[aussiemum]

And don't we all feel so lucky.

Especially when we consider the Australian taxpayers bill for 500 police & guards in Adelaide, where he is giving his speech. Geesh, at what price your allies???

Quote:

Adelaide is firmly in lockdown mode for the visit of the United States Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Many city streets have been cordoned off and a three metre high concrete and steel wire fence stands outside the normally luxurious entrance to the Hyatt Hotel, where Mr Rumsfeld is believed to be staying.

Rumsfeld meets with government ministers in Adelaide

You have got to be f-ing joking me?!?!?!? Concrete & wire fence outside the Hyatt in Adelaide??!!!??

That's just pitiful & pathetic..... imo.

Where, I ask the Americans, do they consider their allies to live??? Not in Adelaide, obviously.

...............................

Which is also known as the 'City of Churches'.

.........

No shit.

 

[dingogirl]

Who gives a s#*t what happens in Australia?

If I were Rummy, I'd want a concrete wall outside my hotel too.

http://abc.net.au/cnnnn/polls/iraq/vote/

 

[aussiemum]

Yeah, I know nobody cares what happens in Australia. Which is why I get a cynical little kick out of posting threads about Aus on an AMerican website.

Johnny Howard wants us to believe that we are world players because of our association with the Yanks...... but we're not. And it's a shame, because we really are a stable little democracy worth emulating in some ways.

At least we know Donald Rumsfeld can find Adelaide, which is a good thing..... I think. We can always hope that he won't be giving the fire missiles order to the wrong continent.

Yup, saw the CNNN episode.

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(psssstttttt........ why'd you change your post? I thought the original was good too.)

 

[Maeve]

Can I come live over there with you? Please?

 

[aussiemum]

Of course you can! Just don't expect utopia, kwim? We have our issues, too.

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Shall I tell you stories of socialised medicine & compulsory voting to lure you even further to the dark side of social democracy??

 

[aussiemum]

Oh, & Donny left a treasure trove of verbal gems whilst he was here. Good god, I can't believe he actually thinks like this.

Quote:

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has defended a decision not to allow UN investigators to meet foreign terror suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison following allegations of torture and a hunger strike by some.Rumsfeld also told a Pentagon news conference that the 27 hunger strikers, some of whom have been force-fed since they began fasting in August, were simply trying to attract media attention. The three UN investigators, including one who focuses on torture, have turned down a Pentagon invitation to visit Guantanamo because US authorities were refusing to allow them to interview the detainees.

Rumsfeld defends Guantanamo decision

I reckon Rumsfeld's got a lot of balls coming into our country & saying something like that when an Australian citizen, David Hicks, has been held for three years in Gitmo without trial. And I'm not talking about a military tribunal trial either. Not to mention that the Yanks have no right to Hicks.

But I digress.

Another example of diplomatic cultural sensitivity ....

Quote:

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has suggested the controversy over missing Iraqi explosives will probably amount to no more than a tempest in a teapot and compared it to other oversold stories that circulated during the war. "Do you remember when the museum - everyone said the museum was looted?" Mr Rumsfeld said when asked to comment on the disappearance of 380 tonnes of conventional high explosives from Al-Qaqaa military base south of Baghdad.

Rumsfeld rejects explosives row

Ummmm.......yeah? What is your point? Most Australians accept that priceless treasures were looted from the Bagdad museum. I don't think that's seen as an example of hyperbole here in Aus, no matter what your minders tell you, Donny.

Is this really the best that the US has to offer us?? 'cuz I'm not impressed.

 

[dingogirl]

Quote:

(psssstttttt........ why'd you change your post? I thought the original was good too.)

ok, i'll re-post it:

btw, did you see the cnnnn episode where americans were asked which country they wanted to invade next? the cnnnn guys pulled out a map in which australia was labeled "north korea." the americans would point to australia and say "I think we should invade north korea next."

there. ya happy now, aussiemum?

 

[aussiemum]

Oooohhhh, yeah, I'm happy now. The little things in life, ya know?

...........

But ya still didn't answer my question.

 

[dingogirl]

I just didn't want to offend anyone.

Where in Oz do you live? I live in Margaret River. Are you jealous?

 

[aussiemum]

North Queensland here.

I hear the Margaret River area is lovely tho. Would love to travel west one day.

 

[aussiemum]

Regarding offending people... yeah, I can understand that.

But CNNNN is satire, & satire is so often an expression about how the general population feels about an issue. The AMericans should be told about how Australians feel about things- god knows their media won't tell them anything, so I guess it's up to the internet. Heck, we both have expressed our points of view to what, at least the 12 people who have read this thread, right?