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Gitka, the Slavic Vatican chef, Andrej and more than 120,000 people packed a field outside the Czech city of Brno on Sunday for an open air mass by Pope Benedict XVI who is on a high profile visit on the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism. Pope Benedict has wrapped up a three-day visit to the Czech Republic where he used an outdoor mass to urge young people to remain faithful to world needs God-fearing people prepared to Czech patron saint, St Wenceslas; Pope Benedict

Change the World? Why Not Courage and Heart of Dreams
KEVIN relied on a number of mentors in my life. To bring things full circle, here’s a guest post from Cameron Gallagher, a young man I’ve started mentoring, on challenge, courage and dreams...

To say you will have the boundaries of what is courageous for you pushed will be an understatement. Sometimes you won't find the courage, and that too, will hurt. Sometimes, a lot.

But with each challenge, you will grow stronger. And you will learn, as I am learning, that the reward of living life in a world where everything remains forever possible is a reward far greater than any material prize could ever be.

So now I must live up to the seed I have sown, and the very idea of trying to do that terrifies me. The 99 percent is already telling me I'll fail and stuff it all up. However, in reality, that just means I have another opportunity to prove those voices wrong.
So, my question to you is this;
Are you ready to Change the World?
Because you are only one choice away.

• If Obama's well-chosen inspirational language improves the climate of negotiation in long-standing disputes, this is an achievement in itself. Mentoring; [Let us remember that rivers and water underpins everything. There has been increasing debate about censorship in its many guises in recent times; everything from what constitutes pornography to what people should be allowed to wear. There are deep fundamental issues here that do deserve to be talked about and acknowledged. These issues ultimately boil down to questions of freedom of expression and openness to ideas; any ideas. These twin concepts are a cornerstone of vibrant democracy, which is why being precise about the meanings of the words used in the discussion is important. Classifying censorship: the shadow without end; Serena Williams, Kanye West and Joe Wilson all recently made seemingly unscripted outbursts: their apologies won't erase their incivility.A lot of sorry, buts ...; The Richest People In America. Forbes magazine. 1 October 2009. America's super rich are getting poorer. For only the fifth time since 1982, the collective net worth of The Forbes 400, the annual tally of the nation's richest people, has declined, falling $300 billion in the past 12 months from $1.57 trillion to $1.27 trillion. My Amerikan Families Again - Richest People In America]
• · A message of hope led Lucienne Simon to pursue an exhibit depicting the Great Depression; Hope and optimism are not the same. 'Hope is humble, trustful, vulnerable. Optimism is arrogant, brash, complacent. Hope has known the pang of suffering and the chill of despair. A spiritual moment - a vibe you can't articulate
• · · A mega-wealthy ex-pat Kiwi has been unwittingly caught up in an alleged $500-million-plus fraud with claims top Russian government ministers were involved Any suggestion that Renaissance was involved in a 2006 tax fraud is wholly false ; Tax Evaders Face Choice: Pay or Pray
• · · · Richard Murphy is a founder of the Tax Justice Network and director of Tax Research LLP. An expert on tax policy, he writes a daily blog which provides regular news on his activities and opinions at So refreshing to see someone telling the truth A leading adviser on research and development tax credits has leapt to the defence of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), claiming its officers are right to crack down on those trying to exploit the system. Peter Denison-Pender, managing director of Alma Consulting, refuted claims made by accountancy Grant Thornton earlier this month that tax inspectors were being unfairly tough with companies seeking R&D tax credits. HMRC is not the bad guy here. All they are doing is clamping down on production masquerading as research. Good for him. Bad for GT. And how good to see someone saying that cheating and then blaming HMRC is unacceptable Perhaps there are ethics out there, after all, in amongst the self promotion; Oscar Wilde would have regarded our modern Corporations Law not only as uneatable, but also indigestible and incomprehensible ...
There is no dispute; it is unlovely and unloved. Complex, ungainly, internally inconsistent, conceptually troubled; the Corporations Act 2001(CA 2001) is a mishmash of old law, ad hoc amendments, provisions pulled willy-nilly from different legal systems, statements which are not law at all, ideological posturing, and
drafting styles that swing wildly from the colloquial to the technical. Despite massive efforts at law reform in the last fifteen years, and continuous tweaking, the CA 2001 remains, as Sir Anthony Mason found it, indigestible and incomprehensible All in it together Unlovely and Unloved: Corporate Law Reform's Progeny
• · · · · QUEENSLAND'S politicians have been warned to explain how they spend their massive secret allowances or risk facing a British-style MP expenses scandal MPs' allowances should be revealed: Information Commissioner; ; You’re going to purge tax havens, Prime Minister? But Britain is the biggest tax haven of them all ; Parliamentary expenses

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A New Zealand taxman smashed his car through the building where he worked for 25 years because he was fed up with "incompetent management and workplace bullying".
David Jerrold Theobald, 47, drove through two sets of glass doors and smashed a third at the Christchurch Inland Revenue building before coming to a stop. Taxman ; Different The round pegs in the square holes,

It began in the biggest bestseller of all, The Bible. Adam and Eve set up life in a tax-free earthly heaven called Eden The idyll memoir
It began in the biggest bestseller of all, The Bible. Adam and Eve set up life in a tax-free earthly heaven called Eden.

