In 1966, NASA took over in space, and it has been a bureaucratic mess ever since.
You can't always get someone where you want to with just sticks. There have to be some carrots, there have to be some other shaping things.
I go to readings by fiction writers like Alice Walker, and I'm envious of the level of attention they generate.
Slavery is, as an example of what white America has done, a constant reminder of what white America might do.
Some guys can run fast, some guys can sing, I found I could take photographs that people were interested in.
Ho Chi Minh and Vietnam were perfect for Lyndon Johnson: 220 million against 18 million, water buffalo and all. No risk, really.
And each of these perspectives comes to the same conclusion, which is that our global economy is out of control and performing contrary to basic principles of market economics.
Moreover, statistics can be deceiving: the growth of jobs in the US in the 90s was due to many part-time jobs, with no benefits and generally low pay.
But we can also take the radical view that the test of an economy has to do with the extent to which it is providing everybody with a decent means of living.
The EU will face problems similar to the US: an increasing gap between the citizens and decision makers in Brussels and a perceived or even real lack of democracy.
Part of the American dream is to live long and die young. Only those Americans who are willing to die for their country are fit to live.
The world is in a constant conspiracy against the brave. It's the age-old struggle: the roar of the crowd on the one side, and the voice of your conscience on the other.
National armies fight nations, royal armies fight their like, the first obey a mob, always demented and the second a king, generally sane.
The grand jury, composed of 12 eminent New Orleans citizens, heard our evidence and indicted the defendant for participation in a conspiracy to assassinate John Kennedy.
Just the minute the FBI begins making recommendations on what should be done with its information, it becomes a Gestapo.
Men may be rivals, opponents in their fortunes, and yet be friends in their hearts and fair towards each other's worth; but woman, the instant she is rivaled, becomes unjust.
But the dream is never forgotten, only put aside and never out of reach: Where once the dream connected boys with the world of men, now it reconnects men with the spirit of boys.
The richest persons in Africa are heads of state, governors and ministers. So every 'educated' African who wants to be rich - and there is nothing wrong with wanting to be rich - heads straight into government or politics.
Civil servants are fully aware of the challenges the British economy faces. They are, after all, working tirelessly and professionally to support the coalition government through the current challenges, every day, and in every part of Britain.
On the publicity tour of 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding,' I was asked over and over again, if, as the writer, I felt it was a fair depiction of real life to have someone of my er, below average looks, hook up with hottie John Corbett.
Without any intended hubris, I've lead a pretty exciting life. What I've tried to do in Mission Compromised is draw on those experiences to create a sense of excitement and realism within the story.
