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Life flows better with great coffee and if you cannot drink the black gold brewed by Richard Calabro of Grind Espresso of CroNulla then consider going to the bible belt of Belrose where Scottie Callaghan shows you the way to the secrets of Italian culture. So never drink a bad cup of coffee ever again! This three hour Italian coffee course will ensure that you learn the finer art of coffee making in a relaxed, yet expert environment. Whether your weakness is latte, cappuccino or espresso, you’ll learn how to make the perfect cup every time! Start your Saturday at Belrose as they do in Italy and join us for a leisurely Italian breakfast of coffee and pastries as you learn the art of Italian espresso! Next, it’s time to taste some coffee blends, where you’ll be taught to distinguish the differences between northern and southern Italian style blends. You’ll also be shown how to get a perfect result from the Italian moka pot as well as a plunger. Your coffee expert will then show you step-by-step, exactly how to use the Italian-invented espresso machine and how to correctly foam milk. After the overview from your expert coffee maker, it’s time to spend 30 - 45 minutes on the coffee machines (both commercial and domestic) to make your own perfect cappuccino, latte or whatever takes your fancy! By the end of the 3 hour coffee course, you’ll become a true Italian espresso expert with a renewed appreciation for the humble cup of coffee! Espresso Company Australia 3/2 Niangala Close BELROSE NSW 2085

When things are not going well, until you get the truth out on the table, no matter how ugly Seeing Double
There is something about storytelling that attracts 'How-To' lists. A while back I posted a list by movie producer Peter Guber, and now I want to share some insight from the master of story, David Mamet who gives some great advice on what makes a successful scene

People read for all sorts of reasons. Some novels are just rollicking good stories and others hold deeper lessons. A novel can be an enjoyable read and also expand the mind.Fiction gives us an understanding of the motivations of people that is unmatched by any other art form. And that, of course is the beauty of fiction: it exposes every situation imaginable. Fiction provides a window into the human heart and human mind.We all live one life, but readers can live thousands of lives. Novels can open the mind. Researchers have argued that people who read novels and who have to think about the connection between a character's thoughts and their actions are better at social interaction. Children who read novels are developing their imagination, and therefore their ability to "think outside the square" and solve problems. And works of fiction can contain more specific, powerful messages. Fiction can move us to tears or laughter or it can move us to great deeds. George Orwell's masterpieces, 1984 and Animal Farm, did more to expose the general populace to the dangers of totalitarian rule than all the pontificating of democratic politicians put together. These books became "must reads" for anyone interested in life under dictatorships. Novels can be powerful weapons in social struggles.

• Chris Bowen is the federal Assistant Treasurer and member for Prospect. Fiction nurtures the soul - a must even for pollies ; [Telling the perfect tale; David Cameron has been transformed into a flesh and blood representative of the people by the sad death of his son. The politics of empathy: David Cameron and Ivan’s death ]
• · In the age of the 'war on terror' censorship in Hollywood works by omission and 'introspective dross'. Hollywood's new censors;
• · Carved between sand, rock, and sea, Rio is simply the most beautiful city in the world and definitely one of my favorites. So Many A Second; Anyone who works with me knows that I often communicate in the form of handwritten notes on typed memos. That contrast of handwriting and typed text has a freshness and immediacy I don't get in email. The spirit of the pen
• · · Why is the artistic imagination treated as a thing of angry suspicion and distaste by some people and with awe by others? Manifesto for the imagination; The desire for FREE on the Internet is a huge challenge to anyone who produces digital entertainment. I think that emerging from the torrent of files that are being forwarded from computer to computer, is a word that will have a terrific impact on our future. Sharing …
• · · · LinkedIn etiquette: five dos and don'ts / Facebook etiquette: five dos and don'ts Two articles with tips on better management of your social networking; The proposed internet filtering system currently being tested is fast becoming a disaster for this government. Internet: don’t link, don’t leak
• · · · · The myth of Gen Y being lazy, pampered beasts unwilling to move out of home denies the fundamental economic reality Generation Y, the economy and the media; The problem of worsening violence in public places is an international phenomenon and there are no quick fixes The new nightlife: less like Paris, more like the Somme’

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New chapter in Cold River as it flows past Coast of Fires ...

