Masters and Servants

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... the earth is full of thy riches.
So is this great and wide sea,
wherein are things creeping
innumerable, both small and
great beasts. Psalms 104: 24-25

It is the path of least resistance that makes rivers and men crooked Time Waits for No Man


A Few snowflakes, appropriately, fell around the parish church of Portsea yesterday in Hampshire as hundreds gathered inside to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of its most famous son, Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens turns 200 on Tuesday 7 February 2012. There's no sense singing “Happy Birthday” since he died in 1870 and the song was written decades after that Do we really need to make such a fuss about Karol?‎; A global Dickens appreciation, and a modest proposal - It's part of a marathon celebration of Charles Dickens's 200th birthday – the Global Dickens Read-a-thon Google on Dickens ; Charles Dickens was one of our finest ever writers and it is right and proper that so many people worldwide have been paying homage to the great man this week on his 200th anniversary Dickens would have loved being on Twitter; What is the connection between the great 19th century English novelist and the best-loved Czech literary anti-hero? The answer is, surprisingly enough, that without Dickens we quite possibly wouldn’t have Švejk at all. David Vaughan looks at this and some other Czech links with Dickens in this week’s Czech Books. Dickens and the Good Soldier Švejk ; Karol Dickens was long fascinated by Australia and there is a Charles Dickens statue at Centennial Park, Sydney – Down Under Great southern expectations Dickens based many of his characters on real people and Dickens at 200: still the best we've got on being poor Imrich Not - Like Cold River, Dickens was always a struggle

A Tale of A Decade Old Media Dragon in the Year of the Dragon - I don't want to die without scars Because the truth needs to be told … Everything is but a dream within a dream
Does time exist? Is our perception of the world different from its true reality? Is our concept of time fundamentally flawed? These are the central questions raised by KILLING TIME, a provocative documentary that explores the nature of time.

The film centers on the work of Julian Barbour, a prominent Theoretical Physicist, who gained notoriety with the publication of his landmark book, "The End of Time" (1999). In it, Barbour presents the concept of time as a human construct, not as a separately existing dimension. In a series of interviews, using nothing more than a Polaroid to snap random pictures, Barbour illustrates the development of his radical theory. He explains that physics has always been grounded in Sir Isaac Newton's conception of time as an invisible river that exists and flows independently of the objects in the world.
However, through his work with collaborator Bruno Bertotti, and his own attempts to reconcile the conflict between Quantum Mechanics and Einstein's Theory of Relativity, Barbour came to the conclusion that Newton was wrong. Barbour posits that time is, in fact, an illusion - a measure imposed on the world by humanity. He explains this with the concept of a 'now', which he describes as a snapshot in time - a completely frozen, self-contained instant (much like a Polaroid photograph). Time is simply the measure of the space between two separate and unrelated 'nows.'

