REWIND - A Week of Quotes and Cartoons
SUNDAY
Quote of the Day
March 31, 2013
'The question now is whether Mr. Obama will again propose to cut the COLA when he unveils his budget next week. We think he should not do so. The president might want to seem like he is willing to compromise by renewing his call for a COLA cut. But Republicans already spurned his offer and are unlikely to take him up on it now. They are more likely to paint him as a foe of Social Security, which would be reinforced by Democrats' opposition to the cut.
'Even if Mr. Obama avoided those pitfalls, a COLA cut is a bad idea, as we will explain in this editorial. It also is a distraction from the real problems of Social Security.
'... It is imperative that the frenzy that passes these days for deficit debate not engulf Social Security. There are rational and acceptable fixes to the program that could preserve it for generations to come, if political will can be found to enact them.'
Editorial Board
New York Times
March 31, 2013
Toon of the Day
Tom Toles - Washington Post
MONDAY
Quote of the Day
' March Madness is as much a cultural event now as a sporting one, and so it is easy to lose the brute physical facts of the game—the exertion, the torque, the sweat—amid all the other noise: our brackets, our alma-mater nostalgia, our fatigue at the same four ads running in a loop. Ware’s injury was as bleak of a reminder as there could be that the games going on inside our televisions are actually being played by real people somewhere else—fragile people; young people. It is tempting, just a few hours after watching Kevin Ware snap his leg in two places, to feel a twinge of shame at the ever-present but low-lying notion that sports entertainment still has too much of the gladiator ring to it.
'This twinge is real, and shouldn’t be ignored—especially regarding college sports, which is a rotten corporate undertaking posing as a benign educational enterprise. We need to speak up for college athletes, but it would be reductive to ignore the other things that we saw on Sunday evening: the courage of the players—both for Louisville and Duke—who went back out on the court after one of their peers had been maimed; the brilliance of Russ Smith and Peyton Siva as they led their team in the second half; the joy of the Louisville players celebrating at midcourt once the rout was over; the sight of Louisville’s Chane Behanan wearing Ware’s jersey on the sideline in tribute. These players are risking their bodies for our enjoyment. But they are also doing it for themselves, and for each other.'
Ian Crouch
The New Yorker
blog
April 1, 2013
Toon of the Day
Tom Toles – Washington Post
TUESDAY
Quote of the Day
'During his first run for the White House, in 2008, Mr. Obama said he would not cut Social Security. I hope he remembers that promise and keeps it.
'I also hope he follows up on another suggestion that he made during that campaign and gets behind my legislation to raise the cap on income subject to the payroll tax, extending the life of Social Security for generations to come without the need to cut benefits or raise taxes on the middle class. 'Yes, we must move forward on deficit reduction, but it must not be done on the backs of some of the most vulnerable people in this country.'
Senator Bernard Sanders (Ind.- Vt.)
Letter to the Editor
New York Times
April 2, 2013
Toon of the Day
Good Show
Mike Luckovich
WEDNESDAY
Quote of the Day
'The current choice before the gop is stark. Can the party, led by a Marco Rubio, Bobby Jindal or Chris Christie, reinvent itself from the top down in order to encompass the minimal share of American ethnic and racial diversity that henceforth will be required to occupy the White House? Or will it entrench itself further behind a maximalist programme that celebrates the philosophy of the bunker, of massive resistance to providing New Deal safety nets for future generations of colour? If growth returns and some share of increasing productivity feeds through to wages (the wager that underlies Obama's willingness to gamble the most valuable heirlooms of the New Deal), neither option matters: the Republicans will probably go the way of the Whigs. On the other hand, if the economy stagnates or declines, then the `brutish future' that Thomas Edsall predicts, where the `two major parties are enmeshed in a death struggle to protect the benefits and goods that flow to their respective bases', is already foreshadowed by the recent political class struggles in Red America.'
Writer and political activist Mike Davis
`The Last White Election?'
New Left Review 79
January-February 2013
Toon of the Day
THURSDAY
Quote of the Day
'Or New York City, where a Democratic state senator has just been indicted on a charge of trying to bribe his way into the Republican nomination for mayor. Through the alleged services of a Republican city councilman, who has represented himself as a member of both the Tea Party and a tribe of Theodish pagans, making him what The Village Voice called "the first openly elected heathen in the nation."
'O.K., the heathen part was pretty good. However, dwelling on this story will only cause New Yorkers to revisit the fact that three of the last four full-time majority leaders of the New York State Senate have wound up under felony indictment.'
Columnist Gail Collins
New York Times
April 4, 2013
Toon of the Day
Gary Trudeau
FRIDAY
Quote of the Day
'In a stunning indicator of how the job market is faring, a McDonald's franchise in Winchedon, Mass., has just posted a job opening for a full-time cashier -- but insists only college graduates need apply. Also, only those with one to two years of experience working with a register are encouraged to apply.
' "Get a weekly paycheck with a side order of food, folks and fun," the jobdiagnosis.com advertisement reads. "[Seeking] friendly people ... to smile while serving lots of guests daily".'
Washington Times
April 5, 2013
Toon of the Day
Jim Morin - Miami Herald
SATURDAY
Quote of the Day
'President Obama's plan to cut Social Security would harm seniors who worked hard all their lives. Under this plan, a typical 80-year-old woman would lose the equivalent of three months' worth of food every year. That's unconscionable.'
Anna Galland, executive director,
MoveOn.org
New York Times
April 6, 2013
Toon of the Day
Serving
Ben Sargent
Spread the word