Like Media Dragon, Kevin loves the dramas at work and the movies, although one only needs to go into a DVD store to see that for every great film out there, there are hundreds, maybe thousands, that aren't so good. He has some sympathy for a business that has to live off creative ideas, but his advice to the movie industry would be to get closer to the audience… Movie Magic For serial entrepreneurs, there are no failures, only learning experiences.It's the thrill of a good idea and managing opportunities that count - the wealth will take care of itself. Our greatest storytellers are also the ones with the greatest empathy In a deep stroke of good timing

Excited about ideas like Dr Cope or Patricia Azarias Most of all, they are willing to collaborate
The really good scholars are self-confident, and that confidence allows them to treat everyone else with respect and kindness. They are excited about ideas, and they are willing to share. Most of all, they are willing to collaborate — they are the ones organizing symposia, inviting guest speakers, cultivating graduate students, and just generally creating the kind of atmosphere where good work flourishes and everyone benefits.

It’s amazing to me how many times I’ve seen people — “established” scholars and younger students alike — give absolutely terrible papers, and then walk around snubbing everyone around them. Insecurity leads to intellectual isolation; people become greedy, self-centered, and unwilling to share. When they do present things, they are often incoherent because they don’t care a whit about sharing their thoughts with the community; indeed sometimes it seems like they try to intentionally make their arguments confusing in order to make themselves seem smarter. It backfires — they end up sounding pompous and priggish, but they don’t end up sparking fresh ideas or adding anything new to the discourse.

