---

There are no solutions, just better managed risk ... I gather that is why every working writer needs a holiday at the Blue Mountains. It is such a joy to show Mal the spots I love to visit like the sweet cottage at Boronia Street at Bullabara where donkies and parrakites (sic) punctuate the landscape. To go and sip wine at Fairmont of Peppers Fame is rather divine especially when the stories are told by Dr Cope.

If writing a book was a challenge imagine getting involved in the film project, however, Terry has me hooked on 60 scenes and as I am rarely afraid of failures, except for relationship failures, most of my weekends will be creative - no doubt about it ;-) as I am told that Cold River, in short, a filmmaker's dream ...

The Sun Screen Song via Ray of Coolum fame - one of my favorite songs, is commonly referred to as "The Sunscreen Song".  It is what sounds like a commencement speech, set to music.  In fact it is not a real commencement speech (though it should be!), but rather a column that appeared in the Chicago Tribune on June 1, 1997 entitled "ADVICE, LIKE YOUTH, PROBABLY JUST WASTED ON THE YOUNG" by staff writer Mary Schmich Solong! Pay the street corner muscians and encourage them. For some reason, music on an early morning brings untold connectedness

Art of Living & Literature Across Frontiers: We need everyday heroes
Jim Owen, now a partner and director of corporate values for an Austin, Tex. investment firm, said he drew on cowboy ethics for his book because “we’ve confused rules with principles. “Does Wall Street need more rules? No.

Jim Owen, now a partner and director of corporate values for an Austin, Tex. investment firm, said he drew on cowboy ethics for his book because “we’ve confused rules with principles. “Does Wall Street need more rules? No. We need people of principle who will say ‘Here’s where we draw the line.”
Instead of examining every issue to see if it is legal, we need to look at “Is it the right thing to do,’” Owen said.
“In our society we have people in leadership who have not earned our trust,” he said. “...Many of us learned our values from early Western movies. The question was always ‘Are you a person someone can count on?’”
The American obsession with winning has warped the country’s ethics, Owen believes. Many companies have a code of ethics, but most such statements “are just words,” he said. “Cowboys are about action, not words.”
“We need everyday heroes: the single mom in Oklahoma City with two kids who holds down two jobs and helps her children with their homework at night...The person with cancer who has the courage of thinking how to handle the future...

• The answer is winning at life, not winning at business [ The Tapeworm is my nickname for the insider system that runs our current political economy and financial system ON THE TAPEWORM TRAIL ; Antony on My Israel ]
• · Promina chief executive Mike Wilkins says the group remains in search for possible acquisitions though the company has no immediate takeover plans. Promina said net half year profit fell 5.7 per cent to $216 ... The notions of justice, of pursuing and protecting the common good by treating all people fairly — or as we say in Australia, “giving everyone a fair go” — are deeply embedded in the Australian psyche. ;-) Mike Wilkins ;
• · · The extraordinary expansion of company legislation and corporate governance codes across the world since the collapse of Enron, the energy trader, has had many unintended consequences. One of the more paradoxical is the damage that has been done to business ethics. When compliance is not enough ; The saddest thing about Don Chipp's death is that he passed away a disillusioned man. The idealistic politician who founded the Australian Democrats to "keep the bastards honest" concluded that the bastards had won. Like John Hatton, Don did not seem the type to rattle easily. A gravel-voiced politician who talked to everyone even this bohemian blogger ... Don Chipp died believing the bastards had won

---

There are very few politicians who walk the talk and Kevin Rozzoli is one of them. It is great to see Kevin's dream finally realised. He gave birth to a book which most publishers shy away from as most people assume that parliaments and legislatures are irrelevant ... How right/wrong we all really are! Today, parliaments are dominated by executives as never before and we assume that we are too weak to change this fact. However, we should never give up our hopes and dreams - real democracies require participation by one and all as we all have blood on our hands if we have handed over our powers to a few masters who know how to wiggle preselection processes ...

