Nothin’ But a Good Man Feelin’ Bad
Although the ABC and SBS broadcast some PBS productions, its usually long after they’ve played in the U.S. For Martin Scorsese’s Blues, it will probably be a bit longer, as they’re getting a theatrical release here first (for 6, anyway, Clint Eastwood having denied permission for his to play in theatres). M. & I have been to see two of them over the weekend, Scorsese’s Feel Like Going Home and Wim Wenders’ Soul of a Man. We’ll make a priority of going to Red White and Blues, Mike Figgis’ entry, but will probably wait for the others on video or broadcast, mostly because this is prime movie season for us, what with all the U.S. summer blockbuster releases getting worldwide play (yea! Spideman vs. Doctor Octopus) and the Sydney Film Festival, which will include, again, for us, waiting for some to come out in general release (this one’s my pick: Zatoichi, with Takeshi Kitano).

Of the two Blues films, I prefer Scorsese’s, although so far I’ve been left with strangely mixed feelings coming out from both: I want more detail or more music. The films as documentaries don’t have the seamlessness of, for example, Ken Burns’ Jazz production, nor do they have the musicality of, say, Standing in the Shadows of Motown. When they start down the documentary path, they swerve suddenly into the music, and just when you’re starting to groove on the tunes, they track back into a story, and usually without affording the kind of narrative segue you’d expect. M.’s take on Wenders’ entry was apropos of both, I think, that the narratives skipped over necessary points of connection that would have made sense of the information being presented. Corey Harris, in Feel Like Going Home goes from the Delta to the hills of Mississippi to Africa, and while you come away knowing why you miss a little of the how. Wenders moves from Blind Willie Johnson to Skip James to J. B. Lenoir but never connects the three except by having Lawrence Fishburn speak in Johnson’s voice as the narrator and telling us that James and Lenoir died within three years of each other. Nevertheless, I have to recommend these films, because they document a musical form that gets all too easily lost in rock ‘n’ roll and country music. And like Willie Dixon said, “the blues are the roots, everything else is the fruits.”

Clamshell Ashtrays
The idea of banning smoking on the beach is a positive step in many respects: no more butts stubbed out in the sand, no more wafting clouds of smoke spoiling the lovely sea breezes. Sure, when I smoked, I did so on the beach just as much as anywhere else, although at a certain point I was adult enough to pick up after myself. But even when I was a kid, the beaches were cluttered with the stub ends of filtered cigarettes, and these make up a noticeable portion of the plastic waste washed up along shorelines worldwide. I heartily approve Manly Council’s action, and wonder if Clover Moore will do the same for the Harbour beaches, or if the Councils for the Eastern suburbs will follow suit?

Update: The ban has been passed. What makes this possible is that Australian society remains by-and-large tremendously polite, so its citizens tend to be law-abiding almost to a fault. For example, Walk-Don't Walk signs are actually obeyed, regardless of traffic conditions. So if NYC's Mayor Bloomberg can achieve an 11% drop in the number of smokers by his total indoor ban, perhaps Manly will, in this culture, achieve its goals, too.

Thought Crimes Against the Self
Over at The Morning News, Oliver Griswold ”tests his die-hard liberal beliefs” with a diet of all right-wing media, and survives. It’s an amusing essay, without being particularly disputatious, and I doubt I’d have the stamina to try anything similar.

Because We Let Them
I have to remind myself that Margo Kingston isn’t talking about me or even about the majority of my compatriots when “the Americans” are condemned for the war crimes taking place in Iraq, but rather about my country’s present government and the military and its subcontractors who are actually perpetrating such acts, most probably with at least the tacit approval of the Secretary of Defense. I have to remind myself that the point of her 9 May article is in its headline: ”Howard’s Weakness, Our Danger”. The final paragraph is worth reading alone:

“You know how they get away with it? Because we, the people, let them. In the end, Bush, Blair and Howard invaded Iraq because our democracies were not strong enough to stop them. Blame politicians, blame the media and blame ourselves. The question for all of us, after we purge Australia of this weak, amoral excuse for a leader, is to work out how we can ensure we never let any "leader" do this to us again.”

Yes, that’s right, we only have ourselves to blame. Because in America only a tiny fraction bothers to vote, let alone run for office, because we’ve let running for office become such a burden that only the smallest number of good, thoughtful people can afford the time and expense to rise high enough in the system to get a shot, while a larger number of greedy climbers intent on achieving power either to fulfill a bloated egotism or line their pockets do the same but through patronage and pork-barrelling, and we let that continue. In America we continue the myth that every child can be President, that everything is possible for everybody if they just work hard enough, and that just isn’t so. We continue this myth and turn a blind eye to the social ills that fill our military with the desperate and the deranged and fill our jails with the same, unless they end up in homeless shelters. Because we let all that happen, we can only blame ourselves that George W. Bush is President and has filled his Cabinet with demagogues and pursued his megalomaniacal path to war.

What happened to Great Britain, to Tony Blair? Last I saw he was their Clinton, but with the ascension of Bush II he has grown to resemble nothing so much as a lapdog, one with the sagging physiognomy of a particularly beleaguered bloodhound, too. Are the pictures lies, and can Blair survive following America into this war? He, too, has an electorate that cares little for its responsibility and pursues an isolationist relativism toward its neighbors, exemplified by the inane opposition it mounted to the Chunnel before it opened and its continued reluctance to participate in even Europe’s monetary unification.

And what of Australia? Here the vote is compulsory, yet even after the Patricks scandal and the Tampa John Howard’s government has now run the country for nine years. He’s the Teflon PM it seems, unless this year proves his annus horribilis, as it has for the Iraqis. (Perhaps by claiming for his government the status of “underdog” as he did this week, he’s gone too early into trying for the sympathy of the Aussie battlers, but only time will tell – with the latest poll numbers coming out in opposition to the budget, maybe he’ll deserve the identification.) How does a nation re-elect the Liberals who gutted their social welfare system, who lied and still lie, who dragged their country into an unpopular war despite mass rallies and protests? How can this happen with compulsory voting? Easy: just because you have to vote doesn’t mean you have to think about what you’re doing. It’s easy to pick up a ballot and “vote 1.” Easier than using the preferences system to your advantage instead of letting the politicians manipulate it to their own. And they’re the same, the Australian politicians, as they are in America, the same hoards of climbers and graspers (and, yes, the same principled individuals few in number).

Here, there, the vote is coming, and we have the advantage a lot of other countries don’t. We can have a revolution without resorting to violence; we can vote out the unprincipled, the lazy, the ineffective, the ones without the long-term vision and the stamina to pursue a course of action more befitting the advance of civilization we want. Other countries claim “democratic” status for themselves but suspend their constitutions while a military dictatorship or propped-up feudal tyranny turns its constituency upside down and shakes out its pockets. Get rid of Bush, get rid of Howard. If America is going to be the sole superpower, it needs to use its power for good, not greed. If Australia is going to be a leading democratic power, its got to do so with a good hard look at where it sits in the world. Tony Blair should be lining up a replacement, too; one who can put that nation back on track after the damage Blair’s done by following Bush instead of influencing him, as he’d said he could.

And How’s the Family?
We caught the tail end of the 7:30 Report on ABC Thursday night for a little Q&A with Mark Latham following his response to Peter Costello’s budget plan announcement. I have to admit I was somewhat underwhelmed, but if we’d managed to watch the response itself, perhaps I’d have felt differently. (The best bit of the program was the satire at the end, with John Clarke playing Costello and interjecting the word “family” for every other noun.) Mr. Latham continues to tubthump in these situations, this time over the plight of citizens at the lower end of the economic spectrum, those earning $1000 per week or less, who are not getting anything out of the Liberals’ budget cuts (unless they crank out more children – in response to the government’s tiresome ploy of playing up their commitment to “family values,” apparently consisting entirely of keeping mothers at home to care for their ever-growing gigantic broods – in which case they’re going to get plenty in lump sum payments, not that their expenses won’t increase along with their population, a worse than zero-sum game indicative of the party-in-power’s social irresponsibility for the state of the nation beyond the next 3 years), and while I’m not unsympathetic, I’m glad of the bracket-creep adjustment I’ll get out of this just the same. The real problem with Labour’s response is that it’s not particularly substantive, which is terribly frustrating during this lead-up period to the next election – August or September or October or November, nobody knows, but at least no later than that – albeit understandable, since Labour doesn’t want to play their hand too soon. (Sometimes I think I’d sell my vote, too, if I had one.) Fine. As much as I appreciate the concept of “getting it right in the first place,” its hard to see the trees for the forest getting thrown up in our faces. It’s been interesting since December to watch Labour pull off Clintonesque moments, stealing a march on fiscally responsible (and socially progressive) ploys the Liberals ought to have accomplished months before, such as the superannuation reform they forced down the government’s throat. But now we’re in a waiting game, waiting for the Liberals to call the election so campaigning can begin in earnest. This ought to happen any minute now, unless they’re waiting for the post June 30 pregnancies to go into their second trimester.

