Li said his government believes weapons sales to Taiwan interfere with China's "peaceful efforts to resolve Taiwan question."

The United States has historically sold arms to Taiwan as a defense measure. Mainland China has considered Taiwan a renegade province since 1949, when communist forces drove the nationalists off the mainland. China has threatened military action against the island if it ever declares its independence; has staged naval exercises off Taiwan's coast; and has hundreds of missiles pointed at the island.

If Li considers such threats of annihilation "peaceful efforts," he's turning the definition on its ear.

Politicking mascot

Warning to all Bearcats, Bobcats, RedHawks, Golden Flashes and Buckeyes! Mascots at Ohio's state-supported universities must remain nonpartisan in the upcoming election.

Pete the Penguin, the pride of Youngstown State, was caught in a blatant act of endorsement when a photo of him holding a Bush/Cheney '04 sign showed up on the Bush-Cheney Web site with the caption, "The YSU Penguin shows the student body's strong support for Bush/Cheney."

The school's licensing office was not amused, and the Web site quickly removed the photo.

Sound bites

Enormous, indeed

"What seems to be lost in the debate ... is the fact that many members refused to vote for the Medicare bill despite enormous pressure." Rep. Nick Smith, R-Mich., who voted against the bill despite efforts by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, later declared to be unethical

One for the books

"We have studied more than 100 years of storm data, and this year did not behave like any other year we have studied." William Gray, hurricane expert at Colorado State University, on the quadruple whammy of storms taken by Florida in 2004

Now that's unfiltered

"If you were in the audience and in the room, you got to see the reactions. Why shouldn't the public?" Brian Lamb, C-Span's chairman, explaining why the network showed both President Bush and John Kerry nonstop on a split screen throughout their 90-minute debate

Just tongue-in-cheek, folks

"A lot more women than men will pick up food from the floor and eat it when they dropped it. That's unexpected." Marc Abrahams, editor of the Annals of Improbable Research, which gave out this year's "Ig Noble Prize" award in public health to Jillian Clarke her for investigation into the "five-second rule," which says that food dropped on the floor is safe to eat as long as it's picked up within five seconds