Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

My dearest Psycho, I hope all is well in the land of the livers and I hope this message finds you not dejected. As I have been having such a top time at TOP (the other place) I find myself compelled to share some of it with you, and let you in on some wonderful news. I’m in love ...

It would be better for us to see reality for what it is and exhaust any possibility of reaching an agreement now, with a pragmatic and moderate leadership, before it is replaced by zealous religious leadership that views violent Jihad as the main means in the struggle against Israel. (Yariv Oppenheimer)

For a few (few = three +) years some Webdiarists (some = three +) have been asking for a Cooks’ Corner (or should that be Korner?). Eh bien, it’s the weekend, and I’ve spent the last three months (with a bit of time out for good behaviour – erm, winter hols) at a school (collecting data). One of the things that happens in a school staffroom, over those snatched moments of ... morning tea / lunch is that recipes are sometimes discussed (and/or disgusted).

[Mr Rudd] was commenting on the results of the National Australia Bank’s latest monthly business survey, which showed business confidence in Australia has bounced back to a pre-crisis level. Even the bank, though, was cautious in its assessment of this result. It said a “closer look” at the data suggests that it might be difficult to maintain this freshly restored momentum.

Anyone following Middle Eastern politics, even if relying solely on the Australian media, would have been aware of the widespread condemnation of Israel eviction of 59 Palestinians from homes in Sheik Jarrah in East Jerusalem. ... While there have been some discussion in the Hebrew media, the legal implications of the court’s ruling have received scant attention. But they are huge.

This was a “weightless economy” in which the marginal cost of producing the newest and most exciting products – delivered by the internet – was close to zero, so the old constraints on growth no longer applied. Fuelled by innovation, low interest rates and interesting new types of finance, western economies would keep expanding. Debt could always be repaid; housing bubbles would never burst. Above all, governments should leave wealth creation to the markets.

The unique nature of the "experiment" Homo sapiens is conducting with the atmosphere through the emission of 319 billion tons of carbon by 2007, and the consequent extreme rise in atmospheric CO2 of about 2 ppm/year, two orders of magnitude faster than during the last glacial termination, counsels caution. … The alternative to urgent fast tracked mitigation efforts does not bear contemplation.

Obama did not invent a new American policy. The United States has long held that the settlements are illegal; the same is true for the status of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. The Americans are sticking to the same road map drawn up seven years ago, it's just that Israel apparently didn't notice that the Palestinians have fulfilled the first article in the document almost completely. (Zvi Bar'el)

If recent news reports are accurate, some form of that day of reckoning may soon be upon us as now-Attorney General Holder weighs the possibility of appointing a federal prosecutor to probe the Bush administration’s use of torture during the interrogation of detainees captured in the “war on terror.”

Australia’s grim record on health care for Indigenous people is by far the worst of any developed nation. Developed? How can a country be “developed” when it leaves so many of its children behind? Australia has not provided its citizens with an equal opportunity for primary health care, education, housing, employment, let alone recognition and a life of dignity.

The latest update from the Democratic Audit program at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, on how our democracy is working.

With the recent scoping studies for the proposed 5th Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report due out in 2014 suggesting a downplaying of the role of anthropogenic carbon dioxide as a significant driver of (catastrophic) climate change it is time that scientists can speak and publish freely without suffering ad hominem attacks (or threats to funding) and that the media (and blog sites) report their findings honestly and accurately.

Yoo, who is a visiting law professor at Chapman University in Orange, Calif., asserted that the President had unlimited powers to prosecute the “war on terror” on American soil and could ignore constitutional rights, including First Amendment freedoms of speech and the press and Fourth Amendment requirements for search warrants.

There are many good human beings amongst us; human beings like my Dad and The Flying Dragon Ghost who did good and were motivated by the right stuff. There are also many people who have contributed to Webdiary who are decent and understanding human beings – passionate. These are the people we need, people who will play the game in the interests of all; or even better – not play games at all. On that note it’s now time to withdraw from this little game and disappear into the ether ...