Quotables

"We don't estimate speeches."

Doug Elmendorf, director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, when asked at a June 23 House Budget Committee hearing whether the CBO had analyzed President Obama's 12-year budget framework.

"Today is a victory for freedom of speech. The Dutch are still allowed to speak critically about Islam, and resistance against Islamization is not a crime."

Dutch politician and activist Geert Wilders, on the June 23 verdict by the Court of Amsterdam finding him not guilty of discrimination and inciting hatred against Muslims.

"Selling a Senate seat, shaking down a children's hospital, and squeezing a person to give money before you sign a bill that benefits them is not a gray area. It's a crime."

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, in response to the defense suggestion that former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's activities amounted to "the kind of political wheeling and dealing that is common in Illinois and around the country." On June 27 a federal jury found Blagojevich guilty on 17 counts of corruption.

"A cathartic moment for all Cambodians."

Cambodian human-rights activist Ou Virak on the trial that began June 27 of four surviving Khmer Rouge leaders.

"You know, not everybody's mom is the butter cow lady."

Michelle Juhl, 55, daughter of Norma "Duffy" Lyon, who died at 81 on June 26. Lyon's life-size butter sculptures were a mainstay attraction at the Iowa State Fair; she sculpted her first in 1960 and went on to craft 47 more, as well as displays at state fairs around the country.