The Fallen (Culture) Warriors
There’s a report that the recently-closed Valhalla cinema may yet be revived, and if there’s ever a sign that the movie business isn’t as imperilled as it likes to say it is, this is it. An art cinema, devoted to the kinds of movies that don’t make it to the multiplex, and offering a rare, true big-screen experience, the Valhalla had revenue problems to be sure, not to mention something of a mildew problem (but that seems fairly common in Glebe), so the proposal to turn it into a mixed-use business – office space, a café, and especially a DVD shop, shows how this kind of operation can survive in an era where the very nature of the industry is on the cusp of major change. Piracy is often touted as the primary cause of the fall in revenues for films, but other, more objective analyses suggest that more fundamental, audience-based changes are taking place – home entertainment technology, for the most part, making the cinema experience less relevant to a growing segment of the population. This shouldn’t, however, undercut the cinema experience. Advances in home audio and the trend for technology prices to fall almost in direct proportion to innovations still don’t duplicate the big-screen projection. While digital video approaches ever-closer to film’s richness, there are still things you can do with the latter that can’t be done with the former – ask any cinematographer.
And speaking of movies, I’m starting to be more interested than I was in The Constant Gardner, an adaptation of the LeCarre thriller, a book I’d picked up when I was working late one evening and needed something to occupy myself with other than the internet while some processes took up the majority of my workstation’s capacity. Like most of his books, that I’ve read, it was quickly engaging, but has to be, as well, easily the most bleak. Nevertheless, with Ralph Fiennes and Bill Nighy in leading roles, I’d probably go see any movie, but these two seem superbly adapted to filling their respective positions in this one. It won’t play at the yet-to-be-revived Valhalla, but I’ll suffer a trip to Hoyt’s for it anyway.
31 August 2005
Perfect
Of the 24 “perfect” albums complied on Philosophistry from Plastic’s “poll” (and there’s a bit of internet nostalgia; I used to try to rack up the “karma” back before I started posting my own content), I’ve only ever heard 1/3 in their entirety, and none of them strike me as meeting the standard, i.e., not a bad track in the bunch. Having never heard even one track off OK Computer, the top-rated album, I’m perhaps not in a position to judge any of the list, and to be honest I have trouble thinking of any record I’d put up for inclusion. If I said Eno’s Another Green World, is it because the trend towards “ambient” music was already evident, and I never actually hear all of the album even when I allow it to play through? Most jazz albums I’ve heard, especially the be-bop classics, could claim perfection as far as I’m concerned, but the measurements I’m using probably aren’t particularly critical, let alone musical, given that I don’t really know what I’m hearing, unlike many other listeners, who are capable of identifying the sources, whether a straight blues riff or “I Got Rhythm,” much the was some people can identify samples in rap. Is perfection possible? How long does it last? What I thought of once as the most remarkable album of all time, at any given time, isn’t such at any later time, say, after a year, let alone after five, ten, fifteen. . . .
Of the 24 “perfect” albums complied on Philosophistry from Plastic’s “poll” (and there’s a bit of internet nostalgia; I used to try to rack up the “karma” back before I started posting my own content), I’ve only ever heard 1/3 in their entirety, and none of them strike me as meeting the standard, i.e., not a bad track in the bunch. Having never heard even one track off OK Computer, the top-rated album, I’m perhaps not in a position to judge any of the list, and to be honest I have trouble thinking of any record I’d put up for inclusion. If I said Eno’s Another Green World, is it because the trend towards “ambient” music was already evident, and I never actually hear all of the album even when I allow it to play through? Most jazz albums I’ve heard, especially the be-bop classics, could claim perfection as far as I’m concerned, but the measurements I’m using probably aren’t particularly critical, let alone musical, given that I don’t really know what I’m hearing, unlike many other listeners, who are capable of identifying the sources, whether a straight blues riff or “I Got Rhythm,” much the was some people can identify samples in rap. Is perfection possible? How long does it last? What I thought of once as the most remarkable album of all time, at any given time, isn’t such at any later time, say, after a year, let alone after five, ten, fifteen. . . .
1 September
There's a grass roots boycott being touted around the email circuit for tomorrow, advocating that no one buy any gasoline for the day. It seems we're moving backwards faster than I'd thought, returning to the Carter era, except only in the sense of malaise that was so evident then, with none of the can-do spirit that had us patiently enduring alternating days for fill-ups and switching off our cars at red lights lasting longer than 30 seconds. For many people a day without petrol is just going to mean hitting the bowsers on the 31st for more than they'd have purchased, so I don't believe for a minute that it's actually going to hurt anyone who deserves it if people stay away from filling stations for the day. I'd still do it, if I had a car, because if enough people join in, even if the net effect is nearer zero than not, the blip would be noticable. And because corporate interests drive the present national administrations of the CoW countries (and others), registering a protest there is almost sure to be more effective than camping outside Crawford or the White House or the Lodge or 10 Downing or wherever.
I read a short story in the latest Griffith Review that attempted to creatively summarize the conditions these efforts are trying to achieve: ordinary, individually powerless people, reaching critical mass to effect change. The story was moderately successful, but the concept is one that those of us who oppose the Bush Administration's abuse of power need to keep in mind. We can't let up the pressure; we must increase it. No more rolling over by the Democrats, no more votes without debate, no more lies.
There's a grass roots boycott being touted around the email circuit for tomorrow, advocating that no one buy any gasoline for the day. It seems we're moving backwards faster than I'd thought, returning to the Carter era, except only in the sense of malaise that was so evident then, with none of the can-do spirit that had us patiently enduring alternating days for fill-ups and switching off our cars at red lights lasting longer than 30 seconds. For many people a day without petrol is just going to mean hitting the bowsers on the 31st for more than they'd have purchased, so I don't believe for a minute that it's actually going to hurt anyone who deserves it if people stay away from filling stations for the day. I'd still do it, if I had a car, because if enough people join in, even if the net effect is nearer zero than not, the blip would be noticable. And because corporate interests drive the present national administrations of the CoW countries (and others), registering a protest there is almost sure to be more effective than camping outside Crawford or the White House or the Lodge or 10 Downing or wherever.
I read a short story in the latest Griffith Review that attempted to creatively summarize the conditions these efforts are trying to achieve: ordinary, individually powerless people, reaching critical mass to effect change. The story was moderately successful, but the concept is one that those of us who oppose the Bush Administration's abuse of power need to keep in mind. We can't let up the pressure; we must increase it. No more rolling over by the Democrats, no more votes without debate, no more lies.
29 August 2005
Resignation Redux
After Bob Carr resigned, I wondered what the effect might be on Labor’s hold on NSW, but perhaps I worried needlessly: the opposition leader, John Brogden, has also quit, although only as Liberal leader, not as an MP. While he offers six beers in quick succession as a bit of cause-and-effect, he doesn’t seek to excuse his behavior, and his apology and stepping down from the leadership are honorable actions in themselves. He might have done both before he got caught out, but it’s not worth quibbling over. In any event, he wasn’t a particularly effective opposition leader, reduced as many such are to complaining more than offering alternative solutions, and Carr’s departure and his successor looked to make things more difficult for Brogden rather than less. Well, assuming Morris Iemma can get the trains to run better. And the hospitals.
After Bob Carr resigned, I wondered what the effect might be on Labor’s hold on NSW, but perhaps I worried needlessly: the opposition leader, John Brogden, has also quit, although only as Liberal leader, not as an MP. While he offers six beers in quick succession as a bit of cause-and-effect, he doesn’t seek to excuse his behavior, and his apology and stepping down from the leadership are honorable actions in themselves. He might have done both before he got caught out, but it’s not worth quibbling over. In any event, he wasn’t a particularly effective opposition leader, reduced as many such are to complaining more than offering alternative solutions, and Carr’s departure and his successor looked to make things more difficult for Brogden rather than less. Well, assuming Morris Iemma can get the trains to run better. And the hospitals.
26 August 2005
The USA Patriot Act & You
I suggest going to your public library and checking out some books on Islam and physics right now. See if you can get a "Harry Potter" book, too, and really freak out the thought police: magic, religion, and the A-bomb; think of the possibilities.
I suggest going to your public library and checking out some books on Islam and physics right now. See if you can get a "Harry Potter" book, too, and really freak out the thought police: magic, religion, and the A-bomb; think of the possibilities.
Welfare-to-Work
Do most single parents stay home, or do they work outside the home? There are certainly those who rely solely on benefits and child support payments, but surely there are many who also have at least part-time jobs. So is the government right that their revisions in the welfare scheme will provide an extra $58 per week for most persons in this situation, or the National Centre for Social & Economic Modelling, who claim a reduction of $86 per week, with a gain to the government of $114? Pretty sweet for the Coalition, if the latter, and I’d sure appreciate another $3K annually if it was me if the former is correct. I’m suspicious of this government’s economic claims, however, especially when it comes to the social safety net. Knowing they’d prefer to eliminate government protections in the health and well-being of the citizenry, and firm in my belief that support for families means something different to them than it does to me, I’d err on the side of opposing their changes.
Do most single parents stay home, or do they work outside the home? There are certainly those who rely solely on benefits and child support payments, but surely there are many who also have at least part-time jobs. So is the government right that their revisions in the welfare scheme will provide an extra $58 per week for most persons in this situation, or the National Centre for Social & Economic Modelling, who claim a reduction of $86 per week, with a gain to the government of $114? Pretty sweet for the Coalition, if the latter, and I’d sure appreciate another $3K annually if it was me if the former is correct. I’m suspicious of this government’s economic claims, however, especially when it comes to the social safety net. Knowing they’d prefer to eliminate government protections in the health and well-being of the citizenry, and firm in my belief that support for families means something different to them than it does to me, I’d err on the side of opposing their changes.
Secrets & Lies
I don’t for a minute believe that the matter disclosed to the public by Herald Sun reporters now being prosecuted for protecting their sources are in any way entitled to government secrecy. Matters of national security have such protections, sure, but not paying benefits to widows & veterans? That’s just sleazy, and so’s trying to pretend the public would be informed in the fullness of time and prosecuting reporters who caught you out.
I don’t for a minute believe that the matter disclosed to the public by Herald Sun reporters now being prosecuted for protecting their sources are in any way entitled to government secrecy. Matters of national security have such protections, sure, but not paying benefits to widows & veterans? That’s just sleazy, and so’s trying to pretend the public would be informed in the fullness of time and prosecuting reporters who caught you out.
25 August 2005
Creation & School
I've added an image to the sidebar that I got off Preya's Dreaming of Hanoi, although it doesn't include the Flying Spagehtti Monster link, because I think it's one of the more inspired satires coming out of the nonsensical debate of teaching religion in science classes. Check Boing Boing for additional FSM links and information.
I've added an image to the sidebar that I got off Preya's Dreaming of Hanoi, although it doesn't include the Flying Spagehtti Monster link, because I think it's one of the more inspired satires coming out of the nonsensical debate of teaching religion in science classes. Check Boing Boing for additional FSM links and information.
24 August 2005
There Goes the Neighborhood
When I saw the headline, I knew it wasn’t my co-op, because I didn’t live across the street from the 92nd Street Y, but around the corner. Still, it’s fascinating to hear about the old ‘hood and what’s happening there and wonder what all my neighbors must be thinking to discover a crack den just down the street, let alone the couple who bought my flat (assuming they’re still there). Of course the line between Upper East Side and the ungentrified Spanish Harlem, although traditionally 96th Street, was always blurred, and Lexington Avenue was never going to be Park Avenue, so a little bleed-over isn’t entirely unexpected, especially while the party bar-to-patron ratio in the area was so high.
I’m not sure what it is about me and inner-city living, but I seem to always end up near a dodgy gin mill: in Queens, the Mocambo Lounge featured “dancing” (yes, the exotic kind), and in Manhattan I had Brother Jimmy’s Bait Shack pounding out the frat-boy doof-doof into the small hours. The Royal Albert, the next block over from where I am now, may not be a problem, despite catering to the backpacker trade and devoting more space to pokies than pool, but the “working travellers accommodations” (English and Irish visitors with little money to spend on where they sleep and little interest in much else besides getting sunburned and drinking heavily) next door more than makes up for it. If I wanted quiet, though, I guess I could have elected to live way out in the countryside someplace, but I’m a city kid in the end, if just for now, so I put up with it where I can, and call the Rangers when I need sleep.
When I saw the headline, I knew it wasn’t my co-op, because I didn’t live across the street from the 92nd Street Y, but around the corner. Still, it’s fascinating to hear about the old ‘hood and what’s happening there and wonder what all my neighbors must be thinking to discover a crack den just down the street, let alone the couple who bought my flat (assuming they’re still there). Of course the line between Upper East Side and the ungentrified Spanish Harlem, although traditionally 96th Street, was always blurred, and Lexington Avenue was never going to be Park Avenue, so a little bleed-over isn’t entirely unexpected, especially while the party bar-to-patron ratio in the area was so high.
I’m not sure what it is about me and inner-city living, but I seem to always end up near a dodgy gin mill: in Queens, the Mocambo Lounge featured “dancing” (yes, the exotic kind), and in Manhattan I had Brother Jimmy’s Bait Shack pounding out the frat-boy doof-doof into the small hours. The Royal Albert, the next block over from where I am now, may not be a problem, despite catering to the backpacker trade and devoting more space to pokies than pool, but the “working travellers accommodations” (English and Irish visitors with little money to spend on where they sleep and little interest in much else besides getting sunburned and drinking heavily) next door more than makes up for it. If I wanted quiet, though, I guess I could have elected to live way out in the countryside someplace, but I’m a city kid in the end, if just for now, so I put up with it where I can, and call the Rangers when I need sleep.
19 August 2005
Good on Ya, Cobber
Australian colloquialisms are an interesting sociological study. Generally, the forms of address are used as levellers, bringing everyone’s station into line with everyone else’s, dissolving class distinctions, undoubtedly originally as a reaction to the class-based oppressions of the early penal colony and settlement origins. “Mate,” the universal salutation and categorization, has long been used with both broad application and great subtlety. More or less. I recall hearing soon after my arrival here that “Mate” was what you called someone when you disliked him or her, while you called your friends “Bastard.” Although I haven’t experienced the latter to prove its truth, I’ve heard and experienced the former in application, and it’s true enough. I recall one instance when M. put such venom into calling someone “Mate” that the situation she was addressing was nearly instantly rectified, the person on the receiving end recognizing the error of their ways. So I can understand why they’d ask guards at Parliament to stop addressing visitors that way, even though the instruction banning “Mate” only lasted until it became public knowledge. I’m with Roger Price, the minority whip: “let’s not get above our station,” he said; good advice for politicians everywhere.
Australian colloquialisms are an interesting sociological study. Generally, the forms of address are used as levellers, bringing everyone’s station into line with everyone else’s, dissolving class distinctions, undoubtedly originally as a reaction to the class-based oppressions of the early penal colony and settlement origins. “Mate,” the universal salutation and categorization, has long been used with both broad application and great subtlety. More or less. I recall hearing soon after my arrival here that “Mate” was what you called someone when you disliked him or her, while you called your friends “Bastard.” Although I haven’t experienced the latter to prove its truth, I’ve heard and experienced the former in application, and it’s true enough. I recall one instance when M. put such venom into calling someone “Mate” that the situation she was addressing was nearly instantly rectified, the person on the receiving end recognizing the error of their ways. So I can understand why they’d ask guards at Parliament to stop addressing visitors that way, even though the instruction banning “Mate” only lasted until it became public knowledge. I’m with Roger Price, the minority whip: “let’s not get above our station,” he said; good advice for politicians everywhere.
18 August 2005
Red, but in Tooth & Claw
If you can think of a better plan for the Midwest, go for it. I think the "American Serengeti" is the best solution to the problem of those red staters who "just don't get it" I've heard yet.
If you can think of a better plan for the Midwest, go for it. I think the "American Serengeti" is the best solution to the problem of those red staters who "just don't get it" I've heard yet.
11,220
Clock time 82:15, less 08:08 for 74:07 “real time.” I feel better. Now if I can find some race photos, everyone will be happy. Meanwhile, there's this one:
Clock time 82:15, less 08:08 for 74:07 “real time.” I feel better. Now if I can find some race photos, everyone will be happy. Meanwhile, there's this one:
16 August 2005
Skills Gap
The federal government has made a lot out of the dearth of unskilled workers and young people going to trades, but little has been done to improve the situation, unsurprisingly. Still, with the industrial relations protections about to suffer the heavy hand of the Coalition (and don’t expect much out of the Senate hearings, if any), you might be forgiven for thinking the government’s claims of productivity increases, should they actually be realized, would gladden the [black] heart of any Liberal. Instead, a new effort to increase immigration by skilled workers is now being undertaken. After all, once the protections for existing workers have been removed, additional competition for jobs should see amazing gains in productivity – through increased depression of wages, anyway.
