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<title><![CDATA[Crookwell Gazette - Blog - National Comment]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.crookwellgazette.com.au/blogs/national-comment/]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[Here is the place for you to vent on any national or world news and lifestyle stories on the YourGuide websites. If there is anything you see or hear that you like or don't like, tell us. Don't keep it to yourself!]]></description>
<lastBuildDate>Sat, 11 Feb 2012 21:30:23 GMT</lastBuildDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Are parking inspectors mean or just misunderstood?]]></title>
<link>http://www.crookwellgazette.com.au/blogs/national-comment/are-parking-inspectors-mean-or-just-misunderstood/2451099.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[In Britain they're known as civil enforcement officers. In the US it's parking attendant. In Montreal, Canada, it's Green Onions, inspired by their uniform colour.]]></description>
<pubDate>Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:47:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Geeks, not all breast exposure is naughty]]></title>
<link>http://www.crookwellgazette.com.au/blogs/national-comment/geeks-not-all-breast-exposure-is-naughty/2449392.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA['SHARES that contain nudity, pornography, or sexual content are not permitted on Facebook … refrain from posting abusive material in the future.'']]></description>
<pubDate>Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:13:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Why health cover needs no subsidies]]></title>
<link>http://www.crookwellgazette.com.au/blogs/national-comment/why-health-cover-needs-no-subsidies/2448713.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[Despite the untiring efforts of Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott to make themselves seem poles apart in their policies - he/she is hopeless, I'm really good - the ideological gap between the two sides has never been narrower. If you look carefully, that's true even in one of the few remaining points of ideological difference: the funding of healthcare, particularly private health insurance.]]></description>
<pubDate>Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:47:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Interest rates: Time for big banks to give back]]></title>
<link>http://www.crookwellgazette.com.au/blogs/national-comment/interest-rates-time-for-big-banks-to-give-back/2446361.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[There is little evidence to support denying the full benefit of an interest rate cut.]]></description>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:56:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Lots of pain, but a surprise gain for Gillard]]></title>
<link>http://www.crookwellgazette.com.au/blogs/national-comment/lots-of-pain-but-a-surprise-gain-for-gillard/2445156.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[The Doomsday clock that ticks towards the end of Julia Gillard's prime ministership has been set in motion, but today's Herald/Nielsen poll will slow its tempo.]]></description>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:10:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Rinehart's raid stirs media pot]]></title>
<link>http://www.crookwellgazette.com.au/blogs/national-comment/rineharts-raid-stirs-media-pot/2443103.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[When Gina Rinehart pushed the go button on buying 10 per cent of Fairfax Media she put the entire sector under the blowtorch, both in investment terms and from the perspective of the role the media has in influencing political and social policy.]]></description>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:22:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Tight ship, tight lips and few surprises at Facebook]]></title>
<link>http://www.crookwellgazette.com.au/blogs/national-comment/tight-ship-tight-lips-and-few-surprises-at-facebook/2441439.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[ABOUT time too. Facebook is on the point of filing papers in preparation for its initial public offering. This is both big news and no news at all.]]></description>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:09:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[In politics, as in life, fruit doesn't fall far from the ministerial tree]]></title>
<link>http://www.crookwellgazette.com.au/blogs/national-comment/in-politics-as-in-life-fruit-doesnt-fall-far-from-the-ministerial-tree/2440276.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[Leave aside who told who what. The fact is the Prime Minister's office thought it was legitimate politics to organise an Aboriginal protest against her political rival.]]></description>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:57:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Too tolerant of ugly racism]]></title>
<link>http://www.crookwellgazette.com.au/blogs/national-comment/too-tolerant-of-ugly-racism/2438651.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[REJECTING discrimination in the constitution would empower us all.