Website Mirroring. With Cats
The Infinite Cat Project begins here. I wonder if this Abby will be joined by that Abbie? (And what is it about the internet that prompts so many people to do cute pictures of their pets? Is this what Western culture has come to?)

Working Without a ‘net
Jock ‘blogging? Too bad there aren’t any pro athletes mentioned here I’m particularly interested in hearing from. The Barry Bonds site isn’t even a weblog, just a place for him to get paid directly by the public for trash. A number of the other sites mentioned don’t much resemble ‘blogs either, so I’m not sure what Slate.com is on about. Doesn’t anybody there know how to play this game? O.k., Mark Cuban, maybe, but by-and-large my guess is most of these guys should stick to the “as told to” format.

Ars Gratia Artis
When is a painting not a painting? When it’s a charcoal drawing that wins the Archibald prize, of course. The Archibald is an annual controversy for one reason or another (and over at The Art Life you can find a write-up over an earlier expression of dissatisfaction on the winning portrait, as well as current commentary), but this may be putting too fine a point on it. Mr. Gulpilil is a fine actor – the world at large most likely has him in mind when “Aborigine” is brought up – and a worthy figure for portraiture, no doubt, and the work itself is excellent, so does it have to be painted? Does that require the use of a brush, or is that just technique? If the rules say “oil, acrylic, watercolour, [or] mixed media” does that mean that tempera is out unless you affix a bit of cloth or wood to the canvas as well? If art is supposed to enhance our lives, why do so many people get so upset about so much of it for so many different reasons?

Top o’ the Pops
I’ve never heard Roxy Music’s “Song for Europe” and don’t think it was actually a Eurovision entry, but I think now is a good time to find a copy of Stranded to relieve my mind.

More Oil
Back when the Portuguese pulled out of Timor and Indonesia stepped in to usurp their independence, the Australian government ultimately responded by negotiating sea borders with the Indonesians under United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which proved quite favorable, providing itself with significant undersea oil reserves. Now that Timor is out from under the Indonesian thumb, they’d like their oil back, but naturally John Howard and Alexander Downer aren’t having a bar of it. They don’t have to, either, because in 2002, Australia withdrew from the UNCLOS treaty. An interim agreement yet to be ratified would give Timor 90% of some seabed oil fields but only 20% of Greater Sunrise, the main field, leaving the rest to Australia. Royalties are estimated at around US$10 billion over the next 30 years. Since Timor has an annual budget of about US$79 million, the extra money would surely go a long way and, post-independence is desperately needed. Not that Australia couldn’t use every billion it can get its hands on, but fair’s fair and somebody’s not playing a straight wicket on this one. Recommended reading for those interested includes: James Ensor in Online Opinion and ABC Online News, but I’m sure there’s something out there in favor of screwing the Timorese out of their oil if your partisanship sails another way.

Progress Report
Sanctioning Syria for supporting terrorism is a long overdue step but nearly inexplicable given the current state of affairs in Iraq and Afghanistan. While the administration has up until recently very effectively distanced itself from the day-to-day actions against the population there by subcontracting the war, in the end their ethical chickens have come home to roost. Bush II opted out of the International Criminal Court, which now appears to have been a prescient step. Perhaps it was part of the pre-September 11 invasion planning in the first place. In whose interest was the overthrow of Saddam Hussein? Oil prices are rising, probably in part because the U.S. is too busy trying and failing to establish order to get the production infrastructure running properly (not to mention that the insurgents are performing some effective acts of sabotage). The Rummy and the Dummy have screwed up, but they’re unlikely to ever have to pay for what they’ve done.

Sociological Aside 1: If we keep in mind that our military has been increasingly marginalized from the rest of American society over the last 30 years and that it has been for at least that long a hidden form of welfare and thus a refuge for already marginalized segments of the population, we can begin to see the root of the Abu Ghraib torture. Our society needs serious attention, and the evidence is the numbers of armed forces members who are people having joined up because their lives would otherwise have taken them to prison as criminals.

Sociological Aside 2: Meanwhile, the insurgency increases its barbarism, throwing off any pretence of civilization prior to the Bronze Age.

Commencement Speeches I’d Like to Hear
Laurie Anderson was the speaker at Cooper Union’s commencement last year. I wonder if she brought her midi with her and did the male voice? “O Superman, O Graduating Students, O Moms and Dads. . .” Beats the speaker at Villanova this year, although also an entertainer.

Jitters
I’ve been doing it all wrong: smaller quantities in more frequent doses is preferred over that one or two large flat whites first thing in the morning. Of course, a cup of coffee after about 3 p.m. is going to keep me up late enough to watch question time or even some U.S. programming, but that’s not a circadian cycle I want to get into.

No Saturday Delivery
Australia Post workers are going on strike, but scabs will be brought in to keep operations normal. Except there’s no mention of household mail deliveries. There are a couple of things that bother me about this: Australia Post is a government franchise, so bringing in non-union workers, a disreputable business practice in the private sector, seems doubly wrong when the government does it. The focus on Express Mail services appears to favor business over the public, which I would posit stems from the same point of view regarding the practices and goals of Australia Post that lead management to hire scabs, i.e., profit over people. Post offices are globally famous as unpleasant places to work, and although that has at its root as much the career laziness engendered by civil service-sinecure regulations such organizations have been fighting for a hundred years as it does that the work is brain-numbingly dull, my idea of reform doesn’t start with how many workers I can displace, but rather with what processes can be altered to improve workplace culture and worker productivity. The outsourcing trend has benefits in profitability, and rostering the workforce into shorter time on the line will also assist in that goal, but more people working fewer hours for more competing employers doesn’t necessarily translate into greater proletarian spending power, does it? Email isn’t necessarily cheaper than a first-class stamp when you take your ISP subscription into account, etc., but will everything else available on-line, it won’t be long before they start turning post offices into internet cafes at this rate, and we’ll all have plenty of time to spend there we’d have otherwise wasted standing in queues waiting for the next clerk to stop counting the register tray contents so we can buy a stamp.

Gone Bush
(N.b., that’s not George, but rather an Australian term for heading out into the countryside.)
We’ve just gotten back from Canberra, Australia’s “bush capital.” Canberra is one of two planned cities built as national capitals, but the only one that can be called successful. (Brasilia turned out to be too spooky for even the civil servants to adjust to by all accounts.) We went down after some careful planning and consultation with friends resident there with two specific purposes beyond socializing with our friends: see the autumn colors and visit the National Gallery’s aboriginal art collection. We were thwarted only in the latter goal, as the NGA had that part of the museum closed for renovations. Strange that they should block off such a significant part of the gallery in the height of tourist season, but there you have it. Instead, we ended up at a private gallery, where canvasses were rolled out upon the floor for our perusal. Purchase, too, in the end, which we’re both rather pleased with, even if it will be many years before there’s any thought of investment value. I just like the pictures.

The train ride to the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) is terrific, at least once you get past Campbelltown (an hour or so from Central), increasingly bushy, so that about two hours out of Canberra you’re seeing more kangaroos than cows. The train station is on the outskirts of town, about the same distance out as the airport, but saying that is deceptive, as the outskirts are almost immediately integrated into the suburbs. Kingston and Manuka were recommended as the lively districts, with fine dining and a bit of nightlife, and while the restaurants were indeed good in Kingston, they were also all located around a single city block, albeit quite a large one, still, just a stripmall, essentially. All the streets are lined with trees, and as a result of Griffin’s plan, bright with color, because the trees are foreign, deciduous varieties on the whole, with a scattering of eucalypts through some areas to maintain the natural greenery. It’s hard to say what summer and winter would be like there, but autumn is beautiful, if a little cold at night. Once in town, you travel in and out of individual city centers, each planned district having its own character, with arterial roads leading into the government district where Parliament and the various other national buildings are located along the shores of Lake Burley Griffin. I thought the walk around the lake – quite long, and I only managed a small portion thereof – lovely, and I appreciated the civic edict disallowing development along the shoreline. That’s fallen by the wayside, at least at the far end of the lake, but so long as there are no highrises and development reaches no further than the treeline, it ought not to detract from the overall prettiness.