And while we’re on the subject of what Howard and his cronies are doing to screw the population, they want to sell Medibank, too, the government-owned “private” medical insurance scam, I mean, supplement to Medicare. Well, they’ll need to sell something in order to fund the losses they’re likely to incur when they sell the remainder of Telstra and have to come up with more than the projected AU$3 billion for bringing rural services into line with what’s on offer in urban Australia, not to mention that putting the scheme (truly) into the private sector is the only way to even potentially achieve the kind of competition necessary to relieve the premium burden presently loaded onto every citizen sucker enough to sign up to get the tax rebate.
The federal government has made a lot out of the dearth of unskilled workers and young people going to trades, but little has been done to improve the situation, unsurprisingly. Still, with the industrial relations protections about to suffer the heavy hand of the Coalition (and don’t expect much out of the Senate hearings, if any), you might be forgiven for thinking the government’s claims of productivity increases, should they actually be realized, would gladden the [black] heart of any Liberal. Instead, a new effort to increase immigration by skilled workers is now being undertaken. After all, once the protections for existing workers have been removed, additional competition for jobs should see amazing gains in productivity – through increased depression of wages, anyway.
And while we’re on the subject of what Howard and his cronies are doing to screw the population, they want to sell Medibank, too, the government-owned “private” medical insurance scam, I mean, supplement to Medicare. Well, they’ll need to sell something in order to fund the losses they’re likely to incur when they sell the remainder of Telstra and have to come up with more than the projected AU$3 billion for bringing rural services into line with what’s on offer in urban Australia, not to mention that putting the scheme (truly) into the private sector is the only way to even potentially achieve the kind of competition necessary to relieve the premium burden presently loaded onto every citizen sucker enough to sign up to get the tax rebate.
14 August 2005
Finish
90.23 - well over what I'd hoped for, even subtracting 5 minutes for the time it took from the gun to when I actually crossed the start. Thank goodness there was a staggered start at the City-to-Surf today; with 60,000 participants, the field was so large, unless you were one of the elite, or even just among those in the first three starts, you never saw a clear line, dodging and weaving all the way. Nobody much was throwing elbows, but there were those who just wouldn't hold their line long enough for you to slip through a gap either.
This is probably the most fun race I've ever run in, not to mention the longest (as well as being the longest run I've done at all since High School). Definitely next year. And I'll manage not to screw up timing myself next time, too. Or maybe I'll just lop off those extra ten minutes from the first gun in addition. Yeah, 75.23 sounds really good. Not realistic, but good.
90.23 - well over what I'd hoped for, even subtracting 5 minutes for the time it took from the gun to when I actually crossed the start. Thank goodness there was a staggered start at the City-to-Surf today; with 60,000 participants, the field was so large, unless you were one of the elite, or even just among those in the first three starts, you never saw a clear line, dodging and weaving all the way. Nobody much was throwing elbows, but there were those who just wouldn't hold their line long enough for you to slip through a gap either.
This is probably the most fun race I've ever run in, not to mention the longest (as well as being the longest run I've done at all since High School). Definitely next year. And I'll manage not to screw up timing myself next time, too. Or maybe I'll just lop off those extra ten minutes from the first gun in addition. Yeah, 75.23 sounds really good. Not realistic, but good.
12 August 2005
Debut
Sunday will be my second race in Australia, but the first iconic run: the City to Surf, 14K of fun. I've been training the last couple of months, working up to the distance, with my longest training run about two weeks ago at 12K. I'm looking to do anything better than 80 minutes, but with all the tens of thousands who'll be out there on the 14th, I'll probably have to keep my own clock. While the weather turned a bit chilly the past few days, Sunday promises 21 degrees, which will be quite pleasant I think. The gun goes off at 9:30 a.m., which is reasonable, and I'm stuck in the second start. This will also be the debut of the Keith Richards Athletic Club in Australia. I know I should have signed up with that as my team name, but it'll have to wait for next year.
Sunday will be my second race in Australia, but the first iconic run: the City to Surf, 14K of fun. I've been training the last couple of months, working up to the distance, with my longest training run about two weeks ago at 12K. I'm looking to do anything better than 80 minutes, but with all the tens of thousands who'll be out there on the 14th, I'll probably have to keep my own clock. While the weather turned a bit chilly the past few days, Sunday promises 21 degrees, which will be quite pleasant I think. The gun goes off at 9:30 a.m., which is reasonable, and I'm stuck in the second start. This will also be the debut of the Keith Richards Athletic Club in Australia. I know I should have signed up with that as my team name, but it'll have to wait for next year.
11 August 2005
The Australian Bill of Rights
Right now, it’s a chimera, although depending on your political persuasion, maybe a basilisk. In any event, although there have been proposals and proposals for proposals and proposals for discussion of proposals and . . . stop that, it could go on all night. Just mention Bill of Rights, and there are plenty who’ll get up on their high horse to tell you why there shouldn’t be one. Janet Albrechtsen, for example, head stooge for the Murdoch press here on all matters small-l liberal, says a bill of rights means the terrorists win because activist judges will let them. It’s the “activist judges” she’s really concerned about, as you can see from the devolution of her argument into whether Roe v. Wade should be overturned in America. She talks about how Tony Blair has been thwarted in combating terrorism in Britain by such judges, and how precedents put “traditional judges” in a quandary over their rulings. Both arguments are hogwash. Judges aren’t making policy decisions, they’re ruling on the law. Britain, American, and Australia all have a long-standing tradition of common law – where rulings by judges affect the application or applicability of laws. A bill of rights doesn’t change that, it’s just more law. Britain, for example, has no free speech, no separation of church and state, and very little else of civil rights actually encoded within the body of legislation, and neither does Australia. The U.S. relies a great deal on its Bill of Rights, and that was its purpose, as with the rest of the Constitution. There’s an argument to be made over whether or not a bill of rights is needed and arguments aplenty to be had over what it should contain. But the legal tradition is already established to support all forms of legislation.
Having grown up with such rights, perhaps I’ve always taken them for granted, even now, living without them. I ought perhaps to be more cautious in the things I say publicly, but a lifetime of protection ingrains a sense of entitlement. Personally, I’d like to see a bill of rights in Australia, and Britain, for that matter. I’d like to see Australia become a republic, whatever form it might take, and to protect specifics of the kinds of things that make up the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, a felicitous phrase to broaden all humankind’s ability to achieve peace and harmony. It runs against the pragmatic grain of many politicians and much of the public here, but that doesn’t diminish the concept’s worth. Because I’m a small-l liberal, I don’t have any qualms about following a live-and-let-live philosophy, one that doesn’t require the legislation of morality, and that allows differences to enhance society at large instead of being subsumed in favor of one particular mind set.
I don’t see any hope of progress in human rights as civil rights under the present governments of the U.S., Britain, or Australia, although thankfully the U.S. Constitution is still – for now – the law of the land, and I don’t see a lot of hope coming from much of the opposition, but I’ll stay in the struggle, for what it’s worth.
Right now, it’s a chimera, although depending on your political persuasion, maybe a basilisk. In any event, although there have been proposals and proposals for proposals and proposals for discussion of proposals and . . . stop that, it could go on all night. Just mention Bill of Rights, and there are plenty who’ll get up on their high horse to tell you why there shouldn’t be one. Janet Albrechtsen, for example, head stooge for the Murdoch press here on all matters small-l liberal, says a bill of rights means the terrorists win because activist judges will let them. It’s the “activist judges” she’s really concerned about, as you can see from the devolution of her argument into whether Roe v. Wade should be overturned in America. She talks about how Tony Blair has been thwarted in combating terrorism in Britain by such judges, and how precedents put “traditional judges” in a quandary over their rulings. Both arguments are hogwash. Judges aren’t making policy decisions, they’re ruling on the law. Britain, American, and Australia all have a long-standing tradition of common law – where rulings by judges affect the application or applicability of laws. A bill of rights doesn’t change that, it’s just more law. Britain, for example, has no free speech, no separation of church and state, and very little else of civil rights actually encoded within the body of legislation, and neither does Australia. The U.S. relies a great deal on its Bill of Rights, and that was its purpose, as with the rest of the Constitution. There’s an argument to be made over whether or not a bill of rights is needed and arguments aplenty to be had over what it should contain. But the legal tradition is already established to support all forms of legislation.
Having grown up with such rights, perhaps I’ve always taken them for granted, even now, living without them. I ought perhaps to be more cautious in the things I say publicly, but a lifetime of protection ingrains a sense of entitlement. Personally, I’d like to see a bill of rights in Australia, and Britain, for that matter. I’d like to see Australia become a republic, whatever form it might take, and to protect specifics of the kinds of things that make up the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, a felicitous phrase to broaden all humankind’s ability to achieve peace and harmony. It runs against the pragmatic grain of many politicians and much of the public here, but that doesn’t diminish the concept’s worth. Because I’m a small-l liberal, I don’t have any qualms about following a live-and-let-live philosophy, one that doesn’t require the legislation of morality, and that allows differences to enhance society at large instead of being subsumed in favor of one particular mind set.
I don’t see any hope of progress in human rights as civil rights under the present governments of the U.S., Britain, or Australia, although thankfully the U.S. Constitution is still – for now – the law of the land, and I don’t see a lot of hope coming from much of the opposition, but I’ll stay in the struggle, for what it’s worth.
09 August 2005
Excelsior
I’ve been meaning to mention Get Up, a newly launched political action website on the model of Move On. I’ve only just signed on for updates, so I don’t know a lot about them, but they were evidently fired up by the Coalition’s Senate majority, and there’s nothing wrong with that. In Australian party politics, it’s too easy under these conditions for the majority to override without or with only a minium of debate any objections, an especially worrying situation under the present regime, intent on they are on a return to the 19th century (or earlier), so I welcome any effort to ensure the government is aware that they are under direct scrutiny. It hasn’t mattered much to this crowd, but it can’t hurt to keep up the pressure. Although there’ve been accusations of this group being (merely) a Labor Party “front,” those are simply irrelevant if not asinine. Onward & upward!
I’ve been meaning to mention Get Up, a newly launched political action website on the model of Move On. I’ve only just signed on for updates, so I don’t know a lot about them, but they were evidently fired up by the Coalition’s Senate majority, and there’s nothing wrong with that. In Australian party politics, it’s too easy under these conditions for the majority to override without or with only a minium of debate any objections, an especially worrying situation under the present regime, intent on they are on a return to the 19th century (or earlier), so I welcome any effort to ensure the government is aware that they are under direct scrutiny. It hasn’t mattered much to this crowd, but it can’t hurt to keep up the pressure. Although there’ve been accusations of this group being (merely) a Labor Party “front,” those are simply irrelevant if not asinine. Onward & upward!
Microbial
We had the nephews over this weekend, twin eleven-year-olds, very sportif, so we took them bowling. I love bowling, although it isn’t the sport I remember from my misspent youth, where you sat between frames drinking and smoking. Bowling alleys otherwise are the same, and the same world over, I’d say, redolent of wax and shoes. As fun as that was, it was over pretty quickly, so even though we’d already watched the night before our now-traditional video (A Series of Unfortunate Events, which was fun enough, if Jim Carrey’s ad libs weren’t a bit too already-dated), we went to see War of the Worlds. This has been touted as Spielberg’s anti-Schindler, an allegorical war movie for our war-on-terror times, similar to the original intent of the Wells story in putting man’s inhumanity to man in a larger perspective, but while the movie is certainly more true to the original than the 1953 version, and more bleak (as noted by many critics, a church is destroyed early in the attack, while in the Cold War-era adaptation it’s a place of ultimate refuge), you’re hard pressed to come out of the theatre with any message, having been subjected to a tour-de-force of tension in what is, largely, just a chase movie. Tom Cruise may yet grow up to be a good actor – he’s given a bit more to do here than his usual insouciant hero role, but also a bit less. The finale is pure schmaltz and entirely inexplicable: how Boston comes off better in this than New York is beyond understanding, unless it has something to do with the Kennedys or the Kerrys. It was a fun movie, even for its dark tone, and well done, too, worth the price of admission. I can’t help think, however, there might have been something else a bit more challenging and therefore a bit more enjoyable. Maybe something with subtitles next.
We had the nephews over this weekend, twin eleven-year-olds, very sportif, so we took them bowling. I love bowling, although it isn’t the sport I remember from my misspent youth, where you sat between frames drinking and smoking. Bowling alleys otherwise are the same, and the same world over, I’d say, redolent of wax and shoes. As fun as that was, it was over pretty quickly, so even though we’d already watched the night before our now-traditional video (A Series of Unfortunate Events, which was fun enough, if Jim Carrey’s ad libs weren’t a bit too already-dated), we went to see War of the Worlds. This has been touted as Spielberg’s anti-Schindler, an allegorical war movie for our war-on-terror times, similar to the original intent of the Wells story in putting man’s inhumanity to man in a larger perspective, but while the movie is certainly more true to the original than the 1953 version, and more bleak (as noted by many critics, a church is destroyed early in the attack, while in the Cold War-era adaptation it’s a place of ultimate refuge), you’re hard pressed to come out of the theatre with any message, having been subjected to a tour-de-force of tension in what is, largely, just a chase movie. Tom Cruise may yet grow up to be a good actor – he’s given a bit more to do here than his usual insouciant hero role, but also a bit less. The finale is pure schmaltz and entirely inexplicable: how Boston comes off better in this than New York is beyond understanding, unless it has something to do with the Kennedys or the Kerrys. It was a fun movie, even for its dark tone, and well done, too, worth the price of admission. I can’t help think, however, there might have been something else a bit more challenging and therefore a bit more enjoyable. Maybe something with subtitles next.
Willing
If Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi wins his early election, it will be touted as a triumph for the “coalition of the willing” co-conspiritors, but there is plenty more at issue here than that, especially since Japan is already planning their withdrawal, especially the life savings of many of his citizens, which, like Bush with Social Security in the U.S., Koizumi is intent on putting into the stock market. I expect him to get through, but while there may be some basis for calling this a vote-of-confidence on government-sponsored pension reform, this isn’t a referendum on Iraq.
If Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi wins his early election, it will be touted as a triumph for the “coalition of the willing” co-conspiritors, but there is plenty more at issue here than that, especially since Japan is already planning their withdrawal, especially the life savings of many of his citizens, which, like Bush with Social Security in the U.S., Koizumi is intent on putting into the stock market. I expect him to get through, but while there may be some basis for calling this a vote-of-confidence on government-sponsored pension reform, this isn’t a referendum on Iraq.
Baby & Bath
Anyone expecting John Howard’s industrial relations version of Sherman’s March to include the recently awarded parental leave provision are Pollyannas with the brains of Polly-parrots. Such leave flies in the face of everything Howard is attempting to do with his IR changes as well as defying his long-standing and well-evidenced antipathy to women in the workforce. Mommies stay home and take care of babies, and Daddies go to work every day to make money in John Howard’s world. He will punish any who defy that convention, and has been carefully structuring the pensions schemes to ensure such stability, even well before the coalition started in with the “one for mom, one for dad, and one for Australia” population proposal. Inflation may not be a worry right now, but that doesn’t mean a sea change coming, one that may mean longer hours and harder efforts to make ends meet.
Anyone expecting John Howard’s industrial relations version of Sherman’s March to include the recently awarded parental leave provision are Pollyannas with the brains of Polly-parrots. Such leave flies in the face of everything Howard is attempting to do with his IR changes as well as defying his long-standing and well-evidenced antipathy to women in the workforce. Mommies stay home and take care of babies, and Daddies go to work every day to make money in John Howard’s world. He will punish any who defy that convention, and has been carefully structuring the pensions schemes to ensure such stability, even well before the coalition started in with the “one for mom, one for dad, and one for Australia” population proposal. Inflation may not be a worry right now, but that doesn’t mean a sea change coming, one that may mean longer hours and harder efforts to make ends meet.
05 August 2005
Right Rights
The “global struggle against violent extremism” is being used to erode civil liberties we’ve taken for granted for all of our lifetimes or fought to preserve against other external threats for the last hundred years and more. As the threats from the terrorists continue and as they act out their murderous agenda, confusion and fear mount, even among those best suited to deal with the problem, and we make it easier for liberty and democracy to be curtailed. That there are those among us who continue to make their hatred for us clear only exacerbates an already difficult situation, but an eye-for-an-eye mentality only leads worse to worst. In this climate of fear, it’s all too easy for a radical conservatism to take up other, unrelated causes, and to push through transformative legislation to alter the very character of our nations, and do so unopposed. Our opposition politicians, on whom we might otherwise rely to offer checks and balances against extremism – the non-violent kind – have largely become bystanders, enthralled as they are to popular opinion and re-election. It’s important to choose your battles, of course, but more and more often, every battle looks more and more important.
