Loose cannons

Stop hating us and we'll stop killing you

"I support this war unequivocally. We were attacked on our soil. We have to bomb those people until we teach them not to hate us." — singer Eartha Kitt on the educational value of cluster bombing Afghan villages.

He should know

"It was despicable, inexcusable behaviour." — John Howard commenting on his re-election strategy. Just kidding. John Howard on Uruguay's reception for the Socceroos.

Adaptable bovver boy

"If you've run the Labor Council of NSW, if you've put in place the industrial relations for the Olympic Games, if you do negotiation on a daily basis, you've got the talents to be a front-rank minister." — NSW Premier Bob Carr, on why Mick Costa's talent at kicking heads in the union movement will prove handy in his new job as Carr's police minister.

America's Taliban

"I'm settled on the fact that this happened for a reason, that God was trying to get our attention. The Bible says there will be great sorrow before the end times, and what happened on September 11 is just an example." — US Christian fundamentalist Aaron Hooper predicting that the World Trade Center attacks are the harbinger of the apocalypse and the Second Coming.

Delusional

"We know we won the last campaign. What we didn't win was the election." — New Labor leader Simon Crean, off to a good start.

Keep them out nicely

"What we want to see is a lasting solution ... that balances compassion with toughness." — Crean again, announcing a "shift" in Labor's refugee policy.

From Green Left Weekly, November 28, 2001.

Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.

From GLW issue 473