• Backfires; [Michael Lewis, of Moneyball fame, has now added one more story to MoneyLaw's repertoire of narratives highlighting the value of good teamwork … the single factor that makes a great team player is the mirror image of the single factor that turns even the most productive scholar into a toxic Arschloch: selfishness. Battier has almost none of that trait, and his teamwork makes him the greatest basketball player that no casual fan can name. Rocket man ; The only two things in life that are certain are Death and Taxes, so the popular lamentation goes. As all taxpaying Americans know, the government utilizes its powers under the Sixteenth Amendment to collect its citizens' money and utilize it, ideally, for public good ]
• · The transformation of the media world is well underway, facilitated by the spread of digital tools. A myriad of innovative new media organizations have sprung up to take advantage of the opportunities that stem from low-cost distribution networks Papers Explore News and Information as Digital Media Come of Age ; The New Media Index is a weekly report that captures the leading commentary of blogs and social media sites focused on news and compares those subjects to that of the mainstream press. The Project also tracks the most popular news video on YouTube each week. Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism Launches New Media Index
• · Adapting some of the technology pioneered by Google News, we're now showing categories on the left side of the website and organizing the blog posts within those categories into clusters, which are groupings of posts about the same story or event Official Google Blog ; Every blog has its day: Politically-interested Internet users' perceptions of blog credibility. Examininatin of U.S. politically-interested Internet users' perceptions of the credibility of blogs. The study found that blogs were judged as moderately credible, but as more credible than any mainstream media or online source. Both reliance and motivations predicted blog credibility after controlling for demographics and political variables. Reliance proved a consistently stronger predictor than blog motivations. Also, information-seeking motives predicted credibility better than entertainment ones. Politically-interested Internet Users' Perceptions of Blog Credibility
• · · Another New Obama Administration Website: Recovery.gov Goes Live Recovery.gov is a website that lets you, the taxpayer, figure out where the money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is going Recovery.gov ; What you should not do if you are a Vice Dean of Research earning a $269,280 salary with an $115,000 administrative stipend: steal a student's bike in full view of a security camera Candid Camera
• · · · Although, key people at HBOS did do wrong, I am also sure that their intentions were usually good and, in a sense, they were also caught up themselves in what the Greek tragedies would call the “ineluctability of fate”. To mix a few well known similes / metaphors / stories, the current financial crisis is a bit like the story of the Emperor’s new clothes. Anyone whose eyes were not blinded by money, power and pride (Hubris) who really looked carefully knew there was something wrong and that economic growth based almost solely on excessive consumer spending based on excessive consumer credit based on massively increasing property prices which were caused by the very same excessively easy credit could only ultimately lead to disaster. But sadly, no-one wanted or felt able to speak up for fear of stepping out of line with the rest of the lemmings who were busy organising themselves to run over the edge of the cliff behind the pied piper CEOs and executive teams that were being paid so much to play that tune and take them in that direction. I am still toxic waste now for having spoken out all those years ago! I would be amazed if there were not many executives who, if they really examined their consciences closely, would not say that they knew this too. HBOS whistleblower: statement of evidence; Secrecy in Britain about corporate tax and failure to enforce the law have allowed tax avoidance to flourish, the Guardian's tax gap investigation has found. The government has failed to enforce disclosure rules in the Companies Act under which details of all offshore subsidiaries, which can be used for tax avoidance, must be publicly registered. A climate of private and state secrecy
• · · · · Senators Carl Levin and Charles Grassley introduced on Jan. 29 the “Hedge Fund Transparency Act,” and voting against that would be akin to attacking Mom and apple pie. We have come to learn that hedge funds are hardly immune to the market’s travails, and the immunity the managers of these vehicles enjoyed is likely to end with greater regulatory control and disclosure of trading strategies. Mr. Madoff showed that the black-box investment strategy is a chimera. His scam worked for as long as it did because he kept his investment program away from outside scrutiny, using a little-known accounting firm and not using an independent custodian to hold the securities. If the proposed legislation sheds a bit more light on the hedge fund world, then it may be worthwhile. Greater regulation is no panacea, but breaking down the idea that great wealth and a rising economy somehow makes one a “sophisticated investor” would be a positive development. Public disclosure can have a great leveling effect by showing that investment managers are not necessarily all that sophisticated. And rather than making investments more complex, perhaps a return to an earlier time that valued protecting clients and managing their investments for the long term might be worth considering. The next time you read that a financial advisor or hedge fund manager is a “sophisticated investor,” make sure to take it with a grain of salt. ; It is nonsense to defend tax avoidance by arguing that rewards are reaped by tomorrow's pensioners …. There is nothing new about tax avoidance. Most Georgian houses have blind windows, bricked up to avoid window taxes. And almost a millennium ago, in what could be seen as a blatant but dramatic tax avoidance device, Lady Godiva rode naked through Coventry to shelter its citizens from the Heregeld.
When Lady Godiva rode through Coventry, people closed their windows and stayed indoors. But the time for turning a blind eye to avoidance has long gone: we now need greater tax transparency Backdoor fictions
• · · · · · At the last count, since rules requiring the disclosure of tax avoidance arrangements to HMRC were introduced in 2004 there had been around 14,000 such schemes. Or so we thought. Now it seems these might be far from the limit of the problem, as many "promoters" of schemes, such as accountants, lawyers and specialist "boutique" tax avoidance firms, are refusing to play the game. A parliamentary answer obtained by Austin Mitchell MP, who has also tabled an early-day motion urging action on tax avoidance, reveals that no fewer than 90 promoters are under investigation for failing to disclose schemes. Presumably they were either hoping they wouldn't be picked up or think they have found a loophole in the rules. Presumably they were either hoping they wouldn't be picked up or think they have found a loophole in the rules. ; Dozens of senior civil servants accepted lavish corporate hospitality including trips to Wimbledon and the Chelsea Flower Show and invitations to watch England, Chelsea and Manchester United play. Sir Brian Bender is a top Whitehall mandarin. So what was he doing at Wimbledon, the Derby and the Chelsea Flower Show?; Humor of rules TRIGUBOFF'S SPARE HOUSE IS PART OF HIS HOME, JUDGE RULES