Kevin Rozzoli's new book Gavel to Gavel was launched by Nick Greiner in the Strangers Bar at Parliament House, Sydney on 26 September, 2006. At the launch, Nick Greiner regretted the fact that he did not create a legislative atmosphere in which a framework for a better and a long term independence of the speakership was set in concrete ... The opportunity create by HUNG Parliament was missed so these days we have NSW Parliament and Parliamentary Committee System in the hands of Ministerial advisors and spin doctors ...

The book takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the corridors of parliament as seen through the eyes of a practitioner of thirty years’ experience in the ‘bear pit’ on Macquarie Street. The author’s seven years as one of its most highly regarded Speakers provides the background for this detailed and informative study of parliamentary practices and procedures.

As Kevin notes: the failure of present day parliaments to hold governments to account for the actions they take on behalf of ordinary citizens demands radical reforms. Instances of ministers and governments thumbing their noses at the community are legion; examples need not be listed here as readers will relate to many cases in those areas which particularly concern them. By Kevin Rozzoli & Ken Coghill: Renewing accountability

INSIDERS PERSPECTIVE: PROCESS OF PARLIAMENT
 
Kevin Rozzoli was the Member for Hawkesbury in the NSW Parliament, 1973-2003. He entered the Parliament at a by-election, one of four, which the ALP contested with some vigour following Federal Labor's very high vote in that region on that celebrated day, 2 December 1972. The Labor challenge did not pose a serious threat, thereafter the Liberal Member for Hawkesbury could count on a long career untroubled by a challenge from the other side of politics. Mr Rozzoli had a brief stint as Deputy Leader of the Opposition under John Dowd, during an unhappy time for the Coalition. He was purged in the coup of 1983 which brought Nick Greiner to the Liberal leadership.

His flowering was as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, 1988-95. All of his second term the Government was in a minority: his absence from the floor and his rulings were of more than usual importance. Following a succession of undistinguished Speakers from the 1950s, Kevin Rozzoli is regarded highly by those who regard the decorum of parliamentary as a matter of the first moment, a very boutique constituency which is perhaps why the behaviour of the Chair has not been discussed in the public domain all that much for fifty years.

Mr Rozzoli is attached to the University of Sydney where he is reflecting on his years in public life. After receiving an expression of interest, David Clune and the Chairman discussed how best Mr Rozzoli can contribute. Our suggestion was as follows.

[We] suggest a project which draws on your long and varied parliamentary career. You may choose to emphasise one period, such as occupying the Speaker's chair during successive parliaments – during one the Government enjoyed a big majority, during the Parliament was hung. You may choose to deal with the challenges of being in Opposition, particularly when the cause looks hopeless, the transformation occasioned by improved electoral prospects, how inward a party can look when government does not appear to be in sight. What we are seeking is work which illuminates the practical world of politics, a world rarely glimpsed by academics and other students of Parliament. Use your own experiences to draw some conclusions about politics and parliament. You could undertake that task at any of several levels though we do hope you will err on the side of frankness.

Mr Rozzoli proceeded to make a submission in the following terms.

I wish to apply for a financial grant in respect of a book I am writing on the processes of parliament with a particular emphasis on the Parliament of New South Wales. The book will provide a special focus on the Legislative Assembly, its rules and procedures and as a subset of that focus on the Fiftieth Parliament during which Premiers Greiner and Fahey governed without a majority in either house. The Fiftieth Parliament was particularly interesting from a procedural perspective and is an excellent basis from which study the interaction between Government and Opposition, their respective relationships with the public and the media, and the relativity of the evolving process over the past sixty years. I will be examining present day demands and the changes we have seen in communications, the level of public education and awareness, as well as modern attitudes to accountability and ethical considerations.

The book will address the elements that draw individuals to seek a parliamentary career, the role of a parliament in relation to the people its members represent. The book will also cover such issues as parliamentary privilege, the sub judice rule, the committee system, the Speakership, the role of a member, ethical considerations, the way legislation evolves and how the general public can better understand the process.

