And so it has come to this. New South Wales and Queensland with one win each in the 2008 State of Origin campaign. ANZ Stadium in Sydney is the host for Origin III, the decider. It is a ground for which Queensland has little love. But after blowing New South Wales off the park in Origin 2, the Cane Toads are deserved favourites (though they will still try and claim underdog status).
Thurston, Inglis, Prince, Folau. A dream combination which could be a nightmare for New South Wales. Thurston enjoys the extra room at five-eight and so does Inglis. He was sent on many a raid down the left side of the field by Thurston in game 2. An obvious tactic for New South Wales is to keep Inglis quiet. And that means shutting Thurston down.
Continue reading ‘State of Origin III: The Decider’
Barack Obama’s campaign seemed to have hit a pothole when it was revealed that his pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, had delivered some fire and brimstone sermon on race relations in the US. Wright had suggested that the US had brought the 911 attacks on itself and that in regards to race relations, instead of god bless America, it should be god damn America.
That is some pretty heady sermonizing. I mean, you’d never hear a good ole boy saying that the US brought the 911 attacks on itself. Would you?
Of course, Obama was asked to denounce the sentiments of Reverend Wright. Which he did Tuesday in a speech in Philadelphia (transcript).
I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely - just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.
Continue reading ‘We don’t mind crazy preachers as long as they are white’
The Four Corners program last night, Dangerous Ground, looked at how the alienation of Muslims in Australian society has the potential to create terrorists.
During the course of the program David Wright-Neville explained how this may happen:
DAVID WRIGHT-NEVILLE, GLOBAL TERRORISM RESEARCH CENTRE (at seminar): Nobody is born a terrorist. In any society, and if this triangle represents an area of society, only a few people will make the transition from membership in mainstream society to the point where they’ll involve themselves in violence here at the end of this transition.
Terrorism is a process, people pass through a series of processes. Along the way they cross what one might call the alienation threshold, at which point they begin to disengage from society and mix in groups of people who are similarly alienated, who have similar experiences, who feel collectively as if society is against them and excludes them from involvement in all mainstream activities…
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: After alienation it’s a short step to the next threshold - the decision to use violence.
DAVID WRIGHT-NEVILLE, GLOBAL TERRORISM RESEARCH CENTRE (at seminar): …Once they’ve crossed the violence threshold they begin to ethically disengage from society and they’ll begin to contemplate killing others outside of that particular in-group into which they’ve gravitated.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR (to David Wright-Neville, at seminar): So how important is alienation in this process?
DAVID WRIGHT-NEVILLE, GLOBAL TERRORISM RESEARCH CENTRE: Alienation is critically important. Most terrorist research shows that unless the person is alienated, coupled with feelings of humiliation, disempowerment and so on, it’s very unlikely that a person will become a terrorist.
Continue reading ‘Avoiding the threshold’
Mercurius wrote last week on the rotten state of NSW politics. My apologies to those living in the states bordering NSW as you would have noticed the stench worsening through the week.
The source of the foul odour is the ICAC investigation into shady development deals done by the Wollongong City Council. That alone is an interesting story and has implicated a number of Iemma ministers. The rogues gallery being NSW Housing Minister Matt Brown, Police Minister David Campbell, Health Minister Reba Meagher and Minister for being mentioned in ICAC Investigations Joe Tripodi.
Continue reading ‘Iemma ain’t no Big Fella’
Fidel Castro has decided that he will be el presidente no more. After suffering an invasion attempt and bungled attempts at assassination, he gets to leave on his own terms which will royally piss off the Cuban émigré in the US and their supporters. It also represents a failure of the cold war hissy fit that passed as US policy on Cuba for many decades.
Hopefully, Castro’s resignation will see a detente in relations between between the US and Cuba and an end to the irrational US policy on Cuba. On the Cuban side, there is a lot that needs to be done to relax restrictions on political freedom as well as improve their human rights record.
A historical what if is would have Castro held onto power so long of the US had adopted more liberal approach to their relations with Cuba?
Then again, maybe the reason for Castro’s resignation is something akin to what happened in this Simpsons’ episode:
Fidel Castro: Comrads, our nation is completely bankrupt! We have no choice but to abandon communism!
Castro’s Aide #1, Castro’s Associates: [sigh]
Fidel Castro: I know, I know, I know… but we all knew from day one this mumbo jumbo wouldn’t fly! I’ll call Washington and tell them they won.
Castro’s Aide #1: But presidente, America tried to kill you!
Fidel Castro: Ah, they’re not so bad. They even named a street after me in San Francisco!
[Aide #2 whispers something into his ear]
Fidel Castro: It’s full of what?
Word is about that John Howard marked the election loss with a party at The Lodge that cost the taxpayer $1100. Disheartening is the folllowing piece of information:
Documents released to The Daily Telegraph show the farewell fling at The Lodge on November 28, hosted by Mr Howard, included $548.18 worth of alcohol, said by one source to be “top shelf” wine.
I’m sure that many of you are just as outraged by this as I am. $548.18 spent on top shelf wine is simply deplorable, disgraceful even. Jeez, by myself I’m sure that could polish off more than $600 bucks of good quality wine in a sitting (though standing could be an issue afterwards). Imagine the bash if Amanda was still around.
And so it ends with not a bang, but the soft plop of a cork being removed from a pricey bottle of red and an early finish to ponder life out of power.
Then again, maybe the cellar was bare.
