Monday, December 20, 2004



Merry Christmas? Remember last week, when that pregnant woman was strangled and had the fetus cut out of her? Here's something to take your breath away: A savage double murder in the psychiatric wing of a French hospital, in which a nurse's decapitated head was left on top of a television in the patients' day room, stunned France and left hospital staff terrified of returning to work ...

Invisible Hands & Markets: Elections and Economy Law

He admitted that the most he'd hoped for was not to lose any seats of his own. The triumph was not foreshadowed by the poll formerly favoured by the pros - Newspoll - and those other polls pointing to a strong Howard win were openly pooh-poohed by their sponsors. The moral is: no matter who you are or how close your ear is to the ground, it's simply not possible to know how an election will transpire. Like forecasting the economy, it's just supposed experts pretending to know more than they do


Debt, dumb politics and dumber politicians [The Topic Should Be China Robert Reich returns from Australia with a reality check: It's China, stupid ]
• · The buble is bolting The Real Estate Bubble Proof in Surreality; Sydney Asking Price: Quicksand ; [For old Soviet specialists, there is the surreal re-emergence of the Serbski institute of psychiatry and Dr Pechernikova. She was notorious for putting away anti-Soviet dissidents in the 1960s and 1970s for "schizophrenia"; in other words, being mad enough to question the regime.Nothing left but theft ; Undercover Expose ]
• · · If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss: He was once worth $80 million. Now John Elliott says he has just $293 in the bank (John will be back bigger and better ...)
• · · · The top 1,000 things to know
• · · · · Displaying a taste in sensible gifts, Santa Costello has unveiled plans to overhaul the do-it-yourself tax regime. Pendulum swing back towards ordinary taxpayers
• · · · · · Costello to ease up on taxpayer ; With Intercontinental Beer, It's All in the Rocks (and That Doesn't Mean Ice) The refreshing bitterness of an English pale ale, the clean light taste of a Pilsener, the dark, almost burnt graininess of Irish stout. To Dr. Alex Maltman, these are prime illustrations of the power of double dragon