• Well, like this river, time seems to flow endlessly from one moment to the next. KILLING TIME ; The truth is the light and light is the truth in the River Town To blog or not to blog …; [As early pioneers in the knowing, that when you lose your reason, you attain highest perfect knowing /Philosophy/ ; There is something to be learned from a rainstorm. When meeting with a sudden shower, you try not to get wet and run quickly along the road. But doing such things as passing under the eaves of houses, you still get wet. When you are resolved from the beginning, you will not be perplexed, though you still get the same soaking. This understanding extends to everything. There’s Only Enough Room in the Blogosphere for the 144 Million of Us ; Top of the Blogs; Trends ; Social media has gone from being a pastime to a necessary component of any brand and business. Ten Media Dragons to follow in the year of the dragon ;]
• · Our home planet is about 4.5 billion (4,500 million) years old. how-it-works-amazing-answers-to-curious-questions ; The universe itself is expanding, but not in the way a balloon expands. The expansion is taking place throughout the universe, where space-time itself is being stretched outwards. Whereas a balloon pushes its edges out as it expands, the universe is also pushing its insides outwards as well, but there is no centre of the universe, so everything is moving away from everything else. It’s a bit like baking a ball of dough; the entire dough expands and grows, not just its edges. However, based on our knowledge of how old the universe is, roughly 14 billion years, we can observe a theoretical ‘edge’ of the visible universe about 14 billion light years away from us. howstuffworks.com It’s a bit like baking a ball of dough; the entire dough expand s and grows, not just its edges.
• · · I'm interested in bending the edges of the spectrum to make the abstract and the concrete hit one another more directly www.howitworksdaily.com ; The Frozen River, deals with the question, "Does time flow?" One of the key points in this chapter deals with special relativity. Observers moving relative to each other have different conceptions of what exists at a given moment, and hence they have different conceptions of reality. The conclusion is that time does not flow, as all things simultaneously exist at the same time The Frozen River; It is said that writers are people who, as children, did not receive sufficient rejection either from adults or peers and so are compelled to seek it relentlessly in later life. Dickens put Cold River on the literary map
• · · · True time would never be revealed by mere clocks--of this Newton was sure Time Waits for No Man; When I became convinced that the universe is natural, that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell. The dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts and bars and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf, or a slave. There was for me no master in all the wide world, not even in infinite space. I was free--free to think, to express my thoughts--free to live my own ideal, free to live for myself and those I loved, free to use all my faculties, all my senses, free to spread imagination's wings, free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope, free to judge and determine for myself . . . I was free! Googopoly
• · · · · How does a newness come into the world? How is it born? Of what fusions, translations, conjoinings is it made? How does it survive, extreme and dangerous as it is? What compromises, what deals, what betrayals of its secret nature must it make to stave off the wrecking crew, the exterminating angel, the guillotine? Is birth always a fall? Do angels have wings? Blog lets readers interact with characters from book: Fallen Lake; Dickens wrote about social issues that still resonate today ... Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put water into a teapot, and it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash! Be water, my friend. Will Inequality Keep Getting Worse?
• · · · · · Everything is held together with stories. That is all that is holding us together, stories and compassion. Newton, forgive me;" Einstein wrote in his Autobiographical Notes ; The general idea for Michelson Morley type experiments is that it is faster to swim a return journey across a flowing river than it takes to swim an equivalent distance upstream and back. If you do the maths it is quite easy to verify this. We have to substitute the swimmer for light and the river for the aether, and then build our testing apparatus accordingly. Invisible river that flows uniformly for ever irrespective of how fast the boat is being rowed the ripples from the oars will travel across the water with the same speed
• · · · · · From The Atlantic - 150th Anniversary Edition - The Duty to Think "On the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, we present this commemorative issue featuring Atlantic stories by Mark Twain, Henry James, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott, and many more." James Bennet editor of The Atlantic: "It is possible, in these pages, to enter into both the humanity of figures consecrated or condemned by history and the uncertainty the writers must have felt during the rush of events...It seemed to us that these Atlantic pieces have a way of conversing across the decades. And so in this issue, one finds Garry Wills’s account from 1992 of how Lincoln used the Gettysburg Address to reinterpret the Constitution and thereby “revolutionized the Revolution, giving people a new past to live with that would change their future indefinitely.” And then, equipped with that explication of how Lincoln purified the nation’s meaning, and with President Obama’s summation of what that meaning is, the reader can then encounter, with fresh appreciation, Lowell’s epitaph for Lincoln: New birth of our new soil, the first American The Duty to Think ; This year the media will gather in Berlin from March 6th 2012, on the eve of ITB Berlin, as the world’s leading travel trade show devotes the day entirely to the sector for the first time. Duty To Meet with Journalists

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Here's to a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year, to all media dragons! I thought it would be difficult to decide what to write for my first blog entry. I thought it would need to be original, witty, unique, and somehow perfect. Yet, I don't have a perfect track record when it comes to new years resolutions, so this year MMXII I am not even planning to change the world for the better. The reality is that in 2012 Media Dragon is 10 years old and how the decade just flew. My daughters will be both in their twenties and how I managed to get grey hair is beyond me ... I might be older, yet the mind and idiosyncrasies of women and computers are still a foreign language to me. I must have done something strange in my previous lives to be blessed with four sisters, two daughters etc ... ;-) New Year's Resolutions I've Already Broken.

There's been a dramatic end to New Year's Eve celebrations in Melbourne, with the iconic Arts Centre spire catching fire - (hat tip to MT iphone).


Tens of thousands of revelers filled Melbourne Streets, while we watched George Cluney in the Descandants, to ring in the new year Saturday night. Counting backwards from 10, the crowd cheered as the clock struck midnight and fireworks even peppered Catholics at St Kilda

Wishing one another a happy new year, many people shared a kiss with a significant other, while others traded high fives and hugs. May this new vintage be a bit more than peppered with good intentions ;-) Happy New Year to media types everywhere

If your conscience is clear, you've nothing to worry about. Your innocence will be proved, but you have to fight for it! I believe that if one doesn't give way, truth must always come out in the end. Maria in Václav Havel, Vyrozumení (The Memorandum) (1966)

-In certain countries, theatres do not merely hire half-starved performers to act out the writings of half-starved writers. They also launch (escapes and)revolutions! Absurdity and truth: the passing of Václav Havel

The Joy of Quiet: Happy New Year to Quiet Douliae types everywhere Gabbie Melbourne Gal: Out with the Old, and iN with the New
When telegraphs and trains brought in the idea that convenience was more important than content — and speedier means could make up for unimproved ends — Henry David Thoreau reminded us that “the man whose horse trots a mile in a minute does not carry the most important messages.” Even half a century ago, Marshall McLuhan, who came closer than most to seeing what was coming, warned, “When things come at you very fast, naturally you lose touch with yourself.” Thomas Merton struck a chord with millions, by not just noting that “Man was made for the highest activity, which is, in fact, his rest,” but by also acting on it, and stepping out of the rat race and into a Cistercian cloister.