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Insanity in individuals is something rare, but in teams, parties, nations and expochs, it is the rule.
-Friedrich Nietzsche

To be sure to be sure it is Friday and some partially pregnant souls fail to farewell Media Dragons as new venture and team calls ... As it is in Teams- It's the corporate stereotype - the ruthless alpha male

Obviously, there was always a bit of anxiety about whether all those premiers would ever agree to that $42 billion worth of free stuff. But they did - and did you ever see a happier little bunch of vegemites? Forgive our leaders - they're having a lovely, lovely crisis

If all the tools at our disposal, listening is the secret weapon that can create the most value. Whether you're playing for global stakes or selling hotdogs, the only way to work out what to do next is by listening. Who should you be listening to? You know who ... Media Dragons

Out of the blue Bohemians joins the dots to find purpose: Redundancy figures are just ‘tip of the iceberg’
Peter Hartcher reached a point a few years ago where he stopped reading anything on China that included this quote from Napoleon: "China is a sleeping dragon. Let him sleep. If he wakes, he will shake the world."

In the great gush of China boosterism of the past decade, this became one of the ritual incantations. It was always followed by the claim that China had awoken and was about to shake the world. Often, analysts would simply stick this quote together with the country's economic growth rate and, hey presto!, you had an irrefutable case for China's uninterrupted rise to global dominance.

• The research organisation GFK Australia has just revealed that the best-selling DVD of 2008 was not Underbelly Our love affair with China is cooling but far from over; [The research organisation GFK Australia has just revealed that the best-selling DVD of 2008 was not Underbelly Two heroes actually worth talking about; Previously it had been presumed that fish, then the highest forms of life on Earth Knowledge of ancient mating rituals within their clasp ]
• · The SMH - The Sydney Magazine - has a feature on Iceberg as this year it celebrates 80th anniversary. It talks about its 80 year old rule 15 B - The Bondi Icebergs swimming club was formed in 1929. The club played an important role in the growth of Bondi beach culture. To be a member, swimmers had to brave the chilly Bondi Baths at least three out of every four Sundays during the winter months, for a period of five years. The Icebergs became the source of long standing humour in Sydney and the local press often reported on their winter antics. As John Singleton said during the fight to save the Iceberg's club in the 1990s, the Icebergs are iconic and something that Australians hold close to their hearts-larrikins who still had the discipline to complete a minimum 75 swims during five years of swimming almost every winter Sunday Did you know that former school captain Andrew Kucharewicz can now out-drink Boris Yeltsin?; A unique representation of a fast disappearing Australian culture; one that doesn’t take itself too seriously, one where competition is important but where a fair-go, generosity and mateship are even more so. Ken Eastman, Matt Barry, Alan Gow and Chucky are captured by wilk – They used to say that you could either be happily married or be a member of the Iceberg …You just never know who you might bump into at Bondi Icebergs Club...
• · by Robert Higg For nearly a decade, we acted as though taking on more debt posed no problem. The Government's Cure for Alcoholism--Whiskey, More and More Whiskey; New Strategy in War on Terror? Don’t Hold Your Breath
• · · Masterpieces reflect their creator, including fiscal fantasies where even the wildest dreams can be funded. In politics, a $42 billion stimulus package is about as good as it gets. Faith of our fathers: $42 billion spend misses the mark; Kevin has posted before about how small steps to change the way we live and the things we buy can make amazing things happen.
Turn the Tide
• · · · A book of 14 essays on innovation in organisations; a mix of case studies and discussions, particularly on innovation networks. Inside the innovation matrix: finding the hidden human dimensions ; Rural internet can mean shifting data on a USB stick driven off in a cloud of motorcycle dust, or bumping along in an ox cart. Rural internet - offline but still connected
• · · · · Sydney's reign as the nation's criminal underbelly comes to grim life in a new series. FOR CRIMINALS and corrupt police, the 1970s were the best of times. Corrupt cops, it's addictive TV crims and a heroin kingpin; The veteran crime reporter Andrew Rule recalls the day that, as a cadet journalist, he found himself caught in a deadly crime drama Men of the gun who inspired Underbelly
• · · · · · The Code sets out the standards of personal integrity, professionalism and behaviour that are expected of ministerial staff... Code of Conduct for Ministerial Staff - Circular 2008/7, ; You have to hand it to The Guardian newspaper as it is publishing a series of article about corporate tax avoidance using tax havens. The article below is an introduction. As it is in Haven

