"For the uninitiated, '46' is the worst thing anyone can say to you at JFK. It means: Pack a rucksack, bring a machete, pack a lunch, hire a Sherpa, bring a hand-held-GPS, and before you set off for the gate, make sure your affairs are in order. I've seen some of the best minds of my generation wasted in pursuit of Gate 46. It's so far away, it's actually in Montauk, at the tip of Long Island. You can feel the seasons change while you're walking there. Babies are born, governments fall, Madonna changes her look.

Brian Williams on his blog The Daily Nightly

"A purchased a flatpack liberal democrat party from Ikea but when I got it home I found it was missing its nuts and the instructions were in French."

comment on the Guardian's Digital Election 2010 coverage

"One wonders where our nation would be if we all bailed out of imperfect institutions."

letter to the Editor of the New York Times on Evan Bayh's retirement

"It has been quite a journey for Ted Olson. He’s gone from being the conservative lawyer who helped crown W. by winning the Bush v. Gore case before the Supreme Court, to being a lesbian."

Maureen Dowd on the California Prop 8 debate

"Social workers and religious leaders have urged tighter gun laws, more vigilance of Internet sites and more social bonding in this small Nordic nation known for its high suicide rates, heavy drinking and domestic violence."

New York Times coverage of 31.12.09 Espoo shootings

"Mr. and Mrs. Salahi, who are known in the area to have a taste for polo and fine wine, are aspiring reality-show celebrities."

from a NYTimes article about the state dinner crashers

“Dangers await only those who don't react to life.”

Mikhail Gorbachev in Berlin in 1989, as quoted in an interesting piece on On the Media this week

"Indeed, it’s time for us to dust off James Baker’s line: 'When you’re serious, give us a call: 202-456-1414. Ask for Barack. Otherwise, stay out of our lives. We have our own country to fix.'"

in Thomas Friedman's column in the NYTimes

"Palin Emerges in Asia with Speech to Investors"

Washington Post headline September 23, 2009