“We are entering a danger territory.” --- Abdolreza Abbassian, chief economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations warns that global food prices are at an all-time high. (Vue, Jan 12)

“We need a few less vegetables on the plate.” --- Rideau-Rockcliffe Councilor Peter Clark questions Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson’s decision to hire 200 new bureaucrats. (QMI, Jan 20)

“It's a perfect storm here in Arizona. Services are being slashed and burned. And the state, which you'd think would be the safety net, we've lit the net on fire.” --- State Rep. Matt Heinz, a Tucson doctor and friend of Gabrielle Giffords’. Following the deadly attack by mentally unstable Jared Loughner (among other such incidents) Arizona Governor Jan Brewer announced $35.9 million in cuts to mental-health care spending. (Washington Post, Jan 21)

“We can pick apart the numbers and say, 'Well, it's going to happen in 20 years or 10 years.' Or, if we're creative in the way we recast statistics, maybe it happened yesterday. But the Chinese economy will certainly become the largest and most dominant economy in the world.” --- Yale School of Management professor Stephen Roach explains why Hu Jintao got the red carpet treatment in DC last week. (NPR, Jan 21)

“It's quite obvious that over half of the U.S. military overseas is guarding oil pipelines, refineries and shipping lanes, all to guarantee a flow of fuel to American SUVs. How much longer can we sustain that? It's draining our wealth, we're killing people right and left. We've got two contradictory, unsustainable systems: sprawl and war. So it's not a matter of whether people want to change or not. They're going to change. The only choice is whether they do it voluntarily, or kicking and screaming.” --- U.S. High-Speed Rail Association President Andy Kunz makes a strong case for a return to rail. (AlterNet, Jan 22)

“Secondary screening is invasive, and I don’t believe it should be done without a reason.” --- Conservative blow-hard Ezra Levant gets the sniffles after being security screened at the Ottawa airport. What is it about right-wingers and security checks? You can almost hear them demanding “Don’t you know who I am?” (Ottawa Citizen, Jan 22)

“There were separate jets for wife No. 1 and wife No. 2 and their own retinues. The entourage was so large that the Transportation Security Administration was forced to hire an outside company to complete the screening.” --- An unnamed source describes the entourage of Saudi King Abdullah, who spent two months in the US undergoing back surgery. The king rented whole floors of the Plaza and Waldorf hotels, and needed six private jets to ferry his retinue and “at least a dozen” tractor-trailers of luggage. If there’s a better argument for a Jasmine Revolution in Riyadh we haven’t heard it. (New York Post, Jan 25)