“If there’s no action before 2012, that’s too late. What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future. This is the defining moment.”

“If some of these answers seem radical or far-fetched today, then I say wait until tomorrow. Soon it will be abundantly clear that it is business as usual that is utopian, whereas creating something very new and different is a practical necessity.”

“We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community… Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.”

Climate change “might well turn out to be the single most significant challenge confronting the United States – and, indeed, human civilization”

“It’s impossible to know what is possible. So go for it!”

“What a great time to be born! What a great time to be alive! Because this generation gets to completely change this world.”

“What many now call ‘growth’ will soon be seen as accelerated decay.”

“To be frank, this doesn’t really have a ‘Together We Can’ type of attitude.”

“Of all forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane”

“I say that…secrecy is a form of corruption, even when it is not used to hide the illegal enrichment of those who govern. I say that leaders who abuse power by keeping the public from knowing how public funds are spent show a corrupt attitude. This lack of transparency is an threat to democracy as lethal as stealing public funds…”

“Silverstein details the ballooning of the practice called “earmarks” in the federal budget. As it is true of much of what is wrong with our politics, the practice is not new — pork barrel politics has a venerable history — but it is spiraling out of control. The same thing has happened with gerrymandering, also an ancient practice, and campaign contributions. They’ve always been part of politics, it’s just that now they are so much more so. Indeed, what have been just deplorable flaws in our system are now eating the whole system — the flaws are getting bigger than the functioning, with the result that serving the public interest is rapidly disappearing. . . . Folks, we are being eaten alive by corruption.”

“This is inside politics at its very worst, a sweetheart deal with tax breaks to the well-connected and wired.”

“Level-funded local aid cripples a local community"

"This is a great win for local rights in our communities. Now we can plan for the use of surplus properties in a way that is congruent with the needs of the local community."

“The Senate floor debate was not inclusive in the sense of the public being allowed any meaningful clue as to what was going on. One used the term “floor debate” guardedly, since most amendments – and there were many – were debated and decided on off the floor, then amended or rejected en masse, most often without explanation.”

“This is about revenue, but it’s not about appropriate land-use planning.”

“The major difference between the DiMasi budget debate and Finneran’s was there was somewhat less floor debate this year. That continued a trend of shunting public policy discussions out of public view; important decisions about amending the budget are made not on the House floor, but in Room 348, where the public is not allowed.”

“This sounds like a community wrecker.”