The City Won’t Stop
There’d been threats for every year I lived in the city, but outside of a few breakdowns and other, unexplained delays (and the 5-year renovation of the 7’s elevated line), I never had to endure a strike. Well, it’s on now, the first since 1980, and in the middle of winter, just to add insult to injury. The city is dealing with the problem by imposing a car-pool minimum on vehicles travelling in Manhattan below 96th Street that extends even to taxis and the usual screaming invective against the unions, who are acting against a preliminary injunction and now facing fines of $1 million per day, while residents and commuters simply endure as best they can.

I’m sympathetic to the pension plan changes at issue. Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid only go so far, and the burden of caring for yourself after retirement is tremendous. While raising the retirement eligibility age to 62 sounds reasonable, it’s important to keep in mind the nature of the work and to query the ability of workers to maintain employment those extra 7 years. The 4% rise in employee contributions toward the pension also sounds reasonable, but the difference to your wage between 2% and 6% is bigger than you’d think without actually doing the math, especially since you’re already also contributing to other health and welfare benefits, as you will post-retirement.

Still, it’d be hard on everyone else, working men and women, business owners and operators, even for those living in Manhattan, let alone the thousands upon thousands who come in by car, bus, and train every day, many of whom only get as far as the middle of Queens before being left to their own devices. There are only so many cabs, after all, and if you’ve come to Jamaica via the LIRR, I’ll bet you didn’t bring your bicycle.

If CityRail went out here, I’m 27K from the office. I could walk, but at, say, 20 minutes a mile, I’m looking at a 6-hour commute each way, not to mention a shower when I get in.

It’s About the Oil
There’s a standard practice in Congress of attaching unrelated riders onto bills expected to have an easy passage that’s long been a source of great frustration to the public, but to the House and Senate themselves, as well, especially when bills of great seriousness are subverted to some partisan pork-barrelling, or worse, as is the case now with the defense spending bill being hijacked to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling for oil.

We need the $453 million for the miliary, for obvious reasons, but opening up ANWR needs a debate of its own. Often these riders slip through because they’re just small-change pork, but this issue is huge, it alters the environmental trusteeship balance nationally, something the Bush administration has been trying to achieve incrementally elsewhere since the man first swore the oath of office 5 years ago, and it’s unacceptable, not just in implementation, but also in subverting the ability of Congress to examine the implications and act reasonably and responsibly. This is piracy of the process. Harry Reid’s got a big fight on his hands, now, and not just because of this, but because Bill Frist is going to push every issue he can into a face-off from now on, looking to eliminate any power the minority party could ever again wield in opposition to the radical agenda of the extreme right. Frist will plunder the nation to achieve his goals in service to his corporate masters. It’s time for the Democrats to pull out the stops. Republican ruthlessness cannot be deterred by just waiting for the next election.

Fair’s Fair
Ian Harper’s failed business owes its workers $700,000 since March 2001. After the Federal Reserve fiasco, does the Howard government really need another creep-appointment?

Fair’s Fair
Ian Harper’s failed business owes its workers $700,000 since March 2001. After the Federal Reserve fiasco, does the Howard government really need another creep-appointment?

Oils and Water
I don’t know much about art, but doesn’t Rolf Harris’ portrait of QEII look like she’s about to sprout vampire fangs and attack? Perhaps that crazed look in her eye is just a result of internet photo reproduction, but if it was my 180th birthday portrait (oops, I mean official portrait, on for her 80th birthday, not that she doesn’t look a little, let’s say, haggard in it), I’d hang the thing facing the wall.

'Tis the Season
One thing about working where I do is that they take Christmas very seriously, well, that is to say, they're serious about celebrating. Friday was the office mass and Christmas lunch, complete various baked foods, lots of beer and wine, and a themed trivia contest (my table did not win, but we made a decent showing; maybe next year). Today there's another party, just the department, and Wednesday yet another. On Saturday we'll have one at home for family, so that by the time Christmas has actually arrived, we'll be well worn out and looking forward to a bit of quiet time.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, M. & I attended the traditional gathering of Michelle's friends, this year in Pyrmont, a suburb we don't spend much time in, but which is really very nice. There's not much there beyond the Powerhouse museum and a few pubs and cafes, so I don't expect to be going there any more often. Michelle's very nice and takes her responsibilities as hostess seriously, including the planning, which ran to a $5-value "Kris Kringle" gift exchange. Most people took the price limit seriously, although M. & I insisted that there was nothing worth giving at that level (and we were right, although the chocolates I got were nice enough). The main point was, of course, the company, and there were a couple of other of our friends there and some new people to meet and chat with, so all-in-all a nice enough event.