Two decades have passed since the publication of Peter Mayle’s international bestseller A Year in Provence . Translated into 22 languages, the book was adapted for the radio and, in 1993, turned into a BBC1 series with John Thaw and Lindsay Duncan. Its effect was to establish memoirs of life in sunny idylls as an important literary genre. But how have such books fared since?

You never know who might learn from your story: Anne Frank's famous diary is one of history's greatest stories, and memoirs from icons such as Marilyn
But often our most significant moments are fleeting. So we rely on memories -- and the tradition of storytelling -- to keep them alive.
Life is full of unique experiences and memorable events
My Dog Ate My Nobel Prize: The Fabricated Memoirs of Jeff Martin




This book has almost no political content whatsoever Lance Allred
Emissary between the land of rice and beans and the land of cholent and kugel ; Reading this life is like gorging on a chocolate sundae
Here’s an unintended consequence of the proliferation of memoirs from “ordinary” people: We now run into characters from our favorite books in our own everyday lives. Last week, for instance, we had dinner at Delancey, a new Seattle restaurant with wood-fired pizzas, salads fresh from the farmers markets, and raspberry popsicles so bright and pretty my toddler cried when his was gone. The man behind the lovely little place is Brandon Pettit. We know and like him, in the same two-degrees-of-separation way we know a lot of Seattle’s food community. But we know him on a far different level - how he met his wife, the details of their first kiss, that he snores when he has a cold – through the eyes of wife Molly Wizenberg, chronicled in her bestselling memoir, “A Homemade Life.”
Real-life encounters with the stars of memoirs
So when is it best to write a memoir and when is it better to just write a novel “based on a true story?”
.

• With Grit, Nothing Is Impossible Humour those accounts of roof-fixing [I have always despised bullies and - wait a minute - these people are public servants, not public masters They shouldn't strike terror into people's hearts, but they do.'; Nations are not monuments. They are not made of stone. They are works-in-progress made — and remade — each and every generation out of the hard work and hope of our men and women Save the World, Pee in the Shower! ]
• · Series of terse vignettes that recount the highlights of the rather extraordinary (Wentworth) It was clear within the first couple of dozen pages which ones had a story to tell, which had momentum and a compelling voice Impatient CEOs are all of a Twitter, but it doesn't work like that; Caroline Shahbaz, a self-styled ''white witch''
• · · CONFESSIONS OF ANOTHER BLEEDING HEART: Brumby’s speechwriter departs with a few bon mots for the comrades. It should come as no surprise that when a speech-writer quits that he would have a little bit to say. We really enjoyed long-time Labor staffer and current speechwriter to Victorian Premier Brumby Joel Deane’s parting email which he sent out to his brothers and sisters in arms in the Premier’s office and beyond today …Governments—unlike the timeless eternity of the public service—have limited life spans and need to behave accordingly: agitating for progress, focusing on defining issues and moments, and realising that, although politics may be, as Bismarck said, the art of the possible, that does not mean, as Havel pointed out, that we should stop striving for the impossible We all want our names in stone ; Transparency International – Czech Republic
• · · · The person most likely to rip off a business is a manager Who's the fraud suspect? Try the boss ; Ex-UBS AG banker Bradley Birkenfeld, who assisted U.S. investigators probing about $20 billion in taxpayer assets hidden overseas, was sentenced to more than three years in prison for conspiring to help wealthy Americans evade taxes. Taxes Italy begins to tighten tax screw= The wheels of the Italian tax system grind slowly. Sometimes they do not grind at all, if the country's reputation for tax evasion is any measure. But when the wheels do turn, they can grind exceedingly fine, as Sophia Loren discovered ; The Italian tax authority has opened an inquiry into allegations that members of the Agnelli family Best of the Web: Italian tax authority drives Fiat family probeSix beers of separation

• · · · · Ms Jennie Granger has recently commenced in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet as Deputy Secretary, Office of the Co-ordinator General, on secondment from her role as Second Commissioner of Taxation. Ms Granger has extensive experience in implementation and service delivery from her distinguished career in the Australian Taxation Office, which will be invaluable in her role of oversight of implementation by the States and Territories of the Government’s nation building package Ms Jennie Granger ; I am not a politician, and there is a limit to how much of the political game I am willing or able to play. Hopefully, if the citizens of Connecticut are not ready to abandon capitalism and can embrace a candidate who represents a real change, then I think I have a chance.Assistant Treasurer Nick Sherry is pushing for the Australian Taxation Office to take over all taxes, fees and charges imposed by every level of government to improve the efficiencyof Australia's $350 billion tax system as a
key reform of the Henry review.; It has often been said that tax evasion is a national sport in Italy, but now financial inspectors have announced a purge that has millionaires quaking on their yachts and in their seaside villas
• · · · · · 'Investigative journalism at it's best' is the tagline for the ABC's Four Corners. If the reaction on Twitter is anything to go by this weeks edition 'Fear in the Fast Lane' fell spectacularly short in it's expose of internet related crime Four Corners reveals first-hand how wireless connections are an invitation to thieves ; Fast Lane - We Warrior
CODA FOR the first time in its history, advertising on pay-TV failed to show significant growth in the first six months of the year
History

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This would have been considered parliamentary coincidence especially in the NSW Parliament ... it is my Godson's birthday today Happy Birthday Alex - Olek ... and the newspapers are filled with godfathers of a different kind!

