It may be that the seemingly intrinsic attraction that past time has for me is merely a desire for escapism, as I look out at the nation and world with little optimism.

We've studied this issue enough, ... It's past time. Our state budget has a $1 billion shortfall.

We've thought for a long time this housing cycle was a little different from those of the past, in that it would stretch out a little more. The sell-off in housing stocks has been overdone, since we don't think 30-year mortgage rates ... will put the brakes on housing.

It comes from the trenches we put across the faults to look at the time of past earthquakes. It comes from satellite-based measurements ... that tell us how fast the plates are moving.

History provides an antidote to cynicism about the past.

We've been stung in the past and [again now] with the economic downturn, so we spend a lot more time trying to understand how our key suppliers are positioned in the market,