If someone tells you he always tells the truth, you know you have a liar on your hands -Groucho Marx once said
Cocaine and other illegal drugs are widely used across Sydney, from restaurants and bars to sporting venues and even inside Parliament House. Que? The Sunday Telegraph found traces of drugs, including cocaine, opiates and cannabis, in the men's toilets outside the parliamentary offices of Opposition Leader John Brogden, National Party leader Andrew Stoner and Labor MPs? Sunday Terror? Come the next Press Christmas Party and the Terror will leave more traces behind ;-) Sharri Markson: Cocaine - our hidden addiction ; Cocaine and other illegal drugs are widely used across Sydney, from restaurants and bars to sporting venues and even inside Parliament House Cocaine Detected in Parliament House
Whatever is alive is at peril. Whatever is alive must compete for food and a mate while protecting itself against predators. Mendacity proves helpful in all three endeavors. But when lying occurs within the tribe, it weakens communal bonds and threatens the tribe’s survival. It is an oxymoron, however, if the next people revolution, bloody or not, where to succeed the community must ensure be honest about its weaknesses whatever the price Why We Lie and Deception at Work
Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Taking Control of the States: the ultimate barbecue stopper
Bob Hawke was going to abolish the states – but never got around to it – will the Howard Government seize the opportunity when they take control of the Senate on July 1?
Friday's COAG meeting in Canberra was portrayed as a great, cooperative love-in. But in reality, it was a major missed opportunity. If the idea was to only talk about things in which cooperation between the states and Canberra was possible, it was telling that our political leaders ran out of things to discuss after just two hours.
Bob Carr is a closet webdiaryist (sic) who keeps a daily record of the events in the state's top job.
• Reflections on Australian Federalism [MPs, pay rises and public housing Who's Australia's lowest paid political leader? ; A series of arson attacks has sparked fears that Sydney's beleaguered tow truck industry is in the grip of a new, violent turf war Racketeer operators: Tow trucks in flames as war hots up ; The Left's assistant secretary Luke Foley launched the attack on the Right, with accusations that the Government's ministerial staff had been "dragooned" into joining the party's Bondi branch Peace is brief for ALP factions ]
• · U.S.-Iraq policy and the murder of a whistle-blowing contractor The Unquiet American; Amateur engineers are asking what they can do for the Pentagon. Dave Warren had devised a lightweight vehicle armor ; Behind every liberal rich-person basher lurks a rich-person gawker. Or at least most of the time Wealth Porn
• · · As dust settles after the explosive referenda at the heart of the European Union, interested parties from all sides are peering nervously into the crater, trying to figure out what remains of the European "project." What America Can Do for Europe; How ludicrous that the prime minister of Luxembourg should insist, like some east European communist leader of old, that black is white and everything can therefore continue just as before Decadent Europe
• · · · It is obvious that something is very wrong with the old labels, with the categories of "left" and "right," and with the ways in which we customarily apply these categories to American political life Confessions of a Right-Wing Liberal ; Evangelicalism was once a tiny reform movement, one that was amazingly successful The Rise of the Evangelicals ; Good news from Iraq: skylights installed in Fallujah schools!
• · · · · A look at what today's demonstrators have to learn from the past G8 protest: how far should you go? Another World is Possible: Making A 'Mother World' Possible ; Yes, offshore banking is an outrage. No, it's not a metaphor for capitalism. If America needs a new enemy, the Cayman Islands might be a refreshing choice Out to Sea ; Jonathan Chait, Los Angeles Times: Whenever you broach such inconvenient facts, conservatives invariably have three pat replies. One is to accuse you of envying the rich and/or wanting to kill them. Another is to suggest you want to turn the United States into a clone of some god-awful country. (The Soviet Union once served this purpose nicely. Since the fall of communism, though, conservatives have had to search about for other boogeymen, usually settling on some decidedly less-frightening Western European democracy.) The third is to insist that it's good for everybody when the country gets less equal Envy The Rich? No. Tax Them? Oh Yeah ; Larry Kudlow, RealClearPolitics Rich People Are Government’s Best Friend
• · · · · · James K. Galbraith on John Kenneth Galbraith; Jurgen Brauer and Nicholas Anglewicz: Taking all spending into account, the federal government spends 68 cents of every dollar on defense Two-Thirds On Defense ; Politicizing 9/11 at memorial site shows disrespect Mocking a memory: American Airlines flight 77