Quote(s) of the Week (June 29, 1997)

On No Laughing Matter...

"In California, everything is s-o-o-o touchy-feely. They are into this silly outcome-based education, where it doesn’t matter if she know how to spell her name as long as she knew who she was. And it didn’t matter if she knew that two plus two was four as long as she had enough self-confidence to ask how to get ‘to the conclusion of the problem.’ What a crock! She was going to end up as dumb as a mudflap."

--Comedienne Tracey Ullman, on why she returned to England to educate her daughter. From Dana Mack writing in "The Assault on Parenthood: How Our Culture Undermines the Family" (Simon & Shuster). Washington Times for June 23, 1997. Page A2.

 

On the Meaning of Antichrist...

"As an Antichrist, he says, he’s not an enemy of God but an enemy of the institution of Christianity and blind obedience."

--Neil Strauss, writing about Marilyn Manson, in "Stage Fright: Is the Religious Right Lying About What Goes On At Marilyn Manson Concerts?" in the June 26 issue of Rolling Stone. Washington Times for June 23, 1997. Page A2.

 

On Our Cultural Heritage...

"In a way home schooling is an answer to what one scholar of the family has identified as the consistent failure of contemporary education to convey to children ‘the abiding cultural heritage which gave meaning to their parents’ lives.’"

--Dana Mack, writing in "The Assault on Parenthood: How Our Culture Undermines the Family" (Simon & Shuster). Washington Times for June 25, 1997. Page A2.

 

On Simple Truths...

"When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years."

--Attributed to Mark Twain, by Reader’s Digest , September 1937. From Focus on the Family’s Citizen magazine, For June 23, 1997. Page 8.

 

On Veto Power...

"A system which permits one judge to block with a stroke of a pen what 4,736,180 state residents voted to enact as law tests the integrity of our constitutional democracy."

--U.S. Circuit Court Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, writing for a three-judge panel that overturned a lower-court judge’s injunction against California’s Proposition 209. That voter-approved measure rolls back affirmative action programs. The New York Times, April 9, 1997. From Focus on the Family’s Citizen magazine, For June 23, 1997. Page 8.

 

On Bizarre Reproduction...

"My right to clone myself is just as basic as my right to make love to whomever I want in my bedroom."

--Randy Wicker, founder of the Clone Rights United Front – the world’s first homosexual pro-cloning group. Out, May 1997. From Focus on the Family’s Citizen magazine, For June 23, 1997. Page 8.

 

Wasn’t That the First Amendment?

"I believe that the court is making it clear we need to pass a constitutional amendment to protect religious liberties to re-establish what I believe the Founding Fathers intended."

--Newt Gingrich on CNN’s "Evans & Novak." Washington Times for June 29, 1997. Front page.

 

On No Excuse...

"Learned professors from the Ivy League write psycho-babble about the ‘deeper’ significance of gutter talk in rap music. Journalists and politicians turn riots and hate crimes against Asian storekeepers in ghetto neighborhoods into ‘uprisings’ against white oppression. When black students have low test scores, this becomes a reason to launch all-out attacks on the tests…. One of the worst things you can do to a human being is to exempt him from criticism and find excuses for whatever he does."

--Thomas Sowell, nationally syndicated columnist. Washington Times for June 29, 1997. Page B1.