The “global struggle against violent extremism” is being used to erode civil liberties we’ve taken for granted for all of our lifetimes or fought to preserve against other external threats for the last hundred years and more. As the threats from the terrorists continue and as they act out their murderous agenda, confusion and fear mount, even among those best suited to deal with the problem, and we make it easier for liberty and democracy to be curtailed. That there are those among us who continue to make their hatred for us clear only exacerbates an already difficult situation, but an eye-for-an-eye mentality only leads worse to worst. In this climate of fear, it’s all too easy for a radical conservatism to take up other, unrelated causes, and to push through transformative legislation to alter the very character of our nations, and do so unopposed. Our opposition politicians, on whom we might otherwise rely to offer checks and balances against extremism – the non-violent kind – have largely become bystanders, enthralled as they are to popular opinion and re-election. It’s important to choose your battles, of course, but more and more often, every battle looks more and more important.
04 August 2005
Design
Creationism, the belief now being touted as “intelligent design” doesn’t belong in science class, where evolution is taught. And despite the Command-and-Creep’s suggestion that it should be taught “so people can understand what the debate is about,” even Kansas shouldn’t be fooled into putting it on the curriculum, unless they’re going to start teaching religion, in which case they can have an entire semester devoted to the various creation myths from around the world. If it’s understanding the debate that’s at issue, teach a philosophy course, or put it on the debating society’s topics list. Pro: the emperor of Japan is descended from the Sun. Con: It was the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Creationism, the belief now being touted as “intelligent design” doesn’t belong in science class, where evolution is taught. And despite the Command-and-Creep’s suggestion that it should be taught “so people can understand what the debate is about,” even Kansas shouldn’t be fooled into putting it on the curriculum, unless they’re going to start teaching religion, in which case they can have an entire semester devoted to the various creation myths from around the world. If it’s understanding the debate that’s at issue, teach a philosophy course, or put it on the debating society’s topics list. Pro: the emperor of Japan is descended from the Sun. Con: It was the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
02 August 2005
Blues
Continuing my efforts to wean myself from retailers and other corporations whose political donations favor the GOP, I've begun an experiment related to signing up as a Barnes & Noble affiliate. Rather than parasitically maintaining a wish list on Amazon, I'm going to use B&N links in the sidebar. Although they don't have the recommendations facility of Amazon, that's not a feature I put much trust in anyway, so although this is more public, it's not dissimilar from the "what I'm reading" "what I'm listening to" sidebar items seen on other blogs, and if anyone actually buys one of these things (for themselves, of course; I'm not fishing for gifts), I stand to benefit as an affiliate as well as using this as a memory aid. If the pages load too slowly, I may reconsider, but once started on the advertising path, it's precipitous incline.
Continuing my efforts to wean myself from retailers and other corporations whose political donations favor the GOP, I've begun an experiment related to signing up as a Barnes & Noble affiliate. Rather than parasitically maintaining a wish list on Amazon, I'm going to use B&N links in the sidebar. Although they don't have the recommendations facility of Amazon, that's not a feature I put much trust in anyway, so although this is more public, it's not dissimilar from the "what I'm reading" "what I'm listening to" sidebar items seen on other blogs, and if anyone actually buys one of these things (for themselves, of course; I'm not fishing for gifts), I stand to benefit as an affiliate as well as using this as a memory aid. If the pages load too slowly, I may reconsider, but once started on the advertising path, it's precipitous incline.
Regime Change
Fahd’s been sick for a long time, and Abdullah’s been pretty much acting king for that period. Now the House of Saud has a new king officially, but the challenges he faces are the same as he’s been dealing with – or ignoring – all along. There are two expectations now: reform and violence. Reform won’t come soon, and the violence is more likely to be repression of dissidents than it is in a realignment of the ruling family’s power structure, but I fully expect to see some changes take place and some acts of terrorism followed by harsh police actions. As usual with the Arab Middle East, I also anticipate being confounded in my expectations. And meanwhile, if nothing else, the continued dominance of the Saudi royal family is good news for the regime-changers in D.C.
Fahd’s been sick for a long time, and Abdullah’s been pretty much acting king for that period. Now the House of Saud has a new king officially, but the challenges he faces are the same as he’s been dealing with – or ignoring – all along. There are two expectations now: reform and violence. Reform won’t come soon, and the violence is more likely to be repression of dissidents than it is in a realignment of the ruling family’s power structure, but I fully expect to see some changes take place and some acts of terrorism followed by harsh police actions. As usual with the Arab Middle East, I also anticipate being confounded in my expectations. And meanwhile, if nothing else, the continued dominance of the Saudi royal family is good news for the regime-changers in D.C.
31 July 2005
It's Your Supreme Court
The Democrats are collecting questions for Judge Roberts in his confirmation hearings, and, yes, I'm looking at you, Counsellor. (Via Metafilter.)
The Democrats are collecting questions for Judge Roberts in his confirmation hearings, and, yes, I'm looking at you, Counsellor. (Via Metafilter.)
30 July 2005
Cats of the World Wide Web
No, Sarah Boxer, the reason cats feature so heavily on the internet has nothing to do with their self-referential intensely navel-gazing lifestyles, and it's certainly not their ability to ignore their owners' internet time. It's because they'll get up between you and the keyboard until you feed them. They don't like flash photography much, so that's as good a way as any to deter them or otherwise make use of their intrusion. With dogs, when they interrupt, it means you have to take them for a walk.
No, Sarah Boxer, the reason cats feature so heavily on the internet has nothing to do with their self-referential intensely navel-gazing lifestyles, and it's certainly not their ability to ignore their owners' internet time. It's because they'll get up between you and the keyboard until you feed them. They don't like flash photography much, so that's as good a way as any to deter them or otherwise make use of their intrusion. With dogs, when they interrupt, it means you have to take them for a walk.
Searching for Geppetto
The design that's been approved for the new PATH hub at the former WTC site look pretty cool, but then again, I think I'd feel like I was being swallowed by a giant, skeletal whale.
The design that's been approved for the new PATH hub at the former WTC site look pretty cool, but then again, I think I'd feel like I was being swallowed by a giant, skeletal whale.
29 July 2005
The Day Before
I finished Umberto Eco's latest, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, on the train in this morning. I've been a fan since discovering The Name of the Rose, even through The Island of the Day Before, and in another way especially his essays, so when I saw the reviews of this one, I did my usual: I didn't read any more of them than enough to know that this was an "illustrated novel", experimental in applying images as part of the text. Although I did also get the impression that it wasn't particularly a success, I was very pleased just the same to get it for my birthday (thank you, M.), and by-and-large I can say I enjoyed reading it. It isn't, however, a success.
Queen Loana starts out well, as the story of a man who has lost his memory following an unspecified illness, except for everything he's ever read. This leads him, and the novel, into a search for his past through the textual evidence he's left behind growing up, at which point the novel spirals into a maniacal list-making exercise in nostalgia, unrelieved for the next two thirds of the book, at which point, having suffered a relapse, we spend the remainder reliving his childhood from the point we departed consciousness through to late adolescence, a significant portion of which was recently published as a short story in the New Yorker, where it was a lot better for the redactions.
The writing is still good, for all that, and there are moments throughout that lead to - unfortunately unfulfilled - expectations almost sufficiently thrilling in themselves, leaving me disappointed that nothing promised was ever really met. Even for fans I'd say, go ahead, buy it, if you must, but wait for the paperback. Meanwhile, I'll be more cautious next time I'm buying Eco's fiction.
I finished Umberto Eco's latest, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, on the train in this morning. I've been a fan since discovering The Name of the Rose, even through The Island of the Day Before, and in another way especially his essays, so when I saw the reviews of this one, I did my usual: I didn't read any more of them than enough to know that this was an "illustrated novel", experimental in applying images as part of the text. Although I did also get the impression that it wasn't particularly a success, I was very pleased just the same to get it for my birthday (thank you, M.), and by-and-large I can say I enjoyed reading it. It isn't, however, a success.
Queen Loana starts out well, as the story of a man who has lost his memory following an unspecified illness, except for everything he's ever read. This leads him, and the novel, into a search for his past through the textual evidence he's left behind growing up, at which point the novel spirals into a maniacal list-making exercise in nostalgia, unrelieved for the next two thirds of the book, at which point, having suffered a relapse, we spend the remainder reliving his childhood from the point we departed consciousness through to late adolescence, a significant portion of which was recently published as a short story in the New Yorker, where it was a lot better for the redactions.
The writing is still good, for all that, and there are moments throughout that lead to - unfortunately unfulfilled - expectations almost sufficiently thrilling in themselves, leaving me disappointed that nothing promised was ever really met. Even for fans I'd say, go ahead, buy it, if you must, but wait for the paperback. Meanwhile, I'll be more cautious next time I'm buying Eco's fiction.
28 July 2005
A Dingo Has Cut the Wire
So Telstra admits it can’t sustain equality of service in rural areas to that of the cities. Where’s a Wichita lineman when you need one? No, seriously, what’s the problem here? Maintenance? Installation? Mobile coverage? I suppose maintenance and installation really go hand-in-hand, although the former would be the greater burden, I expect, than the latter, since the population growth seems centered on the cities. Nevertheless, even inclusive of providing enough signal relay towers the issue presents itself more as budgeting than as actual costs, not budgeting enough in order to pad other areas, like profits. This often happens in large corporations, regardless of government regulation, although that can add a layer of bureaucratic costs eating into the operation. And with thieves like Steve Vizard in the upper echelons, acting as if there just isn’t enough money that isn’t theirs, it seems as likely an explanation as any other. I don’t object in principle to the full privatization of Telstra, but without substantial competition, they need a closer eye on them than they’ve even been getting. Maybe the new guy can manage things better.
So Telstra admits it can’t sustain equality of service in rural areas to that of the cities. Where’s a Wichita lineman when you need one? No, seriously, what’s the problem here? Maintenance? Installation? Mobile coverage? I suppose maintenance and installation really go hand-in-hand, although the former would be the greater burden, I expect, than the latter, since the population growth seems centered on the cities. Nevertheless, even inclusive of providing enough signal relay towers the issue presents itself more as budgeting than as actual costs, not budgeting enough in order to pad other areas, like profits. This often happens in large corporations, regardless of government regulation, although that can add a layer of bureaucratic costs eating into the operation. And with thieves like Steve Vizard in the upper echelons, acting as if there just isn’t enough money that isn’t theirs, it seems as likely an explanation as any other. I don’t object in principle to the full privatization of Telstra, but without substantial competition, they need a closer eye on them than they’ve even been getting. Maybe the new guy can manage things better.
27 July 2005
Quitting Time
I'm surprised, and I'll bet I'm not alone, to hear that, effective next Wednesday Bob Carr will no longer be Premier. It's two years before the next election, or thereabouts, so it's a bit more sudden than his stated reason of wanting more leisure time would account for, but after 10 years, he probably is pretty jack of it. Even though I find myself disenchanted with him these last couple of years, what with the rail debacle, the desalination plans, and the attempted coup in the merged City/South Sydney councils, he's had a good run, and I hope he'll enjoy retirement. I wouldn't dismiss the idea of him going up for a Federal seat, but I wouldn't be surprised if he really does go home and stay there.
I'm surprised, and I'll bet I'm not alone, to hear that, effective next Wednesday Bob Carr will no longer be Premier. It's two years before the next election, or thereabouts, so it's a bit more sudden than his stated reason of wanting more leisure time would account for, but after 10 years, he probably is pretty jack of it. Even though I find myself disenchanted with him these last couple of years, what with the rail debacle, the desalination plans, and the attempted coup in the merged City/South Sydney councils, he's had a good run, and I hope he'll enjoy retirement. I wouldn't dismiss the idea of him going up for a Federal seat, but I wouldn't be surprised if he really does go home and stay there.
26 July 2005
You’re Fired
Shame to use that title, but it’s too appropriate to the growing trend towards the abolishment of unfair dismissal protections. Peter Costello, the man most likely to succeed Howard someday, at least for now, supports eliminating this protection for all, not just Howard’s timid exemption for companies of 100 or fewer employees. While “compassionate conservatism” was never a catch-phrase here, Howard and his ilk are members of that same neoconservative revolution that would eliminate welfare and social justice programs in favor of a return to the debtors prisons and work houses of the Dickensian era. Already it’s been shown that Australia has the worst record in the industrialized world at supporting women’s right to work outside the home, and Howard’s rhetoric and the actions of his government on child care and unemployment benefits for single mothers demonstrates their conviction that women working is immoral and the root cause of the breakdown of society. This latest development in industrial relations isn’t being contemplated by the present government, but make no mistake, it will come back on the agenda. The time to support workers’ rights is now.
Shame to use that title, but it’s too appropriate to the growing trend towards the abolishment of unfair dismissal protections. Peter Costello, the man most likely to succeed Howard someday, at least for now, supports eliminating this protection for all, not just Howard’s timid exemption for companies of 100 or fewer employees. While “compassionate conservatism” was never a catch-phrase here, Howard and his ilk are members of that same neoconservative revolution that would eliminate welfare and social justice programs in favor of a return to the debtors prisons and work houses of the Dickensian era. Already it’s been shown that Australia has the worst record in the industrialized world at supporting women’s right to work outside the home, and Howard’s rhetoric and the actions of his government on child care and unemployment benefits for single mothers demonstrates their conviction that women working is immoral and the root cause of the breakdown of society. This latest development in industrial relations isn’t being contemplated by the present government, but make no mistake, it will come back on the agenda. The time to support workers’ rights is now.
25 July 2005
Party Planning
Democrats Abroad Australia has a new website, courtesy of our former vice-chairman, Scott Forbes, who has moved back to the U.S. It’s pretty much “proof of concept” at the moment, but will provide a resource for the state chapters to organize their meetings, as well as for the national group to get the word out on events and issues important to the membership and anyone else interested in American Democratic politics. There may be a bug or two to work out, but this site will eventually fully replace the use of Meetup.org, the Yahoo.com group, and other, disparate internet efforts, giving us a robust organizing tool.
Democrats Abroad Australia has a new website, courtesy of our former vice-chairman, Scott Forbes, who has moved back to the U.S. It’s pretty much “proof of concept” at the moment, but will provide a resource for the state chapters to organize their meetings, as well as for the national group to get the word out on events and issues important to the membership and anyone else interested in American Democratic politics. There may be a bug or two to work out, but this site will eventually fully replace the use of Meetup.org, the Yahoo.com group, and other, disparate internet efforts, giving us a robust organizing tool.
Pixies
I remember when I first heard Surfer Rosa, visiting my brother in San Francisco. Like many of the groups for whom I developed an enthusiasm, they didn’t last long, although unlike others they didn’t proceed through a series of personnel changes prior to disbanding. But after a whirlwind tour, complete with “authorized bootlegs” of each show, they’re officially back together and releasing a new record. I’ll buy it, too, but not without some trepidation. It’s nearly 15 years on from when they last put out a record, and that one wasn’t so well-received by the critics. I might be better off with Frank Black’s Honeycomb instead, or waiting for the longed-for Australian tour. (Thanks, Beth, for the heads-up on this.)
I remember when I first heard Surfer Rosa, visiting my brother in San Francisco. Like many of the groups for whom I developed an enthusiasm, they didn’t last long, although unlike others they didn’t proceed through a series of personnel changes prior to disbanding. But after a whirlwind tour, complete with “authorized bootlegs” of each show, they’re officially back together and releasing a new record. I’ll buy it, too, but not without some trepidation. It’s nearly 15 years on from when they last put out a record, and that one wasn’t so well-received by the critics. I might be better off with Frank Black’s Honeycomb instead, or waiting for the longed-for Australian tour. (Thanks, Beth, for the heads-up on this.)
22 July 2005
Suddenly Thirsty
It's a big ad, all right, and now I want a beer. (Thanks to The Swanker for the link.)
It's a big ad, all right, and now I want a beer. (Thanks to The Swanker for the link.)
Why Not Iraq?
