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James Jupp reviews the Draft Anti-Terrorism Bill 2005. He notes that the draft legislation breaches a number of long-standing legal protections and raises concerns about how it may be implemented Draft Anti-Terror Legislation reviewed and Christian Kerr notes how Peter Beattie has made a committment to anti-terror measures, but he still thinks the proposed counter-terrorism laws may be unconstitutional Sowing the seeds of Terror Australis

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Points and Counterpoints: Are we becoming bad losers?
There is a crisis in mental health in Australia.

Its magnitude, and the level of community concern, is reflected in the 500-plus submissions made earlier this year to the federal government’s Senate Select Committee on Mental Health. Writing in New Matilda, Jennifer Smith and Anne-Marie Boxall draw on several of these submissions to highlight the critical issues facing mental health care in Australia

• New Matilda [David Elliott: The NSW Liberal Party should take the leadership in campaigning for sweeping constitutional reforms, including the abolition of the upper house NSW upper house 'has had its day' ; The man who instigated the Wood Royal Commission into the NSW Police force has cast doubt over the ability of future corruption inquiries to attract key witnesses John Hatton ]
• · Multiculturalism is an ally not an enemy, argues Petro Georgiou Multiculturalism and the war on terror ; Race against time to create a 1000km bird flu buffer zone
• · · Washington Post (reg req): Indonesia Neglected Bird Flu Until Too Late, Experts Say Bird Flu: A Government's Criminal Failures ; Falconio told of tax debt on day he disappeared
• · · · Linda Botterill examines the role of Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in the wake of the controversy over ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope’s publication of the draft Anti-Terrorism Bill. COAG and the limits of parliamentary scrutiny ; The agenda lurking in the shadows ; Despite the controversy over the Cross City Tunnel, partnerships can work, writes Gary Sturgess Private funding still a better way forward for public projects
• · · · · Bullies are all the same. They hunt in packs, pick on those weaker than them, then scurry like rats when someone, in a moment of bravado, takes them on. And so it is with the infamous NSW right-wing Labor machine The sissies of the Labor Right ; Raunch culture: Feminism set out to free women from roles imposed on them by males, but a new book accuses women of building a new, self-imposed prison by acting like sex objects and tolerating sexism
• · · · · · The Conservative Party is looking for a leader with the qualities to sweep them to power. But what's the secret to great leadership in the wider world? The best boss is... A leader is a dealer in hope; Anti-terror policies 'failing'

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Tanya Giles of the Herald Sun used Australia’s Freedom of Information law to find that the Victoria provincial government “has signed closet deals worth more than $55 million with scores of private companies without putting the lucrative jobs up for tender.” Secret deals worth $55m

Eye on Politics & Taxes: The Human Race is faced with a cruel choice: work or daytime television
Many Republicans came to Congress pledging to fight corruption. How quickly they forget

Unlike many observers who have gleefully exulted in Tom DeLay’s recent indictments, I think his guilt or innocence is almost beside the point, particularly since he’s still in the House wielding his considerable power.

• Beginning Of The End For The GOP [Dahrendorf: The politics of frustration Does extreme poverty breed violence and ultimately revolution? ; Andrew Fraser, apologised to State Parliament last night after an altercation with the Minister for Roads, Joe Tripodi, during which he manhandled the minister Minister and MP scuffle in chamber ; Fists and claws no more, even in bearpit ]
• · George Packer, The New Yorker Can Democrats Seize the Momen; After weeks of public anger the NSW Government has agreed to release Cross City Tunnel papers it said it could never make public because they were commercial-in-confidence Tunnel deal: the whole bloody thing will be made public ; Mayors peddle green message but revhead wants V8 ; The Government would rather tax renters and leave home owners and holiday owners untaxed than act according to principle. Property tax: how to balance the addiction
• · · Stephen Schwartz, TCS How Long Will the Media Get the Iraq Story Wrong? ; Justice Kirby has seen much change in his decade in the High Court From hostile politicians to homosexuality, we've come a long way
• · · · Henry Miller, Wall Street Journal We Are Ill-Prepared for a Flu Pandemic ; Cathy Young, Boston Globe The Problem of Poverty ; We keep getting richer without getting better off. Indeed, in some respects we're getting worse off Humans don't just need leisure time, they need time off work at the same time as their spouse and while their children aren't at school. That's why weekends were invented, particularly Sundays An efficient ride up the garden path ; Bring us in out of the cold, help us become real participants in Australian society and take our part. Don't leave us like lepers of the 21st century - untouchable and untouched NSW in the sin bin on mental health ; Irony of IR PR: Same job but one gets $4987 less than the other
• · · · · The Price of Low Expectations ; Nobody's asking about the ROI for each little initiative. What's at stake in analytical competition is not an application, but a corporate strategy. Assembling the right data, finding and using the right tools, and developing the right relationships between analysts and decision-makers all take time. Therefore, it makes sense to start pulling them together now Success Through Analytics: History seems to be on the side of the numbers
• · · · · · Hollywood history is made daily in Sydney, if you know where to look Sydney's reel estate ; An investigation by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation has failed to determine why a maintenance worker at Sydney's Lucas Heights nuclear reactor has recorded an unusually high dose of radiation Radiation leak feared at reactor

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Most of us don't like risk and uncertainty. That's too bad, because there's no shortage of either.

The free world has a responsibility to help Cubans mastermind a "velvet revolution" of their own Castro vs. Cuba

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Young man Luther
In the first of two articles on The Latham Diaries David Burchell discusses the relationship between politics and the media

I ut off buying The Latham Diaries when they were first released in mid-September. There are some journalists and novelists for whom writing appears to be a kind of therapy. Their plan, it seems, is to ‘work through’ their anger, traumas and personal disturbances on the page, the better to fight through the fog of their own complicated personalities to the glimpsed rays of sunshine beyond. I’ve got no particular problem with this approach to self-help, except one. If you insist upon using art as your therapy, hang the results on your own wall; don’t ask me to hang it on mine.

