Loose Cannons

Bright spark

"He rang me Wednesday morning. The first thing we talked about was the bushfires. He didn't like the name bushfires. He said can't you call them natural fires. I said that's a bit hard, George. We're very used to the bush here. He said 'Oh'." — Prime Menzies John Howard recounting a phone conversation with US President George "Crusader" Bush, quoted in the January 24 Daily Telegraph.

Ambition

"I mentioned early on that I recognise there are hurdles, and we're going to achieve those hurdles." — "Crusader" Bush speaking in St Louis, Missouri, on January 22.

Because you might find out

"It's a real mistake to try and assess what the state of public opinion is on this." — Prime Menzies Howard's answer when asked whether the Australian people support his decision to send troops to the Gulf, Daily Telegraph, January 24.

Class consciousness

"At the risk of encouraging the ghost of Joe Hill to come back and haunt us, we suspect investors should avoid heavily unionised industries today more than usual... today heavily unionised industries stand directly in whatever the opposite of the sweet spot is... Look for the union label and run the other way." — From a research note circulated in November by the Morgan Stanley bank to its North American clients, quoted in the February issue of Harper's Magazine.

From Green Left Weekly, January 29, 2003.

Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.

From GLW issue 523