The enduring image for me will be two women at my work embracing each other, tears in their eyes, saying to me “finally I can be proud to be American.”
It was a magic moment and I was glad to witness it in my lifetime.
Thank you.
And to give McCain his due – it was the most gracious concession speech I’ve heard in a long time. Impressive.
It feels like a new world.
And what’s that feeling I’m having… um… haven’t felt it for a while… oh I know…
hope.
You know, I’ve been increasingly uncomfortable with this endless… what would you call it… vigil… wait… for the deaths of the Bali bombers.
It’s as if as soon as they are gunned down by the firing squad the whole of Australia can take a deep breath and feel safe again.
It’s bollocks.
Three more deaths is not going to bring our innocence back.
Yes, these men committed a heinous crime. No one could dispute that.
Yes, they don’t appear to be repentant. At all.
And yes I so feel for the families and the victims of the attack.
But to say these men deserve the death penalty just feels so wrong to me.
I don’t believe in the death penalty. I don’t think it solves anything. It doesn’t bring the victims back. It doesn’t deter others. It makes martyrs of criminals.
And how can the Australian government appeal for clemency for Australians overseas if we don’t speak up for these men?
All the death penalty does is bring law abiding citizens down to the same level – and I don’t want to go there.
I just don’t want to go there.
Well wasn’t the election exciting?
From a news perspective there were so many stories to tell and unlike most elections where the trends appear pretty quickly and it’s all over bar the speeches by 8.30pm, Saturday night saw us at 11pm with no idea who was in power. It was… interesting!
And of course the Electoral Commission don’t count votes on Sunday.
Why not by the way? It’s not as if we have an election every week. It’s once every four years people! Couldn’t you roster counting staff on one Sunday every four years??!
Bizarre.
A possible hung parliament? I love it. This to me feels like democracy, rather than that two party duopoly that passes for democracy usually.
I love the fact that independents are winning seats and that the Nationals and the Greens did so well.
I love the fact that a Green nearly tipped that arrogant Jim McGinty out. Ha!
I might not agree with their policies, in fact, I probably don’t know any of their policies apart from the basics:
Nationals = more money spent in the bush (whoever ends up Premier, Brendon Grylls must be the winner)
Greens = no Uranium, no GM foods, Environment first
I love the fact that now they can argue for them and HAVE to be heard.
I like it that the power base in both Liberal and Labor ranks is shaken a little.
I like it that we might end up with a parliament where people might follow their conscience and really represent their electorates.
Or not. But there’s a chance!
A brave new world for Western Australia and I’m excited to be here.
[pronounced ceremonny you understand not ceremoany]
It is endless isn’t it, the parade of nations. Both Groover and Dippity are asleep – Hugamuga on a sleepover. I’m a bit over it myself but determined to stay up to watch the Australians walk in. They come in third last.
Plus, I’m curious to see how the Chinese light the cauldron. We’ll see just how curious if I make it to the end.
So far the majority of teams appear to be wearing white. Yawn. Thank goodness for those Caribbean and African teams who bring a bit of colour to the scene.
Oooh I like the Spanish – red and yellow as you’d expect. And New Zealand look pretty stylish in black. And sure the Italians look stylish – but grey. Boring. The French looked bizarre – the women with huge red belts over their shirts.
The Americans – with their enormous team – I thought looked good. I really liked the fact that both the men and women wore the same gear. It looked so much better than having different uniforms for the women. Classy. Nice stuff.
I don’t know what happened to Channel 7′s commentary. We were watching on HD and there was practically none. Terrible. So we switched the sound to 720 ABC Perth and listened to Glenn Mitchell and Tracey Holmes describe both the spectacle and the teams entering the arena. Great job. Really added to the coverage – and also filled us in on what was happening during the TV ad breaks. 
Hmmmm the Mexican women looked nice didn’t you think?
Waiting waiting waiting for the Aussies.
The Opening Ceremony was pretty impressive wasn’t it. The unison in which the dancers moved was exquisite.
And getting the athletes to walk through the paint… neat.
Ah they are coming in…
Oh.
They are wearing a shiny tracksuit top which is the palest of pale blue at the top fading down to navy at the bottom which blends into the trousers (held up by silver belts).
The tracksuit tops in close up don’t look like they fit terribly well, but I will say looking down on the stadium they do look rather nice.
Better en masse from a distance but … okay.
Phew. Always a heart in the mouth moment.
Gotta go now. A cauldron to light and a family to relocate to their beds.
Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi!
Updated to add: Oooh I like how they used the athletes footprints as the stage. Very neat.
(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
Updated again to say: The lighting of the cauldron? Rocked. London – you’ve got some work to do.
I was listening to the radio today and I heard a woman talking about what she’s doing this Friday night.
She’s cooking Chinese food, dressing up in her cheongsam, and inviting a few friends around to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on her big screen.
