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It is a little difficult to square the Christmas message of peace on earth ... and the body bags arriving from Mosul. The rise of Christianity was, as is true with all innovations, spiritual or material, a reaction to a bankrupt & intolerable status quo. Do we consider ourselves so unimportant or helpless that we can't imagine that it is within your power to rearrange the status quo, making the world more sensible place to live? Do we think ourself to be so unaware and undiscerning that we let creative destruction just happen to us? Sir Karl Popper: Conjectures and Refutations

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: THE EMPIRE HAS NO CLOTHES
As psychologist Victor Frankl observed concerning Hitler's concentration camps. They, even the SS, cannot steal your ability to choose the attitude with which you will address the day.

The average taxpayer -- whether a hawk, a dove, or somewhere in between -- should ask how these white elephants are contributing to countering the main threat--al Qaeda. They don't.
They merely provide welfare for constituent industries and unions that are far from poor. In fact, buying these unneeded systems takes money away from less glamorous, but more urgent, security needs-for example, armor for personnel and vehicles.... Merely throwing wads of cash at the politicized security bureaucracies does not ensure that the troops or the nation is protected.

• SECURITY NOT MEASURED BY MILITARY SPENDING Greater Government Spending Has Not Enhanced National Security [To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all One Christian feeling hijacked by politics ]
• · Ken Mehlman, Bush campaign manager, reveals the bottom-line marketing strategy that led him to victory. It's the exact same strategy that sells cars: market segmentation. If you drive a Volvo and you do yoga, you are pretty much a Democrat," Mr. Mehlman told an assembly of the nation's Republican governors here. "If you drive a Lincoln or a BMW and you own a gun, you're voting for George Bush We are Volvo v. Lincoln nation
• · · A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War
• · · · The last personality cults: Self-obsessed despots are out of fashion in most places, but not in North Korea, Turkmenistan and Togo Toughs at the top ; [Nahr al-Bard: Well on March 2nd, 1973, Yasser Arafat transmitted by shortwave radio orders to eight Black September operatives who were holding Ambassador Noel and his deputy Curt Moore hostage in the basement of the Saudi Arabian embassy in Khartoum, Sudan. He issued orders to murder them under the code name Cold River twice I Call Him the World's Longest-Living Terrorist]
• · · · · If the price of liberty is eternal vigilance, then it is necessary to take a step back from the transient issues of the day, which so often transfix our capital city, and assess the state of liberty in America. Is American Liberty Imperiled? ; [The Voting Booth Project: Where Art and Democracy Meet? Anatomy of a Vote: A barrel of monkeys, a barrel of fun ]
• · · · · · Call it the law of political gravity: What goes down (an economy, a president’s stature) must go up. So why are we always shocked when it happens? Reversal of Riches

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Those who sow in tears
will reap with songs of joy.
Those who go out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with them.
PSALM 126:5-6

Viktor Yushchenko claimed victory today in the rerun of Ukraine's presidential election Yushchenko turns the tables

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Our children are smarter than French kids
But dumber than Canadian kids
For many years, James Bau Graves has been thinking about culture and how our cultural values and choices are influenced by political and economic power. Arts by the people and for the people

We like Indian spices in our home-cooked meals. We're preoccupied with bottoms. Our children are smarter than French kids but dumber than Canadian kids. And almost everything about our lives is getting better.
Those are a few of the insights Australians received about themselves in 2004. It's time to pick through the avalanche of survey data released this year and assess what we learned.
The most exciting discovery was a fat report from the Bureau of Statistics called Measures of Social Progress 2004, which raised the possibility that every day in every way we're getting better and better.

