Political Quotes

“1,074 days. Rather, one thousand seventy-four days and counting. We have 1,074 days until January 1, 2000. Historically, the passage of the century has caused quite a stir. Until now, however, there has been little factual basis on which doomsayers and apocalyptic fearmongers could spread their gospel. I rise today, on the first day of legislative business in the 105th Congress, to warn that we have cause for fear. In the 6th century AD, the Western world began the practice of numbering years consecutively. The 6th-century monk, Dionysius Exiguus (known as ``Denis the Small''), introduced the first consecutive year calendar. Popular mythology would have us believe that at the end of the first millennium, Christians and pagans everywhere were cowering in fear of the end of the world. Yet, current historians believe that at the end of the year 999, much of the populace had no idea what year it was, and thus no idea that the millennium was coming to a close. In an ironic twist of fate, many calendars in our current, most advanced technological society ever may be as inaccurate as those of the people who faced the beginning of the Second Millennia A.D. I have no proof that the Sun is about to rise on the apocalyptic millennium of which chapter 20 of the Book of Revelation speaks, nor do I have proof that, armed with flood and catastrophe, the Four Horseman will arrive on January 1, 2000.”