Wow.
I hadn’t even considered that.
Not even in passing.
And you know, it’s on at a great time for Perth. We’re on the same time zone so at 8 past 8 (or whatever) we’d be able to tune in.
I remember Athens… I was driving home when the ceremony started, going through the tunnel – it was pretty busy as I remember and I had to edge my way down the ramp while listening to the ceremony on the radio (ABC of course)… It sounded beautiful.
When I finally got home I’m asking Groover – oh what did the this look like? Oh and what about that?
I missed the first bit of the Sydney ceremony for some reason too…
Maybe this year I should make the effort. Maybe this year I should be there for the start in front of a screen somewhere.
Or maybe… I’ll just go to Dim Sum again on Saturday morning…
What?
It’s a good excuse!
Here’s an interesting statistic from this month’s Walkley magazine… Eric Ellis writes “Some time about 2025 but possible as soon as 2015, China will take over from the United States as the world’s largest economy.” Eric Ellis is a former China correspondent for the AFR who now writes for Fortune Magazine from south-east Asia.
They are very different economies, very different communities. As Eric asks, now I’m asking you, how will our world change with China as the dominant force?
We are moving from the known to the unknown so you’d expect some scaremongering. While some might scoff at Americans and lament the amount of Americanisms leaking into Australian culture – the whatevers, the baseball caps, even the spellings; will we look back on this time with nostalgic fondness?
I think we will. From the “over sexed, over paid and over here” mentality from the 40s to the ‘knickers over the top of low slung jeans” fashions of the noughties we will look back and think “ahhhh those were the days” and “we had so much in common”. Yeah like the ANZUS treaty.
So can you imagine a world with China as the world leader?
It is hard when we are so enmeshed in the status quo.
Will we look to China to sort out Iran?
Would the Australian Prime Minister dare question their choices when it comes to things like Tibet?
Will our teenagers start wearing cheongsams?
In the meantime I’m planning Yum Cha this Sunday for brunch.
Reeling from the shock of being labelled a binge drinker this morning (yes I occasionally share a bottle of wine with my husband) – I find myself unable to post.
At least I’m not drinking at this restaurant!
Why can’t our politicians see the big picture?
On the one hand we have opposition leader Brendan Nelson saying cut the fuel excise by 5 cents.
On the other hand we have Prime Minister Kevin Rudd saying I’ll make sure you’re not paying GST on the fuel excise – saving you 3.8 cents a litre.
That’s about 1.1 billion dollars in state tax revenue… (Nelson’s removes even more money from Treasure but it’s federal money.)
Either way with the cost of fuel soaring – 3-5 cents a litre ain’t going to make that much difference.
Imagine if that $1.1 billion/year was ploughed into developing alternative energy sources or better public transport systems so we could give up our cars more easily.
If you want to be a Prime Minister for the future Mr Rudd – read the writing on the global warming wall.
Fuel prices are going to continue to go up.
We need alternatives.
Earmark that 3.8 cents into finding solutions.
Tom Price to Karratha Road
I spent today in Karratha. A balmy 32C. My bones were warmed. The people there, friendly and welcoming.
But you know, it’s not the most attractive place. Housing is at a critical shortage and it seems unless you know someone and that someone has a spare room – you can’t find anywhere affordable to rent. Certainly not on a government salary.
There is one shopping mall.
There is a hospital but if you’re pregnant – forget it – you either fly to Perth or travel two hours to Port Hedland.
It takes months to see a dentist – even if you have a toothache, there is one gynaecologist, there’s even a month long waiting list to get a haircut. And if you’re car breaks down… well I hope it doesn’t.
Casual labour is at a premium. Try and get a taxi driver or a cleaner. The teachers in the local high-school have been asked to clean their own classrooms (they are paid if they do). And don’t mention the basic cost of living. Food. Petrol.
Because the agreements the big companies struck with the government when they first developed the area 30+ years ago are still in place, Rio Tinto, Woodside, etc pay less in local taxes than small businesses.
And because the shire gets funding based on numbers of rate-paying residents and so many of the workers in the North west are Fly-in Fly-out workers – the shire cannot afford to improve many of the services.
This town, and many others in the area are sitting on a goldmine… or rather an iron ore mine and natural gas line. The government collects millions of dollars in royalties and yet a trickle gets back to the people that live there.
So when I hear the State Government whine about WA supporting the whole of Australia at the moment – about how the Commonwealth take more than their fair share of the taxes raised – I think about how the residents of Karratha must feel watching all that money roll out of town and watching a debate over a Ferris Wheel and whether or not it should be erected on the Perth foreshore.
At least they’ve got a nice road.
Growing up in India would have its challenges I suspect. Especially if you have the misfortune of being dubbed a “good luck baby”.
I have no words.
