Verbatim

"Unrest and terrorist acts as well as insufficient preparations at the administrative, technical and political levels necessitate the date be reconsidered."

PETITION, signed by a dozen of Iraq's leading political groups demanding a six-month postponement of the election scheduled for Jan. 30; the government announced it would proceed as planned

"Imagine what American workers ... are going to say: 'Chinese workers living under communism are allowed to have unions in Wal-Mart stores, but we in America aren't?'"

ROBIN MUNRO, research director at the China Labour Bulletin, a rights-monitoring group, after Wal-Mart announced it would consider allowing unions in its 41 stores in China, something it has refused to do in any other nation, including the U.S.

"He was pretty well dressed, had a walletful of money. All I wanted to do was beat him up and rob him ... Seemed like a good idea at the time."

AARON MCKINNEY, one of two men who killed Matthew Shepard in 1998, claiming on ABC News that he attacked the college student for drug money, not because Shepard was gay

"I don't think it's a failure; it's a success. In this case, it was just something that worked better than other alternatives."

DONALD TRUMP, real estate mogul, on his casino empire's filing for bankruptcy for a second time

"Some of you people have been illegal for a long time."

THOMAS MENINO, mayor of Boston, to a group of Native Americans in a ceremony at which he formally requested repeal of the 1675 Indian Imprisonment Act, which authorized the arrest of any Indian found within the city limits of Boston

"Have you noticed on The Swan that after all that plastic surgery, most of the women look like drag queens?"

CLINTON KELLY, host of TLC's What Not to Wear, on competing makeover show The Swan, on which contestants not only are told what to wear but are also given a great deal of plastic surgery

Sources: Agence France Presse; TIME Asia; Associated Press (2); Boston Globe; Associated Press