Fr. Timothy V. Vaverek sends you tumbling back toward reality. Far from attaining a better life, consumerists experience alienation and fear. Always wanting more, their sense of accomplishment is ephemeral and they are strangers to contentment. Always in danger of losing what they have but do not own, a sense of urgency and futility are their constant companions.
• More healthy, more wealthy: a year of living easier [[Don't Lose Sight of the Real Scandal War on the Floor of UN; Politics: Top 100 links in the world Quiet, or I'll call democracy ]
• · The powerful impulse at the root of suburbanization is the simple desire of ordinary people everywhere to own a piece of land, however humble, where they and their families may live in relative comfort and peace. The suburban house is the idealization of every immigrant’s Dream—the vassal’s dream of his own castle
• · · James Carroll reminds us that the birth of Jesus represented a challenge to greed and empire The Politics Of Baby Jesus; Robert Conquest's The Dragons of Expectations
• · · · Perhaps the tragedy in Mosul should best be viewed in the perspective of history and not the passions of the moment, and in light of other wars that at times went badly and not as planned Nuts: Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death
• · · · · This week a US woman paid $50,000 for a kitten cloned from her dead pet. The process is risky and misguided The immoral in pursuit of the inimitable
• · · · · · Jesus was for "the least" of us; he was for the poor, sick, hungry and downtrodden. He was radically egalitarian, hanging out with prostitutes and beggars. He was the model of a bleeding-heart do-gooder. If only politicians would shut up about Christianity and instead work harder at living like the bloke who inspired it

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THE SINGLE most important fact about the birth of Jesus, as recounted in the Gospels, is one that receives almost no emphasis in the American festival of Christmas. The child who was born in Bethlehem represented a drastic political challenge to the imperial power of Rome. The nativity story is told to make the point that Rome is the enemy of God, and in Jesus, Rome's day is over. The politics of the Christmas story
Speaking of Santa, have you heard of the patented Santa Detector (U.S. Patent 5,523,741)? For all of you non-believers, I guess this means that the U.S. government acknowledges the existence of Santa Claus. To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act: Anatole France

Eye on Politics, Peace & Christmas: Democracie are like fires. They go out when left unattended...
T here has been so much violence in Iraq that it's become hard to distinguish one senseless act from another. But there was a picture that ran on the front page of this newspaper on Monday that really got to me. It showed several Iraqi gunmen, in broad daylight and without masks, murdering two Iraqi election workers.

Opinion polls show a big majority of Poles want their troops out of Iraq and also want Europe to have a common defense policy, something Washington views as a possible threat to the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Washington's ebbing influence in this most pro-American swath of Europe reflects a broader phenomenon this series of articles has explored: Some of the largest challenges facing the U.S. now flow from the sources of its great power.
Its democratic domestic politics can leave it deaf to even its closest friends abroad. America's sheer size and might breed resentment and, in the geopolitical marketplace, stir competition. Its economic example spurs Europe to band together to compete. Its faith in elections prompts an effort, in Iraq and Afghanistan, to impose democracy through arms. For many abroad, America's goals inspire, but its actions often exasperate.

• Why Does Lech Walesa Question Amerika? ; [Steve Chapman, Chicago Tribune Democracy Stalls Around the Globe; New York Daily News editorial Darkest before dawn of freedom; China's Third Way could collapse if it goes wrong The snake and the hedgehog]
• · If Richard Face had still been a policeman, he might have been jailed. But arguably because he was a politician he got off with a $2500 fine and a three-year good behaviour bond for lying to the corruption watchdog. Richard Face, former father of the House
• · · Determining parliamentary parties: a real status symbol ; [Sharon Beder takes a look at the increasing use of ‘strategic lawsuits against public participation’, or SLAPPs, by corporations against individual citizens and groups for exercising their democratic rights. Democratic Audit of Australia, Australian National University (PDF file) ]
• · · · The Australian Democrats pride themselves on being a really democratic party. But can they continue to allow all rank and file members to influence policy-making? Policy-making in the Democrats: Time for a Chat ; [ Only the bold need apply ]
• · · · · A touch of madness could be a criterion for membership of the NSW Parliament. Anybody well versed in the tried-and-true maxims of politics accordinnnnng to Yes Minister will be puzzled by the hopes and curious expectations raised in this charmingly told story. Chika: Aiming for the top ; [The only weakness of this Moravian is that you are a hothead... Have you considered anger-management classes? If I couldn't control my temper, half of Prague's journalists would be running around without teeth Mirek Topolanek ]
• · · · · · Remember conspiracy: just because someone with a lot to lose if he's proven wrong says he isn't wrong, doesn't mean he isn't wrong. Uh-oh! I'm channeling Ex-Governor John G. Rowland; [Essential Reading: Provided by the United States Government ]

