Posts by Russell Brown
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One of CBS correspondents blogs on a trainwreck of a McCain interview, where he burbles thus of Palin:
Energy. She knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America. She's a governor of a state where 20% of America's energy supply comes from there. And we all know that energy is a critical and vital national security issue. We've got to stop sending $700 billion of American money to countries that don't like us very much. She's very well versed on that issue."And, uh, she also happens to represent, be governor of a state that's right next to Russia. She understands Russia.
The utter stupidity here is hard to credit.
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Or should elections be limited to those who appeal to the metropolitan liberal elite?
This is a ridiculous myth. As of last month, Obama had a huge lead among the poorest Americans, and an overwhelming one amongst the ethnic groups that get the shitty end of the stick. I doubt that's changed much since then.
Yes, some voters have clearly swung behind Palin in the belief that she looks like them. They're the same people who allowed themselves to be convinced that the silver-spoon brat of a Connecticut industrial dynasty was a good ol' boy from Texas.
That brat now leaves office as a standing joke; one of the least respected presidents in history, a man whose legacy is so rotten his would-be successor purports to campaign against it, who wasn't even welcome at his own party's convention.
And now these voters want to do it to themselves again, by voting for someone they hadn't heard of two weeks ago, irrespective of her lack of experience and her troubling history in positions of authority.
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If by next week Palin is running open press all current negativity will be reversed, because her actions will prove her nay-sayers wrong - again. Which will make her look more credible than her detractors - again.
Angus, I can't believe you're not even slightly worried by the documented evidence of her behaviour in power.
Just off the top of my head, the Republicans can seriously dent that promotion story by pumping positive quotes the officer made about Palin in the early period or saying that the promotion was a natural occurance in his career due to him.
You mean, lie about it?
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Thanks for that, Russell. I know that her daughter, her partner and one of her sisters were there last night, and found it very moving.
You know what was lovely, apart from the music? The accompanying slide show. There were some wonderful pictures of her in performance, with her generous, beaming smile.
I only met Mahinarangi once or twice, but damned if I wasn't teary-eyed by the end of that.
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2 ad breaks, 3 parts.
No, only one break; two parts. The third part was Simon's Sound Archives report, uploaded to the podcast in error.
first part of this week is russell's intro where here states people "don't want to pay for music". (I don't want to pay for petrol, under the new rules I'm so glad I don't have to)
Oi. The actual line was:
But while there's more music available than ever, the value of sales falls every year: maybe people don't want to buy music any more.
So how about subscription services: listen to all the music you can eat for a small monthly fee?
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There is not part 3.
Indeed. We actually went to a single-break format for the first time this week, but I think everyone forgot to tell the TVNZ web people, so they'd have been confused about it.
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My nameless Classic-drinking colleague, also a dinner-watcher, left after throwing up in the town hall. So I reckon I did okay.
The smile never left your face.
Although you could have come back much sooner and seen the entertainment. They stopped checking dinner tickets as soon as everyone was seated anyway.
I wonder if it's safe to call the Nameless One yet?
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Um, wow ...
Governor Is Asked To Release E-Mails
By Karl Vick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 10, 2008; A04WASILLA, Alaska, Sept. 9 -- Gov. Sarah Palin is being asked by a local Republican activist to release more than 1,100 e-mails she withheld from a public records request, including 40 that were copied to her husband, Todd.
Palin had claimed executive privilege for documents copied to her husband, who is not a state employee, in responding to an open records request in June made by Andrée McLeod, an activist in Anchorage. The administrative appeal filed yesterday by McLeod's attorney, Donald C. Mitchell, argued that by copying Todd Palin on sensitive state correspondence, the governor and her aides shattered the privilege rightly afforded elected officials.
"She has allowed Todd Palin -- who has not been elected by the people of Alaska, who is not a state employee -- to entangle himself apparently as he sees fit in the operations of the executive branch of the state government," Mitchell said.
"From the case law, if government voluntarily opens up that internal decision-making to what I would call civilians, then that is waiver of that protection of the government policy decision-making process. That is what happened here, and it happened because Sarah Palin doesn't understand it," he said.
Todd Palin was frequently copied on e-mails relating to Alaska State Troopers and the union representing public safety employees, according to McLeod, who received four boxes of redacted e-mails in response to her request. At the time, both Sarah and Todd Palin were complaining to the state public safety commissioner about a disciplinary matter involving Sarah Palin's ex-brother-in-law, a state trooper.
Palin also routinely does government business from a Yahoo address, gov.sarah@yahoo.com, rather than her secure official state e-mail address, according to documents already made public.
"Whoops!" Palin aide Frank Bailey wrote, after addressing an e-mail to the governor's official state address. "Frank, This is not the Governor's personal account," a secretary reminded him.
Calls seeking response from the governor were not immediately returned by a Palin spokesperson. Palin last month described McLeod as a disgruntled former employee, though in 2004 Palin endorsed her as a state House candidate "not afraid to stand up for what's right."
Mitchell's appeal, addressed to Palin in her capacity as the decision-maker on the earlier records request, questions the wisdom of the governor and her aides shipping messages about state business between their public and private e-mail accounts "with complete and total abandon," he said.
"There's a reason the governor should be using her own official e-mail channels, because of security and encryption," the lawyer said. "She's running state business out of Yahoo?"
On March 17, minutes after peppering a state official about whether e-mails about state business contained on a personal BlackBerry could become public, senior Palin aide Ivy Frye addressed a message to both Palins and two other aides: "In sum, it's just as I thought -- questions of confidentiality are still unanswered by law."
McLeod, a former state employee who once was close to Palin, filed an ethics complaint last month against Palin and others. She cited e-mail traffic that appeared to show that the governor's office improperly helped a Palin fundraiser obtain a civil service position.
"By withholding these emails, Sarah Palin has broken on her promise of being open, honest and transparent," McLeod said in a statement. "It's old-school politics and not the kind of reform she pledged to Alaskans."
It just gets weirder, really.
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A correction ...
I've spoken to someone whose just spoken to Greg Locke from the Trons, who'd heard about the Daft Punk thing too. Amusingly, it's news to him.
But, the Trons have in fact been invited to Paris to play a Mercedes corporate do -- which is brilliant. The original version of this story should stand as a demonstration of the perils of getting your news tips from pissed people.
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I already booked my Auckland hall for Nov 8th, what with me turning 40 and all...
It's all very well for you, but what will the young rockers do?
I should point out that my confident prediction is really just an educated guess based a small number of possible dates. rather than an actual tip. But I bet I'm right.
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