Friday, July 01, 2005



James Cumes is constantly reminded of the contribution that past generations have made to our sovereign independence and our democratic rights and freedoms Debts We Owe

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: I come not to bury Labor
The sharks were hoping for blood and more downfall

A packed room of press had gathered on a Crows Nest rooftop expecting to hear Senator John Faulkner do what he'd never done in his long career: drop a bucket on his own party.Labor's former leader in the Senate was launching Bernie Lagan's book on Mark Latham and he'd been drafting and redrafting his speech for weeks...
Behaviour unacceptable outside NSW Labor is all too often rewarded within it. But this was the culture from which Latham came. "No young person immersed in this culture can escape unaffected." And the problem according to Faulkner is that "those of us inside the gladiatorial NSW culture underestimate the difference between our experience and expectations and those of the community. That cost us. And it cost Mark."


• So accurate it was painful to read Everyone knows diaries are just full of crap Tragedies sell better than farce [Biographer sheds light on Mark Latham ; Latham in doghouse ; End of story for one leader, a new chapter for another Faulkner goes it alone at 'Loner' launch ]
• · By the end of 2004, there were 185 million migrants worldwide - approximately 3 percent of the world's population, or roughly one in every 35 persons, almost half of whom were women. Does this represent too much or not enough migration? Migration is Here to Stay, So Get Used to It ; Poland has come up with a marketing plan to improve its reputation in France Unlikely Hero in Europe's Spat: The 'Polish Plumber'
• · · In the banks and boardrooms of New York, the jargon of global capitalism found a new name for the world's largest communist power: the "aberrant buyer" A New Asian Invasion; Here's something you probably didn't know: Ireland today is the richest country in the European Union after Luxembourg The End of the Rainbow
• · · · Amid growing mainstream interest in nontraditional applications of economic theory, economist bloggers Alex Tabarrok and Bryan Caplan find gems in rental-car pricing, trade with China, the politics of war and pricing CEOs From Rental Cars to CEOs: A Review of 'Freaky' Research; With a heavy heart I picked up Division 16K, Subdivision C, Section 159GZZZP of the Australian Income Tax legislation, which deals with share buybacks. Reading the Tax Act is a pastime not dissimilar to sticking needles in an eyeball, or tearing the skin off the back of a hand. As usual, I came away more confused than before and none the wiser about what it means Time to act - too many buybacks are tax scams
• · · · · Petroulias sold tax schemes ; Nicholas Pengelley Update to Researching Australian Law