Posts by Paul Williams
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If only it were limited to supine disinterest!
Howard was active in his advocacy against Hicks declaring him a terrorist without trial, evidence or verifiable information. Howard's sycophancy was condemned here, by some but not all, but rewarded in the US (by Bush awarding him the Freedom medal days before Obama's inauguration).
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While it'd be interesting to hear his story, I fear he's no wordsmith.
No, I don't think he'll be eloquent in the slightest, but I do hope he does provide another version of the story. The government narrative is obscene and needs to be challenged. His military lawyer, Michael Mori, was a great advocate - and very well spoken.
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Days into his presidency, he does what his speech declared and closes Guantanamo and bans torture. I see idiotsavant's asking whether there'll be prosecutions, I think he's right, but at least this is a step in the right direction. It'll be interesting to hear what the former inmate David Hicks, now free from his protection order a month or more , says when he eventually speaks...
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WH, I'd heard some related material on Warren in a BBC interview that included elements of the Etheridge story (including from Etheridge herself). Like others, I'm wary of evangelical Christians and their all-to-often narrow views, however if Warren's views are shifting and his involvement with Obama encourages others to be more open minded then I agree with Quinn's view that it could be beneficial all around.
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The presidents new speech writer: Jules from Pulp Fiction.
Roflnui!
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1. Dick Cheney in a wheelchair. Oh, schadenfreude, how sweet you taste.
He hurt his back moving boxes to his new place apparently!
And I'm sorry for being grinchy here, but it's a shame President Obama chose someone who has compared gays and lesbians to animals -- and flat out lied about it when called out -- to deliver the invocation at his inauguration.
Yeah, I'm not unsympathetic to that point. Obama's previously made clear his tolerant and sensible views on sexuality, I'd also have preferred a less bigoted religious leader... but how cool was the benediction; groovy!
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Is anyone else here as totally-US-politics-nerdy as me, and setting an alarm to watch it live?
Yes indeed and it was 3.45am in Sydney. I reminded of a famous line by Bob Hawke who, after Australia won the Americas Cup, said any boss who docked pay from staff for being in late after the celebrations was a bum...
Not a terrible speech, but lots of platitudes and cliches, so now I guess we wait. Righto..time to go to sleep.
I liked it both because it was solemn and because it contained clear repudiations of the last eight years. I'm not sure how I feel about America's claim to global moral leadership, but I'm enthused by the idea that President Obama will at least stop America from its amoral decline.
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Gotta say I agree with both Peter and Max - would love to see a game in either Nelson or Napier. It's been frustrating to follow from Sydney given that weather's had almost no significant impact on the current RSA tour...
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Stuck here at work, every time cricinfo is slow to refresh I fear there's been a wicket! Must get home...
Ditto. Following online ok here but. Looks like Taylor's going great guns. Well enough to get us ahead just in time... Class act that fella. A new Nate Astle/Paddy Batch
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I've been boggled by the way that people who live in a country that contains different time-zones can be so unable to handle the idea of people living in different time-zones.
I get time-zones, I even get how they come about, but half-hour ones are bollocks. SA is half and hour behind NSW, NT one and a half hours... sure I know why (Darwin being where it is and Adelaide where it is) and sure it makes sense in terms of consistency... but half an hour, what's the point? Australia ought to have two time zones, East and West - NT goes west, SA comes West.