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If natural born leaders are also natural born liars, can we really hold it against them when they do what comes naturally? This is the dilemma I faced under communism and later at the Bear Pit Politicians Lie, They Admit -- For a Host of Reasons

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Federalism/Feudalism: I stayed alive just so I could see this Moment
John Howard has turned out to be as much a centralist as Gough Whitlam, according to Kenneth Wiltshire

DURING the life of the Howard governments, one of the most remarkable transformations in the history of Australian politics has occurred. The Liberal Party, once the champion of states’ rights, has become centralist.
This cannot be explained simply because all of the state and territory governments are controlled by Labor. The prime minister has, for some time, been describing states as ‘service deliverers’ with little role to play in national policy making. The conditional funds which come from Canberra, about half of all federal transfers to the states, have had more and more conditions attached to them, in a manner that almost makes the Whitlam government pale by comparison

• Unveiling the unknown: A shift in the centre of gravity [Democratization is a process, not an event. Sadly many political apparatchicks are clones of the tropical Dutchman, Joh, who had no idea about the separation of powers. This post from Iraqi blogger Ali makes the process the big game in his country Dangerous games ; Democratic Audit of Australia: ANU Freedom of information law in need of overhaul (PDF version) Australia has an economy in crisis and a government in denial. After growing without interruption for 14 years, the economy is running into growth limits All smiles, but there's plenty of work to be done ]
• · Has suicide become the pop culture flavor of the month? Recent weeks produced an odd flurry of news stories suggesting that the notion of taking your own life suddenly seems courageous, respectable, even chic The ‘suicide solution' suddenly seems trendy ; The veteran 2UE radio broadcaster John Laws and his 2GB rival Ray Hadley face being charged with contempt of the Independent Commission Against Corruption following on-air tirades yesterday about witnesses in the Orange Grove inquiry. Laws, quoting a report in the Herald, said that while Ms Beamer replied to questions 30 times with "I don't recall", she was "100 per cent sure her decision to close down Orange Grove was based on merit. Can I see a pig fly by the window there? ; Australians love a political true believer - as long as he's among us, not above us: Just days before celebrating a decade in power, Bob Carr's NSW Labor Government remains in the political doldrums, trailing badly in the polls True Blue Reshuffle fails to boost Carr ; Google on Political Suicide
• · · What it means for the actual victims of an advocate's negligence in court proceedings doesn't bear thinking about, which is precisely the approach of the High Court majority. High Majority ruling gives the minnows little chance ; Finally, you'll be elected to Parliament, win government and be able to fix all of the things you used to whinge about. You'll have made it. And you'll be surrounded by bloody lazy whingers telling you what you should do. Be What you Want to be Power Whinger! Chris Holley gives a rundown on skilling up in whingeing
• · · · Christopher Dickey: An Arabian Spring: Can People Power Prevail? ;
• · · · · Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone is considering a seasonal workers visa for foreign workers to pick Australian fruit Is it time to import fruit pickers? ; Australian governments engaged in a major reform program in the 1990s, culminating in the formation of the National Electricity Market (NEM) which commenced operation on 13 December 1998. Today, the NEM supplies electricity to 7.7 million Australian customers Energy futures for New South Wales
• · · · · · The powerful rumours that so often sweep through Adelaide can be devastating Power & pedophilia ; The Acting Director of Public Prosecutions, Wendy Abraham, announced that one of its chief political advisers, Randall Ashbourne, will be charged with abusing his public office Government Adviser Charged

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Blogging is the uncut killer king hell version of the drunken lunch with your friends at university and some alcoholic contrarian hangers-on from a rival department. http://www.legalunderground.com/2005/03/bling_bling_for.html

The Blog, The Press, The Media:

Jan Frel at Personal Democracy Forum shows that some of the bloggers attacking the newspaper for its bias were being paid: "Nine bloggers -- two of whom were paid $35,000 by Thune's campaign -- formed an alliance that constantly attacked the election coverage of South Dakota's principal newspaper, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. More specifically, their postings were not primarily aimed at dissuading the general public from trusting the Argus' coverage. Rather, the work of these bloggers was focused on getting into the heads of the three journalists at the Argus