• The Latham Diaries [I've been trying to get Tony Harris, friend, some time colleague, Auditor General and Fin Review columnists to post on Troppo for some time. He sent me the fantastic piece you see below the fold - which he published in the Fin on Saturday. Bob Carr, Marcus Aurelius and PPPs ; A Former Police Chief Calls for Drug Sanity ; Elections Around the World ]
• · John von Doussa - Democratic Audit of Australia, Australian National University Human rights and national security ; John Quiggin We will find ways of getting by without cheap oil and coal Price matters
• · · How can a country that victimises its greatest living writer also join the EU? Turkey: Salman Rushdie ; Beattie moots tax on interstate migrants
• · · · Only 9 per cent of Australians attend church The future of Australian secularism ; Overtly Christian parties might be polling modestly, but their influence is broader God and the New Zealand 2005 election
• · · · · A review of private rental support programs: final report ; Giving Australia: research on philanthropy in Australia
• · · · · · Immigrant satisfaction: what is it? does it matter? ; Michael Gordon introduces Ali Mullaie, one of the refugees he interviewed on Nauru for his new book, Freeing Ali: The Human Face of the Pacific Solution Freeing Ali

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Wags are saying it's all the Parliamentary Library's fault. On Tuesday they published a paper in PDF version called Crossing the floor in the Federal Parliament 1950-August 2004 – and that evening he walked.

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: ICAN - Independent Candidate Advisory Network launched
The independent MPs in the House of Representatives today launched ICAN - the Independent Candidates Advisory Network to provide advice, support, and a focal point for people interested in standing as true representatives of the people at future elections.

Peter Andren, Member for Calare, Tony Windsor, Member for New England and Bob Katter, Member for Kennedy launched ICAN at Parliament House this morning and introduced former Telstra Country Wide Manager Mr Gavin Priestley, as the co-ordinator of ICAN.

• We Can [After a record-breaking 10 years in office, Mr Carr has taken a consultant's job with the state's biggest infrastructure investor, Macquarie Bank, known as the Millionaires' Factory, for an undisclosed fee. Carr should be banished from Tower, Debnam says ; It's impossible not to join the howls of outrage about former NSW Premier Bob Carr’s decision to sign on as a $500,000-a-year, part-time “consultant” to Macquarie Bank, the very financial institution that, over the past ten years, has pocketed more than $1 billion from NSW government “public-private partnerships” More corporate Labor sleaze – outrageous but hardly surprising; Group Lists 13 'Most Corrupt' in Congress ]
• · The Federal Government has failed to provide adequate public consultation on proposed new anti-terrorism laws Lack of debate an 'abuse of power' ; From nuclear weapons to climate change, the Vietnam war to urban segregation, the prize-winning economist Thomas Schelling’s leaps of lateral thinking are weapons of enlightenment Games of enlightenment ; Barnett & Isabel Hilton’s definition of the threats to democracy fails to convince Roger Scruton Democracy or theocracy?
• · · Carmody unveils major tax compliance reforms ; For decades so secret it did not even officially exist Web of intrigue: MI6 reveals (not quite) all online
• · · · GAO Examines Program to Create Governmentwide E-Rulemaking System ; As Australia heads into a long hot summer, the threat of terrorism weighs heavily on the nation’s consciousness Make laws, not war
• · · · · Large Business and International homepage Commissioner's speech - 13 October 2005 Commissioner's speech on large business and compliance ; In September 2004 the Commissioner announced he had appointed Kevin Burges to conduct one-on-one interviews with representatives of large corporates to get a picture of their experiences and concerns about Tax Office audits Burges report ; We regard some current Australian Tax Office practices more as an attempt to harass and intimidate corporates than a genuine effort to obtain relevant information Carmody unveils tax compliance reforms
• · · · · · Antony Loewenstein - In praise of... Harold Pinter We bring torture and misery : We have brought torture and misery in the name of freedom Harold Pinter winning the 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature

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Bob Carr is a bright fella. So is former federal health minister Michael Wooldridge. So, arguably, is a bevy of other former federal and state cabinet ministers like Peter Reith, Larry Anthony, Richard Alston, Graham Richardson, Alan Stockdale and Terry McEnroth. But "bright" is definitely not the best description of their sense of judgment, timing and probity in catapulting themselves from influential positions in government to influential positions in the business world.
Carr's announcement yesterday that he was joining the Millionaire Factory, Macquarie Bank, as a consultant less than three months after retiring as NSW Premier is, as Stephen Mayne puts it in today's edition (for subscribers only), a disgrace. "Just look at the $1 billion plus Macquarie and its investors have made from the Eastern Distributor toll road between the city and Sydney Airport which the incompetent Carr Government presided over. The Millionaire Factory may as well have said, 'Thanks for the billion Bob, now here's an undisclosed amount of money for you, to help us try and suck in the next bloke'."
We called Bob Carr's office this morning to ask him to explain/justify/spruik his new role. He's overseas and therefore unable to apply his considerable verbal dexterity to the task – no doubt it would include words like "trust," "responsibility" and "reputation." To which we would add these words: shonky, conflicted, inappropriate, the wrong look, money-grabbing, undiplomatic, grasping ... you get the idea. via email Crikey

Eye on Politics & Taxes: Should politicians say what they really think?

David Cameron wants to restore the British public's trust in politicians by making them more independent. Cameron, the Conservative Party's youngest
leadership contender, argues that MPs ought to have more opportunity to stand up for what they believe in instead of being forced to toe the party line.

• Political Drive [ Where there is no vision, the people perish ; The rise of the Aussie intellectual? ]
• · Politicians fiddle over ports, roads, rail, power and gas ; Andrew Bartlett Sausage Factory gears up
• · · Sellers beware - taxman wants a share ; Students from poor families face huge, often insurmountable, financial hurdles to get a university education Talent and drive, but no money? Forget uni
• · · · So what qualities does a would-be mogul require? Stressed for success ; Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Pierre Omidyar, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Rupert Murdoch, Michael Bloomberg, Sivio Berlusconi, George Soros and Carlos Slim Helu. The FT Top 25 Billionaires: 1-9
• · · · · Vern Hughes Mental health - it’s time for a new paradigm; Orange Grove defence bill passed $1 million
• · · · · · As America becomes more polarised, its political writing is getting worse Fools' gold ; Under the existing rules and conventions, what private citizen Bob Carr chooses to engage himself in now that he has departed the political realm is matter of his own choice and judgment entirely Changing camps raises hackles

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Can you ever think too much about freedom? Not in my book. Cold River is of such cruel destruction that it will sweep anyone away Paperback Edition

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On the road it is more important to be wise than to be right. That truism holds for politics.

