Quotes & amp;amp; Notes

by Inlander Staff


About-Face? -- "[The U.S. should not act as though] we were an imperialist power, willy-nilly moving into capitals in that part of the world, taking down governments."


-- Vice President Dick Cheney on Meet the Press back in 2000, answering a question about why the first Bush administration didn't march on Baghdad to remove Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War.





Love Letter


"Dear Florida: Thanks for the war."


-- Sign seen at the anti-war protests in San Francisco on Jan. 19.





30 Points -- That's how far President George Bush's approval rating has dropped for how he is handling foreign policy since January 2002. The recent Wall Street Journal-NBC poll that traced this dive also found that three out of four Americans want Bush to prove his case against Iraq before launching an invasion.





35 Percent -- That's how many people, in that same poll, who said they expect Bush's $674 billion, 10-year stimulus plan -- mostly in tax cuts -- will be very or fairly effective at helping the economy.





Getting Some Answers -- We're happy to launch a "coffee break" page this week (check it out on page 48), and especially to include one of the great features in the alternative weekly universe. Kenneth Cleaver, Consumer Correspondent, writes real letters to real corporations or organizations and elicits real responses. From the NRA to the Poodle Society of America, there's one thing you can count on with Mr. Cleaver: He's real funny. Cleaver's missives are reproduced in a handful of weeklies, including Portland's Willamette Week, Philadelphia Weekly, the Las Vegas Mercury and the Hartford Advocate. Send your ideas to him at [email protected].





Getting Some Answers, Part II -- If your questions run a little deeper -- say, is there a Bigfoot? Or what makes all those contrails in the sky? -- you might want to show up for the first meeting of the Inland Northwest Society for Scientific Alternatives. Modeled somewhat after the Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, which formed nearly 30 years ago to debunk claims of ghosts, the Spokane society will be as much for fun as for anything else.


"We would talk about Bigfoot, but we really want people to be critical thinkers," says Larry Henderson, a founder of the group.


So if you need some explanations for things that are hard to explain, meet at EWU-Cheney's Science Building, Room 137, on Sunday, Feb. 2, at 2 pm. Or call 299-6778.