Hallelejah! Another spam email from uncle Rupert in my inbox
Office of Rupert Murdoch ( Newscorp )
Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2004 10:07 AM
Subject: Holiday message from Rupert Murdoch
Importance: High

Dear Colleagues,

As children we were taught to count our blessings. But corporations also do well to count their blessings, and News Corporation has none greater than each of you: the men and women whose talents and hard work have made this Company what it is today.
2004 has been a banner year for us. Virtually all our divisions - from our satellite, broadcast and cable television operations to our film and print media assets - performed superbly in competitive markets and helped contribute to another year of record revenues and profits.
This year was also marked by the overwhelming support we received from our shareholders for our proposal to reincorporate in the United States. While this move has had little or no effect on the work you do or on our business operations, I am certain it will be remembered in years to come as a milestone in News Corporation's development as one of the world's truly great media companies.
The reincorporation puts us in an even better position to do what we do best - deliver quality news and entertainment to millions of people around the world every day of the year.
The coming year will present its own challenges. As successful as our company is, we operate in one of the most competitive industries on the planet and our competitors are constantly looking to knock us off our perch. But this company does not fear competition. It thrives on it.
The blessings that we share at News Corporation have been earned the old-fashioned way: through our sweat and effort. At this very special time of year, I want to thank you all for making this company what it is - and offer you and yours my wishes for a joyous and healthy Holiday and Christmas season.

All best wishes,
Rupert Murdoch
News Corporation chairman and chief executive

RELIGIONS AND IDEOLOGIES ON TOYS
Kapitalism: He who dies with the most toys, wins.
Hari Krishna: He who plays with the most toys wins.
Judaism: He who buys toys at the lowest price wins.
Katholicism: He who denies himself the most toys wins.
Anglicanism: They were our toys first.
Greek Orthodox: No, they were OURS first.
Branch Davidians: He who dies playing with the biggest toys wins.
Atheism: There is no toy maker.
Objectivism: Toys are Toys.
Islam: You must force the world to play with this exact toy, other toys are forbidden.
Polytheism: There are many toy makers.
Evolutionism: The toys made themselves.
Socialism: You will have toys eventually.
Taoism: The doll is as important as the dumptruck.
Mormonism: Every boy may have as many toys as he wants.
Fascism: We have ways of making you play with your toys.
Libertarianism: You can do anything you like with your toys as long as its consensual.
New Labour: We have firm evidence that masses of toys do exist somewhere.
Voodoo: Let me borrow that doll for a second...
Jehovah's Witnesses: He who places the most toys door to door wins.
Pentecostalism: He whose toys can talk wins.
Existentialism: Toys are a figment of your imagination.
Confucianism: Once a toy is dipped in the cold river, it is no longer dry.
Buddhism: What is the sound of one toy playing with itself?
Bussorah of Wicked Thoughts Cracks the Toy World

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Iranian foreign ministry spokesman announced Sunday December 19 that intelligence minister Ali Younessi would “soon” report to the government on an eight-member spy ring that gathered information for Israel. Spy Circle

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: It's a Small World, After All
Americans don't read many foreign writers... Politically, America has become infamous as the beast that feeds only its own appetite.

Well, it looks like the big kahunas of contemporary literature have found a new cause. Responding to the America-first Zeitgeist that has spilled into our political discourse, they're hitting back with New York's first international writers' festival, PEN World Voices, to be held April 16-22 in the Big Apple. Luminaries such as Ha Jin, Vaclav Havel, and Wole Soyinka have already signed on, all in apparent support of the sponsor's underlying concern: the increasing political and cultural isolation of the United States.
We ourselves have experienced the fallout of the world's growing suspicion and antipathy to U.S. policies, says Larry Siems of the New York-based PEN American Center, which is hosting the event. In the post-9/11 world, Siems says, writers here are dealing with negative reaction to America's literary exports, while writers abroad are finding it tougher to obtain visas to come to this country.