German sociologist Max Weber described the work of politics as a strong and slow boring of hard boards Why do it? It's the politics, stupid

Eye on Politics & Taxes: Espionage Case Breaches the White House
Undetected for 3 years?

Both the FBI and CIA are calling it the first case of espionage in the White House in modern history. Officials tell ABC News the alleged spy worked undetected at the White House for almost three years

• Who leaked CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity [SPY in the House of Bush ; US officials brace for decisions in CIA leak case ]
• · Interview: Prime Minister John Howard; Putting Charity Through the 'What's in It for Me?' Test
• · · Chief Justice John Roberts, meet party girl Anna Nicole Smith Roberts will face a diet of legal hot potatoes ; O'Reilly's Sneak Attack on Bloggers! ; O'Reilly calls Media Matters "assassins" and "the worst" among "most vicious" political websites O'Reilly bashes Media Matters
• · · · The Supreme Court yesterday agreed to hear a case to determine whether states can use tax incentives to attract businesses in a major test of economic development policies Justices to mull business tax lures ; In effect, the court said the tax break for Chrysler unconstitutionally interfered with interstate commerce. The war between the states ; Bottom-Up Versus Top-Down Lawmaking
• · · · · Court to rule on tax breaks; States use incentives to lure businesses ; THE ULTIMATE TROJAN HORSE?: She's polite. Shy. Smart. Modest
• · · · · · In just a generation, the lower and middle ranks of the American working class have suffered a precipitous decline in their living standards and job security The misdirected rage of middle America ; The anti-war left has not explained how tyrants should be stopped Calling for peace is the easy option

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Federal auditors said on Friday that the Bush administration violated the law by buying favorable news coverage of President Bush's education policies, by making payments to the conservative commentator Armstrong Williams and by hiring a public relations company to analyze media perceptions of the Republican Party Buying of News by Bush's Aides Is Ruled Illegal

The Blog, The Press, The Media: The Power of Many: We the Webdiary
Historically, journalists have been charged with informing the democracy.

But their future will depend not on only how well they inform but how well they encourage and enable conversations with citizens. That is the challenge. Websites like Webdiary understand the importance of Dan Gillmor’s basic premise: "My readers know more than I do - and that's an opportunity." The ability of anyone to make the news has given new voice to people who used to feel voiceless—and whose words we need to hear. According to Dan, webdiarists and citizen journalists are "showing all of us—citizen, journalist, newsmaker—new ways of talking, of learning. In the end, they may help spark a renaissance of the notion, now threatened, of a truly informed citizenry

• We the Media: Grassroots Journalism By the People, For the People [ New Politics Blog: The Fix ; Bloggers Debate Miers ]
• · Google Wants to Provide Free WiFi to SF ; Blog, blog, blog...
• · · A history of medical weblogging ; Doing Legal, Political, and Historical Research on the Internet
• · · · Blooks aplenty ; Large Firms Discover New Marketing Tool: Blogs
• · · · · Yahoo Blog/Feed Search Coming ; Companies learn the goodwill value of Web diaries
• · · · · · Blogs vs. the law: A showdown about third party commentary ; New kids on the blog: CEOs

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Imagine a Nazi masterpiece, if you can. At the bottom of that pit lies some truth, about art and life. But it is an elusive truth."
-Tom Stoppard, Czech-born

The success of a new democracy depends on the openness of a country’s economic system at the time of political transition Democracy Comes Second

Eye on Politics & Taxes: Battle to be the daddy of them all
Some American political commentary sorts political parties into two basic personality types - Mummy parties and Daddy parties.

A Mummy party is most interested in caring for people. It is empathetic, inclusive and concerned with fairness. In short, it wants to give you a cuddle. A Mummy party is seen to be best at providing services - especially health, education and welfare. A Daddy party, on the other hand, is strict. It is big on self-discipline and self-reliance. It is frugal and interested in obedience. In sum, it will stand you on your feet but keep you on your toes. A Daddy party is trusted to look after the fundamentals of keeping the family secure - with good economic management and competent national security.

• The red-and-blue map of Australian political incumbency [Switzerland's Justice Department is likely to pass on the records of more than 500 Australians implicated in the country's largest tax evasion probe Swiss agree to assist in ATO tax probe ; If Harold Wilson was on the money about a week being a long time in politics, what vast change might a decade bring? Scrutiny, like nostalgia, has become a thing of the past ]
• · Family and Community Services Minister Kay Patterson says local and state governments are to blame for spiralling child-care costs We're doing enough on child care: minister ; Jonathan Power prospects out the inevitable issues of death and taxes: After a rocky patch in the early 1990s, the Swedish model of high taxes and high spending is now stronger—and more popular—than ever. Sweden's prime minister explains why Sweden hasn’t always been a success ; There's no country in the world as we stand at the moment which is ready for the next influenza pandemic Bird flu — the coming pandemic
• · · Welcome... and pick a fight with The Contrarian ; Restoring Free Speech and Liberty on Campus by Donald Alexander Downs The Cost of Free Speech
• · · · In 1992, a scruffy old Russian in shabby clothes arrived at a British embassy pulling a battered case on wheels. The former KGB archivist Indira's India and the KGB ; More random tests for drug-using police
• · · · · The people wield the big stick when it comes to law and order We have the power ; Altered states ; Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS
• · · · · · Justice Peter Hely. Another Federal Court judge dies ; Should judges serve for life or should they be more accountable to the public? Judges on trial; Police to investigate Brogden suicide note leak

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Adam Michnik, co-founder of the Polish trade union Solidarnosc, looks back on its founding 25 years ago, and forward to today's turmoiled times In search of lost sense: Dad, please don't beat me

Eye on Politics & Taxes: Why the states matter in industrial relations
Since the federal election of 2004, and particularly since the Coalition gained outright control of the Senate from July this year, industrial relations policy has been centre stage.

The key shift is the transition of ideology and practice from traditional liberalism—where the competing objectives of employers and employees, manifested through trade unions and other third parties, are both legitimate—to ‘neo-liberalism’—where, in the name of market efficiency, the objectives of management are paramount, with little or no room for other interests.