Michael Costello gets it wrong, point by point. He claims the Iraq war only marginally increases Britain and Australia’s profile with the terrorists because the U.S. was under attack since 1983 and Australians were killed in Bali in 2002, prior to the Iraq invasion. These are valid points, if not precisely within the scope of the overall situation, but he then goes on to claim that the argument is that Iraq is “the cause of the terrorist threat.” No, that’s not what anyone’s saying. We’re saying going into Iraq has increased the scope of the problem. Where we were engaged in the destruction of al Qaeda in Afghanistan, we’re now engaged in an effort that has increased the recruiting power of that bloody organization. We’re not ignoring the messages from the terrorists, their claims of struggle against “crusaders,” we’re taking them very seriously, especially since we’re hearing more of this kind of rhetoric since going into Iraq. And nobody says we’d be “safe” if we’d stayed out, just that the situation might now be different, that we might be seeing few terrorist attacks instead of more and in places they weren’t previously happening, like London. This isn’t the Cold War, and Cold War comparisons don’t hold up, including deliberately misconstruing the argument over U.S. involvement with Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion there twenty years ago. It was the U.S. pull-out that allowed the Taliban to seize control and to make Afghanistan a haven for bin Laden’s training camps and planning operations, not support for the mujahideen, even though Osama was among them then. And there’s no head-in-the-sand argument here that ignoring the terrorists will make them go away, just an honest acknowledgement that the Iraq war is indeed “fostering a new generation of terrorists,” so the logical implication is just more dishonesty on Costello’s part. The only honest part of his editorial is the last paragraph, but making the rest of the argument against Iraq into nonsense is just “utter foolishness.” But what else can we expect from the Murdoch press?
Michael Costello gets it wrong, point by point. He claims the Iraq war only marginally increases Britain and Australia’s profile with the terrorists because the U.S. was under attack since 1983 and Australians were killed in Bali in 2002, prior to the Iraq invasion. These are valid points, if not precisely within the scope of the overall situation, but he then goes on to claim that the argument is that Iraq is “the cause of the terrorist threat.” No, that’s not what anyone’s saying. We’re saying going into Iraq has increased the scope of the problem. Where we were engaged in the destruction of al Qaeda in Afghanistan, we’re now engaged in an effort that has increased the recruiting power of that bloody organization. We’re not ignoring the messages from the terrorists, their claims of struggle against “crusaders,” we’re taking them very seriously, especially since we’re hearing more of this kind of rhetoric since going into Iraq. And nobody says we’d be “safe” if we’d stayed out, just that the situation might now be different, that we might be seeing few terrorist attacks instead of more and in places they weren’t previously happening, like London. This isn’t the Cold War, and Cold War comparisons don’t hold up, including deliberately misconstruing the argument over U.S. involvement with Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion there twenty years ago. It was the U.S. pull-out that allowed the Taliban to seize control and to make Afghanistan a haven for bin Laden’s training camps and planning operations, not support for the mujahideen, even though Osama was among them then. And there’s no head-in-the-sand argument here that ignoring the terrorists will make them go away, just an honest acknowledgement that the Iraq war is indeed “fostering a new generation of terrorists,” so the logical implication is just more dishonesty on Costello’s part. The only honest part of his editorial is the last paragraph, but making the rest of the argument against Iraq into nonsense is just “utter foolishness.” But what else can we expect from the Murdoch press?
Security
More bombs in London, but two suspects arrested. That’s anti-terror law enforcement in action, although the police want more power yet. But frightening as these latest attacks were, calm and reason should prevail. Our societies have plenty of power, and not just in legal mechanisms, so great care should be taken in how we change, or if we change, our responses to hatred. International cooperation is working to good effect; let’s enhance that. Searching backbacks may seem prudent; it will certainly be an inconvenience, but there are still expectations of civil liberties to be managed. Each step we take toward infringing existing rights steepens the pitch of the “slippery slope.”
More bombs in London, but two suspects arrested. That’s anti-terror law enforcement in action, although the police want more power yet. But frightening as these latest attacks were, calm and reason should prevail. Our societies have plenty of power, and not just in legal mechanisms, so great care should be taken in how we change, or if we change, our responses to hatred. International cooperation is working to good effect; let’s enhance that. Searching backbacks may seem prudent; it will certainly be an inconvenience, but there are still expectations of civil liberties to be managed. Each step we take toward infringing existing rights steepens the pitch of the “slippery slope.”
21 July 2005
Leaps and Boundaries
Like many others, last night as I looked up at the nearly full moon, I thought briefly about the space race and Apollo 11. The promised wonders of the universe never seemed closer then, but they so much further now, despite Mars landing photos regularly updated in the pages of National Geographic. Looking at the Google map, marked for where the lunar landings were, it’s maddening that so very little of the moon was ever explored, let alone that we have no outpost there. We’ve got people holed up in Antarctica year-round, but otherwise stay as close to home as we can. The spirit of adventure and exploration seems to have shrunk.
(And look: Scotty's dead. What a strange coincidence.)
Like many others, last night as I looked up at the nearly full moon, I thought briefly about the space race and Apollo 11. The promised wonders of the universe never seemed closer then, but they so much further now, despite Mars landing photos regularly updated in the pages of National Geographic. Looking at the Google map, marked for where the lunar landings were, it’s maddening that so very little of the moon was ever explored, let alone that we have no outpost there. We’ve got people holed up in Antarctica year-round, but otherwise stay as close to home as we can. The spirit of adventure and exploration seems to have shrunk.
(And look: Scotty's dead. What a strange coincidence.)
18 July 2005
Who
I’d like to hear an actually persuasive argument in favor of a national ID card on the grounds that it would help counter terrorism. I’ve heard some people say the London bombers would have had one but that isn’t an argument against such cards, but the people saying that don’t go on to explain their thinking (if you could call it that – what’s an argument without an argument? Just orders.), so I’ve yet to hear anything particularly compelling. The idea’s been mooted in the U.S. and Britain as well as Australia more than once in recent years, and it’s usually shouted down or allowed to pass away quietly, often on privacy grounds. I do hear various authorities say that privacy’s not an issue, after all we let credit card companies collect more personal data than’s being suggested here, but that’s not terribly valid argumentation. Yes, credit card companies and other commercial ventures collect information, and we hand it over and end up on mailing lists and getting sales calls at dinner: the plain fact here is that we often don’t realize the extent and meaning of what we’re signing up for. What’s being touted in a national ID is a centralized government database of . . . essentially whatever the administration in power at the time or subsequently decides to collect. Interestingly, I have heard suggestions that in addition to my Medicare number and my tax file number and my driver’s license information (no, not yet; someday, after I’ve had the money and time for lessons), and my passport and visa, I could also have my banking and credit details encoded onto the little magnetic strip, or the embedded chip, or whatever. After the RFID-embedded passport flap in the U.S., the new Australia Card may not have an auto-detection feature, but it is already starting to sound like a lot more information than I want any government to have on file for me. I already know what the banks and others do with my personal data, what happens when the Feds have my medical history and it gets hacked, or passed along for research, or sold? Believing that bureaucracy is the principal safeguard over government-held data, can the trust barrier be overcome? Is a national ID just that one step too far closer to “papers” teutonic-accented agents will demand as they buttonhole me on my way to the train station? We had these scares over social security numbers in the U.S. when that program was initiated, and despite the abuses – retailers collecting the number illegally, for example, one of the key factors in the rise of identity theft – the effect overall has been mild enough. And what about national security and fighting terrorism? Is there really a link, or can we only expect to identify the presence of individuals or of forged documents? Will the cards include known associates? Political affiliation? Is there really any hope of these things being useful ahead of the crime? You’ll have to convince me, because right now it just sounds like another way to help reduce civil liberties.
I’d like to hear an actually persuasive argument in favor of a national ID card on the grounds that it would help counter terrorism. I’ve heard some people say the London bombers would have had one but that isn’t an argument against such cards, but the people saying that don’t go on to explain their thinking (if you could call it that – what’s an argument without an argument? Just orders.), so I’ve yet to hear anything particularly compelling. The idea’s been mooted in the U.S. and Britain as well as Australia more than once in recent years, and it’s usually shouted down or allowed to pass away quietly, often on privacy grounds. I do hear various authorities say that privacy’s not an issue, after all we let credit card companies collect more personal data than’s being suggested here, but that’s not terribly valid argumentation. Yes, credit card companies and other commercial ventures collect information, and we hand it over and end up on mailing lists and getting sales calls at dinner: the plain fact here is that we often don’t realize the extent and meaning of what we’re signing up for. What’s being touted in a national ID is a centralized government database of . . . essentially whatever the administration in power at the time or subsequently decides to collect. Interestingly, I have heard suggestions that in addition to my Medicare number and my tax file number and my driver’s license information (no, not yet; someday, after I’ve had the money and time for lessons), and my passport and visa, I could also have my banking and credit details encoded onto the little magnetic strip, or the embedded chip, or whatever. After the RFID-embedded passport flap in the U.S., the new Australia Card may not have an auto-detection feature, but it is already starting to sound like a lot more information than I want any government to have on file for me. I already know what the banks and others do with my personal data, what happens when the Feds have my medical history and it gets hacked, or passed along for research, or sold? Believing that bureaucracy is the principal safeguard over government-held data, can the trust barrier be overcome? Is a national ID just that one step too far closer to “papers” teutonic-accented agents will demand as they buttonhole me on my way to the train station? We had these scares over social security numbers in the U.S. when that program was initiated, and despite the abuses – retailers collecting the number illegally, for example, one of the key factors in the rise of identity theft – the effect overall has been mild enough. And what about national security and fighting terrorism? Is there really a link, or can we only expect to identify the presence of individuals or of forged documents? Will the cards include known associates? Political affiliation? Is there really any hope of these things being useful ahead of the crime? You’ll have to convince me, because right now it just sounds like another way to help reduce civil liberties.
Non-Abuse
On the assumption that the Navy report can be trusted, I’m most pleased to hear that David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib weren’t abused at Guantanamo. John Howard’s suggestion, however, that we mustn’t forget that the allegations against them were “very serious” – training with al Qaeda and joining that group post-September 11 – don’t excuse their treatment or, indeed, have anything to do with whether they were abused, especially, in Mr. Habib’s case, including rendition to Egypt for torture outside U.S. jurisdiction. The reports in last week’s New Yorker, where the participation of health care professionals in “breaking” prisoners, using torture-resistance training methods, was presented with disturbing corroboration from within the military, suggests that the Navy report would only ever have reached the conclusion it did, howsoever “cynical” that may be. If the methods are official practice, then they are not abuse, are they? Nevertheless, we’ve gone on from there to Abu Ghraib, and the military’s physicians and psychologists may be exceeding their ethical boundaries under new directives. This makes the report rather less than reliable as the basis on which to judge the treatment of prisoners.
On the assumption that the Navy report can be trusted, I’m most pleased to hear that David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib weren’t abused at Guantanamo. John Howard’s suggestion, however, that we mustn’t forget that the allegations against them were “very serious” – training with al Qaeda and joining that group post-September 11 – don’t excuse their treatment or, indeed, have anything to do with whether they were abused, especially, in Mr. Habib’s case, including rendition to Egypt for torture outside U.S. jurisdiction. The reports in last week’s New Yorker, where the participation of health care professionals in “breaking” prisoners, using torture-resistance training methods, was presented with disturbing corroboration from within the military, suggests that the Navy report would only ever have reached the conclusion it did, howsoever “cynical” that may be. If the methods are official practice, then they are not abuse, are they? Nevertheless, we’ve gone on from there to Abu Ghraib, and the military’s physicians and psychologists may be exceeding their ethical boundaries under new directives. This makes the report rather less than reliable as the basis on which to judge the treatment of prisoners.
13 July 2005
Compromise?
Who wants a compromise on the Patriot Act? It’s one of the worst pieces of legislation ever enacted, developed and put in place by Ashcroft to entrench intrusive police-state powers in the Federal Government, exploiting a moment of fear for a power-grab. I suppose I’ll settle for an extension – nothing permanent, mind you – but I’d rather see the whole thing expire according to its original sunset provisions.
Who wants a compromise on the Patriot Act? It’s one of the worst pieces of legislation ever enacted, developed and put in place by Ashcroft to entrench intrusive police-state powers in the Federal Government, exploiting a moment of fear for a power-grab. I suppose I’ll settle for an extension – nothing permanent, mind you – but I’d rather see the whole thing expire according to its original sunset provisions.
Ghosts
For a few years back in my first NYC apartment in Queens, I used to experience episodes of sleep paralysis. I’d have the sensation of someone sitting next to me on the bed, invisible, oppressive, although not malevolent, and I would be unable to move or speak, certain, however, that if I could do either, the spectre would leave. Usually, after what seemed an incredible effort, I would be able to move, to roll over, and the spell would be broken. Because I was sleeping in an apartment full of second-hand furniture, including the bed, wherein someone may have actually died, and where the previous tenancy of the flat may have been suspicious, it seemed perfectly reasonable to believe there was indeed some undispelled ectoplasmic entity hanging about, but I was younger then and more inclined towards such fancifulness, in addition to which, I’d never heard of “night crushers” or the old hag. The phenomenon stopped after a while and hasn’t since recurred, about the time I moved to Manhattan. Perhaps my recollection of the timing, however, is just another mental lapse, and it had actually stopped earlier, as inexplicably as it started.
For a few years back in my first NYC apartment in Queens, I used to experience episodes of sleep paralysis. I’d have the sensation of someone sitting next to me on the bed, invisible, oppressive, although not malevolent, and I would be unable to move or speak, certain, however, that if I could do either, the spectre would leave. Usually, after what seemed an incredible effort, I would be able to move, to roll over, and the spell would be broken. Because I was sleeping in an apartment full of second-hand furniture, including the bed, wherein someone may have actually died, and where the previous tenancy of the flat may have been suspicious, it seemed perfectly reasonable to believe there was indeed some undispelled ectoplasmic entity hanging about, but I was younger then and more inclined towards such fancifulness, in addition to which, I’d never heard of “night crushers” or the old hag. The phenomenon stopped after a while and hasn’t since recurred, about the time I moved to Manhattan. Perhaps my recollection of the timing, however, is just another mental lapse, and it had actually stopped earlier, as inexplicably as it started.
12 July 2005
Howard Channels Mao
Yes, it’s time for Chairman Howard’s great leap forward. Those damn baby boomers are getting older, and as they age they’re getting persnickity, demanding things like health care and retirement security. In order to ensure that every Australian does his bit (not her bit; women need to stay home and have babies), the PM is relying on a new generation of wage slaves, workers who won’t balk at working unpaid overtime or giving up some of their holidays. It’s never been clearer what he’s after, and if you haven’t guessed, it’s to reduce your pay and your ability to obtain working conditions favorable to a work-life balance. What’s the term here? Sea changer? Forget it, your country needs you.
Yes, it’s time for Chairman Howard’s great leap forward. Those damn baby boomers are getting older, and as they age they’re getting persnickity, demanding things like health care and retirement security. In order to ensure that every Australian does his bit (not her bit; women need to stay home and have babies), the PM is relying on a new generation of wage slaves, workers who won’t balk at working unpaid overtime or giving up some of their holidays. It’s never been clearer what he’s after, and if you haven’t guessed, it’s to reduce your pay and your ability to obtain working conditions favorable to a work-life balance. What’s the term here? Sea changer? Forget it, your country needs you.
11 July 2005
Work or Stay Home
I’ve seen the ACTU ads where the woman is called in to work and threatened with dismissal when she asks, “what about my kids?” I know the ads are meant to do exactly what ads usually do: manipulate my thinking over Howard’s industrial relations changes. (He calls them “reforms,” but I’m not falling for that. I’ve worked in human resources long enough to understand what he’s really selling.) Now, after the unions’ ads, the government has pitched in their own sell, with full-page advertisements in the major papers extolling the benefits and attempting to refute the claims made against their proposals. If you’ve been willing to buy the Howard line all along, or got your back up against the unions’ claims, or just don’t know what to think anymore, Ross Gitins has a handy analysis of the current state of the argument that’s worth a look. Before you sit back and let Howard’s newly increased majority go to his head, have a look. You may not suffer, but others will, and your turn may come before you know it. Block Howard’s Industrial Relations Reform.
I’ve seen the ACTU ads where the woman is called in to work and threatened with dismissal when she asks, “what about my kids?” I know the ads are meant to do exactly what ads usually do: manipulate my thinking over Howard’s industrial relations changes. (He calls them “reforms,” but I’m not falling for that. I’ve worked in human resources long enough to understand what he’s really selling.) Now, after the unions’ ads, the government has pitched in their own sell, with full-page advertisements in the major papers extolling the benefits and attempting to refute the claims made against their proposals. If you’ve been willing to buy the Howard line all along, or got your back up against the unions’ claims, or just don’t know what to think anymore, Ross Gitins has a handy analysis of the current state of the argument that’s worth a look. Before you sit back and let Howard’s newly increased majority go to his head, have a look. You may not suffer, but others will, and your turn may come before you know it. Block Howard’s Industrial Relations Reform.