• Post-9/11 world [The Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto has two dogs, named Marx and Engels because "they are German, hairy and have no respect for property." Naming Convention]
• · Artificial life' comes step closer: NSW Premier Bob Carr, government ministers and Westfield tried to cover up their involvement in the Orange Grove affair Grove Saga ; Former NSW gaming and racing minister Richard Face today pleaded guilty to lying to the state's corruption watchdog, saying he was under severe stress and panicked. Professional Politicians at State Level Total Political Amateurs at the Local Level: Tzar of Crookedfield (sic); [A Sydney mayor stood down today over allegations he accepted a wad of cash from a developer. Cr Alfred Tsang ; - Cold Revenge Sydney Style: New mayor accused of entrapment ; Those who break the law, pay for the law, ensuring the safety of the community Alfred Tsang said Strathfield Council is part of the State Government's Supplementary Policing Trial... ]
• · · Gross National Happiness. New economic measure: Happiness ; [Now, I can't do an Erin Brockovich and sue a company and I'm no Bob Geldof to organise 'Bandaid' but I need to send a message to the premier, Bob Carr. Professor John Thompson, head of melanoma worldwide ]
• · · · MASSACHUSETTS HAS a tough reputation to live down with the rest of the nation: loony-left liberals, lousy drivers, failed presidential candidates. To top it all off, everyone thinks we're cheap bastards, too. Generosity Index
• · · · · Many of those who were successful under communism were wonderfully prepared to succeed in many a modern corporation Great Expectations ; [Prime mover: John Winston Howard the second longest survivor ]
• · · · · · Boris: My mobile has been throbbing for the past hour with calls from the nice telly people wanting me to go on and gloat about the extinction of David Blunkett, and for the past hour I have been sitting here trying to work up some enthusiasm. It wasn't Nannygate: it was telling the truth about Labour ; [We're all little people in little houses I hope you run the country better than you've managed over the last 15 minutes ]

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Happy Monday! Remember last week, when that pregnant woman was strangled and had the fetus cut out of her? Wasn't that a pleasant end to the week? Here's something to get your day going: A savage double murder in the psychiatric wing of a French hospital, in which a nurse's decapitated head was left on top of a television in the patients' day room, stunned France and left hospital staff terrified of returning to work ...

Invisible Hands & Markets: Elections and Economy Law

He admitted that the most he'd hoped for was not to lose any seats of his own. The triumph was not foreshadowed by the poll formerly favoured by the pros - Newspoll - and those other polls pointing to a strong Howard win were openly pooh-poohed by their sponsors. The moral is: no matter who you are or how close your ear is to the ground, it's simply not possible to know how an election will transpire. Like forecasting the economy, it's just supposed experts pretending to know more than they do

• Debt, dumb politics and dumber politicians [The Topic Should Be China Robert Reich returns from Australia with a reality check: It's China, stupid ]
• · The heard is bolting The Real Estate Bubble Proof in Surreality; Sydney Asking Price: Quicksand ; [For old Soviet specialists, there is the surreal re-emergence of the Serbski institute of psychiatry and Dr Pechernikova. She was notorious for putting away anti-Soviet dissidents in the 1960s and 1970s for "schizophrenia"; in other words, being mad enough to question the regime.Nothing left but theft ; Undercover Expose ]
• · · If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss: He was once worth $80 million. Now John Elliott says he has just $293 in the bank (John will be back bigger and better ...)
• · · · The top 1,000 things to know
• · · · · Displaying a taste in sensible gifts, Santa Costello has unveiled plans to overhaul the do-it-yourself tax regime. Pendulum swing back towards ordinary taxpayers
• · · · · · Costello to ease up on taxpayer ; With Intercontinental Beer, It's All in the Rocks (and That Doesn't Mean Ice) The refreshing bitterness of an English pale ale, the clean light taste of a Pilsener, the dark, almost burnt graininess of Irish stout. To Dr. Alex Maltman, these are prime illustrations of the power of double dragon

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Bill Moyers has always taken the high road, but it got a little lonely up there. In a country where political discourse grows ever more shrill, his voice was more and more easily drowned out. Last night, at the age of 70 and on the eve of his 50th wedding anniversary, Bill Moyers took the high road home. Bill Moyers Gets In the Last Word

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Road to Freedom via Unfriendly fire
Quote of the year for Tim Dunlop’s money:

This is a nation which has been tested in adversity, which has survived physical destruction and catastrophic loss of life. I do not underestimate the ability of fanatical groups of terrorists to kill and destroy, but they do not threaten the life of the nation. Whether we would survive Hitler hung in the balance, but there is no doubt that we shall survive Al-Qaeda. The Spanish people have not said that what happened in Madrid, hideous crime as it was, threatened the life of their nation. Their legendary pride would not allow it. Terrorist violence, serious as it is, does not threaten our institutions of government or our existence as a civil community….
[S]uch a power in any form is not compatible with our constitution. The real threat to the life of the nation, in the sense of a people living in accordance with its traditional laws and political values, comes not from terrorism but from laws such as these. That is the true measure of what terrorism may achieve. It is for Parliament to decide whether to give the terrorists such a victory.

• Australia will survive al-Qa'ida as well. But we need to stop empowering the terrorists by abridging our liberties [Chemical Ali appears before Iraqi judge ]
• · Did Stanislav Petrov Save the World? Mark Mcdonald of Knight Ridder says, maybe so Petrov Affair 1983
• · ·
Duncan Campbell, a former Australian ambassador to Rome and Vienna and once a deputy head of the Foreign Affairs Department, says targeting and eliminating known terrorist operatives is more efficient and costs fewer lives than waging conventional war. Kill terror chiefs: ex-envoy ; [Laughing Dragon, Dancing Bear
]
• · · · Golkar selects Yudhoyono ally as new leader
• · · · · Freedom of Cold War and Dissent
• · · · · · Here's my plan to end the red-blue rift ; [The Orange Grove Revolutions 2004 AD Ukrainian Orange Revolution; This is the Age of I, I am rich revolution of iPods ]

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There's a saying that students at Aston University don't graduate: it just takes them three years to find their way out the building As any psychologist knows, lives are not compartmentalised that easily

Invisible Hands & Markets: Which is why historically low are in fact too high
There is a ghost that hangs heavy over the days of our economic lives we are about to fall on harder times. Though most folks move through the December days oblivious to it, some people say they can actually see it. And they see it everywhere:

Americans who were 20 in 1980, when double-digit inflation was at its most destructive, were barely old enough to appreciate what was happening. Yet, those people (now 44) are older than two-thirds of the population. They have no memory of rising inflation. As for declining inflation, its benefits have occurred in a gradual and almost invisible manner. We haven't paid much attention. Our economic debates blame or credit high-profile presidential policies (Reagan's tax cuts, Clinton's budget surpluses or Bush's deficits) or focus on more dramatic upheavals: the Internet or globalization.

• The End Of the Age Of Inflation
• · Exclusive I was a key figure in allowing the swindle to take place by providing middle-man services between pipelines and politicos
• · · The 6 Myths Of Creativity So Risk Averse He is Suicidal
• · · · The non-profit, non-partisan advocacy group Judicial Watch has posted a searchable archive of financial disclosure reports for all Supreme Court Justices and Appellate Court federal judges. Judicial Watch
• · · · · New Blog Co-Authored by Nobel Prize Winning Economist and Federal Circuit Judge Becker-Posner Blog
• · · · · · The unexpected successes of a Cold War development project

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Christmas may be coming early for Cold War nostalgiacs. Look who is bringing it. The flea who changed coats, but he still believes that he is still running the KGB ... Russia's Putin Calls U.S. Policy Dictatorial

One wonders what some Putin fans will be saying in 20 years time?
Set up and run by spooks in 1985, his party, the MLPN, had its own newspaper, De Kapitalist, written and edited by the secret service. As well as Mr. Boeve playing Chris Petersen, the secretary-general, it had a chairman (another fraud) and a Central Foundation stacked with secret agents. To add authenticity, the party let Mr. Wartena and a handful of other true believers join its otherwise nonexistent ranks, telling them that they were part of a network of underground cells. . . .
"I totally wasted 12 years of my life," says Paul Wartena, an ex-MLPN member who was so dedicated to the cause he used to donate 20% of his salary to the fake party. He says he "had some doubts now and then" about the MLPN but stayed loyal because "I was very naive and Mr. Boeve was such a good actor Surreal Reality

