The absence of diverse voices leads to policies and programs that adversely impact African-Americans.

I think calling what Paul Ryan is doing a 'budget' is lending some validity to it. It is not a budget. If it were a budget, he could justify his revenue projections, he could justify his cuts, and he can't. This is a scheme to rob the poor and give to the rich.

If leadership is something that is in-your-face, then that is a different type of leadership.

The Office of Congressional Ethics was created to provide more transparency in the House of Representatives. It was a commendable goal.

Pop music has been all but relegated to the remainder bin at MTV and VH1, where high-maintenance concoctions such as Paris Hilton, Flavor Flav, and Hulk Hogan's biohazard clan of bleached specimens provide endless hours of death-hastening diversion.

I feel really lucky to have had 'War and Peace' as my first big telly job. I was playing this incredible character, and we were shooting in Catherine the Great's palace near St. Petersburg in the winter, when the river was frozen. It was a dream. I still can't believe it. I wanted to soak up every last minute.

I cannot belong to a nation which permits such barbarities as stoning to death and amputation - I don't care what religion it is.

ABBA: The Movie; I got a lot of grief for working on that.