Verbatim

'It's never too late to honor the dead.' TONI MORRISON, at the dedication of her "bench by the road," a memorial for the millions of African slaves who entered the U.S. at Sullivan's Island, S.C.

'This is going to make it extraordinarily difficult for whoever's going to become President--I don't care who the President is.' KENT CONRAD, U.S. Senate Budget Committee chairman, on the Bush Administration's $482 billion projected budget deficit--a record

MY OTHER RIDE IS A SPACESHIP.

MESSAGE on the airplane used by Richard Branson to reach the Mojave Desert, where the British billionaire unveiled the craft (right) that would provide the world's first commercial spaceflight

'Nuclear weapons are so 20th century.'

MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, President of Iran, denying U.S. accusations that his country is building nuclear bombs

'Tell the governor he just lost my vote.'

CHRISTOPHER EMMETT, convicted murderer, before his death by lethal injection. Emmett had argued that Virginia's execution methods were unconstitutional; Governor Tim Kaine declined to intervene

'He hated the liberal movement.'

STERLING OWEN, police chief of Knoxville, Tenn., on the motives of Jim D. Adkisson, an out-of-work truck driver who gunned down two people at a Unitarian church known for its liberal views

'I believe our policy will not affect reporters' coverage of the Olympic Games.'

SUN WEIDE, chief spokesman for the Beijing Olympics organizing committee, on restricting press access to certain overseas Internet sites despite earlier claims that the media would not be censored

Back & Forth:

Media

'McClellan would never dare say that to my face.'

Pundit BILL O'REILLY, denying accusations by former White House press secretary Scott McClellan, who claimed that O'Reilly received "scripts" from the Bush Administration

'The truth is, I messed up.'

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, apologizing to O'Reilly, adding that he didn't mean to single out the "big kahuna at Fox News"

Polygamy

'It is a desperate attempt for Texas to save face for their barbaric actions on their first raid.'

WILLIE JESSOP, spokesman for the FLDS church, after the state indicted six members of the polygamist sect--including leader Warren Jeffs--on charges related to child abuse

'Polygamist communities in the United States are a form of organized crime.'

U.S. Senate majority leader Harry Reid, a practicing Mormon, claiming the FLDS church is guilty of tax fraud as well as child abuse

Obesity

'Our communities have an extreme shortage of quality foods.'

BERNARD PARKS, Los Angeles city councilman, after the council approved a yearlong moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in South L.A.

'What's next? Security guards at the door saying, You're overweight--you can't have a cheeseburger?'

California Restaurant Association spokesman ANDREW CASANA, saying fast-food chains like McDonald's offer healthy alternatives--and people choose not to eat them

Sources: New York Times; Washington Post; Los Angeles Times; Bloomberg; Reuters; AP; New York Times

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