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<title><![CDATA[The Riverina Leader - Blog - National Comment]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.riverinaleader.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>Mon, 28 May 2012 02:24:04 GMT</lastBuildDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Dysfunctional, or stretching the truth]]></title>
<link>http://www.riverinaleader.com.au/blogs/national-comment/dysfunctional-or-stretching-the-truth/2570720.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[THERE are two explanations for the curious case of the Prime Minister and the Gina Rinehart workforce deal.]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 27 May 2012 23:28:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[The MP, the escort and a meeting in the Boardroom]]></title>
<link>http://www.riverinaleader.com.au/blogs/national-comment/the-mp-the-escort-and-a-meeting-in-the-boardroom/2568712.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[A HIGH-CLASS escort has signed a statutory declaration alleging she had sex with the federal MP Craig Thomson.
Last night Channel Nine's television program A Current Affair told viewers it had interviewed the woman on camera last week.
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<pubDate>Thu, 24 May 2012 22:42:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Alcohol warning labels shunned by industry despite research]]></title>
<link>http://www.riverinaleader.com.au/blogs/national-comment/alcohol-warning-labels-shunned-by-industry-despite-research/2567560.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[THE alcohol industry is putting ''booze before babies'' by making false and misleading claims to a parliamentary inquiry into fetal alcohol disorders, a publicly-funded research body says.]]></description>
<pubDate>Thu, 24 May 2012 00:39:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Hearings keep Thomson in the spotlight]]></title>
<link>http://www.riverinaleader.com.au/blogs/national-comment/hearings-keep-thomson-in-the-spotlight/2565647.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[THE damage being inflicted on the government by the Craig Thomson affair shows no sign of abating with the MP referred to Parliament's privileges committee again yesterday - this time for allegedly misleading Parliament during his one-hour statement on Monday.
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<pubDate>Tue, 22 May 2012 22:35:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[The world holds its breath as Europe struggles in the quicksand]]></title>
<link>http://www.riverinaleader.com.au/blogs/national-comment/the-world-holds-its-breath-as-europe-struggles-in-the-quicksand/2564191.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[THE immediate future of the global economy, including Australia, now depends on Europe, and whether it can restore confidence to markets. If European leaders can resolve their tangle of problems, growth is ahead of us. If they can't, all bets are off.
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<pubDate>Mon, 21 May 2012 22:25:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Latest intrigues are Oscar material]]></title>
<link>http://www.riverinaleader.com.au/blogs/national-comment/latest-intrigues-are-oscar-material/2562534.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[TO HAVE one scandal is bad for a government. To have two running simultaneously looks, to slightly misquote Oscar Wilde in another context, just too careless.]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 20 May 2012 22:33:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Torture causes long-term harm to more than just the initial victims]]></title>
<link>http://www.riverinaleader.com.au/blogs/national-comment/torture-causes-longterm-harm-to-more-than-just-the-initial-victims/2560753.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[The battle for public acceptance of "enhanced interrogation techniques" such as waterboarding and sleep deprivation as part of the "new normal" for statecraft after September 11 hangs in the balance.]]></description>
<pubDate>Thu, 17 May 2012 22:19:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Joke's worn off as films cue the stock Arab]]></title>
<link>http://www.riverinaleader.com.au/blogs/national-comment/jokes-worn-off-as-films-cue-the-stock-arab/2559391.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[I look forward to seeing The Dictator, Sacha Baron Cohen's latest attempt at lampooning other cultures, which is released today.]]></description>
<pubDate>Wed, 16 May 2012 22:03:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[I didn't vote for that]]></title>
<link>http://www.riverinaleader.com.au/blogs/national-comment/i-didnt-vote-for-that/2556783.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[It’s getting exciting, isn’t it. Very dramatic, full of unexpected twists and turns. It’s the first thing we want to talk about when we get to work each day.]]></description>
<pubDate>Tue, 15 May 2012 03:50:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Our military strategies are indefensible]]></title>
<link>http://www.riverinaleader.com.au/blogs/national-comment/our-military-strategies-are-indefensible/2556108.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[WE SHOULD thank Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan. Their budget cuts have destroyed the defence policy of the 2009 white paper, and that is a good thing because it was a bad policy. Now it is their job to do better, and create the defence policy Australia needs to be a middle power in the Asian century. That will not be easy.]]></description>
