W
ORDS . . .
Collected 1997 . . .
"Your profession is not what brings home your paycheck. Your profession is what you were put on earth to do. -- With such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling."
Artist Vincent Van Gogh.
(The Arts & Entertainment Channel series, Biography; 28 November, 1997)
"It beats thinking. I'll tell you that."
Playwright/Author David Mamet answering the question: "Why do you write?"
(The Charlie Rose Show; 11 November, 1997)
"That was madness. You're never going to bring one of those down with a handgun."
Actor/Director Sean Penn on why he regrets shooting at the "paparazzi" helicopters that hovered over his Malibu wedding (to pop star Madonna) in the early 1990s.
(The Charlie Rose Show; 22 September, 1997)
"Half the people in the world have never made a phone call. . . . Half."
William Esrey Chairman and CEO of Sprint Telecommunications.
(The Charlie Rose Show; 18 September, 1997)
"On a scale of one to ten, I'm on a six. - But as you know, my life has been characterized by optimism."
United States Senator John McCain - who spent five and one-half years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam - on the chances that any real campaign finance reform will occur soon. He is co-sponsor of the McCain-Fiengold Campaign Finance Reform Bill which would prohibit soft money, outlaw Political Action Groups and impose voluntary spending limits in exchange for discounted television and postage rates. Ranking members in the Senate have refused to bring the bill to a vote.
(CNN Headline News; 13 September, 1997)
"I think it's terrible for government to be setting minimum wages. I am market oriented. For the government to set minimum wages is anti-market, not free market."
Republican member of the United States House of Representatives Jennifer Dunn.
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer; 2 September, 1997; p. B1)
"Everything I did, I did on a commercial basis."
Liberian General Butt Naked, leader of Liberian Warlord (now President) Charles Taylor's Butt Naked Battalion which was responsible for particularly brutal acts during Liberia's 1996 civil war. The battalion played soccer in the street with severed heads, filmed the mutilation, torture and killing of former president Samuel Doe, and sacrificed a child before each battle. General Butt Naked, who has since converted to Christianity and preaches peace, always stripped naked except for a pair of boots, before leading his troops (who sometimes wore women's clothing) into battle.
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer; 4 August, 1997; p. A2)
"I'm not ready to join ol' trigger yet."
Eighty-four year old American Icon Roy Rogers, reassuring his wife of 49 years, Dale Evans, after he was rushed to the emergency room of a California hospital when he turned pale and started shaking. Trigger was Roy's faithful horse. Roy had Trigger stuffed and put on display many years ago, after the animal's death from old age.
(The New National Enquirer; 5 August, 1997; p. 41)
"It's just like Palm Springs without the riffraff."
Actor Robert Mitchum in 1949, describing what jail was like after spending two months there for possession of marijuana.
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer; 2 July, 1997; p. D6)
"I would have it banned if I could."
26 year-old Rasheeda Ali on her wedding day, talking about the sport that she blames for the twitch in her father's hands and the slur in his speech. She is the daughter of boxing legend Muhammad Ali.
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer; 13 June, 1997; p. A4)
"The main problem I would have with the Clintons is a complete lack of character and commitment to anything. - Except that they have appeared to be committed and on a straight tack and course on the raising of their daughter."
Glenn Stanton, of the Colorado-based group Focus on the Family -- apparently losing his focus.
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer; 3 June, 1997; p. A9)
"It's the truth we're after. Being able to ask questions helped us keep our attention."
Jury Foreman David Green, who participated in rare and new procedure in jury-trials in which jurors, as well as the judge and the attorneys, are allowed to question witnesses.
(Seattle Times; 2 June, 1997; p. A6)
"The frightening part was telling Barbara."
72 year-old George Bush, former U.S. President, describing his recent parachute jump.
(Seattle Times; 2 June, 1997; p. A6)
"Our generation, like the one before us, must choose. Without the threat of the Cold War, without the pain of economic ruin, without the fresh memory of World War II's slaughter, it is tempting to pursue our private agendas - to simply sit back and let history unfold. We must resist the temptation."
U.S. President Bill Clinton, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Marshall Plan at The Hague in The Netherlands.
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer; 29 May, 1997; p. A2)
"Market values, ripped out of a broader context of socially shared norms, declare that opportunism, cutting corners, taking advantage are not only legitimate but virtuous, since squeezing out the maximum possible price that the market will bear maximizes efficiency."
