People From New Jersey

"The most important function in the Bush presidency was the spreading of fear."

"“Economic conservatives,” Kevin Phillips notes, “often warm to sects in which a preoccupation with personal salvation turns lower-income persons away from distracting visions of economic and social reform.”"

"Of all the multitude of threats in the world today, the greatest peril comes from religious fanatics who believe that a violent, vindictive god is on their side."

"That is the essence of ChristianityLite. Its standard for what to take literally from a putatively inerrant Bible boils down to this: Anything that doesn’t seem too difficult is to be taken literally. The rest of it? Give me a break! All that stuff about turning the other cheek and loving our enemies and being nonviolent and helping the poor—some damned liberal subversive must have sort of, like, infiltrated that stuff into the Bible, you know?"

"Actually, though, there is an all-out war on Christianity under way. Its generals include—in addition to Coulter and, prior to his dishonorable discharge from the Army of ChristianityLite, Haggard, and, until his death, Jerry Falwell—Pat Robertson, James Dobson, and the whole Unheavenly Host of televangelists and megachurch moneychangers posing as preachers who have expropriated the moral assets of Jesus and turned them to their own purposes and their own profit. They never met a dollar they didn’t like. They prefer profits to prophecy and pretend that Jesus did, too. They favor the rich over the poor and invert Jesus to contend that he did, too. They favor war over peace and lie by saying that Jesus did, too. Thus do they make war on Jesus while disingenuously complaining that others are making war on Christianity."

"News Flash: Self-indulgence is not what Jesus taught."

"They are so certain that they know God’s mind because they equate their own minds with that of God."

"A wonderful archbishop of Canterbury once said that it is a mistake to believe that God is chiefly, or even mainly, concerned with religion."

"America is simultaneously the most professedly Christian of the developed nations and the least Christian in its behavior."

"It would be easy to argue on the basis of the teachings of Jesus that “Christian capitalist” is an oxymoron."

"Much as the Nazis created an “Aryan Jesus” because the real Semitic Jesus was not to their liking, the Lite Christians have created an American Jesus or a Muscular Jesus or a Consumerist Jesus because they don’t like the real nonviolent/turn-the-other-cheek/love-your-enemy/meek-shall-inherit-the-earth/easier-for-a-camel-to-go-through-the-eye-of-a-needle-than-for-a-rich-man-to-enter-heaven/drive-the-moneychangers-from-the-temple Jesus. They simply re-create Jesus in their own image."

"Jesus’ strong declaration against divorce notwithstanding, marriages in the United States break up at a greater rate (more than 50 percent) than they do in secular Europe (around 40 percent). Divorce rates within the United States are higher in the so-called “red states,” which usually vote Republican and have a higher percentage of Lites in their populations, than they are in the “blue states,” where Xians generally comprise a smaller percentage of the population."

"Both the Christian Right and the Muslim Right condemn freedom, seek to impose rules from their highly selective reading of their holy book on everyone, believe in theocracy, want to keep women subordinated, generally oppose the modern world, believe killing “infidels” is part of God’s plan—the list of agreement goes on and on. About the only things they disagree on are what name to call the God they distort and who the infidels are."

"Here is the fundamental message of the fun-damentalists: Say “Jesus” and then you don’t have to do Jesus."

"Those who promote this “no faith at all” do not follow Jesus; they lead him around in directions they want to go, using him as an advertisement for their political, social, and cultural agendas, which generally run counter to his. The “Christian” Right has reduced Jesus to the ultimate celebrity endorsement."

"Because in a certain way Daniel Pearl is still alive—because of the emotion his death has aroused, and also because of the values everyone can feel, indistinctly, he incarnated—he is this living antidote to all the modern stupidities about the war between civilizations and worlds."

"In other words, I bet on a Daniel Pearl busy gathering proof of Pakistan’s collusion between the leading rogue states and terrorist networks of the world. My hypothesis is that he was writing an article on Pakistan’s duplicitous game, whereby it posed on one hand as a good ally of the United States, and on the other lending itself, through its most prestigious scientists, to the most fearsome operations of nuclear proliferation. To put it simply, was Pearl breaking the taboo? Entering this sinister world of mad scientists and Islamist fanatics, taking steps into this dark night where secret services and nuclear secrets exchange and share their shadowy realms, working on this highly sensitive and explosive material—was Pearl violating the other major prohibition that weighs upon this part of the world?"