I never ... watch TV ... Nor do I go to cocktail parties, dinners or anything like that.” He lived outside conventional ideas, he implied, because “I live alone mostly, in the middle of nowhere.”

Around the same time, I noticed that those who part with $2,285 a night to stay in a cliff-top room at the Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur pay partly for the privilege of not having a TV in their rooms; the future of travel, I’m reliably told, lies in “black-hole resorts,” which charge high prices precisely because you can’t get online in their rooms.
Has it really come to this?
In barely one generation we’ve moved from exulting in the time-saving devices that have so expanded our lives to trying to get away from them — often in order to make more time. The more ways we have to connect, the more many of us seem desperate to unplug. Like teenagers, we appear to have gone from knowing nothing about the world to knowing too much all but overnight.

• · Hat tip - Gina F The man whose horse trots a mile in a minute does not carry the most important messages [A Variety of New Year's Resolutions
‎ - 666 Pure Vodka run a workshop in NY where Sam Ross (former Melbourne bartender, now manager of Milk & Honey in New York and recently awarded American Bartender of the Year at the 2011 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards) described his bartending philosophy and shared various cocktail techniques to a mostly industry-only crowd. It was a really interesting session (I took lots of notes, nerd that I am) Melbourne Gal in love with her city - Milk & Honey ; Chichi Bella and her recommended readings Divine Simplicity of Life in Melbourne; Gabbie and her How to do stuff sites Crafts]
• · · Melbourne erupted in a blaze of colour and light at midnight as Australia ushered in the new year in style Melbourne Arts Centre set ablaze during fireworks ; Sydney turned on a dazzling display of fireworks on the harbour that cost $6.5 million and lasted 12 minutes Cities of light deliver hope in darker times
• · · · Happy 2012 for all crossworders ... ... but may it be a bad year for the crossword gremlins; Metropolis
• · · · · Sydney and Hong Kong set the standard with glittering extravaganzas, while London geared up for a firework display over the River Thames to usher in a year in which it will host the Olympic Games World rings in New Year in blaze of fireworks ; The NSW Minister for Planning has asked two lawyers and ex-State Government ministers - Tim Moore and Ron Dyer; one Liberal, the other Labor - to review the NSW Planning System. Into the swamps of the current system, or a clear view of where to go?
• · · · · ·In announcing the end of the Iraq War, President Obama ignored its horrors, so as not to further upset its still-powerful supporters. But his silence removed the context for Pvt. Bradley Manning's moral decision to expose these crimes of war. Bradley Manning: traitor or hero?; Apocalypse now: caught in the Web of Revelations - In Hell there is nowhere to hide. It's official: we've all gone to hell

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We are lucky We are We. We are lucky to have come across people like Dr Cope

Dr. Seuss once wrote a poem called Did I ever tell you how lucky you are?

Anytime we start thinking that our job doesn’t pay us enough, our leg’s aren’t long enough, our house isn’t big enough, the town we live in isn’t exciting enough, our boss isn’t forgiving enough, our spouse isn’t rich enough…

you’re lucky you have a job, and legs, and a house. you’re lucky you have people in your life that care about you and want to see you succeed. you’re lucky you have free will; and the ability to mold your life the way you want it to be. you’re lucky you have people to encourage, friends and family to love, and a life to lead.

You’re lucky You’re You.
Acknowledging the things you’d like to address or fix in your life is healthy. changing the things you have the ability to change is even healthier.
but complaining or wishing for things which are completely out of your control,
is just plain silly.
You’re lucky You’re You.

