“Banish the word ‘tolerance’ from your vocabulary. We don’t want to be tolerated, we want to be welcomed, respected and appreciated. Tolerance sets the bar somewhere just above throwing rocks at us.”

– From a commentary by gay author Eddie Shapiro, directed at American cities that want to attract some of the $64 billion gays and lesbians spend on travel each year.

“It’s never going to be beautiful. For me it’s a business district. The purpose is for the businesses to do business to generate revenue.”

– Spokane Valley business owner Nancy Nishimura, talking about a controversial sign ordinance that Sprague Avenue businesses such as her nursery find overly restrictive.

“This was a triple axel for Spokane.”

– Spokane Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau CEO Harry Sladich, describing how Spokane handled its role as host to the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

“This is one of the most unique events in the geologic history of the Earth. We usually see things like this on other planets.”

– U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., promoting a bill to create a federal trail tracing the path of prehistoric floods that left dramatic geological landmarks across the Pacific Northwest.

“It’s an established pattern in Spokane city government never to publicly fire anybody.”

– Former Spokane City Councilwoman Cherie Rodgers, commenting on speculation that Deputy Mayor Jack Lynch, currently on an unexplained medical leave, will never return to the job.

“What in my background equips me to deal with evil and bad men?”

– Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, speaking to supporters about her ability to confront hostile foreign leaders.

“I would suggest respectfully to this president he is not the sole decider.”

– U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Penn., commenting on steps Congress may take to prevent the Bush administration from sending thousands more U.S. troops to Iraq.

“When a willing buyer pays a willing seller to buy an asset, that is a sale not a gift.”

– Jon Summers, spokesman for U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who acquired undeveloped land in northern Arizona for a fraction of its worth from a friend whose business interests would benefit from legislation Reid sponsored.

“It just defies common sense to be making this kind of equipment available to the Iranians with all that they have done that is against our interests.”

– U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., criticizing the Pentagon’s plans to sell Iran spare parts from mothballed F-14 jet fighters.

“There is one thing important about the ascendance of Iran here. It does not reflect a real change in Iranian capabilities, economic or political. It’s more a reflection of the failures on the part of the U.S. and its Arab allies in the region.”

– Saudi writer and academic Khaled al-Dakhil, quoted on washingtonpost.com as blaming the United States for Iran’s increasing influence in the Middle East.