- announcing my New Year's resolution: Ending conflict in Iraq, by myself. (Hey, if the Pres doesn't ask for my ideas, not my fault!)

officially ready for 09. Hope above optimism, in all circumstances.

- wondering why I've got a lookalike on screen in tonight's episode of The Bill!

enjoying an Aussie Christmas: Dog already exhausted. Connected with family via mobile calls, on 'speaker'. Testing limits of the 'AA's.

loving time with my girls.

getting ready to wrap, not rap... although I can do that too if you ask me in rhyme, holding a boom box on your shoulder.

A question. What is the best newspaper? NY Times? Wall Street Journal? Straits Times? Le Monde? Another?

Empower CC sent a Merry Christmas to the community tonight. Well done to all.

Only few more sleeps til Christmas, & we Aussies are bound to arrive earlier than our US friends. Sorry guys. It's how we roll.

spare time...

Love the serenity of nature and words, words and God's creation.

proud of my girls.

disturbed by the inadequacies of social security, as outlined during broadcasts this week: www.npr.org

wondering what the inauguration speech will centre on.

in the clouds...

Been thinking a bit lately, and experimenting, with the value of the cloud. No, I'm not getting off the deck of the planet's surface with lofty time-wasting... rather, appreciating and testing the value of online living.

Moving from the early ideas of desk-bound communication, our mobile world follows us rather than being a place that we access from single points beyond our daily lives. Even in 1975, there was a preview of the advantages... have a look at these slides!

• Gmail, Picasa, me.com, online storage and backup, Google calendar

Sure, there are some dangers... NPR presented a report that's got some helpful cautionary value to it.

But I'm prepared to embrace the good of the new before fearing the bad of its shortcomings. Yeah, I'm cautious and conscious of security... but the online world is a resource to use rather than run from in a sweat.

love getting the washing done! And twittering away the occasional thought in my online clouds - now how's that for multi-skilling?

counting the days to the inauguration.

very encouraged!

loving Kung Fu Panda. Jack Black is pure awesomeness! http://ping.fm/zQNTW

loving a status update as an expressive communication tool... and a little bit of a statement of one's personality: http://ping.fm/QpgxR

impressed by Shane Baxter's thoughts at ECC on Sunday night. Very encouraging and inspiring.

back from an inspiring service... looking forward to this evening's big bash: http://ping.fm/PnCBB

not bothered by claims of old-guard members cramming Obama's first appointments. Change is delivered by those who who know their way around

disturbed by the scale of attacks in India... http://ping.fm/ZPRBq

enjoying the weekend with my great girls, but looking forward to another fulfilling week... http://ping.fm/p5HlB

contemplating mobile communications and a cloud... http://ping.fm/xJk3N

loving the CBS 60 Minutes interview of the first family from last weekend... http://ping.fm/vEANQ

loved the CBS 60 minutes interview with the Obama team... http://ping.fm/KgcyD

loving The West Wing, all over again... http://ping.fm/vdeIA

mystified at the delay in the 'Bloody Sunday' enquiry: http://ping.fm/zdcqH

trusting all works together for good. Love that scripture http://ping.fm/oMW7l

loving the first p-elect press conference.

... just saw 'Body of Lies' and loved it. Have to agree with David on this one... http://ping.fm/G5jvo

... I've got my POTUS08 party all set for Wednesday... just gotta get the speech notes finished. Yes we can!

only 9 days to go... bring on those elections! Now, if only I could vote 'Stateside'...

LOVING the Legend!

loving the Legend...

way to go... a worthy start to the day http://ping.fm/eZQjX

counting down the days to the US election...

Reactive rescue

There's clearly a theme in play right now - something that links the behaviours of recent US decisions. That theme is a sense of reactive rescue rather than considered response. The US - and international governments - are all spending less time positioning for the future... more passion reacting to the mistakes and misadventures of the recent past. Call it 'panic', but don't called it misplaced fear.

The biggest challenge will be for the next President to focus forward while mopping up the failures of past strategies (or the absence thereof).

The biggest question will be if there's even time enough for such strategic planning. At least for now... there's clearly the energy to repair, then reset.

great story on OnPoint - Dexter's written a classic: http://ping.fm/TAyIc

Karen's home. Yay. http://ping.fm/Nu5Cd

worth something... http://ping.fm/tteXz

Listening to: Mars Hill Bible Church - Mars Hill - The Wind of God - Kent Dobson - Audio http://ping.fm/AtRna

The newest craze...

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Psalm 103: 2

loving the elections race, now that it's reaching the pointy end of the cycle. Jon Stewart, from The Daily Show, is must-see!

home time!

Retail therapy

Gotta start changing the way I shop...


Awesome Ways to Grocery Shop - Watch more free videos

wondering what life is like without Olympics viewing? http://ping.fm/zX5WB

Great catching up with East District last night... back to my life of words now.

checking out new news widgets for news junkies like me.

not at the Olympics

meeting a deadline

The One - playing up stereotypical fears?

One of the recent video advertisements by the McCain campaign is titled The One:



What bothers me about this video is the implication that Obama is somehow suggesting he is messianic. I don't see that in the prayer he posted in the 'Wailing Wall' while visiting Jerusalem recently, as shown.



I also do not see it in the words he uses when describing his faith in Jesus Christ. In Obama's own words, he 'accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior' and is 'a big believer in not just words, but deeds and works. I don't believe that the Kingdom of God is achievable on Earth without God's intervention, and without God's return through Jesus Christ, but I do believe in improvement.'

Before McCain's team rushes to label him Messianic, or attempting that card, I'd prefer to look at the humility of a prayer that seek's God's intervention and admits to needing God's forgiveness.

Life's a balancing act...

Yeah... not something I'm ever going to do...



... not even this one...

getting closer to an anniversary

relaxing by listening to US politics talkback... yeah, that's what I do...

trusting, believing, faithful

Paul is with his girls.