“You get a new definition for what a category 5 hurricane is.”

— Spokane native Kitty Kelley, on being interviewed by NBC’s Matt Lauer about her latest book, “The Family: The real story of the Bush dynasty,” which is critical of the president.

“Some of them are prejudiced, but a prejudiced source is not necessarily an incorrect source.”

— Matthew Felling, media director of the Center for Media and Public Affairs, commenting on America’s rising number of bloggers, some of whom first raised doubts about the authenticity of documents used by CBS News anchor Dan Rather in a “Sixty Minutes” report critical of President Bush’s National Guard service.

“Based on what we now know, CBS News cannot prove that the documents are authentic, which is the only acceptable journalistic standard to justify using them in the report. We should not have used them.”

— CBS News President Andrew Heyward, in a formal apology for the “Sixty Minutes” feature.

“Mother Nature did a good job creating a soil profile. I would have preferred to have seen that left alone.”

— Coeur d’Alene Parks Director Doug Eastwood, commenting on problems caused by developers use of topsoil to fill a pit they had excavated at a planned city park.

“The strip is dead. It’s not coming back.”

— Consultant Michael Freedman, asserting that strip malls are not a reasonable option as Spokane Valley considers a land-use makeover for the recently incorporated city.

“The amount they would gain or lose is right around nothing.”

— Constitutional scholar John Samples, maintaining that efforts to eliminate the Electoral College haven’t failed because of opposition by small states but because of indifference by mid-sized ones.

“The proper response to difficulty is not to retreat. It is to prevail.”

— President George W. Bush, speaking to the U.N. General Assembly about the United States’ military purpose in Iraq.

“When I was a kid, the fair was something you looked forward to all year. Now it seems like it’s just a money-making trap.”

— Former Spokane Interstate Fair-goer Jill Simmons, explaining why she and her husband this year skipped the annual event which this year attracted half the turnout of 15 years ago.

“There is anger, there is disbelief, there are questions. We should support each other at this time.”

— University of Idaho President Tim White whose campus was griving over the shooting death of Vandal football player Eric R. McMillan on the same weekend as UI students Jack Shannon and Jason Yearout died in a motorcycle accident.