Issue of Yes Magazine is out...
Ah, yes I have been asking the same question for two decades: "Why, oh why, when the temperature is 23 degrees and the humidity 84 per cent, do Sydneysiders insist on travelling on the bus with the windows closed?" asks Claire, of Stanmore, who travelled into town on one of the STA's old-style sweatboxes last week. Only one window was open, the rest were all stuck. That tapping sound is the NSW Transport Services Minister adding "windows that open" to his to-do list. Yes Minister # 8
Eye on Politics & Law Lords: The Small Fish that Shook the Iron Curtain
In "20 Ads That Shook the World," a fascinating book by James B. Twitchell, I read a dramatic assertion by anthropologists: If fish could think or had consciousness, the last thing they would think about is water.
With that discovery came a flood of watery memories and some thoughts about the possible American human equivalent of the fish's water. What is vital to us that we hardly even think about? Here is a hint:
Of course we have problems. We always will. But the stunning achievements of American business in opening itself up to all in the society - that is the water in which we swim. And we should swim with a great deal of pride. The big story, the sweep of opportunity, is one that we ignore every day - and are the poorer for it.
• Equality of Opportunity: The Water We Swim In [What "People's History" Is All About; The Pope and His Legacy]
• · We take from the past what suits us most, and too often it's a blinkered, nationalistic view Potty history; [Maiden Issue of NYU Journal of Law & Liberty : Hayek and the Law; Virgin Issue of European Constitutional Law Review ]
• · · Central and Eastern European states are bringing new energy to the human rights debate at the UN. (sub req) Peripheral Visions
• · · · John Harris goes looking for a home for his protest vote in So Who Do We Vote For Now? Rafael Behr assesses the options And New Labour delivered ... a punch in the face ; Fred Halliday, a leading expert on international affairs, says we are still infected by Cold War ills: an arrogant West, shabby dictators, naive protests It's time to bin the past
• · · · · A former senior constable who bought spy equipment to record the former mayor of Strathfield, Alfred Tsang, taking a $2500 bribe has claimed he was ignorant of eavesdropping laws and trusted a property developer to give his footage to the police...He did not know that recording a private conversation was an offence. He had been an officer for 12 years before resigning from the tactical response unit in August. Officer not aware making Tsang tape was illegal ; [The service fought the undercover officers' claim tooth and nail "because they don't want the floodgates to open for this litigation... From my research into what the policeBetrayed and broken: a cop who just gave up The man was sitting in the gutter, distressed, when the police car drew up. The driver asked if there was anything he could do to help. "Shoot me," the man said, bursting into tears.]
• · · · · · With the inauguration of George W. Bush for a second term, we enter a nightmare phase of American history, a descent into the era of what might be called “deep politics.” Newtopia The Creeping Police State; A new issue of Australia's Griffith Review is out - Imagining an international Australia Antipodeans in America: a cautionary tale by Patrick McCaughey