"There’s the Danny—I’ve read his articles—who even if he is proud of America, thinks that America and, in general the West, has an obligation to the world, owes the world something. There is the diehard humanist who, in spite of everything he sees and has seen in his life, continues to want to believe that man is not a predator to other men, but a brother, a kindred spirit. There is the journalist who through his reporting goes unflaggingly towards the forgotten of the world, pays his debt, our debt, the debt of the hordes of smug and overfed Westerners who couldn’t care less about world poverty and don’t consider themselves “their brothers’ keepers.”"

"We need to re-establish our dialogue with our Orthodox brothers and sisters, especially of the Antiochian tradition. It existed under Archbishop Tawil and now it is time to resurface it. We are the same people-broken by history, and we will not throw the blame on each other. The break was caused more by political disunity. We need to become closer so that when unity takes place, we are one Church. Do I believe unity can take place? Most assuredly. If God could break the clutches of communism overnight, he can certainly break the pride of many overzealous church leaders and bring back unity to His body. God calls men and women to religious vocations. And I believe he also calls married men to priesthood. We need to study this situation in our country and develop the proper formation for men who are truly deemed worthy of this call."

"In the face of crisis, I will choose unauthorized action over disastrous inaction."

"Weiner-Kutkh waved airily. “I seem to have been born lucky.” “Said every cheater who’s ever lived,” Caine retorted."

"Human, do you derive some strange pleasure by using different words to reiterate the same misperceptions?"

"When such leaders act in opposition to their sworn duties, they compound injustice with disgrace."

"Worse yet, he still had to remind himself that sensations—such as tonight’s skin-cooling sea breeze—were just a blizzard of electric impulses, tricking his brain, his nerves. Which, he had begun to fear, might not just be the endgame for Dornaani civilization. It could be in humanity’s future as well. Conceivably, those seeds were latent in electricity itself. Given how it ultimately expanded each individual’s sphere of contact and control, its utility was inseparable from the allure of its power. We summon heat and light without having to create it ourselves. We communicate across continents and oceans. We operate machines that labor in our stead. We keep opponents at a safe distance with remote sensors and drones. Is that how the long, subtle slide into speciate senescence began, that the more a species distanced itself from direct action, the more unfamiliar the natural environment became?"

"Whose tutelage led you into those fishless waters?"

"I guess that, living in a sanitized world, you’ve forgotten this basic lesson: if you want to stay free or stay alive, never play by your opponent’s rules. Particularly when your opponent is more powerful than you are. Do the unexpected. Turn on your pursuer. Attack the attacker."

"“Aren’t you even going to wish me luck?” “We do not believe in luck, Caine Riordan. However, I wish enlightenment unto you. In every passing second.”"

"“You mean, control my instincts?” “No, most of your species can learn to do that. The true challenge is whether you can control your predisposition to assume moral equivalencies where none exist.”"

"The reality, both now and historically, was that whatever the future held, change was always uneven in distribution and irregular in timing."

"And over the many months that followed, as Caine crept through both terrestrial and alien undergrowth on missions to reclaim some of the autonomy humanity had lost, he learned and relearned the prime lesson in common to all the shocks: That all assumptions, like all plans, or never more than a second away from a catastrophic collision with reality."

"“Damn it, Dad. You make me crazy.” “That’s part of my job as a parent. If I read the manual correctly.”"

"These matters should incite more urgent investigation than the technology you arrogated from your attackers. But like most primitive cultures, your reflex is one of stimulus and response: to focus entirely on the issues and actions of the moment."

"It was the oldest, most primal fear of humankind, inculcated by eons of brutal lessons which, titrated down into their purest form, became age’s invariable advice to youth: beware the things and places you do not know.Because out there, beyond the flickering ring of the tribal fire, on the unlit streets of concrete cities, in the unending depths of space—there lay an unquantifiable, unbounded potential for death."

"Battles are lost because a combatant stops fighting too soon; wars are lost because a combatant does not stop fighting soon enough."

"Your conjecture is reasonable but inaccurate."

"You are impetuous. But then again, you are human."

"“Is Glamqoozht just a place name or does it mean something?” “It translates imperfectly as Council Hub.” Riordan was guardedly hopeful. “Sounds like it’s a place to get questions answered and decisions made.” Unless, of course, it was like human capitals."