10 July 2005
Tarnation
This documentary feature probably isn't going to feature in the next Academy Awards, but it probably should. Largely complied from old home-movie footage, it's a small, personal story, but nevertheless deeply affecting and wonderfully executed. Tarnation relies on imagery even more than images to convey its story, creating a sensual cinematic experience unusually in a documentary, let alone a (auto)biographical film. None of the people are otherwise remarkable, but the movie's tag line - "Your greatest creation is the life you lead" - is realized. These are remarkable people whose greatness lies in how ordinary they are. Tarnation is one of the best 90-minute movie experiences I've had in a while.
This documentary feature probably isn't going to feature in the next Academy Awards, but it probably should. Largely complied from old home-movie footage, it's a small, personal story, but nevertheless deeply affecting and wonderfully executed. Tarnation relies on imagery even more than images to convey its story, creating a sensual cinematic experience unusually in a documentary, let alone a (auto)biographical film. None of the people are otherwise remarkable, but the movie's tag line - "Your greatest creation is the life you lead" - is realized. These are remarkable people whose greatness lies in how ordinary they are. Tarnation is one of the best 90-minute movie experiences I've had in a while.
08 July 2005
After our evening of Australian Film Commission promotional shorts, we had a leisurely dinner out at our favourite Lebanese restaurant and then hailed a cab for the trip home. Even before we had opened our mouths to request our destination, our driver told us the news. While my first thought was for my friend, S., he’s up near Birmingham, and out of the immediate range of the attacks. Through him, we have acquaintances, however, in London, and of course many of the people I work with and whom M. and I know travel or have family and friends there, so unlike some other parts of the world where violence is nearly more expected than not, we have cause for concern and care, and the immediacy of the danger is greater than it might otherwise be. And while it is not unexpected, it is still unanticipated. Britain has a long history with terrorism, and seems to be coping very well with the situation, but they and the rest of Europe have been expected targets since 2001. Surely participation in the Iraq war has raised Great Britain’s profile among the barbarians who have now acted so brutally, but only insofar as other, neighboring nations were perhaps less prominent for not joining Bush’s coalition. Preparedness and alert levels only take us so far, however; little could have been done to prevent these attacks. Even in a country where the culture of suspicion for the unattended parcel has long been ingrained it was possible for terrorist bombers to act. Expanded police powers, such as those under the USA Patriot Act, those granted to ASIO, and those not long ago debated in Britain’s Parliament, were of no value, as anyone whose mind was unclouded by fear or revenge fantasies could have told you. These attacks, as much as they represent the savage hatred of the perpetrators and their own irrational fears, also shows the failures of our present course, the lack of imagination at work at the highest levels of government. The war on terrorism cannot be conducted as tank battles and air raids; this isn’t World War II. While states may be opposed in such a fashion, ideologies are not similarly overthrown. We suffer and will suffer more for our continued failure to address the root causes, for treating the symptoms and not the disease.
07 July 2005
Can’t Steer
Can’t do it in Iraq, can’t do it on a bike. I’m glad the cop’s all right, but the story does remind me that bicyclists often write into the paper over the riding-on-the-sidewalk debate saying, “I always wear a helmet.” This doesn’t help the people they run over, of course. Bush, who apparently didn’t learn to ride a bike when he was a kid, was also wearing a helmet, although I might have wished for something to knock some sense into him. Ride safe, kids.
Can’t do it in Iraq, can’t do it on a bike. I’m glad the cop’s all right, but the story does remind me that bicyclists often write into the paper over the riding-on-the-sidewalk debate saying, “I always wear a helmet.” This doesn’t help the people they run over, of course. Bush, who apparently didn’t learn to ride a bike when he was a kid, was also wearing a helmet, although I might have wished for something to knock some sense into him. Ride safe, kids.
05 July 2005
This Will Play Well with the Base
End farm subsidies, says Bush, to the European Union member nations, and the U.S. will reduce theirs. Fine, says I, although recognizing that there are still small-holders out there likely to lose everything as a result, at least insofar as they are forced to sell out to the conglomerates. But if we’re going to help the Third World nations build their economies to feed themselves and grow industrially, this is part of what has to happen. We might want to work on keeping rapacious multinational corporations from exploiting the situation, however, whether in the U.S., the EU, or Africa, Asia, et al., unless we feel we’re ready for genetically modified food. Free trade, like communism, works well in theory, but in practice sometimes causes more harm than good. We haven’t heard much of a “giant sucking sound” as promised from NAFTA, but these things are more incremental than immediate, a condition that is all too easily exploited in the rhetoric that flies around in the lead-up to implementation. As much as we cannot afford not to act, we cannot afford to act rashly.
I do wonder just the same how this announcement will be received in all those “red” states, where “moral values” were the purported basis for Bush’s majority.
End farm subsidies, says Bush, to the European Union member nations, and the U.S. will reduce theirs. Fine, says I, although recognizing that there are still small-holders out there likely to lose everything as a result, at least insofar as they are forced to sell out to the conglomerates. But if we’re going to help the Third World nations build their economies to feed themselves and grow industrially, this is part of what has to happen. We might want to work on keeping rapacious multinational corporations from exploiting the situation, however, whether in the U.S., the EU, or Africa, Asia, et al., unless we feel we’re ready for genetically modified food. Free trade, like communism, works well in theory, but in practice sometimes causes more harm than good. We haven’t heard much of a “giant sucking sound” as promised from NAFTA, but these things are more incremental than immediate, a condition that is all too easily exploited in the rhetoric that flies around in the lead-up to implementation. As much as we cannot afford not to act, we cannot afford to act rashly.
I do wonder just the same how this announcement will be received in all those “red” states, where “moral values” were the purported basis for Bush’s majority.
04 July 2005
The Fault Is in Our Selves
Or maybe not, when "Deep Impact" drops a washing machine-sized probe into the comet Tempel 1. It won't change anything, really, not the trajectory of the comet or it's five-and-a-half-year cycle through the solar system, so don't expect anything untoward in your horoscope this month. I'm not expecting Gamera or Ghidohra, either.
Or maybe not, when "Deep Impact" drops a washing machine-sized probe into the comet Tempel 1. It won't change anything, really, not the trajectory of the comet or it's five-and-a-half-year cycle through the solar system, so don't expect anything untoward in your horoscope this month. I'm not expecting Gamera or Ghidohra, either.
Bush's America
In Bush's America, torture may be authorized by the President, extra-legal prison camps are acceptable, and secret detention on ships at sea is taking good care of prisoners. Where are the congressional investigations? If a Democratic President had done these things, there'd be an impeachment underway already.
In Bush's America, torture may be authorized by the President, extra-legal prison camps are acceptable, and secret detention on ships at sea is taking good care of prisoners. Where are the congressional investigations? If a Democratic President had done these things, there'd be an impeachment underway already.
Tylenol
The Mars recall reminds me, as it would anyone (well, anyone old enough), of the last big product tampering incident, and I’ve got to hand it to MasterFoods in how they’re handling it. Good public relations, responsible, forthright. I don’t eat the stuff, but if I did, I’d feel just fine doing so once the all-clear is sounded.
The Mars recall reminds me, as it would anyone (well, anyone old enough), of the last big product tampering incident, and I’ve got to hand it to MasterFoods in how they’re handling it. Good public relations, responsible, forthright. I don’t eat the stuff, but if I did, I’d feel just fine doing so once the all-clear is sounded.
Barnabas
One of the Twelve Apostles has gone the way of all, um, stone. These natural limestone monoliths have lost from their company before and will again, of course, although I’m still sort of regretful that I have yet to travel along the Great Ocean Road to see them. Meanwhile, it does bring to mind some nice New Testament thoughts, like: must have been Judas, or upon a different kind of rock, and so forth.
One of the Twelve Apostles has gone the way of all, um, stone. These natural limestone monoliths have lost from their company before and will again, of course, although I’m still sort of regretful that I have yet to travel along the Great Ocean Road to see them. Meanwhile, it does bring to mind some nice New Testament thoughts, like: must have been Judas, or upon a different kind of rock, and so forth.
Brought to You by
Although previously committed to allowing the 13 root servers to pass into the hands of an international internet control body, the U.S. has now decided to keep control itself for now. It’s an understandable move, what with having created the internet in the first place – and as a defence department service – and faced with the variety of security threats from terrorists and criminals (and, naturally, because SkyNet is really the internet), so I’m not overly critical of this non-development. It’s long past being a U.S.-centric service, however, increasingly the domain (can I still say that, or is it confusing) of commercial enterprises to near-exclusivity. Educational institutions and charities use the internet much the same way as Citibank and Morgan Stanley and so on, and webloggers and people posting cat photos (or combinations thereof) aren’t so populous or popular as to make much difference. Already much of the scientific community and internal governmental operations, particularly in defence and intelligence, are using separate versions, so it really comes to a question of regulation and revenue. If a model can be developed which generates taxes and which can also be policed, there’d be some incentive to let go, but not yet.
Although previously committed to allowing the 13 root servers to pass into the hands of an international internet control body, the U.S. has now decided to keep control itself for now. It’s an understandable move, what with having created the internet in the first place – and as a defence department service – and faced with the variety of security threats from terrorists and criminals (and, naturally, because SkyNet is really the internet), so I’m not overly critical of this non-development. It’s long past being a U.S.-centric service, however, increasingly the domain (can I still say that, or is it confusing) of commercial enterprises to near-exclusivity. Educational institutions and charities use the internet much the same way as Citibank and Morgan Stanley and so on, and webloggers and people posting cat photos (or combinations thereof) aren’t so populous or popular as to make much difference. Already much of the scientific community and internal governmental operations, particularly in defence and intelligence, are using separate versions, so it really comes to a question of regulation and revenue. If a model can be developed which generates taxes and which can also be policed, there’d be some incentive to let go, but not yet.
Appointments
What with the last few Federal judgeships doled out to ideologues, it’s not hard to imagine Bush tapping someone to replace Sandra Day O’Connor who’ll push the balance of the Supreme Court where only the graduating class of Patrick Henry College really wants to see it. We can hope that he’ll listen to the conservative calls to forego Alberto Gonzales as his nominee, but who else is up? And looking back, not only Presidents but the public at large and the pundits have sometimes been surprised by the performance of SCOTUS appointees, Sandy included, a Reagan appointment who didn’t pan out as the disaster predicted. On the other hand, Thomas has lived up to his foreseen assessment as the worst of the present court, if only because Scalia’s smarter.
What with the last few Federal judgeships doled out to ideologues, it’s not hard to imagine Bush tapping someone to replace Sandra Day O’Connor who’ll push the balance of the Supreme Court where only the graduating class of Patrick Henry College really wants to see it. We can hope that he’ll listen to the conservative calls to forego Alberto Gonzales as his nominee, but who else is up? And looking back, not only Presidents but the public at large and the pundits have sometimes been surprised by the performance of SCOTUS appointees, Sandy included, a Reagan appointment who didn’t pan out as the disaster predicted. On the other hand, Thomas has lived up to his foreseen assessment as the worst of the present court, if only because Scalia’s smarter.
8
We didn’t watch much more than the news reports of the Live 8 concerts, but that doesn’t mean we don’t support Sir Bob and aid to Africa. We do what we can when we can, and wish that was true of more people – and more governments, for that matter. Aid to the Third World and Africa in particular often turns out to be money poured into a gaping abyss, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t helping and isn’t necessary. There’s much more to the analysis than that. First, much of what’s promised is never delivered – look at the Tsunami promises and then look at what’s actually been spent so far, for example. And certainly, better aid, too, is called for, such as opening the trade barriers and assisting in set-ups like the Global Fund for Women. There are many ways of helping, and Sir Bob’s pleas shouldn’t be derided or denigrated out of hand. People claiming that aid is useless without the reform of corrupt governments or that rock stars aren’t in a position to lecture anyone or aren’t giving away their own millions are just creating excuses for themselves to do nothing. The rock stars are giving away money, just like many rich people already do, and if they have used their leisure time to study and reflect on conditions outside their immediate environment, they deserve a hearing. Reforming corruption is undeniably necessary, but isn’t going to happen quickly if there is no relief from poverty. Sir Bob’s right: “don’t let anyone tell you this doesn’t work”: it does, if only because we’re all talking about it. And let’s keep in mind, Plan B is that there is no Plan B.
We didn’t watch much more than the news reports of the Live 8 concerts, but that doesn’t mean we don’t support Sir Bob and aid to Africa. We do what we can when we can, and wish that was true of more people – and more governments, for that matter. Aid to the Third World and Africa in particular often turns out to be money poured into a gaping abyss, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t helping and isn’t necessary. There’s much more to the analysis than that. First, much of what’s promised is never delivered – look at the Tsunami promises and then look at what’s actually been spent so far, for example. And certainly, better aid, too, is called for, such as opening the trade barriers and assisting in set-ups like the Global Fund for Women. There are many ways of helping, and Sir Bob’s pleas shouldn’t be derided or denigrated out of hand. People claiming that aid is useless without the reform of corrupt governments or that rock stars aren’t in a position to lecture anyone or aren’t giving away their own millions are just creating excuses for themselves to do nothing. The rock stars are giving away money, just like many rich people already do, and if they have used their leisure time to study and reflect on conditions outside their immediate environment, they deserve a hearing. Reforming corruption is undeniably necessary, but isn’t going to happen quickly if there is no relief from poverty. Sir Bob’s right: “don’t let anyone tell you this doesn’t work”: it does, if only because we’re all talking about it. And let’s keep in mind, Plan B is that there is no Plan B.
30 June 2005
No Nukes
How are the nuclear missiles in the U.S. stockpile tasked? Do we aim them still at Russia and Eastern Europe, or are they exclusively targeted at China? Do we have any preset for Pakistan, North Korea, Israel, France, or any other country with nuclear weapons technology? Is there really a need for new nukes?
With the end of the Cold War, many of us expected the “peace dividend” we never got to include at least a substantial reduction in the nuclear weapons ensiled around the country, maybe even the golden age when we wouldn’t have any at all and the atomic threat would largely have ended. With China, however, maintaining its stockpile, neither was going to happen right away, and the threat from various so-called rogue nations having increased, the excuse to keep ours continues. Of course, there’s little deterrent apparently, at least to terrorists, who very likely would detonate a radiologic device just about anywhere they could, if they could.
The threat today is more generally considered to be from unsecured radioactive material and weapons technology making its way into the hands of non-state actors more so than from the rogue nations, at least for the U.S. North Korea threatens Japan, Pakistan and India threaten each other, Israel threatens the Arab Middle East, who would themselves threaten Israel if they could develop the capacity to do so. France just blows off nukes to annoy everyone else, especially Greenpeace and people in the Pacific islands.
The space aliens aren’t coming anytime soon, it seems, and even with what we’ve got it would take some doing to address any asteroid collision problem, so what are the new weapons being proposed for? For use in “conventional” warfare. The purpose would be to attack and destroy “hardened” targets, deep underground bunkers and so forth, especially built to defy even the weightiest explosives we can presently deliver.
This is, presently, the way the world is addressing its problems, just prudent. Of course it would be better to improve the world, improve international relations, work for peace, but there doesn’t appear to be anyone at the head of any nation I can think of offhand who makes that the first priority. Yeah, maybe the Scandinavians, and various little countries around Europe. The world, however, is too small a place for such small, short-sighted thinking, and we’d be better off if we invested our efforts and our money in projects other than building a better bomb. Nationalism is pretty much an outmoded concept now, causing more problems than it’s fixing, as it’s usually done. Maybe we should be forging inclusive relationships outside geographic and political boundaries that aren’t purely trade-based or militarily opportunistic. That way there’d be less to be afraid of and fewer places we’d want to nuke.
How are the nuclear missiles in the U.S. stockpile tasked? Do we aim them still at Russia and Eastern Europe, or are they exclusively targeted at China? Do we have any preset for Pakistan, North Korea, Israel, France, or any other country with nuclear weapons technology? Is there really a need for new nukes?
With the end of the Cold War, many of us expected the “peace dividend” we never got to include at least a substantial reduction in the nuclear weapons ensiled around the country, maybe even the golden age when we wouldn’t have any at all and the atomic threat would largely have ended. With China, however, maintaining its stockpile, neither was going to happen right away, and the threat from various so-called rogue nations having increased, the excuse to keep ours continues. Of course, there’s little deterrent apparently, at least to terrorists, who very likely would detonate a radiologic device just about anywhere they could, if they could.
The threat today is more generally considered to be from unsecured radioactive material and weapons technology making its way into the hands of non-state actors more so than from the rogue nations, at least for the U.S. North Korea threatens Japan, Pakistan and India threaten each other, Israel threatens the Arab Middle East, who would themselves threaten Israel if they could develop the capacity to do so. France just blows off nukes to annoy everyone else, especially Greenpeace and people in the Pacific islands.
