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WELCOME NUDE & SEMI NUDE PAJAMAHADEENS OF TECHNORATI FAME who have stumbled across the Media Dragon via top 100 Naked Conversations

Michael might be moving a house, but still he manages to blog forward about a few websites of note: Rant or BIF?
Pay it forward is all about a notion of transformation and what drives us to cross to all kinds of wise and thoughtful blogs. It is also an opportunity for us to explore less known blogs or give an extra link to blogs that deserve wider attention ...
Czech out a creative Barista David Tiley
Get swept off your feet by a kind legal eagle David Starkoff
Invade Alan at Southerly Buster
... An answer came directed in a writing unexpected Perry Middlemiss
Ach, New Matilda.com is a place for you to speak out about the Australia you want New Walzing Matilda

CODA: Shel Israel and Robert Scoble have moved to Chapter 9 and kindly quote Media Dragon ... We, of course, believe your decision not to blog will hurt your company in the long run. “Sunlight is the best disinfectant -- all great CEOs encourage transparency and openness as long as sensitive data is not leaked,” Cold River author Jozef Imrich told us Naked Thorns in the Roses

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I am such a complete atheist that I am afraid God will punish me. Such is the pithy wisdom of Jára Cimrman - Existence cannot not exist. Fictional Cimrman is so beloved because he is that most prickly of ironies: a Czech who was greater than all the world’s greats, but who for some hiccup of chance has never been recognized for his achievements. I like to think that the vote for Cimrman says something about the country’s rousing enthusiasm for blowing raspberries in the face of authority. Czech out the two things about the Czech nation: “that it is skeptical about those who are major figures and those who are supposedly ‘the greatest.’ And that the only certainty that has saved the nation many times throughout history is its humour.” When optimists should be shot: Jára Cimrman: the Greatest Czech of All Time

As in so many other countries and in so many other times, the rise of a newly educated intellectual class in the 19th century polarized the society with ethnic identity politics. All over Bohemia, the new Czech intelligentsia urged Czechs to think of themselves as Czechs, not Bohemians or Budweisers or anything else that would transcend their ethnic identity We Are All Budweisers [If only the grievances of past centuries had been left in the past! If only they had all remained Budweisers or Bohemians]

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Move Over, Boomers
Contributing Editor Adam Werbach asks if the baby boomers are to blame for the sad state of affairs. "What should these leaders do now?" he asks. "Die?"

Raised during the heyday of ecological activism and the rise of a post-industrial networked society, practivists are steeped in systems thinking. Having come of age during the fall of the Berlin Wall, they are suspicious of nationalism and artificial dualities, a mistrust further informed by academic and political training in deconstructing absolute identity categories like race or gender. Practivists prefer to emphasize similarities rather than dwell in the "silos" of various "isms."