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By the time a man is wise enough to watch his step, he's too old to go anywhere.
-Billy Crystal

While some claim the first recorded association of Valentine's Day with romantic love is in Parlement of Foules (1382) by Geoffrey Chaucer this may be the result of misinterpretation. Chaucer wrote:
For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.
This poem was written to honor the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia. A treaty providing for a marriage was signed on May 2, 1381. (When they were married eight months later, he was 13, and she was 14)

Malchken, In my heart, you beat loudest …. Be my Rock 'n Roll Valentine
Chocolate and Valentine's Day as well as Shakespeare just seem to go together

To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes,
And dupp'd the chamber-door;
Let in the maid, that out a maid
Never departed more.
(William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5)

• A stylish subterranean nightspot in the wheeling and dealing professional heart of Sydney Crystal of Bohemian underground; [ Valentine Film Ideas for Your Bohemian Girl; Somebody to Love and Bohemian Rhapsody ; What is Love Love ]
• · The annual day of love falls on a weekend this year giving couples a whole day and night to celebrate their relationship. Love longer this Valentine's ; Ernest Hemingway wrote the first one: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." Tales of love, six words only ; Valentine's Day, the day of love letters

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Experts worry that Australia, which emits more carbon dioxide per head than any nation on earth, may also be the first to implode under the impact of climate change. Parched: Australia faces collapse as climate change kicks in

Be Different: STAND OUT In Campaign Wars, Apple Still Has Microsoft’s Number
Winning the Dream On the Mac’s silver anniversary, we look at where it’s been—and where it’s headed next…

TWENTY-FIVE years ago, Apple hurled a legendary marketing sledgehammer at I.B.M. personal computers that ran Microsoft software. During the 1984 Super Bowl, Apple ran a television ad that depicted those machines as instruments of Big Brotherish conformity. The ad was shown just once, but people still talk about it.

