Noted & quoted.

• Position: Soundbites

'I have to live somewhere and this is my home.'

--Raisa Stradayeva, 62, a resident of Svetilovichi, a village in Belarus that activists say is still, contaminated by radiation, 18 years after the reactor at Chernobyl in neighboring Ukraine exploded. (The New York Times, Nov. 15)

'I've done my time. I've got a brand new baby and a wife, and I haven't touched the controls of an aircraft in seven years.'

--Rick Howell, 47, who left the Army in 1997 after more than a decade of service, on being called to active duty. (The New York Times, Nov...