Verbatim

"Hizballah condemns this grisly act, which has caused great harm to Islam and to Muslims ..." HIZBALLAH, in a statement responding to the decapitation of American Nicholas Berg. The Lebanese terrorist group went on to complain that the act drew attention away from the abuse of IRAQI prisoners IN U.S. CUSTODY

"I'm probably not the only one up at this table that is more outraged by the outrage than by the treatment." JAMES INHOFE, Republican Senator from Oklahoma, at an Armed Services Committee hearing on the abuse of Iraqi prisoners

"The only way we can lose is if we're lazy or dumb and we don't do what we're supposed to do." BILL CLINTON, at a fund raiser in Harlem, encouraging attendees to support Senator John Kerry's bid for the presidency

"I'm laying out a nice script, a nice James Cameron script, with a great, great ending in the end." ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, California Governor, announcing his controversial deal with local governments to cut $1.3 billion from the state budget

"Massachusetts should not become the Las Vegas of same-sex marriage." MITT ROMNEY, Massachusetts Governor, who declared out-of-state couples ineligible for marriage licenses, anticipating a rush of gay couples into his state when same-sex marriage becomes legal there this week

"Mahogany is a red wood; it's red like blood, it's red like shame." PAULO ADARIO, activist for the environmental organization Greenpeace, which the U.S. government is prosecuting for boarding a ship carrying endangered trees that were illegally felled. It is highly unusual for the U.S. government to press criminal charges against an advocacy group for civil disobedience

"They did make a slick getaway." GLYNDA CHU, spokeswoman for the Edmond, Okla., police department, which is looking for thieves who stole 5,000 lbs. of used cooking grease from three area restaurants

Sources: AP; Federal Document Clearinghouse; CNN; Los Angeles Times; New York Times; Reuters (2)