Producers of real crime television hit Underbelly have approached the NSW Parliament for permission to shoot scenes for the new series within the Legislative Chamber. The Daily Telegraph has learned that representatives of the show approached the parliament last Friday, the day that Michael McGurk was murdered. The new show will cover the period of the Wood Royal Commission into corruption in the NSW Police force Underbelly producers ask to film new series in State Parliament ; THEIR timing is impeccable

Best government money can buy Point of Order: When someone like John Hatton shares with you something of value, you have an obligation to share it with others
The plot is worthy of a master storyteller like Frederick Forsyth.

On a September night, a businessman is gunned down at point-blank range outside his luxury mansion as he gets out of his black Mercedes carrying a bag of groceries. The stench of corruption and talk of explosive secret tapes in the wake last week s murder of standover man Michael McGurk, has brought back bad memories for many people, especially those who have worked for the bear pit, sandpit, of NSW Parliament during the roaring 80s and 90s.
The parliamentary inquiry into the murder of lender of last resort' Michael McGurk holds dangers for Kevin Rudd because it could spread its tentacles to the federal arena. Labor Party figures are being smeared every day and the stain is steadily spreading, forcing NSW Premier Nathan Rees to decide three days ago to hold an inquiry, despite previously saying such a move would be absurd'.

• The parliamentary inquiry into the murder of lender of last resort; Michael McGurk [Mr McGurk had many involvements in the property development industry, and for several years was closely associated with Bob Ell, the man behind Leda Holdings, which had a proposal before Shoalhaven City Council to extend the Stockland Nowra shopping centre. Shoalhaven City Council ; 'The man in black' or Johnny Cash, as friends call him was wearing his customary designer black threads as he chatted business at -J the Chop House in Bligh Street Sydney and Wild Men of it]
• · John Hatton stretched the limits of the role of an Independent Member of the New South Wales (NSW) Legislative Assembly further than any politician preceding
him. John Hatton; John Hatton, Independent South Coast MP, raised matters of police corruption in the NSW Parliament for many years, leading to the Royal Commission.; Stateline
• · THE captain of the Socceroos, Lucas Neill, and the former NSW planning minister Craig Knowles, have been caught up in the aftermath of the murder of Sydney bagman Michael McGurk. Michael Rushford flew to New Zealand via Fiji and returned with a new passport and a new identity - Michael Loch McGurk A murky past with many identities - Michael Loch McGurk was a man with a lot of enemies ; The life of Michael McGurk made him an ideal victim for an Agatha Christie mystery. Except it was all too real. Kate McClymont and Vanda Carson look below the surface. He'll go to his grave with a lot of secrets AMONG Michael McGurk's more unusual business interests was a shareholding in Doughboy, a pizza company run by former premier Neville Wran and Mr Wran's long-term business partner Albert Wong. Gold How a quiet bush block turned into a goldmine ; Wran connection ; Sea of links ;
• · · THE developer Ron Medich stands to gain millions from a western Sydney site he bought 13 years ago for a pittance from the CSIRO, confidential documents obtained by the Herald show. Mystery Widens ; Google Hunt for clues;
• · · · As John Della Bosca faced the press gallery at Macquarie Street yesterday, the story threatened to become as much about what was said as what was not ... THE woman whose affair with John Della Bosca led to his resignation yesterday has been named as comedy writer Kate Neill ; Ms Neill was named by Channel Seven and Channel Nine as the woman at the centre of the controversy. They showed footage of Ms Neill appearing on a television show, apparently under the pseudonym 'Harmony'. Invoke Fatal Attraction's Glenn Close character for a creepy version of payback for their ugly parting. Feminist Eva Cox said it was understandable the woman had wanted to protect her privacy Why would she want make her identity known?" Professor Cox said. "The Labor Party would herd her out of NSW ; Fatal Attraction's Glenn Close character
• · · · · Barry O'Farrell looks destined for glory but he's playing his cards cautiously. David Marr caught up with the Liberal leader. O'Farrell resides within his electorate at Roseville with his wife Rosemary O'Farrell and their two young children. His wife Rosemary is the daughter of former National Party member Bruce Cowan. He lives around the corner and down the hill from the picture theatre he rarely visits. Young Will, 10, goes to the local public school. Tom, 15, is up the line at Barker. O'Farrell is full of careful praise for the high schools of Ku-ring-gai but the boys are going to Barker to absorb Christian values. Out of the ordinary; In 2000 Russell Cope, former New South Wales Parliamentary Librarian, sounded alarm bells when discussing the significance of early book collections in Australian parliamentary libraries. Many of his observations apply equally well to the types of book collections I have already mentioned. He writes:

Many countries would today consider such collections from the nineteenth century and even earlier as valuable national resources with a claim to cultural and heritage importance in a country not notably wealthy in library collections. In Australia this might very well be the case if these collections were better understood by researchers and even by librarians. It does not seem overstating the situation to say that the collections of the parliamentary libraries acquired in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century represent their major contribution to social, cultural and intellectual resources of the nation Their significance transcends the limited parliamentary context: they are truly national assets in their own right. ;
• · · · · · There is the ghostly man who walks through the floor, a silent horse drawn carriage out the front and down the road a baby cries at night. Anyone who claims there is no spirit left in the New South Wales Parliament should try spending a night there alone, The Daily Telegraph reports Be afraid ... perhaps the ghost of Mark Latham isn't the only political ghoul out there; Librarian Mark D'Arney killed himself after blowing the whistle on the discount sale of 3000 historic books from the State Parliament's library Death of a whistleblower; Sad Memories

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To be or We can be to not to be Mr PWC and I Clark took to heart the latest tourism slogan ... we Lost Ourselves in Melbourne.

