Quotes of the Day

'So?'
DICK CHENEY, U.S. Vice President, after being told that two-thirds of Americans do not support the war in Iraq. He argued that public opinion polls should not dictate the war's conduct

'We have not been able to break away from the mass-consumption society.'
TSUYOSHI KAWAKAMI, Japanese Environment Ministry official, explaining the government's plan to reduce by 60% the amount of garbage generated by Japanese citizens and businesses by 2015

'It is unacceptable that, while giving peace to the world, we make our own country a killing field.'
NAWAZ SHARIF, former Pakistani Prime Minister, criticizing President Pervez Musharraf for siding with the U.S. in taking a hard line against Islamic militants, which he says has exacerbated political violence in Pakistan

'I'm not used to losing.'
MONICA SELES, former tennis champion, after being eliminated from the American reality TV show Dancing with the Stars

'Tibet, rightfully so, is on the front page. But it would not be on the front page if the Games were not being organized in China.'
JACQUES ROGGE, president of the International Olympic Committee, arguing that holding the Games in China raises global awareness of the country's human-rights record

'It has been long enough now that we have not been at war ... Perhaps we can move from being cordial to being friendly.'
NICOLAS SARKOZY, President of France, ahead of a bridge-building state visit to Britain with new wife Carla Bruni

INDONESIA
1 million Estimated number of Indonesian websites that would be blocked under the country's new law banning pornographic and violent online content
6 years Maximum prison sentence for transmitting such content in Indonesia

STABILITY
22 Ranking of the U.S. — just below Australia and Portugal — in a new report assessing the stability of 235 countries and territories
193 million Estimated number of guns in America; the report cited the proliferation of small arms in the U.S. as part of the reason for its low ranking

WILDLIFE
521 Total number of species that Bill Clinton added to the endangered-species list during his eight years as U.S. President
59 The total number of species that George W. Bush's Administration has added to the list in the past seven years; WildEarth Guardians has filed a lawsuit to add 681 species

COMMUNICATIONS
50% Percentage decline in British pay-phone use in the past three years because of the increasing popularity of cell phones
30,000 Approximate number of iconic red phone booths-one-third of the nation's total — that have been removed in the past six years as a result of decreased usage

Sources: ABC News; A.P. (4); BBC
Numbers Sources: Financial Times; Reuters (2); Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence; Guardian (2); USA Today (2)