Verbatim

  • POLITICS

    'The legislative agenda of Barack Obama is over.'

    MITCH MCCONNELL, SENATE MINORITY LEADER, addressing fellow Republicans in his home state of Kentucky

    TECHNOLOGY

    'I'm actually sort of representing 7 billion human beings against our new machine tyrants.'

    KEN JENNINGS, JEOPARDY! CHAMPION, on competing against a computer named Watson in a two-match Jeopardy! tournament

    SWINDLES

    'They had to know.'

    BERNIE MADOFF, IMPRISONED PONZI SCHEMER, insisting that banks and hedge funds were "complicit" in his fraudulent activities

    INTERNET

    'People have a view that technology will make us free. No, people will make us free.'

    MICHAEL POSNER, A U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE, stressing that while the Obama Administration is promoting Internet-freedom initiatives, technology alone cannot topple repressive regimes

    CELEBRITY

    'The damn show destroyed my family.'

    BILLY RAY CYRUS, MUSICIAN AND ACTOR, referring to the popular kids' television series Hannah Montana, which catapulted daughter Miley Cyrus to stardom

    34

    Years since a painter or sculptor was last awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom; artist Jasper Johns received the honor on Feb. 15

    30%

    Approximate percentage of its bookstores that Borders Group intends to close following its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing

    26

    Number of fingers and toes 16-month-old Le Yati Min was born with; her family is applying for a Guinness World Record

    £349,250

    Price fetched at auction for 100,000 of artist Ai Weiwei's hand-painted porcelain "Sunflower Seeds"

    Sources: AP; ABCNews.com New York Times (2); GQ