In their words
A selection of quotations from people in recent news stories, big and small
“A deer is 100 times more dangerous than a wolf if you look at the number of people killed.”
– U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist Ed Bangs, in reaction to Idaho state Rep. Phil Hart’s proposal to let citizens sue the federal government, which protects wolves in Idaho, if someone is killed by one.
“These numbers and predictions are really just politics and not good economics.”
– Avista Corp. chief economist Randy Barcus, cautioning against taking job-creation estimates from the federal stimulus bill literally.
“There is a perception that this is going to balance our budget. It’s not.”
– Idaho state Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, co-chairman of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, after Gov. Butch Otter said he’ll wait until late March before offering conclusions about how to spend Idaho’s $600 million to $1 billion share of the stimulus package.
“The whole point is to go and hide in a big chunk of ocean and not be found. They tend to go around very slowly and not make much noise.”
– Jane’s Fighting Ships editor Stephen Saunders, a retired commodore of the British Royal Navy, after a freak collision between British and French nuclear submarines while they were on routine patrols in the Atlantic Ocean.
“I’ve never had anyone come in and say, ‘My child keeps putting parts of his motorcycle into his mouth.’ ”
– Sports bike dealer Margie Hicklin-Krsul, of Butte, where it’s now illegal to sell off-road machines geared for children younger than 12 because some parts have too much lead.
“It couldn’t be a bigger turnaround from what the Bush administration tried to force on them at the last minute.”
– Sierra Club spokesman Josh Dorner, applauding the Obama administration’s willingness to consider reversing a Bush administration decision not to limit carbon dioxide emissions from coal plants.
“So finding species at both ends of the Earth – some of which don’t have a known connection in between – raises a whole bunch of evolutionary questions.”
– Plankton ecologist Russ Hopcroft of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, about a new marine census showing a surprisingly large variety of species living in polar waters, dozens of them common to both the Arctic and Antarctic regions.
“In 2012 there will be presidential elections, and unless God decides otherwise, unless the people decide otherwise, this soldier is already a candidate.”
– Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, following approval of a referendum to eliminate term limits that would have prevented him from seeking re-election.