]]></description>
<pubDate>Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:48:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Abbott's stance on gay marriage looks like strong-arm tactics]]></title>
<link>http://www.crookwellgazette.com.au/blogs/national-comment/abbotts-stance-on-gay-marriage-looks-like-strongarm-tactics/2437447.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[TONY Abbott's decision to wait until the Parliament had shut down at the end of last year before making it clear that he would block a conscience vote on any gay marriage bill could cost him in the long run.]]></description>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:37:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Drop Bear complacency a danger to us all]]></title>
<link>http://www.crookwellgazette.com.au/blogs/national-comment/drop-bear-complacency-a-danger-to-us-all/2433776.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[I will never trust Wikipedia again. After last week’s blog about the blackout protest I received a message on Twitter, complaining about the online encyclopedia’s treatment of its Drop Bear page.]]></description>
<pubDate>Thu, 26 Jan 2012 01:14:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Many cultural hands make the Australian way of life work]]></title>
<link>http://www.crookwellgazette.com.au/blogs/national-comment/many-cultural-hands-make-the-australian-way-of-life-work/2433597.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[Australia Day is perhaps unique. There are few countries in the world that conduct such extensive self-examination on their national day.
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<pubDate>Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:40:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Why we can't trust Gillard any more]]></title>
<link>http://www.crookwellgazette.com.au/blogs/national-comment/why-we-cant-trust-gillard-any-more/2432520.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[The Prime Minister has let us all down, particularly young people.]]></description>
<pubDate>Wed, 25 Jan 2012 01:26:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[A pokies trial in the ACT is bordering on futile]]></title>
<link>http://www.crookwellgazette.com.au/blogs/national-comment/a-pokies-trial-in-the-act-is-bordering-on-futile/2432454.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[THERE are two good reasons why you wouldn't want to rely on the results of Julia Gillard's much-ballyhooed poker machine trial in the Australian Capital Territory: geography and history.

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<pubDate>Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:31:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Why Rudd's return is Labor's only chance of survival]]></title>
<link>http://www.crookwellgazette.com.au/blogs/national-comment/why-rudds-return-is-labors-only-chance-of-survival/2430338.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[NOT once since April last year has the Gillard government polled as well as the Rudd government polled at its worst. Kevin Rudd led one of the most popular governments in Australian political history. Julia Gillard is now leading one of the least popular.]]></description>
<pubDate>Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:24:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Caffeine less vital than conviviality of a cuppa]]></title>
<link>http://www.crookwellgazette.com.au/blogs/national-comment/caffeine-less-vital-than-conviviality-of-a-cuppa/2428964.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA["COFFEE," wrote the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, "makes gloomy". Odd for a somewhat manic writer. I agree. Perhaps we ''up'' people are supposed to be coffee junkies, shaking for a short black by elevenses. But while I enjoy the flavour of my daily decaffeinated espresso, the last thing I want is to be more switched on every morning, then slumping when the buzz dies.]]></description>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:22:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Courage untested until ship sinks]]></title>
<link>http://www.crookwellgazette.com.au/blogs/national-comment/courage-untested-until-ship-sinks/2426791.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[COURAGE is a virtue and heroism is admirable, but do we have a right to demand them? Which of us cannot look back on his or her own life and remember decisions, or compromises made, or silences kept because of cowardice, even when the penalties for courage were negligible?
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<pubDate>Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:49:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[It's stiff cheese for Wilkie, the mouse who roared]]></title>
<link>http://www.crookwellgazette.com.au/blogs/national-comment/its-stiff-cheese-for-wilkie-the-mouse-who-roared/2425732.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[LEAVING the beach on a recent Saturday afternoon on a day when a bright deep blue sky reached down to meet blue water, I walked through a beachfront hotel, through the bar and then a large room filled with poker machines. As always with gambling rooms, it was dark, with most of the light coming from the garish machines. The room was packed.]]></description>
<pubDate>Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:25:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Cruise ships will still have a future]]></title>
<link>http://www.crookwellgazette.com.au/blogs/national-comment/cruise-ships-will-still-have-a-future/2423996.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[UNTIL the weekend, the name Costa Concordia would have meant very little to anyone outside Italy. But in the space of a couple of hours late on Friday, when the ship hit rocks off the island of Giglio, all that changed. By Saturday morning, it was being compared to the Titanic.
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<pubDate>Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:44:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[For tyrants considering embalming, some advice]]></title>
<link>http://www.crookwellgazette.com.au/blogs/national-comment/for-tyrants-considering-embalming-some-advice/2422397.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[NORTH Korea's decision to embalm ''dear'' departed dictator Kim Jong-il's body and put it on permanent public display revives a practice as old as the pharaohs, which can still serve nefarious political ends.

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<pubDate>Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:30:00 GMT</pubDate>
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