The old era of political party identification is giving way to a disaggregated thunderdome of cause-based politics, distributed democracy, MoveOn house parties and do-it-yourself politics
• MoveOn ; Stephen Matchett's article shows much more than the usual superficial understanding of Kokoda and the fascination it has for so many of us The Digger Legend: James Cumes ; [American political parties, as we have known them for two centuries, are disintegrating Are the Parties Over? ; Why do those who stand to gain the least from virtually every policy of George W. Bush, support him the most? Let Them Eat War; What else could war dollars buy? Six billion dollars a month can pay for a lot of stuff, and we've got the T-shirts, tickers and widgets to prove it. Tim Grieve, in Salon ; The scale of the theft indulged in over the last forty years by the Nigerian ruling-class is almost unbelievable £220bn stolen by Nigeria's corrupt rulers ; Bulgarians vote, seen ending reign of ex-king PM - Bulgaria's ex-communists claim election victory Bulgaria's election lottery ]
• · Scary Stuff: Revolutionary Communist Party, a statement on the battle for the future ; Cathy Young on the hypocrisy of Hollywood leftists Bolshywood Revisited
• · · The False Problem of Free Will and Determinism Getting the Fly Out of the Bottle; Ever since the first Jew arrived on American shores 350 years ago, one question has persistently been asked but never definitively answered The Great Jewish-American Synthesis
• · · · What follows is a blatant intrusion into private grief. Well, very nearly private grief. The Tory party has not quite diminished to a level of importance at which its affairs are of concern only to members of its dwindling associations. But it has certainly declined to a point that is dangerously close to effective disappearance The Tory party faces an unenviable choice of leadership candidates ; Regime Change and Its Limits ; Senator Norm Coleman, New York Tax Cheats at the Government Trough ; Christopher Hitchens, Slate The Da Vinci Code vs. The Downing Street Memo
• · · · · We need a serious book about Hillary Clinton. Ed Klein's isn't it Eine Kleine Biographie ; Kathleen Parker, Townhall There's Something (Else) About Hillary; Amity Shlaes, Financial Times Don't Ignore Blue Dog Wisdom
• · · · · · via Tim Dunlop: In George Orwell's classic novel '1984', a central theme was the absolute control of information through the Ministry of Truth - a misnomer, if ever there was one. In a contemporary reality twist, control of information has become an integral part of the response of Western Governments to the so-called war on terror. Sledgehammer Politics ; Lionel Tiger, WSJ
An Anthropological Debunking Of The "Housing Bubble"

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Andre Glucksmann describes how the French no is the manifestation of a movement that cuts to the heart of Europe The victory of Euro-nihilism

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Big end of town caught in tax raids
Raids on 85 homes and offices in four states have netted the big end of town and crushed a $300 million tax fraud scheme. Wealthy, high-profile Australians have been raided in their homes, and files and computer records seized from their tax advisers, in an unprecedented combined operation by the Australian Crime Commission, the Tax Office and the Australian Federal Police

The Crime Commission said in some cases deductions were claimed for payments for fictitious expenses and services, while in others, income derived overseas was not accounted for in Australia. The Tax Office said the income was secretly returned to Australia disguised as a loan, an inheritance, a gift, or through credit and debit cards

• The decision to make an unannounced visit … was taken by a senior officer Fat cat tax raids ['High rollers' linked with tax scam Google: Raids in four states target tax fraud ; Michigan restaurants raided as part of tax and immigration probe Police raid Great Wall, 16 other Chinese businesses; Regina Hackett and Michelle Nicolosi of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer found that millions of dollars in purchases by Washington art collectors have gone untaxed, and that an agent’s effort to collect that revenue was squelched by upper management at the state Department of Revenue, then suspended late last year Untaxed Art ]
• · The medical marijuana ruling is legally and morally flawed. Judicial federalism gets really interesting: What were those Justices smoking? ; Tom DeLay's former employees have brought the House majority leader power rivaling that of Boss Tweed Meet The DeLays
• · · John Brenkman on how EU leaders must inspire their citizens with their vision of a democratic Europe Europe does not inspire even its own creators ;The Cuban regime's apparatus of self-legitimization rests on the notion that political freedom has to be sacrificed for the sake of national sovereignty and social justice Is Cuba a fair country? ; A look at Official Portraits, a Unique collection of world leaders
• · · · Bert Dalmer of the Des Moines Register analyzed a list of Iowa’s “critical assets” in need of defending, finding that it “includes casinos, family farms and landing pads, but few if any skyscrapers, courthouses or banking centers.” List of 'assets' has some surprises ; Even now, after the demonstrators shouting and the finance ministers whizzing around in their limousines, after all the fussing about Iraq war architect Paul Wolfowitz taking over last week, who really knows what the World Bank does? World Bank's Loan Rangers
• · · · · Osama's Road to Riches and Terror Golden Chain: The Bin Laden family ; Deep inside the historical relationship between Islam and China, India and Southeast Asia. An account every student of politics and religion shoul read sooner rather than later Asia and Islam — A Historical Perspective
• · · · · · James R. Carroll of the Louisville Courier-Journal examined congressional travel records for Kentucky and Southern Indiana to show that “in a little more than nine years, the cost of privately paid trips for lawmakers in the area and their aides totaled nearly $1.5 million.” Private money pays for lawmakers' trips ; Debate about a new plan for Sydney has opened a hornet's nest: Locally and globally, vision is the key Here's the future ... if we dare