• The States: Difference And Fragmentation [Webdiary: Mark just like Darren Rowse is well aware that lists are popular O’nya Mark ;-) Ten reasons why young idealistic people should forget about organised politics ; Mark Latham followed his controversial book with a provocative lecture Organised politics is bad for your ideals, Latham tells students ; Slavoj Zizek: Against Human Rights (New Left Review 34, July-Augus ]
• · What makes people more democratic, anyway? ; Police could lock down an entire suburb and carry out unfettered searches on homes, vehicles and individual Labor terrorism laws give police free hand
• · · It is a highly addictive drug, but governments everywhere encourage its use Gerin oil (or Geriniol to give it its scientific name) is a powerful drug which acts directly on the central nervous system to produce a range of characteristic symptoms, often of an antisocial or self- damaging nature Opiate of the masses ; In the Heart of Europe: Social Models and Geopolitics
• · · · Those who live in their own homes emerge as winners from the tangled web of taxes and concessions imposed on properties, a study says. Such people have an overall subsidy of $2000 a year. There's an inequality or tax concession here: on exactly the same property, one landlord's paying tax and one isn't Home owners net $2000 a year bonus ; Cash transfers, with strings attached, are a better way of helping the poor than many previous social programmes New thinking about an old problem
• · · · · Social programmes that are good for democracy as well as for the fight against poverty Not always with us ; Mike Berry summarises the housing affordability picture and the forces driving the recent housing boom Show me the money: financing more affordable housing
• · · · · · Rachel Gibson from the ACSPRI Centre for Social Research and Ian McAllister frm the Political Science Program show that web campaigning is associated primarily with the political attitudes and outlook of candidates (being left-wing and young) rather than the amount of campaign resources available. Does cyber campaigning win votes? Online communication in the 2004 Australian election ; It was a collision of cultures made for a novel by Tom Wolfe, who as it happened was there. On Saturday, if you got out of the Washington Metro at the Smithsonian stop, cheery volunteers pointed the crowd in opposite directions. "The book festival is to your left and the march is to your right," the volunteers chanted. Coverage in the NYT focuses on which authors attended a White House breakfast and which ones declined for political reasons On the Mall, 2 Events Speak Volumes

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There is a saying that you never get a second chance to make a good first impression.

Left and Right simultaneously will not solve any problems, says Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht on the eve of the German election Indulging a penchant for paradox

Given the fact that the Bush administration is a criminal organization, it is naïve and ignorant to expect it to behave in a humanitarian fashion. For any reason. Ever. On the other hand, it is predictable that it would seize every opportunity, and take advantage of every moment of chaos, vulnerability and inattention, to sink its poisonous fangs deeper into the carcass of American democracy The more you ask, the more you shall receive

Eye on Politics & Taxes: Equal Exchange
So, you have a democratically run coop in the states that partners exclusively with Fair Trade coffee cooperatives around the globe. So… how’s the coffee?

Equal Exchange is an unusual company. It’s not simply an employee-owned business (a growing number of companies are, for a given value of employee owned) but is instead a worker-owned cooperative... which is a very interesting and balanced thing to be when one deals with a great many worker-owned coffee cooperatives. There’s kind of a Zen thing at play there.

• Tasting: Equal Exchange Mind, Body & Soul [ Happy ever after with no effort? Tell 'em they're dreamin' ; How forensic science TV is helping the real crims ]
• · The Flight of the Creative Class - Beacons for the world’s brightest Creative Capital: The Key to Prosperity ; There is perhaps no more popular guessing game for pundits and prognosticators than predicting which nation will threaten the United States as the next great power - Creative diaspora The Greatest Competitive Threat of Our Time
• · · Case Against Inheritance Tax Is Bogus ; The best laid plans usually go awry
• · · · A sadly entertaining peek at some of the bills Congressmen have proposed this year The circus is back in town ; Simon Zadek, chief executive of AccountAbility, introduces a new debate on openDemocracy that explores a new generation of accountability mechanisms focussed on the horizontal, not the hierarchical Reinventing Accountability for the 21st Century
• · · · · Finnish-born feminist academic Tiina Rosenberg is involved in setting up a new party Tiina Rosenberg wants to shake up Swedish politics; Why politics matters and why British politics matters
• · · · · · Sydneysiders have found a way into the property market - buying houses with friends Through the side door ; The 18-year-old Hurstville man jumped onto the train tracks from platform five at Town Hall station while trying to flee the transit officers Teen loses thumb in Town Hall train drama; Gee, lucky all those cameras were in place. They obviously really helped

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Beyond Right and Left by David McKnight: The New Capitalism induces families and communities to mimic its values. Thus parents outsource their needs and commodify care; they emotionally downsize, telling themselves they can get by with less intimate personal contact; civic life becomes lean and mean and self-interest displaces a common good. Life resembles a work-spend treadmill which leaves little time for unhurried, non-market relations between people. Yet these kinds of activities create personal and community bonds which are quite different from market relations Ironies of the New Capitalism
Silly me. Here I am thinking that the lesson of Katrina is that - finally - people in politics and government are going to have a "Come to Jesus" moment about infrastructure spending and how putting off for tomorrow what you need to do today is a bad, short-sighted idea that's just beginning to affect this country's economic well-being Pork Barrel Politics

Eye on Politics & Taxes: Agencies are embracing podcasting as a low-cost way to deliver audio content to citizens
It started as a hobbyist technology and recently found a foothold at forward-thinking federal agencies.

The White House uses it to distribute the president’s weekly radio address. The State Department’s Voice of America exploits it for broadcasts. And hold onto your hats, because House Republicans and Democrats agree on something. In this case it’s that podcasting—a popular new method of publishing audio programs online—provides an efficient avenue for expressing their views via the Internet.
Last month, NASA delivered the first-ever podcast from space. On the day before the space shuttle Columbia returned to earth, crewmember Steve Robinson transmitted an audio file explaining how he’d repaired the craft’s damaged tiles and reflecting on his opportunity to “watch the sun come up over the bottom of the space shuttle.”

