Club Troppo

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I had a quick squiz at the BCA's recently released climate change policy . It's in better shape than the current government policy and it is indeed an interesting phenomenon that a broadly based big business industry association would be adopting as policy a more politically d...

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Meet Ned the Bear. He's cranky. He's orange. He's a cartoon bear. Ned will appear two or three times a week right here, until such time as some giant, megalithic media conglomerate offers me money for him.

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Could this situation (data/graph compiled by Bryan "Ozpolitics" Palmer ) be the reason why Peter Costello is somewhat hysterically claiming that the States are breaching an agreement they never made to abolish particular taxes, and that they are planning to raise the rate of G...

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ECONOMIC LIBERALISM is about means to ends, the end being to increase aggregate utility of consumers (social welfare). Starting with the premise that individual consumers are able to maximize their utility or preferences (rational man) and that it is socially desirable to maxi...

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Joshua Gans is very happy with Office 2007 . I'm much less impressed and was sufficiently worked up to respond at length in his comments which are expanded here. I generally try to stay away from Microsoft Software, but it's not that easy. I was an early fan of Macs when they...

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My Sweet Lord ... This story is disappointing if unsurprising: A MANHATTAN art gallery has cancelled its Easter-season exhibit of a life-size chocolate sculpture depicting a naked Jesus, after an outcry by Roman Catholics. The sculpture My Sweet Lord by Cosimo Cavallaro was to...

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Staunch defender of freedom and Minister for "DIC" Kevin Andrews lunges for a firm grip on "Roger Migently"'s gonads 1. News and Politics Stuff 2. Life and Other Serious Stuff 3. The Yartz 4. T.S.S 5. Mad, Bad, Sad and Glad The usual superbly diverse collection of blogospheric...

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In recent blogs on this site, especially regarding the phrase `war on terror' and the political mud slinging of recent weeks, I have frequently seen the hope expressed that the media should be free of bias and just report the truth. A praisworthy sentiment. Can you however rea...

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From a recent Michael Kirby speech [pdf] : For example, our Constitution is too rigid. It is one of the most difficult in the world to amend. This feature of Australian legal arrangements can sometimes protect us from the risk of mistakes, as in the Communism referendum of 195...

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This brief article by Zbigniew Brzezinski in the Washington Post provides a useful contrast to Albrechtsen's opinion piece. Here are the opening few lines to give you the flavour: The "war on terror" has created a culture of fear in America. The Bush administration's elevation...

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Courtesy Daily Flute 1. News and Politics Stuff 2. Life and Other Serious Stuff 3. The Yartz 4. Troppo Sports Stadium 5. Mad, Bad, Sad and Glad The NSW election was the big 'news' over the weekend, although - in this humble scribe's opinion (SL) - it was slightly less interest...

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Last night I listened to a very arresting speech by Salman Rushdie on - Secular Values, Human Rights and Islamism. You can too by clicking on the link.

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On the 24th August 1987 the last volume of Manning Clark's A History of Australia was launched by David Malouf. Peter Ryan was Clarkâs publisher at Melbourne University Press and Manning thanked him generously at the launch. "Peter Ryan was an is a great publisher. . . . Thank...

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I think there is a tradition on blogs in which visitors are invited to click on links to Amazon books and if they buy a book some credit is given to the blog for the purchase of books on the wish list. Well, loosely based on this tradition I suggest someone go visit Eva Breuer...

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Econometricians are often pretty smart at thinking up ways to measure things. I recently attended a seminar by Professor Matthew Gentzkow from University of Chicago Graduate School of Business who is doing research on the vexed issue of media slant. You might think that media...

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This proposal is still ill-defined and it may be too early to make definite pronouncements on it but I thought I might chance my arm. First, is it needed? This is not my expertise but there are enough experts around arguing that it would have a high benefit cost ratio for the...

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From the 'where has Nicholas Gruen been?' department I just thought I'd mention, in the spirit of Missing Link, that I happened upon a stray copy of the ALR at Melbourne Uni the other day. It is now several weeks since it came out. I read what I think was the first of the edit...

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If we are to credit her latest effort , Janet Albrechtsen believes Islamic terrorism is an enemy almost as deadly as the 20th-century totalitarians, if a little less conventional. On this premise she assembles an argument of sorts that liberalism, with its concern for legal n...

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Courtesy of Daily Flute 1. News and Politics Stuff 2. Life and Other Serious Stuff 3. The Yartz 4. Sportz 5. Mad, Bad, Sad and Glad This exciting and fun-packed edition compiled and edited by Ken Parish, James Farrell, Helen Dale, Jason Soon, Cam Riley and our new arts recruit...

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