Loose cannons

Reality bites

“MAKING LOVE LAST: How couples use illusion to maintain a happy marriage”
— page one headline for a Bettina Arndt article in the October 28-29 Sydney
Morning Herald.

Self-made millionaire

“The man behind Australia's tallest building, construction magnate Bruno
Grollo, was uneducated, unsophisticated, had difficulty reading and writing
and relied almost entirely on his advisers, a court heard today.” — the
November 1 Financial Review's account of Grollo's defence counsel's
remarks to the Victorian Supreme Court. The Grollo brothers are charged
with conspiring to defraud the federal government of tax on $25 million
of profit.

Food-in-mouth

“I know how hard it is to put food on your family.” — US presidential candidate
George W. Bush.

But what a pension plan!

“It's a job of high insecurity.” — Australian Financial Review editor
Michelle Grattan in her just-published book Australian Prime Ministers.

The 'feminist' candidate

“ 'Well, I don't know what the circumstances would be in that situation.
I would, you know, it's an interesting fact situation. I'd want to think
about it.” — US Vice-President Al Gore responding to a reporter's question
as to whether he supported a federal law that bars the execution of a pregnant
woman.