Quotable & Notable

“A sign of the times? Clinton turns 60 and Barry Manilow has to have work done on both of his hips.”

-- Scott Simon on National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition-Saturday

“The task you have given me is becoming nearly impossible.”

-- Winston Churchill writing to British Prime Minister Lloyd George in 1922. Britain had carved Iraq out of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, and Churchill was sent there to smooth the transition to a stable, independent country.

“You can send Marines back for a third or fourth time, but you have to understand you are destroying their lives.”

-- Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, reacting to news that the Marine Corps would begin calling reservists back to active duty on an involuntary basis

“Iraq ... is going to be like the Spanish Civil War, which was the harbinger of what was to come.”

-- Independent candidate for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut Joseph Lieberman finding parallels between the war in Iraq and last century’s struggle against fascism

“It’s about allowing God’s provisions to be available.”

-- Ryan Beiler of Washington’s Sojourners community, explaining his rationale for “dumpster diving,” salvaging discarded food from public receptacles

National Catholic Reporter, September 1, 2006