Monday, August 25, 2014

NSW Government Plans To Give Business 2 Votes Each In City Of Sydney Council Elections

Evidence Grows That Online Social Networks Have Insidious Negative Effects MIT Technology Review. Note role of moderation at end.

NSW Government Plans To Give Business 2 Votes Each In City Of Sydney Council Elections Business Insider (Dr. Kevin). Whaaat! The problem is Sydney annexed Bligh, which includes “suburbs,” meaning residential neighborhoods, like East Sydney and Potts Point


Mr Obeid told the Daily Telegraph that the dispute was settled shortly after his lawyers wrote to the council “about certain inadequacies in their case". But the council said the settlement of the case "vindicates the City of Sydney’s defence of its intellectual property and ratepayers’ rights over the design and manufacture of its Smartpoles".
Documents filed in the court dispute revealed the family ran its businesses through a complex web of trusts. Through its reporting on the case,the Herald revealed the Obeid family's secret interest in lucrative harbourside cafe leases at Circular Quay, which triggered an Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry.
"As well as demonstrating that the City will not let the community’s assets be misused or stolen, the litigation’s disclosures about the ownership of the cafes and lease helped to uncover serious corruption and as such served another important public purpose." Longrunning legal battleObeid book pulped

“Kristina was so close to Eddie. Unequivocally, she wouldn’t have been premier if it wasn’t for Eddie. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t Eddie’s support for her, it was his hatred of Frank [Sartor],”  Dastyari is quoted as saying. 

Incognito Eddie caps it all

You just have to ask the likes of Nicole Kidman or Russell Crowe how difficult it is to get about this town incognito. But Eddie Obeid almost pulled it off on Monday ... almost. Wearing a baseball cap and dark sunglassesObeid and a mystery blonde woman were spotted inside the disgraced former NSW minister's favourite cafe, the Bakehouse, in Leichhardt, on Monday. Apparently he is a regular there, arriving on Monday in a shiny prestige Mercedes-Benz. Obeid is clearly a man who (still) likes to travel in style


It’s the nature of modern fame and infamy that you’re nobody until the internet starts sending you up. By that criteria, a disgraced former NSW government minister and ALP powerbroker has finally come of age, with a droll satirical Twitter account@HonEddieObeid, roaring to life as disturbing revelations of political corruption continue to emerge at the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Joshua Foa Dienstag (UCLA) on pessimism in True Detective.A piece on Machiavelli, Plato, and Socrates ng.
Feds: Red light camera firm paid for Chicago official’s car, condo ars technica 


Blame Employers, Not Workers, for Any Skill Gaps WSJ Real Time Economics. Someone notices the unreasonable expectation that companies need not train workers.
The Mitzvah Factory Southern Investigative Reporting Foundation. Impressive reporting.