A report around the time we invade Melborne that suggested the closure of Melbourne's Manchester Lane -- first reported in this column last week -- was "another blow to Melbourne's dwindling live music scene". Dwindling? Ahhh . . . no. Evidence to the contrary, your honour, will be presented on Saturday at Roxanne Parlour.

Hat tip to bloggers of the Victorian capital for the following links

Happiness is gaining ground. In fact, it’s moving from East to West. Bhutan made famous its focus on Gross National Happiness, not on GDP, and now France wants to include happiness as a key metric for the country.

For change to take real effect, it needs to be personalized Doing One Thing

The paradox of doing 'family' in an e-world means more communication but less togetherness.

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Mal and Media Dragon invaded the old Stables in Sydney. However Paul Niemand is that most familiar of figures in today's world: the middle-aged middle manager in crisis. Too old to change, too scared to quit and subject to endless self-appraisal sessions by hyped-up junior executives, he retreats into the permafrost of his past: a lonely childhood; memories of his father, a dangerously incompetent air-traffic controller; a cat freezing to death in a canal.

He protests passive-aggressively, deliberately running late for business flights. Hearing his name being called over an airport PA gives him a sense of being present in a world that has no need of him. In uneasy dreams his car parks itself. In nightmares he stalks ''losers'' through a shopping mall with a gun.

The German playwright Falk Richter presents us with an image of contemporary society leached of human feeling and relentlessly focused on consumption. It's a bleak assessment of the world we live in, but Richter is a satirist as much as he is a Cassandra. Under Ice is shot through with absurd humour and playful send-ups of human resources double-speak. (''Energise others with blue sky thinking'', ''Have a concept, make the client the hero of your narrative'') In the boardroom-centred world of Under Ice there is no love, only productivity

Under Cold River is also shot through with absurd humour and strange ism-send-ups of communist resources double-speak Under Cold River

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Global teams are like oceans: depending on how they are navigated, they can link the world together or split it apart. When global (or any national or remote) teams work, they tap into a company's top talent, exploit local expertise, unite far-flung groups and ramp up worldwide production. When they don't, they are divisive, spark massive miscommunication and drive projects into the ground ...
A Butterfly Flapping Its Wings, or How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference: For many global citizens the only way to spend the weekend is cold, wet and practically naked.
"We are the Bondi Icebergs,
the toughest men they breed.
Happy and contented,
cold water's all we need.
We're not soaks or crooners,
we just sing as we drink our beer.
So bring out all your schooners 'cause the 'Bergs are here."
- The Icebergs Anthem, written by Joe Wallace, 1940
The impact of the Internet on democracy is still in its infancy, and while we have seen some remarkable developments, some more difficult challenges have also come into view Cooking The Internet and democracy ;
Digital Streams Books will survive, but not on paper
When I read recently that sales of the new Kindle e-reader in the US have not been as huge as anticipated, I must confess that my first feeling was one of relief. In the course of the past week I have acquired a new phone that does everything but feed the cat and an equally complicated camera. Both have necessitated lengthy tutorials from my son and I'm going through a fit of technology overload.

When US digital guru Bob Stein and I sat down at the Melbourne Writers Festival last month to discuss the future of the book, we were searching for common ground. Bob is one of those guys who calls books user-driven media. I'm one of those women of a certain age who belongs to a book club and can't get on a plane without at least one novel in my hand luggage.

