Overheard

Priorities

"Our budget does not have a lot of resources. If the choice is to build a children's hospital or a prison, which do you think is going to get done?"

-- Nelson Rauda, director of prisons in El Salvador, on overcrowding and deteriorating conditions in the system.

 

Faux dumb

"The research sheds light on why Marilyn Monroe and bombshells of her ilk have made a habit of playing dumb: to make men suffering brain malfunction feel better."

-- Adriana Barton, Canadian blogger, on a study from the Netherlands that shows straight men get dumber when women are nearby.

 

Job can't be done

"It's not their fault they couldn't make the country safe for girls to go to school. They were given an impossible job to do. They've done it with courage, heart and passion. But enough's enough."

-- Margaret Wente, Canadian columnist, on why Canadian soldiers should be pulled out of Afghanistan now.

Misogyny 1

"Why extremists always focus on women remains a mystery to me. But they all seem to. It doesn't matter what country they're in or what religion they claim. They want to control women. They want to control how we dress. They want to control how we act. They even want to control the decisions we make about our own health and bodies."

-- Hilary Clinton, U.S. secretary of state.

 

Misogyny 2

"We're going to get rid of that."

-- Mitt Romney, presidential hopeful, says he would eliminate funding to Planned Parenthood which offers women's health care.

 

Be careful what you wish for 1

"There's a lot of times that both myself and my brother wish, obviously, that we were just completely normal."

-- Prince Harry opines on royal life.

Be careful what you wish for 2

"I wished I was white for a few days. I bemoaned my dark colouring. Life could be so much easier, it seemed, if you had fair skin, blue eyes and long, golden hair. Then I got over it."

-- Colleen Simard, Ojibwa writer, remembers the pains of high school.

 

We're all Dancin' Gabe fans

"Gabe brings a smile to so many faces, he IS a Winnipeg icon. You have to admire his dedication and his unconditional support of our teams no matter their record."

-- Roomie, Winnipeg Free Press commenter

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 17, 2012 J2