• Early adopters Not just an Apple thing [Marilou Johanek: New Orleans revealed an elitist-driven culture out of touch with a big slice of America that lives paycheck to paycheck Poor Off the Radar of Rich, Powerful ; David Sirota was the chief spokesman for the U.S. House Appropriations Committee Democrats The Deafening - and Dangerous - Silence on Taxes ; Ralph Nader If Corporations Could Laugh ]
• · Iraq Invasion Radicalized Saudi Fighters: Report ; One billion dollars has been plundered from Iraq's defence ministry in one of the largest thefts in history, The Independent can reveal, leaving the country's army to fight a savage insurgency with museum-piece weapons; As federal agencies fumble, ordinary people rise to the task and carry on
What has Happened to Iraq's Missing $1 Billion?; Falling waters, rising troubles
• · · The growing medicalisation of our lives has become so complete The inevitability of death and taxes ; Female judge appointed to High Court; Experiences of crime in two selected migrant communities
• · · · Do Australians have equal protection against hate speech?; Iemma refuses to sack MP over racial slur; Europeans are among the most sceptical about people in power Europeans 'are biggest sceptics'
• · · · · A Picture of Australia’s Children presents the latest available data on key national indicators of health, development and wellbeing of Australian children aged 0–14 years A Picture of Australia’s Children ; Recent developments in refugee and immigration law 2005
• · · · · · Govt scraps fuel tax plan ; Support the St. Patrick's Day Four ; I'm shocked...shocked to learn of obstruction of justice within this administration. I'm shocked to learn of shading dealings Former GSA Official Charged with Making False Statements, Obstructing Federal Investigation

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One winter night during one of the many German air raids on Moscow in World War II, a distinguished Soviet professor of statistics showed up in his local air-raid shelter. He had never appeared there before. 'There are seven million people in Moscow,' he used to say. 'Why should I expect them to hit me?' His friends were astonished to see him and asked what had happened to change his mind. 'Look,' he explained, 'there are seven million people in Moscow and one elephant. Last night they got the elephant.'
This change of mind and heart (and perception of risk) - from Peter L Bernstein's astounding work Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk, has many lessons for us ...

Taxing Times: 20 year anniversary of the Reform of the Australian Tax System
The Reform of the Australian Taxation System (RATS) has achieved many of its aims in attempting to make the tax system more equitable and efficient

The biggest ever shake up of Australia’s taxation system announced by the former Treasurer, the Hon. Paul Keating on 19 September 1985, has paid dividends to families 20 years on; however, companies have not faired as well, according to National Managing Partner of KPMG’s Tax Practice, Ross Doherty.

• Grand tax plan pays off for taxpayers [Keating reforms led us from tax wilderness ; Louise McBride: A taxation system that would leave everyone better off ; Let's scrap these Kafkaesque tax laws and start again ]

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I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.
-Russell C. Taylor

Labor's worst result was in Macquarie Fields where its candidate, Steven Chaytor, was forced to go to preferences to win the seat which former cabinet minister Craig Knowles held by a thumping 23.5 per cent margin Iemma gets a bloody nose

Eye on Politics & Taxes: State Greens show their muscle
The New South Wales Greens have shown they are a force to be reckoned with at the polling booths this weekend

The Greens achieved an unprecedented swing in by-elections at Maroubra and Marrickville, and cracked the 30 per cent barrier on primary votes for the first time in Australian electoral history.
Marrickville candidate Sam Byrne got 40 per cent of the primary vote, with a swing of 12 per cent, forcing Education Minister Carmel Tebbutt to rely on preferences to secure the seat.

• Triple MaMaMas [Saturday, September 17, 2005 The Poll Bludger Triple M By-Elections Live ; Gay mum set to liven stuffy upper house ]
• · Questions dog foundation formed to aid local children Betrayal of trust?; JG report on foundation sparks state investigation
• · · Gwinnett County Commission spent $150 million since 2000 Long trail of secret land buys ; Bill Bowman and Paul D’Ambrosio of Gannett New Jersey newspapers navigated the details of school district contracts to show that “in districts around the state, it is not uncommon for boards of education to grant tens of thousands of dollars in extra pay to their chief administrators through complex contract deals that keep the true cost of compensation from the taxpayers Perks pad school superintendents' pay
• · · · ASIO bugged embassies, not MPs: ex-chief ; Mary Beth Tinker looks like an ordinary, middle-aged woman. Nothing about her subdued clothing, hairstyle or mannered demeanor suggests she's an answer on law school exams. Except for the black armband Wearing the Right to Free Speech on Her Sleeve
• · · · · Latham 'rapt' with response to book ; In Houston, Scott Parkin lived a mostly inconspicuous life as a part-time history teacher and peace activist. But in Australia, he has become a media sensation, a symbol of dissent and a topic of fervent Australian senate debate. Houstonian stirs a ruckus in Australia ; Google Presents: Big brother keeps an active watch
• · · · · · Iraq Invasion Radicalized Saudi Fighters: Report ; Tim Collins told his troops this was a war of liberation, not conquest. Now he says that he was naive to believe it This is a Mess of Our Own Making

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When a law enforcement officer looks at a company, one of the first questions he or she asks him or herself will be: Are these people good guys or bad guys?

Eye on Politics & Taxes: We're So Good We'll Be Fine
Can you ever think too much about leadership? Not in my book.

But then, I'm firmly in the camp of people make history rather than history makes people. EBay also did one thing Mr. Omidyar was not thinking about 10 years ago: it proved that even in these daunting times, one person with a good idea can still change the world.
In law-firm-land, think of what Marty Lipton built at Wachtel, the development of the Socratic/case method of instruction by Christopher Columbus Langdell at Harvard Law in the 1800's, or even the invention of the "Cravath model" here in the early 1900's. Do individuals make a difference? You bet

• And Other Fairy Tales [Maybe we are crazy. Maybe we will change the world; Morris Iemma and Peter Debnam face their first electoral test as Premier and Opposition Leader Tripple MaMaMa byelections. It is all about the state of the State economy, stupid - Bread and the Ballot: Byelections test mettle of leaders You cannot go past the poll bludger for a comprehensive coverage of the triple-M by-election seats NSW by-elections ; The annual allowance for senators and members Recent Parliamentary Library papers ;]
• · They might not know it, but the politicians of NSW have some new neighbours... Just near the Parliament building, a small community of homeless men has sprung up, drawn by the protection it offers from swirling winds. Out of Mind ; Mind games: Without shame, we thrash out marriage difficulties before relationship therapists. Parents pack their teenagers off to psychotherapy when exam pressure threatens to overwhelm. Trauma counsellors swarm over crime scenes as naturally as police From the couch to the bedroom
• · · Proposed laws on strikes and lockouts tip the playing field further against employees Secret ballot or secret war? ; Betting & Polls
• · · · Anti-money laundering update ; Scott Parkin Our very own political prisoner ; Murdoch fears Latham gets more than enough rope
• · · · · The eloquence of America's politicians. My uncle, Richard Podrasky. Representing the cousins, my cousin, Jeannie Podrasky Polished Pollies ; Beyond Right and Left
• · · · · · An eastern German report card 16 years after reunification The Price of a Failed Reunification ; Here comes the rent rise, and it may top 30%

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Leaders are people who leave their footprints in their areas of passion.
-Jonathan Byrnes

There should be a continued discussion well beyond the trivialities of parliamentary question time and the revolving news cycles. I hope this book will help concentration on what might really be going wrong with Australia and how, as it turned out after the mid-sixties and the mid-seventies, we might again get the chance to set things right. Looking for Leadership: Have Australians become more conservative over the past decade? Australia in the Howard years

Eye on Politics & Taxes:
Australia is one of the easiest countries in which to start and run a business, a new World Bank report has found.

