All six members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a letter to The Washington Post protesting a Tom Toles cartoon: "Using the likeness of a service member who has lost his arms and legs in war as the central theme of a cartoon is beyond tasteless. . . .We believe you and Mr. Toles have done a disservice to your readers and your paper's reputation by using such a callous depiction of those who have volunteered to defend this nation and, as a result, have suffered traumatic and life-altering wounds."

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld (also depicted in the Toles cartoon), seven weeks earlier: "We've arrived at a strange time in this country, where the worst about America and our military seems to so quickly be taken as truth by the press and reported and spread around the world . . . .[The reporting is] often with little context and little scrutiny, let alone correction or accountability after the fact . . . . Government has to reassess continuously, and we do. So, too, it's useful, I believe, for the media to reassess."

Stephen Farrell of the Cooper Institute, a Dallas research center focusing on physical activity - on rising obesity among the young: "Kids are spending a lot more time in sedentary pursuits than they did a generation ago. If you drive around your neighborhood nowadays you really don't see kids outside playing. It seems they only play sports if it's part of an organized league. Kids really just need to go out and play more."

An observation by Thomas Jefferson, offered here in connection with the datum that President Bush never has vetoed any legislation reaching his desk: "I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us that the less we use our power the greater it will be."