• Daschle, Thune and the Blog-Storming of South Dakota [The whole idea of the White House press corps is that the reporters in it represent the public's common interest in seeing executive power questioned, monitored, examined, explained Jay Rosen: De-Certifying the Press ; Blogs are distinctly powerful because they are content, marketing and distribution all rolled into one Why "Blogging" Sucks ]
• · Evan Schaeffer offers some blogging advice for Seventh Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner Legal Eagloggers ; The Legal Underground Word of the Week
• · · Apple 1, bloggers 0: Judge says web sites can be forced to reveal sources. Big Apple ; Everyone fudges things sometimes. Everyone makes mistakes. Some people even make many mistakes. But some people make many mistakes to further their own agenda. Case in point, Matt Drudge, of the widely read Drudge Report.
This blog, the Fudge Report, will dutifully act as a rhetort to Drudge's report. As a diversion to the aspersions! As A utopia to the right wing myopia! As A...ah well let's call it a success if we pump out more than two posts Curtsey of Fudgers
• · · · The court was interested in the question of whether online reporters are legitimate journalists, but for most of the hearing, the judge assumed that they were journalists and examined whether the reporter's shield should apply in this case. Under the First Amendment, the reporter's privilege is qualified -- it does not protect reporters under all circumstances Apple v. Bloggers - No Ruling Yet ; Rights of Online Journalists Hang in the Balance
• · · · · Can Corporates Blog? The blunt answer is in the title of Shel 'n Scobe's book-in-progress, Blog or Die. ; Bradley Smith says that the freewheeling days of political blogging and online punditry are over The coming crackdown on blogging
• · · · · · The Sunday Telegraph in its Magazine today bring us Gawker which first appeared in the Guardian last year ... Nick Denton could be the first person, like me ;-) to get rich from blogging: I'm an internet addict, I don't have the concentration span to do anything else. Everyone in the Manhattan media world reads Gawker. It tapped into something that was eagerly responded to... Every morning I get out of bed for that temp in midtown who's sitting there already crying because she is so bored, We blogs are the voice of the underclass. The people who send in stuff to me are the assistant at Vanity Fair, the poor girl who just tripped and fell in the Condé Nast cafeteria. They are abused not just by corporate culture but by celebrity culture, and something cracks and they have to vent. Their revenge? Schadenfreude! Jessica Cohen: Gawker-Goddess ; Good God: at the Courier Mail it's a sacking offence to talk to the media. The absurdity wasn't lost on the Independen The Courier-Mail tries to stop staff reading this paper

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All the Way with the USA: Australia, the US and Free Trade and How to Kill a Country: Australia’s Devastating Trade Deal with the United States ... A review of books on Australia’s trade deal with the US One deal, two fatalities? The AUSFTA

Invisible Hands & Markets: The U.S. and China — The Global Economy's Odd Couple
The United States and China are united in some strange ways, including that they are both experiencing greater income inequality. They also engage in some other risky economic policies. Guy Pfeffermann and Bernard Wasow explore the reasons behind the U.S.-Chinese cycle of mutual dependence.

In dangerous terrain, mountain climbers routinely rope themselves together. That way, if one falls, the other can catch her before she plunges into a crevasse. Or, if the accident comes at the wrong moment, both climbers may fall together.

Today, China and the United States are traversing an exceptionally treacherous financial glacier
• High Tatra Mountains Scenario: The odd couple [Beyond the Age of Innocence and Cold River China, U.S., Europe — Whose Century? ; A U.S. policy of preemption and a push for new nuclear weapon designs could be a recipe for disaster that makes proliferation more likely, not less Dangerous doctrine ]
• · Loose nukes, nanobots, smallpox, oh my! In this age of endless imagining, and some very real risks, which terrorist threats should be taken most seriously? "The Dew of Death," Rethinking doomsday
• · · Kofi Annan backed the United States in its quest for a travel and assets freeze against those violating a cease-fire in Sudan's western Darfur region. Annan calls Darfur "short of hell on earth"
• · · · Stung by two days of defeat for their bids to revise a bill overhauling the bankruptcy laws, Senate Democrats are portraying the measure as making it harder for low-income, elderly and sick people to dissolve their debts while allowing the wealthy to shelter assets Bankruptcy bill unfair ; I feel so much better now that I know the wealthy will be protected from adverse effects of the bankruptcy bill! As long as only middle class and poor people can be hurt, and banks, credit card companies, and the rich are protected, I guess it's a good thing. Yeesh
• · · · · Kazza: asset stripping
• · · · · · When taming volatile currencies, policymakers are trying to rein in forces they can’t control—much less understand Let It Ride