• Apple ads Strike; [Working on a Dream. Nothing memorable can be written without the writer taking some kind of risk – Media Dragon type risks between the lines and coded We call these people the CRAZY ONES; What makes some objects Apples and others not? The Macintosh computer just turned 25. I bought one of the original 128K Macs not long after they came out. I remember being reluctation to shell out $50 for a box of 10 400k floppy disks (these were the the 3.5″ type that weren’t actually floppy, and became standard on IBM PCs quite a few years later). I thought I was unlikely ever to need 4 megabytes of storage, so I got the store to sell me what was left in a box they’d already opened. And I was pretty dubious that anyone could really use the 512K of RAM offered in w the top-of-the-line “Fat Mac” which came out soon afterwards. It didn’t take me long to discover my error and upgrade. Great Mac: Credit where credit's due ]
• · Could the story of Jesus Christ and Julius Caesar be part of yet another infinite spectrum of reoccuring themes the illuminati are feeding us?
- Both Caesar and Jesus start their rising careers in neighboring states in the north: Gallia and Galilee.
- Both have to cross a fateful river: the Rubicon and the Jordan. Once across the rivers, they both come across a patron/rival: Pompeius and John the Baptist, and their first followers: Antonius and Curio on the one hand and Peter and Andrew on the other. Both are continually on the move, finally arriving at the capital, Rome and Jerusalem, Sydney; Justice Michael Kirby: unimpeachable in office, a public intellectual with influence and a private citizen who is an adornment to the great egalitarian ethos of Australia. Farewell to an Honourable Jurist
• · The human race is in a mess because we make wild guesses and claim them to be true: we eat fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The price of judgment; There's always been a tension between love and hate. A tension that romantic drama, for example, thrives on. It worked in Pride and Prejudice, and works still. Science is now discovering that the distance between love and hate may not be as big as we have always imagined Love and Hate
• · · Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO), seminar papers, 4 December 2008. This seminar, held in the Parliamentary Theatre, Parliament House, introduced web managers and IT professionals from local, state and federal government agencies to new web technologies and highlighted some of the interesting uses of Web 2.0 being employed by government. Web 2-0 in government ; These trials will inform future policy development in the area of online consultation and improve the processes for e-democracy in Australia.' Senator Conroy will today launch the first trial consultation, a blog canvassing the future of Australia's digital economy. the potential of digital innovation.exploring Web 2.0 technologies Rudd Government trial for e-democracy future; Online consultation
• · · · The purpose of this circular is [to] provide a set of interim protocols to agencies that are using or planning to use online media, including blogs, as a means of communication with clients and stakeholders. These protocols focus on the application of the APS Values and the APS Code of Conduct in online communication Interim protocols for online media participation - circular ; Analysts say big changes are coming to the CRM (customer relationship management) application market this year, with significant financial, strategic and technical implications for customers. In terms of CRM product functionality, look for last year's trend toward "social CRM" -- marked by collaboration tools like wikis and blogs within the CRM experience -- to morph into "cloud CRM," wherein CRM applications connect to external social-networking sites like Facebook or LinkedIn, as well as other Web sources.[or] introducing a product for content management.
Social networking ROI pricing among '09 CRM trends
• · · · · Entering what looks to be a trying 2009, IT resources will be limited and business pressures higher. But that doesn't mean withdrawal or going into reactive mode. In tough times, being clear on IT and technical priorities is even more important, as everything that is done is more critical. The top tech resolutions for 2009,; From iPod and BlackBerry to Twitter and Wikipedia, take a look at the processes and people who came up with the names for these iconic tech products. How 10 famous technology products got their dragon like names
• · · · · · Taking a page from the updated whitehouse.gov web site, the federal government has gone Web 2.0 with is own site. The General Service Administration (GSA) announced that it has delivered on a promise to use Web 2.0 technology to provide electronic access to government information. The USA.gov web site now is offering a government-wide news feed service RSS and a gallery of gadget applications Federal government has gone Web 2.0 with is own site ; US Feds' web site gets Web 2-0 make over ; Australian National Audit Office objective was to assess how well agencies manage their websites. Particular attention was given to the audited agencies' website purposes, risk management and planning, policies, content management procedures, and performance monitoring and reporting (PDF) Government agencies' management of their websites

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You cannot outrun a wildfire in Australia The bushfires in the Australian state of Victoria are the most deadly bushfires in Australian history. Stories of courage and horror are continuing to emerge ... It was the speed that caught us off guard. And the noise. Like a roaring, out-of-control freight train. It will be remembered as one of the darkest days in Australia's peacetime history

Australia Bushfires May Have Killed More Than 200 Bushfire continues to ravage S Australia : tales of heartache and survival

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Despite much attention to U.S. government policies since the early 1930s, key questions remain unresolved. Cold War … wise people store up knowledge even though words are chopped in half abondened at the end of lines left swivelling like cut worms eaten by Ukranian during the great famine Are We All Socialists Now? Not at All"


Can we change the heart of economics? Stimulus and Response: Watching Our Rulers Destroy Our World
The extra-constitutional (and thus unconstitutional) "bailout" and "stimulus" programs of the Bush and Obama administrations during the present economic crisis bring to mind Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whose failed interventions turned a recession into the Great Depression, according to Robert Higgs, Senior Fellow in Political Economy at the Independent Institute. Yet, further back in U.S history, one can find a vastly superior approach to dealing with economic fluctuations - one that brought the country phenomenal economic growth during the first century and a half of its existence.

