Verbatim: Dec. 4, 2006

"The hand of Syria is all over the place."

SAAD HARIRI, son of assassinated former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, on last week's murder of Cabinet Minister Pierre Gemayel, the latest in a string of killings since 2005 of pro-Western leaders who opposed influence from neighboring Syria

"He went after them. He singled them out, and he taunted them, and he did it in a closed room where they were captive."

GLORIA ALLRED, attorney for two comedy-club patrons who endured the racist rant of actor Michael Richards (Seinfeld's Kramer) and want a face-to-face apology--and a retired judge to decide on compensation

"Very low food security"

USDA ANNUAL REPORT, replacing hunger with this phrase to describe the experience of 4.4 million Americans; a USDA sociologist said hunger is not a scientifically quantifiable term

"We may have lost a dear old friend and teacher."

MICHAEL MEYER, NASA scientist, after the Mars Global Surveyor, launched in 1996, failed to make contact for more than two weeks

"It's all blood money, and unfortunately I had to join the jackals."

O.J. SIMPSON, on accepting money for his book If I Did It and a TV interview so he could pay bills; News Corp. canceled the project

"I don't think they understood the seriousness of it."

JIM HALL, director of the Boise, Idaho, parks department, on firing two temporary employees at the city's ice rink after they made a midnight fast-food run in a pair of Zambonis, traveling 1.5 miles in the $75,000 vehicles, whose top speed is 5 m.p.h.

Sources: New York Times; Washington Post; A.P.; ers.usda.gov Rocky Mountain News; A.P. (2)

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