"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." ---July 26, 1920, H.L. Mencken in The Evening Sun.

"Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception." ---Mark Twain.

"One of the big secrets of finding time is not to watch television."---Bob Keeshan, "Captain Kangaroo."

"Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations' mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression that we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land."
-- George H. W. Bush, in his 1998 memoir, "A World Transformed."

"I was ecstatic they re-named 'French Fries' as 'Freedom Fries'. Grown men and women in positions of power in the U.S. government showing themselves as idiots."---Johnny Depp.

"You can't run a country by a book of religion/ Not by a heap, or a lump, or a smidgen. . ." ---Frank Zappa.

"I have this incredible dream that one day, one minute, the whole world, at the same time, will decide it's time for peace and love. So I just do my part. And I think that's all you can do. I'm not telling anyone else what to do. I do this and that's the end of my story."---Ringo Starr.

"What you do is of little significance. But it is very important that you do it."---Gandhi

"This clumsy comedy would be hilarious were in not for the fact of our kids getting slain daily and $4 billion getting squandered per month."
---The Man in the Yellow Hat.

"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats." - Albert Schweitzer.

"Peace and the survival of life on Earth as we know it are threatened by human activities which lack a commitment to humanitarian values."---The Dalai Lama

"We must become ourselves before someone else does." ---Robert Hunter

"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell

"fas-cism (fbsh'iz'em) n. A system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with belligerent nationalism."
---The American Heritage Dictionary (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1983)

"Methinks thou hast in blood stepped too deep. For to go forward will be as onerous as to retreat."-- Shakespeare.

"I want my husband home. I am so on edge. When they first left, I thought yeah, this will be bad, but war is what they trained for. But they are not fighting a war. They are not doing what they trained for. They have become police, in a place they're not welcome."
---Luisa Leija, whose husband is a soldier in Iraq.

"If there's one thing you can say about mankind, there's nothing kind about Man."---Tom Waits.

"There's nothing wrong with being cynical. I think that's the best way you can be. If you're not cynical, what are you? You're bent over." ---Frank Zappa.

"Just look at us. Everything is backwards. Everything is upside-down. Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the major media destroy information, and religion destroys spirituality."---Michael Ellner

"I believe that journalism is all about writing in the sand and whistling in the wind. The wind blows the sound away, and the sand flows over the writing. A journalist has impact on his time, if he's lucky." ---Bill Moyers.

"I think that if you had to choose between playing football or doing art, you'd probably be better off doing art, because if everything does disappear, the only thing that is going to be worth digging up later on is the art, not the footballs. To me that would be a better way of spending your waning hours, and that is what we're talking about."---Frank Zappa.

"A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt......If the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have patience until luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at stake."---Thomas Jefferson, in a 1798 letter.

"I want to see the sea rise over Tokyo and the NTV tower become an island. I'd like to see Manhattan underwater. I'd like to see when the human population plummets and there are no more high-rises, because nobody's buying them. I'm excited about that. Money and desire---all that is going to collapse, and wild green grasses are going to take over."---Hiyao Miyazaki.

"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music." Nietzsche.

"People who are compelled have to flaunt their alleged sexuality have a personality disorder."---Jack Oakes.

"The problem with history is, the folks who were there ain't talking. And the ones who weren't there, you can't shut 'em up." ---Tom Waits

“Never mind how we got to be how we are. Let’s work out a way to preserve what’s left of this planet.”---Jane Goodall.

"It's so far out, the way out is in."--George Harrison.

"The only unchangeable certainty is that nothing is certain or unchangeable."---John F. Kennedy.

"Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives."---John Lennon.

"Lennon represented life, and Mr. Nixon and Mr. Bush represent death."
---Gore Vidal.

"Truth remains a novelty, and disposable for opportunists."---Drew Harrison.

"This is not here."---Yoko Ono.

“You know there’s only twenty five people in the world, and twenty four of them are hamburgers.”---Captain Beefheart.

"And Zen there were none." ---Charles Bogle.