Peter McCluskey's politically related quotes

A post of mine to Extropians list concerning the rights of networked minds.
"There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose."
(John Maynard Keynes, _The Economic Consequences of the Peace_,(1920) p. 236).
It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.
- The Federalist Papers
hardcore signature virus: "As a juror in a Trial by Jury, you have the right, power and duty to acquit the defendant if you judge the law itself to be unjust."
"Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority," - Justice John Paul Stevens
"We can't be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans ..." -- Bill Clinton (USA TODAY, 11 March 1993, page 2A)
From: IRVINMJ@wsuvm1.csc.wsu.edu (Michael J. Irvin, WSU, 509/335-0437)
Subject: Less is More
The New York Times notes that the Lord's Prayer contains 56 words, the 23rd Psalm 118 words, the Gettysburg Address 226 words, and the Ten Commandments 297 words, while the U.S. Department of Agriculture directive on pricing cabbage weighs in at 15,629 words.
To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Theodore Roosevelt (1918)
From _Reforming the Forest Service_, by Randall O'Toole (1988), pp. 80-82:
The spotted owl is such an important issue that most California forests incorporated spotted owl "yield tables" into their FORPLAN computer models. These tables purport to track owl habitat quality according to the age of timber, so that FORPLAN can predict the number of spotted owls produced at various levels of timber harvesting. But the spotted owl yield tables are skewed to actually encourage timber harvesting and rapid liquidation of old-growth.
In the Sierra National Forest, the owl is projected to find suitable habitat in any timber older than 60 years. Optimum habitat is supposed to be found in timber between 120 and 230 years. Timber older than 230 years declines in habitat quality. As a result, the designation of land as wilderness is projected to reduce spotted owl habitat because the trees grow older than 230 years. To maintain habitat, the yield tables indicate that old-growth must be cut - a claim that contradicts the biological needs of old-growth-dependent species.
...
Throughout the country, wildlife concerns, whether for old-growth, big game, or diversity, are being used as a mandate to clearcut forests.

Last updated 2002-10-28. return