EthixBytes
A Collection of Quotes, Comments, Statistics, and News Items

“GREED EST BONUM.”
Motto of TrumpUniversity online school website, according to cartoonist
G. B. Troudeau in Doonesbury.

“Never dilute the oil of anecdote with too much of the vinegar of truth.”
A favorite “Foyism” (quote of Foy Valentine) by Brooks Hays, Baptist Statesman and Congressman.

“He was an unwavering advocate for Texans in need. He has provided strong ethical leadership and is a reminder to us all that government exists to serve the people.”
Former Texas House Speaker Pete Laney, in response to the death of Phil Strickland, who was director of the Christian Life Commission of Texas Baptists for 25 years.

“The greatest threat to the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. is a ‘cradle to prison’ cycle in which a 4-year-old black boy today has a 1-3 chance of going to jail.”
Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children’s Defense Fund.

“I learned that when you are willing to make sacrifices for a great cause, you will n ever be alone.”
Coretta Scott King.

“The New Testament says the church is the body of Christ, but for the last 100 years the hands and feet have been amputated, and the church has just been a mouth. And mostly it’s been know for what it’s against.”
Purpose Driven Life author Rick Warren.

“President Bush will ask Congress for another $120 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, bringing the total cost to about $440 billion—expenses for Iraq are about $4.5 billion a month. That’s enough to buy General Motors Corp. 33 times.”

“For war, billions more, but no more for the poor.”
Rev. Joseph Lowery, co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference at the funeral of Coretta Scott King.

“This is about justice and equality because there is no way we can look at what’s happening in Africa and conclude that we would let it happen anywhere else.”
U2 lead singer Bono at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington.

“Figures compiled by the Iraqi Health Ministry put the civilian death toll for 2005 at 4024—1695 Iraqi police and soldiers were killed last year. The Brookings Institution estimates that 5696 to 9934 civilians were killed in Iraq in 2005.”
Associated Press, 3/3/06.

“With confidence that it is the mouthpiece for God, it endorses candidates, supports constitutional amendments and mobilizes campaigns to keep poor souls hooked up to feeding tubes. . . . that is the style, and I think, the sin of the Christian right.”
John Danforth, Episcopal priest and former U.S. Senator (R-Mo).

“Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither.”
Benjamin Franklin quote hoisted by two-dozen students at GeorgetownUniversityLawCenter during a speech by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales defending domestic eavesdropping.

“The First Amendment requires no less and allows no more than this: that the government accommodate religion without advocating it; protect religion without privileging it; lift burdens on religion without extending it a benefit.”
Brent Walker, Exec. Dir. of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.

“The expense can damage the show’s credibility.”
Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, in response to “fair and balanced” Fox News not revealing that it paid $14,000 for a private jet to ferry indicted congressman Tom DeLay for an exclusive interview.

“Experts point out that less than a fifth of all oil imports come from the Middle East . . . the largest sources of U.S. petroleum [are] Canada, Mexico, Nigeria, and Venezuela.”
Los Angeles Times response to the President’s pledge to cut Middle East oil imports by 75% over the next 20 years.

“For Google’s leaders, who made billions in a free and open society, to become Beijing censors and agents of repression is unconscionable.”
U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA), criticizing high-tech companies that collaborate with the Chinese government to suppress dissent.

“La esperanza muere ultima. Hope dies last. If you lose hope, you lose everything.”
Jesse de La Cruz, retired migrant farm worker, quoted by Studs Terkel.

Updated Friday, December 08, 2006