I will also detail the functions of the two chambers and their relationship to government and non-government members. I will give an outline of the administrative functions of the Parliament, the Parliamentary Library Hansard, Bills and Papers, IT, parliamentary organizations and so on. I will then deal with the scrutiny of Parliament, the various public accountability bodies, Auditor General, Ombudsman, ICAC and so on, and the role of the media.

Finally I will look into the future making some suggestions on improvements to process and the need for a more formal constitution for New South Wales. Throughout the book I will draw on my thirty years experience as a member of the Legislative Assembly and in particular my seven years as Speaker. It is intended to be a practical book that will provide information and enlightenment not only to those with a direct interest in the parliamentary process but to anyone who wants to take better advantage of our democratic system.

---

It is not everyday one acquires a friend who is like a sister to you and it is not every day that Vanessa invades Sydney. It was a joy to show off Sydney at its most glorious - filled with sun and reflections of azure and all kinds of blues and greens at Bondi Iceberg ... The Marble Bar is also such an amazing treasurer. I have been so fortunate to add a soulful set of sisters like Vanessa and Gina to my four blood sisters. Life is too short but memories - like blog entries - tend to live beyond the graves ...

---

There are no solutions, just better managed risk ... Jozef Imrich led several lives and met a brutal exile. In short, a filmmaker's dream ;-)

The Sun Screen Song via Ray of Coolum fame - one of my favorite songs, is commonly referred to as "The Sunscreen Song".  It is what sounds like a commencement speech, set to music.  In fact it is not a real commencement speech (though it should be!), but rather a column that appeared in the Chicago Tribune on June 1, 1997 entitled "ADVICE, LIKE YOUTH, PROBABLY JUST WASTED ON THE YOUNG" by staff writer Mary Schmich Solong!Pay the street corner muscians and encourage them. For some reason, music on an early morning brings untold connectedness

Art of Living & Literature Across Frontiers: We need everyday heroes
Jim Owen, now a partner and director of corporate values for an Austin, Tex. investment firm, said he drew on cowboy ethics for his book because “we’ve confused rules with principles. “Does Wall Street need more rules? No.

Jim Owen, now a partner and director of corporate values for an Austin, Tex. investment firm, said he drew on cowboy ethics for his book because “we’ve confused rules with principles. “Does Wall Street need more rules? No. We need people of principle who will say ‘Here’s where we draw the line.”
Instead of examining every issue to see if it is legal, we need to look at “Is it the right thing to do,’” Owen said.
“In our society we have people in leadership who have not earned our trust,” he said. “...Many of us learned our values from early Western movies. The question was always ‘Are you a person someone can count on?’”
The American obsession with winning has warped the country’s ethics, Owen believes. Many companies have a code of ethics, but most such statements “are just words,” he said. “Cowboys are about action, not words.”
“We need everyday heroes: the single mom in Oklahoma City with two kids who holds down two jobs and helps her children with their homework at night...The person with cancer who has the courage of thinking how to handle the future...

• The answer is winning at life, not winning at business [ The Tapeworm is my nickname for the insider system that runs our current political economy and financial system ON THE TAPEWORM TRAIL ; Antony on My Israel ]
• · Promina chief executive Mike Wilkins says the group remains in search for possible acquisitions though the company has no immediate takeover plans. Promina said net half year profit fell 5.7 per cent to $216 ... The notions of justice, of pursuing and protecting the common good by treating all people fairly — or as we say in Australia, “giving everyone a fair go” — are deeply embedded in the Australian psyche. ;-) Mike Wilkins ;
• · · The extraordinary expansion of company legislation and corporate governance codes across the world since the collapse of Enron, the energy trader, has had many unintended consequences. One of the more paradoxical is the damage that has been done to business ethics. When compliance is not enough ; The saddest thing about Don Chipp's death is that he passed away a disillusioned man. The idealistic politician who founded the Australian Democrats to "keep the bastards honest" concluded that the bastards had won. Like John Hatton, Don did not seem the type to rattle easily. A gravel-voiced politician who talked to everyone even this bohemian blogger ... Don Chipp died believing the bastards had won

---

Although it looks as Media Dragon is entering less and less entries, we are actively looking for new things under the sun. It is harder each day, however, a new brave world of script and image writing or painting is beeing revealed to mmwwaaa and my exotic malchkin ...

