Daily Archives: March 5, 2012

AFL's Crows given freedom by new coach

Posted: March 5, 2012 at 3:53 am

AAP

Adelaide have shed their robotic AFL image and been gifted more freedom under new coach Brenton Sanderson, says winger Brodie Smith.

Long derided as Crowbots under former coach Neil Craig, Adelaide have won all three of their pre-season games under Sanderson.

"It's a bit more exciting footy, I guess," Smith said of the changed game plan.

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"It's not so much structure as last year and a bit more licence to have a bit of a crack."

The Crows will test their new style against Collingwood when they host the competition powerhouse on Friday night.

Another win would seal a cup grand final berth, but Smith said making the pre-season play-off was not a priority.

"It's not as important as getting all our structures right and improving for round one (of the premiership season)," he said.

"Obviously, it would be nice to be there, but it's not top of the list."

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AFL's Crows given freedom by new coach

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Obama announces Medal of Freedom honor for Shimon Peres

Posted: at 3:53 am

Reporting from Washington -- Israeli President Shimon Peres will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom this spring, President Obama announced at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington.

"Shimon once described the story of the Jewish people by saying it proved that, 'slings, arrows and gas chambers can annihilate man, but cannot destroy human values, dignity and freedom,'" Obama said as he announced the award. "He has lived those values. He has taught us to ask more of ourselves and to empathize more with our fellow human beings."

Obama spoke privately with Peres after the main conference session and congratulated him on the award. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is America's highest civilian honor.

Delegates to the conference, who had an otherwise mixed reaction to Obama's speech, greeted the announcement with applause.

"It's extremely well-deserved, the man has dedicated his life to peace," said Milton Salzer, a first-time delegate from Illinois. "His whole life he's had the message, peace is the first alternative, war is the last."

"He's done a lot for the relationship between Israel and America," said Jeffrey Freimark, a delegate from Florida. "There's a bit of a political ploy to it, but nonetheless it's good solid recognition of someone who's every much deserving."

The Israeli head of state spoke ahead of Obama at the conference, after being greeted onto the stage by a choir of children. Peres expressed hope that the younger generations in Israel's Arab neighbors will embrace democracy, while emphasizing Israel's need to defend itself against Iran.

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Obama allies, foes speculate on a big — and hypothetical — second-term agenda

Posted: at 3:52 am

If President Obama wins a second term, he will finally endorse same-sex marriage. Gay rights groups are almost certain. He will also make a new, historic effort to fight climate change environmentalists are pretty sure.

And Obama will finally do just what the Congressional Black Caucus wants. According to some members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Conservative groups are equally confident that Obama, freed from the fear of losing his reelection bid, would deliver on far-reaching left-wing dreams. GOP candidate Mitt Romney forecasts a runaway spending spree. Newt Gingrich envisions a war on the Catholic Church. The National Rifle Association predicts a crackdown on gun owners.

The funny thing about all this is: Obama himself hasnt said hell do any of it.

In his speeches over the first few months of his reelection campaign the president has only sketched out a vague agenda for his next term. He wants to fix the immigration system. Put his health-care law into practice. Rebuild infrastructure. Revive manufacturing.

And, he told an audience in San Francisco, in what might be called a flourish of the obvious, were going to have to figure out how to pay for all this stuff.

This disconnect highlights one of the most unusual factors in an unusual campaign: Even after three years in office, Obama remains a political Rorschach test. His friends still project their brightest hopes on him. His enemies still project their deepest nightmares.

Both are still convinced they havent seen the real Obama yet or the real Obama agenda.

And so, paradoxically, they believe the most important ideas of Obamas reelection campaign are the ones hes not talking about.

All that first-term lip service to gun owners is part of a massive Obama conspiracy to deceive voters, NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre said during the Conservative Political Action Conference. And hide his true intentions to destroy the Second Amendment during his second term! His evidence was Obamas past views on gun control, and his appointment of two Supreme Court justices the NRA considers hostile.

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Obama allies, foes speculate on a big — and hypothetical — second-term agenda

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Column – Stifling free speech won’t guarantee good speech

Posted: at 3:52 am

Andrew Bolt Monday, March 05, 2012 at 07:41am

THE Gillard Governments media inquiry threatens not only our freedom to speak, but to hear and decide for ourselves. But why?

Its report last week, by retired judge Ray Finkelstein, proposes a super media-cop, funded by government, to police all thats said and written in the media.

It would even have the power to disappear you - or, rather, your words - by requiring offending artilces to removed from the Internet, never to be read again.

But what suddenly happened that free speech is thought a threat, needing even more oppressive controls?

Finkelstein offers five striking instances of wrongful harm caused by unreliable or inaccurate reporting, breach of privacy, and the failure to properly take into account the defenceless.

Its list is astonishingly thin.

A minister of the Crown has his homosexuality exposed. He is forced to resign.

(The NSW minister was found visiting a bath house, is not defenceless and was not forced to resign, but chose to.)

A chief commissioner of police is the victim of false accusations about his job performance fed to the news media by a ministerial adviser ... He is forced to resign.

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Column - Stifling free speech won’t guarantee good speech

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