loose cannons

The mouth of a tiger?

"What is safer than being in the hands of the police?" — Malaysian deputy national police chief Jamil Johari, responding to accusations that people arrested under the Internal Security Act have been mistreated.

Also?

"Bigamy and keeping concubines by the country's new rich are eroding social morality ... party and government officials involved have also tarnished the image of the government." — China's official Xinhua news agency.

@subh =Unlike union officials

"I blame society for inferior politicians. They're put down all the time and they're not paid enough, so less and less people are prepared to put themselves forward." — ALP member and Australian Manufacturing Workers Union Queensland branch secretary David Harrison.

Fairy story

"Prime Minister John Howard has promised to 'throw the book at' executives of failed insurance company HIH if they deliberately hid the company's escalating problems." — Sun-Herald, May 13.

Keeping Australia for the 'white man'?

"The great challenge ahead of the Australian nation is to remain true to those values which Barton and Deakin would have identified amidst a world and a changed environment that would have been beyond their comprehension." — the Prime Menzies, John Howard, speaking at the Federation celebration in Melbourne, May 9.

From GLW issue 448