• sanctity of an author's work ; [It was once believed a national ID card would be a threat to privacy. Nowadays we need one to protect us from big government Protection from Big Brother; Biologically speaking, humans are a remarkable, and quirky, species. The New Scientist magazine has published a list of the odd things we do everyday that don’t make a lot of sense. With all the scientific advancement, you’d think we know why we do the funny things we do ... But why do we create art, or dream, or pick our noses? The Funny Things Humans Do ]
• · Or does it sometimes take moral courage to stand up against authority? How important a quality is a strong ethical framework in a good leader? From Janusz Korczak to Bernard Madoff, what makes a person act ethically or unethically as the case may be? Laws may be introduced which actually exacerbate (if they don't actually create!) the very problems they were supposedly set up to solve... Is what is legal always ethical? ; One of the primary tasks assigned to the Government 2.0 Taskforce is to find ways for Government to use Web 2.0 tools to consult and collaborate with the public.However, while Web 2.0 has lowered technical barriers to communication, there are still a series of just as significant social barriers that remain.Government needs to learn new skills to be able to effectively listen to the public via Web 2.0. In particular, it needs to learn that the key to listening in the Web 2.0 world is to focus to the community Government 2.0 - it's the community, stupid
• · The high number of users on social-networking sites means malware can be distributed on a mass scale. Web sites such as Twitter are becoming increasingly favoured by hackers as places to plant malicious software in order to infect computers, according to a new study covering Web application security vulnerabilities. The study is part of the recently released latest Web Hacking Incidents Database (WHID) report. Hackers put social networks ; such as Twitter in crosshairs
• · · ; Themed issue of Canada's public service e-magazine includes profiles of a wide cross section of Canadian public servants working in innovative ways.
People behind public service innovations
• · · · According to a report by Reuters (Zurich) bankers and industry experts say the US tax probe against Swiss bank UBS has killed traditional offshore banking, and wealth managers will have to improve their offers to survive ; Do we trust too much? As individuals and working in organisations, trust has to be developed and tempered. Learning to read the cues and clues better while developing receptive behaviours will improve the environment for all. Rethinking trust and brand
• · · · · The number of Internet users is forecast to grow 45% globally over the next four years, reaching 2.2 billion by 2013. More people online, more data to hack -- it's a cybercriminal's paradise. Many people don't yet fully understand the enormity of the threat - to individuals, their families and the companies that they work for. Information security: why cyberciminals are smiling ; The dangers of posting sensitive personal information on social networking sites are well known, but a researcher has now revealed how data mining these sites can dig up undisclosed personal - or corporate – information Mining social networks for clues ; Government policies change with the times, but the importance of government being accountable for its performance and the use of public funds remains constant The Business of Government: why public sector management must evolve
• · · · · · A legislative framework is required to govern the establishment and operation of official inquiries at the federal level, to ensure that such inquiries have adequate investigatory powers while at the same time ensuring the protection of the rights of individuals concerned ALRC calls for greater flexibility, more options for Royal Commissions and other official inquiries, ; Strengthening evidence-based policy: an introduction to the Roundtable ; Disclosure of information: rights and obligations of Australian Public Service employees

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Sometimes we experience grief which is so heart breaking and it is impossible to come to terms with monster acts. We do not go through grief and come out the other side the same as we were before the loss. Grief changes people. The death of my sister Aga changed me as death of Peter changed Leon. We desperately want everything to be the same as it was before the loss. This unachievable desire, simultaneously so natural and so understandable ... yet

When Leon Savage's 16-year-old brother Peter was murdered 14 years ago he told reporters he felt no anger towards his killer, only sorrow.
But faced with the prospect of seeing his alleged murderer in court the staunch Christian today said he would find it hard to keep his negative emotions at bay Arrests open 'old wounds' for brother of Peter Savage ; Man charged over 1995 schoolboy murder

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Santa Claus has the right idea. Visit places only once a year. I visited the NSW Parliament as Andrew Tink was launching his book at the NSW Parliamentary Chambers. The Governor: Professor Marie Bashir AC Professor Bashir, the first woman to be appointed Governor of NSW, who took up her office on 1 March 2001 made a number of complimentary observations including the fact that every library should have a copy of Andrew’s book. She quoted Wentworth is stating that the squatters’ 8 million sheep and half a million cattle provided an annual income of $2 million pounds. By contrast, Sydney merchants were simply engaged in exchanging one commodity for another … productive of absolutely nothing.. The current Speaker Richard Torbay who was inspired by John Hatton to enter politics explained in a very entertaining way the reasons why Andrew picked William Charles Wentworth - because he was very important to the way we live today in two ways, the first was opening up new grazing lands by going over the Blue Mountains, but most importantly the way the government system was set up to today. Andrew gave us a number of vinaigrett such as this story He designation of William Charles Wentworth as “Australia’s greatest native son” is that of Manning Clark. William Charles Wentworth: Australia’s Greatest Native Son - Review Racy view of a rollicking life: The Australian

CODA: When Andrew Tink walked away from a distinguished career as a Liberal state MP, he knew his serious health concerns would one day take hold Andrew Tink

Outside Edge Pioneers of the Ryanair revolution
Is Michael O’Leary a child of the Soviet Union, something of a fellow traveller? OK, it might not be the first thing one associates with Ryanair’s Irish boss, the very personification of raw business drive who turned a struggling low-cost airline into a successful profit machine – all the while railing at bloated competitors and deploying a mischievous turn of phrase to generate more coverage than any marketing budget could ever deliver.

The reason I ask is that as thoughts now turn to tales of delays and lost baggage, I am transported back to the late 1970s when as a young westerner living in the Soviet Union I was presented with a vision of the future. It came in the form of a prim lecture from an official on the superiority of aviation under communism. Not only was it far more extensive and cheaper than in the west, it was less elitist. While back home air travel was for the few, in the USSR it was for the many – just another mode of public transport. Aeroflot, the national carrier, was both the world’s biggest airline and one of the cheapest, so catching the red-eye to Vladivostok was as easy as hopping on the Number 2 trolley bus on Kutuzovsky Prospekt.

