Portside

REWIND - A Week of Quotes and Cartoons

SUNDAY

Quote of the Day
June 16, 2013

'This is an incredibly cheerful and celebratory day, and you've picked as your speaker someone whose most famous book has the title `The End of Nature.' There are moments when I think my role in the world is essentially to be a professional bummer- outer. ...

'We're here at the 50th Eckerd commencement - if we don't get it right, the 100th commencement won't be right here because this will be underwater.'

Bill McKibben, environment activist
writer and co-founder of 350.org

New York Times
June 16, 2013
 

Toon of the Day

Go Get 'Em
Joel Pett - Lexington Herald-Leader

MONDAY

Quote of the Day

'But further war only makes the war worse. Denying the president, Congress, and the war lobby a popular mandate is not only possible, but would be a significant restraint in complicating the path of escalation. As the bloodbath expands, it will once again be critical for domestic progressive groups - the AFL-CIO, NAACP, Sierra Club, etc. - to decide where they stand: in the fray or on the sidelines? After all, Obama's promised turn to "nation-building at home" is on the line.

'Lyndon Johnson's fatal mistake was in believing he could deliver on pledges of both "guns and butter." He learned too late that he could not. Domestic progressives will be completely out of line with their constituents' priorities if they remain silent as another president is pushed into war.'

Tom Hayden
blog
June 14, 2013
 

Toon of the Day

http://tinyurl.com/kr3vxhu
War in Syria
Jeff Danziger

TUESDAY

Quote of the Day

'In Syria, the Obama administration seems to be stumbling back to the future: An old-fashioned proxy war, complete with the usual shadowy CIA arms-running operation, the traditional plan to prop up ostensible "moderates" whose prospects are doubtful and, of course, the customary shaky grasp of what the fighting is really about.

'This will not end well.'

Columnist Eugene Robinson
Washington Post
June 18, 2013
 

Toon of the Day

Arms
Martyn Turner

WEDNESDAY

Quote of the Day

'The clock is ticking on student loan interest rates. The rates for federally-backed student Stafford loans will double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent on July 1. And what has Congress done to help these already struggling students? Absolutely nothing. Student debt now totals $1 trillion, and Congress is still deadlocked when it comes to preventing an increase in the interest rate on student loans.'

Jane Yurechko
Campaign for America's Future
June 19, 2013

Toon of the Day

Musical Chairs
Tom Toles - Washington Post

THURSDAY

Quote of the Day

'After all, imagine what would happen if we found out that the vast majority of manufactured goods have secret surveillance devices embedded within them that are controlled by the People's Republic of China Ministry of State Security. That'd certainly lead to a rethinking of the basic case for free-ish trade between the U.S. and China. By the same token, there was already a preexisting political controversy in Europe about the possible need for tougher regulation of tech companies' handling of their users' data. A month ago, I would have said that the would-be regulators would being a little bit ridiculous and I think that was also the perception at elite levels in Europe. But it's now clear that there's nothing ridiculous about it. If you're Dutch or German or Italian or Brazilian or Indian you want your government to step in and do something to make sure our government isn't gaining access to all your e-mails and then spreading them around to a sprawling cast of thousands of operatives and contractors.'

Matthew Yglesias
SLATE - Moneybox
June 20, 2013
 

Toon of the Day

Drones in the Yard
Bruce Plante – Tulsa World

FRIDAY

Quote of the Day

'It is dangerous to have a technology-empowered government capable of amassing private data; it is even more dangerous to privatize this Big Brother world.'

Gary Hart, former U.S. senator and
president, of Hart International, Ltd.

blog
Huffington Post
June 21, 213
 

Toon of the Day

Big Brother
Signe Wilkinson

SATURDAY

Quote of the Day

' We created the computers to free the people up, give them instant communication anywhere in the world, any thought you could share it freely. That it was going to overcome a lot of the government restrictions. We didn't realize that in the digital world there are a lot of ways to use the digital technology to control us, to snoop on us.  In the old days of mailing letters, you licked it, and when you got an envelope that was still sealed, nobody had seen it. You could have private communication. Now they say because it's e-mail it cannot be private, anyone can listen.'

Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak
Common Dreams
June 21, 2013
 

Toon of the Day

Neo-con Pain
David Horsey - Los Angeles Times