Quotes of the week

They said what?!?  

We can’t force people to clean up the streets, but you can make them clean up after themselves.

Kim Capri, Vancouver City Councillor, arguing that laws against the slightest littering should be strictly enforced

Zero [building] codes may be better still. If you don’t have any codes, industry standards are bound to emerge as best practices spread by word of mouth and consumer demand.

William Watson, National Post columnist, arguing that cities should do away with all building codes. (He obviously doesn’t live in a leaky Vancouver condo.)

It’s a dangerous time for any party to have control of the federal government.

Charles Cook, US political analyst

We have received many threats from Zarqawi’s assistant. We published them in the newspaper.

Falah al Mishal, editor, Al-Sabah newspaper in Baghdad, whose building was bombed and destroyed this week

The rulers and the army have triggered an endless war. We won’t let it cool down.

Mir Hasil Khan Bazenjo, Baluch political leader, after Pakistan officials tried to kill a Baluch tribal leader. Baluchistan is a semi-autonomous region of south western Pakistan

If we backed down on the nuclear issue, the US would have found fault with our medical doctors researching stem cells.

Ali Muhammad Besherati, former deputy interior and foreign minister in Iran

Although our economic system may not be strong, our minds and our memories are.

Ali Muhammad Besherati

This is all about getting the customer to buy quicker.

Eric E Schmidt, chief executive of Google, after signing an advertising deal with EBay

This is a real black mark on his administration, and it’s going to stay with him for a long time. It will be in every text book.

James A Thurber, American University, on the lasting negative effects of a picture of Bush surveying the damage of Hurricane Katrina from high above in his airplane

They must be able to make mistakes. It’s not like in kindergarten—if you don’t do it, I will do it for you!

Christian Schwarz-Schilling, Bosnia’s senior international official on internatinal meddling in Bosnia’s internal affairs

To stop the violence, we need the materials of power, like weapons, like money.

Muhammad L Kahia, Iraqi tribal leader

Servicemen are our best audience. They are so appreciative. We love touring for them. They get so excited.

Tanea Brooks, in Baghdad with the Purrfect Angelz dance troop. Her other gig is as a quarterback in the Lingerie Football League, in which models play football dressed in lingerie

Our country is confronted with illogical countries who have nuclear weapons. If they put too much pressure, our people might ask the government to produce nuclear weapons as a deterrent instrument.

Mohammad Reza Bahonar, deputy speaker of Iranian parliament

When you released the only factor keeping this country together, Saddam, all the problems came to the surface.

Asos Hardi, editor of Awene, an independent Kurdish newspaper, on the prospects of a future unified Iraq