Mike Robinson's Comments
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Aug 20, 2009 | comments: 46
Mike Robinson Aug 20, 2009, 2:54am EDT
Congratulations Cheri.

Was there ever a moment when you thought you wouldn't make it?
May 2, 2009 | comments: 49
Mike Robinson May 2, 2009, 3:48am EDT
The banking industry is so far out of touch. This week in Sydney Australia the head of Macquarie Bank saw his salary drop from $26.75 million per annum to $290K. His predecessor at the bank earned $80 million in his final year in the job.
Mar 26, 2009 | comments: 34
Mike Robinson Mar 26, 2009, 3:57am EDT
Obama said on TV last night that he'd been to Australia several times.

In what capacity? Is this documented anywhere?
Dec 19, 2008 | comments: 63
Mike Robinson Dec 19, 2008, 5:55pm EST
Cheri,

Good analysis, good writing, and a very good article to boot.

You make me feel like throwing a shoe or two!
Nov 12, 2008 | comments: 16
Mike Robinson Nov 13, 2008, 11:41pm EST
Ms Cabot goes to Hollywood. Very amusing story Cheri.

Have you got any photos of you and your cane?
Nov 13, 2008 | comments: 44
Mike Robinson Nov 13, 2008, 3:55am EST
Good article Cheri. Thoughtful and thought provoking.

It may very well come to what you suggest, that WPA-like measures will be required to restore American pride and jobs, especially if Ford or GM is allowed to fail. That would put the unemployment cat among the working-class pigeons. But as far as the auto makers are concerned, starting again with a new map and compass might be better than following the old map and compass into the wilderness.

The economy has changed over the last 70 years, as you noted. One thing that hasn't changed is Wall Street's ability to bring the world to its knees.

Like the economy, stockbrokers and other denizens of Wall Street have evolved in the last 80 years. They no longer believe they can fly. The theory was tested with disastrous results in 1929, when scores of them jumped from high places to escape financial ruin. The example of the few was inspiration to the many. The modern Wall Streeter has learned to feather his nest prior to the onset of inclement financial weather.
Nov 7, 2008 | comments: 26
Mike Robinson Nov 8, 2008, 1:49am EST
These lines from a poem by Laurence Binyon (1869 -1943) are recited daily at sunset in thousands of returned servicemens' clubs around Australia to honour the fallen in both world wars:

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

We wear poppies on Remembrance Day too.
Nov 6, 2008 | comments: 96
Mike Robinson Nov 6, 2008, 2:04am EST
Very personal, but revealing, Kathryn.

Reading the last paragraph reminded me of the lines from FitzGerald's translation of The Rubaiyat:
Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse - and Thou.
Nov 5, 2008 | comments: 15
Mike Robinson Nov 6, 2008, 1:40am EST
Very touching Deborah.
Nov 5, 2008 | comments: 65
Mike Robinson Nov 5, 2008, 11:05pm EST
As it happens Cheri, I opened a bottle of champagne last night.

It was a suitable occasion for champagne. Or even gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Nov 5, 2008 | comments: 65
Mike Robinson Nov 5, 2008, 10:56pm EST
A very emotive piece of writing Cheri. I hope you have your happiness hangover for a long time to come.
Nov 5, 2008 | comments: 48
Mike Robinson Nov 5, 2008, 10:43pm EST
Great analysis Bruce.

'we showed the world that we are not headed irrevocably downward'
The rest of the world was also worried that the US was headed irrevocably inward had McCain been elected.
Nov 3, 2008 | comments: 100
Mike Robinson Nov 4, 2008, 11:12pm EST
This morning, 4 hours before the election result was declared, the US ambassador to Australia, a personal friend of G. W. Bush, resigned.

He said he would have done so no matter who won the presidency. Nobody believes him.
Nov 3, 2008 | comments: 59
Mike Robinson Nov 3, 2008, 10:30pm EST
I see no conflict in the divergent answers to the AOL survey. The answers reflect how those being questioned were able to separate hope from reality.