Yesterday, Astrid arranged an evening picnic at Neilson Park, a lovely harbour beach M. and I rather like, and which is also very accessible via public transport, although the ride can be complicated at this time of year by holiday traffic, especially if you get stuck behind a Salvation Army marching band. (They might have used the footpath, but we made our connection with time to spare in the end anyway, so all is forgiven.)

The director and the producer of Meera's short (shameless plug: Upskirt) were there, of course, being family and friends, but also various others, some we've met and others new to us, and it was a lovely evening in the cool by the water in the last of the sun, perhaps the best way of all to finish a weekend.

Yes, that is a shark net across the beach in the photo at the bottom.

The System Works
It'd probably be better not to become too sanguine over the Senate's action to block renewal of the evil USA Patriot Act, as it's seems largely a reaction to the revelation of Bush's personal illegal authorization of the NSA's spying on citizens domestically, but it's not just hard not to cheer, it'd be ungracious. Good for you, Senate, especially you four Republicans who recognize what's right (although what's gotten into those two Democrats who failed in their duty, I don't know). Bush's claims to the contrary notwithstanding, we need to get our government back on track, and this is an excellent first step.

Sin City
Inner city life’s the same everywhere, it seems. Except for the fact that there are many single-family homes in our (formerly) South Sydney suburb, apartment-living is the norm, or approaching it, anyway, as more commercial space is converted into residences. A particular shared characteristic of apartment-living is noisy neighbors, both within and outside the block of units, such as the pub across the way, whose patrons (especially now that the partial smoking ban is in place) insist on loitering on the footpath to conduct loud portions of their revels, but also those yet unsuited to such cheek-by-jowl arrangements as are enforced by having a common wall with someone else.

Initially, our apartment was particularly blessed, with only neighbors above and adjoining one wall, the latter being at the top of the long vertical of our L-shaped unit, so that our bedroom, being at the far end of the horizontal, was relatively insulated. Once the backpacker contingent above were removed and the same-floor neighbor converted the unit into an office, we spent something like a year-and-a-half in considerable peace and quiet. Enter the 20-year-old Central Coast child of privilege.

Our new neighbor, S., is lucky enough to have parents who will assist her in the purchase of an inner city unit and then head back up the coast where they are far more insulated from their progeny than those upon whom they have inflicted her. Not too long after S. moved in next door, we realized we’d met her before, late one evening when she and her roommate had locked themselves out of the unit they’d been renting on an upper floor and were seeking the assistance of the non-existent caretaker. In the end, they obtained the aid of a friend with a power saw, who cut a hole in the apartment’s fire-rated front door with no thought to many hundreds of dollars it was going to cost to be replaced. Realizing her identity, we regarded the advent of S. next door as an ill omen, as it is proving to be.

I met her mom when the move happened and painting the unit was underway. “Oh, S. is a wonderful girl, 20, but no parties, of course,” was the gist of the message mom imparted. 20, I thought, and no parties? Oh, that’s accurate, I’m not sure. As it immediately proved, when merely four days later, at 2:30 a.m., her return from whatever revels she’d been attending was heralded by the doof-doof bass more typical of an Oxford Street nightclub than of anyone’s home. Two attempts to cajole her into reducing the volume required only a third, the final attempt being performed by the local constabulary, since my own authority was evidently dismissed out of hand. That quietened her for the next two weeks, more or less, although there has been a bass throb some mornings after 7 and some evenings before 10, reasonable enough hours that we’ve been able to accept with great aplomb.

Today, however, has been a bit more dramatic. Earlier, around noon or so, the shopkeeper whose establishment lies beneath S.’s apartment, came up to report his grocery was experiencing a cascade from the ceiling. Not us, says M., it’s next door. But the shopkeeper was unable to rouse any inhabitant thereof, forcing him to request the emergency services of a plumber, whose investigation only determined that indeed, yes, it was the S.’s unit causing the problem. He and the shopkeeper again attempted to entice any occupant to open the door, but although there was a response, it was only the groans of someone who must be injured in some fashion. The fire brigade was contacted for assistance, while the plumber attempted to bash in the heavy door.

Now, remember, the apartment doors in the units are fire-rated. In other words, they’re thick and heavy, quite substantial, and meant only to respond to someone with an axe. Hurling himself at the door, well, all right, kicking it really, really hard – and this is a big bloke – was doing some damage, but it wasn’t getting anyone inside. However, it was getting the attention of the resident, S., at last, who was finally aroused from her stupor – which was all that was wrong, with her, that is – to complain “You’ve broken my door.” Well, yes, you idiot, we have; we thought you were dying in the shower you left running for the past God knows how many hours enough for it to have caused a flood in the shop below.