One of our friends works in the Senate and took us on an insider’s tour of Parliament House, the grounds of which are surrounded by temporary security barriers. This is unfortunate for two reasons. First, they’re ugly. Second, Parliament House is mostly underground, the idea being that the Australian people should be able to walk upon the top of the government, symbolically demonstrating that the ministers and so worth work for them. It’s a nice thought, now spoiled somewhat. Nevertheless, the building is terrific. Like an iceberg, the majority of the building is well below the areas accessible to the public, and we learned that it’s rather labyrinthine and requires the use of golf carts for staff to get around. We skipped that part of the tour, not having brought any thread or breadcrumbs. We visited John Howard’s office (but didn’t have our spraypaint with us) and Mark Latham’s, but most of the building was inactive, with the exception of Peter Costello’s, in preparation for this week’s finalization and presentation of the budget. The principle feeling I had leaving the seat of government was a desire to pay a lot closer attention to what gets reported on the media, both stylistically and in content, primarily from a greater sense of how things work. Our friend Simon T. gave us a much better grounding in what goes on than we’d previously been able to obtain for ourselves.

Old Parliament House, where the National Portrait Gallery is housed, the National Archives, a few other civic buildings (at least from the outside), dining and excellent conversation with intellectual and informed and enjoyable persons all added up to a terrifically worthwhile trip that I would make a pilgrimage. There’s yet more to visit and learn, and I recommend it to anyone seeking a sense of Australia, particularly its national history and political inner life.

Notoriety
I made the Blogjam. That’s pretty cool.

Late Addendum: Belated thanks to Jozef for providing Blogjam6's SMH Web Diarist, David Tiley, with the referral.

Catch-Up
(N.b., the title is not a reference to catsup or ketchup, known in Australia as “tomato sauce,” but rather to the fact that I’ve been out of the loop pretty much, otherwise occupied with lying around reading and slacking off work, the methodology for which I’ve established as looking vaguely pained and holding my lower abdomen as I arise from my reclining position on the couch, perhaps prefaced by gently removing the cat from my lap, whose weight should have been uncomfortable if there was actually anything wrong with me . . . but I digress.)
As a member of Democrats Abroad – Australia, in addition to a wealth of email touting the latest activities of the committee, sometimes there’s a bit of levity to be had, e.g., Internet Registration for the Draft. Thanks to Scott. More seriously in politics, another of the members has forwarded the URL for the Tell an American to Vote website, an informal resource to assist Democrats abroad in dealing with absentee balloting. The telling statistic of 7 million expatriates against Bush’s 2000 margin of 537 votes is worth noting. Even though the majority of those millions may be military, they aren’t all Republicans.

Clean, White Sheets
Just a few remarks on the state of the hospitals, before I leave off recuperation and forget this whole vestigial organ thing ever happened, not that I'll be able to until all the hair grows back, but anyway. St. Vincent's hospital is the big cheese public medical center here, getting in most of the trauma cases as well as your various dregs of society, but there weren't so many of those in evidence when we turned up a week ago this past Thursday to complain of abdominal distress. We were processed as quickly as anyone else ever is who goes to hospital via the emergency room without having turned up in an ambulance and treated kindly, efficiently, professionally by the doctors and such with whom we had contact. Not that I remember a single name or can even recall ever knowing whether any one or more of them were actually doctors. It's a little tricky because there are supervisory personnel called "registers" or "registrars" (I may have to do some research someday to discover the spelling and correct terminology), which is enough like "residents" that I have no idea what they do anyway, and I didn't get to see any even though I kept hearing about them. I think they're the top doctors on shift at any one time, with the residents and otherwise learning staff working under them. It's all beside the point, though, since really all I can mention is that the nurses (called "sisters," as in nursing sisters, I guess back from the day when hospitals were often run and staffed by religious orders) and doctors weren't just the breeze in, flip through your chart, spout some jargon and run types. They'd spend time and talk to you a bit, took an interest in you personally as well as professionally, and answered questions. They were all a bit taken aback that I was attempting to finish a Patrick White novel following my operation, but I wasn't trying too hard, as it was days before I had any real concentration back. The wards were spotless and efficiently run. Each bed had its own t.v. hung above it, which could be great so long as everyone was watching the same thing, otherwise you could end up a little taken aback by some things you thought you heard coming from the mouth of Homer Simpson: what was that he said about John Howard? Nevermind. I do think I should have said something about the accumulation of dust on the top of the telly, but it seemed crass when otherwise everything was so spotless. In any event, a week after my operation, I'm up and itchy, with no hangover from the drugs, and no pain to speak of. Since I never have to worry about my appendix again, this seems a great time to get some land out in the Blue Mountains and stock a fallout shelter, or take a job in the Antarctic, except survivalism is so passe.

And When I Woke Up, I Thought, Now That's a Funny Place to Put One of Those
I will not admit to any hallucinatory experiences while going in or out of consciousness in the course of my surgical adventures recently, but I am somewhat put in mind of at least the potential for the anaesthesiologist with the grey hair sticking out from under his cap to have morphed perversely by reason of the drugs he was causing me to ingest in combinatoin with my own perversity of imagination into a more, let us say, native form, which was the first thing that came to mind when I read about the Hero 'Roo (who I think now ought to take a new name: rather than Lulu, I think Nelson, as in Lord Nelson, the Hero of Waterloo, yeah?). Wild creatures, howsoever domesticated, who save humans, this one even engaging in some basic first aid, are evidence to me that we ought to take their lives into greater concern with our own than we usually do.

Appendages and Their Disposition
I've learned a valuable lesson: if your gut hurts but there are no symptoms of indigestion, check if it might be your appendix, because if you delay, it's going to hurt a lot more. Not that having your appendix out doesn't hurt. Nothing that involves a two-inch incision through the abdominal muscle wall followed by somebody poking around in there and cutting stuff out isn't going to result in pain. If, however, I'd been more aware, I think I might have gone in for the surgery prior to my appendix having become gangrenous (apparently mere minutes away from bursting and resultant peritonitis, although the doctors all said that's not the problem it used to be, my appendix was rushed out of my body and into the parking lot, where specially developed robots were used to detonate it safely). Then the doctors had to find something else, and they had to tell me about it in the most ominous fashion. There was Something Else we found. Pause. Nothing serious (brightly). Apparently I had a small, congential leftover from my days as a fish in mommy's belly. The small intestine has a bit that's part of the umbilical or connected in there somehow or other, which usually detaches and goes away. Mine detached but stayed, a small diverticulic (I think I made that word up) pouch that doesn't do anything (like the appendix), usually doesn't ever cause trouble later but can sometimes (like the appendix) and was right there where they could find it and a bit infected because of the appendix situation. Well, imagine that; I come to Australia and discover I'm a marsupial from birth. No wonder I've wanted to come here for so long. So anyway, I got two surgeries for the price of one. Sort of like when you take your car into the garage and the mechanics change the oil and the plugs but don't overcharge you for the unspecified work. Socialized medicine. Wonderful. This has, however, left me with a two-inch incision instead of the smaller, "keyhole" variety and a longer healing time. It's also meant I've been off-line for four days and will probably spend more time staring stupidly at the television than surfing the 'net. I will also probably spend a lot of time re-reading really bad books instead of any of the great works of literature lying around the house, because I'm sick, so I'm allowed. I will make an effort to get to at least one Martin Beck mystery, however, just to save face.

An Unhealthy Interest in Literature
It doesn't seem a univeral truth, Byron et al. excepted, I suppose, but poets die young. Well, younger, anyway, than novelists, and even at that, it appears to be largely a question of noteriety. Nevertheless, for longevity, nonfiction is the literary discipline of choice, which I suppose will give a leg up to most 'bloggers.

Trench Life
This weekend is Anzac Day, the nearest U.S. equivalent being Memorial Day, I suppose, given that Veterans’/Armistice/Remembrance Day is more-or-less universally 11 November. Usually, for the weekend, in addition to parades and memorial services, you can head to the local RSL (Returned Serviceman’s League) club and have a nice game of Two-Up, an otherwise illegal form of gambling, involving the use of a flat stick to hurl two coins high into the air and betting on their arrangement, head and tails, when the land. Why is it illegal? I don’t know; maybe because you could put your eye out. Since the coin denominations below five cents were eliminated, it may be tough now to find pennies to “give a toss” anyway.

