Examining recent changes in income distribution in Australia
"Tis paper analyses recently released ABS data on the distribution of income which allows, for the first time, estimates to be made of the distribution of income in 2000-01 and how it has changed since the mid-1990s. It is now possible to examine how inequality has changed since 1994-95 and since the election of the Howard Government in 1995-96. The estimates indicate that while real disposable incomes increased across the distribution, income inequality has also increased since 1994-95, particularly between 1996-97 and 1999-2000.
· ABS Data [Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales(PDF file)]

Justice has been rerouted
From present to future tense;
The law is so in love with the law
It's forgotten common sense.
- Ogden Nash

Frrrakenstein Monsters
S py Leak Violates Patriot Act.
Politicians made great hay out of the fact that moral absolutism is a given in Homeland security law. Section 802 of the act defines, in part, domestic terrorism as acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any state that appear to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population.
· You are either for us or against us [Newsday ]

Land of the Free? After South Korea ...
Press freedom in Australia has taken a battering in the past 12 months, according to the latest world rankings published by the international media monitoring organisation, Reporters Without Borders.
Australia plummeted from 12th place in the 2002 index of press freedom, Czechs and Slovaks moved to 12th place this year, to 50th this year, behind New Zealand in 17th, Britain (27th), the United States (31st) and South Korea (49th).
· Media restrictions given a black mark [SMH ]

Breaking the law
Glenn Reynolds, as Professor of Law, who had completely lost the plot during the debate on Iraq war is regaining his senses and has digged up this masterpiece in the comfort of his American study room:
There are too many laws — many of them contradictory or obscure — for any person to actually avoid breaking the law completely. (My Criminal Law professor, when I was a law student, announced to us that we were all felons on the first day of class. There were too many felonies on the books for us not to be: Oral sex in Georgia? Oops!) And given that many laws are dumb, actually following all of them would probably bring society to a standstill, just as Air Traffic Controllers and pilots can make air travel grind to a halt by meticulously following every safety rule without exception.
The other problem is that law is like anything else: when the supply outstrips the demand, its value falls. If law were restricted to things like rape, robbery, and murder, its prestige would be higher. When we make felonies out of trivial crimes, though, the law loses prestige. As the old bumper stickers about the 55 mile-per-hour speed limit used to say: It’s not a good idea. It’s just the law.
· Instawisdom [ MSNBCviaSamizdata]

It is not our stars, dear Horatio, but ourselves...

Everybody Wants To Rule The World
Yeah, I was alive during the 1980s, but Tears for Fears reminded me of something important in our own time.
Look at the Blogstreet list of "top blogs." Notice something about them? Most are on the same topic, politics.
· The problem isn't with the lying liars. The problem is with the millions who enjoy being lied to, who prefer being lied to, who see balance as imbalance, and imbalance as balance [Corante: MOORE'S LORE: new technology: Dana Blankenhorn ]

Speaking of tears of laughter and misleading headlines, yesterday some readers of Technorati abstracts assumed that I was richer than Madona or even the Queen...Not So. Just ask the Dragon! (smile)
6. And richer, even, than Jozef Imrich, NovoRiche Blow-in (6) (Cosmos)
dangerousmeta! 135 inbound blogs, 150 inbound links Created 18 hours 34 minutes ago (Cosmos)
To stars, writing books looks like child’s play. You know it’s coming. The pithy comment. Get ready. “So when’s Michael Jackson going to throw his hat in the ring?” [Boing-ng-ng-ng]
Media Dragon 62 inbound blogs, 66 inbound links Created 20 hours 5 minutes ago (Cosmos)
ts of money and publicity to be made in kid lit. It was a time, after all, when a young British woman — who didn't have a famous name when she started — wrote a series of books about a boy named Harry and, legend has it, became richer than Madonna. · And richer, even, than Jozef Imrich, NovoRiche Blow-in [The New York Times 10/23/03 ] ·
The AppleSurf Reader 5 inbound blogs, 5 inbound links Created 20 hours 30 minutes ago (Cosmos)
The restaurants exist, and in some cases thrive, for no apparent reason. To Stars, Writing Books Looks Like Child's Play

Competition is the bane of the political classes
Over on the Adam Smith Institute blog, Madsen Pirie makes an excellent point about the joys of borders and the competition they bring:

