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“Corruption in large-scale public projects is a daunting obstacle to sustainable development,” said Peter Eigen, Chairman of Transparency International (TI), launching the TI Global Corruption Report 2005 today. “Corruption in procurement plagues both developed and developing countries,” Eigen added. “When the size of a bribe takes precedence over value for money,” he said, “the results are shoddy construction and poor infrastructure management. Corruption wastes money, bankrupts countries, and costs lives.” TI is the leading international non-governmental organisation combating corruption worldwide.
“Funds being poured into rebuilding countries such as Iraq must be safeguarded against corruption,” Eigen said today. “Transparency must also be the watchword as donors pledge massive sums for reconstruction in the countries affected by the Asian tsunami,” he added. The Global Corruption Report 2005, with a foreword by Francis Fukuyama, includes a special focus on construction and post-conflict reconstruction, and highlights the urgent need for governments to ensure transparency in public spending and for multinational companies to stop bribing at home and abroad.
‘Monuments of corruption’ from the Global Corruption Report 2005:
The Lesotho Highlands Water Project, in which US$2 million were allegedly paid in bribes by Acres International and 11 other international dam-building companies.
The Cologne incinerator project in Germany, where US $13 million was allegedly paid in bribes during the construction of a US$ 500 million waste incineration plant.
The Yacyretá hydropower project on the border of Argentina and Paraguay, built with World Bank support, is flooding the Ibera Marshes. Due to cost overruns, the power generated by Yacyretá is not economic and needs to be subsidised by the government. According to the head of Paraguay’s General Accounting Office, US$1.87 billion in expenditures for the project ‘lack the legal and administrative support documentation to justify the expenditures’.
The reservoir of the Bakun dam in Sarawak, Malaysia, which will submerge 700 km2 of tropical rain forest. The mandate to develop the project went to a timber contractor and friend of Sarawak’s governor. The provincial government of Sarawak is still looking for customers to consume the power to be generated by the project.
The Bataan nuclear power plant in the Philippines, built at a cost of more than US $2 billion. The contractor, Westinghouse, admitted paying US $17 million in commissions to a friend of former president Marcos. The reactor sits on an active fault line, creating a major risk of nuclear contamination if the power plant ever becomes operational.
The Bujagali dam in Uganda, which is currently being investigated for corruption by the World Bank and four different governments after a British subsidiary of the Norwegian construction company, Veidekke, admitted paying a bribe to a senior Ugandan civil servant. The cumulative environmental impacts of Bujagali and other dams on the Nile have never been assessed.
2005 pritzker to t mayne - hopefully selma can tell us if this is a good thing
mapping sitting
If New York's Madison Avenue and Hollywood's Vine Street could meet, that imaginary intersection would provide the perfect vantage point for TCM's look at product placement in the movies. This promotional tactic, in which a real commercial product is seen in a fictional film, is thought of as a relatively recent development, perhaps dating to the prominent appearance of Hershey Food Corporation's Reese's Pieces in 1982's E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. Truth is, Hollywood has always worked closely with various industries in promoting the consumption of their products. With this festival, TCM looks at how these relationship evolved; creating subtle advertisements and allowing certain products to become associated with particular actors and films.
The work, measuring 66 by 32 feet, was a gigantic blue-and-white striped drape that hung from the top of the rotunda. It was Mr. Buren's contribution to the Sixth Guggenheim International, an important exhibition that signaled the arrival of a post-Pop generation of artists who fabricated artworks from rubber, lead, fluorescent tubes and plywood. Led by Dan Flavin and Donald Judd, 5 of the 17 artists in the show complained that Mr. Buren's big banner would prevent viewers at certain vantage points from seeing their works and demanded it be removed. The day before the opening, the museum capitulated, and it was taken away.
gypsy lore
hand made
permanent wtc path terminal
The Movies of Yves Klein.
Yves Klein (1928 - 1962) was not a director, but during his practice,
he asked professionals from the Gaumont Studio in Paris to shoot some
of his performances and ephemeral pieces. These films have been
recently restored for the Yves Klein Archives by the Pompidou Center in
Paris.
Yves Klein Practices Judo in Japan; Yves Klein working on his murals
for the Gelsenkirchen Opera; "Anthropometries of the Blue Period"
Performance at Gallerie de France; "Dimanche 27 Novembre" Edition of
the Newspaper; Yves Klein producing anthropometries with a model; Yves
Klein testing the Air Roof; Presentation of the Air Architecture
project during the show "Antagonisms 2"; "Yves Klein: Propositions
Monochromes" Exhibitions at C.Allendy and I.Clert; Exhibition of the
Void at Iris Clert Gallery; Opening of the Gelsenkirchen Opera; Sponge
Reliefs; "Monochrome and Fire" Show in Krefeld, Prototype of the Fire
Column and Wall; Yves Klein producing Fire Paintings; Wedding of
Rotraut Uecker and Yves Klein; Studio/Apartment of Yves Klein.
rat rod pick of the day 2
rat rod pick of the day
“A photograph is a secret about a secret The more it tells you the less you know."
--d.arbus
rat rod pick of the day
bag house
lightning bolt d and d cowicide slayer edit via boing boing
todays rat rod pick
"You tell us what kind of person you think Larry Clark is after you've examined his great work of art."
harry smith << naropa audio archive << internet archive
the american look
hodgy
mcmasters
architectural products
old house web
mondo klein
135 joralemon bkln
black tom pier jersey city