Robert Kuttner, author of the book Everything for Sale.
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer; 27 May, 1997; p. A11)
"Human Rights is, at its heart, about the rule of law. A government that can arbitrarily violate the liberty of its people cannot be trusted to abide by the rules of contract or the rights of companies."
U.S. Congressman Richard Gephardt, speaking before the Detroit Economic Club about U.S. trade with China.
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer; 27 May, 1997; p. A2)
"I don't understand this 1920's mentality that always says an employer is going to exploit an employee. That's the whole presumption of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which was drafted in another era."
U.S. Senator Kay Baily Hutchison, a Texas Republican.
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer; 11 May, 1997; p. A3)
"If I'd known Bob Dole was that generous, I'd have invited him over for coffee."
U.S. President Bill Clinton, a week after Former-Senator Dole loaned House Speaker Newt Gingrich $300,000 to pay for Gingrich's ethics fine.
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer; 27 April, 1997; p. A6)
"Ash Wednesday and K-Mart. That just wraps us up."
U2's front man Bono, at the press conference (held in a K-Mart on Ash Wednesday, 1997) launching the band's much-hyped latest album Pop.
(ABC/Disney's network special: A Year In Pop; 26 April, 1997)
"Hispanics are reconquering the United States with their culture, their language, their food; and with sheer force of numbers."
Neil Foley, Associate Director of the Center for Mexican-American Studies at the University of Texas.
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer; 20 April, 1997; p. B10)
"We don't know whether things have been locked up in laboratories that could save lives."
Dr. David Blumenthal, of Massachusetts General Hospital, commenting on Knoll Pharmaceutical's six year suppression of scientific research showing that its patented drug, Synthroid, performed no better than generic drugs. Knoll Pharmaceutical (now owned by BASF AG) funded the research in 1987 and included a clause in its contract with a University of California researcher that required her to obtain the company's explicit permission in order to publish the results of the research. When the results became known, Knoll threatened to sue the researcher if she went public with the data. The University of California at San Francisco failed to back its researcher and she was forced to find pro bono legal counsel. The Journal of the American Medical Association finally published the results in April, 1997. Eight million Americans with health problems would have been saved $356 million a year during the six-year period that this research was suppressed. One in twenty faculty members doing health-related research at universities report that disclosure of the results of their research has been delayed due to "undesired results."
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer; 16 April, 1997; p. A7; See also The New York Times; 16 April, 1997; p. A1)
"Information on the Internet is subject to the same rules and regulations as conversation at a bar."
Dr. George Lundberg, editor of The Journal of the American Medical Association.
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer; 14 April, 1997; p. C1)
"I asked [my doctors] if I'd be able to play singles tennis and they said I could. That made me very happy since I haven't played in five years."
Newsman Walter Cronkite, eight days after undergoing a quadruple heart bypass operation.
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer; 9 April, 1997; p. A3)
"I'm involved in too many things. I have a Web site I'm working on."
Convicted murder Charles Manson, explaining (to the parole board) why he's not interested in being paroled at the moment.
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer; 28 March, 1997; p. A3)
"It only takes one "yes." And a thousand "no's" just sort of . . . fade to black."
Film Director Scott Hicks, who made the movie Shine; explaining what it's like to persevere and prevail.
(Nightline; 24 March, 1997)
"I think to attempt to limit human knowledge is demeaning to human nature. What nonsense. What utter, utter nonsense to think that somehow we are going to hold up our hands and say stop."
U.S. Senator Tom Harkin, commenting on President Clinton's temporary ban on human embryo research, and Republican Senator Christopher Bond's proposal to make the ban permanent in light of recent disclosures about the cloning of mammals.
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer; 13 March, 1997; p. A6)
"Just remember, it's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog."
Jim Barksdale, Netscape's Chief Executive.
(Seattle Times; 11 March, 1997; p. A9)
"The United States brags about being the model of democracy . . . although everyone knows that this 200-year-old American democracy remains a democracy for the rich."
Commentary by China's official Xinhua News Agency, in response to the United States' criticism of human rights in China.
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer; 5 March, 1997; p. A2)
"We just did a survey that showed . . . something like 65 percent of the [American] people wouldn't vote for the First Amendment if it was up for a vote today."
