In which I read the New York Times front page

OK, herewith my parsing of today's New York Times, all for your benefit.

• Top left column: "For Now, Pluto Holds Its Place in Solar System." The lede: "Pluto dodged a bullet today." Dude, that would make a much better picture than the gloomy Lebanon pic you have featured.
• Next: "New Lieberman Retooling Race as Independent." Heh. You said "tool."
• Next: "Corzine's Attorney General Out in Ethics Breach." This is about the former NJ AG, Zulima V. Farber, and her boyfriend, Hamlet E. Goore. Both these people sound like they have made up spam-sender names, not real human being names.
• In the interest of taste, I will skip the Lebanon a-hed....
• "State Fairs, Sagging, Arrive at County Crossroads." Is it a coincidence that the second graf ends with the phrase, the "nation's midsection"? Just what is sagging here?

Google explains modern German literature

I decided to search for Gunther Grass, and the first site that came up was "Brainy Quote." The second of the seven quotes listed:

Believing: it means believing in our own lies. And I can say that I am grateful that I got this lesson very early.

Early, as in before or after your stint in the Waffen-SS?