Think Globally, Act Locally
I’ve never been one to work the system particularly, although political activism has had its place in the family over the years, from dinner table argumentation to active registration of voters, attendance and participation in protests to fund raising activities. Since becoming an expatriate citizen of the U.S., however, and as a long-standing registered Democrat myself, it has been increasingly important for me to find ways to act on my political principles. Usually, it’s been writing barbed posts here regarding the professional characters and disreputable activities of the present administration in Washington D.C. Back some months ago, M. and I began down a more activist path, one which last night became ever so much more so, as I attended a meeting (or ”meet-up”) of Democrats Abroad, a new chapter of which is being formed in Australia, at the invitation of one of the more active members. The goals Democrats Abroad – Australia are simple: increase the presence and thus the strength of the chapter, thereby making the many thousands of Americans living in this country a more effective part of the political process at home; register voters; and raise campaign funds. (That last bit is the one a lot of people might focus on, myself included, since it sounds like we’re creating an organization that will dun its members for endless monetary contributions, but really, it’s like voting: everything counts; contribute a dollar, or twenty, or two thousand, because it won’t go to waste.) The meeting, held the third Wednesday of each month at the Lord Nelson Hotel in the Rocks, last night was a new experience for me, not just because I’m Australia, but because I’ve never actually been this politically active. The other members present were all very impressively engaged and committed individuals, not to mention personable, which made for a pleasant enough evening, but what is particularly exciting is the level of organization already accomplished. So, although I don’t expect I’m getting much of an ex-pat audience here, I’m going ahead and using this as a means of putting out the call to other Democrats to join in. Donate time, money, both, but this year it’s beyond important that we learn and we act.

Distillations
I’ve had Canadian (rye), American (bourbon), Scottish and Irish (scotch), and I’ve meant to try Japanese, at least now I’ve had Australian whiskey, specifically, Tasmanian single malt. It’s comparable to many high-quality single malts I’ve sampled from the Highlands, and tops most of the best blends, too. The climate’s similar, by all accounts, as is, apparently, some of the flora, insofar as there is peat to be had for the smoking process. Only in operation from 1995, the whiskey’s still got some ageing to do, but for immature spirits, to be this good is remarkable. I’ll be sure to follow up periodically as the barrels roll out. Spirits being taxed so highly here, however, international visitors are not exempt from stopping at the duty-free shop.

Respected Leader of the Opposition
We watched Mark Latham last night on the ABC addressing a panel of residents from his Parliamentary district and fielding questions on the various topics presently framing the campaign issues for the elections next Spring: taxes, of course, both personal and business; immigration, especially regarding illegal entrants to the country and the present policy of mandatory detention; the “war on terror” and Australia’s relationship with the U.S.; and when will Australia become a republic. Outside one question regarding governmental subsidization for IVF procedures that I think he might have dealt with more forthrightly if he hadn’t been flummoxed by the selfishness it represented, I was perhaps only disappointed with Latham’s response to the issue of illegal immigration and detention, and that is tempered by how he means to address the issue. I’m very impressed by Latham generally. I think he takes a good line on the country’s place in the region and how it should engage with its neighbors and with the U.S. He is nobody’s lapdog internationally. The fact that he intends to take the country into the future as a republic is, I think, very positive indeed. However, mandatory detention is a problem. At least the prospect of indefinite detention will be largely removed: Latham wants immigration status sorted out within 90 days, at which point it’s either deportation or integration. I’m a little worried over the effective placement of immigrants into outlying areas; although it will decrease the burden on cities, especially Sydney, the destination of choice, is there or can there be sufficient infrastructure and employment opportunities to support the policy? At least he’s thinking of these things and trying to work up the policies and budget to address them. How successful he’s actually going to be is, I think, more dependent on getting more than one term in office than in getting the top spot alone.

Drafty in Here
Is the U.S. running out of troops to send to Iraq?

Sustainability
We’ve recently made a couple of transitional changes at home to decrease our environmental footprint: a little old lady shopping trolley so we don’t have to have our groceries delivered in endless plastic bags (which will eventually save us from the tax levies proposed in NSW and in use elsewhere in Australia already), and organic fruit-n-veg via Lettuce Deliver, an on-line shopping service that buys from local area organic farmers and delivers seasonal produce to your door (in boxes, which are re-used week-to-week). I bring it up following my discovery of Eat Manifesto, a topical weblog devoted to traditional cookery and food production.

Addendum: Over at Beyond Brilliance, Beyond Stupidity, a number of posts have gone up recently on environmental matters, including: solar power cell phone batteries and the relationship between renewable energy and jobs.

Update: What's your ecological footprint? We'd need two more planets if everyone lived like us.

Asking for It
Why do Condolezzaa Rice’s comments about a terror attack in the U.S. before November sound like wishful thinking? Is this the kind of National Security Advice she’s been feeding George II? I’m probably just reading unintended meaning into what she’s said, as parsed by the relentlessly liberal media. Thank goodness the President hired such eminent academics to help him run the country, people who really know how to form a sentence. “We hope” – who’s “we”?

Roadside Attraction
Up until sometime around when I was in college, the Peter Pan Diner was an iconic chrome steel-faced hash house. They refaced it and expanded the seating in the '80s, as I recall, but left everything else intact: from the basic menu to the wait staff. Well, actually, I think maybe the changed their cole slaw receipe, but that was probably about all. It's all different now, of course, but it's still good to know it's there, even without the original sign. (Via Andy, who linked there in service of an entirely different subject.)

Recommended Reading
I'm taking up Boswell's suggestion and keeping up with Lypton Village. And thank you for the kind words.

Empty Garage
From about age 16 onward, I have invariably received strange looks at the revelation that I have never held a driver’s license, although those looks are often subsequently tempered when I mention that a significant portion of my lifespan have been spent in NYC and now in Sydney (just 5 minutes from Central and the heart of the city – and now Dave Edmunds is singing in my head). In fact, I haven’t been behind the wheel of the car since my eldest niece was born and I circled the block at Beth Israel while her father went in to retrieve her and her mother. We think about getting a car now and then, although renting the car space we own does provide a nice little supplement to our income, one more necessary now than when we bought the place, given the wages at Parramatta working for the Catholics, and at least I’d have the advantage of not having to unlearn too much. Thanks to the web goddess, I can practice developing my skills – o.k., my knowledge base - on-line. I may end up one of the few drivers in town to actually know the rules for using a round-about.

Addendum: for the roundabout-challenged, behold the Swindon magic roundabout. For those who would scoff at carlessness, I provide this handy calculator. It's a dollar-sixty here for a one-zone trip on the bus, for comparison.

Smug-duggery
Cheney only emerges from under his undisclosed location in order to and long enough to remind us of what an evil creep he is. If for no other reason, Kerry deserves to be President because then Dick Cheney won’t be Vice President. Does anyone else think he’s taken the term “vice” in the wrong sense?

Open Invitation
My last experience with going to a meet-up having been unsatisfactory, I wouldn't want anyone to think I'm put off from further attempts. A personal invitation (also open to any expatriate audience members hereto) is irresistable, although my preference had originally been to attend the weblogger event. With Salam Pax appearing in Parramatta at the Sydney Writers' Festival, I'll wait until next month to do that and meanwhile go to the Lord Nelson Brewery for the politics.

Walk-Thru
Car culture has been at the heart of the fast food empire, even before McDonald’s opened drive-through service. (There’s little more nauseating than the smell of french fries in a car, something about the two kinds of oil in use together.) Salads and adult versions of Happy Meals™ only deflect criticism, even when the toy surprise is a pedometer. Maybe, as part of the new drive to encourage exercise, they can install treadmills in front of the registers.

Movies and the Internet
I cannot recall having ever seen better use of the internet in promoting a movie, at least in regard to pure style. I would like to see The Uninvited now. (Via jill/txt - whose instructions are worth following.)

Another Earl of Oxford
Did Vladimir Nabokov steal Lolita? He’d have been 17 when Heinz von Eschwege’s short story appeared in print in 1916, and it would have been 23 years later, when he was 40, that Nabokov first attempted the tale, in “The Enchanter.” Another 16 years passed before story became novel, and with a history of nearly 40 years, I suppose “cryptomnesia” may be a valid explanation. (Source: Arts & Letters Daily.)

Paying Off the Mortgage
He worked until he was 104 years old, but I guess he finally figured he might as well start drawing his social security payments before Alan Greenspan eliminated them or George II lost it all in the stock market. Go fishing already!

Next Up on the Five-Day Forecast: Volcanoes
The next big California earthquake is on its way. Apparently the methods used by Dr. Keilis-Borok’s UCLA team is accurate within months, beating the Jeanne Dixons of the world by a significant margin. So Southern California should see a 6+ ‘quake by September. Fill the bathtub and stock up on canned goods and batteries.

Neighbourhood News
Last night I made a stab at attending a Meet-Up, but it wasn’t a successful outing as such. I did, however, stop in at the Hollywood Hotel around the corner from home on my way back, where I was made aware of an impending event that sounds vaguely intriguing: Thief’s Journal, a DJ party centered around William S. Burroughs. Maybe I could go and do my MC Burroughs routine: “Kit recruits a band of outlaws, known as the Wild Fruits. . . .”

Iran, Contras, and Political Favors
Why is anyone surprised Bush would appoint John Negroponte as ambassador to Iraq? This is the administration that back in 2002 made John Poindexter head of DARPA. (O.k., he resigned, but only after the casino plan got him laughed out.)