Even with the writers’ strike, The A Daily Show still delivers the goods. Jon Stewart neatly skewers the US media trying to develop a narrative of conflict using comments by Mitt Romney and Bill Clinton on the hustings.
Continue reading ‘The media goes Don King covering the US primaries’
Stephanie Peatling in Monday’s SMH wonders if the rise of Obama offers hope for the art of speechmaking. She cites Graham Freudenberg, who wrote speeches for Caldwell, Whitlam, Hawke and other Labor luminaries both state and federal, on the speeches of George W Bush:
The United States seemed to have become a rhetocracy, ruled by professional wordsmiths: ‘axis of evil’, ‘war on terror’ and ’shock and awe’ are all speechwriters’ phrases … Despite my professional admiration for the craftsmanship of Bush’s speeches, the whole process seemed to me an absurd and dangerous separation of rhetoric and emotion from substance, argument and reason.
Australia suffers from a similar problem. Peatling rightly tips a bucket on Rudd’s election night speech. I’d say she would have done the same upon hearing Rudd stating “the government had declared war on inflation.” Yes, the “war on something” is a perennial favourite for politicians but it is a lazy rhetorical device.
The danger is that behind Obama’s speechifying lies nothing of substance. But the way he talks does make stand above other politicians in that regards. It is something fresh and while not new, almost foreign in the current political landscape.
No arguments with Peatling’s conclusion that we could with some of the same in Australia.
In the movie Cloverfield an unnamed monster of unknown origin does a number on Manhattan. The movie is told from the view of a group of twenty-something New Yorkers who record their flight from the destruction on a digital video camera. The movie arrived with a lot of hype which some may have encountered. Most was generated largely from a trailer that showed the head from the Statue of Liberty being thrown through the sky and rolling down a street and a clever internet based viral campaign. Images of the monster have been cleverly kept secret, further building buzz around the movie.
But hype and marketing campaigns do not always mean a good movie. So does Cloverfield deliver?
Continue reading ‘Crimson and Cloverfield’
Those that watch Rockwiz may be aware of a segment called Million Dollar Riff. The idea of the segment is the Rockwiz Orchestra plays a selection of riffs (musical motifs) from songs and the contestants have to guess the correct song.
We are going to try something similar as a bit of an experiment. But on a budget with varying production values hence the title. Over the fold is an mp3 file of 5 riffs all played by yours truly. In the comments you can have a go at the answer. The first person to correctly list all 5 riffs wins bragging rights down at the pub and adulation from the other LP commentors.
So have a go. It shouldn’t be too hard.
Continue reading ‘99 Dollar Riff’
In the comments on the post regarding the death of Andy Olmsted, regular commentor Graham Bell suggested:
Suggest a topic for some time in the future: the nature and the future of the social contract, not the legal contract, involved in military service.
Newcomers should probably read MarkL’s and Katz’s comments for some background. I’m not going to offer anything and let those who want to discuss it frame the issue.
So have at it. And please do not comment on the Andy Olmsted post. All discussion concerning the topic of this post is to happen here.
Some of you may have noticed that cricket has dominated the news for the past few days. The aftermath of the Sydney test has released a wave of recriminations, hyperbole and effigy burning not seen for many a year.
First off, cricket will survive this brouhaha as it survived Bodyline, Ray Illingworth taking his players off the field, regular attempts by Pakistan to take their bat and go home, Sunil Gavaskar not liking an Aussie umpire’s decision back in 1981 (which was a little cheeky given the standard of umpiring that faced any team touring the sub-continent around that time) and Dennis the menace’s infamous aluminum bat.
The state of play at the moment in this sorry saga is that India seem happy that their umpiring scourge, Steve Bucknor, has been dropped from the Third Test in Perth. And this was the correct decision by the ICC (International Cricket Council). Bucknor had a shocker and is at the end of the long career as an umpire. It would be better for him to bow out gracefully and take an administrative role.
Continue reading ‘So who benefits from the Australia v India cricket stoush?’
Obsidian Wings is a US political group blog that is worth reading. The posts are well written and, by avoiding the usual partisan blogging battle grounds, quite thought provoking.
Unfortunately one of the members of Obsidian Wings was killed recently. Posting under the moniker G’Kar, Andy Olmsted was an Army Major in Iraq. He was killed in action just a few days ago. He had a post ready to be published in case of death while on active duty. This request was fulfilled and can be found here.
Andy’s posthumous post is one of the most moving I have ever read.
Note: Andy requested that his death not be politicized. LP will honour this request so please be mindful of this when commenting.
I’m not the world’s best Facebooker. I ignore it most of the time with the occasional looksee every now and again. But one thing about Facebook that is cool is rediscovery of lost friends.
One of these friends is Nyasha. She is from Zimbabwe and we first met back in the wild days of ESL teaching in Japan in the early 90s. Currently she is on a walk from New York to Texas to try and raise money for a plane ticket back to Zimbabwe. I’ll let Nyasha explain why:
Continue reading ‘Walking back to Zimbabwe’
Christmas time can have a tendency in the US to highlight the cultural battle grounds of religious belief. Commonly there is the pathetic sight of the powerful and privileged indulging their persecution complex by claiming there is a “war on Christmas.� Amusingly we see escalating battles of Christmas displays with atheists and Christian groups trying to outdo each other with some form of public display. It almost seems that the idea of “separation of church and state� inflames religious fervour rather than being a happy point of demarcation.
But for the godless heathens who are not religious, are they freeloading on a religious festival by taking the benefits of a divinely inspired holiday?
Continue reading ‘What does an atheist do for Christmas?’
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