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Today, June 4th, is the sixteenth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing. In April 1989, a massive and peaceful pro-democracy demonstration was begun by Chinese students. They were quickly joined by workers, intellectuals,
journalists, and civil servants, until over a million people filled Tiananmen square. Lest we forget — An anniversary of an atrocity: Tiananmen Square Anniversary (The bitter-sweet sixteenth)

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: The Sydney we deserve
Doing just enough to cope with Sydney's growth is not working. On the surface, many Sydneysiders think the city's reputation for self-obsession is justified, while its 10 million annual visitors can be forgiven for assuming all is well if they stick to the Opera House, where all usually is well.

But talk to the experts, read the flood of letters and emails on the subject and it is clear swift and decisive action is needed to guide the city through the next two decades without destroying the city fiercely guarded by its residents. It seems Sydney increasingly relies on its good looks and wit to get by, hoping the charm of the destination will outweigh the trauma of getting there. But keeping up appearances is becoming difficult, because much is not working and much more isn't working well.
Sydney needs a transformation, a generational change. It needs a transport system capable of moving people quickly, safely and reliably; it needs to collect at least as much water as it sensibly uses; it needs to curb its obsessions with polluting cars and energy-hungry appliances; and it needs to provide homes that are pleasant to live in, easy to get to, and possible to pay for.

• Crisis? What crisis? says Sartor [Tiananmen Square Anniversary: Sydney-based Chinese diplomat seeks asylum ; Peter Cosgrove has a final mission as head of the Defence Force Operation protect, as SAS comes under fire ]
• · Three cheers for Bob Carr ... Finally, the chance to make use of that yellowcake; Quentin Dempster interviews Bob Carr- 3 June 2005 AD Stateline Coming soon Federalism, Industrial Demicracy & The Decade of Decay - Sydney Politica Spin; A commitment to openness would affirm democratic values and principles, write Rebecca LaForgia and Bryan Mercurio Promoting democracy through free trade agreements
• · · The Qantas security manager sacked for his association with fugitive Michael Hurley may have had access to leaked confidential information about passenger alert lists Ex-manager accused of list leaks ; Researchers have made significant progress in recent years in their efforts to understand, and deal with, one of society’s most puzzling illnesses Cannabis and cities linked to schizophrenia; Madeleine Byrne listens to the stories of those who worked at the immigration detention centres and finds the divide was as often between colleagues as it was between detainees and guards Tales from the desert camps ; In a talk in the History Department at the University of Melbourne, Klaus Neumann argued that a historical perspective throws vital light on current debates about mandatory detention The Cornelia Rau case: a historical perspective
• · · · The death of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen set off an inevitable debate about his legacy. Jennifer Menzies examines his cabinet records and finds much that is very personal Bjelke-Petersen’s Private Cabinet ; ASIO doesn’t need all the emergency powers it was given two years ago, write George Williams and Ben Saul Will the PM welcome a compromise this time around?; Sally Neighbour reveals a massacre on foreign soil – and how an Australian company became implicated Massacre on foreign soil
• · · · · The Howard Government is moving to weaken the Senate committee system - one of its deepest sources of embarrassment and the Parliament's most effective means of scrutiny Howard moves to curb Senate watchdog ; Australian Institute of Family Studies In the driver’s seat: understanding young adults’ driving behaviour ;
• · · · · · ‘Any tax cut is good’ is a convenient mentality for the political right. It plays well in the electorate and keeps the political agenda free from pressures for greater spending. But evidence is amassing against the low tax model, and from some surprising quarters … A Little Bit of Alabama: On Australia’s Low Tax Consensus ; Mr Carmody should think a bit wider ("Tax man warns of waits for cuts under Beazley strategy," Herald, June 3). He only has to issue new tax schedules for the nine months beginning in September, giving a slightly increased cut for that period - that is, those on the lowest rate would get an $8 per week cut for 39 weeks instead of the proposed $6 per week for 52 weeks. I seem to recall the ATO doing something similar in the past. Albert Renshaw Gladesville Small change adds up ; Tax-cut-blocking strategy Van Gogh option falls on deaf ears

