2010's Top 40 Obnoxious Quotes

John Hawkins at RWN has up his list for the most obnoxious, outrageous, sophomoric, idiotic, absurd, cretinous, daft, foolish, half-witted, inane, moronic, silly, sophomoric, stupid quotes of 2010. Some of my favorites:

My fear is that the whole island (of Guam) will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize.
-- Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga)

We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it."
-- Crazy Nancy

Whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower....
-- Barack Obama

Tainting the tea party movement with the charge of racism is proving to be an effective strategy for Democrats. There is no evidence that tea party adherents are any more racist than other Republicans, and indeed many other Americans. But getting them to spend their time purging their ranks and having candidates distance themselves should help Democrats win in November. Having one’s opponent rebut charges of racism is far better than discussing joblessness.
-- Prof. Mary Frances Berry, Penn. State

In practice, US officials seem to know better than to indulge in the patriotic myth that our constitution is the greatest system of government ever devised.
-- Matthew Yglesias

White folk done took this country. You're in their home, and they're gonna let you know it....You are not now, nor have you ever been, nor will you ever be a brother to white folk and if you do not realize that, you are in serious trouble.
-- Jeremiah Wright

We are owned by propagandists against the Arabs. There’s no question about that. Congress, the White House, and Hollywood, Wall Street, are owned by the Zionists. No question in my opinion. They put their money where there mouth is…We’re being pushed into a wrong direction in every way.
-- Helen Thomas

I know how the "tea party" people feel, the anger, venom and bile that many of them showed during the recent House vote on health-care reform. I know because I want to spit on them, take one of their "Obama Plan White Slavery" signs and knock every racist and homophobic tooth out of their Cro-Magnon heads.
-- The Washington Post's Courtland Milloy

There are many more. Do see them all.

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Jules Crittenden & Reflections On The End Of A Decade

With today marking both the end of an interesting year and the end of an interesting decade ("interesting" used here as in the ancient Chinese curse, "may you live in interesting times"), we will see many a retrospective penned in the coming days. The first one very worthy of note comes from the master of sarcasm, Jules Crittenden, though sarcasm is notably absent from his reflective piece this day. He started this decade - and the turn of the millenium - in the Holy Land. Here is a small portion from his post decrying a decade that began with hope, and ended with change for the worse, "God Damn The Naughts:"

. . . Up on the ancient mound of Armageddon, we could see Nazareth to the east, Mount Tabor, and the pass down to the Mediterranean. We were surrounded by, in fact atop the scene of many ancient and terrible battles. It wasn’t for nothing John of Patmos in his cave settled on Armageddon as the place where the world would end. It had been doing that on a regular basis there for centuries.

The sky was afire, blood red and terrible overhead. It looked great, very apocalyptic. But Garo needed someone to shoot amid the ancient wreckage of 16 cities, and I needed someone to quote. I caught a flash of black in the corner of my eye, a caped figure bounding across the old fallen stones at some distance.

“Look, it’s the Angel of Death,” I said. “Let’s go get him. . . .

Do read his whole post. It is an excellent essay.

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