Tuesday, June 07, 2005



Your passion for democracy is inspiring and your enthusiasm contagious ... It was Paine who argued that America would afford "an asylum for mankind," provide a model to the world, and support the global advance of republican democracy. In these pages is tonic for flagging spirits facing great odds - because it was Thomas Paine who insisted that "it is too soon to write the history of the Revolution." And Writing the History of the Revolution is Now Up to You. That's what truly is at stake (Source: This is the prepared text of the speech Bill Moyers gave at Take Back America: The Conference for America's Future , sponsored by the Institute for America's Future, in Washington on Friday, June 3, 2005)

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: NSW crime statistics
Civil libertarians have rejected assertions from NSW Premier Bob Carr that longer jail sentences are behind a drop in the state's crime rate.


Crime has fallen across the board over the past few years according to figures released by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. And Mr Carr says NSW's record prison population - which stands at more than 9000 - was the reason behind the crime reduction. Reports today said courts were now issuing custodial sentences, where previously they were more likely to issue community service orders. But the move has increased costs, with community service orders costing only $10 a day to administer compared with $173 to keep an offender in prison. Mr Carr said tougher jail sentences had reduced crime and made the community feel safer.


'Economics, not jail' behind crime rate drop [PDF version link to Prisons swell as tougher sentences bite ; We've had our differences, John, but you are still our last best hope for saving the nation. We need your help to bring the truth about our nation's attack on Iraq to the attention of the American people. Mr. Kerry: You Could Still Be the Leader We Need ]
• · Federal Transport Minister John Anderson is on "another planet" if he thinks one person can solve Australia's airport security issues Scully to Anderson: you're on another planet ; NRMA slams P-plate restrictions NRMA slams P-plate restrictions
• · · Lyndsey Layton and Jo Becker of the Washington Post obtained and reviewed documents and data on the performance of the DC-area subway system Metro Off the Rails ; The logic of these cases would have to extend to computer fingerprint and DNA matching, not to mention face-recognition software Judges toss out DUIs because breathalyzers' source code is secret
• · · · There will be no bands to greet them, no parades and no presidential platitudes honoring their sacrifices 'USS Liberty' Survivors Can Never Forget; There has never been an administration, I don't believe in our history, more intent upon consolidating and abusing power to further their own agenda Hillary Unplugged
• · · · · Tax concessions for commuters would ease the gridlock in Sydney more effectively than a congestion charge like the one that had slashed car dependency in Londo Give rail and bus users a break, says NSW ; Free Gasoline Perk; The big-spending, tax-cutting budget appears to have paid a popularity dividend for the Howard Government Tax cuts carry Howard to greater heights ; The answer almost certainly isn't "tax cuts." The Rich Get Richer--But Why?
• · · · · · When historians look back over the last 25 years, one of the great crimes they will identify is the Third World debt crisis. Sell the Gold, Free the Poor ; Truth: A private virtue or a public reality? A moral or a logical category? A set of non-negotiable facts, or a consensus about the way the world is? What’s its opposite – falsity, fiction, omission, ignorance? Does it set us free, or bind us together? Writing "Truth" on the Sidewalk: Who Do We Think We Are?