S. did eventually open the door to find out what all the fuss was about and turned off the taps. The damage, however, was done (and the fire brigade arrived; very timely), and the liability assessed as: the strata’s! No way we’re paying for this one, though, any more than we paid for the fire door S. destroyed before.

Look, I don’t mind if you can’t take care of yourself any better than this, but I’m not paying for it. Mostly, however, I’d just rather not live next door to it. I’m not your daddy, and if they’re not going to take care of you, you’ll have to do it yourself.

Can We Go Home Yet?
Congratulations to the 70% of Iraqis participating in the vote for a permanent democratic government. Reports so far indicate only sporadic attacks and a high turnout, including many of the minority Sunni population.

The VIPER at Our Breast
The Transportation Security Administration, the group responsible for deploying Air Marshals, has instituted a new, expanded reach program, called ”Visible Intermodal Protection and Response,” in which (besides the spelling mistake – shouldn’t that be “VIPAR”?) Air Marshals will become ground troops, i.e., patrol train stations and bus depots and ferry slips. The TSA has despatched a VIPER team as a pilot to Washington, D.C.’s, transit system, who, when queried, denied the TSA’s claims of cooperation. At last, the Feds are doing something about Homeland Security. Of course, after the death of the mentally ill passenger in Florida a week or so ago, having these guys expand beyond air travel is not entirely reassuring, perhaps especially because we’ve already got transit cops doing what these guys are now being charged with. Homeland Security’s mandate isn’t to supplant other security agencies or efforts but to coordinate them. There’s no discernable benefit in the VIPER program other than to extend Federal intrusion into local governance, much as we’ve heard of the Pentagon doing in monitoring domestic peace rallies and activists, compiling a list of thousands of citizens exercising their right to free association. Clearly, it’s become altogether too easy for the Bush Administration to implement its agenda of fear and oppression, instead of actually working on keeping the nation safe. Want to expand the TSA mandate: what about container shipping and freight yards?

Meanwhile, the House is trying to make the legend on the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal mythical, seeking to enact a tough new immigration law that will make it a federal crime to live in the U.S. without a valid visa, instituting a mandatory detention policy and turning church groups and social services organizations into “coyotes.” November 2006 can’t come soon enough.

War of Terror
The rioting in Cronulla yesterday was the action of uneducated, racist thugs, and cannot be tolerated. The police were often overwhelmed, but it’s a welcome move that they’ll be reviewing video and still photography to identify and arrest additional participants for prosecution. But I’m going to be one of those “ideological” people who don’t blame the Lebanese, at least not entirely, but certainly without offering their “gangsta” culture as an excuse for the Cronulla Neanderthals.

Since my arrival in this country, I’ve learned a lot about Lebanese youth and the influence of American rap culture has had, an unfortunate mix, given an ingrained misogyny still highly prevalent, even among the otherwise more assimilated, and this comes out in offensive and sometimes disgusting behavior, the kind of macho nonsense we’d most of us taken for granted as thoroughly marginalized. But “yobbo” culture also still has its celebrants, and the tensions inflamed by anti-Muslim rhetoric and the focus turned on Muslims in the broader community, despite reassurances to the contrary from government officials, have done their job now. One 24-year-old was quoted in the paper as having been “at war for 10 years” – where did he learn this? It doesn’t matter; there’s no excuse. Was his girlfriend taunted or teased at the beach? No excuse, on either side. We can’t arrest people for thought-crimes (despite the ludicrous sedition laws), but we can acknowledge the brewing resentments and work for resolution of the conditions causing them. Lebanese “gangstas” aren’t to be tolerated any more than the neo-Nazi Patriotic Youth League’s organizing efforts or the “Bra Boys” surfie gang.

The race riots in America of the 1960’s are the only comparable events I can think of – even the more isolated incidents around the U.S., or most recently in Paris, are more on the order of the events some months ago in Macquarie Fields. This is organized violence; it’s racism; it’s despicable.

Pele Says We've Got a Shot
I think he only meant to be nice about it, but the Socceroos did beat Uruguay to qualify for the World Cup, so even if the draw has resulted in facing off against Brazil sooner rather than later, it is still possible we'll make it through. Funny, but soccer isn't a big sport here, although it's growing. I guess the association of Australia and sport, especially insofar as it's well-known to be a cricket powerhouse, leads to other British sports associations, such as soccer, and the expectation of some level of world-class competence. It just isn't the case. Australia, despite the Ashes result this year, rules cricket, and is highly competetive in swimming, tennis, and rugby (not to mention we've got a sport all our own: AFL, a game, like baseball, pretty well unique to its nation of origin), but soccer just hasn't been a major part of the culture here, despite the 1950's+ immigration wave from Europe. That we've qualified is a big deal, however, so here's the the Socceroos and hoping they survive a round or so.

