Quotables

"It's like calling a menorah a candlestick."

Mathew Staver, president of Liberty Counsel, on the widespread practice among cities of calling Christmas tree displays on public property "holiday trees."

"Hello. What are their choices?"

Film historian Jeanine Basinger to Hollywood executives who wonder why adult women are flocking to theaters to see the latest film version of Pride & Prejudice. The film had a limited release in its first two weeks, but it earned more on a per-screen basis than any movie this year except Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

"I stole mail. This is my punishment."

Signboard that Shawn Gementera must wear for a day outside a San Francisco post office as punishment for mail theft. Mr. Gementera's lawyers said sentencings meant to shame and humiliate were unconstitutional, an argument the U.S. Supreme Court rejected on Nov. 28.

"We are fighting on the side of the 27 million."

Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman writing in The Wall Street Journal after a trip to Iraq. Progress is "visible and practical," he wrote, with the vast majority of Iraqis not wanting U.S. forces to abandon them against 10,000 insurgents.