In the US I like to cross state lines to go for the lower sales taxes and duties. It is reckoned that 'leakage' (cross border shopping) will be a significant factor if there is a 3 percentage point tax differential. And it's not only competition in sales and purchase taxes which works. I love French food and wine, and the priority they are given, but I don't feel the same way about their income tax and social insurance. The Danes do pickled fish on rye bread superbly, but there's no way I want to pay Danish taxes. I enjoy the Swedish forests and lakes, but not their government.
· Borders [AdamSmith ]
· Capital gains [Telegraph(UK) ]

Breaking the law
Glenn Reynolds, Professor of Law, has written a thoughtful article:
There are too many laws — many of them contradictory or obscure — for any person to actually avoid breaking the law completely. (My Criminal Law professor, when I was a law student, announced to us that we were all felons on the first day of class. There were too many felonies on the books for us not to be: Oral sex in Georgia? Oops!) And given that many laws are dumb, actually following all of them would probably bring society to a standstill, just as Air Traffic Controllers and pilots can make air travel grind to a halt by meticulously following every safety rule without exception.
The other problem is that law is like anything else: when the supply outstrips the demand, its value falls. If law were restricted to things like rape, robbery, and murder, its prestige would be higher. When we make felonies out of trivial crimes, though, the law loses prestige. As the old bumper stickers about the 55 mile-per-hour speed limit used to say: It’s not a good idea. It’s just the law.
· Instawisdom [ MSNBC]

Jungle

Andrew Refshauge
Greiner remains a non-voting member in support of Rees. But two weeks ago, on October 9, she phoned Rees to talk frankly about her concerns with an accelerating campaign against Ashrawi. A file note of their conversation reads: KG: "I have to speak logically. It is either Hanan Ashrawi or the Peace Foundation. That's our choice, Stuart. My distinct impression is that if you persist in having her here, they'll destroy you. Rob Thomas of City Group is in trouble for supporting us. I think he must have had a phone call from New York. And you know Danny Gilbert [partner in the law firm, Gilbert and Tobin] has already been warned off."
SR: "You must be joking. We've been over this a hundred times. We consulted widely. We agreed the jury's decision, made over a year ago, was not only unanimous but that we would support it, together."
KG: "But listen, I'm trying to present the logic of this. They'll destroy what you've worked for. They are determined to show we made a bad choice. I think it's Frank Lowy's money. You don't understand just how much opposition there is. We cannot go ahead. If only there was progress in the Middle East, this would not be such a bad time."
SR: "I won't be subject to bullying and intimidation. We are being threatened by members of a powerful group who think they have an entitlement to tell others what to do. This opposition is orchestrated. The arguments are all the same - that Hanan Ashrawi has not condemned violence sufficiently, that she was highly critical of Israel in her address to the UN's Johannesburg Conference on racism, and wilder accusations that do not bear repetition."
KG: "But you're not listening to the logic. The Commonwealth Bank - I was at a reception last night - is highly critical. We could not approach them for financial help for the Schools Peace Prize. We'll get no support from them. The business world will close ranks. They're saying we are being one-sided, that we've only supported Palestine."
SR: "Kathryn, we need to avoid the trap of even using the language of 'one side'. That's not the issue. We are being bullied and intimidated and you are asking that we give way to it. The letter writers and the phone callers who this group encourage have spent weeks bullying a 25-year-old colleague of mine who handles the foundation's administration. You are asking me to collude with bullying."
KG: "I'll tell you how serious this is. Bob Carr won't come to the dinner. He'll flick the responsibility to [his deputy, Andrew] Refshauge at the last minute. And you won't get the Town Hall. It is more than Lucy's life is worth. They will desert us as well."
SR: "I've never given way to bullying. Public life is too much characterised by cowardice. If we give way I'd be so ashamed I couldn't face myself. The image of the Peace Foundation would be shameful. Our reputation would count for nothing."
KG: "My friend, I am telling you what the reality is. The foundation will be destroyed. I'd hate to see its work come to nothing over this. Our critics are saying it's an awful choice."
SR: "These critics are 'they' and 'them', invisible but powerful people. They stay powerful because they are invisible. They bully and intimidate in the same breath they behave as unblemished pillars of the community. Do you mean to say that in cautious, often gutless Australia we are not going to follow through on this? No. I remain completely committed to our decision."
Watch this space.
· Public life is too much characterised by cowardice [SMH: Ramsey]

