A CENTER-CUT, NO-FAT REVIEW OF WHAT WAS SAID THIS PAST WEEK BY FOLKS THE WORLD OVER AND RIGHT AT HOME "If you’re a Southern conservative and you can’t make it in South Carolina, it’s over.” - CNN analyst, Bill Bennett on Fred Thompson’s Tuesday announcement that he’s retiring from the presidential race.
“This is an important step in the right direction. Every night in Los Angeles County, there are more than 10,000 homeless children, many living in conditions unfit for human habitation.” - David Snow, executive director of Upward Bound House, pleased by the Culver City Council’s decision to approve the conversion of the SunBay Motel, on Washington Boulevard, into an emergency shelter for homeless families.
“That’s a no-brainer. Actors need writers. You know scripts don’t write themselves. I’m here because this part is so well-written.” - Amy Ryan, best supporting actress nominee for “Gone Baby Gone,” on why she won’t attend the Oscars ceremony if writers are still on strike.
“To this day, I feel it. To this day, it really challenges my spirit.” - Wilma Ellis, on watching her mother enter a café only to exit and receive her food from the back because she was black in the 1930s. Ellis was one of two keynote speakers during the annual community celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day at the SGI-USA World Headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard.
“It had to do with breastfeeding, which is the only thing I’m paranoid about, more than giving birth.” - Pregnant actress Jessica Alba, on a recent dream about her baby.
“Our forefathers fought and died in order to give the public (the right) to redress our grievances to picket on taxpaid sidewalks and this is what I’ve done.” - Pamela Feodin, regarding Santa Monica’s new ordinance, which will enforce a 50-foot buffer zone between protesters and their targets. Feodin is one of the protesters who demonstrated outside UCLA Professor Freimer’s house over alleged animal testing.
“She says she’s OK, so no problems. All that picture shows is what everybody knew anyway.” - Mitch Winehouse, father to singer Amy Winehouse, on pictures released this week of the troubled singer smoking from what appeared to be a crack pipe.
“Between all the allegations for Hillary serving on the Wal-Mart board, and Sen. Obama working for a slumlord, I was proud to represent the grown-up wing of the Democratic Party last night.” - Presidential candidate, John Edwards to supporters during a rally Tuesday in Conway, South Carolina, the night after the contentious debate between Obama and Clinton. - Mark Gold, the president of Heal the Bay, criticizing the L.A. County Board of Supervisor’s adoption of a voluntary program encouraging grocers to curb the use of plastic bags. The program is only enforceable in the unincorporated areas of the county.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 26, 2008. Read the original PDF.