Thus showing why Murdock should be blocked from the already too extensive media ownership he possesses...

Sadly, this is the case and neither the quote nor reality limit this to "the government"... just as guilty are the Radical Religious Right and Big Business and The Media (just one faction of Big Business) as is the Liberal Left. This gets a low score as I'm not sure that it is an "important" element in the sense of "desirable" or just "one with important effects".

The state does not live at the expense of everyone, rather it lives to serve the common needs for the benefit of all... for some that will be to provide help when they are down and out, for others it will be to find the power in numbers that one can not fulfill... and yes, for some it will be to be called upon to help fund this common good... when will they understand that it is only through the stability of society that they have benefited, that this is nothing more than a part of the cost of doing business... that it takes money to make money... those who would oppose this are the greedy underbelly of society, the war profiteers... the equivalent of the money changers that were thrown out of the holy places.

Too bad we define evil so differently, eh?

but it is nothing without food, water, shelter, basic health care... if we can not care for others to insure that they too enjoy these basics of life, then we have no liberty, we are but slaves to our own materialism.

We should first learn to treat our first home with respect before we abandon it only to quickly distroy more homes... just look at how we are already leaving junk all over the moon, Mars, Earth orbit... we are litterbugs!

Ah, but the 60s & 70s showed us the same thing... force without reason... even while some great moves were made (the moon walk, the "great society", etc), we found ourselves in a "war" that could not be won fighting it for all the wrong reasons... hum... just like so much that King George W has done to us today!

... and Logan's statement outlines exactly the problem... those who cry how evil it is that we as a society believe that it is good and proper to make sure that all of society have the basics of life (food, water, shelter, health care, education for our young)... rather they seem to believe that it is more Christian to bless the rich and kick the poor and down trodden...

Hog-wash... bad politics may be, King George W's politics may be, the GOP of the 90's politics may be, but this does not mean that all are... politics is no more or less than what the players choose to make of it... and we are a part of that play...

Crooked politians are nothing unique...

Untrue... there are both impeachments and recalls in our laws to allow us to change a government quicker than that. Also, 4 years is not the magic number at all, every member of the House is up every 2 years and in the Senate they get 6 on rolling 2 year schedule... and then there is the Judicial branch where we give them a lifetime... all in all, a totally bogus and unfunny quote.

True in business too!

Or is it the art of making the grunts feel like they are possible... or perhaps it is the art of compromise... or perhaps just the art of making you feel like a winner when you are being taken advantage of... so many possibilities.. ;-)

Sadly, what sells is that least common denominator that the populous will elect...

Which is really more of an indictment of the people they serve than of the politician, for the politician will only sell what the populace will buy...

... unfortunately, our country's leadership has at times been on the wrong side of that struggle... Impeach Jester Cheney and King George W (in that order)!

Majority or minority, it is always appropriate to pause and reflect upon your views and beliefs... and then act upon the resulting views and beliefs.

Right on EGL

right on EGL.

mindless babble...

You got it Robert! Mindless babble.

Their influence can be "dominant and controlling" even if they are fools and completely incompetant as individuals... look at how this tribe put King George W into power and the chaos and loss of life and liberty that has brought to so many (last estimate I saw was that over 600,000 more people have died in Iraq than would have if we had not invaided them without provocation).... Idiots!

Politics are often about and centered upon real issues of real people, hardly irrelevancies.

There is nothing to admire in that, true or not.

Right on Jack!