Verbatim: Jun. 14, 2004

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"The hope is that this government will prove its worthiness and integrity and its firm readiness to perform the mammoth tasks it is burdened with." GRAND AYATULLAH ALI HUSAINI SISTANI, spiritual leader of Iraq's Shi'ite Muslims, in a restrained endorsement of the newly appointed Iraqi interim government

"My meetings with him were very brief." PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH, on his relations with Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi political figure and former Administration favorite, now being investigated for allegedly leaking U.S. intelligence to Iran

"In the past few weeks, other deplorable events have come to light which have troubled the civic and religious conscience of all." POPE JOHN PAUL II, meeting with President Bush, in an apparent reference to allegations of prisoner abuse in Iraq

"Burn, baby, burn. That's a beautiful thing." ENRON TRADER, after a forest fire shut down a major transmission line into California, on an audio tape showing apparent collusion to manipulate energy prices in the state

"If you look back on the '60s and think there was more good than harm, you're probably a Democrat. If you think there was more harm than good, you're probably a Republican." BILL CLINTON, former President, kicking off a book tour for his new autobiography, My Life

"Our days are really numbered." HOWARD STERN, controversial radio talk-show host, on air, speaking of the resignation of Viacom president (and Stern backer) Mel Karmazin

"I would've never done it if I knew. It didn't have a name on it." KEITH COOK, president of the Orange County, N.C., school board, who, for much of his speech at a graduation ceremony, plagiarized a 1999 speech by former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala that he found on the Internet

Sources: Reuters; Chicago Tribune; Reuters; CBS; New York Times; Variety; Herald-Sun