Somebody-or-Other's Country, 'Tis of Thee
There are numerous court cases regarding the display of U.S. flags where the decision supported the free-speech rights of the defendant’s choice to do so in a manner offensive to others. But that was before homeowner associations in community developments. So, you’re 65 years old, Australian, and move into a development where the community puts in a rule about hanging out flags: only the U.S. flag may be displayed. This, of course, significantly cuts down on the blight of cute banners with colorful butterflies on them and the like. It also prevents the display of flags from other countries, even if they’re allies of the U.S. with troops in Iraq. Well, you signed your agreement to the by-laws – present and future – when you moved in. Still, there are limits to the infringements on free speech that can be countenanced, and I think Windermere Gardens Villas or Del Boca Vista Mark II or wherever has gone into ludicrous territory here. Mrs. Hogberg is not likely to take the case to court, and I don’t expect the ACLU to turn up on this one either. Maybe there’s a nice retired lawyer living next door who’ll take on the homeowners association? Florida. Go figure.

Why Rice?
George W. Bush picked Condoleezza Rice as his National Security Advisor because she can pronounce the names of foreign nations and dignitaries that he couldn’t. As for national security advice, well, she never has had any that I can tell. Even Dr. Evil himself, Henry Kissinger, would go to Nixon and give advice, not just wait to be asked. We hear the Republicans say that government has to be run like a business; we’ve been hearing that for decades. Running a business into the ground is the speciality pursued by George II (he’s a failed oil tycoon, remember, and the Texas Rangers baseball club enriched him only because his rich buddies bought him out), so we shouldn’t be surprised he can’t pick decent staff. Dr. Rice may be smart, but I don’t see the evidence.

Postcript: I’ve read the transcript of Bush’s press conference, and I can’t say I thought the press offered the grilling I’d have preferred. I know he’s the President, but couldn’t they throw some heat instead of just lobbing the softballs? I mean, asking if there’s anything he regrets or if he’d apologize . . . nobody actually expected anything from that, did they? It’s the same song and dance from Bush to the same tired old tunes the press always plays. Everybody’s willing to go in swinging in the op-ed pages, but not so much in the press room at the White House. I guess they don’t want to be retired early, but where’s the story?

Innumeracy Ills
O.k., it's the English edition of a Russian newspaper online, and we all know nobody can spell on the internet. I'm sure it will be fixed sooner rather than later, but meanwhile, Mathimatically [sic] gifted people use all their brain, according to this Pravda article, while apparently newpaper editors only use the part that knows when it's lunchtime. The body of the article manages to use the correct spelling. I may not be able to balance my checkbook, but I can use a dictionary.

The MTA Should Have Said “Yes”
The Gothamist reveals that the IRT 2 train’s brakes produce the opening notes of “Somewhere” from West Side Story, but it turns out to be just a coincidence.

Re-Sign Me Up, Coach
A Bernie Mac movie? Yes, America! (Thanks, Mr. Poon.)

April
I don't remember how I got on the list, but for Poetry Month I get a poem in my Hotmail account every day from Knopf. I don't like all of them, but that's one of those things about poetry. So what? I do like quite a lot of what comes through, even though if I don't read them right away, they will pile up and start to clog the inbox.

Getting Busted for Becoming Your Dream
Made famous in 2000 as his “tag” was highlighted across the Harbour Bridge, and at the opening ceremonies of the Sydney Olympic Games, Arthur Stace was a sidewalk chalker, writing “Eternity,” the one word, in a distinctive script, across the city from 1930 to 1967. He endeared himself to Sydney by his art and will be remembered for decades to come, even though there is no lasting example of his work. For the entire period I lived on the Upper East Side, I was subjected to the empty platitudes and overbearing admonishments of James De La Vega, who scribbled the sidewalks of the neighborhood in chalk. Towards the end of those years, Mr. De La Vega had gallery shows in Spanish Harlem. Well, if “Become Your Dream” and crap about being wearing a suit to work making you a wage slave is art, that’s nice for him. Actually, it’s graffiti, even in chalk, when taken to extremes, and now De La Vega’s been busted well and truly for it. He’s also being called a muralist, and from the sound of things, he’s stepped up from the cheap, pop adages and bad line drawings to larger canvases and multiple colors. There’s a line between art and vandalism, and I think he’s crossed it. He says he’ll “consider refraining from painting illegally” in exchange for no jail time, but maybe he should have thought of that option sooner. Other graffitists have opted for alternative media. Graffiti philosophers, like Arthur Stace, just kept it simple and stayed out of jail.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling
Another expatriate blogger in Sydney appears. Enjoyable content, scary bunny face.

Nobel Oblige
Every year, when the Nobel prize for literature is awarded, I make an attempt at gathering up one or more significant works by the winner and acquainting myself with the reason the prize committee made their selection. The prizes are a long way off this year, but last year’s winner, J. M. Coetzee, was one writer I felt myself already sufficiently familiar with not to go out and buy the latest books. I did, however, during my late period of unemployment, go back to Waiting for the Barbarians, one of his early works, because it’s a great favorite of mine and one I hadn’t been back to since it came out in the ‘80s. Around this time, M. had been saying she’d like to read the most recent volume, Elizabeth Costello, which I located at a second-hand shop during my job hunting peregrinations. She really, really like it, so we also located a copy of Disgrace and have borrowed a copy of Boyhood, Coetzee’s memoir of growing up in South Africa. I’ve only gotten through Disgrace, but our copy of Elizabeth Costello should be coming home soon, so once I finish Patrick White’s The Vivisector (he’s the Australian Nobelist, by the way), I’ll get on to it. Coetzee’s prose is deceptive. He reminds me of Hemingway in the spareness of his style, but he wears his heart on his sleeve, too, without making a great point of it. I’d say his writing is some of the most Human I’ve read in a long time. He lets you make your own judgments without withholding his own and in a tempered, natural language. He’s living in Adelaide now. I would welcome a chance to hear him speak, although he doesn’t apparently do that often.

Third Party Politics
Since the days of John Anderson, I’ve been attracted to the possibility of voting for someone outside the Democratic or Republican parties. To be accurate, that’s really just the Democrats, because I’ve never been seriously interested in voting Republican, but we can leave that aside for now. What have I gotten, other than Anderson, to vote for: Ross Perot, Steve Forbes, and Ralph Nader. One’s a nut, one’s a Republican in tax-reformist clothing, and the other is a wild man running on a sufficiently strong political base as to marginally disrupt voting patterns, but with that margin being enough to potentially derail an effective opposition to the present regime. I’m in full agreement with Dr. Dean’s editorial statement in the NY Times, including his statement that voting for Nader means “a vote for a candidate who has no realistic shot of winning the White House.” Despite Nader’s Presidential bid in 2000, one which left him with an insufficient margin for his party to receive matching funds this year, I do still believe a Third Party might become viable someday in the United States. It’s happened elsewhere, although it’s proved difficult to sustain. The Democrats here in Australia, for example, and the Greens, are both forces to be reckoned with both locally and nationally. I still recall when the Greens became a potent force in (West) Germany. Running for President, however, is not the best means to achieving political presence on the necessary scale. To adapt the old ecologicalist adage: act locally, think nationally. Building up a political base from which to launch a Presidential campaign is a necessary first step. Once enough of an effective presence has been established in State and local legislatures, Congress is inevitable, and the White House can be effectively pursued. I’d happily vote for alternative candidates (so long as I can agree to the platform they run on) especially if I believe they can make the changes they promise.

Republicanism
In 1999 Australia declined to pursue becoming a Republic. The debate’s back on, in large part due to Mark Latham, and this time things might turn out differently. Parliamentary politics are a bit alien to me, and I can’t say I like the idea of an appointed President. The present method of electing MPs, which utilizes the application of “preferences” strikes me as entirely workable. It’s one of the systems we heard about in the States in 2000, when George II usurped the White House, as a method for eliminating the Electoral College. Direct election of a chief executive is problematic in the States and in Australia because of population distribution, giving the preference to the eastern states in both countries. O.k., California, too. But only in the U.S. The preferences system or an Electoral College would balance this, and would allow the executive more potential for independent action over politicized appointment via Parliament. In any event, there’s no benefit to Australia to remain tied to England, especially now that the Governor General appears more and more to be a figurehead, one not even cutting a lot of ribbons these days. The most important thing the present committee can do this time is to try to assure that the process is not driven by John Howard’s rhetoric. He is a clever man and sidestepped the issue last time by recasting the referendum to the advantage of his agenda. Give the power to the people this time, and I think the outcome might be different.

Roads and Tolls
Holiday weekends are renowned for traffic fatalities, although this year’s Pascal period ended up at about half last year’s rate. Listening to the news reports of the “hoons” speeding through Parramatta at twice the posted limit and similar depredations on the traffic laws, it strikes me as no wonder that Mad Max and the Road Warrior were made here.

