This is depressing. Especially when I think that I survived communism without ever being fingerprinted... Orwell 2004: ID cards passed despite abstentions VICTORIA's world-first roadside drug-testing system is in a shambles after police revealed two of the first three drivers to test positive had been cleared following laboratory analysis of their samples. SHHHHH Drug Absentism Embarrasment
Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Daily Character assassinations
I think the government is perhaps a necessary evil. Before one can have hope the slaves have to suffer assassination, they have to endure and they have to build characters. It is happening on trains in hospitals at schools. We should be grateful for the opportunity to sweat and even to shed blood at hospital. That reminds me time to give the Red Cross some of my blood (smile)
An ex-employee of the NSW Cabinet Office once told me that the daily routine of he (sic) and his colleagues went something like this:
1. Arrive at office.
2. Read The Daily Telegraph.
3. Prepare briefing papers for Premier and relevant Ministers on the issues raised in each article in The Daily Telegraph.
He assured me this was no exaggeration. According to this public servant, the Carr Government’s daily plan consists of little more than responding to and dealing with anything that appears in the Telegraph.
• Politicians who are looking for a kick, are usually kicked out instead. Make no mistake, Stalin and Hitler used to be back by unpopular demand Putting on Truthful Airs: The Privileges of the MLC ; [Fewer and fewer Labor pollies have been self-employed, privately employed or even unemployed. They belong to a class who comprehend the outside world through focus groups, demographic analyses and what are virtually anthropological observations of voters, rather than direct experience. Is Kerry Packer the Picker of Labour Premiers?]
• · The immediate reaction of the self-styled Solzhenitsyn of the south, Richard Flanagan, was to rush into print with a portentously titled item for The Age “Is this the end of dissent in Australia?”, so that looks unlikely; [Roddy Meagher: Rarely, if ever, has the departure from the bench of an Australian judge accompanied by such attention in the popular press. Parting gift: Cheerful character assassinations ]
• · · 'Hotel Rwanda': Holding a Moral Center as Civilization Fell Cut down the tall trees ; [Mark your calendars: Unique Auditing: Integrity Initiatives: Patricia Azarias, Director, Internal Audit Division, United Nations, USA
The United Nations Organisational Integrity Initiative
Unique reporting relationships and work environment of the United Nations
Issues of auditing peacekeeping operations Monday 7th March 2005]
• · · · MR HUTLEY: In our respectful submission, your Honour, this is not an appropriate vehicle for special leave.
CALLINAN J: You know, I always think that is a very unattractive formula and not a very good submission. I remember unsuccessfully appearing here once and my client saying, with an expletive, “What have I got to do, drive a Cadillac into Court?” It never impresses me, if standing alone. David Starkoff’s blog Inchoate David has not acquired a permanent blog link, but who cares as his entire blog is a real diamond. Cut into it if you dare and ponder on the streetwise meaning of life ...
• · · · · Ramsubba Reddy, who had served as Housing Minister in the N Chandrababu Naidu government, was one of the main accused in the murder of two Congress activists at Shadnagar in Mahaboobnagar district in December 1991 TDP Minister was given a lifer in a double-murder case
• · · · · · Tony Blair, telling it like it is. Now what a magnificent example of the human spirit - that's the side we should be on ... Full text: Blair's statement in Baghdad