An open thread, where at your weekend leisure, you can discuss anything you like.
Life, Culture and Politics from BrisVegas
Larvatus Prodeo was an Australian group blog which discussed politics, sociology, culture, life, religion and science from a left of centre perspective. more»
I despise blog discussions that devolve into ever more obnoxious claims of being right.
“Global warming isn’t real!”
“Yes it is”
“It’s solar radiation, QED!”
“You’re a tosser”
Would it be unreasonable to have a rule something along the lines of,
?
First.
OK Legal Eagles, Are the WA Libs on a winner with this legally, or are they clutching at straws. ?
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,24264239-948,00.html
Interesting that she is claiming that it would have been a conflict of interest for her to sign-off on the full listing. The necessary implication is of course that it would be in her interests to have the property on the heritage register. That is probably a question of fact which can be proved or disproved (eg. through data on the effects of listing on values, etc.). She may very well be in the clear. Rules around conflicts are not generally drafted to deal with situations where nonfeasance itself is beneficial to the decision-maker.
BBB
Scabs.
Mike Carlton will soon find out who his friends are, as he heads for the dole queue courtesy of Fairfax, for refusing to cross a picket line.
Scabs are one level lower than Judas, who at least had the decency to hang himself in shame after taking the bosses money to rat on his mate..
McCain has picked Sarah Palin as VP, Biden will eat her alive.
The porn pastor story that has been in the news a fair bit here in Adelaide lately soldiers on. Looks like that pastor’s father could be even dodgier than him with links to the shameful Mercy Ministries and is raking in the millions with his Edge Church group.
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24265180-5006301,00.html
I so much wanted to do a musical…called PATRIOTS, PACIFIST…& THE UNDECIDED…I came up w/ it in 2003
this was track 2
a fella on a plane over NY…someone whose life was riddled w/ despair…then in 2001…i think you can think what happened as he looked elsewhere…almost
N’
Black Mountain – Angels
whatya think Nabs?
they drove me to this
N’
thoughts?
Black Mountain – “Tyrants”
one…one two three four
“Wucan” by Black Mountain
black mountain – queens will play
Black Mountain “Bright Lights” live in Vancouver 2008 PT 1
Black Mountain “Bright Lights” live in Vancouver 2008 PT 2
Interpol – Cmere
Interpol – Rest My Chemistry
The Verve- History
How do i think outside the box…the cage they wanna put me inside…by pointin’ out some characteristic…i was never sure i was comfortable with?
I saw her on the big, metal, corporate ship…I watched…her spread her arms
and
FALL:
I was one…of the few…it seems…who understood Fincher’s film
Migala – Dear Fear
Massive Attack – Prayer for England
Griffin meets King
Beck – Lonesome Tears
gorgeous…
N’
Lift to Experience – These Are The Days
Lift To Experience – With Crippled Wings @ Trabendo, Paris
American Music Club – Johnny Mathis’ Feet
Calexico – Hit the ground running
Calexico – “Crystal Frontier”
Tindersticks – Travelling Light
Tindersticks – Another Night In
Tom Waits – Innocent when you dream
Tom Waits – Cold Cold Ground – 1987
The Blue Aeroplanes – Jacket Hangs
HOUSE OF LOVE – Christine
House Of Love – Beatles And The Stones
Have a goodie!
N’
The Verve – Blue
N’…………be REAL
Peter Beattie says “get stuffed”. And that if you don’t find enough time to think about think about mortality and the social issues of the world “then you’re either a moron, you’re shallow or you’re dead.” The punters are going to love that one.
And the link:
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24262751-3102,00.html
The Guardian‘s website headline says “McCain picks Palin as his running mate”. Hands up those who initially thought, as I did, that he picked an English television comedian of the 1970s as his offsider.
Hmmm.
Palin is 44 – Obama 47.
Palin spent 10 years in local government, 6 as mayor – Obama spent 8 years in the upper house of the Illinois General Assembly.
Palin has served 2 years as Governor of Alaska – Obama served 2 years in the US Senate before going on the campaign trail.
Palin’s knowledge of foreign affairs is yet to be tested – Obama stated that Jerusalem will remain the undivided capital of Israel, a statement that if he repeats as President, should pretty much start World War III.
SH: I bet you thought Callaghan would eat Thatcher alive too.
She may be weak on foreign policy, but Biden is usually just wrong on foreign policy. Furthermore Palin strikes a note of street-level authenticity that the other three participants can only dream of. Fortunately for McCain, she’s working for him.
I’d hoped that McCain wouldn’t pick a YAFWI like Obama has, but he’s surprised me with this inspired choice. Smart timing too. It would have been poor form to announce it half-way during Barry’s speech, but this will still knock him off the front pages.
We’ll see. She’s got quite a lot of work to do to establish that she’s qualified to be president. She was the mayor of a town of 8,000 people until 2006. She’s now the governor of a small, rural state. Even compared to Obama, her resume is very, very thin – and she hasn’t had the benefit of over a year’s presidential campaigning to establish herself in the public mind.
I’d expect a lot of foreign policy questions coming her way in fairly short order…
Perhaps a good moment to reprise the earlier VP thread.