G etting noticed. Books can be written on the subject but, briefly note this blog Open All Media Dragon Hours

The Blog, The Press, The Media: Don't even whisper about impending property debacle
Recall the awkward truth blurted by Mark just-a-suburban-battler-boy Latham in a 2003 diary entry: the combination of negative gearing, the halving of capital gains tax, high top marginal income tax rates and the end of the stockmarket boom has sent the property market in this country out of control - a spiv's paradise. It's good economic policy to do something about it. But a hairy proposition politically.

Ozblogger The Daily Flute crudely sums up the Coalition's line: 1. Make more money from property; 2. Have a bung (bribe) for buying a property; 3. Borrow shitloads at low interest rates. They won't go up while we're around. And Labor's? 1. Make more money from property; 2. Have a bung for buying property; 3. Interest rates are going up. Be scared. This makes Labor almost as crap as the Coalition on housing policy, reckons Flute, and they're missing the main game.

• Shocked by what he saw, Kothari reportedly observed a reluctance for controls on soaring rents. It seemed taboo even to mention it Paul [ Don't be afraid to fail, encourage your talent, and use your heart One definition Joe Torre On Winning ; Every time you use an internet search engine, your inquiry is stored in a huge database. Would you like such personal information to become public? That nightmare has just become a reality for thousands of customers ]
• · Democracy for Sale ; Over 720,000 households used the Internet to return their Census form during the recent national survey, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). eCensus grabs attention
• · · In this report, Center for Public Policy Brown University presents the sixth annual update on global e-government. Using an analysis of 1,782 government websites in 198 different nations undertaken during Summer, 2006, Center for Public Policy investigates electronic government. Among the significant findings of the research are: Global E-Government, 2006; I’ll stick my head out here and make a bold prediction: The government will back down on its proposed changes to tax on investments. They won’t go through Parliament in their present form. Tax blog
• · · · Women over 50 will be the best bosses in the future because they understand the importance of blogging, flexible working ... BT says women make the best bosses ; The government is likely to introduce its media reform legislation into parliament this week, but what's not in the Bills might be as important as what is, writes Jock Given Should we rely on the regulators?

---

Another birthday this week as my godson Alexander or Olek who spent some time this year in Poland celebrates his birthday. It is always so soulful to invade Christopher and Lidia as the place is filled with joy and music. No high blood pressures here ;-)

Ach an my two Amerikan mates and founders of Google, who give Media Dragon search ranking of 6, have set up a philanthropy fund, giving it seed money of about $US1 billion ($1.3 billion) and a mandate to tackle poverty, disease and global warming. But unlike most charities, this one will be for-profit, allowing it to fund start-up companies, form partnerships with venture capitalists, and even lobby Congress. Google's $1.3b gift to charity has a catch

---

Bloggers are proud of having taken their views public -- well, sort of. We know we often hit the radar and issues get amplified. Often we do have an impact ...
CIA contractor's classified blog ruffles agency - Software testing firm fires woman after posts about torture   
Axsmith, 42, said in an interview this week that she thinks of herself as the Erma Bombeck of the intel world, a "generalist" writing about lunch meat one day, the war on terrorism the next. She said she first posted her classified blog in May and no one said a thing. When she asked, managers even agreed to give her the statistics on how many people were entering the site. Her column on food pulled in 890 readers, and people sent her reviews from other intelligence agency canteens.  Sharing Stories: Poking a Stick Into The 'Hive Mind'

The Blog, The Press, The Media: MySpace, Google Ink $900 Million Search Deal
IN A DEAL THAT WILL vastly expand Google's available ad inventory, Fox Interactive Network has tapped Google to power paid search on all of the company's Web properties, including the hugely popular social networking site MySpace.com, gaming site IGN Entertainment, and movie site Rotten Tomatoes    