• Idealism and anger t; [The mountains around the cold war horizon began to wobble and fall over A time when hope replaced repression; Recently, the Minister for Finance and Deregulation addressed the International Corporate Governance Network 2009 Annual Conference held in Sydney. Mr Tanner discussed the future of corporate governance and, in particular, corporate and financial regulation in the post-recession global economy. He noted that "perhaps the most important lesson to take from the crisis is the need to build institutional and regulatory frameworks which fit the modern economy. FUTURE OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE]
• · Stoppard is not the only playwright who has been provoked by the divisions of the cold war into thinking about psychological as well as political splitsThe art and culture of the year of revolt; Havel, Schwarzenberg and other East European politicians: Why did they write to Obama?
• · They say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself. —Andy Warhol Do The Warhol—Part 3: The Velvet (Underground) Revolution; Central Europe: Naïve Nostalgia
• · · Sir, John Lloyd views the aspirational society through the prism of the educated elite John Lloyd ; A university degree is not everything ; Nelson Mandela: assessing the icon
• · · · George Burns noted that the secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending; and to have the two as close together as possible. 'The best in the business' reveal their secrets on how to nail a speech. Here are 15 foolproof tips to improve your public speaking, presentations and pitches. Never resort to stock standard phrases like 'thinking outside the box' ever again 15 secrets of a great speech
• · · · · Email overload can ruin your vacation. One solution: social media like Twitter, blogs and wikis to tame your inbox. How to stop email from ruining your summer vacation ; While it's impossible to escape every social networking threat out there, there are steps one can take to significantly reduce the risks. Here are seven typical security mistakes people make and how to avoid them Seven deadly sins of social networking security

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WHAT is it about news in the 21st century that makes people so vehemently opposed to paying for it?

Chicago Tribune Media Group this week officially launched Media Dragons under the label ChicagoNow.com, a network of more than 70 local blogs on a variety of Chicago-area interests 70 local blogs on a variety of Chicago-area interests We think of it as an online townsquare where we talk about the real Chicago with each other Chicago Google

To accept or not to accept: The mix of payment, social networking and work Think again Rupert - consumers refuse to pay for online content
Rupert Murdoch’s plans to charge consumers to access the online content of The News of the World, The Times and The Sun, have been dealt a fresh blow by research which shows few UK consumers would be willing to pay for content they can currently access for free

Quality journalism is not cheap, and an industry that gives away its content is simply cannibalizing its ability to produce good reporting

• Murdoch Dragons ; [Can Rupert Murdoch save the newspaper industry by making people pay to read the news online? WHAT is it about news in the 21st century that makes people so vehemently opposed to paying for it? ; Google GOOGLE is working to revamp its search engine as Microsoft muscles in on its territory Google working on new web search process ]
• · One of the easiest ways to promote yourself is by keeping a blog A GOOGLE search to define “tribe” reveals “a social group of humans connected by a shared system of values and organised for mutual care ; You've read the big social media blogs, followed the pundits' advice and tweaked your social media profile to your heart's content. Make your social media presence even more engaging with ideas from these 3 inspired social media profiles: Three Inspired Social Media Profiles
• · · A ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for CEOs Say: How To Be An Executive Blogger ; It is not what it used to be The Future of MEdia Dragons
• · · · Rational beliefs in atheism will never entirely win out, for they are a total misunderstanding of human nature. Religion: is it forever? ; Protecting the book industry panders to the cultural cringe. Death of author unlikely
• · · · · THE Sun-Herald's state political editor, Lisa Carty, is preparing to walk down the aisle with former veteran NSW political reporter with Ten, Paul Mullins, in December. The former father of the NSW Press Gallery, Mullins spent 35 years covering state governments from Sir Robert Askin to Morris Iemma before leaving last year to set up his own government relations consultancy. Carty was former deputy editor of the Illawarra Mercury and editor of the North Shore Times before taking the gig at state parliament two years ago. It is the second marriage for both of them Gallery pair tie the knot ; The use of CCTV footage to spy on reporters is unprecedented in the history of this parliament and constitutes an unacceptable development, to say the least. We have sought an assurance from the presiding officers that it never occurs again Simon Benson President NSW Press Gallery State Political Editor, The Daily Telegraph ; So it seems the main source for Salusinszky's story was an open door in a public area of the Parliament building - and briefing documents left Lying around for anyone to take

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The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.

Heart of Europe at Bondi Junction provided for a lovely gathering with Gina, Richard and John. John shared a number of images with us all taken around the old stamping ground of Darling Point A never-say-die friendship

Do not protect yourself by a fence, but rather by your friends.
- Czech Proverb

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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

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When Computers Leave Classrooms, So Does Boredom 'Teaching Naked' at SMU

Hollow Victory The Friday Five: Forecasters and Futurists
The best forecasters and futurists in the Boston area.

From Cambridge-based Forrester Research, a collection of blogs on everything from data security to interactive marketing to consumer products. My two favorites are Forrester CEO George Colony's blog, and Josh Bernoff's blog on social technologies.