RM: Her resume is actually quite a bit thicker than Obama’s. Governorship trumps being a 1 term junior senator. Heck, even Mayorship trumps being a 1 term junior senator. Those photos of her touring Kurwait and Landstuhl in 2007 may be clues she’s not the complete FA neophyte we suspect she is.
But I agree, it’s a different stage and Washington’s a long way from the red-state politics of Alaska. It’ll be interesting to see how she swims in the big pond.
Palin knows lots ’bout oil and that is the main thang.
The head of the Allanah and Madeleine Foundation had a Kevin Gosper moment in Melbourne yesterday … putting forward her kid to meet Princess Mary at the charity event …
If visiting Landstuhl is an indication of foreign policy experience, that makes me qualified.
Good to see you visiting the troops Robert! I’m sure they enjoyed your many dissertations on Liberal Socialism.
I’m not saying it’s proof of anything, just that I was surprised to find she’d been visiting troops back in 2007, and that perhaps it’s a clue she’s more switched on WRT foreign affairs than we think (and I stress “we”).
Did the definition of ‘foreign affairs’ change recently? Or has Bush just set the experience barrier really low in that department?
I should clarify: I was not visiting a USAF base, just a nearby German scientific institution…
Kaiserslautern on a Friday night is full of US military personnel; I had a rather amusing conversation with some JAG lawyers about how similar their job was to the TV show
Never let it be said that historians are behind the times! I’m post-blogging the Sudeten crisis (Munich crisis, if you must), day by day, 70 years after the event. I’ve just done 30 August 1938, but there’s another 5 weeks to go … All the posts can be seen here: http://airminded.org/category/post-blogging/
Oh, can some kind admin retrieve my comment from the spam bin please. I thought two links was safe, evidently not …
Done!
Ta!
“Kaiserslautern on a Friday night is full of US military personnel; I had a rather amusing conversation with some JAG lawyers about how similar their job was to the TV show.”
Go on Robert, spill the Sauerkraut. Sounds interesting.
If he did that, joe2, John McCain would have to shoot him.
That would now be Sarahs’ job, Kim, as the merkel is likely an endangered species.
No beans to spill, really. Just a couple of guys from the Midwest who spent their days bailing out enlisted men who’d gotten themselves into bar fights, and, funnily enough, never got to take F-18′s for joyrides…
Bugger, another citizen blogger, dead end.
But what about this, on the weekend, when we are not supposed to notice ?
“We welcome the announcement even though it is $8million in taxpayers’ money and 14 months late. If the Queensland police and ASIO could decide these matters in July last year, why has the AFP taken 14 months to make this announcement?”
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/haneef-free-to-return-after-afp-drops-case/1258332.aspx
Gorgeous song from ex-Clouds Jodi Phillis
Falls St
Robert Merkel, Screw the F-18′s! Do real JAG lawyers get to work closely with Catherine Bell types?
Lately I’ve been wondering, what did Robert Menzies actually do that was positive for Australia?
I haven’t been able to think of one thing that he actually commenced that was good (everything I can think of was planned under Curtin or Chifley). Anyone got an idea?
was too busy before i left for japan to engage with this `enlightenment` (sic) debate, and have just discivered is climate denial crazies trying to figleaf their useful fool routine as rationalist`scepticism`. What a joke!!
Listen up morons, the enlightnemebt was about faith in science, sciebtific method reason and evidence! Not some dimwitted hands-over- ears-I-cant- hear-you routine. Thats not scepticism – thats plain ignorance. And in any case, `im not beleiving the science because it might change my little world` has moer in common with the romanticist reaction to the enlightnemet,
lets get this srtaight, as the UK chief scientist out it – theres only two types of denialists now. 1. Those with a vested interest, in the pay of big polluters – and 2. fools.
Re Oz,
The Australia-Japan trade agreement in the 50′s? Especially given the fact that there would have been a lot of anti-Japanese sentiment around at that time (after WW2).
Employment was around 2% then I think…
I don’t know why he’s so highly regarded either. His social policy was fairly ordinary from what I gather. He was crap during the Suez crisis too.
Umm… I meant the UNemployment rate was around 2%
Obviously not Michael Palin. Dead set franticant- abortion etc; no laughs with this one.
Nah, they are trying to do a Howard 2007, abandoning the crucial centre without even a fight, to shore up the rump heartland, ready for a bleak time in a deserved wilderness and a fresh look maybe in four years.. if they’re lucky!
Theres’s a trainwreck coming and they sense it keenly.
Could any one possiblty take someone seriously Albrechtsen is enamoured of, anyway?
Some may be interested in upcoming Public Lecture on US election:
Obama v McCain – Who will win, does it matter? International public lecture
Thu 18/09/2008
6:30 PM
Ambassador Derek Shearer, Chevalier Professor or Diplomacy and World Affairs at Occidental College, Los Angeles
Details here (PDF)
Venue GM15, Level 1
Address Melbourne Law School 185 Pelham Street, Carlton
Contact Details 8344 1181
RSVP Contact http://events.unimelb.edu.au/event/5148/
“Could any one possiblty take someone seriously Albrechtsen is enamoured of, anyway?”
Guess you mean this work of art, paul walter…. “This one has moxy”.
Presumably, Janet is no way suggesting Sarah has herpes. “Moxy” is a most strange word to have used all the same.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24273625-5013450,00.html