You would think that President Obama would grab every opportunity to speak to the public. He certainly is a great one for making speeches. But he now has decided that he will boycott the Fox Channel…not boycott per se, but just decline to appear on it because he does not like what Fox says about him.

While it’s quite true that the Fox Channel is not a supporter of the Democrats, it is true that the other TV channels appear to be. He has appeared on them many times.

It would behove the President to face his opponents rather than be intimidated by them. Or worse still, create the impression of sulking when he is not surrounded by adoring Obama fans and that is not a good look for a “strong” leader. It’s as if he thinks that if they won’t say something nice about him he won’t front up for an interview.

Obama is an excellent speaker and would impress the public if he didn’t act afraid. Anybody would feel relaxed on his home ground on the ABC or CNN but it’s how one behaves in unfriendly territory that marks the man. Nobody respects a man who runs away from “a fight”.

I bet that our former Prime Minister, John Howard, would not have been intimidated in that way, nor would our current Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, for that matter.

Isn’t it amazing how when you haven’t got a leg to stand on you get on your high horse! Continue reading →

The first time that I ever heard a jarring American female voice was at a wedding reception several years ago. It was so high pitched and nasal that I feared for the fate of the crystal goblets at the reception. I still shudder at the memory of it as I wondered how her young spouse could possibly tolerate it.

Quite literally, the sound of it was excruciating. Continue reading →

So President Obama has been awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. Undeserved? Who knows? He hasn’t done anything yet.

What is really absurd is that Obama was nominated for this award less than two weeks after becoming President of the U.S.

Giving the President the Peace Prize denigrates the entire award which has often been controversial. From past experience many of the recipients of this prize appear to be undeserving and have later proved themselves to be so, but even Obama is embarrassed by this accolade.

If I were the President I would thank Norway but decline the honour because it was premature. Otherwise, it gives the impression that it’s a reward for having run a successful election campaign. I am not usually a fan of the term “whatever” but in this case it seems most apt.

In his latest speech today, the one about Iran and the nukes and good old Mr El Baradei, President Obama said “talk is no substitute for action.” Well, you could have fooled me because all we have witnessed from the U.S President is talk, talk and more talk and he’s correct when he says it’s no substitute for action. So where is the action?

He is talking with everybody and with all this talk comes a sense that he’s unwilling to act. He’s the sort of person who keeps threatening his opponents with more dialogue and it’s as if he’s playing for time. Is he really that naive to think that Iran is going to stop producing weapons-strength uranium? Is he hoping that something bad will happen to the Iranian leadership so that he will not have to act?

Perhaps he’s just going to bore the opposition to death with his speeches and jingles and slogans. Can he do that? Yes he can. The speeches are pretty, Mr President, but it’s enough already because you are appearing weak and hesitant and that’s not good.

Iran will not take Obama seriously because the Iranians have sussed out that this is a talking president and not one who acts. Once that impression has been made no amount of warnings will change anything. Iran will simply build more secret nuclear reactors and thumb its collective noses at the U.S President.

Pity about that when we hoped something good would come from this new U.S government.

The American wholesale company, Costco, has finally opened in Melbourne. We took a while to visit because it’s downtown which is not easy to get to…traffic and construction at Docklands are not very inviting. Nevertheless, we were curious.

Not that we were going to buy anything. We were just coming to have a look. Continue reading →

The quadriplegic who was at the centre of a right-to-die controversy recently has passed away. Christian Rossiter died of a chest infection after winning the right not to be fed artificially.

Mr Rossiter was only 49 and could not bear the thought of spending the rest of his life on life support.

Sadly, we don’t have a choice in when we are born and who will be our parents. I believe the ultimate freedom is the right to decide when we will die and how, if that can be arranged. That is what I call real self-determination.

It’s a shame that Mr Rossiter had to fight to starve to death and finally succumbed to a chest infection. It could not have been an easy death for him, but then, his life was intolerable. Too bad he could not have had any compassionate and actual medical assistance to depart with relief.

Perhaps one day we will give the same consideration to human beings as we do to our beloved pets.

I was having a quiet break from blogging when President Carter came out with more drivel. This time it was about people objecting to President Obama’s policies because of racism. According to the nutty farmer who was one of the worst presidents ever, people disapprove of Obama because he is black. What a load of rubbish! Why can’t someone disagree with Obama without being labeled a racist?

In my opinion, Obama’s election was due in part to his being black. Not too black, but a nice latte blend of black and white which was an attraction at a time when Americans wanted change. Not only in political party but as different as possible from the white Republicans of the past. So Obama fit the bill perfectly.

On balance, Obama’s colour was a plus rather than a disadvantage and still is in the eyes of the Europeans and the Middle Easterners. This is an important point since the Democrats want to distance themselves from the previous administration and Obama’s physical appearance is now a symbol of change in both policy and provenance.

Of course, there are racists in America just as there are racists in the rest of the world, and there always will be. But Carter is barking up the wrong tree if he accuses critics of Obama’s initiatives of being racist. That is just a cheap shot and, as usual, Carter is way off the mark.