The Doing Business report ranks Australia as the sixth most business-friendly country of the 155 studied, based on assessments of a range of regulatory benchmarks related to business operations, including start-up, paying taxes and access to credit.

• World Bank says Australia a top place to run a business [Doing Business ; Mobile phone retailer John Ilhan of Crazy John's still heads Australia's wealthiest young entrepreneurs, entertainers and sports people, with a fortune of $300 million What's it like to be crazy rich? ; Maybe we are crazy. Maybe we will change the world You are Different. So is Jozef Imrich ]
• · In a hot summer's night in December 1964 I was about to write the last chapter of a book on Australia. The opening sentence of this last chapter was: 'Australia is a lucky country, run by second-rate people who share its luck.' The great irony: How ironic then that Horne's irony was totally overlooked! ; Horne's irony was lost on Australia
• · · Tim Dunlop: The biggest signal of an extremist government isn't the policies they put forward, it's the way that they try to implement them. Sunrise, sunset ; When John Howard speaks from the Australian heartland - rather than to it - the competition finds it hard to get a word in edgewise Relaxed and comfortable ; Should housing provide a tax haven or a haven for people? The real purpose of housing
• · · · The Premier, Morris Iemma, has refused to rule out raising taxes to help rid the State Government of its growing budget deficit Deficit rings the tax rise alarm ; Do we have the technology to build a better legal system?; John Braithwaite Markets in Vice, Markets in Virtue Sydney: Too much talk about tax reform in Australia focuses on just one small headline-grabbing aspect: the cutting of personal tax rates. What about the on-going and increasingly abusive tax avoidance and evasion that is undermining of the integrity of the tax system Avoiding the issue: countering the termites in the Australian tax system
• · · · · A dirty joke inside the government The Aristobureaucrats ; Just Following the Law ; The organisational culture within Australia’s Department of Immigration appears to have little regard for human rights. Tom Davis, an ex-insider, says it didn't have to be that way Why I quit the department
• · · · · · Former Labor leader Mark Latham says he doesn't plan to ever speak again to his political mentor Gough Whitlam Enough Rope ; Mark Latham's habit of projecting his own bad motives onto others is about to unfold spectacularly Mark Latham: Bitter loser or brave tell-all?; A case for political maturity

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John Allen Paulos, professor of mathematics at Temple University, argues that life is too complex for evolution to explain, say supporters of intelligent design. Yet they insist market forces will suffice for the economy The mousetrap

Eye on Politics & Taxes: How the Free Market Killed New Orleans
The free market played a crucial role in the destruction of New Orleans and the death of thousands of its residents.

Forewarned that a momentous (force 5) hurricane was going to hit that city and surrounding areas, what did officials do? They played the free market. They announced that everyone should evacuate. Everyone was expected to devise their own way out of the disaster area by private means, just like people do when disaster hits free-market Third World countries.
It is a beautiful thing this free market in which every individual pursues his or her own personal interests and thereby effects an optimal outcome for the entire society. Thus does the invisible hand work its wonders in mysterious ways.

• Bush is trying to save the world when he can’t even Take care of his own people here at home [Book Relief and a Curious Coincidence ; Remove the elementary staples of organised, civilised life - food, shelter, drinkable water, minimal personal security - and we go back within hours to a Hobbesian state of nature, a war of all against all Decivilisation is not as far away as we like to think ; Tom Engelhardt on the parallels between the Iraq War and the Katrina crisis At the Front of Nowhere at All ]
• · David Rieff on why the ideological battle against Islamists is nothing like the struggle against communism Their Hearts and Minds? ; Why German writers should speak their minds in the current election campaign. Writers! Break free of your routine!
• · · The era of small government is over. Sept. 11 challenged it. Katrina killed it. Small-Government Rhetoric Gets Filed Away; Why judicial philosophies matter The Real World
• · · · The Conservatives toy with a politically risky idea A dip in the middle: The flat tax ; Scrapping tax breaks for company cars, increasing the cost of four-wheel-drives, boosting bicycle use and topping up the first home buyers' grant for people who buy greener homes must be considered to make cities liveable Tax drivers and reward green homes
• · · · · Mr Brogden's staff argue a three-month redundancy package was made available to staff of the previous leader Kerry Chikarovski Liberals to fund Brogden staff payouts ; Iemma and Debnam face off in Parliament
• · · · · · Telecommunications problems, power outages, and slowness to update the department Web site contributed to delays getting aid to people who needed it Homeland Security's CTO Says Katrina Was A 'Failure' Of Incident Response ; Iemma and Debnam both need an impressive start in Parliament A new game of follow the leader but the knives remain sharpened

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Bush and Blair - and Howard! - are spreading "freedom" everywhere, they're making the savage and the heathen in the darker continents familiar with our brand "democracy" and they're fighting a war against "terror" at home and abroad that will enable a great many of their people to live on the edge of misery - and on the edge of "terror" about what the future might hold James Cumes

Eye on Politics & Taxes: Pollies and their journo friends
Everybody's getting their quid's worth in the wake of John Brogden's travails this week

The media loves nothing more than self-analysis and it will no doubt begin in earnest following John Brogden's downfall and subsequent sad suicide attempt this week, Mark Latham's former press secretary Glenn Byers writes in The Australian today. Byers has a particular beef with how the meeja reported the story about his old boss and that video

