In a democracy, its your vote that counts. In feudalism, its your count that votes.
It took a lot to frighten the Stasi, East Germany's notorious secret police, but the moonwalking Michael Jackson and rock bank Pink Floyd managed to do it. Beat it: how Jacko's Berlin show panicked Stasi The Plastic People of the Universe was the name of perhaps the greatest obscure rock band of all time and their incredible story ranks as one of the truest examples of artistic perseverance and art imitating life in the entire history of Rock and Roll. Formed in 1968 following the Soviet invasion of their beloved Czechoslovakia, the Plastic People of the Universe suffered immeasurably for their simple desire to make their own music. His story of Rock and Roll
Best government money can buy? Fellowship of the ring of new mates
Labor is again coming under the sway of a ruling clique, but is this one up to the calibre of its renowned predecessors?
In politics, the mates must not rate
WAYNE Goss is entirely right to say standards have slipped in Queensland. Since the jailing of former minister Gordon Nuttall for soliciting bribes, revelations have oozed out of the state Labor machine about the way party players in the state make money from their ability to ensure businesspeople meet the ministers and mandarins they believe they need to know. But they have not slipped very far. Even after the changes that followed the Fitzgerald inquiry's revelations of the corruption that cursed the state in the Bjelke-Petersen years, the standards were never all that alpine. While four conservative ministers went to prison over corruption, Labor's recent record is not good. Mr Nuttall is serving a sentence and his former cabinet colleague Merri Rose was sentenced for trying to blackmail then premier Peter Beattie.
• Fellowship of the ring of new mates ; [FORMER state and federal Labor minister Laurie Brereton has been paid thousands of dollars for representing the world's biggest ports operator, which was awarded a $530million Queensland government contract Laurie Brereton was paid to help port corp ; Goss backs Fitzgerald's Qld corruption concerns
; Lobbyists lying about ability to sway decisions: Anna Bligh ]
• · TRINITY, the company at the centre of the Labor mates furore in Queensland, is facing a new crisis after the superannuation funds whose cash it invests demanded it be dumped as fund manager. New crisis for company at centre of Labor mates furore; Who's who of Labor in the lobby business
• · SEATED discreetly in the rear table at one of Brisbane's better known corporate canteens, Il Centro, at lunch yesterday were former state and federal minister Santo Santoro and Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale. Queensland lobbying firms make a name for their clients; THE owner of a floating male strip club has won the $15 million to $20 million tender for a big maritime development near the Sydney Fish Markets. Tripodi opens door for strip club boss
• · · John Finnin held a top-secret security clearance from the Federal Government until July 2006, at a time it was alleged he was involved in an international child sex ring. No charges were laid on this matter. Sex predator tipped off by officials; THE former chief executive of the failed fuel technology company Firepower, John Cornelius Alphonsus Finnin, has been found guilty of 23 child sex charges. A web of sex chat with under-age boys
• · · · Turn page on archaic book laws ; THE Australian Labor Party has gone back to the future, appointing the advertising agency that created Gough Whitlam's successful "It's Time" campaign in 1972 to handle its federal re-election bid ALP says it's time for It's Time again
• · · · · Many former stars in either the AFL or the NRL end up with football jobs for life. They go on to become coaches, club administrators, player agents and, above all, media commentators. The same is true in politics. Productive lives after politics; In the last chapter of Battlelines, there’s a reference to my previous appearance before the National Press Club. Tony Abbott - National Press Club
• · · · · · The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran. Bob Carr's 'Sydney is full' ; Rudd policies on people’s bank, free trade, health: It’s not Labor, it’s fascism