Quotables

"It was the finale of something that was offensive."

FCC chairman Michael Powell, arguing that the entire Super Bowl halftime show "really crossed a heinous line" even before Janet Jackson's breast-baring stunt.

"She has done a very good job of staying grounded in music, rather than in being a celebrity."

Music journalist Alan Light on the low-key lifestyle of singer Norah Jones, whose 2002 CD Come Away with Me sold 8 million copies and won five Grammy awards. Ms. Jones's second CD, Feels Like Home, is scheduled to be released this week.

"They simply weren't buying the doom and gloom thing."

Political analyst Jim Moore on Oregon voters last week overwhelmingly rejecting a proposed $800 million tax increase, despite dire pleas from schools and other recipients of state money. The vote will trigger $544 million in automatic spending cuts this spring.

"If you must make a choice between heresy and schism, always choose heresy."

Peter James Lee, the Episcopal bishop of Virginia who voted last summer to approve the appointment of openly homosexual bishop V. Gene Robinson. He hopes the unusual argument will persuade conservative Episcopalians to remain in the denomination.