The space aliens aren’t coming anytime soon, it seems, and even with what we’ve got it would take some doing to address any asteroid collision problem, so what are the new weapons being proposed for? For use in “conventional” warfare. The purpose would be to attack and destroy “hardened” targets, deep underground bunkers and so forth, especially built to defy even the weightiest explosives we can presently deliver.
This is, presently, the way the world is addressing its problems, just prudent. Of course it would be better to improve the world, improve international relations, work for peace, but there doesn’t appear to be anyone at the head of any nation I can think of offhand who makes that the first priority. Yeah, maybe the Scandinavians, and various little countries around Europe. The world, however, is too small a place for such small, short-sighted thinking, and we’d be better off if we invested our efforts and our money in projects other than building a better bomb. Nationalism is pretty much an outmoded concept now, causing more problems than it’s fixing, as it’s usually done. Maybe we should be forging inclusive relationships outside geographic and political boundaries that aren’t purely trade-based or militarily opportunistic. That way there’d be less to be afraid of and fewer places we’d want to nuke.
Tomorrow’s History
And you can read that headline as a contraction or as a possessive, either way, as of July 1, selfishness will begin its rule in Australia in a way not seen for more than a generation. With control of the Senate, John Howard will push forward with his industrial labor relations alterations, gutting the power of unions, and making a fair wage and a fair go less likely (not to mention further marginalizing the Labor Party). Don Watson’s right: it’s about greed, the same greed that only listened to Howard chanting “interest rates, interest rates” last October and gave no thought to the future beyond the term of their mortgages, the same greed that has pushed away from awards and collective bargaining to AWA’s and individual contracts. This is the culmination of ignorance, and while the ignorant will snicker and sneer, secure in the knowledge that nothing bad will happen, at least to them, slowly and surely, their rights in the workplace will disappear, one worker at a time, first to the guy down the street, then to a neighbor, then maybe their son or daughter getting a first job out of school or university, and then to themselves, until they finally see what it means to abandon the principles that built modern Australia. When Australia’s got American-style private health and a decimated safety net, it’ll be even harder to fight back to what was achieved over the last 25-30 years, if it’s possible at all.
And you can read that headline as a contraction or as a possessive, either way, as of July 1, selfishness will begin its rule in Australia in a way not seen for more than a generation. With control of the Senate, John Howard will push forward with his industrial labor relations alterations, gutting the power of unions, and making a fair wage and a fair go less likely (not to mention further marginalizing the Labor Party). Don Watson’s right: it’s about greed, the same greed that only listened to Howard chanting “interest rates, interest rates” last October and gave no thought to the future beyond the term of their mortgages, the same greed that has pushed away from awards and collective bargaining to AWA’s and individual contracts. This is the culmination of ignorance, and while the ignorant will snicker and sneer, secure in the knowledge that nothing bad will happen, at least to them, slowly and surely, their rights in the workplace will disappear, one worker at a time, first to the guy down the street, then to a neighbor, then maybe their son or daughter getting a first job out of school or university, and then to themselves, until they finally see what it means to abandon the principles that built modern Australia. When Australia’s got American-style private health and a decimated safety net, it’ll be even harder to fight back to what was achieved over the last 25-30 years, if it’s possible at all.
Recommendations
While I’m at it, trying to generate a cent or two from spending my time on weblogging, I’ve signed up as a Barnes & Noble affiliate. Now, I really like Amazon’s wishlist feature, and I put stuff up there that I want to keep track of, but they give most of their political donations to the Republicans, so I can’t in good conscience spend my money there buying books online. Instead, when I link to books, I’ll use a B&N link, and if anyone actually uses that to buy something, not only will a company that supports Democrats be rewarded, so will I, and everyone – assuming you like the book you buy – will be happy. If B&N put up a wishlist, I’ll move over there entirely; otherwise, if you wanna know what I’d like for Christmas, let me know, and I’ll add you to the wishlist list. (I got the idea from Rebecca Blood, who’s an Amazon Associate, and was recently discussing disclosure issues.)
While I’m at it, trying to generate a cent or two from spending my time on weblogging, I’ve signed up as a Barnes & Noble affiliate. Now, I really like Amazon’s wishlist feature, and I put stuff up there that I want to keep track of, but they give most of their political donations to the Republicans, so I can’t in good conscience spend my money there buying books online. Instead, when I link to books, I’ll use a B&N link, and if anyone actually uses that to buy something, not only will a company that supports Democrats be rewarded, so will I, and everyone – assuming you like the book you buy – will be happy. If B&N put up a wishlist, I’ll move over there entirely; otherwise, if you wanna know what I’d like for Christmas, let me know, and I’ll add you to the wishlist list. (I got the idea from Rebecca Blood, who’s an Amazon Associate, and was recently discussing disclosure issues.)
28 June 2005
Media Profile
I post and post and while my profile sinks ever lower I realize Microsoft doesn't want me for a rainbow, I mean 'blogger. This is not to say, of course, that I wouldn't 'blog for them, but I only heard about this accidentally (because I have no journalistic ambitions). But the Google Adsense ads aren't going to get me US$100 even this year, let alone any kind of regular income, and the various survey services and so forth to which I subscribe and respond faithfully are garnering even less. So, hey, MSN: I'll write about Tom Cruise and what kind of frocks get worn at the red carpet events, and I'll even be nice; sign me up. What's all this bandwidth for? Pictures of the cat?
I post and post and while my profile sinks ever lower I realize Microsoft doesn't want me for a rainbow, I mean 'blogger. This is not to say, of course, that I wouldn't 'blog for them, but I only heard about this accidentally (because I have no journalistic ambitions). But the Google Adsense ads aren't going to get me US$100 even this year, let alone any kind of regular income, and the various survey services and so forth to which I subscribe and respond faithfully are garnering even less. So, hey, MSN: I'll write about Tom Cruise and what kind of frocks get worn at the red carpet events, and I'll even be nice; sign me up. What's all this bandwidth for? Pictures of the cat?
Look for the Union Label
I remember the ILGWU song from when I was a kid and the women would promote their union in television ads, and as many times as I heard stories of union corruption and misuse of power, I heard the stories of the struggles they made to benefit all workers. Power relationships are always troubled, especially when the balance of power between labor and management is weighted too far in favor of one or the other side. In the case of unions, this too often resulted in infiltration by organized crime, while on the other side of the equation, you got sweatshops and moving factories into Third World labor markets and CEO’s lining their own pockets at the expense of the company and its workers. Government, to the degree that it has attempted to ensure fairness in the relationship, has instituted various controls to make such problems less attractive to the greedy, whether by enacting laws or pursuing investigations and prosecutions of offenders. For the Ayn Randers and the selfish individuals over the years espousing what’s now called the neo-con line, unions are always corrupt and must be abolished, while insider trading and limitations on executive power are unwarranted government intrusions. This is the kind of thinking that’s put George Bush and John Howard into office. While in the U.S. Bush is busy reorganizing how the Department of Labor defines overtime eligibility and planning how Social Security can be put into the hands of stock market investment banks, in Australia, John Howard will on Friday take majority control of the Senate and begin his push to alter the industrial relations controls that have served to protect workers for many years now, an agenda he’s been pushing since at least 1996, but can only now realize. Many here among the Howard supporters will tell you that unions are out-dated and that the Labor party has lost any purpose in the political landscape, but while the latter is true insofar as Labor needs to assert itself in the public policy discourse, the former is only true to the degree that you do not believe in a fair wage, an assertion Howard’s minions would dispute, because to them, fair is what they get, not what anyone else is paid. They disgust me, and if you, too, deplore their attitudes and actions, there’s more you can do about it. Find out what’s happening, stay up-to-date, and make sure you’re heard: The Last Weekend, at Sydney Olympic Park, 11 a.m., Sunday, 7 August (gotta love the caricature of Howard in the poster – are those stink lines or is he supposed to be radioactive?).
I remember the ILGWU song from when I was a kid and the women would promote their union in television ads, and as many times as I heard stories of union corruption and misuse of power, I heard the stories of the struggles they made to benefit all workers. Power relationships are always troubled, especially when the balance of power between labor and management is weighted too far in favor of one or the other side. In the case of unions, this too often resulted in infiltration by organized crime, while on the other side of the equation, you got sweatshops and moving factories into Third World labor markets and CEO’s lining their own pockets at the expense of the company and its workers. Government, to the degree that it has attempted to ensure fairness in the relationship, has instituted various controls to make such problems less attractive to the greedy, whether by enacting laws or pursuing investigations and prosecutions of offenders. For the Ayn Randers and the selfish individuals over the years espousing what’s now called the neo-con line, unions are always corrupt and must be abolished, while insider trading and limitations on executive power are unwarranted government intrusions. This is the kind of thinking that’s put George Bush and John Howard into office. While in the U.S. Bush is busy reorganizing how the Department of Labor defines overtime eligibility and planning how Social Security can be put into the hands of stock market investment banks, in Australia, John Howard will on Friday take majority control of the Senate and begin his push to alter the industrial relations controls that have served to protect workers for many years now, an agenda he’s been pushing since at least 1996, but can only now realize. Many here among the Howard supporters will tell you that unions are out-dated and that the Labor party has lost any purpose in the political landscape, but while the latter is true insofar as Labor needs to assert itself in the public policy discourse, the former is only true to the degree that you do not believe in a fair wage, an assertion Howard’s minions would dispute, because to them, fair is what they get, not what anyone else is paid. They disgust me, and if you, too, deplore their attitudes and actions, there’s more you can do about it. Find out what’s happening, stay up-to-date, and make sure you’re heard: The Last Weekend, at Sydney Olympic Park, 11 a.m., Sunday, 7 August (gotta love the caricature of Howard in the poster – are those stink lines or is he supposed to be radioactive?).
Why is Robert Novak Free?
Now that the Supreme Court has decided to continue its partisanship by declining to review the civil contempt cases against Judith Miller and Matthew Cooper, free speech is effectively under assault in the U.S. This case should never have gotten this far, but if Miller and Cooper go to jail, how is it that the man who publicly revealed Valerie Plame’s cover is not only not being compelled to reveal his sources, and not going to jail, but isn’t even under investigation?
Now that the Supreme Court has decided to continue its partisanship by declining to review the civil contempt cases against Judith Miller and Matthew Cooper, free speech is effectively under assault in the U.S. This case should never have gotten this far, but if Miller and Cooper go to jail, how is it that the man who publicly revealed Valerie Plame’s cover is not only not being compelled to reveal his sources, and not going to jail, but isn’t even under investigation?
27 June 2005
The Goebbels Golem
Bush is taking Rove off the leash, and he's making the most of it, fomenting hatred with every syllable uttered, now more public than ever. Tim Dunlop's spinning Rove's newly raised profile as a boon for the Democrats, and I suppose he's got a point. If Rove continues to spew his bile directly, he may be seen more for what he is: a hate-filled propagandist, bent on the destruction of every kindness, every freedom, and - to get all Freudian - probably because he never had the benefit of them himself. Like the monster of Kabbalist myth, he may now prove as destructive to his creators as he has to those they've seen as oppressors. It couldn't happen to anyone better.
Bush is taking Rove off the leash, and he's making the most of it, fomenting hatred with every syllable uttered, now more public than ever. Tim Dunlop's spinning Rove's newly raised profile as a boon for the Democrats, and I suppose he's got a point. If Rove continues to spew his bile directly, he may be seen more for what he is: a hate-filled propagandist, bent on the destruction of every kindness, every freedom, and - to get all Freudian - probably because he never had the benefit of them himself. Like the monster of Kabbalist myth, he may now prove as destructive to his creators as he has to those they've seen as oppressors. It couldn't happen to anyone better.
Miyazaki Mass Transit
Like something out of Spirited Away, Japan’s newest bullet train features cat’s ears. Yes, they’re brakes, but only Japan could produce an anime train.
Like something out of Spirited Away, Japan’s newest bullet train features cat’s ears. Yes, they’re brakes, but only Japan could produce an anime train.
Getting It
“South Park Conservatives” is a hilarious misapprehension of satire that just goes to disprove every bit of shallow analysis in Brian Anderson’s book of that title. He argues the show, in sending up political correctness, Hollywood bleeding hearts, and air-brained educators, represents a new respectability for conservative values. He’s wrong, but only because he deliberately ignores the parts of such entertainments that equally skewer people of his own political persuasion, which are as plentiful and as well-targeted. I don’t know the individual political allegiances of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, but they don’t seem particularly devoted to the “moral values” that are supposed to have put Bush in office any more than they are to any other dogma. Instead, like many other of the “liberal elite” working in entertainment, they strive to be humorous, to be comic, and get more laughs, and higher ratings, as a result. Let’s keep in mind that these shows are only entertainment, not anybody’s manifesto, so when Richard Gere’s earnestness is lampooned, we laugh just as much as when the (ahem) "gun enthusiasts" are.
“South Park Conservatives” is a hilarious misapprehension of satire that just goes to disprove every bit of shallow analysis in Brian Anderson’s book of that title. He argues the show, in sending up political correctness, Hollywood bleeding hearts, and air-brained educators, represents a new respectability for conservative values. He’s wrong, but only because he deliberately ignores the parts of such entertainments that equally skewer people of his own political persuasion, which are as plentiful and as well-targeted. I don’t know the individual political allegiances of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, but they don’t seem particularly devoted to the “moral values” that are supposed to have put Bush in office any more than they are to any other dogma. Instead, like many other of the “liberal elite” working in entertainment, they strive to be humorous, to be comic, and get more laughs, and higher ratings, as a result. Let’s keep in mind that these shows are only entertainment, not anybody’s manifesto, so when Richard Gere’s earnestness is lampooned, we laugh just as much as when the (ahem) "gun enthusiasts" are.
24 June 2005
Raptor Attack
Peter Costello recently spent a little time foaming at the mouth in one of the more blatant revisionist episodes of the Liberal Party's efforts to demonize the left, historically and currently. Bob Hawke has set him straight. As the locals say, Good on ya, Bob.
Peter Costello recently spent a little time foaming at the mouth in one of the more blatant revisionist episodes of the Liberal Party's efforts to demonize the left, historically and currently. Bob Hawke has set him straight. As the locals say, Good on ya, Bob.
At the Sandringham
One of the venues that hosted Sydney’s independent music scene in the 1970’s and ‘80’s, the Sando, as it’s known, was, along with so many other hotels (by which I mean what would be a pub elsewhere), taken over by the pokies, poker slot machines, that is, eventuating a bit of a musical doldrums. Evenutally, however (and I couldn’t say when, but before I got here, anyway), and again like a few other of the one-time hotspots, the Sando found a bit of space where they could host a live band of an evening. And that’s where we spent part of our evening last night, upstairs at the Sandringham, listening to Sandrine (no relation). She’s in the process of developing her next album, so the gig was just a warm-up, but she’s got a good, slightly raspy voice, with a good bit of blues phrasing, and a really nice way with a lyric. We got to know her a bit when M. cast her as the lead in her 3-minute screen assignment for Project Greenlight, after hearing her first album, which we like rather a lot. Knowing she was working on new material, this was our first opportunity to hear her perform live, and even though it was a solo outing, alternating between guitar and Wurlitzer, it was a satisfying evening, all up. The new material sounds good, and there was no disappointment in any of the songs off the old record. Once she’s touring, though, with a band behind her, we’ll have to go again for the full show, which will surely be that much more, and more likely in a more amenable setting.
One of the venues that hosted Sydney’s independent music scene in the 1970’s and ‘80’s, the Sando, as it’s known, was, along with so many other hotels (by which I mean what would be a pub elsewhere), taken over by the pokies, poker slot machines, that is, eventuating a bit of a musical doldrums. Evenutally, however (and I couldn’t say when, but before I got here, anyway), and again like a few other of the one-time hotspots, the Sando found a bit of space where they could host a live band of an evening. And that’s where we spent part of our evening last night, upstairs at the Sandringham, listening to Sandrine (no relation). She’s in the process of developing her next album, so the gig was just a warm-up, but she’s got a good, slightly raspy voice, with a good bit of blues phrasing, and a really nice way with a lyric. We got to know her a bit when M. cast her as the lead in her 3-minute screen assignment for Project Greenlight, after hearing her first album, which we like rather a lot. Knowing she was working on new material, this was our first opportunity to hear her perform live, and even though it was a solo outing, alternating between guitar and Wurlitzer, it was a satisfying evening, all up. The new material sounds good, and there was no disappointment in any of the songs off the old record. Once she’s touring, though, with a band behind her, we’ll have to go again for the full show, which will surely be that much more, and more likely in a more amenable setting.