As recently as the major recession of 1920-21, the government took a hands-off position, and the downturn, though sharp, quickly reversed itself into full recovery, Higgs writes in an op-ed for the Christian Science Monitor.In another recent article, Higgs argues that although the policies of our leaders in Washington, D.C., are ill designed to restore health to an ailing economy, they are well suited to making the leaders appear to be doing something. They are pouring credit madness on credit madness because they have no real understanding of how the economic world actually works, and, even if they understand, they are politically beholden to the owners and managers of failing economic behemoths who profited handsomely from the artificial prosperity of the boom and are now staring into the abyss.

• Many questions are being raised about the stimulus package's contents and efficacy. Hardly anyone, however, is asking the most importation question: Should the federal government be doing any of this? Instead of stimulus, do nothing – seriously; [As we wait to see how the politicians in Washington will alter the stimulus package the Obama administration is pushing, many questions are being raised about the measure's contents and efficacy. History shows that the economy can recover strongly on its own, if politicians stay out of the way; Neither Liberty nor Safety: Fear, Ideology, and the Growth of Government We have nothing to fear but hype itself]
• · The “stimulus package” is to sensible economic policy as—
military justice is to justice, John Maynard Keynes is to F. A. Hayek “I Love Lucy” is to “Much Ado about Nothing” Pat Robertson is to Mother Teresa a shipload of gravel is to the Rock of Gibraltar Reader’s Digest is to Tolstoy’s War and Peace
rap music is to classical music Tolstoy’s War and Peace ; The use of gross exaggeration - labelling every car crash a tragedy, every flood, a natural disaster, every stock market fall a depression - is mad. Every month 5 billion people loose a job yes 5 billion …
• · The media plays a crucial role in disseminating information regarding issues of public importance to the rest of society. The current global financial crisis and the bank failures that have contributed to it are issues of immense public interest and significant complexity. It is therefore the responsibility of the press to explain what has happened and what measures are being taken by government and financial institutions to address the current state of affairs so that members of the public may evaluate the actions taken by key decision makers and make informed decisions regarding their own circumstances. Banking Crises ; Zimbabweans identify with those words – for Martin Luther King’s dream is our dream. What however will make the actions of President Obama so effective is that they cannot be dismissed as racist. So we can take heart that Robert Mugabe’s regime has been served a powerful warning today that whilst there is a window of opportunity open it must be grasped quickly and in good faith. Hope is indeed on the way You make peace by talking to your enemies Senator David Coltart: Hope is on the way
• · · Neil Waters writes about confidence, candour, consistency and cheerfulness are useful leadership qualities in today's uncertain economic times Four qualities leaders need now, ; What Moses, Attila the Hun and 280,000 books can't tell you about the art of management You wouldn't read about it, Bob
• · · · Winning the Dream ;
• · · · · Common sense, not to mention the evidence, tells us that a larger population cannot possibly be in the interests of Australia. How the growth lobby threatens Australia's future; As Groucho Marx said to some unfortunate, "I never forget a face, but in your case, I'll make an exception". In policy, as in life, it matters when and how you make exceptions … It's Bruce Hawker No.1 and a distant second to anyone else. If you want an opportunity to present your case [to the State Government] you do it through Hawker Britton Tsunami of Lobbyists ; The march of the Chinese into Australia's resource space has intensified
• · · · · · There's nothing like a gathering of the corporate great and good to put the sparkle into the top end of town and the American Australian Association benefit dinner honouring Frank Lowy, the Westfield founder and executive chairman, was a well-needed tonic for the uncharacteristically humbled gathering. Being Frank: we have thousands of TV channels and shops but nothing is on ; China’s political tunnel China's deepening economic crisis is provoking social discontent that will place the Beijing leadership in an impossible political predicament, says the renowned democracy campaigner Wei Jingsheng. A cold wind in Beijing