<pubDate>Mon, 14 May 2012 22:09:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Don't allow technology to get in the way of life]]></title>
<link>http://www.riverinaleader.com.au/blogs/national-comment/dont-allow-technology-to-get-in-the-way-of-life/2554551.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[I was on a ferry crossing Sydney Harbour, sitting outside surrounded by wind, waves and spectacular views when I saw the young girl in front of me ask her father something. He sighed, nodded and handed over his smartphone. Next thing the girl's head was buried in it and the swish of the sea was interrupted by electronic squawks.]]></description>
<pubDate>Sun, 13 May 2012 23:12:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[In Labor's death throes, Gillard might remake our politics]]></title>
<link>http://www.riverinaleader.com.au/blogs/national-comment/in-labors-death-throes-gillard-might-remake-our-politics/2552746.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[TUESDAY'S budget was much more interesting than first appears. It was deeply political. But in the best sense of the word.]]></description>
<pubDate>Thu, 10 May 2012 23:26:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[The money for schools must come from parents]]></title>
<link>http://www.riverinaleader.com.au/blogs/national-comment/the-money-for-schools-must-come-from-parents/2551105.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[Exciting momentum was generated by the Gonski report on the funding of schools, but now the matter is wallowing in troubled waters. The impetus is in danger of being lost. Like a new toy without a battery, educators are left with a handful of promises.]]></description>
<pubDate>Wed, 09 May 2012 22:48:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Business slams scrapping of company tax cut]]></title>
<link>http://www.riverinaleader.com.au/blogs/national-comment/business-slams-scrapping-of-company-tax-cut/2549884.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[Business has slammed the government's decision to scrap $4.7 billion worth of company tax cuts and redistribute the revenue to households.]]></description>
<pubDate>Tue, 08 May 2012 23:56:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Get off Gillard's back, urges Westpac chief]]></title>
<link>http://www.riverinaleader.com.au/blogs/national-comment/get-off-gillards-back-urges-westpac-chief/2548137.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[WESTPAC chief executive Gail Kelly has urged other business leaders to work constructively with Prime Minister Julia Gillard and put aside the combative approach that some have taken to her minority government.]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 07 May 2012 23:28:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Is Gillard's grace enough to save her?]]></title>
<link>http://www.riverinaleader.com.au/blogs/national-comment/is-gillards-grace-enough-to-save-her/2547317.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[Somebody who knows Julia Gillard well and works closely with her once remarked that her greatest attribute was her outward calm.]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 07 May 2012 05:40:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Clubs stake new claims on pokies trials]]></title>
<link>http://www.riverinaleader.com.au/blogs/national-comment/clubs-stake-new-claims-on-pokies-trials/2546474.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[CLUBS in the ACT that have agreed to a trial of mandatory precommitment on poker machines  are now calling for the legislation to ensure the trial assesses the impact on the industry and contains a cost-benefit analysis, not just assessment of  how well the scheme reduces problem gambling.]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 06 May 2012 23:32:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Abbott close to finishing line but we still need two in the race]]></title>
<link>http://www.riverinaleader.com.au/blogs/national-comment/abbott-close-to-finishing-line-but-we-still-need-two-in-the-race/2544595.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[IF THIS week's Newspoll primary vote of 27 per cent was replicated at an election, Labor would lose more than half its House of Representatives seats. That would be a catastrophe for it, but it would also make the political scales undesirably lopsided.]]></description>
<pubDate>Thu, 03 May 2012 23:08:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Hatred of women exists in the West as well as the Arab world]]></title>
<link>http://www.riverinaleader.com.au/blogs/national-comment/hatred-of-women-exists-in-the-west-as-well-as-the-arab-world/2543310.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA['WOMEN have very little idea of how much men hate them,'' wrote Germaine Greer in The Female Eunuch. So outraged were men that wives reportedly took to concealing their copies by wrapping them in plain brown paper.]]></description>
<pubDate>Wed, 02 May 2012 23:09:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Jump off the policy pendulum]]></title>
<link>http://www.riverinaleader.com.au/blogs/national-comment/jump-off-the-policy-pendulum/2541446.aspx?src=rss</link>
<description><![CDATA[I like Americans. I have American friends, and I remember a trivial incident that endeared me to Americans forever. We were in a funicular going up one of the hills surrounding Lake Como in Italy, at close quarters with a group of Yanks. 

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<pubDate>Tue, 01 May 2012 22:51:00 GMT</pubDate>
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