I've got a ticket in a $15,000,000 lottery. If you ask me who I would like to win the lottery I'd say 'Me'. If you ask me who I expect to win the lottery I'd say 'Not me'.

It's the same deal with the AOL answers. 52% would like McCain to win, but 58% expect Obama to win.

I'll let you know if I win the lottery.
Oct 30, 2008 | comments: 109
Mike Robinson Oct 31, 2008, 5:00am EDT
What you've raised, and what two contributors have alluded to above, is the question of law versus ethics.

The law defines what is right and wrong in a given society. It is legally wrong to drive on the left-hand side of the road in America, but in other parts of the world it is legally wrong to drive on the right-hand side. There are many such instances of laws that proscribe behaviour in one jurisdiction that is legal in other jurisdictions. The law may reflect popular opinion or it may not, but it is not governed by popular opinion. The law may change over time, but it doesn't change unless it is changed by legislation.

Ethics has a broader reach, and is much more malleable over time and cultures. It defines what is morally right or wrong in private and public life, and how an individual can lead a morally good life. Ethics are not enshrined in law, but they can underpin some laws. Ethics can change over time without the need for legislative change.

The Ten Commandments is a good example of an ethical code. However, this code is not universal across cultures, nor is it eternal, nor is it comprehensive. Some people see the Ten Commandments as law, but the commandments have nothing to say about which side of the road you should drive on.

Cannibalism is an interesting subject in ethics and law. It is universally forbidden in modern law, but has been practised by various cultures at various times. Some natives of Papua practised it as late as the mid-20th century. To them it was perfectly ethical to eat body parts of vanquished opponents.

Is cannibalism ever right? You would probably say no, but if you were part of the Donner Party (1846 - 1847) or on the plane that crashed in the Andes in 1972, you would probably abandon your ethical position on cannibalism in favour of your survival instincts. In some circumstances cannibalism can be an ethical dilemma.

Slavery was mentioned above. Once, when slavery was legal, some people questioned whether it was ethical. This led to slavery being abolished at different times in different cultures. Today it is neither legal nor ethical in western societies, but it persists in some cultures.
Oct 29, 2008 | comments: 23
Mike Robinson Oct 31, 2008, 2:27am EDT
Georgie,

Maybe the souls of the Celts were washed westward across the Atlantic, to the shores of Amerikay.
Oct 30, 2008 | comments: 45
Mike Robinson Oct 30, 2008, 11:30pm EDT
Sorry Cheri, I can't help you.

I've got the same problem.
Oct 29, 2008 | comments: 23
Mike Robinson Oct 30, 2008, 7:12pm EDT
In Gaelic, Samhain is the name for November. Oíche Shamhna (pronounced ee-ha how-na) is the name for Halloween.

Before the onslaught of American 'culture', Halloween was a big event in a child's life in Ireland, and it was celebrated indoors with family. Nuts and fruit were used in games, and eaten afterwards. The games involved eating apples as they swung from strings attached to the ceiling, or 'ducking', which was recovering fruit, nuts and coins from basins of water with one's mouth.

A traditional Halloween fruit cake, called a 'barmbrack', was eaten. It contained a brass ring and a coin, usually a six-pence. Getting the slice of cake containing the ring was said to presage marriage, while the six-pence stood for good fortune.

Did I mention the ghost stories? Because Halloween was a passover time for departed souls it always involved the telling of lurid ghost stories.

In modern-day Ireland, trick-or-treat has replaced the old customs. Such is progress. Or is it?
Oct 29, 2008 | comments: 63
Mike Robinson Oct 30, 2008, 10:54am EDT
Don't start the revolution without me, Cheri!

Emigration might be a safer option though.
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Mike Robinson
Brisbane, Australia

If the phone doesn't ring it's probably me
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