As the friendliest and considerate President in my time in NSW Parliament, Johno Johnson, noted: In 1991 Dr Russell Cope, the Parliamentary Librarian, concluded 40 years of meritorious service Dr Cope is one of those living treasures that few institutions have ... Happy Birthday, Dr Cope

The Wisdom of De Cope and June and my parents is reflected in the story about Robert Redford who turns 75 next month. He still directs, only occasionally performs and remains, as always, protective of his private persona. One of the slogans I remember when I was a kid was, 'It doesn't matter how you win or lose it's how you play the game'," he says. And I realised over time that that was a lie and that in this country everything was about winning. That's when I was able to make my own films and concentrate on the subject of winning and how that affected human beings." In Surratt's instance, the effect was a seemingly unjust death after a trial in which her guilt or innocence was not truly tested. Redford points to Stanton's contravention of the US Constitution as his win, achieving what he thought would save the union at a fragile moment in its formative years.
"The fact that the rule of law was the only thing we had to hold this country in place morally I found an interesting story," Redford says. "This was an example of how the Constitution was rearranged to satisfy political interests at that time." The contemporary parallels are obvious but Redford invokes them anyway, pointing to the "constant threats" to the US Constitution through some "pretty big events in American history that were threats to the moral standing of our country", including McCarthyism, the John F. Kennedy assassination, Watergate and the Iran-Contra affair.
You have these patterns that have repeated themselves over time. And it's usually the same people, the same mentality, the same personalities that threaten that. . I find that interesting because I suspect that if we as Americans had a better value of history we wouldn't be repeating these things but I think we have a short-term memory.
As the friendliest and considerate President in my time in NSW Parliament, Johno Johnson, noted: In 1991 Dr Russell Cope, the Parliamentary Librarian, concluded 40 years of meritorious service Dr Cope is one of those living treasures that few institutions have ... Happy Birthday, Dr Cope

Dodd-Frank - What If the Federal Reserve Can't Pull Any More Tricks From Its Sleeves? The Financial Printer Diaries: Tales of an Era Gone By - Part 1
A few months ago, I blogged a "Farewell to Bowne" and posted a poll about "your favorite financial printer moment." In response to the poll, 69% responded that free food was their favorite (no surprise!); 41% said tedious arguments over commas and periods; 19% said brushing up on proofing; 5% said good facetime with partners and 10% said sleeping in the bathroom.

In addition, I received many emails with specific memories, some of which are repeated below - please keep them coming and I will only blog them if you give me permission:
- My favorite memory is an experience done a hundred times melded into one memory: the clearing of the blue line, just before printing the final prospectus (you know, when nobody is left at the printer other than a couple of lawyers and accountants with sometimes a guest appearance by the junior analyst from the investment bank to make sure their name is spelled correctly on the cover of the 424). Ah, peace.
- My favorite story involves the hubris of a first-year associate from a large, very prestigious firm that shall go unnamed, in the early-ish days of constant cell phone use. This was about a decade ago, in mid-2000 or so, and it was dinnertime after the deal ended and I was having a brief meal before heading home, and he was having a few beers with a colleague before heading out, and we overheard him calling the front desk on his cellphone from the lunchroom and attempting to order a car, and totally confounding the front desk since he wasn't walking a few doors down to ask for the car or calling on the printer's phone, but using his cell phone. And he was a little tipsy. In the end, it devolved down to a "do you know who I am" moment on his part, after which he stated very loudly "I am a ____ associate", as if it was time for whoever was on the other line at the front desk to bow down to him and call that car - fast. That was an iconic moment, a classic "I don't want to be that entitled person" story.
- I spent many long hours at Bowne of Dallas, which had nice cushy chairs, a huge projection TV and free Pac Man and Ms Pac Man game tables (now that gives you the timeframe). Good BBQ for meals, too.
- I sure have a lot of good memories of lawyers, accountants and bankers working nights shoulder-to-shoulder at the printers in the '70's and 80's. In Cleveland, our printer was originally known as The Judson Brooks Company, which was later acquired by Bowne. We all knew some of the owners and most of the staff like family. They had a couple of cots separated by curtains in the back where you could catch a few hours' shut-eye before leaving for the dawn flight to DC with the SEC filing package. We did the red-lining on the plane. Many the nights I called my wife to let her know I would be working late and spending the night at "The Judson Hilton."
- Going to the printer was one on the best things about being a securities lawyer. Unlike everyone else in the world, financial printers loved lawyers and would do most anything to make them happy. I love you.

