Wednesday, May 04, 2005



Welcome to the 21st century in the workplace: He was a 16-year-old apprentice electrician, Jake Gabryelczyk, in his first year on the job. His supervisor, Richard Hundt, was intent on breaking him in with verbal and physical abuse - or what he described as character building. Mr Hundt burned him with cigarettes on the arm and neck, stole his lunch and ate it, hogtied him, grabbed his crotch and repeatedly said give me head Wog boy

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: What remains: Vietnam in my heart
How is it that Vietnamese and Americans can now shake hands, but Vietnamese continue to refuse to offer a hand to their fellow Vietnamese? Pham Thi Hoài, the exiled Vietnamese novelist, writes a bittersweet memoir of the sorrows of war and hopes of national reconciliation.

Like clouds floating in the sky, the war was already there when I was born. I did not have to get to know it; instead, it had to come to terms with my birth. Every day for fifteen years, I looked up to see the war floating slowly by. I was not an unlucky child: most of those clouds were pink. When storm clouds appeared, they only made the ones that came after seem more rosy.


Mandate of heaven ["The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here," President Abraham Lincoln said in dedicating the cemetery at Gettysburg. The ordeal of Douglas Wood ; It's a bit rich, we can only hope Mr Wood's captors possess more compassion than we do How Wood's captivity captures the big picture ]
• · No matter how intelligent the politician, high the position of power, favourable opinion polls, or opportunity to meet and greet statesmen, politicians are always unhappy; The Costello camp argues that leadership destabilisation erodes the Government's electoral standing because the public hates division Making it into the Lodge: Costello's disciples apply the pressure ; It's such a rare event that even the hard-boiled NSW politicians gave him a standing ovation as he came into the room in Parliament House yesterday Opposites attract: Barry jumps to the left
• · · Minors are able to buy cigarettes for $4.40 a packet from an Australian company operating legally under a loophole in legislation. An investigation revealed Melbourne-based company Ancient Egypt Australia is advertising and selling cigarettes on an internet site without requesting proof of age. ; So, you've given your pound of flesh for nothing? Fear not, your taxes will come back
• · · · The Assemblies of God churches, the largest of which is Hillsong in north-west Sydney, are on a mission of meteoric growth. Church expands horizons ; Ever wonder just what it is about Janice Rogers Brown that prompted the Democrats to so fiercely oppose her nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals? It's her radical position on the Constitution. Investor's Business Daily Profile Of An Extremist
• · · · · Sydney is using more water than its storage system can keep providing, a new report shows (Frank Sartor is the former director to the Public Accounts Committee 1983-87?) Sydney water plan 'has major flaw' ; Jack Kemp, San Diego Union-Tribune Politics of Pain and Austerity is a Loser
• · · · · · Michelle Cottle, Time Shoot First, Regret Legislation Later ; Mrs. Bush called her husband Mr. Excitement for going to bed by 9 o'clock and turning her into a "desperate housewife." She said that Lynne Cheney's Secret Service code name became Dollar Bill after they both went to Chippendales (where they ran into Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg). Noting that Andover and Yale did not have "real strong ranching programs," she said Mr. Bush had started his ranching career by trying to milk a horse - a male horse. John Tierney, New York Times Laura Bush Talks Naughty: First lady of comedy? ; White House Correspondents' Association dinner, held April 30 The complete transcript of Laura Bush's comments