• Never trust a journalist [Gross domestic product calculations put too much spin on society's progress A measure, not of wellbeing ; Wasn't it Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky who said you shouldn't skate to where the puck is but to where the puck will be? A true idiot will miss the metaphor ]
• · Catholic World Youth Day Politics and religion in Australia; Wouldn’t recommend this Telco to my mum! You're a disgrace, PM tells Telstra
• · · Have civil liberties in Queensland slunk back to the dark old days? Are Queensland's police out of control? ; The Liberal Party is a broad church, it's got a lot of views … David Clarke Hockey kicks along Libs' rolling brawl ; Dancing on the graves of the moderates; Lateline of political life line
• · · · Mum v Mum: the new custody battle ; 'Born bad' NZ millionaire jailed indefinitely
• · · · · A debate about the role of the state in light of these tragic events Thoughts On New Orleans And What It Means ; Beyond New Orleans, Katrina Destroys Music History Too
• · · · · · What to do when the boss is a jerk? According to Forbes, managing a stupid boss is about idiot engineering When the boss is an idiot ; My boss follows me around the building if I am out of my chair for more than ten minutes. The funny thing is, he thinks I don't notice! Coping with a toxic boss or a lousy job can take a severe toll on your productivity - and your life

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There'll always be some people at the fringe playing political games, but the rest of us are getting on with the job Debnam unveils frontbench team

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Timing is everything
I 'm having trouble articulating just how angry I am at pundits, writes Nic White, both in the media and the blogosphere, who are capitalising on this disaster to score political or ideological points:

Stop right there. First of all, "politics" mandates nothing. It's an abstract noun. It's like beginning a sentence "Morality dictates that..." Morality dictates nothing. It's how people interpret morality, and how they apply it in certain situations which evolve over time. Politics are people, and what they make of their political situation, and when the realities of their lives demand that the political and economic circumstances of their lives change. It isn't something to put on a shelf and used only when the climate of opinion permits

• James Wolcott [Two men in Villawood detention centre have not eaten for 14 days and say they will continue the hunger strike until they die Detainees vow to starve themselves to death ; Antony Loewenstein on Labor MP Michael Danby Saga goes mainstream; Records show misuse of town credit cards
• · Democracy the Worst Form of Government Ever Tried ; Home Ownership Riskier with New Bankruptcy Law
• · · In the Spring of 2005, workers' votes in France and the Netherlands made the difference in defeating the draft European constitution and ending socialist party control of the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg Europe, Capitalism, and Socialism ; The Russian Revolution and the unresolved historical problems of the 20th century
• · · · And Moisés Naím on how John Bolton and Robert Mugabe might be the two best things to ever happen to the UN The Bad Boys of Global Politics ; John Quiggin Simplifying taxes
• · · · · His bestselling The Purpose-Driven Life has made him a superstar, but is mega-pastor Rick Warren's true purpose strictly political? Rick Warren, 'America's Pastor' ; Accusing one’s political enemies of lying is certainly an old tactic, and often enough an effective one Seized by the Political Spirit ; The Struggle for Civil Rights for People with Disabilities Able to Fight
• · · · · · Abbott leaves 'sorry' message for Brogden ; Brogden sex claim branded a lie ; The Tele's sordid shame ; Mark Coulton has a colourful history in importing Fined $2m, tobacco smuggler could now face 10 years in prison

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I did not sleep very well last night. I was haunted by the faces of the victims of Hurricane Katrina, which slammed into the US Gulf Coast on Sunday. I kept seeing an African American woman holding two babies, screaming into the camera Help us, we are dying

Eye on Politics & Taxes: The hurricane from Hell
The hurricane from Hell
It's a sight that even had hardened news reporters saying they couldn't believe their eyes. One said:

It just didn't look like America any more, little babies taking a bath under a water spigot that had just been turned on. What they were referring to was how a hurricane had turned parts of America into a Third World country in the space of four days. The famous world-class city of New Orleans has descended into anarchy, with dead bodies floating by in water that covered 80 percent of the city, looting, gun battles in the street, houses set on fire. An Australian couple, stranded in the city on tour, were forced to go to the Superdome in New Orleans and said they feared for their lives. A Canadian tourist told the Associated Press he didn't know if he'd get out alive: I'm scared of riots. I'm scared of the locals. We might get caught in the crossfire

• The fear and frustration grew inside Flooded Orleans [Hurricane Katrina Interview: Alexander Downer ; Thousands of Blogs Cover Hurricane Katrina's Impact ; Both sides of the anti-terrorism dialogue must give ground Listening, not lecturing, is the answer ; List of bloggers who've been posting from/near/about New Orleans and the Gulf Coast Live from Katrina ]
• · It was a golden run. For hard-hat man John Roberts, the job of building Sydney’s Olympic stadium was a shining reward for a lifetime of toil. For Multiplex, the company Roberts had founded 40 years earlier, it was a launch-pad to even dizzier heights – the $1 billion contract to redevelop the spiritual home of soccer, England’s Wembley stadium Road to Wembley ; Lobbying is out of control
• · · Siek Toon Khoo and John Ainley examine how attitudes influence decisions to continue with school and education beyond school Attitudes, intentions and participation ; Restructuring and governance in the Australian health system 2004–05 (Re)form with Substance? ; How Al-Qaeda defeated New York Ground zilch
• · · · Colourful personality, Moira Coombs, describes the excision process and its legal implications Excising Australia: Are we really shrinking? ; Timetable for the next Australian elections
• · · · · How effective has the United Nations human rights system been in promoting human rights observance by Australian governments?; After the New Economy Actually existing capitalism
• · · · · · Young revisionists in South Korea are rethinking who the villains and heroes were in the Korean War. The Unwanted General; A look at the unintended consequences of the Kremlin's power grab over Russia's regions Beyond Siberia ; Mikhail Khodorkovsky Jailed Tycoon Plans to Run for Office

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Three things distinguish living from the soul versus living from the ego only. They are: the ability to sense and learn new ways, the tenacity to ride a rough road and the patience to learn deep love over time.
-Clarissa Pinkola-Estes "Women Who Run with the Wolves"

The effect of Hurricane Katrina in terms of human lives is appalling, and its destruction of property and infrastructure devastating. Time isn't just money in this catastrophe. It's lives... American bewilderment turns to fury as the richest nation on earth fails to rescue its own people from the ravages of Hurricane Katrina
The foretelling of a deadly disaster in New Orleans: Civic arrangements work or they fail. Leaders are found worthy or wanting. What's happening in New Orleans and Mississippi today is a human tragedy. But take a close look at the people you see wandering, devastated, around New Orleans: they are predominantly black and poor. The political disturbances are still to come. Bodies, gunfire, chaos and anarchy in New Orleans' streets

Eye on Politics & Taxes: Neil Mann
The States are losing not just a Mann, but also a strategic Thinker:

Well it’s time for me to say goodbye to you all. I start a new phase of my public service career from Monday, 12 September when I transfer to the Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs to head up their new Compliance Policy and Case Coordination Division. I can certainly say that it isn’t without some regret that I leave GST. Looking back over the past twenty two months and seeing everything we have achieved as a line, I am very positive about the future for GST.

