more
disturbing form of rot.'

Editorial
New York Times
March 11, 2014

Toon of the Day

On Time
M. Wuerker
Politico

WEDNESDAY

Quote of the Day
March 12, 2014

'The lingering fog about the C.I.A. detentions is a
result of Mr. Obama's decision when he took office to
conduct no investigation of them. We can only hope he
knows that when he has lost Dianne Feinstein, he has no
choice but to act in favor of disclosure and
accountability.'

Editorial
New York Times
March 12, 2014

Toon of the Day

Snooping
Mike Luckovich

THURSDAY
March 13, 2014

Quote of the Day

'The torture was widespread, vicious and conducted in
secret "black sites" around the globe. This is what is
being lost in the Beltway power struggle between Sen
Feinstein and the CIA. Lives have been ruined; some in
US detention died violent deaths at the hands of their
captors. In the grim American gulag at Guantanamo Bay,
hunger-striking prisoners charged with no crime, some of
whom have been cleared for release for more than a
decade, are subjected to vicious force-feeding and
torture techniques that date back to the Spanish
Inquisition.

'Let's hope Feinstein's indignation is not quickly
salved, and that the Intelligence Committee's oversight
of the sprawling US intelligence agencies is
invigorated, with real teeth. NSA whistleblower Edward
Snowden weighed in from political asylum in Russia,
saying, "We're seeing another `Merkel Effect', where an
elected official does not care at all that the rights of
millions of ordinary citizens are violated by our spies,
but suddenly it's a scandal when a politician finds out
the same thing happens to them.'

Amy Goodman
of "Democracy Now!"
The Guardian (UK)
March 13, 2014

Toon of the Day

Knowledge and Power
Tom Toles
Washington Post

FRIDAY
March 14, 2014

Quote of the Day

'... Now more than ever - beset as we are by outrageous
levels of inequality, political corruption and
environmental destruction - economists, politicians and
the broader public need to begin thinking outside the
box.

'The capitalist system has had more than 200 years to
get it right; isn't it more than reasonable, even
imperative, to broaden our discourse about economic
possibilities?'

Letter to the Editor
New York Times
March 15, 2014

Julie Matthaei Paul Zarembka,
professors of economics at
Wellesley College and the
University at Buffalo, SUNY,
respectively.

Toon of the Day

Recall
Pat Oliphant

SATURDAY
March 15, 2014

Quote of the Day

'[Tony] Benn warned early on that the acceptance of neo-
liberalism by all the main parties was creating, in his
words, "a crisis of representation". Today we live with
the consequences of that crisis. That's why, in recent
years, Tony's message has come to seem, to large
numbers, more pertinent, more forward-looking, than
anything on offer from the self-styled modernisers who
cast him as a "dinosaur".

'Benn was one of the great modern communicators of the
socialist cause. The tributes to his eloquence only hint
at what he did. He aimed always to clarify what seemed
obscure or puzzling, to make plain what was hidden. He
could delineate an injustice with a single phrase and
make an unconventional position appear the epitome of
common sense. In making his case he was concrete,
concise, and intelligible to all. He appealed to our
shared experience and aspirations. And he refused to be
deflected by media ruses.

'Of course, it was all lit up with Benn's warmth, humour
and generosity of spirit. His was a socialism of the
heart as well as the head, and no one who listened to
him or worked with him could doubt that.'

Courageous and Prophetic:
Tony Benn in the Early 1980s
By Mike Marqusee

ZNet
March 15, 2014
 

Toon of the Day

Complaint
Dave Granlund