Quotes From Around Yon Blogosphere

30-foot high sculpture appears to dwarf London's St Paul's Cathedral

The Bush administration displayed an admirable and all too rare mixture of diplomatic creativity, flexibility, patience and follow-through in the North Korea deal.

-- THE NEW YORK TIMES

Sometimes, in the rush of current events, important stories, stories significant to each and everyone of us in our daily lives, are ignored. The war, GOP corruption and sex scandals, death by Blackwater, MoveOn's "General Betrayus" v. Limbaugh's "phony soldiers," "Did Hillary cackle?", Bush's mangled English, which Washington DC pundit is most out of touch, Britney losing her kids, ad nauseam, dominate our current news cycle. Yet, often other, just as important events, the ones most relevant to the vast majority of Americans, go little noticed or reported upon by the media.

Case in point: Last year, about this time, the EPA announced it was going to tighten air quality standards. A good thing, yes? Did Bush finally did something right? Well, not exactly.

-- STEVE D

What did the administration buy with the resignations of Karl Rove and Alberto Gonzales? Apparently, they bought a get out of jail free card. Whereas, previously, Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy had insisted he would not hold hearings for attorney general nominee Michael B. Mukasey until he got all his subpoenaed documents, now he appears ready to go forward.

-- BOOMAN

There are those in our own country too who today speak of the "protection of country" – of "survival." A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient - to look the other way.

Well, the answer to that is survival as what? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult!

Before the people of the world, let it now be noted that here, in our decision, this is what we stand for: justice, truth, and the value of a single human being.

-- JUDGE DAN HAYWOOD

The secret authorization of brutal interrogations is an outrageous betrayal of our core values, and a grave danger to our security. We must do whatever it takes to track down and capture or kill terrorists, but torture is not a part of the answer - it is a fundamental part of the problem with this administration's approach. Torture is how you create enemies, not how you defeat them.

-- BARACK OBAMA

Despite a bloody government crackdown on pro-democracy activists in Myanmar, Chevron and other oil giants continue to operate in the country, paying billions in taxes and fees that support Myanmar's repressive regime.

-- AVNI PATEL

Before his departure, CPA chief Paul Bremer issued 100 Orders to dramatically restructure Iraq's economy to fit free-market ideals. And no Iraqi, including future elected officials, can undo them.

-- ANTONIA JUHASZ

The City of Boston installed surveillance cameras in some high-crime areas like Chinatown three years ago, and now they’re citing two murder cases in which those cameras played a key role to justify the installation of even more cameras.

But in point of fact, it isn’t efficacy that’s driving the camera surveillance boom in police work. It’s conservatives and their demands for low-taxes.

-- MICK ARRAN

Limpballs is not a victim. He is a cruel, vicious and venal little man with a drug problem who tries to make himself feel more important by putting down people who have no way to defend themselves against his slurs. From his "phony soldiers" remark to comparing a wounded veteran to a suicide bomber, this man has repeatedly stepped over the line of common decency. America being what she is, his remarks concerning race have been ignored or glossed over, but you can't exhort people to support the troops while blowing bullshit out your other orifice.

-- DEB

Paramount Vantage is delaying the release of The Kite Runner to get its three schoolboy stars out of Kabul, Afghanistan.

-- DAVID M. HALBFINGER

As if the mainstream media didn’t have enough trouble navigating the uncharted realm of digital innovation, they are losing many of the young, technologically astute employees who could be their guides.

"What am I doing here?" a talented young designer and programmer working at a publishing company asked me recently. "These guys don’t get it. I’ve got to get out. I’m just wasting my time."

-- ALAN D. MUTTER

An earlier version of this article misstated the location of a 2005 sexual encounter between Stephon Marbury of the Knicks and a team intern. Mr. Marbury testified that it took place in his truck, not in the trunk of his car.

-- THE NEW YORK TIMES

Photograph by The Associated Press