Thursday, June 16, 2005



You've got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking, and don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it, and like any great relationship it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don't settle. Steve Jobs

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: State upper houses and parliamentary democracy
Strong upper houses are a distinctive and important part of Australia’s constitutional heritage.

While the Senate is the most visible and celebrated example, state upper houses (the legislative councils) are now also vital components of Australian democracy. Bruce Stone audits the state upper houses and finds electoral reform is the key to improved performance in legislative review and executive scrutiny, and that some houses are simply too small to be effective.


Democratic Audit of Australia [After a long period of neglect, infrastructure is back in the headlines The State of Priorities: On Queensland’s Infrastructure Mess; Living Parliamentary Digest ]
• · Greg B. Smith of the New York Daily News used state data to show that “in the state Department of Transportation alone, lobbyists schmoozed the agency on nearly $1.3 billion in contracts in the past two years … The back-room billions ; Huge scam in WorkCover certificates ; The funeral industry has deteriorated to such an extent that the dead are being buried in cardboard coffins Funerals bury mourners' savings ; Charges recommended against top cops
• · · Two months after he was released from federal prison after serving time for political corruption charges in 1998, the former Essex County Executive set up a charitable foundation. Loophole lets ex-con fund his retirement ; New tax haven clues point to firms' wealthy clients ; The fallout from the cooling of the housing market is still unclear Beware the bang if the property bubble bursts
• · · · Lenny Roth surveys the main legal restrictions on children and forms of discrimination against children Children’s rights in NSW ; More complex child-support formula on the table Many fathers to pay less child support
• · · · · From saving to empowering to including: changing understandings of poverty at the Brotherhood of St Laurence ; Wood rescued in military operation I am delighted to inform the house that the Australian hostage in Iraq Mr Douglas Wood is safe from his captors
• · · · · · Newly leaked documents reveal the extent of the British cabinet's concern over America's disrespect for international law Downing Street II ; It's official: blessed is the troublesome peacemaker The peace prize professor who came in from the cold