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Post by RobertGraves on Apr 3, 2010 17:11:46 GMT -5
On holidays and enjoying some time to read and pay attention to the news more closely than usual. This is an excellent summary of neo-conservative politics in Australia and elsewhere: www.quarterlyessay.com/Aly shows how 'conservatives' should be horrified and in fact, the tradition cannot embrace neo-conservatism with out, ironically, rejecting tradition - which is just not cricket!
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Post by Tenarke on Apr 11, 2010 19:18:19 GMT -5
Good to hear from you, Robert. For a while there I thought that I was mainly talking to myself – not a very auspicious habit at my age. Here is today’s contribution: www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/04/09/us/AP-US-Johnsen-Legal-Counsel.htmlIt appears that the Republicans will persist in being the party of “no”. From this it looks as though they will do their best to block any Obama appointee who might be afflicted with good ethics, or an intellect surpassing that of “W”. This, no doubt, is a precursor of fun to come when the President attempts to fill the upcoming Supreme Court vacancy created by Justice Stevens’ retirement.
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Post by RobertGraves on May 7, 2010 16:32:14 GMT -5
The UK election result, or lack of one, will be interesting fodder for political watchers. Wonder how minority government will work? Maybe a new form of consensus will emerge but more likely paralysis will result.
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Post by RobertGraves on May 30, 2010 7:11:49 GMT -5
Come on WL, give us a comment:
"Top Afghan commander sacked over 'inappropriate conduct' Posted 1 hour 8 minutes ago
Canada's senior commander in Afghanistan has been sacked amid allegations of inappropriate conduct, the country's defence ministry said Sunday.
Brigadier General Daniel Menard had lost the confidence of his bosses, a short statement on the ministry's website said.
The ministry says its decision to dismiss him as commander of Joint-Task Force Afghanistan (JTF-Afg) followed allegations concerning his "inappropriate conduct related to the Canadian Forces Personal Relationships and Fraternisation directives".
His behaviour, which was not detailed, had "caused Commander CEFCOM to lose confidence in Brigadier General Menard's capacity to command," it said.
Canadian media reported last week that Brigadier General Menard had pleaded guilty at a court martial to charges that he negligently fired his weapon at the Kandahar Airfield, where Canadian troops are based in southern Afghanistan, in March.
Canada has 2,800 troops based in Afghanistan, part of an international force of 130,000 fighting a Taliban insurgency concentrated in the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand.
International forces under NATO and US command are escalating operations against the Taliban in Kandahar, aiming to neutralise the insurgent threat before the end of the year.
Brigadier General Menard also commanded Task Force Kandahar, which includes US troops.
The Canadian defence ministry statement said he would soon be replaced by Brigadier General Jon Vance, pending the arrival of the next JTF-Afg commander, Brigadier General Dean Milner.
Canada has lost 146 troops in Afghanistan since the war began."
Source: ABC Just In
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Post by RobertGraves on Jul 19, 2010 4:55:34 GMT -5
Anyone checking in at all?
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Post by Tenarke on Jul 23, 2010 18:15:57 GMT -5
Yes!
Hi Robert. I have been checking in from time to time, but had been beginning to loose hope and was checking less and less frequently.
Not that there hasn’t been plenty to rant about, what with the oil spill, Tea Party antics and conservative sour grapes in general.
My only possible excuse was finishing one play in early June, immediately starting another one for another theater due to open next Friday and getting reminders for a commitment to do a third early this fall.
I suppose that I am too busy with my peculiar involvement with make-believe to comment much on current reality.
As I mentioned before, I worry about being heard talking to myself in a public space. I’m 80 now and have to watch that stuff.
I too miss hearing from Wyndham and wonder where the hell he is; him and his laptop.
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Post by RobertGraves on Jul 25, 2010 1:06:33 GMT -5
Yes, it has been 6 months and I was hoping we would have heard from WL too.
We have a very lacklustre election campaign happening where both likely PM candidates are very unappealing and engaged in a race to the bottom. Firts time I have been so disengaged from it all out of despair.
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Post by Tenarke on Aug 26, 2010 18:19:12 GMT -5
Ok, I’m between plays for a week or two; I have some time on my hands so I’ll try and prime the pump on “our thing” here. www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/world/asia/26kabul.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=thAs I understand it we are pulling our forces out of Iraq to concentrate on Afghanistan because that’s where Bin Laden is – or was. However, so far, there’s been no sign of him in Afghanistan. Maybe that’s because he’s split for Pakistan? If so, I hope he remembered to take his raincoat and a good pair of galoshes. None the less there will be still 50,000 of our troops in Iraq, but they won’t be combat troops, they’ll be “advisers”. I do seem to recall “advisers” before, maybe South East Asia? Meanwhile the above article gives an interesting picture of the progressive and freedom loving government which we are propping up in Afghanistan. I wonder just what size the CIA payroll is in Afghanistan.
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Post by Tenarke on Sept 3, 2010 19:43:39 GMT -5
This I just have to share, whether anyone’s looking or not. BP did much to reinstate its reputation by pledging $20 billion to help clean up its screw up. Now it is warning that if the current restrictions on deep water offshore drilling are not removed it may be too broke to honor its commitments. www.nytimes.com/2010/09/03/business/03bp.html?th&emc=thA nicely leveraged bit of extortion behind the gentlemanly smile might be considered one of the favored techniques of the British Empire.
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Post by RobertGraves on Sept 15, 2010 4:51:58 GMT -5
Still no WL (
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pinkozcat
Full Member
Remember - pillage first, THEN burn.
Posts: 233
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Post by pinkozcat on Sept 24, 2010 7:02:56 GMT -5
I've been dropping in every so often to see if there is anything on here but it is very slow. I have been waiting for Robert to comment on the political situation here in Australia. Things are a right mess at the moment and parliament is due to start sitting again; next week, I think.
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Post by RobertGraves on Sept 24, 2010 18:13:50 GMT -5
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pinkozcat
Full Member
Remember - pillage first, THEN burn.
Posts: 233
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Post by pinkozcat on Sept 24, 2010 22:53:16 GMT -5
Hmmmm - thank you Robert.
I am a Western Australian, of course, and we sit on the opposite side of the fence, as you know. However, I agree with you that it was a nice surprise to see Bob Brown smile. ;D
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Post by RobertGraves on Sept 25, 2010 23:21:03 GMT -5
...however, there is hope, you recently deposed Wilson Tuckey ;O)
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pinkozcat
Full Member
Remember - pillage first, THEN burn.
Posts: 233
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Post by pinkozcat on Sept 27, 2010 8:34:52 GMT -5
He is rather miffed about it too.
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