• Media Dragons [BLOGS from space? Why not, now that the internet is everywhere, giving even extreme travellers almost instant connection. Extreme blogging takes off ; To misquote Shakespeare in Twelfth Night, some people are born famous, some become famous and other have fame thrust upon them. ... Google are for men - Yahoo for women ]
• · When he's not playing guitar, a ponytailed musician named Charles Johnson likes to sit in his Los Angeles home office, listen to jazz, and make mincemeat of the mainstream media. He's tangled with CBS over the authenticity of documents about President Bush's National Guard service. This time around, he's uncovered doctored war photos distributed by Reuters, forcing the news service to retract them. A blogger shines when news media get it wrong ; ‘Inside PCIJ’ nominated for best Asian group blog
• · · Once upon a time, unhappy customers had little leverage against big companies and their poor customer-service procedures Internet taking gripes: Consumers find more power ; Beating Terrorism: It's the Grievances, Stupid 
• · · · Bloggers want traffic to their blog. One way to get traffic is to write in your blog a list of ways for other bloggers to get traffic to their blog, like "56 ways to get traffic to your blog." The most common piece of advice in these "way to get traffic lists" is to write lists. It's brilliantly self-fulfilling and it works. Five Reasons You Shouldn't Link to Blog Lists ; How to make your blog more useable in 3 steps
• · · · · Blogs Cashing in on Tom Cruise What kind of salary do you need? 50 Common Interview Questions & Answers ; The government in Iran controls the media and censors the internet. But Iran’s President has become the latest high-profile user of the world wide web. Blog by Iranian President
• · · · · · Be the first to leave a comment for this blog! Good, bad and mediocre ; Blog SEO is no different. If you want higher search engine rankings in Google, MSN, and Yahoo Search, it's important to remember your blog themes and topics. Fortunately, it's what you post about on a daily basis. Blog SEO: Higher Search Engine Rankings Tip

---

The oldest Imrich born is Australia is 16 today, so Happy Birthday ...
One day I hope Sasha might sing songs about the wonderful men at mother's Healthland and EDS or Klas or even Avocado Consulting or any other lands Then World Will be Composed of Our Space ...

---

Quotes to Face the Spring ...

"A vision without the ability to execute is a hallucination."
~ Steve Case, former AOL CEO

What a wonderful life I've had! I only wish I'd realized it sooner.
~ Colette

"No leader sets out to be a leader per se, but rather to express him- or herself freely and fully. That is, leaders have
no interest in proving themselves, but an abiding interest in expressing themselves."
~ Warren Bennis


"Intensity is so much more becoming in the young."
~ Joanne Woodward

"Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them."
~ James Baldwin

"Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down. Reality is the leading cause of stress among those in touch with it."
~ Oprah Winfrey

"Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past."
~ Lily Tomlin

"Life is always walking up to us and saying, 'Come on in, the living's fine,' and what do we do? Back off and take its picture."
~ Russell Baker

"I don't want life to imitate art. I want life to be art.
~ Carrie Fisher

"If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say?
And why are you waiting?"
~ Stephen Levine

---

Are you ready to be discovered?
MySpace has announced it will start selling the songs of unsigned bands. According to site figures, it means a band's potential audience just grew to more than 100 million people.
If you are a musician - like Sasha consider MySpace it might be your destiny

If you are a writer you must not miss Articulate

Naturally, no antipodean reader can afford to miss First Tuesday

The Shadow of the Wind
by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Daniel Sempere is 10 years old when he is given a copy of a novel, The Shadow of the Wind, by Julián Carax. As Daniel begins investigating the life and death of Carax he is drawn deeper and deeper into a wild, dark and gothic tale of love, murder and betrayal where the city of Barcelona is but one of the fascinating cast of characters with secrets to hide.

"Like many who turned their backs on convention, who scorned the white picket fence, white bread and dead white male view of the world in favour of exotic gurus with drug-enhanced visions, Hughes has become a significant conservative voice in the world.

Many radicals took the same path as the scent of patchouli oil faded, the mirrored dresses tarnished and the drugs wore off. Those who try to revive the Sixties today should be viewed through the lens of Hughes' sobering reminder of the ugly realities of the counter-culture."