• Going to the printer was one on the best things about being a securities lawyer ; A Dearth of Whistleblower Complaints? ;
Link to WSJ List of Top 50 U.S. Banks: KeyCorp's CEO Beth Mooney; Worldwide financial meltdown or note women rule KeyCorp's CEO Beth Mooney ;
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was signed into law one year ago today. Many significant provisions become effective today. Many more aspects of the law remain to be implemented through regulation. Happy Birthday, Dodd-Frank!
• • The Federal Register version of the final regulation identifies comments -- both pro and con -- which have been received by the OCC in response to the proposed regulation issued May 25, 2011.
Key points:
* The preemption shield has been eliminated for operating subsidiaries of national banks as well as op subs of federal savings associations.
* Federal thrifts can no longer avail themselves of "field preemption." Their preemption standard is the same as that for national banks.
* The OCC removed language from its 2004 regulations which differed from that articulated in the Dodd-Frank Act and in the Barnett Bank of Marion County , N.A. v. Nelson case (rejected language called for preemption of state laws that "obstruct, impair, or condition a national bank's powers) and substituted the language from Dodd-Frank and Barnett: calling for federal preemption of any state law that "prevents or significantly interferes with the exercise by the national bank of its powers."
* The OCC still contends that, although it is changing the language of its regulation, it did not need to repeal the 2004 regulations that were essentially "gutted" by Dodd Frank. The OCC opines that all the prior preemption determinations remain in effect because the Dodd-Frank standard is not limited to the "prevents or significantly interferes" standard, but rather encompasses all the reasoning of the Barnett case and the OCC's interpretation of that case, which OCC says remains unchanged. This is sure to provoke controversy.
* The OCC also contends that the existing categories of state laws that are preempted remain valid because they represent the OCC's review of the impact of each law. The OCC says that the Dodd-Frank requirement for "case-by-case" preemption determinations will only affect future preemption determinations.
* The final regulation revises the OCC's 2004 visitorial powers rule to conform to the U.S. Supreme Court opinion in Cuomo v. Clearing House Association, L.L.C. The new OCC regulations follow the Dodd-Frank provisions that make it clear that a state attorney general may bring an action against a national bank in a court of appropriate jurisdiction to enforce applicable laws. ; Several people asked what I thought about humor in legal writing, a topic I touch on in my Academic Legal Writing book. Here’s my thinking on the subject:
Humor can be valuable: It can keep the reader interested, put the reader in a good mood, and make the reader feel something of a psychological link to the author. Humor in article titles can also help the article be more eye-catching and more memorable. I still remember an article title I saw in the early 1990s, “One Hundred Years of Privacy”; this both communicated the article’s essence (a look back on the privacy tort a century after Warren and Brandeis first proposed it), and humorously alluded to the novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude.” Humor in Legal Writing
• • • The "ostrich defense," "idiot defense," or "Sergeant Schultz (I know nothing, I see nothing, I hear nothing) defense" is being asserted again -- this time by Rupert Murdoch in his testimony before the U.K. Parliament's Culture, Media, and Sport Committee yesterday. The "ostrich defense," "idiot defense ; Norwegian Terror Suspect Arrested Motives May Be Nationalist and Anti-Islamic
• • • Mary Lou Byrne is the project coordinator of Mosman Library's new interactive, online visual history project, Mosman Faces. The project will be launched next week as part of Library and Information Week Big day for book lovers at library ; Digital Librarians

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“To thine own self be true,” said Polonius. Timeless advice, but who are you, really, other than an enigma to yourself?...

Outrageous revenge plots when love between astronauts or a puritanical judge and his siren-like sister-in-law went wrong. The public humiliation of a bit player in the Clinton impeachment circus. A lurid misery memoir exposed as fiction. Do we gain anything from reading narratives of these personal unravellings apart from (guilty) pleasure at the pain of others? We might, but not by reading this new book on scandals Who put the Moravian born Freud into Schadenfreude?

The creation of a Southern Silk Road Prime Time for Liberty: Marx of the Media Age
The early bird gets the worm,
and the early worm gets eaten.
I duped the despot by crawling like a snake,” wrote Adam Mickiewicz. No one survives in a dictatorship without being compromised... In Search of Lost Meaning: The New Eastern Europe

There were moments reading this book when I was forced to shut it closed, an experience utterly alien to me. Like any reasonably historically-aware individual, I considered myself familiar with the carnage that overtook Europe in the earlier half of the 20th century: the gas chambers and the gulags, the mass shootings and show trials, the wanton disregard for human life and the heinous ideas which compelled people to, actively or passively, play a part in the deaths of tens of millions of fellow human beings. Reading about this period, there comes a point when the sheer scale and horror of the events which took place — the instant incineration of tens of thousands of civilians, for instance — desensitizes one from appreciating the sheer terror and physical pain that individuals endured.

