Paul, Manjarrez, Tancredo, McCown, Ayala, North, and Washington

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Clute, talking to Politico about his race for president and the enthusiasm of his supporters: “I’m a real candidate, but I try to keep everybody living in the real world.”

Victor Manjarrez Jr., the local Border Patrol chief in El Paso, quoted by the Associated Press: “Most of these people are economic migrants but we have to deal with them between the ports of entry because we have not, in terms of a legislative fix, determined what we do with these people. I think it’s pretty obvious that the country has a need for economic migrants. To what degree, I don’t know. That’s for the country to decide and for the politicians to decide.”

U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colorado, quoted in the Brownsville Herald on local opposition to a new border fence: “If you don’t like the idea, maybe you should consider building the fence around the northern part of your city.”

Scott McCown, head of the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities, quoted in The Dallas Morning News on the effect of adding 400+ kids to the state’s child welfare system after the West Texas ranch raid: “It’s kind of like asking in the midst of [Hurricane] Katrina whether a rain shower in New Orleans would be a problem. It’s no problem because it’s already a disaster.”

Francisco Ayala, an evolutionary biologist and geneticist at the University of California, Irvine, quoted in The New York Times on adding creation stories to science curricula: “We don’t teach alchemy along with chemistry. We don’t teach witchcraft along with medicine. We don’t teach astrology with astronomy.”

Gerald North, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University, quoted in the Austin American-Statesman on long-term climate changes: “Where it’s wet, it’s going to get wetter. Where it’s dry, it’s going to get drier.”

Former federal and state legislator Craig Washington, asserting his innocence on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, quoted by the Houston Chronicle: “I assume that when they went and got the indictment, they were ready for trial, because they’re sure as hell going to have to try it.”