- Peter Prichard
, director of the "Newseum" project (a journalism museum) in Roslyn, Virginia.
- (Seattle Post-Intelligencer; 3 March, 1997; p. A3)
- The First Amendment reads:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
"I always thought He lived here, but I didn't actually know. Now I do."
Florida pastor Bill Brack of the Bushnell Assembly of God church, where "God" received a letter from American Family Publishers notifying "God" that "God" was a finalist in American Family's $11 million sweepstakes.
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer; 28 February, 1997; p. A9)
"There'd be no need for men."
Dr. Ursula Goodenough, a cell biologist at Washington University in St. Louis, posing one possible scenario for the future, using cloning technology.
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer; 24 February, 1997; p. A1)
"Typically, a shiny new graduate of the University of Oregon has a broad education, a promising future and one of America's last tied-died wardrobes."
Columnist David Sarasohn.
(The Oregonian; 31 January, 1997; p. E10)
"This was wanted directly by Jesus."
Bishop Angelo Scola, head of The Vatican's prestigious Lateran University, explaining why women can't be ordained as Catholic priests.
(The Oregonian; 25 January, 1997; p. A4)
"For years MTV [. . . ] has been leading its followers into destructive habits like smoking, profanity and pornography. Now, with the help of Rock the Vote, it's entered an even uglier realm -- politics."
High school student and Oregonian (newspaper) intern Lane Demas, writing in an 'In My Opinion' column.
(The Oregonian; 23 January, 1997; p. C9)
"Well, it's the first time a secretary of state used the ladies room."
Madeleine Albright United States Secretary of State, leaving a restroom at one of President Clinton's inaugural festivities.
(The Oregonian; 22 January, 1997; p. A2)
"About half the country voted for President Clinton, half for Republican members of Congress. This is not so much a "moderate" country, as a country evenly divided . . . [.]"
columnist E.J. Dionne, Jr. excerpted from the Winter 1997 issue of The Brookings Review.
(The Oregonian; 21 January, 1997; p. B9)
"And no, I'm not going to be joining ZZ Top. You know they can't play my stuff. It's too complicated."
Godfather of Soul James Brown.
(The Oregonian; 20 January, 1997; p. C6)
"I made a pact with myself a long time ago: Never watch anything stupider than you. It's helped me a lot."
Entertainer Bette Midler, explaining why she has banned television from her home.
(The Oregonian; 20 January, 1997; p. A2)
"All literature is political."
LeVar Burton, actor, director, and novelist.
(The Oregonian; 20 January, 1997; p. A2)
"I feel glad and I feel lucky. History is being made."
San Francisco AIDS patient Milahhr Kemnah, the first person to buy marijuana legally in the U.S. in 60 years.
(The Oregonian; 16 January, 1997; p. A16)
"In my life I've seen a lot of people die from firearms, and I don't like them. Once the bullet leaves the barrel, the fun is over."
Dennis McLeod, who's fourteen-year-old son Tim was killed by his fourteen-year-old best friend when a BB-gun game between the two boys escalated and Tim's friend went into his home, retrieved a .22; came back outside and shot Tim through the eye.
(The Oregonian; 14 January, 1997; p. B3)
"What good is a bachelor's degree? I need to get the best grades I can so I can get into the best law school I can. I chose law because of the potential to make money."
University of Southern California freshman Brian Yates, answering an academic survey question on the value of education.
(The Oregonian; 13 January, 1997; p. A6)
"I like trying [to get pregnant]. I'm not so sure about childbirth."
Jim Carrey's wife Lauren Holly, considering the pros and cons of procreation.
(The Oregonian; 11 January, 1997; p. D8)
"I don't mean to be a diva, but some days you wake up and you're Barbara Streisand."
Courtney Love, musician, actress, widow, and mother.
(The Oregonian; 11 January, 1997; p. A2)
"If these claims that the settler is psychologically ill - which is something that is repeated every time there is a criminal act against Palestinians - are true, why do [the Israelis] insist on arming these psychological patients?"
- Yasser Abed Rabbo
, Palestinian minister of information; two days after an Israeli solider opened fire on defenseless Palestinian shoppers in Hebron.
- (The Oregonian; 3 January, 1997; p. A5)
You can reach me by e-mail at: williamf@drizzle.com
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Words . . . 1998-1999
More Words? . . . Collected 1996
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