Like Collingwood coach Neil Mann, who sought to inspire players before a 1955 semi-final by releasing a crate of magpies in the centre of the MCG, younger Neil is leaving the office on a positive note. The Goods and Services troops appreciate his common sense views on zero alcohol policy. Good on ya Neil as even John Tadros supports the sentiment ...
• I know that many executives, like Kathleen Gibbings, will miss the easy-going leadership style of Neil Mann Speech by Neil Mann; No ifs or Buts [Months before John Brogden's racist, sexist slur, which led to the end of his career as NSW Opposition leader this week, his opponents were plotting his demise and seeking to install their own candidate How Brogden fell into a Machiavellian plot ; Nothing gained in pointing the finger ; Ah, the tears of crocodiles ; Such lack of discipline takes the cake]
• · This journal has become the Survival of New Orleans blog The Interdictor; Bookseller Relief Fund Book Industry Responds to Katrina's Catastrophic Effects
• · · If you read one thing about New Orleans, read this email to Boing Boing by a rescue worker. And the waters shall cover the sea ; via Barista
• · · · Harry Heidelberg's Sydney Opposition is in a political sense only ; My objective is more to make observations which could even be helpful to the Webdiary operators Webdiary Watch #1 ; Webdiary watch #2
• · · · · Dream of city life gives way to need for space ; Steep housing costs spark skills exodus ; Mystery millions: Crocodile Dundee swept up in tax net
• · · · · · It's more than a question of rebuilding our political leadership. We have to rebuild our shattered faith and sense of purpose as Liberals O'Farrell a target of whisper campaign ; When it comes to smear campaigns politicians should look no further than over their shoulders Private lives, public scandal ; A secretive police taskforce has for the past seven months been investigating serious allegations against officers of the Wood royal commission Taskforce explores case that cost three top careers

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Margo Kingston has a unique position in Australian journalism. She's one of our most senior reporters but over the last three years her focus has been a weblog on public affairs - Webdiary. Until last week, Webdiary was the property of Fairfax but no longer. After spending most of her career at the company, Margo Kingston is unplugged. We find out why she left and what she plans for Webdiary Margo, Unplugged

Eye on Politics & Taxes: Democracy at Risk
Democracy at Risk reveals the dangers of civic disengagement for the future of representative democracy.

The authors, all eminent scholars, undertake three main tasks: documenting recent trends in civic engagement, exploring the influence that the design of political institutions and public policies have had on those trends, and recommending steps that will increase the amount and quality of civic engagement in America. The authors focus their attention on three key areas: the electoral process, including elections and the way people get involved; the impact of location, including demographic shifts and changing development patterns; and the critical role of nonprofit organizations and voluntary associations, including the philanthropy that help keep them going.

• How Political Choices Undermine Citizen Participation, and What We Can Do About It [A page on constitutional law case book reviews ; If the law is an ass the law professor is a donkey ]
• · The NSW Liberal Party is taking time to heal its wounds after the apparent suicide attempt of former Opposition Leader John Brogden, newly elected Liberal leader Peter Debnam says NSW Liberal Party is healing ; Politicians and journalists have to live in each other's pockets. They naturally become close Peter Coleman: Candid remarks bite back; The question everyone's asking is: did the Telegraph go too far? State Libs healing: Debnam <
• · · Empire' only became a dirty word in the twentieth century Emancipation & empire, from Cromwell to Karl Rove ; Beyond imperialism: the new internationalism; Empire: a blunt tool for democratization
• · · · Once a liberal pin-up and intellectual leader of the global human rights movement, Michael Ignatieff has fallen out badly with some of his best friends and colleagues No more Mr. Nice Guy; We may have seen only a hint of hip-hop's political promise Hip-Hop Voting Bloc?
• · · · · I just returned from a lovely little respite from the usual grind and its daily dose of news alerts and fire alarms A tale of 4 ethics ; 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America': Who's No. 1?
• · · · · · The history wars ; A Geoffrey Robertson Hypothetical: Australia under attack ; The sacrosanct seats of the lords of creation: n 1925, in the ‘bear pit’ of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in Sydney’s Macquarie Street, Millicent Preston-Stanley gave the first speech made by a female Member of Parliament (MP) in this state and only the second in any Australian parliament Preston-Stanley and Women MPs

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How a media Web site is changing the face — and pace — of media culture
The Romenesko effect

The Blog, The Press, The Media: New around here, stranger?
If you came here in search of information and are curious to know what else this blog has to offer under normal circumstances...

This week, there was a significant event. Margo Kingston, a professional journalist who pioneered blogging on her Webdiary site for The Sydney Morning Herald, has severed connections with Fairfax and gone independent. She is a new phenomenon — the stand-alone journalist. Kingston's site relies heavily on her contributors. She is passionate, partisan, often annoying and, as one of her former bosses once remarked to me, "impossible to manage". Kingston is not a "respected journalist", and while I disagree with her as often as I agree, I mean that as a big compliment.

• Webdiary [Jay Rosen; News outlets, online journalists struggle to fill post-storm ...]
• · "The wall between you, - the audience, - and the circus is coming down," McFarlan declares. It's a three-ring sign of the times: Thanks to new media, we have all become the messengers But what are we saying? ; Blog links for Katrina survivors and families
• · · Can you do a Wayback on that? The Wayback Machine is a free web service that allows people to view archived versions of websites. It consists of around 40 billion web pages that have been archived since 1996 The Wayback Machine The Wall Street Journal Online discussed how US lawyers have used the service to obtain copies of old web pages for use as evidence in areas such as domain name litigation, where proving the content history of a website may be important. Content
• · · · Lib-web-cats is a directory of libraries worldwide Online, Searchable Directory of Libraries Worldwide ; Google wants to be your best friend on your computer ; How Yahoo! will be the center of the million-channel universe
• · · · · Blog Faces Lawsuit Over Reader Comments