Spot-on
M. and I attended a screening of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the latest Charlie Kaufman screenplay project, in advance of the general release, and recommend it highly, as we do all the Kaufman movies. How telling is it that Kaufman's screenplay makes it his project regardless of the actors, the director, or the producers? Nothing is wasted here, including the use of Lacuna Inc. as the name of the company delivering the technology that makes the story possible; a nice touch, and almost thrown away, like a notice board in the Simpsons. The plot drives towards deeply layered understanding of human relationships. M. put it that we saw played out the fundamental truth that often what we like best about another person is precisely what drives us mad, too. As for Jim Carrey, I was surprised at how good he was as a serious actor in The Truman Show, mostly because I've never liked his comedy, but if that film had been written by Kaufman, it would have been a stroke-inducing revelation. Carrey delivers a heart-felt and nuanced performance that stands right up there with the best performances we've seen, including Bill Murray in Lost in Translation. Someday Kaufman will slip up and a mediocre piece will result, but it's going to be a long time before that happens.

Addendum: we also saw a preview for the Coen brother's upcoming remake of The Lady Killers, the old Alec Guiness movie, and even with Tom Hanks and a deep South setting, it looks like it ought to be a lot of fun. A Coen Bros. remake? A big step for them, and one I'll make a point of attending.

Noteriety or the Lack Thereof
Congratulations to Boswell (as she's known [except if you saw her real name on t.v. last night]), and The Swanker, who were featured to one degree on another on last night's Mondo Thingo, a program devoted to tracking the latest trends (even months or years after they've been trendy). Also prominently featuring Tim Blair, whose content I don't follow closely, it was nice to see some new acquaintances on the tube. So who's coming on the 21st? (And if the big guns out of the U.S. could be used, why not a humble little ex-pat in Sydney? N.b. to self: get better content.)

Competition
A Yank in Oz is a new one on me: another American 'blogger working out of Australia. Since he shows up on Anthony Hicks' Aussie Blogs site under NSW, I suppose he, too, is in Sydney. I'll have to dig through the archives for a bit to find out more. (He better not be stealing any of my traffic.)
Postscript: Hi, Scott, who'd've guessed? Well, that's what I get for posting before researching. Do you engage in non-Dean Meetups? Great content, by the way. I'm sorry your parents are terrorists.

The 73
‘Blogging reaches new . . . something or other. Now there’s a weblog devoted to riding the bus in London, specifically, route 73. I haven’t really thought about doing any more than the usual entries on commuting, although if I was paying attention, I’m sure I could have reported something similar to Cheryl’s conversation with her grandmother. Probably I need a digital camera and a site that let’s me post photos.

No-Fly Zones
Now that Hussein is out of power in Iraq, the Transportation Security Administration has established similar travel restrictions to those imposed in that country following the first Gulf War. The ACLU is bringing a suit to end the practice, claiming that insufficient safeguards exist to ensure passengers Constitutional rights. It’s an interesting problem. If airlines are simply complying with the TSA, a governmental body, then the case looks pretty much open-and-shut to me (unless they're using psychics, like they do in Florida). However, if this is a recommendation by the TSA that the airlines can comply with or not, then it appears more difficult. In the latter case, the airlines should have the right to refuse service to anyone they choose, and if there’s even the slightest possibility that the little old lady trying to board a flight to visit her grandchildren might be a suicide bomber, then she can just ride the bus or stay home. It’s the airline’s plane, and it cost them plenty to get it and run it. They can’t just have people blowing them up willy-nilly. In the former case, pre-screening would have to occur, with an appeals process through the courts, and well before the actual execution of travel plans. Instead of having to arrive at the airport three hours before your flight, you’d have to appear before a judge as soon as the docket was sufficiently clear to hear your plea. That should help the economy.

Iditarod
Congratulations to the University of Connecticut’s women’s basketball team. I have always enjoyed how the “UConn” team is called the Huskies, even though that should the Yukon’s team name – there’s got to be a connection. (Kentucky’s “Vols” always makes me think of a small rodent, even though I know it isn’t pronounced that way.)

The Wrong Debate
Once again, William Safire has got it wrong. He casts the present debate in terms of hindsight, mischaracterizes the antiwar movement, and addresses the dilemma facing the U.S. and its allies as a choice between moving forward or of treading water. That’s not it, which is probably why Tony Blair is on his way over to have frank words with George II. The debate may include assessments of the choices made by Bush and his administration cronies to ignore terrorism in favor of developing an agenda against Iraq, and the developing situation there (or collapse into chaos depending on your perspective) has to inform our present decisions for the future. Nevertheless, the debate is ultimately that of the population at large, not just the politicians sitting in judgment, and consists of trying to choose between fighting terrorism using all the methods available to us or simplistically opting for military force alone against nations regardless of their participation in supporting non-state terrorists. We have to choose between who do we bomb next and how do we defeat terrorism? Letting Condoleeza Rice off the hook doesn’t help the debate, much as Mr. Safire would prefer it. I really have to stop reading his column.

VBC Nod
How nice. Raymond Tomlin, a journalist in Vancouver, British Columbia, started a weblog in February and I’m already on his list of fellow travellers. This is gratifying especially in that Raymond’s ‘blog is very nicely done. I aspire to such a professional look. Content’s better than most, too.

Sea Camp
We watched Pirates of the Caribbean this weekend, at the sufferance of M., who was too under the weather to form even the will to object to the selection. Keith Richards, I mean Johnny Depp, played all his scenes as if a lifetime of drinking had left him with alcohol instead of hemoglobin, nicely offsetting Orlando Bloom’s earnest sincerity. Geoffrey Rush, on the other hand, is the one I’d guess got the most personal and professional satisfaction in the flick, his character having a nice balance of comedy and existential angst – the monsters are always the most interesting, even when they’re supporting characters. Master and Commander may have had the better sea battles, but it didn’t have any zombies.

2 April
I know the URL for the SMH story about Learner’s plates for yum cha carts has 31 March in it, but the dateline of the article is actually 1st April; so why is everyone reporting this straight? Are the perpetuating the gag, or have enough of them been cut off on their way to the laksa they think it’s worthwhile?

Sportin’ Life
What’s the difference between a bowl and a throw? It’s in the elbow, apparently.

Exile
One man, alone on an island, and virtually ignored by those who put him there. The refugee crisis in Australia continues to be a problem of embarrassing proportions.

Barbarism
I am deeply saddened by the events in Falluja. Beyond the horrific violence and medival behavior, beyond even my disgust and amazement that no one from the police or the armed services went in during or after the events there to address the immediate situation, what galls me is that we are in Iraq at all because Bush lied, Rumsfield lied, Rice lied, even Powell – who was supposed to be a balance to the rabidity of the Wolfowitzs et al. – lied. Kurt Brobeck, over at the Coffee Sutras, put it nicely: “Bush said he would not engage in nation building. So far he has kept that promise.” It can only get better, but I expect it will get worse first. 8 April, when Rice testifies, ought to be a storm.

Subscription
Every now and then I run across a nice surprise: Boswell includes me as a regular read. Thanks. Now stop reading my ‘blog (for now) and get back to work. Shameless time wasters, these ‘bloggers.

Jobs and Writing About Jobs
The new Shell-Economist essay contest opened today, with the topic: Export Jobs or Import Workers?, a timely topic here and abroad, with Telstra (the national phone system, partially privatized) sending call center jobs to India, much as other companies have done in the States (a practice immediately in disrepute and continuing to cause trouble). Because it’s sponsored by The Economist, a little America-bashing is in order, but since last year’s winner was “Interview with a Fungus,” I figure a little disingenuous idiocy may also be called for.

Adjusting for Inflation
Boing Boing had a post about Disneyland’s ticket price hike that included a neat little toy: an inflation calculator, so you can compare what things cost now to what they did back in the days when even then a dollar wasn’t a dollar – it sure isn’t now. Based on my best guess, in order for me to be earning comparably to what my parents pulled in back when they were putting us kids through college, I’d have to be making nearly three times what I am now. I’m very entertained, in a bleak, hopeless kind of way.

Orienteering
I’m a little surprised it’s taken me this long to hear about geocaching, especially since there are many people here who enjoy bushwalking. Essentially, you head off into the (semi-)wilderness and leave stuff behind for others to search for, sometimes including a tracking device meant to be reused in another cache elsewhere. There are also “event” caches, but if there’s no party when you get there, I suppose it’s because you were late. Or early. Because you need a GPS device, this is probably a long way from taking off. (It also reminds me of all those people in the 1990’s searching the continental U.S. for druidic runes.)

