Quotable & Notable

“There’s a whole cottage industry of people selling this idea … that we’ve lost our values, and that we’re deeply divided as a nation. It’s not true.”

-- University of Michigan sociologist Wayne Baker, whose book, America’s Crisis of Values, says the United States isn’t torn by a “culture war”

“The president has given us a standard. Why oppose it when we can judge him by it?”

-- Ellen Goodman writing in The Boston Globe about George Bush’s inaugural address

“He will be an evil-battling, earth-saving -- though reluctant -- superhero with a great sense of rhythm.”

--Comic book mogul Stan Lee describing his next animated character, which will be based on and voiced by Beatle Ringo Starr

“They had to do something or they would have had egg all over their face. Now it’s just on their chest and their legs.”

-- The Rev. Louis Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition saying “The Passion of the Christ” should have received Oscar nominations for best picture and best director and that nominations for makeup, cinematography and original score were consolations

“I’m sure the hip Sikh daughters will find these a hit.”

-- Ad copy on the Web site for clothing vendor HahaPanties, which was selling a white thong that featured the Khanda, a Sikh religious symbol, on the front. The company withdrew the item after the World Sikh Council complained.

National Catholic Reporter, February 11, 2005