Newsmen believe that news is a tacitly acknowledged fourth branch of the federal system. This is why most news about government sounds as if it were federally mandated -- serious, bulky and blandly worthwhile, like a high-fiber diet set in type.

There was also a hunger strike in front of the National Press Club, which seemed an odd place to have a hunger strike (a cocktail fast, maybe). Although the Bangladeshis were savvy enough to know to know that if you're going to pester journalists, don't go to where they work: You'll never find them there.

Adam Smith's huge failure was the fact that he did not foresee the industrial revolution.

Mike Kelly [from The Atlantic] called me up and said he could pay me less money.

East Germany was so total in its totalitarianism that everything was banned which wasn't compulsory.

Violence is interesting. This is a great obstacle to world peace and also to more thoughtful television programming.

Soldiers are not policemen, and it's very unfair, even for those soldiers who have some police training, to burden them with police duties. It's not what they're trained for, or equipped for.