Newtown
Saturday, M. & I travelled across to Newtown, down King Street towards where we had first bid on an apartment, over a year ago, and which we lost out on because the developer was just using us to prod a higher bid elsewhere. Just as well, as M. remarked on our visit, since the King Street Krawl of traffic would have turned the balcony there into wasted space, provided a soot problem to rival NYC living, and made listening to music or television or just normal dinner conversation impossible. Newtown has a boundless energy, due perhaps to cheap(ish) rents and proximity to Sydney University, a few nice cafes, used book stores, funky clothes shops, etc., but it just makes me tired in the end. Go in, get what you want, get out. Erskinville and Camperdown offer more livable alternatives, but you are still restricted by how the streets are laid out, leaving all the living along Enmore Road, Parramatta Road, Cleveland Street, and King Street. It’s tough living without a grid, sometimes. Now that sleepy little Reservoir Street in Surry Hills is seeing some development activity, we have the promise of a bit more liveliness than the Royal Albert Hotel provides. We will have to endure the excavations, the crane work, etc., but the Silkwood development looks pretty posh, which is sure to bring up the neighborhood tone a bit more than the endless backpacker hotels do.

Serialization
The “Left Behind” series is drawing to a close: the Second Coming won’t be the final book, I’m sure, although once the New Jerusalem is established on earth, what will be left? I’ve had a similar desire to read these to the one I’ve entertained for reading the Scientology tome, Dianetics, but I really don’t want to encourage any of the groups involved, authors, readers, adherents, whomever.

Athens
With an 8-hour time difference, the upcoming Olympic Games will probably not be priority viewing chez Cross Words, and maybe with the Thorpedo out of the 400m, it’s just as well. Oh, he’ll still swim, and I’m sure he’ll do well. He’s a fine sportsman, Thorpey, and it’ll take some pretty big shoes to fit his feet, er, it’ll take, oh, never mind. Mainly, I find it a little disturbing that everyone keeps going on about Craig Stevens stepping down. Ian Thorpe had a false start there’s no room in the rules for, so Stevens goes to Athens in the 400. The Olympics are laughable enough over the amateur/professional divide without individual countries or competitors remixing the rules as they please. Advance, Australia, fairly.

Knee Bends
I read in the Wall Street Journal at least 10 years ago a column deriding the benefits of stretching, and it appears that opinion piece has been borne out. As a weekend runner at best, I’ve always found it difficult to get up and on the street for some miles (kilometres, here), and one of my strategies when I first took up the sport again was to eliminate the preliminaries: no stretching. I found initially that I was spending fifteen minutes or more going through a battery of exercises before I ever left the apartment, and while the extra time spend in physical exertion might have been beneficial, it wasn’t the kind I enjoyed; so I quit, and went straight out running. Now if I could haul my butt out of bed 30 minutes earlier of a morning, I could actually do some of the running.

Turn Again, Clover Moore, Lord Mayor of Sydney
Our preferred candidate took Town Hall with a significant margin over Labour’s candidate, Michael Lee, to a good deal of local satisfaction. It’s a fairly interesting turn of events, demonstrating what happens when a people’s party mismanages an effort at machine politics: the people get mad and turn against it. I’m very pleased that the majority of voters weren’t taken in by that full-time/part-time mayor nonsense. Now, when will Ms. Moore begin implementing those agenda items we liked so much?

Tick-Tock
The clocks wound back an hour Sunday a.m. (N.b., Mom & Dad: only 14+ hours from NC to NSW.) While there was more sun earlier this morning, there will be less later this afternoon, and there’s going to be more apparent darkness than before for a while. Nevermind. I like autumn, more even than spring. It rains less (not that that’s ever such an issue, unfortunately), and it’s a great relief to the body after all that summer.

Cable Programming
If you get BBC America, or if it turns up on your local PBS, watch State of Play, if only for Bill Nighe’s performance. It moves fast, some of the accents can be difficult, I could have dispensed with some of the side-plotting, but it’s an excellently cinematic piece of television.

Neville Chamberlin
The Howard government is painting Mark Latham’s intention to bring Australian troops home from Iraq by Christmas if he takes the Prime Ministership in the elections this Fall as a dangerous incentive to Al Qaeda, an act of political appeasement similar to what’s happened in Spain, if you’re listening to the Bush Administration that is. E. J. Dionne rebuts the Spanish election analysis on Working for Change (found clicking links provided by Outside Counsel, one of which pointed me to The Gotham City 13), and I think it’s worth reading in respect to Latham’s statement as well. The stated intention of the new Spanish government and Mark Latham, doesn’t represent appeasement, but reflects opposition to the sitting government’s behavior that put Australia in Iraq and a dissatisfaction with the relationship as its developed between this country and the U.S. We have to take the point seriously, however, that following Spain’s new direction could provide the answer to the question we’ve all been asking since the 1970’s: does terrorism work? Thomas Friedman’s column in the NY Times voices that fear effectively. Having gotten into Iraq, it would be wrong to get out without having accomplished the stated objective, or at least having stabilized the situation sufficiently for the Iraqis themselves to govern themselves (with or without democracy). But to do so in support of the Bush government’s policies only perpetuates the damage already done to the goal of eliminating terrorism. This is the moment for the U.N. to reassert its relevance, but I doubt its ability to do so. Australia has other, more immediately regional concerns, although there appears to be plenty joining Al Qaeda into the mix, and pulling its troops out of Iraq may be the right thing to do. I’d like to see the Americans able to come home, too, and I’m sorry that won’t happen for a long time to come.

Year of the Built Environment
Boing Boing has posted an item on an outfit called Loop.ph, who manufacture a variety of luminescent homeware: ”Digital Dawn” window blinds, ”Light Sleeper” bedding, ”Buried Light” wallpaper, and Temporal Light” wall tiles. Because black leather and chrome steel furniture isn’t enough. I see that they are not participating in any design shows here, despite the government’s declaration. I think there’s some terrific installation projects that could be done with this stuff, but living with it might be a little harder. Maybe just the tablecloth for now.

Because Choosing a President Should Be an Event Hosted by Ryan Seacrest
I want to be President, and I know America will SMS their vote for me, no matter what the judges say about my singing. Oh, yeah, wrong show. Anyway, with $200,000 and a chance to address the State of the Union (oops, wrong show again, that’s the real President), I know my tenure in the Oval Office is assured. I can beat all of these guys. Seriously, I’m just glad nobody I know is on the list.

Community Collegiality
I've added a new section of 'blogs, the idea being to focus on Sydney, of course, as the community to which I now belong. There are plenty of others out there, and I may yet add one or two as their content comes to seem more imperative to track for myself. (Others I can do without, despite their prominence; warblogs and political whinging - left or right - seem to have become altogether too hysterical to endure. In any event, they don't need any advertising from me.) In addition to Clarence Street, which keeps up an excellent compendium of Sydney life, and The Swanker (n.b., link amended), which appears to follow a more usual 'blogging arc, I've also thrown in Living in Australia, part of a global network of 'blogging news and views, organized by region, and Power Up, a intriguing new political resource I think is worth keeping an eye on.

The Decibels of Home
What? What did you say? I can’t hear you.

Power to the People
Howard Dean’s innovative use of the internet to help drive his campaign is particularly notable for the degree to which he, along with outfits like MoveOn and from my own experience Democrats Abroad (not to mention Expats Against Bush), have contributed to the expansion of on-line interconnectivity as a tool for effecting social change. A new entry is Power Up, an Australian forum for political discussion and resources. This may turn out to be an excellent resource for citizens here to organize and to discuss the issues in various local and national campaigns, some of which are already coming to a vote (i.e., the new Sydney super-council mayoral election next Saturday). I expect a tie-in to MeetUp would be worthwhile.

Nobody Asked Me, But
In MIT’s statistical survey of ‘blogging, I fall outside a number of the demographic categories, which is personally interesting, but I found it fascinating that “Australian” is reported as a separate ethnic group – that must be Aboriginal, I suppose, but how then 1.4%? Of “living in Australia,” the 10 ‘bloggers reported comprise 2.05% of the total by my calculation, and from what I’ve seen on-line, I have my doubts 68% aren’t Anglos. It’s MIT’s math, though, so I’ll have to take it as is; their math skills are better than mine.

What About Smith?
I know a student who could probably do with some extra cash.

