• We need a human being who really pays attention to every individual. There will never be a substitute for that.
• Source: Oregonian   |   Portland, Ore.   |   March 13, 2012
• Tiel Jackson, the state reporting manager for Portland Public Schools, which raised its graduation rate by 5 percent in one year by having people look through paper records because the district's electronic recordkeeping system was counting students who transferred out of the district as dropouts.

• We are obviously disappointed with the court decision, which only perpetuates the nightmare New Jersey has endured for decades.
• Source: Philadelphia Inquirer   |   New Jersey   |   March 12, 2012
• Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, on a recent appellate court's decision to overturn the governor's order to abolish the independent Council on Affordable Housing.

• I don't like the feeling that our schools are for sale.
• Source: Reuters   |   Massachusetts   |   March 9, 2012
• Susan Flaccus, a school board member who opposes her rural district's attempt to recruit international students. A trend has emerged in some small towns to charge students from abroad to attend U.S. public high schools with empty seats.

• It’s so easy it’s scary.
• Source: Government Technology   |   Nation   |   March 8, 2012
• Michael Calce, an ex-hacker who shut down Yahoo, CNN, Amazon, eBay and Dell websites as a 15 year old, on how easy it is to hack into most local government sites.

• Alabama's children should be helping our economy by working and not by learning useless skills such as reading.
• Source: The Associated Press   |   Alabama   |   March 7, 2012
• The wording of an Alabama House Resolution introduced by state Rep. Daniel Boman as a joke to mock Republicans. The resolution also professes that large class sizes are good for students who want to "make more friends."

• Otherwise, you need to come out with a big camera rolling, and they've already pulled their pants up.
• Source: The Associated Press   |   Illinois   |   March 6, 2012
• Christopher Drew, expressing satisfaction that an Illinois law that makes it illegal to record conversations -- even of public officials in public places -- without consent was ruled unconstitutional. Drew was charged with violating the 'eavesdropping' law for recording police officers' conversations while he was being arrested.

• Everyone in this room knows that ‘inspirational messages’ means religious indoctrination.
• Source: Miami Herald   |   Florida   |   March 5, 2012
• Florida state Rep. Jeff Clemens, on a bill that will likely become law that would let school districts allow students to give “inspirational messages” at public-school events.

• I have to win Georgia, I think, to be credible in the race.
• Source: Associated Press   |   Georgia   |   March 2, 2012
• Republican presidential candidate Newt Gringrich, speaking to the Cobb Chamber of Commerce outside Atlanta. Georgia, Gingrich's home state, is one of the states holding its primary on Super Tuesday, March 6.

• Normally I don’t send or forward a lot of these, but even by my standards, it was a bit touching. I want all of my friends to feel what I felt when I read this.
• Source: Great Falls Tribune   |   March 1, 2012
• Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull, in an email he sent from his courtroom to six people that addressed President Barack Obama's race. According to the Great Falls Tribune, Cebull admitted that the email included racially charged content.

• Nobody is going to get you a decent, good-paying job with benefits for a one-shot, $30 fee.
• Source: WSB-TV   |   February 29, 2012
• John Sours from the Georgia Governor's Office of Consumer Protection, commenting on a fake Craigslist ad for jobs at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

• If the Republican Party continues to say no to equality, to diversity and to dignity, they will be a dinosaur party.
• Source: Politico   |   Vermont   |   February 28, 2012
• Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, at the annual National Governors Association meeting where many Democratic governors said the spotlight that social issues like abortion and contraception are getting in this election are hurting the GOP party.

• If we, er, when we get a divorce, does that quell "conflict of interest" accusations about BP?
• Source: The Associated Press   |   Alaska   |   February 27, 2012
• Sarah Palin, in an email to her husband Todd, who was a BP employee. Palin's records from before she resigned as governor of Alaska were recently released.

• If he was one of my sons, I would have washed his mouth out with jalapeño peppers.
• Source: Wall Street Journal   |   New Hampshire   |   February 24, 2012
• New Hampshire state Rep. Susan Emerson, referring to House Speaker William O'Brien's critical response to one of her proposals last year that pushed her to introduce a bill to make it illegal for state legislators to bully one another. The bill failed 224-78.

• IT’S ANONYMOUS...kicking ass and taking names...hacking the atrocious government of Newark.
• Source: New Jersey Star-Ledger   |   Newark, N.J.   |   February 23, 2012
• The subject line of an email sent by CabinCr3w, an affiliate of the hackers group Anonymous, from the city when it hacked Newark, N.J.'s government website.

• It's funny to see everyday people talking about the appellate court system.
• Source: USA Today   |   Alabama   |   February 22, 2012
• Gwendolyn Ferreti, a community organizer in Alabama, looking on the bright side of Alabama's controversial immigration law which is that people are learning about the lawmaking and the court-review processes that have followed.