Prizes
Andrew McGahan’s newest novel, The White Earth, has won the Miles Franklin Award, and I’m here to tell you it deserves it. I’ve been telling everyone I know around here they’ve got to read it, though nobody’s taken me up on the recommendation. I hadn’t seen the short list previously, but I’ll keep an eye out for and try to eventually read the other 5: Salt Rain, by Sarah Armstrong, The Submerged Cathedral, by Charlotte Wood, The Gift of Speed, by Steven Carroll, and Sixty Lights, by Gail Jones. I’ve never seen anything by any of these others, unlike McGahan, whose novel Praise I’d read and the movie adaptation of which I’d seen, so I will still approach with caution.
Andrew McGahan’s newest novel, The White Earth, has won the Miles Franklin Award, and I’m here to tell you it deserves it. I’ve been telling everyone I know around here they’ve got to read it, though nobody’s taken me up on the recommendation. I hadn’t seen the short list previously, but I’ll keep an eye out for and try to eventually read the other 5: Salt Rain, by Sarah Armstrong, The Submerged Cathedral, by Charlotte Wood, The Gift of Speed, by Steven Carroll, and Sixty Lights, by Gail Jones. I’ve never seen anything by any of these others, unlike McGahan, whose novel Praise I’d read and the movie adaptation of which I’d seen, so I will still approach with caution.
23 June 2005
Memepsychosis
It’s pretty much pointless for me to participate in the music meme making its way around, but if the Counsellor’s going to make me part of that circuit, who am I to refuse? He’s the elder brother, after all.
1. Total Number of Records (CD, vinyl, cassette): like Bill, at this point I’m measuring in meters rather than actually counting. Although some years ago I did catalog everything other than 45 rpm singles into a very basic cross-referenced database using MS-Access, there’s been a fair bit of change since then in all formats, largely as a result of integrating the remnants of M.’s damaged-in-storage collection, not to mention the intermittent acquisitions via gifts and have-to-have or it’s-on-sale purchases. So: about 5 to 6 meters of CDs, which probably tops 500, half a meter of 7” singles, 2 to 3 meters of 12” LP’s, and no prerecorded cassettes worth mentioning. It’s a lot of prog-rock, new wave, and post-punk, with a decent sampling of jazz, country, and a little blues.
2. Total Volume of Music on My Computer: damn little. When Project Greenlight awarded M. an iBook for making the top 10, I started downloading a few CDs, managing in the end to copy across about 50-70 CDs. Then Microsoft signed on as a sponsor, so we had to give back the Apple in exchange for a Windows workstation, and we’re trying to sell that. The Powerbook’s got a few albums on it, largely in conjunction with M.’s screenplay development. A couple gig, maybe.
3. Last Record Purchased: I really don’t remember. It was probably a gift, rather than a must-have. Maybe Nick Cave’s double Abattoir Blues & The Lyre of Orpheus, which I think M. picked up around Christmas.
4. Last Record Listened to: By and large these days, we listen to music while we’re doing the household chores, so it’s often the Marvelettes or Dusty in Memphis or something else lively, fairly upbeat, sing-along-ish, and otherwise acting as an incentive to M., who deals with that end of the apartment. Since I’m running the vacuum, I don’t listen much. I put Lucinda Williams’ Car Wheels on a Gravel Road on not long ago while M. was out and I preferred something other than mindless television.
5. Five Records/Songs I Listen to or Are Meaningful to Me: It’s not so much that I listen a lot to any of these, but that they are records that have resonance from the point in time when I first heard them. There are many others, of course, some more obvious than others, and there is a certain snob appeal in this selection. Nevertheless:
a. Another Green World, Brian Eno
b. All Things Must Pass, George Harrison
c. Entertainment, Gang of Four
d. Army Arrangement, Fela Kuti
e. Second Edition, Public Image Ltd.
6. Tag 5: It’ll be interesting if any of these pick this up (if they haven't already and I missed it): Beth, who will surely have some good travelling music to report; Suki, who has better things to do but could maybe use a break; Bee, if she ever comes back or starts ‘blogging again; Andy, ditto (the latter clause); Betty Sue, who needs something to do while she’s ill.
It’s pretty much pointless for me to participate in the music meme making its way around, but if the Counsellor’s going to make me part of that circuit, who am I to refuse? He’s the elder brother, after all.
1. Total Number of Records (CD, vinyl, cassette): like Bill, at this point I’m measuring in meters rather than actually counting. Although some years ago I did catalog everything other than 45 rpm singles into a very basic cross-referenced database using MS-Access, there’s been a fair bit of change since then in all formats, largely as a result of integrating the remnants of M.’s damaged-in-storage collection, not to mention the intermittent acquisitions via gifts and have-to-have or it’s-on-sale purchases. So: about 5 to 6 meters of CDs, which probably tops 500, half a meter of 7” singles, 2 to 3 meters of 12” LP’s, and no prerecorded cassettes worth mentioning. It’s a lot of prog-rock, new wave, and post-punk, with a decent sampling of jazz, country, and a little blues.
2. Total Volume of Music on My Computer: damn little. When Project Greenlight awarded M. an iBook for making the top 10, I started downloading a few CDs, managing in the end to copy across about 50-70 CDs. Then Microsoft signed on as a sponsor, so we had to give back the Apple in exchange for a Windows workstation, and we’re trying to sell that. The Powerbook’s got a few albums on it, largely in conjunction with M.’s screenplay development. A couple gig, maybe.
3. Last Record Purchased: I really don’t remember. It was probably a gift, rather than a must-have. Maybe Nick Cave’s double Abattoir Blues & The Lyre of Orpheus, which I think M. picked up around Christmas.
4. Last Record Listened to: By and large these days, we listen to music while we’re doing the household chores, so it’s often the Marvelettes or Dusty in Memphis or something else lively, fairly upbeat, sing-along-ish, and otherwise acting as an incentive to M., who deals with that end of the apartment. Since I’m running the vacuum, I don’t listen much. I put Lucinda Williams’ Car Wheels on a Gravel Road on not long ago while M. was out and I preferred something other than mindless television.
5. Five Records/Songs I Listen to or Are Meaningful to Me: It’s not so much that I listen a lot to any of these, but that they are records that have resonance from the point in time when I first heard them. There are many others, of course, some more obvious than others, and there is a certain snob appeal in this selection. Nevertheless:
a. Another Green World, Brian Eno
b. All Things Must Pass, George Harrison
c. Entertainment, Gang of Four
d. Army Arrangement, Fela Kuti
e. Second Edition, Public Image Ltd.
6. Tag 5: It’ll be interesting if any of these pick this up (if they haven't already and I missed it): Beth, who will surely have some good travelling music to report; Suki, who has better things to do but could maybe use a break; Bee, if she ever comes back or starts ‘blogging again; Andy, ditto (the latter clause); Betty Sue, who needs something to do while she’s ill.
22 June 2005
Confusion in Purgatory
I've long enjoyed Cardinal Sin, if not as a clergyman, at least as a paradox, and he had some fun with the contradiction in his title and surname, too, by all accounts, welcoming guests to his home as the "house of Sin." By 1986 he became instrumental in the removal of Ferdinand Marcos, following years of "critical collaboration." If not exactly liberation theology, at least he worked to the benefit of the general population. Now if there's a bishop out there named "point" or "number" ("virtue" would be too easy).
I've long enjoyed Cardinal Sin, if not as a clergyman, at least as a paradox, and he had some fun with the contradiction in his title and surname, too, by all accounts, welcoming guests to his home as the "house of Sin." By 1986 he became instrumental in the removal of Ferdinand Marcos, following years of "critical collaboration." If not exactly liberation theology, at least he worked to the benefit of the general population. Now if there's a bishop out there named "point" or "number" ("virtue" would be too easy).
21 June 2005
E!
Hugh Jackman in a Woody Allen movie? And from the sound of the plot, I'm guessing he'll be the hero, too, which makes perfect sense, although no claws. No wonder he's such a trusted person.
Hugh Jackman in a Woody Allen movie? And from the sound of the plot, I'm guessing he'll be the hero, too, which makes perfect sense, although no claws. No wonder he's such a trusted person.
Slow to Anger
Billy Jack’s been stewing since 1971, and may be about to make a comeback. You know the times are bad when Billy gets mad.
Billy Jack’s been stewing since 1971, and may be about to make a comeback. You know the times are bad when Billy gets mad.
Activation
I’m not going to say too much about it, although there are some commenting negatively about factionalism and other intriguing issues behind the site, or otherwise, but I think keeping an eye on Labor First via their website may be worthwhile. There’re similar efforts going on over in the States with the Democrats, and I prefer working within the party rather than anything else, but a good idea is a good idea, so if positive value can be achieved here, I’ll take it. Meanwhile, I like the gecko.
I’m not going to say too much about it, although there are some commenting negatively about factionalism and other intriguing issues behind the site, or otherwise, but I think keeping an eye on Labor First via their website may be worthwhile. There’re similar efforts going on over in the States with the Democrats, and I prefer working within the party rather than anything else, but a good idea is a good idea, so if positive value can be achieved here, I’ll take it. Meanwhile, I like the gecko.
Coal
Along with the on-going drought, there’s a lot of discussion over Sydney’s energy needs and plans to meet demand, which largely rely on additional coal-fired power plants. Back during the energy crisis, Jimmy Carter had us turning the lights off in rooms as we left them, and that saved us plenty, especially growing up on Long Island, where the local power company was the most expensive in the country. At the same time, appliance manufacturers were making televisions that didn’t need to warm up: even though they were turned off, they were constantly drawing electricity to reduce the time necessary for a picture to form. Right now, that’s costing consumers US$3 billion annually, eating 5% of overall electricity consumption in the States. That isn’t just televisions, of course, not anymore, and in Australia, as in many other countries, you can turn off an electrical outlet at the wall (but who goes to the power point to shut off the t.v.?), but there’s still a point to be made here. We can reduce our demands on the environment without significantly infringing our quality of life. If you switch on the t.v. and miss a few seconds of Andrew G. introducing the elimination round on American (Australian, etc.) Idol while the picture tube warms up, what have you really lost? Other than fewer brain cells? We need to demand more from ourselves and the rest will follow. (Thanks to Rebecca Blood, who got it from Curt Rosengren.)
Along with the on-going drought, there’s a lot of discussion over Sydney’s energy needs and plans to meet demand, which largely rely on additional coal-fired power plants. Back during the energy crisis, Jimmy Carter had us turning the lights off in rooms as we left them, and that saved us plenty, especially growing up on Long Island, where the local power company was the most expensive in the country. At the same time, appliance manufacturers were making televisions that didn’t need to warm up: even though they were turned off, they were constantly drawing electricity to reduce the time necessary for a picture to form. Right now, that’s costing consumers US$3 billion annually, eating 5% of overall electricity consumption in the States. That isn’t just televisions, of course, not anymore, and in Australia, as in many other countries, you can turn off an electrical outlet at the wall (but who goes to the power point to shut off the t.v.?), but there’s still a point to be made here. We can reduce our demands on the environment without significantly infringing our quality of life. If you switch on the t.v. and miss a few seconds of Andrew G. introducing the elimination round on American (Australian, etc.) Idol while the picture tube warms up, what have you really lost? Other than fewer brain cells? We need to demand more from ourselves and the rest will follow. (Thanks to Rebecca Blood, who got it from Curt Rosengren.)
Coal
Along with the on-going drought, there’s a lot of discussion over Sydney’s energy needs and plans to meet demand, which largely rely on additional coal-fired power plants. Back during the energy crisis, Jimmy Carter had us turning the lights off in rooms as we left them, and that saved us plenty, especially growing up on Long Island, where the local power company was the most expensive in the country. At the same time, appliance manufacturers were making televisions that didn’t need to warm up: even though they were turned off, they were constantly drawing electricity to reduce the time necessary for a picture to form. Right now, that’s costing consumers US$3 billion annually, eating 5% of overall electricity consumption in the States. That isn’t just televisions, of course, not anymore, and in Australia, as in many other countries, you can turn off an electrical outlet at the wall (but who goes to the power point to shut off the t.v.?), but there’s still a point to be made here. We can reduce our demands on the environment without significantly infringing our quality of life. If you switch on the t.v. and miss a few seconds of Andrew G. introducing the elimination round on American (Australian, etc.) Idol while the picture tube warms up, what have you really lost? Other than fewer brain cells? We need to demand more from ourselves and the rest will follow. (Thanks to Rebecca Blood, who got it from Curt Rosengren.)
Along with the on-going drought, there’s a lot of discussion over Sydney’s energy needs and plans to meet demand, which largely rely on additional coal-fired power plants. Back during the energy crisis, Jimmy Carter had us turning the lights off in rooms as we left them, and that saved us plenty, especially growing up on Long Island, where the local power company was the most expensive in the country. At the same time, appliance manufacturers were making televisions that didn’t need to warm up: even though they were turned off, they were constantly drawing electricity to reduce the time necessary for a picture to form. Right now, that’s costing consumers US$3 billion annually, eating 5% of overall electricity consumption in the States. That isn’t just televisions, of course, not anymore, and in Australia, as in many other countries, you can turn off an electrical outlet at the wall (but who goes to the power point to shut off the t.v.?), but there’s still a point to be made here. We can reduce our demands on the environment without significantly infringing our quality of life. If you switch on the t.v. and miss a few seconds of Andrew G. introducing the elimination round on American (Australian, etc.) Idol while the picture tube warms up, what have you really lost? Other than fewer brain cells? We need to demand more from ourselves and the rest will follow. (Thanks to Rebecca Blood, who got it from Curt Rosengren.)
17 June 2005
Up Above My Head
Not exactly daylight, but at about six last night, walking home from Central Station, I, too, got a look at Jupiter, bright enough to stand out even with the moon right next to it. I love astrological phenomena (except when Saturn enters my star sign; it makes a mess of my horoscope).
Not exactly daylight, but at about six last night, walking home from Central Station, I, too, got a look at Jupiter, bright enough to stand out even with the moon right next to it. I love astrological phenomena (except when Saturn enters my star sign; it makes a mess of my horoscope).
14 June 2005
Cinema Citations
(a) Geek
Arising from my sick bed at last, while M. was off with a friend to see a movie I had no interest in at one of the more art-house film palaces, I dragged myself up to the commercial cineplex to see the final Star Wars installment. When the first one came out, I not only went to see it more than once, I dragged friends along as well. Here's something new, I thought, even while acknowledging the debt it owed to the Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials, some of which I'd seen as a (younger) child when they made a reappearance on television. Sure, they were hokey, and the special effects little more than updates of the processes used to create King Kong. I didn't mind the cheesey dialog or cardboard characters, because it was entertainment only, at least up to the moment when the British census recorded so many citizens claiming "Jedi" as their religion that it would (if recognized officially) achieve the same status as much older, more traditional, church-based religions. I missed, for one reason or another, seeing Phantom Menace and Clone Wars on the big screen, but I have little doubt there'd have been any improvement even just as spectacle over DVD, but this one promised more, so I made the effort. It is indeed a big show, benefiting from the larger format, but really, it was only working for me so long as nobody was talking. I agree with every bad thing I've read about it, and all the good things. I don't mind the AU$16.00 at all. Next up: Fantastic Four.
(b) Non-Geek
While sick, M. and I rented a raft of videos to watch over the long weekend of the Queen's Birthday: one new release and a couple of weeklies. That's how I got to see The Aviator, which is a very good movie and would have been terrific on the big screen. It missed out in the last Academy Awards, but I think rightly so. While the performances are very good, and it's a good looking movie, it's flawed by its focus being in the air, rather than on the ground. When it does focus on the man and his relationships and obsessions, it's very good, but flawed by making too much of an effort on the artistic camerawork. And, of course, it ends much too soon. It feels like it ought to be a much bigger, longer movie than it ends as.
We've also now seen Bright Young Things, Stephen Fry's directorial debut picture, and it's entertaining in every way. It captures the tone of the age, both in its pleasures and its pains, managing the emotional lives of its characters very well. I can generally do without costume dramas, but since they're mostly dressed up very little different from the way high society dresses now, I think this one skirts that category well enough that it's worth seeing for the snap of its dialog. You can be forgiven for wanting to slap Adam Sims around, though; he's infuriating with money and with manuscripts. Next video: I might push for A Series of Unfortunate Events.
(a) Geek
Arising from my sick bed at last, while M. was off with a friend to see a movie I had no interest in at one of the more art-house film palaces, I dragged myself up to the commercial cineplex to see the final Star Wars installment. When the first one came out, I not only went to see it more than once, I dragged friends along as well. Here's something new, I thought, even while acknowledging the debt it owed to the Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials, some of which I'd seen as a (younger) child when they made a reappearance on television. Sure, they were hokey, and the special effects little more than updates of the processes used to create King Kong. I didn't mind the cheesey dialog or cardboard characters, because it was entertainment only, at least up to the moment when the British census recorded so many citizens claiming "Jedi" as their religion that it would (if recognized officially) achieve the same status as much older, more traditional, church-based religions. I missed, for one reason or another, seeing Phantom Menace and Clone Wars on the big screen, but I have little doubt there'd have been any improvement even just as spectacle over DVD, but this one promised more, so I made the effort. It is indeed a big show, benefiting from the larger format, but really, it was only working for me so long as nobody was talking. I agree with every bad thing I've read about it, and all the good things. I don't mind the AU$16.00 at all. Next up: Fantastic Four.