What was Leo Strauss up to?
By nature everyone seeks his own good and nothing but his own good. Justice, however, tells us to seek other men’s good...
To be clear, Strauss was not as hostile to democracy as he was to liberalism. This is because he recognises that the vulgar masses have numbers on their side, and the sheer power of numbers cannot be completely ignored. Whatever can be done to bring the masses along is legitimate. If you can use democracy to turn the masses against their own liberty, this is a great triumph. It is the sort of tactic that neo-conservatives use consistently, and in some cases very successfully.
· http://www.thepublicinterest.com/current/article1.html [Publicinterest.com/ The Public Interest, No. 153 (Fall 2003), pp. 19-39 © 2003 by National Affairs, Inc]
· Witch Hunts [Ken Macleod]
· NOBLE LIES [Open Democracy]

Upper house

Upper house downers
When Canberra opted for self-government in 1989, the territory had no need of an upper house to do business. So if our newest parliament could do without one, why do other state parliaments cling to the old-fashioned notion of upper houses, which many view as an irrelevant appendix to the body politic?
· Bicameral [Sunday ]
· Unicameral [SoutherlyBuster ]

Neo

Poll triumph for Swiss right wing
Early results from Switzerland's parliamentary elections show that the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) has the biggest share of the vote.
The party, once the smallest of the four governing parties in the coalition, is now the largest.
· Swiss Expressed Enormous trust in the SVP [BBC ]
·
Are you a neoconservative? Take this quiz to find out
[CSMonitor ]
· All the President's votes? [ Independent]

Leak

Bush's crackdown on leakers is quickly leaked to reporters

President Bush told his top officials to stop the leaks to the media -- or else. News of Bush's order leaked almost immediately. There's a whole history of stupid escapades of trying to find out who leaked.
· Guarantees the story is going to just get bigger [Philly: Courtesy Romenesko]

Our lives begin to end when we become silent about things that matter.
Martin Luther King

The Two-Income Trap: Going broke over Lattes
Today's two-income family has 75 percent more earnings, inflation adjusted, than their parents had a generation ago. The reason, of course, is because today's average family has two people in the workforce, instead of one. But this year, more children will live through their parents' bankruptcy than their parents' divorce.
What they discovered shocked even themselves: the effort to keep the kids in a good school district when one parent is laid-off is the main factor driving Americans into bankruptcy court, not all those trips to the Niketown store.
· Foreclosures: Silent Shame [Salon ]
· Wealthy bosses have good reason to worry [SMH ]

The Soviet Republic of Texas
You might think America's rigged system of congressional elections couldn't get much worse. Self-serving redistricting schemes nationwide already have left an overwhelming number of seats in the House of Representatives so uncompetitive that election results are practically as preordained as in the old Soviet Union. In the last election, for example, 98 percent of incumbents were reelected, and the average winning candidate got more than 70 percent of the vote. More candidates ran without any major-party opposition than won by a margin of less than 20 percent. Yet even given this record, the just-completed Texas congressional redistricting plan represents a new low.
The plan grabbed headlines as a consequence of the flight by Democrats -- twice -- from the state to prevent its adoption. The Democrats, whose only hope, being in the minority in both houses, was to prevent a quorum, eventually gave in; the legislature has adopted the plan. It's abhorrent on two counts. Texas Republicans, egged on by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, violated a longstanding tradition by redrawing the map in the middle of a census cycle. Their new rule seems to be, why wait 10 years if you can cram something down your opponents' throats today? And their plan is designed to wipe out moderate and white Democrats from the Texas congressional delegation. We don't know whether the plan violates the Voting Rights Act or will survive legal challenge. What is clear, however, is that it will aggravate the triumph of extremes in Washington while further sovietizing America's already-fixed electoral game.
· Electoral Games [WashingtonPost.com]
· Don't Look Down (Under) [NYTimes Krugman]

Partnerships

Partnerships, Community and Local Governance
Papers include: Limits to Local Governance: Lessons From the UK (Professor Mike Geddes, University of Warwick), Partnerships and Local Governance: Some Lessons from European Innovations (Professor Mark Considine, Centre for Public Policy, University of Melbourne) and Enhancing Diversity: Managing Partnerships with the State (Professor Paul Smyth and Dr Tim Reddel, University of Queensland)
· International Perspectives and Australian Experiences [ UNIMelbourne]
· Why California is more unpopular with public companies headquartered in California [CorpLawBlog ]