• The Butchery of Hitler and Stalin [Empty trash. Buy milk. Forge history; Dangerous minds Criminal Minds; Paul Theroux loathes luxury. He set off 50 years ago in search of miserable, difficult places; forbidden cities; and back roads...;
As a young girl, Arundhati Roy once raided her teacher’s garden in her native village in Kerala, the lush tropical state in the south of India. She dug up the carrots, removed the edible orange roots, then carefully replanted the green tops in the soil. It took four days for the greenery to wither and the crime to be discovered. The culprit was never identified There is romance in their resistance]
• · TWO MILLIGRAMS OF The Big B, the doctor will say not so long from now after you have come in for relief from the Theme Park Adventure that is your life. It will cure what ails your restless iPodded, iPadded, and Kindled existence. Boredom, which begins, as Walter Benjamin put it, when “we don’t know what we’re waiting for,” is now a solution, not a problem. The Uses of Tedium; Last requests. In death, John Ross wanted his ashes mixed with pot, rolled into a joint, and smoked at his funeral; Hard to say what’s more ridiculous: reading Ayn Rand or sitting through a three-part film adaptation of Atlas Shrugged. Pick your poison
• · · Humans are natural-born storytellers, so lying is in our blood Lying and art spring from a common impulse: to escape reality. Art is in fact a kind of lying, and lying a form of art... If you can lie, you can act - Promiscuous with his enthusiasms; Among the countless pleasures of profanity is versatility. Noun, verb, adverb, or adjective, four-letter vulgarities are indispensable Adverb; “The only way to write is well,” said A.J. Liebling, “how you do it is your own damn business.” Unless you’re Jozef Imrich... Heavy sentences
• · · · Marshall McLuhan is the Marx of the media age. But his Catholicism was no deadening opiate. It made him more ambitious and far-reaching...At the turn of the nineteenth century and in the early decades of the twentieth there was Darwin in biology, Marx in political science, Einstein in physics, and Freud in psychology. Since then there has been only McLuhan in communications studies. Marx of the media age; Peter's classmate Greg Hywood; Where should the ABC sit within the changing media landscape? The Place Of The National Broadcaster
• · · · · The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning ... Saroeun with Sister; The story of the families who fled the killing fields of Cambodia to find safety in Australia, revisited nearly 25 years on. What are they doing? Did they find a home? And what does their experience tell us about the current debate over refugee arrivals? Where Are They Now?
• · · · · · China has been buying-up Australian farming land and mines. Does this represent a national problem? Selling off the farm?; China is not only Australia's largest trading partner, but is also an increasingly important supplier of capital. Indeed, Hong Kong aside, Australia is now China's top foreign direct investment destination. Chinese perspectives on investing in Australia; Southern silk road: Turbocharging "South-South" economic growth

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Few weeks before the NSW Elections the legendry anti-corruption campaigner, John Hatton warned the people of Bermagui, Make sure that neither of the big parties get a majority in both houses of parliament. Voting Independent in the Upper House is your insurance for good government ... For example, I want to see a Public Works Committee, a Public Accounts Committee and a Public Service Commission which is not under government control. This will enable projects, expenditure and management to be put under a non-government spotlight. The public service at the moment centred in the Premier’s Department is to a large extent made up of people appointed - not to manage efficiently - but to be puppets delivering favours to big political donors John Hatton speaks about clean government
Candidates will be hoping for an advantageous position when the ballot papers draws for the Legislative Assembly and Council are held soon after the nominations close at midday John Hatton Team is in Left Side of the Paper - Group C

And at the other end of the spectrum the group led by former independent MP and corruption fighter John Hatton could take votes from the Greens. VOTE FOR JOHN HATTON



John Waters - Political wild cards shuffled John HATTON: Hatmobile - Parliamentary Underbelly Series
Mr Hatton was joined by actor John Waters, who played the corruption fighter in the most recent Underbelly series. "I was moved by the fact that I was portraying a man who obviously had a lot of courage to stand up and do what he did," Mr Waters told reporters.

Mr Hatton, a former South Coast MP, said he would bring "openness and accountability" to NSW politics as "somebody who says it as it is and is not afraid to take on the big money and the button pushers".

