Every year the NYT issues "quotes of the year", hardly newsworthy for us lot who generally ignore the list which is awash with Bush gaffes & gurglings. But this year is different because Bush hasn't even made the top ten & the number one quote goes to a story which excited our interest & in its own way became a milestone in extended policing issues. I refer of course to the taser-ing of a student who heckled John Kerry whose immortal line " Don't Tase me Bro! " not only gave us a new verb with which to enjoy the usual holiday season scrabble sessions but was watched on youtube by hundreds of thousands of people just like yourself.
The incident generated several articles on the newswire http://www.indymedia.ie/article/84270
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/84287 & is still referred to in our ongoing consideration of this weapon.
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Lauren Upton, a "Miss Teen USA" contestant got second place for her charming answer to the question "why can't one fifth of Americans locate the USA on a map?" :-
''I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don't have maps and I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and Iraq and everywhere like such as and I believe that they should our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S. or should help South Africa and should help Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future for us,'' = give the girl a tiara, & if you don't see why just read it again. Under the glaring spotlights she managed to outdo the very worst of our regular bar stool cliche mongering commentators.
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Third prize went to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's comment at the Columbia university debate he starred at for saying " 'In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country.'' I thought that was very thought provoking but in the comments to the report on that debate on this website no-one seemed to want to touch it with their size 12 feet. http://www.indymedia.ie/article/84366
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Larry Craig, a Republican Senator from Idaho made big news earlier this year when he was accused of trying to pick up an undercover police agent in a toilet in an airport toilet. The cop's evidence reported how Senator Craig's foot had suggestively caressed his own leading one to only one conclusion - "yer man wants sex". (remember that the next time you're at a urinal). His excuse won him position 8 in the top ten - ''(I have) a wide stance when going to the bathroom,''
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I'm sure there have been quite a few wonderful quotes from people in Ireland this last year & I suggest they be appended in the comments for us all to giggle at this holiday season. For myself the two quotes from the Spanish state which cry out for recognition & eventual castigation came from the prime minister ZP in response to the question "how much is a cup of coffee?" - "about 80 cents" [it is in fact 1.20€] which opened the way for his minister of finance to quip last weekend that most people in the Spanish state don't understand the Euro & leave tips of one Euro for two coffees [the average tip is in fact 20 cents]. & that's why they deserve to lose..,