Blames

Somewhere, Orwell's ghost is smiling grimly
Almost all of the bureaucrats at the information ministry have done very nicely for themselves since the war. The government minders who spent their days reporting to the intelligence services on foreign reporters or doing their best to obstruct their work have gone on to well-paid jobs - for the same foreign news organisations they once hounded.
The second-in-command at the information ministry, who spent his days reading the reports the minders wrote about visiting foreign journalists, has been employed by Fox News.
· Irony [Guardian(UK) ]
· Let he who is without Spin... [The Age]

The Plame affair gets to the dilemma of how journalism is practiced in Washington
T he first real political scandal of the Bush administration appears to have legs, to the discomfort of an unusually large number of people in Washington -- both in the White House and the press corps.
· Uneasy bedfellows: White House and journalists both under scrutiny [SFChronicle]

Olympian

Many soldiers, same letter
Letters from hometown soldiers describing their successes rebuilding Iraq have been appearing in newspapers across the country as U.S. public opinion on the mission sours.
And all the letters are the same.
· Newspapers around U.S. get identical missives from Iraq [TheOlympian ]

American Idol

My friends at Lucianne.com immerse themselves in the informational bath of the "true believers". The service excludes dissenting opinion. They live in a cyberworld of ditto-headed bliss, free from challenge, free from thought, free to assert and reiterate the mantras of modern Republicanism, over and over again.
Their numbers are thinning. They are afraid to allow new posters, because it has become so blatantly easy to challenge their Republican, rightest idols.
The lies and prevarications of this Republican administration are coming home to roost. Only an idiot wouldn't see it.
ANY BUSH speechwriter daring to propose that the president say to the nation, Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country, would be immediately told to turn in his word processor and leave by the side door. An administration committed to tax breaks for the wealthy, sweetheart contracts for Halliburton, and deregulation for corporate polluters and media giants wants speechwriters who stay on message, not dreamers who might confuse American voters with talk about service instead of greed.
Even less welcome would be a White House speechwriter suggesting that the president invoke John F. Kennedy's additional inaugural challenge in 1960: My fellow citizens of the world, ask: `What together we can do for the freedom of man?'
· [BostonviaGoogle]

The Murdoch trick depends on his Children doing the same trick

In The Murdoch Archipelago, published by Simon and Schuster, Page argues that Murdoch has built a media business model unlike any others; one where his newspapers and television stations have been placed at the disposal of politicians in return for favours that have advanced his commercial interests.
To keep that model afloat he needs someone in place who will faithfully replicate his business practices - not for ideological reasons but in the pursuit of profit.
Fascination with this man - who inherited one daily newspaper in Adelaide from his father, Sir Keith, in 1952, from which he built a global empire with assets totalling $US42 billion ($61 billion) - runs deep. His interventionist style, documented in depth by disgruntled former editors and reporters, and the broad array of media outlets he controls, have long worried journalists and those who lobby for greater diversity of media ownership.
It comes at a time when Murdoch is not only under attack in the UK for suspected nepotism but has also drawn heavy flak in the US for his control of television stations.
· The Man Behind The Control [SMH ]
· The Man Behind The Curtain [USNews ]

Le...Chene

The most disturbing spy who came in from the old folk's home
Desks were rifled, diaries were read and address books photocopied so that the information could then be transferred to BAE. CAAT members were often followed.
One such target was Jenneth Parker, described in one report as a "good-looking" 25-year-old, who was a key activist and networker for CAAT and student groups.
A tape recording of a phone conversation between Le Chene and a senior officer in BAE group security reveals that they discussed having Parker followed. Reports on Parker give details of her addresses, housemates, hairstyles, the contents of her diary and her alleged habit of smoking marijuana in the corridor.
Le Chene’s agents were instructed to take particular interest in connections between anti-arms trade pressure groups and the House of Commons. Meetings and correspondence with MPs of all three parties was closely monitored and advance warning of any parliamentary events was always reported.
· The infiltration was so bad that one of Le Chene's agents even acted as secretary of a CAAT-affiliated group in Hull. [in Denial]

Present Soros: Silenced
Silenced was made possible by a grant from the Open Society Institute. Blogs has evolved to become an increasingly important platform not just for economic development, but also as a support for advocates who wish to express their opinion freely and to work toward the development of democracy.
· Platform Bits [Privacy International]
· Speech Makers [BostonviaGoogle]

Past Spy pictures of suffragettes revealed
Photos uncovered by the National Archives show how the police spied on the suffragettes. These covert images - perhaps the UK's first spy pictures - have gone on display to mark the centenary of the votes-for-women movement.
· Irony and Spying Dead in 21st century (smile) [BBC ]

Future Leaks
Terry Moran of ABC News says top officials in the West Wing aren't leaking, but the "level two and level three" people are starting to talk to reporters. NYDN's Ken Bazinet adds: "There's an undercurrent of career employees who feel like they are being picked off by the political appointees." They're the leakers. Harry Jaffe reports there are signs the White House may be striking back at reporters it considers too aggressive, including Moran and NBC's David Gregory.
· Shafer: Exactly what law did Novak's leakers break?[(Slate) viaRomenesko]
· Claim: White House correspondents are finding more leakers (Washingtonian)
· Open Leaks [Diplomacymonitor]
· Blogging v journalism: Harvard University [the Nieman Reports PDF]

SOROS

1981 AD A Turning Point for the human rights movement
Despite lack of progress in prosecuting those responsible for 500 civilians killed at El Mozote, human rights advocates consider El Mozote a turning point for the human rights movement because it marked the first time that an investigative approach was used to document abuses. (Previous efforts had relied largely on individual testimony.) In addition, the massacre prompted the first-ever use of the Geneva Conventions for assessing human rights abuse in Central America, and the reporting and investigations that followed El Mozote helped focus debate on U.S. responsibility for massive human rights abuses through its continued support for El Salvador's military.
· First-ever use of the Geneva Conventions for assessing human rights abuse [Soros Open Societies Insitute (October 2003)]
NOTE: OSI’s Iraq Revenue Watch has issued two new reports that criticize U.S. administrators for failing to prioritize transparency in the reconstruction of Iraq and the management of its public finances.

A man has to see things as they really are. After all, a man with responsibilities can't walk around with his head in the clouds all the time. Oh, a man should have his dreams...but a man has to learn to put those dreams to some practical use, not just sit around and think about them all the time.
--Caractacus Potts

Dumb and dumberer
It’s not that Bush is mad or mendacious. The problem is that he’s dull-witted and easily manipulated.
· I am the joke of the modern leadership [Phillip Adams]

California Calling

As the California recall race gets down and dirty, anyone monitoring the election ought to be following Rough and Tumble.
Rough Tumble is a daily digest of links to stories about California public policy and politics: (http://www.rtumble.com/)
· Rough and Tumble Erections [rTumble viaWebTips]
· Sex and the Candidate [NYMetro ]

The truth tramplers: Media war spin on trial

Salam suggests US administrators have "really no idea what is happening outside, they get their views thru 'advisors' - involving more Iraqis is essential not only to help the Americans run the show but also to train Iraqis to take over the responsibilities later on.
· We just got rid of a regime which was practicing too much information control [WebDiary ]

Political carrverage doesn't have be boring

Politicians may be boring but the coverage doesn't have to be. Yet that's what we have -- endless panels of mostly white men in suits, sitting around tables prognosticating and showing off how much they know. Most of it is uninspired blather -- and usually wrong.
· Network television thrives on wars and elections [MediaChannel.org]
· Journos [CommonDreams ]

Who really cares about Sunday morning political talk shows?

We think it was Mark Twain who once opined that politics is the only career in which it is considered an advantage to have no experience whatsoever.
· The Real Clowns in Recall 'Circus' Are the Press [CommonDreams

Kushner: Of Art And Politics

Playwright Tony Kushner on the responsibility of artists in challenging time: You can't find any important work of American art, in theater or anywhere else, that doesn't have a very powerful political dimension. [But] whatever you do with your day job—and writing plays is what I do—is no replacement for activism, which is a necessary part of being a citizen in a democracy.
· Axis of Optimism [Seattle Weekly 09/24/03]
· Why is consumer power a myth? Here are three reasons [CommonDreams]