Quotes of the Day

"I don't agree with that comparison. This is a five-week old private conversation picked up on a cell phone with a garbled transmission, very hard to detect who it is. I don't want to get into the term and how it's used. But I'll say the campaign promptly apologized and I reaffirm that apology tonight."

-Jerry Brown, whose aide was caught calling Meg Whitman a "whore," in response to moderator Tom Brokaw's assertion that the word was as offensive to some as the "N-word."

"I think every Californian and especially women know exactly what is going on here and that is a deeply offensive term to women."

-Meg Whitman, in her response

"There is no evidence that California is in the midst of a crime emergency as a result of substantial migration of persons born in other nations. To allow this myth to guide public policy discussions about newly arrived noncitizens and future American citizens is harmful."

-From a report entitled "Where is the Fire? Immigrants and Crime in California," from the Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice

"Ignorance will not go away through prayer or wishes. We must have full knowledge of these emotional systems."

-The Dalai Lama, speaking in San Jose yesterday

“He's like a rock superstar, but he's the Dalai Lama, and so it was more quiet in here."

-Andrew Trinh, 16-year-old Buddhist from San Jose, at the event

"I have to drive over 35 minutes to get to the closest dispensary in rush-hour traffic."

-Leona Held, Montclair resident and business owner, in support of an Oakland City Council panel's vote to double the licensed marijuana dispensaries in Oakland

"My mother-in-law was there. She was visiting from Southern California, and she was like 'oh, this will be so interesting to go to a meeting at city hall.' A few hours later I was like, 'oh, you poor woman.'

-James Freeman, co-owner of popular coffee roaster Blue Bottle, recounting a meeting with opponents of a Blue Bottle trailer approved for doing business in Dolores Park