Loose cannons

Bureaucracy lives!

"Anyone who manufactures, tests, launches or drops a nuclear bomb within the City of Toronto is violating official policy." — Toronto City Council announcement in the Toronto Globe and Mail.

Question ...

"Essentially, a number of union officials had expressed their curiosity about why the secretary of the ACTU would come down so strongly in support of a couple of multi-millionaires fighting for control of a large corporation." — Peter Sams, secretary of NSW TLC.

... Answer

"There wouldn't be a trade union leader in the country without a personal friendship [with leaders of business]." — Simon Crean, federal ALP minister and former president of the ACTU.

Huge profits

"BHP is proud of what has been achieved at Ok Tedi ... The only option now available is to continue to do what is being done at present." — Statement in a BHP propaganda pamphlet distributed to employees at Ok Tedi called "BHP and Ok Tedi: The Facts".

Those who live there

"Closing the mine is not an option — it is too important to the economic and social welfare of PNG and is not advocated by any but a small number of people in the region." — From the same BHP pamphlet.

Surprise!

"Not everyone here is powerful. Not everyone here is rich." — New world order Pope John Paul telling the people of New York why they cannot consider their country the world's guiding light if they neglect their own poor.