"Hey it's clear to me. They came to invest millions. For a while they were thinking about tech stocks, but then they thought, Hell no, Let's get into textiles. That's where the real profits are. Then, you know what they did? They decided not to build a factory in Mexico or Thailand where people work for about ten bucks a week. Let's drive up to Empire Falls, Maine, they said, and look at that gutted old shell of a factory that the river damned near washed away last Spring and buy all new equipment and create hundreds of jobs, nothing under 20 dollars an hour."

"...he knew her (Mrs. Roderigue's) mind had fused shut sometime during Catholic grade school. Nothing had happened since she was twelve that did anything except reinforce the convictions she already held. As a condition for keeping her job, the school district insisted that she...