American values
"We're an organisation that's not on the ropes but on top of mainstream American values." — Tom Washington, president of the US National Rifle Association.
Watch for him
"Who is B.J. Habibie really, and why is it that the mere mention of his name will evoke a vibration in the hearts of young children and adults? He is the idol and the dream of all parents, who wish their offspring to become another Habibie." — Beginning of the authorised biography B.J. Habibie, crony of Indonesian dictator Suharto and currently on an official visit to Australia.
Vibrating with panic
"They are panic merchants. They get things out of perspective." — An anonymous source, quoted by the May 22 Sydney Morning Herald, on an Australian government "witch-hunt" to find the person who leaked Habibie's Australian itinerary, which the government fears will lead to demonstrations against him.
Sounds familiar
"LONDON — The media baron Mr Rupert Murdoch has disclosed he faces a dilemma over whether to support the Prime Minister, Mr John Major, or the Labour Leader, Mr Tony Blair, because he cannot tell them apart." — The Press Association, May 22.
Clarification
"The men of Fininvest involved are not corrupters but victims of extortion, executives forced to pay in order to do their work." — Silvio Berlusconi, Italian media monopolist and recent right-wing prime minister, qualifying an earlier claim that his Fininvest company was not involved in bribing tax inspectors, after magistrates decided to charge him with corruption.
Competitive success
"Any efficiency improvement beyond the underlying trend has been captured entirely in the form of higher profits for Telstra." — A Consumers' Telecommunications Network study, which found that the introduction of competition in telephone services has not reduced prices to customers.