(b) Non-Geek
While sick, M. and I rented a raft of videos to watch over the long weekend of the Queen's Birthday: one new release and a couple of weeklies. That's how I got to see The Aviator, which is a very good movie and would have been terrific on the big screen. It missed out in the last Academy Awards, but I think rightly so. While the performances are very good, and it's a good looking movie, it's flawed by its focus being in the air, rather than on the ground. When it does focus on the man and his relationships and obsessions, it's very good, but flawed by making too much of an effort on the artistic camerawork. And, of course, it ends much too soon. It feels like it ought to be a much bigger, longer movie than it ends as.
We've also now seen Bright Young Things, Stephen Fry's directorial debut picture, and it's entertaining in every way. It captures the tone of the age, both in its pleasures and its pains, managing the emotional lives of its characters very well. I can generally do without costume dramas, but since they're mostly dressed up very little different from the way high society dresses now, I think this one skirts that category well enough that it's worth seeing for the snap of its dialog. You can be forgiven for wanting to slap Adam Sims around, though; he's infuriating with money and with manuscripts. Next video: I might push for A Series of Unfortunate Events.
13 June 2005
Guide to Healthy Living
Note to self: next year, try getting the flu shot. This has not been one of the most comfortable weeks of my life, although I've certainly had worse cases. At least, having given up cigarettes, these things don't tend to settle into my lungs the way they used to, and for the most part I was over it in four days. Now I've got to sign up for the City-to-Surf, something I probably should have gotten to with all this enforced time at home and so very little else to do, but instead I've been reading and watching (really bad) television, the highlight of which was probably Miles Electric: A Different Kind of Blue, a 2003 documentary of the 1970 Isle of Wight concert, plus interviews with the members of the band. After much analysis of Miles' sound at the time, the film included the entirety of Miles' set, which, though fusion isn't entirely my favorite jazz style, really swung.
Note to self: next year, try getting the flu shot. This has not been one of the most comfortable weeks of my life, although I've certainly had worse cases. At least, having given up cigarettes, these things don't tend to settle into my lungs the way they used to, and for the most part I was over it in four days. Now I've got to sign up for the City-to-Surf, something I probably should have gotten to with all this enforced time at home and so very little else to do, but instead I've been reading and watching (really bad) television, the highlight of which was probably Miles Electric: A Different Kind of Blue, a 2003 documentary of the 1970 Isle of Wight concert, plus interviews with the members of the band. After much analysis of Miles' sound at the time, the film included the entirety of Miles' set, which, though fusion isn't entirely my favorite jazz style, really swung.
06 June 2005
Formal Dress
I stopped ironing pretty much 100% years ago, relying instead on wrinkle-proof shirts (about 60% polyester), which has worked pretty well. For special occasions, I’ll break out the iron, or when I’m wearing a shirt that isn’t wrinkle-proof and it’s just too puckered even for me, which has to be pretty bad. When that happens, it’s useful to have a guide (especially from someone who’s probably just spent a bit of time working in a laundry. Heh.) I’d do it more often, however, if I had a handy robot helper.
I stopped ironing pretty much 100% years ago, relying instead on wrinkle-proof shirts (about 60% polyester), which has worked pretty well. For special occasions, I’ll break out the iron, or when I’m wearing a shirt that isn’t wrinkle-proof and it’s just too puckered even for me, which has to be pretty bad. When that happens, it’s useful to have a guide (especially from someone who’s probably just spent a bit of time working in a laundry. Heh.) I’d do it more often, however, if I had a handy robot helper.
Is It Hot in Here?
Good news: global warming is o.k.. In fact, global warming will cause more rain, and with the extra rain and the extra CO2, the plants will grow better, so we won’t have to worry about the rainforests, either. It’s all natural, anyway, and has nothing to do with man-made emissions. The only reason we should worry about fossil fuels is that we won’t have enough to run cars and ships and trucks and planes, and we need those so we can improve the balance of trade. Strangely, Kinniworth doesn’t recommend reliance on nuclear power, or at least not uranium-based nukes, although he doesn’t recommend an alternative. Perhaps he advocates a return to sail? He generates enough hot air himself.
Good news: global warming is o.k.. In fact, global warming will cause more rain, and with the extra rain and the extra CO2, the plants will grow better, so we won’t have to worry about the rainforests, either. It’s all natural, anyway, and has nothing to do with man-made emissions. The only reason we should worry about fossil fuels is that we won’t have enough to run cars and ships and trucks and planes, and we need those so we can improve the balance of trade. Strangely, Kinniworth doesn’t recommend reliance on nuclear power, or at least not uranium-based nukes, although he doesn’t recommend an alternative. Perhaps he advocates a return to sail? He generates enough hot air himself.
Economic Indexes
Housing prices will continue to decline, but while future generations may benefit, the boomers will have to sell their homes to survive retirement. And work longer, assuming the expected industrial relations “reforms” don’t leave them out of a job sooner. So much for learning to surf in my golden years.
Housing prices will continue to decline, but while future generations may benefit, the boomers will have to sell their homes to survive retirement. And work longer, assuming the expected industrial relations “reforms” don’t leave them out of a job sooner. So much for learning to surf in my golden years.
Queue Jumping
There is no Cold War with China, so dissidents and defectors don’t have the same cache as Russians did back in the day. Or maybe the problem is that Chen Yonglin’s focus has been on Falun Gong and Tibet, both issues generally treated as nonexistent by Western nations. Maybe if he’d been in charge of following and harassing Taiwanese, it would be a different story?
China, every now and then, shows signs of opening up a bit, as in the commemorations of the Tianamen Square massacres over the weekend in Hong Kong. This is a blind, usually, and it remains very dangerous indeed to be a dissident in the last major communist nation. When a defector turns up, it seems nations dedicated to freedom would be welcoming, rather than calling up their bosses, perhaps especially when there’s newly increased concern over spying by the country the guy’s trying to escape. Or maybe not.
We know there are significant human rights violations happening in China, and China remains an antagonistic nation, despite its position in world trade. Sometimes the caution with which they are treated seems over done. If Chen Yonglin is handed back, I don’t hold much hope for his future or his family.
There is no Cold War with China, so dissidents and defectors don’t have the same cache as Russians did back in the day. Or maybe the problem is that Chen Yonglin’s focus has been on Falun Gong and Tibet, both issues generally treated as nonexistent by Western nations. Maybe if he’d been in charge of following and harassing Taiwanese, it would be a different story?
China, every now and then, shows signs of opening up a bit, as in the commemorations of the Tianamen Square massacres over the weekend in Hong Kong. This is a blind, usually, and it remains very dangerous indeed to be a dissident in the last major communist nation. When a defector turns up, it seems nations dedicated to freedom would be welcoming, rather than calling up their bosses, perhaps especially when there’s newly increased concern over spying by the country the guy’s trying to escape. Or maybe not.
We know there are significant human rights violations happening in China, and China remains an antagonistic nation, despite its position in world trade. Sometimes the caution with which they are treated seems over done. If Chen Yonglin is handed back, I don’t hold much hope for his future or his family.
03 June 2005
The Next US$100 I Spend
All of the New Yorker from February 1925 through February 2005. Really, it's just obsessiveness to buy this. But think of it. All that Thurber, for one thing.
All of the New Yorker from February 1925 through February 2005. Really, it's just obsessiveness to buy this. But think of it. All that Thurber, for one thing.
02 June 2005
Bali Mail Bomb
That anyone would send a contaminated package to the Indonesian embassy is despicable. That anyone would do it, as is the presumption, in response to the Corby case, is stupid. I hope the substance in the package turns out not to be harmful, but the sooner they catch the person who did this, regardless of toxicity, the better for everyone.
Update: Not pathological. The stuff in the envelope, anyway. The person who sent it? That's another story.
That anyone would send a contaminated package to the Indonesian embassy is despicable. That anyone would do it, as is the presumption, in response to the Corby case, is stupid. I hope the substance in the package turns out not to be harmful, but the sooner they catch the person who did this, regardless of toxicity, the better for everyone.
Update: Not pathological. The stuff in the envelope, anyway. The person who sent it? That's another story.
01 June 2005
Harmful
Human Events Online, a conservative “weekly” published on the internet, outlines the ”Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries”, including (of course) The Communist Manifesto, Mein Kampf, Quotations from Chairman Mao, and Das Kapital, going on to list – and remember, they’re conservatives - The Kinsey Report (largely because it reports on homosexual experiences of adult males); Democracy and Education by John Dewey, because Clinton’s education followed the format advocated in the book; The Feminine Mystique, because Betty Friedan reportedly slept with Robert Oppenheimer; The Course of Positive Philosophy, because Auguste Comte didn’t believe in God; Beyond Good and Evil, because Nietzsche didn’t believe in God, either (and they go on to reassert that the Nazi’s used his philosophy is setting up their political system, whereas most people with any awareness of the link are also aware that its was Nietzsche’s sister’s rewriting of his material that the Nazi’s used); and John Maynard Keynes General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, because it advocated big government and deficit spending (leaving us to wonder what they think of their boy, George II).
The Honorable Mentions include Coming of Age in Samoa, Origin of Species, Unsafe at Any Speed, Silent Spring, and Freud’s Introduction to Psychoanalysis, to list a few of the more notable titles.
From a humor perspective, this is a stand-out list, but I wonder if anyone really thinks these books are or have been actually “damaging.” Communism in the Soviet Union, Eastern Bloc countries, China, and Southeast Asia, and elsewhere, has certainly been damaging where it’s been instituted, but it’s never been instituted according to what Marx outlined, which has more in common with some of the teaching of the Catholic Church than anything Lenin or Mao put together. Feminism is certainly under a lot of fire these days, but that doesn’t invalidate what was said or done in its name, regardless of whether you forgot to have a baby. I suppose there are more people who have read Keynes than William S. Burroughs, but I’d put Naked Lunch up against any economics text as potentially damaging to one’s psyche, and if you’re going to object to Kinsey because he says 37% of adult males had had at least one homosexual experience,” you ought to be prepared to object to Burroughs, whose most famous work is often cited by young men as cluing them in to their sexuality.
Too much text for too slight a problem. Who are these people?
Human Events Online, a conservative “weekly” published on the internet, outlines the ”Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries”, including (of course) The Communist Manifesto, Mein Kampf, Quotations from Chairman Mao, and Das Kapital, going on to list – and remember, they’re conservatives - The Kinsey Report (largely because it reports on homosexual experiences of adult males); Democracy and Education by John Dewey, because Clinton’s education followed the format advocated in the book; The Feminine Mystique, because Betty Friedan reportedly slept with Robert Oppenheimer; The Course of Positive Philosophy, because Auguste Comte didn’t believe in God; Beyond Good and Evil, because Nietzsche didn’t believe in God, either (and they go on to reassert that the Nazi’s used his philosophy is setting up their political system, whereas most people with any awareness of the link are also aware that its was Nietzsche’s sister’s rewriting of his material that the Nazi’s used); and John Maynard Keynes General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, because it advocated big government and deficit spending (leaving us to wonder what they think of their boy, George II).
The Honorable Mentions include Coming of Age in Samoa, Origin of Species, Unsafe at Any Speed, Silent Spring, and Freud’s Introduction to Psychoanalysis, to list a few of the more notable titles.
From a humor perspective, this is a stand-out list, but I wonder if anyone really thinks these books are or have been actually “damaging.” Communism in the Soviet Union, Eastern Bloc countries, China, and Southeast Asia, and elsewhere, has certainly been damaging where it’s been instituted, but it’s never been instituted according to what Marx outlined, which has more in common with some of the teaching of the Catholic Church than anything Lenin or Mao put together. Feminism is certainly under a lot of fire these days, but that doesn’t invalidate what was said or done in its name, regardless of whether you forgot to have a baby. I suppose there are more people who have read Keynes than William S. Burroughs, but I’d put Naked Lunch up against any economics text as potentially damaging to one’s psyche, and if you’re going to object to Kinsey because he says 37% of adult males had had at least one homosexual experience,” you ought to be prepared to object to Burroughs, whose most famous work is often cited by young men as cluing them in to their sexuality.
Too much text for too slight a problem. Who are these people?
Sources
Not quite the romantic result everyone had been speculating on, but W. Mark Felt was Deep Throat, dobbing in Nixon for mundanely venal reasons.
There’s an argument to be made that Nixon’s resignation had no positive net effect nationally. The war didn’t end sooner and political dirty tricks are still the order of the day. Even before he’d died, however, Nixon’s legacy was subject to revision, glowing colors added to enhance his economic performance as well as his efforts in the Middle East. And there’s always China: only Nixon could go to China. But we shouldn’t forget Watergate, and the impeachment, or Salvador Allende, or Cambodia and Laos, and Vietnam, too, even if it wasn’t Nixon who got us in there in the first place. Much of contemporary American society has been harmed to one degree or another by Nixon’s own policies and actions, as well as those his administration fostered around the country and around the world.
So even though Mr. Felt didn’t get the promotion he deserved, he did the U.S. a service and deserves thanks.
Not quite the romantic result everyone had been speculating on, but W. Mark Felt was Deep Throat, dobbing in Nixon for mundanely venal reasons.
There’s an argument to be made that Nixon’s resignation had no positive net effect nationally. The war didn’t end sooner and political dirty tricks are still the order of the day. Even before he’d died, however, Nixon’s legacy was subject to revision, glowing colors added to enhance his economic performance as well as his efforts in the Middle East. And there’s always China: only Nixon could go to China. But we shouldn’t forget Watergate, and the impeachment, or Salvador Allende, or Cambodia and Laos, and Vietnam, too, even if it wasn’t Nixon who got us in there in the first place. Much of contemporary American society has been harmed to one degree or another by Nixon’s own policies and actions, as well as those his administration fostered around the country and around the world.
So even though Mr. Felt didn’t get the promotion he deserved, he did the U.S. a service and deserves thanks.
30 May 2005
Rebuilding
Paul Goldberger has an article in the New Yorker this week (sorry, it’s not on-line; you’ll have to get a subscription. Maybe if you wheedle your parents, they’ll be as nice as mine were and pay the freight) suggesting that the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site in Manhattan shouldn’t be limited to putting up excess office space, as Larry Silverstein wants, or a disappointing spire, as the present designs call for, but should instead be made up of new housing stock. He also says the proposal for using the retaining wall as part of the memorial that must be included is an excellent idea, and I agree with him on both counts. And that Donald Trump’s suggestion is just more self-aggrandisement and a bad idea all around.
Downtown was already a much livelier neighborhood by the time M. and I left for Sydney, and the trend of turning office buildings into condos and coops was only increasing. And why not? The views alone would put a commanding price on the real estate. Now with prices averaging in excess of a million dollars U.S., more housing could only help. Well, all right, it could only help the prices in Manhattan to go up even further, but even so, the idea of having people actually living there, in the heart of the heart the terrorists tried to destroy, has tremendous appeal. I wouldn’t suggest any limits to the height, either; I’d love to live a hundred stories up. Fifty, anyway. O.k., 2nd, just so I can get M. into the elevator with me.
Paul Goldberger has an article in the New Yorker this week (sorry, it’s not on-line; you’ll have to get a subscription. Maybe if you wheedle your parents, they’ll be as nice as mine were and pay the freight) suggesting that the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site in Manhattan shouldn’t be limited to putting up excess office space, as Larry Silverstein wants, or a disappointing spire, as the present designs call for, but should instead be made up of new housing stock. He also says the proposal for using the retaining wall as part of the memorial that must be included is an excellent idea, and I agree with him on both counts. And that Donald Trump’s suggestion is just more self-aggrandisement and a bad idea all around.
Downtown was already a much livelier neighborhood by the time M. and I left for Sydney, and the trend of turning office buildings into condos and coops was only increasing. And why not? The views alone would put a commanding price on the real estate. Now with prices averaging in excess of a million dollars U.S., more housing could only help. Well, all right, it could only help the prices in Manhattan to go up even further, but even so, the idea of having people actually living there, in the heart of the heart the terrorists tried to destroy, has tremendous appeal. I wouldn’t suggest any limits to the height, either; I’d love to live a hundred stories up. Fifty, anyway. O.k., 2nd, just so I can get M. into the elevator with me.
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