'I don't believe there's any cloud that hangs over me. I think there's nothing but sunshine hanging over me.' ROD BLAGOJEVICH, Illinois governor, responding to reports of a federal investigation a day before being indicted for corruption
'We do not want to impose war, but we are fully prepared in case war is imposed on us.' SHAH MEHMOOD QURESHI, Pakistan's Foreign Minister, refusing to transfer suspects in the Mumbai terrorist attacks to Indian authorities
'It was like something out of a Quentin Tarantino film.' TONY ZIELINSKI, Milwaukee alderman, on why he wants to revoke the alcohol license of a local Chuck E. Cheese following recent brawls at the children's pizza parlor
'I wanted to get off the bus after I talked to him.' SAMUEL WURZELBACHER, a.k.a. Joe the Plumber, blasting John McCain, calling his experience campaigning with the Republican Senator "appalling" and "dirty"
'As a Jew, I was ashamed at the scenes of Jews opening fire at innocent Arabs.' EHUD OLMERT, Israel's outgoing Prime Minister, comparing violence in the city of Hebron to bygone anti-Semitism in Europe
'We feel the President's many accomplishments haven't been given the attention they deserve.' CARLTON CARROLL, White House spokesman, on a memo given to George W. Bush's Cabinet with positive talking points about his tenure
'What's black-and-white and completely over?' JON STEWART, Daily Show host, on the newspaper industry's financial troubles
Back & Forth:
Drugs
'These students are early adopters of a trend that is likely to grow, and indications suggest that they're not alone.'
Stanford law professor HENRY GREELY, on the use of brain-stimulating drugs like Ritalin on college campuses, in a controversial essay that welcomes such pharmaceutical enhancement
'It's a nice puff piece for selling medications for people who don't have an illness of any kind.'
Professor LEIGH TURNER, of the University of Minnesota Center for Bioethics, dismissing the essay
Zimbabwe
'This is now an international rather than a national emergency. International because disease crosses borders.'
British Prime Minister GORDON BROWN, calling on European leaders to confront President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, where a cholera outbreak has killed more than 600 people
'I don't know what this mad Prime Minister is talking about.' GEORGE CHARAMBA, Mugabe spokesman, accusing the British leader of using the disease as a pretext to invade Zimbabwe
LEXICON
Calling in gay--Refusing to work on Dec. 10 as part of an Internet-organized movement to protest California's recent ban on same-sex marriage
USAGE: "The HR office has probably never encountered this before: People across the country are being urged to skip work Wednesday after calling in 'gay.'" --Chicago Tribune, Dec. 9, 2008
Sources: Chicago Tribune; AFP; Wall Street Journal; AP; BBC; Los Angeles Times; Comedy Central
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