CHARLES SCHUMER, New York Senator, on a $4.3 billion bill to help cover health costs for 9/11

emergency workers. President Obama signed it into law on Jan. 2 while on vacation in Hawaii

'Today reality set in. I'm not destroyed about it.' GENO AURIEMMA, coach of the University of Connecticut women's basketball team, on the end of its

record 90-game winning streak; UConn lost to Stanford on Dec. 30

'It is possible that the birds [were] stressed so bad that it could have killed them.'

KEITH STEPHENS, spokesman for the Arkansas game and fish commission, on the possibility that

fireworks caused more than 4,000 red-winged blackbirds in Beebe, Ark., to fall dead from the sky on New

Year's Eve

'The dream is over.'

EDISON PENA, one of the 33 Chilean miners who spent 69 days trapped underground, on having to

return to work in the mines following the cancellation of his disability pay because of excessive travel

abroad

'He's had a six-year stretch now where basically he's been going 24/7 with relatively modest pay.'

PRESIDENT OBAMA, on Robert Gibbs' announcement that he will step down from his position as White

House press secretary at the end of January. Gibbs will continue working as an adviser to Obama

through the 2012 election

'I will never confirm whether I worked in intelligence.'

ANNA CHAPMAN, who achieved minor-celebrity status after she and nine others were accused of being

Russian sleeper agents last June and deported from the U.S.

'The butt was really hard to sculpt.'

LISA MURPHY, a Toronto artist who created erotic images in relief for her book Tactile Mind, which she

refers to as "porn for the blind"

TALKING HEADS

Ross Douthat

Writing about abortion, in the New York Times:

"In every era, there's been a tragic contrast between the burden of unwanted pregnancies and the

burden of infertility. But this gap used to be bridged by adoption far more frequently than it is today ...

Some of this shift reflects the growing acceptance of single parenting. But some of it reflects the impact of

Roe v. Wade. Since 1973, countless lives that might have been welcomed into families ... have been cut

short in utero instead."

--1/2/11

Joanna Weiss Discussing the debut of Oprah's new network, in the Boston Globe:

"At best, it's inspirational and affecting, brain candy for people affluent enough to worry about

self-actualization ... It was easy to be cynical about her book club, too, but she got people to read. And

yet something feels missing from OWN--a sense of purpose sufficient to justify the ambition. After all,

there's already plenty of inspirational fare on TV."

--1/2/11

Andy Kessler

On how multiplayer online video games will change the way professionals do their jobs, in the Wall Street

Journal:

"Sure, they have funky weapons and are killing Orcs and Trolls ... but you don't have to be a gamer to

see how this technology is going to find its way into corporate America. Within the next few years, this is

how traders or marketers or DNA hunters will work together. No more meetings!"

--1/3/11