Verbatim: Sep. 19, 2005

By DEPARTMENT Monday, Sept. 19, 2005

    • "After 50 years without democracy, a three-week campaign is not enough to persuade Egyptians to come out and vote, much less come out and vote for a change from a known face."

    MAI KASSEM, political-science professor at the American University in Cairo, after only 23% of Egyptian voters turned out for the country's first multiple-candidate presidential election, won in a landslide by longtime incumbent Hosni Mubarak

    "They are throwing money out--they are shoveling it out the door."

    JAMES ALBERTINE, Washington lobbyist and past president of the American League of Lobbyists, on the ease of obtaining no-bid federal contracts for relief and reconstruction projects in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

    "These are single-family residences, and that's what they were intended for."

    AUDREY ANDREWS, vice president of the Majestic Oaks homeowners' association in Ocala, Fla., after the group sent a letter reminding residents that they were prohibited from taking hurricane refugees into their homes and encouraging them to donate to charity instead

    "The fine is inadequate because it doesn't reflect the seriousness of the offense."

    DEBORAH ROBINSON, U.S. magistrate judge, who fined former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger $50,000--instead of $10,000, which prosecutors had recommended--for taking classified documents out of the National Archives by stuffing them in his pants

    "No More Games. No More Bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No Fun-- for anybody. 67. You are getting Greedy. Act your old age. Relax--This won't hurt."

    HUNTER THOMPSON, gonzo journalist, writing to his wife four days before he killed himself last February; his official biographer, Douglas Brinkley, says the note may be his last written words

    "I prefer it when she's more 'classy starlet.' I don't really like her hard-metal stuff or when she doesn't brush her hair."

    FRANCES COBAIN, 13, daughter of singer Courtney Love, on her mother's fashion sense

    Sources: San Jose Mercury News; New York Times; Gainesville Sun; AP; Rolling Stone; Teen Vogue