Quotes of the day

No matter what technology and science bring us, the dystopias of our future will always be of our very own, all-too-human design.--TED

And as long as we continue to pay attention, we lose. Because we all tuned in to her stupid wedding special and allowed her to be a star, Kim Kardashian is the 1 percent and we are all bottom-feeders.--Molly Lambert

Finally, I am part of a 1%!--Cav, who did not nor does not pay attention

The President has imposed on himself a ban on taking contributions from lobbyists.--David Axelrod, President Obama's close advisor

No the President has not done this. He still takes contributions from lobbyists. He still has lobbyists raising money for him. A few examples: Lawrence Rasky and Joseph Baerlein, Chairman and President of the lobbying firm Rasky Baerlein, are Obama donors. Google public affairs manager Ginny Hunt and Blue Shield public policy VP Tom Epstein are Obama donors. Obama donors Mark Boatwright, James O'Neill and Soyla Fernandez list themselves on Obama's FEC filings as "lobbyists." There are plenty more. What Obama has done is tried to exclude registered federal lobbyists from donating. Of course, lobbyist registration is basically unenforced on the federal level, so that's a cosmetic rule.--Tim Carney

He doesn't, uh, hire lobbyists.--David Axelrod

The most accurate description for this Axelrod statement --  a colloquial term for the manure of a male cow -- is not fit for a family-friendly blog.  At least 50 former lobbyists have taken senior positions in the Obama administration. This includes multiple cabinet secretaries. The former lobbyist for the Swiss Bankers Association is Obama's general counsel at the IRS. A former lobbyist for Goldman Sachs is Obama's Treasury Department Chief of Staff.  I think Axelrod knows everything I've blogged above. That's why it's hard to avoid the conclusion that David Axelrod is lying.--Tim Carney

Defense attorneys, embracing the new rights, did not bring forward evidence of their clients' innocence but instead sought to suppress evidence of their guilt. Whatever the other merits of the procedures, they were bound to make the justice system do a worse job of separating defendants who deserve punishment from those who don't.  Mr. Stuntz powerfully argues that such decisions have perversely worsened inequality in the criminal-justice system. The Miranda rule, for example, gives sophisticated suspects—mainly recidivists and white-collar defendants—the ability to "lawyer up" and avoid questioning altogether. Many other suspects—including the innocent but poor—waive their rights and receive less protection than they did before Miranda.--PAUL G. CASSELL

The scandal isn’t what’s illegal -- but what’s legal.--Nicole Gelinas

Being a former Goldmanite [like Jon Corzine] has long been considered the ultimate calling card. But, in some cases, it has proved to be a liability: A series of blunders by former senior Goldman executives raises questions about whether Goldman’s secret sauce can actually be exported. Think John Thain. Or Robert Rubin. Or J. Chris Flowers.--Andrew Ross Sorkin

If the practical effect of any rescue proposed by Greece is to force Greece to "live within its means," the logical response is to repudiate debt. If you are living within your means, you don't need access to global credit markets. Still differently: If you owed $40,000 in credit-card debt you could not afford to pay and decided to swear off ever incurring more debt, why not declare bankruptcy? You don't need good credit if you aren't going to use it.--John Carney

Credit-rating companies routinely award higher rankings to debt issued by banks and corporations that pay them the most, a conflict of interest that may escape Congressional efforts to change the way they do business. Bonds from countries and cities that pay about half as much as issuers of less creditworthy debt are “rated more harshly,” according to a study by scholars at Indiana University in Bloomington, Washington, D.C.-based American University and Rice University in Houston. Sovereigns rated A had no defaults over a 30-year period, compared with 1.8 percent of corporate bonds and 27.2 percent of securities backed by debt such as mortgages and loans assigned that ranking, the study of Moody’s Investors Service data said.--John Detrixhe

Businesses give back to society every day by pleasing their customers and employing their employees. There's nothing business owes other than selling the best product at the best price.--William Frezza

With a long early is just early. With a short early is plain wrong.--John Hempton

Dangers lurk, no question about it. The thing we just stress is keep climbing; we don't want to hang on. Like a rock climber, it takes more energy to hang on than to keep climbing.--Jim Harbaugh

We are atoms connected to create big, awkward, intelligent animals, animals complex in construction, equipped with minds, hearts, and the like. Spinning secretly around us is an intricate system of interconnected physical laws, completely dependent upon one another for effectiveness. And we are in the middle of it; actors on Shakespeare’s stage, madmen in Nietzsche’s streets, accidents in Sagan’s universe, children in God’s creation.--Don Miller

Information is cheap; meaning is expensive.--George Dyson