I understand the embarrassment that it caused the party. I will work diligently to make sure that these things don’t happen again.

— John Irish, chair of the Lucas County (Ohio) Democratic Party, in an apology for hiring strippers to work a party fundraiser at a public golf course, an event at which at least one of the strippers “raised her top and lowered her shorts for a group of golfers.”

Here’s the thing, when you’re dealing with a world leader, you wonder whether or not he’s telling the truth. I’ve never had to worry about that with Vladimir Putin. Sometimes he says things I don’t want to hear, but I know he’s always telling me the truth.

— President Bush about the veracity of Russian President Vladimir Putin after their meeting this week in Kennebunkport, Maine.

They range from softly lit, lube-on-the-lens pictures like in Playboy, to raunchy, hardcore photos that would make Larry Flint blush. The image is revealed as you eat the pizza.

— Canadian pizzeria owner Corey Wildeman whose delivery-only eatery, Porno Pizza in Winnipeg, sells porno with the pie. Wildeman says he’s in talks about franchises and that 75 percent of his orders are placed by women.

I think we have a problem on global warming. I think there is a debate about whether it’s caused by mankind or whether it’s caused naturally, but it’s a worthy debate. It’s a debate, actually, that I’m in the process of solving by advancing new technologies, burning coal cleanly in electric plants, or promoting hydrogen-powered automobiles, or advancing ethanol as an alternative to gasoline.

— President Bush in People magazine a year ago on the occasion of his 60th birthday.

We will bring transparency and openness to the budget process and to the use of earmarks, and we will give the American people the leadership they deserve.

— Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi in December 2006. To date, only 51 of 435 House members have provided information on earmark requests; only six of 100 senators have released earmark requests. According to CNN, Speaker Pelosi has not released a list of earmark requests, or, as she calls it, “legislatively directed spending.”

Americans Are Working And Taking Home More Pay

Real After-Tax Per Capita Personal Income Has Risen By 9.9 Percent – Nearly $3,000 Per Person – Since President Bush Took Office.

— From a White House fact sheet released today titled “Fact Sheet: Job Creation Continues – More Than 8.2 Million Jobs Created Since August 2003.” Since President Bush took office, total inflation from January 2001 to May 2007 is almost 19 percent.

Q: What’s the next stage if [the “surge” of American troops in Iraq] doesn’t succeed?

MR. FRATTO: We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. But we’re going to operate on the presumption that our — that our military forces on the ground and the work we’re doing on the economic and diplomatic and political fronts will be successful.

— From this morning’s press gaggle conducted by White House spokesman Tony Fratto.

Many low-wage women workers are the source of sole support for their families. Economic equity and self-sufficiency are essential to achieving the American dream. It is outrageous that women begin the quest to achieve that dream already at a deficit. Working women and their families deserve equal pay for equal work …

— from an April 24 press release on the Web site of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in support of the Paycheck Fairness Act, introduced in the 106th, 107th, 108th and 109th Congress and still not passed. Introduced into the 110th Congress as H.R.1338 in March, it has been languishing in the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections ever since.

Even after accounting for differences in education and the amount of time in the work force, women’s pay still lags far behind men who are doing the same or similar work. That is why I support the Paycheck Fairness Act, legislation that will better enforce and strengthen the penalties for the law that demands equal pay for equal work.

— from the “issues” page of the Web site of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in support of the Paycheck Fairness Act, introduced in the 106th, 107th, 108th and 109th Congress and still not passed. Introduced into the 110th Congress as H.R.1338 in March, it has been languishing in the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections ever since.

The pay disparity is even larger among African Americans and Latinos; it affects women at all levels of income and across a wide range of occupations; and the gap widens as women age. To address this problem, which costs families an average of $4,000 a year, I have championed the Paycheck Fairness Act.

— from the “issues” page of the Web site of Sen. Hillary Clinton in support of the Paycheck Fairness Act, introduced in the 106th, 107th, 108th and 109th Congress and still not passed. Introduced into the 110th Congress as H.R.1338 in March, it has been languishing in the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections ever since.

xpost: 5th Estate