• Social technologies; [As media giants band together to reinvent themselves in the digital age, potentially sharing everything from online video sites to DVD distribution, they have to be careful not to raise antitrust hackles. Hollywood dealmaking risks antitrust scrutiny; Best Job in the World” winner Ben Southall, who's being paid to promote Australia's tropical islands, is under fire for his online diary, with followers saying it sheds little light on what a Abnormal tourist would experience ]
• · Coolest Gadget Winner ; How a Pulitzer Winner Prepared for a Chron Buyout
• · Checkout' Girl Cashes In With Best-Selling Memoir Blog: Where Are They Now?; Knowing your checkout chicks and neighbors best way to fight crime ; Google on Crime; Wealthy shift tax burden to others
• · · It's pretty amazing what passes for good news these days MuscleMarketing.Blogspot.com as a Top Internet Marketing Blog; Joys Of Being A Blogger – My Ex-Wife Was Nicer To Me!
• · · · Ask my Millennial: Know your blog's audience; There was a time in this country when a company reporting a few billion in earnings could count its money while basking in polite, reverent applause Windfalls for Bankers, Resentments for the Rest
• · · · · The bad old days of bull semen partnerships may not return, but I suspect the financial Merlins are already cooking up new shelters for what promises to be a booming new market ; The joint Lords and Commons Human Rights Committee has waded in to support freelance IT contractors hit by tax demands going back up to seven years, following the retrospective closure of a £200m tax avoidance scheme
• · · · · · EthicalJobs.com.au is a new jobs website which promotes "work for a better world" – it connects people looking for an ethical job or career with employers from the not-for-profit, business & government sectors who see their organisations as contributing to a more equitable, more just or more sustainable world EthicalJobs.com.au; While the various wars on drugs have failed as a public policy, they have often succeeded as a political strategy ; The jobs of the future are beginning to be shaped right now, in the world of work, On the track of ignorance ; Nothing has prepared today's leaders for the current economic situation. As a result, managers who were once balanced and poised are being knocked off their feet, with their teams feeling the brunt of their increasingly ineffective behaviour Managing during the downturn ; Company politics, stonewalling, layoffs - sometimes it's part and parcel of the security job. Here are one CISO's takeaways. Surviving layoffs: five career lessons from the security trenches

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The use of cliches in blogs should be avoided. Readers of Dickens' novel Oliver Twist may recall that when it was suggested to Mr Bumble that "the law supposes that your wife acts under your direction", he was shocked. He responded with a line that has become one of the English language's most excruciating cliches: "If the law supposes that, the law is an ass - an idiot. If that's the eye of the law, the law is a bachelor; and the worst l wish the law is that his eye may be opened by experience - by experience."

Russia’s free media find a haven in Ukraine Is Russia again too big to fail?


The Plan by Michael Cranston for 2009-2010 Traits of a Leader
The maiden edition of Targeting tax crime: a whole-of-government approach is out. The magazine contains real-life case studies, interviews and stories about Australian and international tax crime – how we’re trying to stop it and the serious consequences for those who offend. Targeting tax crime: a whole-of-government approach A crackdown on tax cheats has boosted government coffers by more than $300 million in the past financial year. The Australian Taxation Office might be showing struggling small businesses unprecedented levels of leniency during this downturn, but don't accuse the taxman of going soft.
The ATO has flagged its determination to hit tax cheats hard by releasing a new magazine trumpeting the recent results of its tax crackdowns - and dodgy SMEs are firmly in their sites Treasurer Wayne Swan and Assistant Treasurer Nick Sherry

I read an interesting article in the Harvard Business Review by Robert Goffee and Gareth Jones recently called "Why should anyone be led by you?" In it they outline four key differentiators in today's world for successful leaders and apart from a few minor points, I believe in what they had to say and fully recommend you take a read…There’s an awful lot of theory written about leadership nowadays. For the past decade, along with Mike Pratt, Clive Gilson, and Joe McCollum, we’ve been working with major companies on our view of what constitutes inspirational leadership and peak performance. It started by learning what we could from great sporting organizations such as the All Blacks – whose inspirational dream is to “maintain rugby’s position at the heart of the nation)