---

Lately I have been drinking lots of coffees and pondering on the fortunes and misfortunes of life on earth ;-)

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to
visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into
complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and
returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups made off:

Cups were of porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, paper etc. Some were
ordinary looking, some expensive, some exquisite.

He told them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in their hands, the professor
said:

"If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up,
leaving behind the plain and cheap looking ones. While it is but normal
for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your
problems and stress.

What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you
consciously went for the best cups and worse, you were eyeing each
other's cups.

Now if life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are
the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, but the quality
of life doesn't change. Some times, by concentrating only on the cup, we
fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

So folks, don't let the cups drive you - enjoy the coffee instead. (courtesy of Bawa)

Also consider reading some experimental poetry at the site that Diana Collins built Famous Poets

Diana writes: We have developed this site about poetry and famous poets, we have put this project together with our friends.

We created our site for educational purposes. Our site is nonprofit.

We also plan to open a literary forum and implement blog engine to help contemporary poets to post their poems and works.

We are all enthusiasts, and we consider poetry to be one of the most wonderful and remarkable branches of art.

Our project is very young and we continue to develop it.

Our mission is to introduce to many people the poetry and poems of famous poets.

If you are a poet, we will be happy to add you to our database as a contemporary poet. What do you think about it?

We think that in our modern and hitech developed world many people forget about poetry and its importance in our culture.

And so we would like you to support us and we will be happy if you link your site to our site, so that your visitors and readers as well as ours could find more information about poetry and their favorite poets. Also it will draw a lot of readers, both those who already enjoy poetry and those who will use it to discover these writers for the first time.

---

It is spring and father's day in full swing and quotes like this do make you wonder about the meaning of life, fatherhood, friendship and so much more (courtesy of Vanessa)

To be what you are is in itself very arduous without trying to become something, which is not difficult. You can always pretend, put on a mask, but to be what you are is an extremely complex affair; because you are always changing; you are never the same and each moment reveals a new facet, a new depth, a new surface. You can't be all this at one moment for each moment brings its own change. So if you are intelligent, you give up being anything.
- J. Krishnamurti

  Your smile is the freshest of my special memories. Regardless of whether we see each other again, I will use it as I do all my other special memories. I will call on it when I am disheartened or low. I will hold it in my heart when I need inspiration. I will keep it with me for moments when I need to find a smile or my own.
The fine line between love and pain

Art of Living & Literature Across Frontiers:
We love to hear the stories of people who have been transformed by their tribulations, perhaps because they testify to a bona fide psychological truth, one that sometimes gets lost amid endless reports of disaster: There is a built-in human capacity to flourish under the most difficult circumstances. Positive reactions to profoundly disturbing experiences are not limited to the toughest or the bravest. In fact, roughly half the people who struggle with adversity say that their lives have in some ways improved.

Hurricanes, house fires, cancer, white-water rafting accidents, plane crashes, vicious attacks in dark alleyways. Nobody asks for any of it. But to their surprise, many people find that enduring such a harrowing ordeal ultimately changes them for the better. Their refrain might go something like this: "I wish it hadn't happened, but I'm a better person for it."

• Pleasure only gets you so far. A rich, rewarding life often requires a messy battle with adversity
• · People’s subjective experience at work matters, because positive affect (i.e. emotion) is directly related to how creatively people think on the job. Emotion and Creativity at Work ; Skirting the Line
• · · Project dear to Patricia's heart: It was vital to stop the Germans at El Alamein to prevent them from securing, progressively, the Suez Canal, Palestine, and India, and then linking up with Japan. The consequences for Australia would have been incalculable, but not many Australians now know that the key role at El Alamein was played by the Ninth Australian Division, led by General Sir Leslie Morshead, who turned the tide of the battle in a brilliant piece of generalship. So my nomination is General Morshead.
? Posted by: Patricia Azarias at January 30, 2006 07:19 AM
El Alamein ; ; SBS Board appointments