We must select the illusion
which appeals to our temperament,
and embrace it with passion.
-Cyril Connolly
One of the greediest moves ever by big telephone companies appears — for the moment — to have run amok, if not backfired City-Sponsored Wi-Fi's Wild Ride
Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Parting remarks on the Australian Public Service
I would like to focus on the perennial challenge for the Australian Public Service, the balancing of our responsibility to be responsive, with our responsibilities to be apolitical, impartial and professional.
There was bipartisan consensus in the 1970s and 1980s that the Service was too independent and not as responsive to the elected Government as it ought to be. I doubt there are many today, however, who would argue that the Public Service needs to shift the balance further towards responsiveness. The serious questions today concern our professionalism and our impartiality, and whether our obligation to be responsive has caused some of us sometimes to be too concerned to please
• PS [Learning from America ; There’s no justification for taxpayer dollars being used to fund party political activity by governments Selling the Australian government ]
• · Inept police, politics, Internet and 'cucumber season' combine CzechTek: Anatomy of a scandal; Former Cold War mole Minarík gets re-charged in Munich terrorism plot State reopens bomb case against RFE spy ; FOIA Lawsuit to Obtain JFK Records Blocked by CIA
• · · The saga of Vivian Alvarez Solon is much more than the string of wrongs so carelessly and callously inflicted upon the seriously ill Australian mother A culture of denial ; Researching Librarian
• · · · The State of Online Legislative Research and What Makes a Good Legislative History, by Susan H. Paschell Legislative research ; Everybody loves a good story. Washington of course, has lots of them: political maneuverings and international intrigue The Document’s Story: Legislative Narration ; The mood in America is shifting against the Iraq war, but it has found inadequate expression in Congress Leaderless on the Left
• · · · · Public access to information under the FOIA; More Than 4 Million FOIA Requests Made in 2004 ; Revising constituency boundaries in the United States and Australia: it couldn’t be more different Democratic Audit of Australia (summary); Report (PFD) - Richard Engstrom provides a comparative analysis
• · · · · · Suing into submission: using litigation to quell dissent ; Underground banking: legitimate remittance network or money laundering system?