Verbatim

'We ... insistently beg forgiveness from God and from the persons involved.'

POPE BENEDICT XVI, marking the end of the Roman Catholic Church's Year of the Priest celebrations with a public apology for years of sexual abuse of children by priests

'@Snooki u r right, I would never tax your tanning bed! Pres Obama's tax/spend policy is quite The Situation.'

JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona Senator, tweeting in response to a cast member (right) of the MTV reality show Jersey Shore who wrote that McCain would not have imposed a tanning-bed tax like the Obama Administration's, which goes into effect July 1

'I'll eat breakfast tomorrow.'

GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying he had not eaten the most important meal of the day before delivering testimony at a June 15 Senate hearing where he briefly fainted; the hearing reconvened the following day

'We are all terminal.'

JACK KEVORKIAN, waxing philosophical about states that have legalized assisted suicide yet require patients to be deemed terminally ill before being euthanized

'Since when does age create gigantic waves and storms?'

ABBY SUNDERLAND, a 16-year-old California girl, responding to criticism that she is too young to attempt to become the youngest person to sail around the world solo, following her rescue from a storm in the Indian Ocean

'Taliban attacks come and go, but dust is constant in Afghanistan.'

LOREN THOMPSON, a military analyst, on the U.S. Army's announcement that it will replace Velcro on soldiers' uniforms with buttons because they are not hindered by dust and sand

'I didn't have the balls. This is not my thing.'

CHRISTIAN HERNANDEZ, a 22-year-old Mexican matador arrested for breach of contract when he dropped his cape and fled from a bull midfight; Hernandez, who was released after paying a fine, was gored by a bull several months ago and has decided to retire

TALKING HEADS

Andrew Alexander

Writing in the Washington Post about the proliferation of anonymous sources in the newspaper's stories:

"Anonymity, granted judiciously, can benefit readers. Sources often require confidentiality to disclose corruption or policy blunders. On a lesser scale, stories can be enriched with information from sources who would suffer retribution if identified. But by casually agreeing to conceal the identities of those who provide noncritical information, the Post erodes its credibility."

--6/13/10

Mark Benjamin

A Salon.com reporter talking to the New York Times about the military's admission of burial errors at Arlington National Cemetery: