---

Vaclav Havel comments on the country's struggles for democracy

Just let me say to each of you who have worked so hard and taken such risks to cover this story, I extend a heartfelt apology and hope you will accept it,
writes Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Congressional Language
Cheney, serving in his role as president of the Senate, appeared in the chamber for a photo session. A chance meeting with Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.), the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, became an argument about Cheney's ties to Halliburton Co., an international energy services corporation, and President Bush's judicial nominees. The exchange ended when Cheney offered some crass advice
#@%* !!!!, said the man who is a heartbeat from the presidency.
· Yay! One of us! One of us! One of us! [ Parliamentary language If you can't say something dillish ... ] [[Jack Ryan and the politics of meta-sins Politician's private life is sacrosanct
· · See Also Carr's gift to Howard: Labor Party's fractured policy over US relations [ via Axis of Deceit]
· · · The state controls everything, even ridicules people for suspicion of blogging Big-Time Egan: Life after debt (( Where The New Right is Going Wrong )) ((( 2004 AD Socialism)))
· · · · See Also New head gives ALP factions ceasefire hopes
· · · · · See Also Not happy, Tony, say Britons
· · · · · · Alan Ramsey: Not only flags flying in a lot of hot wind
· · · · · · · David Hanson: Year Three Again, 9/11, summing up our current position in this disorienting war: the pulse of the strategic, tactical, and ideological theaters (( On the parallels between Russia's Chechnya and America's Iraq))

---

Will we ever know the whys of evil parliamentary behavior?

Tracking Policies & Investigative Stories: Hard Labor 1995-2007: Nothing New Under the Old Girls' Network
The state's health system was plagued by medical mistakes and cover-ups and was run by an old girls' network of administrators protected by their political affiliations.
The report found there were undoubtedly serious cultural and system-related problems concerning complaints handling in south-west Sydney.
Dr Moyes described a political network of senior female administrators running the NSW health system, including the former chief of Macarthur Health, Jennifer Collins, the administrator of the South Western Sydney Area Health Service, Deborah Picone, and chief executive officer of Central Sydney Area Health Service, Diana Horvath
· New South Worries: Midwives of Labor [Do Not Mention the Parliamentary Midwives Health Care Complaints (Joint Statutory Committee) ]
· · See Also Peter Locke remembers the birth of his twin boys as the day he lost all faith in the health system and his confidence in his abilities as a doctor
· · · See Also Sartor denies receiving $100,000 discount for Melbourne unit
· · · · See Also E(l)ection of Tertiary Privacy
· · · · · See Also Judge, Jerrold Cripps, QC, given wide brief to look into ICAC, the Adoring Thorng (sic)
· · · · · · See Also How local contractors are winning no-bid government jobs by funneling millions of dollars to the campaigns of elected officials
· · · · · · · See Also Bouncing Czech: Christopher Hammond continues to get government contracts despite his habit of writing bad checks to Los Angeles politicians

---

German, French and British voters dealt swift kicks to German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, French President Jacques Chirac and British Prime Minister Tony Blair this weekend by electing anti-European Union candidates to the European Parliament.
Even in European countries that are new to democracy, voters find things to do other than voting for a new European Parliament. Apathy and scepticism mark first EU vote in "New Europe"
A breakdown of the 732-seat European Parliament after historic elections that saw some 150 million Europeans cast ballots across 25 member nations of the expanded European DisUnion.
Official Site of European Parliament provides raw data

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Poor Version of Democracy
While the United States wages war to expand democracy around the world, how is our own democracy doing? Not very well, says a group of distinguished scholars.
The voices of American citizens are raised and heard unequally. The privileged participate more than others and are increasingly well organized to press their demands on government. Public officials, in turn, are much more responsive to the privileged than to average citizens and the least affluent.
· Disparities in political participation, the report says, ensure that ordinary Americans speak in a whisper while the most advantaged roar. [“right” liberals versus “false” ones The Importance of Norberto Bobbio ]
· · See Also Which presidential style is best? [ via Imagined Communities: Not so much to kill, as willingly to die for such limited imaginings]
· · · See Also The return of Boilermaker Bill's Macquarie St musings: Pouring Oils onto troubled waters; Ta ta Totaro
· · · · See Also Carr king-maker in Garrett coup
· · · · · See Also Brereton's last revenge
· · · · · · See Also The ABC and fearless political reporting
· · · · · · · See Also Campaigns Drawn to Political Labels: e(l)ectionconnoisairs , pollsters, political scientists and media pundits create catching-phrases to coin swing voters

---

All that I have produced before the age of seventy is not worth taking into account. At seventy-three, I learned a little about the real structure of nature, of animals, plants, trees, birds, fishes and insects. In consequence, when I am eighty, I shall have made still more progress. At ninety, I shall penetrate the mystery of things; at 100, I shall certainly have reached a marvelous stage; and when I am 110, everything I do, be it a dot or a line, will be alive.
Hokusai, A Hundred Views of Fuji (Tatra Mountains)

Invisible Hands & Markets: No More Escapes Across Iron Curtains As The Next Velvet Revolution will be Bogged: Between hither and yon
Most of the youth of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union are not optimistic -- social services have collapsed and life expectancy is down.
The young largely brought about the collapse of communist regimes. They were the ones who went to demonstrations and meetings, and led the strike actions.
Now their children are disappointed and mistrustful of politics. Average youth unemployment is twice the general level. Many feel they have been failed by the adults who promised beautiful living and freedom that for many has turned into poverty, fear and loneliness.
· We expected better [link first seen at Prague Post]
· · See Also America is the land of the sex-discrimination lawsuit: the world's biggest award, of $10.6m, was made by an American jury in 2002 to a former employee of Hoffman LaRoche
· · · See Also William Powers on how it pays to be wrong in the news business
· · · · See Also I find BMW's with number plates like "IMRICH" really a bit rich: How to treat corporate criminals
· · · · · See Also U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell “was trying to steer a no-bid contract to a software company called Thinkstream Inc.
· · · · · · See Also Bio-terror is the name of the dream that post-modern societies dream in their self-appointed state of war, and "anthrax" the fulfilment of that wish [Extract from Cold River State of communist economy]
· · · · · · · See Also Getting pollies & crats to care about any future other than its own: Rail bureaucrats cash in as service crisis mounts [linked with ICAC: Senior ministers believe that a single command would overcome jurisdictional clashes and streamline operational activities ]

---

So the international blogging surfdom, Tim Dunlop, has finally decided to put the devillish details about the Antipodean federal election 2004 AD on the virtual waves. The e(l)ection boils down to a race between John Howard and Mark Latham.
I just can’t wait for the debates to start. They will be quite interesting judging by the passionate maiden speeches:
The Hon John Howard MP, Member for Bennelong First Speech To Parliament - 26/9/1974
Mr Mark Latham MP, Member for Werriwa First Speech To Parliament - 22/2/1994

BTW, LOL, Unlike genealogically poor Australia, whoever wins the race to the White House this year, the president of the United States is sure to be a direct descendant of the ancient rulers of Bohemia, Premyslid dynasty

Tracking Policies & Investigative Stories: Roll up your sleeves. Let the blogging begin

For those of you who have not prospered academically, let me give you a bit of good news - you are being addressed by someone who was in the bottom half of his class at Harvard. Or, in fact, if you want to be a didactic about it, the bottom third of his class. So there is life after college; I'm proof of it.
· David Halberstam: Pulitzer-Prize winning author and social and political commentator [Let me jump to my favourite review (sic)]
· · See Also Former energy and tobacco lobbyist Haley Barbour
· · · See Also Gulf War Syndrome All 50,000 troops who served in the first Gulf war might have been exposed to low levels of chemical warfare agents during the fighting and its aftermath
· · · · See Also Halliburton Under Investigation for Nigeria $180 million Bribery
· · · · · See Also Corruption let gang war explode, says investigator
· · · · · · See Also Fat MacBank and hungrier than ever
· · · · · · · See Also Firms turn to e-tectives to combat computer crime
· · · · · · · · See Also The spectre of Big Brother from George Orwell’s 1984 watching our every move has been steadily realised
· · · · · · · · · See Also Chickens launched by former immigration minister Philip Ruddock are coming home to roost

---

Text of the eulogies to freedom-loving Ronald Reagan who won America's respect with his greatness. And won its love with his goodness. The most compelling was Mulroney's Tribute to Reagan even the Iron, Curtain, Lady made soulful contribution at Reagan's last farewell

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Bestia: Neither a Fox nor a Hedgehog: a Belgian Shepherd
The use of unmuzzled dogs to terrify prisoners was approved military practice in Abu Ghraib: Smith said military intelligence personnel asked him to instill fear in detainees. He said that he would bring his dog, a black Belgian shepherd named Marco, to the tier specifically to scare prisoners ...
· Marco Ghraib [ via Andrew Sullivan]
· · See Also A badly mauled Tony Blair: Labour takes a beating [Link Poached from Newcastle upon Tyne had fallen: Losing the city which boasts Tony Blair's favourite football team]
· · · See Also US President Can Order Torture (Will Someone Send Them The Geneva Convention?)
· · · · See Also Globalisation: the dangers and the answers [link first seen at Liberal vs. illiberal democracy ]
· · · · · See Also How does capitalism as a system reproduce itself? [Link Poached from On-line fantasy games have booming economies and citizens who love their political systems ]
· · · · · · See Also Are we inherently good?

---

This is the topic which is the important achievement of Karl Popper who showed that dictatorship from Sparta in Ancient Greece to Communism and Fascism of industrial world, has been in lack of acceptance of open society, and showed that from Plato's Republic, with its rule of Philosopher-Kings, to Hegel's theory of state, and finally Karl Marx, with its rule of the proletariat, the issue of allegiance to a closed society is the reason for creating despotism. In fact, even Ayatollah Khomeini in his book Velayate Faghih has used Plato's thought, and he even mentions Plato by name.
Why the problem is not utopianism, but the lack of an open society...

Repeating History Classes: How the Czech Story Plays Out
Western knowledge of 'contemporary' Czech culture often hackneyed and limited to Kundera, Klima, Havel, et al.
Today, the global prestige of mitteleuropean culture in the last years of communism and the immediate aftermath of the 1989 revolutions is a distant memory. No creative stars have emerged from these countries since the coming of democracy. Where are the books that insist on being read by an international audience? Where are the books from behind what used to be the Iron Curtain, which used to produce a classic a week?
· There [i.e., in communist Eastern Europe] nothing goes and everything matters; here, [i.e., in America and in the democratic West] everything goes and nothing matters [[The Richest writer of all His Story: Cold River]]
· · See Also Literary tango: Franz Kafka bookended by two significant dates: June 3, the anniversary of his death, and July 3, the anniversary of his birth [ via What Has Happened to Historical Literacy?]
· · · See Also There are no more villages to burn: Why Darfur's agony is the world's shame [ via The Task of the Modern Historian ]
· · · · See Also Bloody history: Historians used to ignore violence and horror, but a new generation places it centre stage [Link Poached from Historians and Economists]
· · · · · See Also Let's Get Serious About Getting Serious [Link Poached from By Lenin, from Pravda, April 11, 1913: tag cui prodest? Meaning "who stands to gain?" ]

---

Shouldn't we expect that the rich and powerful organise things in their own interests. It's called capitalism Bilderberg: The Ultimate Conspiracy Theory

Invisible Hands & Markets: Who pays the lion’s share of personal income tax?
We have grown accustomed to the idea that so-called 'progressive taxation' is 'fair', but a proportional tax system (in which everybody pays the same proportion of their income in tax) would be much fairer. Sinclair Davidson argues not only that income tax in Australia is high by international standards, but also that higher rate taxpayers are paying much more than their fair share.
· Taxing Debates (PDF) [link first seen at The Centre for Independent Studies ]
· · See Also Curing sick hospitals: ONE THING John Menadue
has learned is that the so-called "health debate" is between insiders - doctors and minister
· · · See Also Despite marked improvement in the lives of American children, a new study finds rising numbers of [disconnected young adults]
· · · · See Also Economic measures can lead to bad decision-making
· · · · · See Also Here's a crusade sure to infuriate the vast majority of penny-pinching traditionalists
· · · · · · See Also Arabia's field of dreams: How Dubai has become one of the world's most successful business ventures

---

CIA Director George Tenet states the obvious and (will wonders never cease?)

Tracking Policies & Investigative Stories: James Kelman: Look back in anger
The Booker winner James Kelman has been rocking the literary establishment for more than 20 years. Lesley Mcdowell talks to him about radicalism and rage
My culture and my language have a right to exist, James Kelman said in his 1994 Booker-night acceptance speech, after winning the prize for How Late it Was, How Late, and no one has the authority to dismiss that right. This foot-soldier of fiction and class warfare, it would seem, has finally won his place among the literary elite. The battle is over.
· You Have to Be Careful in the Land of the Free
· Soros: Abu Ghraib = September 11
· · See Also Fantastic Premier, Bob Carr, to introduce a ban on plastic bags [Man of Plastic Turning plastic shopping bags into steel]
· · · See Also A profound debate is taking place, amongst those connected with the tourist industry, over Australian image as tinseltown
· · · · See Also Some of the most keenly watched polls, especially in the months before an election, are those on party support, leadership and political issues
· · · · · See Also Kim Un-yong: Olympic committee vice-president jailed for embezzlement
· · · · · · See Also Rogueish Failures: President Bush likes to claim that Iraq is the central front in the war terror, but what you won't hear him saying is that it is only that because his actions have turned it into a failed state

---

The first installment in a five-part series excerpted from William F. Buckley Jr.'s The Fall of the Berlin Wall
part 2, par 3, part 4, and part 5)

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Keeping the contemporary threat environment in perspective
Rarely a day passes without us being told that terrorism has evolved from a tactical nuisance to a strategic threat. The attacks carried out by Al Qaeda on 11 September 2001 and throughout the previous decade represented a decisive escalation in the scale and intensity of violence used against civilian targets. One of the most striking features of mainstream commentary since the 9/11 terrorist attacks has been the frequent assertion that the present international climate is ‘the most dangerous period in living memory’
· The Cold War: A History in Documents and Eyewitness Accounts [References via The nuclear sword of Damocles was the pervasive threat of the Cold War ]
· · See Also Legisprudence as a New Theory of Legislation (PDF)
· · · See Also Margo Kingston: Avoiding the Geneva Conventions: how Australia does the job [ via The administration's gravest alleged misconduct is treating the Geneva Convention with contempt ]
· · · · See Also Professor Donald Rothwell: Our 'special responsibility' betrayed at Abu Ghraib ... Geneva IV in relation to protected persons[ via Memos to White House on Geneva Convention by Yoo/Delahunty/Philbin ]
· · · · · See Also Peter Funnell, ex soldier: Misleading Hill asks fellow Abu Ghraib misleaders to inquire into themselves
· · · · · · See Also Sections of Victoria's police force are riddled with corrupt officers who were not dealt with as far back as the 1970s and 1980s

---

Prof Flint and that bribery allegation

Tracking Policies & Investigative Stories:
For a foreigner, it's entering the looking glass, says Post foreign news assistant managing editor Phil Bennett. Even though I read this coverage everyday, I was surprised by the profound menace that accompanies almost every step across the city. Kidnappings and attacks on foreign civilians have driven almost everyone into a bunker, into armored vehicles, behind the wire. Of course this is potentially disastrous for our journalism. So we are searching for ways not to lose contact with the heart of the story -- still the Iraqi experience -- without risking the lives of our correspondents.
· Secret War Epidemic [link first seen at Scoop ]
· · See Also Margo Kingston: Breaches of the Geneva Conventions are called war crimes
· · · See Also Road To Surfdom: Red Cross has a mandate under international law to enforce and uphold the Geneva Conventions
· · · · See Also Few Firms Control Oil Leases on U.S. Land
· · · · · · See Also a list of the top water users in the area: Ronald Gunnell’s sprawling estate used 7.1 million gallons last year
· · · · · · · See Also That old line of many commentators that one problem is bad luck, two coincidence and three a stuff-up come to mind now when looking at Sydney Water's recent history
· · · · · · · · See Also Colorado Tax Breaks
· · · · · · · · · See Also Politicians’ Voting Records
· · · · · · · · · · See Also Dead People Voting
· · · · · · · · · · · See Also The National Archives just released 20,000 pages of telephone transcripts from former National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger's private files. Kissinger wanted the sensitive records to be made public five years after his death. But...

---

Only the priviledged few heard the Carr explosion in Sydney: With the formidable Bob Carr in one corner, the formidable Gerry Gleeson in another, and the formidable Kerry Packer in the other,
Back Pages can't help thinking that our media is either asleep on the job or hemmed in by legal restrictions on this one

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Style over Substance
Mark Schmitt wonders why the Senate has so many problems and Senators are not Great Men™.
How did the institution come to this point? It's not because the Senators of today are lesser individuals than in the past, although that may be true also. Rather, I think, it is the way the Senate goes about its business that brings out the worst in those individuals, whereas there are things about the Senate in the past that brought out the best democratic and deliberative capacities of its members.
· A Theory About the Senate [ via It's way past time England started treating us a little better ]
· See Also The Federal Government's claim that no Australian personnel knew of abuses of Iraqi prisoners until January was demolished during an extraordinary Senate hearing yesterday amid accusations of a cover-up by the Government and military leaders
· See Also Politicians and Shopping Carts
· Don Boudreaux ponders again the subject of politicians and shopping carts
· See Also A fortuneteller told Peru's disgraced ex-President Alberto Fujimori to flee in 2000
· See Also Cheney greased big contract: email evidence
· See Also Mr Obeid accused his mainly Maronite Christian opponents of sour grapes, sectarianism and bought loyalty to William Boutros, Lebanon's king of battery chicken
· See Also Lebanese Garden: the success of Hezbollah at polls shows elections may not bring US-friendly governments
· See Also In a Digital World, Secrets Are Harder to Keep "It's just plain harder to get away with being bad anymore, whether it's a relatively minor crime like... [Link Poached from Changing World]
· See Also Back Pages: NSWelshpersons, and probably only NSWelshcardigans, will recall Barrie Unsworth (Barry Howard)