Premier League
I’ve been thinking a fair bit about the NSW Premier, Bob Carr, especially after the mess with the trains, but most recently because of an essay in the most recent edition of the Griffith Review, but I mention all this more because of encountering the musings of the Swanker, a fellow Sydney ‘blogger, on Mr. Carr’s behavior in response to John Howard’s changes in federal allocations to the state. These two editorials bring home the point that it’s all well and good to have a philosopher king, but only insofar as he can get things done. Mario Cuomo, for example, the former NY governor frequently cited by Bill as a paragon of this political type, at least sought to raise the level of discourse in his jurisdiction, but I don’t find this quite so true of Bob Carr, for all his apparent erudition. Mr. Carr manages his government well enough, if that is the only goal required of a Premier, but not the state. His eye appears too focussed on the bottom line of the NSW ledger rather than on the product: a healthy environment, affordable lifestyles, quality health care delivery mechanisms, sustained or developing infrastructure (including mass transit systems), etc. His government is failing to keep up with its promises and slow to react to problems. When it does react, it is more likely to lay blame than to address problem itself. As Quentin Dempster points out in his Griffith Review article, “Media Rules in the Court of Carr,” re-jigging the Cabinet may shift attention, but ultimately resolves nothing. Bob Carr has time to fix the problem with his governance, but after the problems with the hospitals, the rail debacle, and the forced merger of the City of Sydney and South Sydney councils, he’d better start now rather than later.

Very Batman
The Stun Ring (found on Boing Boing) is a very nice piece of concealed weaponry, just right for my superhero fashion collection, but doesn’t come in my size.

Real Life Journalism
M. brought home a copy of the New Yorker, and even though it's a week out-of-date, I was immediately reminded how much I have enjoyed that magazine over the years, along with the Atlantic. I cannot think of two finer periodicals on the face of the earth, but subscription, let alone news agent prices are a bit beyond my budget right now. On-line just isn't quite the same, but it will have to do.

Fantasy Journalism
I have to think that I should either post less often or give up ‘blogging. If the statistics on Sitemeter mean anything, it’s that I’m not getting a lot of cross-referencing, and most of the searches I get are for puzzles. (I should probably stop using that word, too, as it’s only going to exacerbate the problem.) I don’t mine from any particularly unusual sources, so my “reportage” is unlikely to be fresh or particularly interesting to any of the people who are reading this stuff. Family I understand, and of the other known users, I also understand friends: they might want to catch up on what I’m up to on the other side of the planet; but what’s bringing in any of my fellow ‘bloggers or those who link in from them? Curiosity, I suppose, one-shots: there’s little enough evidence that anyone makes a return trip unescorted as it were. I’ve been trying to locate fellow Australian ‘bloggers, particularly in Sydney, but I don’t visit especially frequently, even if the content in some is notable. (Maybe I should pay more attention to the “Bloggies”, which have a category of best Australian or New Zealander ‘blog – except Pixelkitty isn’t posting, Scorpiogirl seems to be a national site with registration issues, Brainsluice is NZ, so Synapse better have won the award.) I think what’s really called for in my on-line life is, if not a reduction in the plethora of ‘blogging blather, a compendium of useful enthusiasms, something more along the line of Charlie Suisman’s Manhattan User’s Guide. Of course, since I’m not technically adept enough and don’t really have the time or the network to put something like this together, at least not without a major government grant and substantial subscriptions, I have to leave it to someone else. (In other words, this is a post of jaded carping. Sorry.) Of course, “SUG” as an acronym isn’t as good as “MUG,” which has multiple connotations (some more fortunate than others), so whoever takes up the challenge will have a little work to do just finding an effective abbreviation: Sydney Access Guide? Sydney Access Directory? Sydney User’s Monthly? Well, that one could work. Maybe I should contact Anthony Hicks to see if he’d get the word out.

PS: Nice scoop on the King Kong movie. If ever a tower looked climbable by a giant ape, it’s UTS.

Dining Out
I don’t understand: what’s happened to Martha Francis? Here’s a review of cheesecake in NYC, and this little Upper East Side storefront isn’t included. I never bothered with anything but the cupcakes from Yura & Co., and I don’t even know if Two Little Red Hens was open when I was there last, but that was only because I could count on the best slice I ever had from Martha’s daughter. Of course, my sentimental attachment might have some bearing on my assessment: this is the shop that provided the wedding cake for M. and me. Well, if I’m ever in the vicinity again, I’m going to 90th & 2nd first, then I’ll visit the Hens or Yura.

Immigration vs. Conservation
Anti-immigrationists and animal rights activists are working to form a coalition to take over the board of the Sierra Club. I can’t find the weblog I found this on first (Frogs & Ravens maybe?), but now that the NY Times is reporting the issue, it’s mainstream news, and I’d like to give credit for breaking the story where it’s due. Originally, this had been presented as the efforts of two extremist groups, but the Times report puts the slant a little differently, as anti-hunting/trapping activists working with accused racists. The Sierra Club has long been considered a mainstream environmental group because of their self-described reasonable stance regarding hunting and logging, so these days, when the environment is palpably under threat, it’s not surprising that more activist elements within the organization would seek to drive the Club into pursuing a course more in line with their own concerns. The anti-immigrationists, however, represent an outside stream with only an arguably environmental agenda and a decidedly racialist bias. Immigration may account for up to 45% of population growth in the U.S., but I’m not convinced that represents an overall increase in the next 100 years of over 300%, and neither am I convinced that immigration itself is within the purview of any environmental group.

Yo Ho
Friend Simon, who visited over Christmas, first presented me with the thesis that Johnny Depp based his pirate character on Keith Richards, so I publicly acknowledge the insight, even before I’ve actually seen the movie. All the more reason to go, I suppose, although I doubt Orlando Bloom used Mick Jagger to inform his character.

Targeting
Participation in the “coalition of the willing” has not made Australia an Al Qaeda target, but as Spain has experienced, it does make us a more likely victim selection, despite the sledging of Mick Keelty by Howard’s government. Federal Police Commissioner Keelty has backed off his original comments, claiming his remarks were taken “out of context,” but his clarification shouldn’t be taken as support for the Iraq war, which I believe has probably made Mr. Keelty’s job that much harder. It isn’t Al Qaeda I expect to act, but radical Islamists in Indonesia working with them. Because terrorism tends to feed on itself, eventually degenerating into factional in-fighting after a period of dramatic, outwardly-focussed actions, I believe Europe has more to fear than Australia, but the proximity to Indonesia and the Philippines remains worrisome for the same reasons. Australia, as an open, democratic society, is much more amenable to organizational activities by terrorist groups than the societies from which their members spring. It becomes that much more likely as a result that terrorists should also commit their crimes within their host countries than in those where their problems really lie. Unfortunately, it is part of the nature of these fundamentalist groups that they blame others for what they object to. They arise from societies that actively discourage freedom, innovation, and personal responsibility, and their religious focus excuses such repression. This is why they will eventually fail, too, but in the meanwhile, we’ve got to protect ourselves. Discouraging dissent in our own societies isn’t a good method toward that end.

Thus Spake
The search for the pre-lapsarian language continues. Having recently completed Umberto Eco’s Search for the Perfect Language, which examined European efforts over the centuries to reconstruct the language of God (originally presumed to be Hebrew) or alternatively to construct a universal tongue, I have a certain appreciation for these biological efforts, if only from an entertainment standpoint, for effectively appeased by such efforts as Paul Auster’s City of Glass. Is it possible to reconstruct an original language? What would we learn if we did? Would we be instantly understood by all the people of the world, like the apostles at Pentacost? Well, maybe not; we’d probably be limited to only such universals as “tastes great, less filling” or “fire bad, friend good,” instead of having our ears opened to some celestial speech permeating the created world.

It’ll Never Get Out of Committee
The fundamentalist agenda of the United States, in addition to opposing gay marriage and abortion, includes gutting the Constitution. (Brought to you by Metafilter.)

Blurring the Line
George II’s re-election campaign is using fake news in advertisements for its Medicare reforms, but without even the “I’m not a doctor, but I play one on t.v.” disclaimer. The use of press releases to direct media towards a particular bias in reporting an event is one of long standing, but this is beyond the pale. They are liars, and they are corrupt.

Alarms
As reassuring as it may be to know that various municipalities are conducting exercises to keep emergency crews capable of dealing with large-scale terrorism (notably, my old home town; my new city has and will again be running drills, too), it’s frustrating to know that right now there’s nothing to be done to prevent an attack. Al Qaeda doesn’t care about Iraq, you know, any more than they cared about Afghanistan per se. They live in the twelfth century at best and want everyone else back there with them. They will continue their crimes against the modern world until the populations from which they have come are raised up 800 years. That’s not going to happen soon.

Sorry
William Safire takes aim at Kerry’s characterization of the Bush/Cheney re-election machine as “the most crooked . . . lying group I’ve ever seen” and shoots himself in the foot. I expect more from Mr. Safire than this kind of whinging. Kerry was not insulting “tens of millions” of Republicans, and to ask for or expect an apology is disingenuous at best. Mr. Safire would like his readers to believe this is macho posturing unbecoming a presidential candidate, but I suggest instead the column is more in line with this criticism: it is undignified, it is feeble, it is insulting. Mr. Safire should be ashamed for using the prestige of the NY Times in this fashion.