Recommendation
"I don't think the average audience wants an in-depth message." — Liberal back-bencher John Bradford on why he thinks Bronwyn Bishop would be a successful leader (Bulletin, November 9).
Closet Marxist?
"The proponents of capitalism in its extreme forms tend to overlook the good the good things achieved by communism: the efforts to overcome unemployment, the concern for the poor ..." — Pope John Paul II in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Stampa.
Oh, by the way ...
US tobacco heiress Doris Duke, who died two weeks ago, left an estate of US$1.2 billion. Among other things, her will calls on Imelda Marcos to repay a US$5 million loan.
The American way
"They like being able to exclude people from coverage because the more they can exclude, the more money they can make." — Hillary Clinton, wife of the US president, on medical insurance companies.
Forward to the past
"Last week Boris Yeltsin decreed that all Russians for the first time in their history have the right to sell, bequeath and mortgage [landed] property. With that promise, the President took his place alongside the great reformers of the past." — Time, November 8.
Nostalgic
"It's not so long ago we had laws in this country that actually put people in jail for not paying money back." — NSW Premier John Fahey on borrowers from the government's HomeFund scheme who are not keeping up with repayments.
Bird brains
"A Mexican newspaper reports that bored Royal Air Force pilots stationed on the Falkland Islands have devised what they consider a marvelous new game. Noting that the local penguins are fascinated by airplanes, the pilots search out a beach where the birds are gathered and fly slowly along it at the water's edge. Perhaps ten thousand penguins turn their heads in unison watching the planes go by, and when the pilots turn around and fly back, the birds turn their heads in the opposite direction, like spectators at a slow-motion tennis match. Then, the paper reports, 'The pilots fly out to sea and directly to the penguin colony and overfly it. Heads go up, up, up, and ten thousand penguins fall over gently onto their backs." — Audobon Society Magazine.