Mike Thompson quotes:

It's a bit ridiculous to have people who have two years of experience handling an $83 billion budget.

Wax myrtle: The birds love this stuff.

I don't have much of a problem with interruptions. I keep a detailed record of paint and materials as a work on each painting. I can restart exactly where I left off.

I think it is an inborn talent - just luck. Some people can learn languages; some can throw a ball. Most people have something. My talent is drawing and painting.

I have always been making art from an early age but for nearly forty years did computer programming to earn a living. I bought a house and put my wife and three children through college. Now that diversion is over so I can finally paint full time.

Diplomacy should always be the first option, and every mission should have a clear, achievable objective that is in the interests of the United States.

Most people are bad with names. I have learned a trick: Make them laugh and they will never forget you.

You don't need to be for or against the war to provide morale and support to the men and women who are fighting over seas. These are human beings who are doing a service.

I'm inspired by nature. Other artist's work is important for developing my perception.

A blue dog, you know, is the opposite of a yellow dog. And a yellow dog was somebody who was willing to follow his party even when he knew it was wrong.

I know firsthand what a vote to authorize war means to the lives of American families.

It is easier to silence scientific dissent by utilizing the politics of personal destruction, than to actually debate them on the merits of their arguments. That should tell you something about the global warming debate...there is none right now....it's either you believe, or you are to be discredited.

It's a slow process, but it is scary, because if someone can control your energy sources, they can control you. We are already being told what light bulbs we can and cannot use...through legislation. We are being forced to fund research into alternative energies sources that are inefficient, and that cause the price of food, energy, and everything else to rise...through legislation...rather than allow free enterprise to allocate funds to those energy sources that will survive through good old American innovation!