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Two Becoming One Flesh: Marriage As a Sexual and Economic Union
As time marches inexorably on, human society...evolves.
So philosophized Judge William L. Downing in striking down the state of Washington's Defense of Marriage Act in August, ruling that same- sex couples have a right to marry. Extending marriage to people of the same sex may be the final frontier and the logical conclusion of this evolution. Writing in The Boston Globe, Virginia Postrel argued that social institutions such as marriage are themselves "the result of an evolutionary process"; gay marriage, as such, represents another promising "experiment in living" contributing to forward evolution. Ellen Goodman concluded that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's ruling that homosexuals have a right to marry "may be as evolutionary as it is historic," adding, "The evolution of gay rights and marriage laws now merge into the definition of marriage written by the Massachusetts court.
• Engels refused to see modern monogamous marriage as superior or good [In Australia it's current account deficits and property prices. But Britain keeps its voters fixated with sex, sleaze and more sex. The situation is this: he had an affair with a married woman and fathered her child. When she decided to remain with her husband Mr Blunkett reacted like a teenage girl who finds the object of her desires wrapped around somebody else at the school bus shelter ]
• · You know that things are going wrong for Kofi Annan when his defenders have to resort to writing tendentious apologies.
The fundamental problem with Traub's argument is that Oil-For-Food existed for the purpose of enforcing sanctions imposed by the Security Council as a whole. It was not a program whose goals could be chosen according to taste! James Traub of the Los Angeles Times believes that the United States is out to lynch the UN using the Oil-for-Food scandal as a pretext
• · · President George W Bush called for a ‘full and open’ accounting of the UN oil-for-food programme on Thursday but would not say whether he thought UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan should resign
• · · · Armenia’s government begins to crack in a dispute that highlights the role of wealth in making a political career A Crack Emerges
• · · · · People Must Have More to Live for Than to Die For At last, a new generation is taking to politics [Can organized faith be explained by supply and demand? They think so]
• · · · · · Wow -- what a breakthrough in political analysis! If only history hadn't happened, John Kerry would be president! If the Republicans had hired better burglars in 1972, Spiro Agnew would have become President in 1976...

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“Real news,” said Richard Reeves “is the news you and I need to keep our freedoms.” I am reminded of that line from the news photographer in Tom Stoppard’s play Night and Day : “People do terrible things to each other, but its worse in places where everybody is kept in the dark.”
"Something there is," wrote Robert Frost, "that doesn't love a wall."
The Wizard of Oz, Bert Lahr asks: "What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the ape in apricot? What have they got that I ain't got?" The answer, for Lahr's Cowardly Lion, is courage

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: How to Tell a Terrorist From a Freedom Fighter
The "rebels" or "freedom fighters" are part of a nationwide "resistance movement." While many of them are local, even tribal, and fight simply because they are outraged by the occupation of their country, hundreds of others among the "resistance fighters" – young Arabs -- are arriving from as far away as "Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Jordan," not to speak of Saudi Arabia and Algeria, to engage in jihad, ready as one of them puts it, to stay in the war "until I am martyred." Fighting for their "Islamic ideals," "they are inspired by a sense of moral outrage and a religious devotion heightened by frequent accounts of divine miracles in the war." They slip across the country's borders to fight the "invader" and the "puppet government" its officials have set up in the capital in their "own image. The invader's sway, however, "extends little beyond the major cities, and even there the….
• Freedom fighters often hold sway by night and sometimes even by day ; [Orange, chestnut, rose, daisy, velvet, singing - peaceful, popular demonstrations in Eastern Europe get the best names. Popular demonstrations in Eastern Europe get the best names]
• · The republic, citizenship and the politics of culture
• · · Hot War Politicians split over revealing communist secret files after 15 year ; [ Slovakia remembers victims of communism and fascism ]
• · · · · Jump ship! Jump ship! with the Golden Parashute: Outgoing Telstra chief executive Ziggy Switkowski has revealed he was pushed out after a split with some board members Degree of death and inevitability that other heads will roll; [Pat Sajak is surprised at the nearly universal lack of outrage over the murder of Theo van Gogh]
• · · · · · The city's crippling train crisis and drastic service cuts under proposed timetable changes have prompted a group of civic and business leaders to demand an immediate start to A light-rail mass-transit network.