• The underbelly in NSW politics is very real [Pauline Hanson's bid to enter NSW politics has shone a welcome spotlight on the upper house, anti-corruption campaigner and independent candidate John Hatton says Hanson shines light on upper house: Hatton; Our support rises straight out of the community and our contact with the community is grassroots, he said, explaining that his team and its 'Hatmobile' is travelling across NSW to gather support Hatmobile ; John Hatton is one of Australia's most courageous politicians ever: The Forgotten People; What issues will change the way you vote at the NSW Election? ]
• · Openness and accountability ; John Hatton who opened with a fiery condemnation of corruption in the approvals process for mining and CSG extraction ; Special Gasland screening hosted by John Hatton
• · · Corruption fighter rallies Moruya troops ; Well-known Wollongong lawyer David Swan has launched a bid for the NSW upper house at this month's state election ; Saturday’s Illawarra Mercury helpfully featured opinion polls conducted by local outfit IRIS of each of the five state electorates on the paper’s turf, each with sample sizes of 400 and margins of error approaching 5 per cent. To speak Illawarra
• · · · NSW election minus 16 days ; Pauline Hanson and the NSW Legislative Council election
• · · · · LIBERAL Leader Barry O'Farrell has this morning revealed a family member's struggle with a mental illness helped to inspire the Coalition's health care policy. Barry O'Farrell reveals his family battle with mental illnes ; JUST hours before the NSW government moved into caretaker mode last week, the Planning Minister, Tony Kelly, approved four separate developments at Barangaroo, dealing another blow to critics attempting to stall the project.Minister ran down clock for approvals ; Newspoll has the Gillard government’s primary support a Keneallyesque 30, the Coalition on 45 and Greens 15. Distributing preferences as they flowed at last year’s election comes to 54 to 46 in the Coalition’s favour. Tables here. Newspoll history repeats
• · · · · · A total of 809 candidates have nominated for the NSW Election, 498 candidates for the 93 Legislative Assembly electorates and 311 for the 21-member Legislative Council election. The 498 Assembly candidates is down from 537 in 2007, 661 in 2003 and a record 732 in 1999. The big change in numbers for the 2011 election is the disappearance of Unity and Australians Against Further Immigration. The Australian Democrats have nominated only one Assembly candidate, down from 26 in 2007. There are an extra 21 Independents compared to 2007 and 29 more Christian Democrat candidates, the party standing a record 86 candidates. Family First are also contesting their first NSW election with 15 lower house candidates. The Legislative Council has seen numbers fall from 20 columns with 333 candidates in 2007 to 17 columns and 311 candidates in 2011. The Liberal/National Coalition have drawn the prize first column Group A on the ballot paper, Independent John Hatton has drawn Group C, while Pauline Hanson is in Group J. Summary of Nominations for the NSW Election ; The Largest Swings in Australian History - the Measuring Post for NSW 2011 ; THE sale of public assets should be put to a public vote

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A NEW movie titled State of Siege conjures scenes of a dismal, war-torn future rather than the leafy backblocks of Roseville. What really drove me to pick up my camera and say something was the moment I realised that under the heel of an uncaring bureaucracy and a dictatorial government, I and my fellow citizens were powerless and without influence. The one-hour documentary was made on a shoestring. The executive producer was Home and Away director Geoff Nottage, who gave his his time. Mr Grosvenor's wife Diane was the chief camera operator. Former NSW MP John Hatton, entrepreneur Dick Smith and NSW Opposition Leader and local MP Barry O'Farrell are interviewed. Mr Grosvenor said he requested an interview with Premier Kristina Keneally but did not receive a response My Castle: One man's stand against developers ; The seat that has almost become the epicentre of NSW politics in recent years, Penrith, will host the Liberal-National coalition's official campaign launch on Sunday. Ku-Penrith-gai ; John Hatton Team ; John Hatton Story and History

War doco filmed in Ku-ring-gai STATE OF SIEGE
DENNIS Grosvenor has been living in a war zone at Roseville for three years.
A powerful, must-see documentary at Roseville Cinema and all good cinemas

Feature length documentary that tracks the history and modern conflict between development and urban conservation. Steeped in a culture of political donations, modern politics has put the basic tenets of democratic rights under threat.
"One may started asking questions and uncovered the arrogance of power..."
Proceeds go to Wires
Features commentary from:
Jack Mundey - John Hatton - Lee Rhiannon - Sylvia Hale –
John Mant – Dick Smith - Barry O’Farrell.
STATE OF SIEGE- Background
Dennis Grosvenor - Tropic of Oz Independent Films
From the Green Bans of the late 1970’s to the present, there has been a constant battle between the forces of conservation and development. With few exceptions, when it comes to the economy and the profit motive, the environment has generally come a poor second. From Ku-ring-gai to Catherine Hill Bay, from the Tweed to Eden, bulldozers have either moved in, or are poised and ready to change the landscape forever, and the quality of life many take for granted. When my neighbourhood was rubber-stamped for demolition.

