Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Reasons to be cheerful

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  • Rich of Observationz,

    Perhaps some of us Wellington-based PA regulars could organise a less formal get-together?

    I'd be in.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    That. Rocks.

    That should read "Those Rocks" or "That Rock"
    Grammar, Mr Easterbrook, grammar.
    ;-)

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Hadyn Green,

    Fine, but I'd actually like some sections of the press corps to wipe themselves off and try to remember what they're supposed to be doing

    So we all saw the Daily Show Inauguration Special where John Stewart spliced Obama's speech with Bush's showing how similar the rhetoric was... before apologising profusely and saying "it's all I know how to do!"

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    As I said a while back, when the choice of the First Puppy got more attention than the Secretary of State's confirmation

    Ah, yes, so. Craig, what is the latest on the Presidential Puppy? Is there some kind of media blackout on that? We need to know.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    I'd actually like some sections of the press corps to wipe themselves off and try to remember what they're supposed to be doing.

    And I presume you're holding our fawning local media to the same standards.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    I'm just watching the UK Channel 4 news coverage of the inauguration. Christopher Hitchens said to Jon Snow that he thinks John Roberts had a petit mal seizure while he was reading the oath, and that he's had such episodes before.

    Given Hitchens' distaste for all things metaphysical, I'm shocked he'd be diagnosing rather tricky neurological events over the TV. Had Jon Snow asked him the lottery numbers?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    Anyhoo, Abe Lincoln was unmarried and slept with his best mate in the Whitehouse but, apparently, that don't make him gay.

    Well, he was unmarried before he got married, which was before he entered the White House. I think it's the four kids with his wife that makes him not gay.

    Nah... you know what would be a really big deal for me -- a President who is either an atheist or takes his faith far too seriously to pimp it for poll points.

    That too. How many public prayers in the last couple of days? That has grated.

    I'd also like to be told more about Michelle Obama than where she shops.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Did you catch Jon Stewart acting out God's take on the overabundance of prayer?

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Christopher Dempsey,

    And you know what? When the US gets a gay president, it will be a Big Fucking Deal for me. Just for a couple of days, until it's time to start doing shit.

    Meh, I'm waiting for the differently abled black lesbian with two cute kids of her own and married to a gorgeous Latina from Cuba to be elected POTUS.

    Parnell / Tamaki-Auckland… • Since Sep 2008 • 659 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    Well, he was unmarried before he got married, which was before he entered the White House. I think it's the four kids with his wife that makes him not gay.

    Well, it would not be the first time someone got married and had children to "prove" they were not gay but I digress. The rumor about Lincoln's sexuality has been around for a while. See this
    New York Times article
    However, as noted in the article, sharing a bed back then was not at all uncommon but what the hey?.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    *sigh* Fine, but I'd actually like some sections of the press corps to wipe themselves off and try to remember what they're supposed to be doing.

    Which sections in particular? I don't think the early days of the presidency have been poorly covered, given that we're all of two days into the new presidency, and the guy has conducted himself with a great degree of assurance.

    It would border on negligence to ignore the great moment of an African-American entering the White House; ditto for the global reaction to the changing of the guard, and for that matter Obama's extraordinary domestic approval ratings going into the job. They're key parts of the story in these first few days.

    OTOH, I was getting really tired of various lefty-liberal types writing him off two weeks before he was even in the job.

    Given Hitchens' distaste for all things metaphysical, I'm shocked he'd be diagnosing rather tricky neurological events over the TV. Had Jon Snow asked him the lottery numbers?

    Hitchens seemed to be saying that this was establishment knowledge, and it might as well be "out in the open". Who knows whether he actually knows what he's talking about.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Hadyn Green,

    Meh, I'm waiting for the differently abled black lesbian with two cute kids of her own and married to a gorgeous Latina from Cuba to be elected POTUS.

    Or the first non-American-but-he's-a-big-celebrity-with-a-humorous-accent-so-it'll-be-ok President

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    *sigh* Fine, but I'd actually like some sections of the press corps to wipe themselves off and try to remember what they're supposed to be doing.
    Which sections in particular?

    Which sections of the press or which sections to wipe?

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Which sections of the press or which sections to wipe?

    Eeeeew.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    linger, my feeling is that he inherited his style from a bygone era, and I can tolerate it because most of my own degree was spent reading boring old philosophers talking at great length about their arguments. Compared to many of them, Chomsky is a light and entertaining read. I actually find it far harder to read people who speak more briefly because they rely on their audience to fill in all the gaps, and a great many of the gaps can't be unambiguously filled. So I have to read, and reread, and then I have to go and find their other works or comments to find out what the hell they meant. Or guess, often wrongly. At least with Chomsky, you know what he means, because he's meant it for decades, and he says it in full every time. Confession: My own style is much the same. I don't like being misunderstood, or worse, deliberately misconstrued. Perhaps it's got something to do with being an engineer.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    Well, it was Craig.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    Perhaps some of us Wellington-based PA regulars could organise a less formal get-together?

    Count me in. What of a FaceBook group to help coordinate things?

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Check here right now ...

    http://www.traffic.aucklandmotorways.co.nz/

    To see what's happening on the Northwestern motorway. Which is, very little.

    Dude crashed and got shot at our local onramp. Motorway closed both ways between here and the city, and a whole lot of citybound people likely to be sitting in their cars short of Western Springs for some time yet.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    Well. It's Friday.
    Amy Winehouse meets Jeremy Clarkson at a party
    "And what do you do Jeremy?" she slurs,
    'Top Gear" he says,
    "Cool, I'll take 3 grams"

    Fnnah fnnah.
    Time for a pint of Galbraith's Best Bitter methinks.
    :-)

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Poole,

    Russell: Granny informs me that someone has been shot dead in a police pursuit that involved a crashed car on the ramp.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10553260

    Since Dec 2008 • 161 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    Time for a pint of Galbraith's Best Bitter methinks.
    :-)
    While the Motorway clears.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Well. It's Friday.

    I stood up, went into the next room, and told that joke to my darling. She also laughed.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Russell: Granny informs me that someone has been shot dead in a police pursuit that involved a crashed car on the ramp.

    Yes, but I'm sure that won't be of any comfort at all to the poor bastards stuck in their cars. You just don't do that to Aucklanders ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    You just don't do that to Aucklanders ...

    Speshly on a Friday.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    a crashed car on the ramp

    Bfm informs me it is a crashed hijacked car, an' a gun an' everything.

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

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