Australia Day, also known as Anniversary Day, Foundation Day and Invasion Day, is the official national day of Australia. Celebrated annually on 26 January, the day commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, marking the start of British colonisation of Australia. In 2008 AD a trio of Oscar-winning Australian actors have added a touch of glamour to an Australia Day luncheon in Sydney. Actors Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush joined NSW Premier Nathan Rees and a host of Australia Day ambassadors at Sydney's Darling Harbour on Friday. Oscar winners celebrate Australia Day
Australia and the Boy from Buzz
Brandon Walters: the boy from Oz
Language is very powerful: True blue bash The Book of Proverbs
ECONOMISTS, always fond of metaphors, often say credit is the "lifeblood" of the economy alongside the "beating heart" of the banking system …
Australia Day - why not have two metaphoes?
The Book of Proverbs (Chapters 12 & 18) teaches that words can play a decisive role, whether for good or evil. They can be a destructive as sword thrusts or the means of healing. Temperate language is essential in the process we are now engaged in, if there is to be progress. Intemperate language is rarely constructive. Vilification and demonisation are well known techniques which may seem to be expedient in regard to the mobilisation and shaping of domestic public opinion or some other narrow political objective when simple facts are not helpful or sufficient. In order to bless, excommunicate, christen, pronounce guilty, call the base runner out, bid three no-trumps, or declare war, it is not sufficient for any old speaker to say to the hearer “I bless”, “I excommunicate”, etc. One must have a position within blogging community like Kevin …
‘The rich are unlike you and me….” the novelist/social critic F. Scott Fitzgerald was supposed to have uttered in frustration over the crass insensitivity and arrogance of the moneyed class in the midst of the Great Depression. Almost directly proportional to the rate of joblessness, foreclosures and credit crunches which rented most Americans in the ’30s was the rate of wasteful extravagance displayed by this class as they retreated to enjoy themselves behind gated houses and country clubs. If this kind of duality sounds familiar, it is. The “sins” of the ’30s are back to haunt us almost eight decades after—and if we don’t watch out, with more toxicity and devastating effect than in Fitzgerald’s time.Yes, sir. The rich are really something else. And, judging from the reactions of each and every country to the enveloping global financial tsunami, in the end the rich may get even richer and the poor poorer when all the coping measures and stimulus plans shall have been put in place. That is the supreme irony in this meltdown. Those who have caused it in the first place through a combination of mindless deregulation and reckless banking practices may end up keeping their loot, so to speak, and passing the burden of recovery to the millions of taxpayers out there who are already reeling from the downturn.
• Winning Ugly Together; [It would be an easy task to taint wiki sky; Mark Thomas, a regular on the British comedy circuit, has a keen eye for the absurdities of modern life: and what could be more absurd than a globalised economy which provides rich people and powerful corporations with an opt out card marked TAX HAVENS . Cull bankers, invade Jersey . . a cutting edge agenda for 2009 ]
• · Book review: 'Power without Responsibility' focuses on ministerial staffers and their close political and personal affiliations with ministers. Ministerial staff have become a threat to good policy advice; Madoff, Talansky, Merkin, Olmert, Netanyahu, Adelson, one-time top GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his associate Adam Kidan, Rahm Emanuel, and all their comrades in Washington, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, London, Ottawa, and Paris brings to mind the Hebrew saying “ba’al ha’mea ba’al ha’dea” or “the one with the money calls the shots” or even more telling, “he who has the gold makes the rules. Calling the shots; Is Madoff the tip of a money laundering pyramid in Israel?
• · Memories of communism … Marian Gula East Champion of Truth; It would also be good if they stopped referring to tax havens as low tax jurisdictions. They’re not. They’re promoters of regulatory abuse behind a veil of secrecy - which is something quite different - and tax is just one of the areas in which they undermine democratic governments in fulfilling their mandates. West Champions of Truth; In a year that will shape the future of the global economy, we look at the names to watch in 2009 List of Names
• · · FIRST Gordon Brown, then Barack Obama, now a fictional character is having a pop at the Isle of Man! One of the most famous modern day fictional crime fighters has been tackling a case with links to the Island. Isle; Seven Pounds in the Fin Review. The first 45 minutes of this enigmatically titled film starring Will Smith (the man who seems ideally suited to play Barack Obama, when the time comes) is baffling and inscrutable. It's a kind of abstract expressionist mosaic that hovers between pretension and intrigue. Smith plays Ben Thomas, an Internal Revenue Service agent, and his behaviour seems, at first, mercurial, explicable only to himself. The role requires quite an acting range as Thomas encounters the seven people whose lives he is going to change. We know very little about him, what motivates him or anything that might give us an inkling of his background. He's existential but only just. What we come to know is that he's on a mission of self-redemption and has chosen seven worthy and deserving characters to assist him in a kind of Operation Wickenby in reverse, but without the need for seized laptops or exotic tax havens. Drama of Seven Pounds of Flesh: Story from the heart that keeps giving
• · · · Satyam Computer Services chairman Ramalinga Raju has resigned after saying he falsified earnings and assets, prompting a collapse in the stock of India's fourth-largest software-services provider. Qantas, which has exposure to Satyam Computer Services, said its business risk from an information technology contract with the company is "manageable". Satyam, which means "truth" in Sanskrit, slumped a record 78% in Mumbai trading. This is a black day for India ; Should we publish an annual list of the country's 10 highest tax-payers? Or make each citizen's tax return public? Neither is as crazy as it may sound, and both ideas have been adopted overseas. They should be part of a meaningful debate in Australia about tax. Stranger than F(i)action
• · · · · Ttips on better management of your social networking. LinkedIn etiquette: five dos and don'ts / Facebook etiquette: five dos and don'ts ; Most swimmers would know Terry 'Tex' Parsons. If you don't, all you need to know is that he is a pom, a loudmouth and can't swim. That combination led him to take on a bet after a few jars that could well be the end of him. On Sunday in January 2009 AD at 10.30am Tex attempted to swim the bay...and back. Many people joined Bergers on the pool deck for what was certainly a spectacle, a pathetic spectacle, but still worth a BBQ on the pool deck Not waving, socially drowning
• · · · · · Ten Stupid Things Managers Do To Screw Up Performance Appraisal ; On a recent memorable occasion, Gabbie, Mal and MD, were exposed to the performance of Shakespeare as it goes from strength to strength. The Complete Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged)) is a parody of the plays written by William Shakespeare with all of them being performed (in shortened form) during the show by only three actors 37 plays in 97 minutes Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't. The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool A dish fit for the gods