Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s address to the World Economic Forum in January delivered a plain, pragmatic message.

from politicoz ….

The fight to frame the debate around SPC Ardmona continues apace, and it's central to a broader ideological battle.

from Crikey ….

How Victoria is quietly riding roughshod over basic freedoms

Victoria's Parliament is poised, without much fanfare or scrutiny, to pass a bill that would drastically increase police powers and severely curtail our basic human rights.

a letter to Adam Goode from John Passant …..

Dear Adam

Congratulations on being awarded Australian of the Year.  Your contributions on and off the football field are great and deserving of recognition.

Surprise, surprise, a one percenter thinks we are not all created equal.

1.   Investor Peter Schiff: 'We are not all created equal. I am worth way more than you.'

Labor has accused the Abbott government of exaggerating Australia's welfare spending to justify cuts, pointing to new figures which show the nation spends less than most other developed nations.

Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews this week warned that ''relentless'' growth in spending on welfare payments was ''unsustainable''.

Do the British people love Blair? Do they eat Blair chocolates and wear Blair pyjamas?

It was, of course, utterly inevitable that Tony Blair would back Egypt’s new authoritarian leaders.

from our friend Dr Vacy Vlazna

The Work for the Dole program could again become a core element of welfare policy for the unemployed in Australia, but there is a considerable body of evidence which shows it is unlikely to help people find jobs.

Oh lord. Oh lord. Can the government do anything right? There is no evidence for it. None. Everything it touches turns to grotesque failure. It hurts me to contemplate the federal reigning monstrosity in the Yankee Capital. I may have to send out for a bottle of Padre Kino red to get me through it. The Great Purple Father is the worst wine known to man, thirty-nine cents a trainload. Never mind. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

What has the world learned about Australia from Abbott’s keynote address to the World Economic Forum? Alan Austin reports from France.

People ask me all the time why we don’t have a revolution in America, or at least a major wave of reform similar to that of the Progressive Era or the New Deal or the Great Society.

You have one chance to speak to the world’s most powerful people. What do you say?

Picture the scene: A classroom in some little town, a bunch of kids in their middle years of schooling. A special visitor is coming today, the assistant manager of the local bank, to explain how the world economy works.

He speaks in short sentences and anodyne generalities.

In an electoral system, run by and for a corporate oligarchy, deception and demagoguery are essential elements – entertaining the people while working for the wealthy.

Every US President has engaged, in one fashion or another, in ‘play acting’ to secure popular approval, neutralize hostility and distract voters from the reactionary substance of their foreign and domestic policies.