Loose cannons

Motivated

"I've always felt that trying to help Haiti was a noble thing. I've taken on a number of unpopular clients. That's why I got a law degree." — US lobbyist Robert McCandless, on his US$165,000-a-year fee for representing the Haitian military regime.

How many sterile divisions has the pope?

"Why not be done with sterile divisions?" — Pope John Paul II, replying to a Haitian bishop who asked him to end the Vatican's recognition of the government established by last year's military coup.

Origin of democracy

Our Managua correspondent reports a riddle making the rounds in Nicaragua: Why, in the US, do they change presidents through elections? Answer: They don't have a US embassy.

Silver linings

"In the middle of the worst recession in 60 years, very few in corporate Australia have got the message. Business chiefs have voted themselves an average 13 per cent salary rise in 1992, according to a Herald survey of 50 leading listed companies." — Sydney Morning Herald, November 14.

In the mould of Skase and Bond

"I would rather have thought that I was an entrepreneurial premier." — Former NSW premier Nick Greiner, forced to resign earlier this year for not being corrupt.

Through distorting lenses

"Keating is encouraged by Clinton. His private assessment of the president-elect is that 'he has drive, horsepower, and he's a soft-hearted bloke, too'. Keating, in other words, sees the new US president in much the same way that he sees himself." — Laurie Oakes in the Bulletin.

From GLW issue 80