• Leaders are born ; [We have long pointed to the fact that the United States is, to a very significant degree, a secrecy jurisdiction, not least through dirty practices offered in places such as Delaware. It isn't something that people like to mention in polite company Australia: America is a secrecy jurisdiction ; Testifying today before the House Financial Services Committee, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke took some well-deserved flak for the Fed’s power-grasping attempt to gain even greater control over the nation’s financial institutions. Man-Bites-Dog Story: A Politician Speaks the Truth; Goldman Sachs surprised even optimistic analysts with a $3.44 billion profit for the three months to June, almost 90% more than the previous quarter. Crony Capitalism]
• · In the last of his three Lionel Robbins lectures at the London School of Economics on June 30 of this year, Nobel laureate Paul Krugman remarked that the macroeconomic theory of the past thirty years has been spectacularly useless at best, and positively harmful at worst Inflation Ahead ; I Agree With Paul Krugman, but This Time Only! The inability to collect all sales taxes that are legally due on purchases made over the Internet costs states billions of dollars a year in lost revenue. In 2008, New York State enacted an innovative law that helps to address this problem. Rhode Island adopted a similar measure this year. All states with sales taxes should give serious consideration to doing so as well. sales taxes
• · Our innovative online database helped shed light on the murky world of corporate tax avoidance. Corporate taxation is one of the fundamental issues in British society that rarely gets discussed in mainstream media. A large but twilight industry has grown up in recent years of offshore tax havens and arcane avoidance schemes. They benefit large corporations and rich individuals, but cost governments billions in lost taxes. Holding the UK's major corporations to account ; Lord Mandelson suggested the Government had lost sight of the importance of PR skills. “You can get so consumed by government that you forget to present what you do to the public. Our organisation has to be better, we have to campaign more effectively — and give a clear message.” A new analysis today found businesses are eagerly courting the Conservatives. Leading accountancy firms KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers have given the Tories free services and staff on secondment, worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. Such companies will compete for billions of pounds of Government contracts
• · · Windfall for Tories as firms eye £4bn contracts ; Blistering attacks on tax avoidance from unions, politicians and the media are coming thick and fast. The prevalence of aggressive but legal tax planning has become increasingly controversial as the public finances sink deeper into the mire The growing allure of foreign shores ; Both Volkswagen and Porsche had close connections with the Third Reich. It was Ferdinand Porsche who designed the "people's car," the legendary VW Beetle, in 1934 Adolf Hitler was so taken with the engineer he declared him "brilliant
• · · · As per the Concise Oxford Dictionary the history of money laundering can be traced to Emperor espasianus who had raised taxes on public toilets by relying on the maxim, ‘pecunia non det’ means money does not stink. A few years ago, Solomon Dwek was the black sheep of the New Jersey Jewish community where his father Yitzhak was a prominent rabbi. After a string of failed real estate ventures and charges of bank fraud, Dwek's career appeared all but over. But the rabbi's son found his true calling as an FBI informant, where he is now achieving stardom after helping bring indictments against 44 defendants, including a number of prominent rabbis, four ex-mayors and a former senator, in one of the largest money-laundering and corruption investigations seen in the U.S. in years How the FBI used a rabbi's son to crack massive U.S. corruption case ; Even in the state of "The Sopranos" and "On the Waterfront," where corruption seems institutionalized, the arrest of a neophyte mayor in office a mere three weeks stands out US Corruption Arrests Shock Jewish Community
• · · · · It’s one of the biggest corruption cases in the history of a state that’s famous for them: Three mayors, two state legislators and several rabbis were among those charged Thursday in what authorities described as a “dual-track” investigation united by a single undercover operative ; BBC
• · The arrests of more than 40 prominent politicians and Jewish leaders in New Jersey and New York on corruption and money laundering charges have sent shockwaves through the close-knit Syrian Jewish community there. Modus operandi Money Laundering; An 87 year-old Syrian rabbi. A special lingo in which payments were "invitations" and approvals were "opportunities." We're slicing people open and selling Google
• · · · · · To read the criticisms about the Net Generation,” writes author Don Tapscott in his latest book, Grown Up Digital, “you might conclude that they are a bunch of dull, celebrity-obsessed, net-addicted, shopaholic exhibitionists Skills: Business must learn from the new tribe ; Navigating the online jungle

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Last week wasn't a one-off, the 'Kyle and Jackie O Show' has a history of sordid publicity stunts. Entertainment fodder

This Month of July 2009 Dust to Dust
F rank McCourt, author of best-seller Angela's Ashes, has died of cancer. Angela's Ashes, a memoir of McCourt's childhood in Ireland, sold millions of copies and won the Pulitzer Prize.

Frank McCourt had a wonderful way of bringing his past to life. I do think the laughter of the world has diminished by about 10 percent He was a wonderful, decent, modest laughing boy

During a time in which the word “survivor” is primarily used to describe jungle-dwelling reality stars, it's easy to marvel at Angela's Ashes author Frank, Frantisek, McCourt, a man who endured enough childhood hardship to be cast as a true fighter.
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• Frank, Frantisek; [Amazon; In a spare, brisk prose, Ollestad tells the tragic story of the pivotal event of his life, an airplane crash into the side of a mountain that cost three lives, including his father's, in 1979. Only 11 years old at the time, he alone survived, using the athletic skills he learned in competitive downhill skiing, amid the twisted wreckage, the bodies and the bone-chilling cold of the blizzard atop the 8,600-foot mountain Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival ]
• · Why would The Age take a swipe at a journal like OLO? There are a number of possible reasons, none of which are to their credit .'The Age' and 'On Line Opinion'; It's high time lazy journalists and commentators moved beyond the simplistic Balls-inspired Labour investment vs Tory cuts argument, as well as the Mandelson-inspired gentle Labour cuts vs evil Tory cuts argument, and instead focused on tax rises vs spending cuts and the debate over what the appropriate balance between these two fiscal options should be in the coming years Arguments
• · Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes commented: "A public debate on the impact of digital cinema in Europe is long overdue since some have suggested that thousands of Europe’s arthouse and local cinemas may face closure because they cannot afford the conversion costs Arthouse ; Film Festivals
• · · Add actor Stephen Baldwin to the large and growing list of celebrity tax scofflaws ; Bald win ; Professor ; The "Stickiest" Law Prof Blogs ranking of blogs based on their "average visit length
• · · · Why don't we teach Congress about how the tax code works maybe trough some games on the internet they can learn how Subpart F works - a non-partisan effort to informally educate the public about taxes through popular methods such as web-based games and other internet activities pdf ahead Why don't we teach Congress about how the tax ; A civil suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday reads like a script for a big screen Hollywood legal thriller. It's a case of the truth being stranger -- And far more complicated -- than fiction
• · · · · Lawyer, writer and blogger Nicole Black advises fellow professionals about important core techniques and goals to consider Five Things Lawyers Should Know About Social Media ; UberCEO: Fortune 100 CEOs and Social Media - "...top CEOs in the country appear to be mostly absent from the social media community. That's the result from research we conducted over the past several weeks. We looked at Fortune's 2009 list of the top 100 CEOs to determine how many were using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, or had a blog. The results show a miserable level of engagement." Fortune 100 CEOs and Social Media
• · · · · · Going Concern is an online tabloid covering the worlds of accounting and business finance. The site provides original news and insider analysis of the culture, people, and firms that shape the industry