"...the Gaza withdrawal is a welcome first step, provided that is done with honorable intentions. The strengthening of Israeli settlements elsewhere understandably dampen the enthusiasm and raise suspicions. But it’s time to start thinking of the human price -- a price that has no dollar amount nor gets much attention."

"In the White House announcement ceremony, Bolton said, “It will be a distinct pleasure to be an advocate for America’s values and interests in the U.N., and, in the words of the U.N. Charter, to help maintain international peace and security.”
Only time would tell which of these goals Bolton would fulfill."

"It does not help addressing the problem of terrorism when someone like Thomas Friedman put all the blame for terrorism on the Muslim world and feel that the West might be justified for treating every “Muslim living in a Western society” as a suspect and “a potential walking bomb,” and in cracking “down even harder on their own Muslim populations.” Friedman conveniently forgets that Western governments must take responsibility for befriending brutal dictators throughout the Muslim world, and supporting the daily humiliation of Palestinians in occupied Ghaza and the West Bank."

"While we are busy with one struggle, it is difficult for us to devote any attention to the next one and prepare for it. But we must do that. The Moment of Truth is approaching rapidly - and in five short weeks it will be here."

"One thing is certain, if you tried smearing Judaism in general with the bloody excesses of Israeli settlers or charming figures like the late bloodthirsty Rabbi Kahane and his followers, you'd call down a firestorm of anti-Semitism accusations on your head. Yet this is precisely what Friedman feels perfectly free to do with Islam."

"Terrorism has become a profitable industry in the modern world, and the amount of money being earmarked for security, along with the fear and sometimes-irrational emotion that results from being terrorized, all make anti-terrorism, and terrorism industries ripe for corruption."

"During the very close 2004 presidential election, the Catholic Bishops did everything but officially endorse the ultra-War Hawk, George W. Bush, Jr. I suspect, but I can’t prove, that “a devil’s pact” was hatched between the clerics and the Bush-Cheney Gang. The clerics would push for Bush’s victory and he would oppose abortions and appoint an anti-choice judge to the Supreme Court at the first opportunity. Is John G. Roberts, Jr. that jurist?"

"The talk of American Neo-cons is more tempered, but it comes from exactly the same moral and intellectual root stock. Social Darwinism and worship of force are conspicuously on display in Washington. Rather than hating Christianity, the Neo-cons have harnessed it, at least a substantial American portion of it, to their purposes."