• When my neighbourhood was rubber-stamped for demolition; Tropicofoz: War doco filmed in Ku-ring-gai; Neighbourhoods ; A GROUP of Sydney doctors has taken an unprecedented move by spending thousands of their own money to hire a public relations firm to take on the State Government. The Royal North Shore Hospital's medical staff council, made up of more than 300 clinicians, launches a campaign today opposing the sale of land near the hospital - PR firm Viva Communications [ Joh Hatton Candidate Legislative Council; John Hatton NSW E*ections 2011 AD ]
• · John Waters as John Hatton ; Many are predicting a bloodbath in next month's election for NSW state Labor after numerous scandals and policy debacles
• · · NSW anti-corruption campaigner and former NSW MP John Hatton says independents will be an attractive option for many voters at the March state election. Mr Hatton, who is running as an independent for the upper house after retiring from parliament in 1995, said independents could hold the balance of power in the upper house after the poll Independents an attractive voter option ; Pubs - Caught on camera
• · · · Two seasoned pollsters have written a spirited defence of their practices, warning that limiting political polls would allow politicians and even the media to “push their own distorted view of public opinion.” “Canada’s pollsters should remember that they perform an important public service,” Ipsos Reid’s John Wright and Darrell Bricker argue in an article circulated to reporters. “Our polls speak truth to power.”
Do political polls harm democracy or serve the public interest? ; Labor warns of O'Farrell blank Czech - Labor improves on crime, fails everything else Young voters are swimming against the tide; The New South Wales (NSW) elections are just around the corner and there has already been a number of election related videos coming out They say they believe but act like they dont
• · · · · At the heart of the ALP’s election campaign advertising is a single, profound and powerful message: “You wouldn’t hit a girl would you? Look into my eyes and tell me I’m unelectable; New South Wales 2011 election part 1: ; Nielsen's research director, John Stirton, described it as ''an astonishing ... they would still be headed for a bigger victory than Nick Greiner's in 1988 Essential Research: 59-41 to Coalition in NSW; John Stirton is neat this is just Too messy for Anthony Green
• · · · · · New South Wales has been disgraced by an increasingly corruption-prone, wasteful and incompetent government focussed on retaining power and privilege instead of governing for the public good The larger parties are arrogant and out of touch ; Essential Research: 59-41 to Coalition in NSW ; Push polling ; Each morning began with an early phone hook-up of Greiner, Hooper, and Laurie Power ... Other staff included Stephen Coutts as speechwriter, John Stirton as pollster PRESS Polling

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David Clune is the NSW Parliament’s Historian and an Honorary Research Associate in the Department of Government at the University of Sydney. He has written widely about NSW politics and history David Henry CLUNE


THINK NSW politics is colourful now? The antics of Kristina Keneally and co pale in comparison to some of the political anecdotes stored in the memory of NSW parliamentary historian Dr David Clune. Like the duel fought by the first NSW Premier Stuart Donaldson with his Surveyor-General Thomas Mitchell in 1851.
“They both shot and they had near misses, and then, like good British gentlemen, they shook hands and forgot about the whole thing,” he said.
Clune recalls political colour

The Worldly Art of Politics is informative and highly readable, for the most part,
thanks to some well-known contributors. Art and Politics： Carrying the dreams of another

It is better to learn from the mistakes of others than to repeat their mistakes ourselves. For politicians this is certainly a truism. How to Succeed in a Hung Parliament


Andrew TINK: “Four T’s” of time, talent, touch and treasure Nation built on second chances
On January 22, 1788, governor Arthur Phillip christened Sydney Cove after Britain's home secretary. Most people aboard the First Fleet, which arrived four days later, believed the governor's gesture was to honour his political master.

But Phillip had two political masters - the home secretary, Lord Sydney, and the first lord of the admiralty, Lord Howe, both of whom were cabinet ministers. As governor, Phillip was responsible to Sydney but, as a senior naval officer, he answered to Admiral Howe. So why did Phillip, who had spent his entire working life in the navy, choose to name the cove, around which the settlement was to be built, after a career politician? And why was the name of the renowned fighting admiral relegated to a speck of an island in the South Pacific? It was Sydney, rather than Howe, who had chosen Phillip as governor. Although talented, Phillip had always been on the outer in the Royal Navy. But Sydney had come to respect Phillip's abilities when he worked part time as a spy for the secret service, run in those days from the Home Office.

• Andrew Tink, a former NSW MP, is the author of the award-winning William Charles Wentworth: Australia's Greatest Native Son, and biographer of Lord Sydney. Best Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee ever ; My time in Australia will be for heart touching, heart moving delight Aust Day is about mateship [ Best in Blogosphere ; Top 100 Australian Blogs ]
• · KRISTINA Keneally's chances of leading Labor in NSW beyond the March election have narrowed dramatically after a summer of strategic blunders that have further eroded the state government's voter support. Keneally done for as rout looms ; Labor headed for NSW electoral oblivion
• · · I cannot recall a single instance in the past 10 years when a government minister or backbencher from Labor or the Coalition has criticised the police. Because they can do no wrong and have an immunity from criticism, a minority element treat politicians, Parliament and ultimately the public with a kind of contempt. Politicians still dancing to the beat of the blue light disco; In terms of blogs, look at things like Slate Magazine, which is basically a political blog, and many other blogs and Web sites have stepped into the mainstream in terms of journalism and news reporting. Students can get real world experience doing this Can Blogging Make a Difference?