Verbatim

'Gaza residents can now purchase Israeli-made products, but they are still prevented from engaging in dignified, productive work and from traveling.'

SARI BASHI, of the Israeli human-rights group Gisha, after Israel eased its blockade of Hamas-ruled Gaza to allow in virtually all consumer goods but continued to ban most travel

'Are you serious?'

LINDSAY LOHAN, to attorney Shawn Chapman Holley, after a judge sentenced the 24-year-old actress to 90 days in jail for violating her probation for a 2007 drunk-driving charge

'We've had requests for places and villages but never one to hire the whole country before.'

KARL SCHWAERZLER, property agent in Liechtenstein, on rapper Snoop Dogg's attempt to rent the entire nation--one of Europe's tiniest--for a music video

'I'm hungry!'

TAKERU KOBAYASHI, a competitive eater, upon his release from jail, where he was sent after storming the stage at an annual July 4 hotdog-eating contest in Coney Island, N.Y.; Kobayashi was barred from participating after he refused to sign an exclusivity contract

'The Internet's completely over ... All these computers and digital gadgets are no good.'

PRINCE, on his plans to withhold online distribution of his new album and instead include it, free, in British newspapers

'When this guy showed me his badge, I went, "Dude, you have to be in the Census. What are you talking about?"'

RUSSELL HAAS, Census worker and former New Jersey police officer, after his attempt to get a Hawaii County policeman to fill out Census forms earned him a trespassing charge

'I would love it so much if the country could excite itself over the big problems.'

NICOLAS SARKOZY, French President, dismissing claims that his presidential campaign received illegal party financing

TALKING HEADS

Wayne Allyn Root

Writing in the Las Vegas Review-Journal that President Obama is incapable of creating jobs:

"It's time to call Obama what he is: The Great Jobs Killer. With his massive spending and tax hikes--rewarding big government and big unions, while punishing taxpayers and business owners--Obama has killed jobs, he has killed motivation to create new jobs, he has killed the motivation to invest in new businesses, or expand old ones. With all this killing, Obama should be given the top spot on the FBI's Most Wanted List."

--7/4/10

Darren Everson and Jonathan Clegg

On the pressures of the World Cup, in the Wall Street Journal:

"The magnitude of the World Cup ... enables players to redefine themselves. For many of the world's stars, this isn't a good thing. The three players who had the most hype coming into South Africa--Argentina's Lionel Messi, Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and England's Wayne Rooney--scored one goal combined here. For Messrs. Ronaldo and Rooney in particular, this World Cup will sting like a reprimand in their personnel file."

--7/5/10

Marilyn Johnson

Lamenting spending cuts for public libraries, in the Los Angeles Times: