What’s the difference between an investment banker and a pigeon?
A pigeon can still make a deposit on a BMW.
How do you define optimism?
A banker who irons five shirts on a Sunday.
What’s the best way to make a small fortune these days?
Start off with a large one.
What’s the capital of Iceland?
About $3.50.
Now, I understand what politics is all about. I know how you can go after one another, and that’s good. But I think this goes too far. . . . And it is permitted to be said such things as, “Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.” Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, “He’s a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists.” This is not the way we should be doing it in America.
Former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell (Ret.) on Meet the Press
More from Powell:
I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son’s grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards–Purple Heart, Bronze Star–showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn’t have a Christian cross, it didn’t have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life. Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourself in this way.
Amen.
[CHRIS WALLACE:] Senator, as a cold political calculation, hasn’t Governor Palin become a drag on your ticket?
MCCAIN: As a cold political calculation, I could not be more pleased. She has excited and energized our base. She is a direct counterpoint to the liberal feminist agenda for America.
The oldest Sweetie, Mack, has added competitive running to his sports lineup this fall.
Saturday he competed in his first 5K (3.1 miles), coming in second in the Kindergarten-Grade 2 (K-2) class. He finished in around 27 minutes, a great achievement.
So he went and played baseball, getting two hits and driving in two.
Then he went to another running competition. (I can’t imagine where this kid gets his obsessive-compulsive behavior.) There he won. As his mother wrote when sending this photo she took at the finish line last evening: “You think this kid was tired of coming in second?” (Click image for larger version.)
But the funny thing is, Mack may not have finished second in the morning 5K after all. It turns out the winner in the K-2 group was a 39-year-old man (all these things show up on the internet after the event). I suppose it’s possible to be in kindergarten, first or second grade at age 39, but it seems awfully unlikely. Results pending verification of age and school.
For his part, Mack is 7 and in the second grade.
It may have seemed audacious for Obama to start his campaign in Springfield, invoking Lincoln. We think, given the opportunity to hold this nation’s most powerful office, he will prove it wasn’t so audacious after all. We are proud to add Barack Obama’s name to Lincoln’s in the list of people the Tribune has endorsed for president of the United States.
We may one day look back on this presidential campaign in wonder. We may marvel that Obama’s critics called him an elitist, as if an Ivy League education were a source of embarrassment, and belittled his eloquence, as if a gift with words were suddenly a defect. In fact, Obama is educated and eloquent, sober and exciting, steady and mature. He represents the nation as it is, and as it aspires to be.
“Taxes are always a redistribution of money. ”
Colin Powell, after his appearance on Meet the Press. (He endorsed that Senator from Illinois.)
Powell continued:
“Most of the taxes that are redistributed go back to those who pay them, in roads and airports and hospitals and schools. And taxes are necessary for the common good. And there’s nothing wrong with examining what our tax structure is or who should be paying more or who should be paying less, and for us to say that makes you a socialist is an unfortunate characterization that isn’t accurate.”
Quotes via The Washington Monthly.