"Riordan surveyed the scene again. Knowing that it could not be other than perfect made it seem less remarkable, much in the way a constructed vista in a theme park could never quite compare with a less perfect one discovered in nature. This was merely a technological achievement, and the price of its perpetual perfection was its inability to inspire a sense of grandeur."

"“I could offer considerable inducements. I can arrange for a new mate who is, in all meaningful measures, superior to the one you are currently pursuing. You look unimpressed. Ah, multiple mates, then? Within reason, I am quite certain I can procure—” Riordan was careful to keep his interruption calm. “I am not interested in other mates.” “Ah. Well. I am also able to provide you with material riches. I believe your species persists in its obsession with gold? To use your idiom, I would pay you handsomely for any successful breeding activity. Even if you do not wish to stay afterward.” Riordan forced his molars to unclench. Uinzleej moved on to his next offer. “What else—ah! Many of your species enjoy hunting. This world is full of creatures you may kill for your gratification.”"

"Stupid creatures tend to be stubborn creatures."

"“It seems to me that you counted on the idiom of speech to mislead the Ambassador, to invite him to presume that they were not interested in hearing your discourse.” Riordan shrugged. “Guilty as charged. But there is a big difference between lying and using language that will trick the incautious. More importantly though, if the Ktor are going to wholly ignore the rules of fair and honest communication, then I’d say we’re on pretty firm ethical ground if we simply decide to play by the letter, not the spirit, of those rules.”"

"“Caine, neither of us has a choice in this matter. The orders must be obeyed. The full truth of what you found, of what your troops know and can testify to, is too destabilizing. It’s a delicate time, Caine. You, more than anyone else, should understand that.” “I do understand. I understand that the time has come to stop managing information and concealing the truth.”"

"After all, an agent on the inside of a rival organization was always worth more, operationally speaking, than a loyal servitor in one’s own."

"“Your rabble’s one unifying cry will be that there must be retribution. Most will call this ‘justice.’ A few of the most intemperate will also be the most honest; they will call it ‘revenge.’”"

"He is young—well, younger—and idealistic. Which is to say, foolish."

"And here are the wages you must pay in order to climb the political ladder, you foolish sod. You’ve got to do the dirty work that others have ordered. I’ve done it out of dubious patriotism. Let’s see if you’ll do it out of blind ambition."

"That’s one thing I’ve noticed about war, Richard: there’s always more than enough irony to go around."

"“Would anyone, even low-breeds, be so ingenuous to believe such a tale?” “Remarkably, yes. Their power to believe what they wish, if not given incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, is rather astonishing.”"

"“You would have been quite pleased if Hitler had won World War II. That would have made your job easier for you.” Sukhinin, whose family was said to have suffered horribly in his nations Great Patriotic War against the Nazis, wore a smile that was more reminiscent of bared teeth. Shethkador’s reply was almost casual. “Of course we would have preferred that outcome. You would have been preacculturated to our ways.” Downing raised an eyebrow. “So Adolf Hitler is your idea of an ubermensch?” “Hitler? A superior being? Fate, no. Do not mistake our approval of the ethos of a regime for admiration of its leader. Hitler was a weak, superstitious amateur whose profound insecurities and absolute in ability to perceive himself accurately ultimately caused the downfall of his project.” “How so?” “Is it not obvious? Firstly, he surrounded himself with those like himself; fanatics who were also cranks, individuals whose personal derangements or need for rationalizing their own inferiority led them to a psychopathic projection of their own feelings onto others. The true object of their exterminations was what they most feared and loathed in themselves; weakness, insufficiency, flaccidity, cowardice. They could not admit this, of course, so they protected the roots of their self-hatred by ensuring that these traits were not the overt criteria upon which their social extirpations were based. Rather, they demonized specific groups and then attributed these treats to them, thereby amplifying the political appeal of their movement by invoking traditional prejudices and stereotypes through suitably crafted propaganda.”"

"“How would you answer their demand for justice and vengeance?” “I would begin by insisting that justice and vengeance are different. Vengeance is often blind to reason: all it can see is the object it hates. Conversely, justice is blind to our preferences and prejudices; all it may see are the deeds and the conditions under which they were carried out.”"