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These are the children behind the detention debate. Their images appear in security mug shots, complete with a barcode Meet the barcode kids in detention

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: A New Paradigm: The Indigent Rich
Richard Werner has written a distinguished book on world economic policies, with special reference to Japan (where he was living until recently).

You will recall that, more than thirty years ago, I tried to have our government adopt more enlightened economic policies. I published The Indigent Rich in 1971 and other books later. To no avail, of course. Successive governments became enmeshed ever more deeply in policies that have led to what I have described in my message to Werner.
Our present government has done no better - and indeed thinks the Australian economy is in splendid shape and that the prospects are bright, while it may in fact, along with others, be on the edge of an economic, political and strategic abyss.

• James Cumes in conversation with Richard Werner [The Rau family has completed its own investigation into the ordeal of Cornelia Rau and delivered a hefty 107-page report to the inquiry of the former police commissioner Mick Palmer Rau family verdict: there is another Australia, unrecognisable to most of us ; "Say sorry." The demand came softly but firmly from Ray Minniecon as the Prime Minister, John Howard, expounded his apology-free approach to national reconciliation leaders yeste No apology in PM's optimism for bridging the indigenous divide ]
• · "This is no time to pick fights with people over differences of opinion, instead it is a time to reflect upon the responsibility we hold as citizens of this country. These men and women gave their lives ; Were they missing, or just not found? Defence officials and the Labor senators questioning them at a Senate estimates hearing yesterday could not agree on how to describe the $28 million worth of equipment unaccounted for by a full stocktake of one of the department's biggest warehouses Your jet's not missing - I just can't find it, sir
• · · With that old crook Sir Joh barely cold in the grave, his successor Peter Beattie is already channelling his spirit. Last week restrictions to Freedom of Information legislation – only introduced in Queensland 13 years ago – were rammed through the state's single house parliament by Beattie's arrogant government Peter Banana vs. Orwell ; Australia has racked up its worst trade deficit on record, on a par with countries in eastern Europe - or more than $21,000 for every man, woman and child From bananas to Bulgaria: trade debt soars ; Any tax cut is good is a convenient mentality for the political right. It plays well in the electorate and keeps the political agenda free from pressures for greater spending. But evidence is amassing against the low tax model, and from some surprising quarters A little bit of Alabama: on Australia’s low tax consensus
• · · · The space needed to build a vital underground rail line through Sydney's CBD is poorly protected, obstructed by buildings and may end up costing the Government a premium. Railway lifeline dead on arrival ; Time is overdue for a long-term solution to the city's transport needs Can we afford not to build an effective public transport system? ; Richard Grant examines the recommendations of, and response to, the Uhrig Review The Uhrig Review and the future of statutory authorities
• · · · · Dylan Welch: Young people are struggling to find jobs in academia - and that could spell trouble for the nation University blues ; 'Politicians around the world can take all sorts of initial steps and abuses of power that resemble the sort of thing Hitler did in the early days. That ought to be pointed out!' The words 'Hitler' or 'Nazi' are so radiocative that it's rare that a reasonable debate can follow
• · · · · · First they came to get the dry liberals and I said nothing as I was one of the wet liberals. Then ... Rebel Libs leap from 5 to 9: Howard gets more talks ; Joo-Cheong Tham argues that recent government proposals to increase the threshold for disclosing the identity of political donors, and to raise the ceiling for tax-deductibility, would advantage wealthy political donors and further increase their political access vis à vis the less well off, reducing political equality. Political donation changes favour the rich and increase the risk of corruption ; United Kingdom election 2005