The Solid Gold Weblog
This is the winner of Smartyhost’s AU$10,000 “best weblog” contest. No doubt the starving artist spending her days and nights recording bridge noises wherever she goes can use the money. (Me, too.) I won’t quibble over it’s ‘bloggishness (although it isn’t and doesn’t even really contain one among the various pages at the site, with the arguable exception of the “travel diary”), but “best”? There are better. I suppose I’m mostly annoyed because I didn’t even get an invite, as others did, only hearing about it at the last minute reading the Icon section of the SMH. Look, I know the only people reading this are family, a few friends, and people looking for puzzles (and sometimes the words to some Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young song – I’m not even getting all that upskirt traffic I’d been expecting since the movie), but c’mon, I’m almost Australian and I’m running a ‘blog. Surely I should be eligible, too? Maybe next year. I’ll have to work on providing more of that cross-cultural content, though.

The Progress of Democracy in the Middle East
When Hosni Mubarak announced democratic reforms in Egypt’s political process, many hailed George Bush’s war in Iraq as providing precisely the impetus for change that he’d promised. In case anyone still has any doubts about the effect of the Iraq war, please note that Egypt’s elections this year have not been notably more open than usual, but they have been more violent. They have also resulted in significant gains in the Egyptian parliament by the Muslim Brotherhood, an officially banned party of radical Islamists, while secular opposition parties were only able to gain a handful of seats. Nice one, George. Thanks.

Patriotism and the Act
Now that the House and Senate have worked out a deal on how to further the Patriot Act’s effect on the erosion of civil liberties in the U.S., it’s worth noting what they’ve done and the reasons they’ve given. In an almost passing notice, the NY Times reports Senator Specter, one of the more evil Pennsylvanians in government (although the title still goes to Santorum), as saying the 7-year deal they were going for was bad because it would require the Act to be debated again during a presidential election. In other words, just in case they lose the White House in ’08, they don’t want this hideous piece of legislation impinging their ability to get it back again four years later. This merely highlights how amoral Specter and his cohorts are and how wrong the legislation is for America. Fourteen of sixteen provisions will become permanent, so only the wiretaps and untrammelled access by law enforcement into libraries will come under review in four years. At least we can hope for a Democratic majority and Presidency then, but if the vote goes through, most of this noxious law will remain forever.

Airlines & Homeland Security
It is an indication of the woeful state of security at U.S. airports that a mentally ill passenger has been shot dead in Florida by a federal air marshal. While we can all agree that it is a very bad idea to claim to have a bomb in your luggage – and has been since the first airline hijacking – a deranged person acting erratically should probably not end up dead, either, especially when the marshals pursuing him are themselves being pursued by the man’s poor wife, crying out that he’s ill, that he’s off his medication.

Since September 11, thousands of marshals have been added to the original staff of just over thirty who protected our air passengers, but this kind of panic scenario is highly suggestive of entirely inadequate training. (Actually, I’m fairly surprised it wasn’t some poor National Guardsman who ended up killing this guy, except that they’re probably mostly in Iraq at this point, rather than staffing the metal detectors at the check-in gates. That’s been a rapid-fire tragedy waiting to happen.) That this is the first such incident is worth being thankful for, but it should not have played out the way it did. It’s as much a “setback” in America’s defenses against terrorism as the recent Florida court case (and what’s with that state, anyway?), and equally indicative of the failure of the Bush big-stick approach to, well, everything.

VSU
We had a student union back in the States where I went to university, but as near as I can determine from memory, it was just a building where we could go get a meal and where the campus “rathskellar” was housed. An assembly hall served for second-run discounted movies and an occasional concert, one of which was Elvis Costello and the Attractions, but was otherwise more likely some third-rate band only the hicks wanted to see anyway. Later, in graduate school, I attended a university that had a stronger tradition of student activism, but the “union,” as far as I was concerned, was again meeting rooms and the bookstore.

Here in Australia the student union is exactly that: a union, a collective with officers exercising the power to act on behalf of the overall student body, much in the European tradition, usually in running a newspaper, organising intramural sports, and so forth, but also pursuing a broader political activism by students outside the confines of the campus. As a result, they’ve come under fire by the union-busting Howard government.

Universities charge a student union fee to all matriculating students. The fee is used by the union to fund their activities, including rallies and marches and protests insofar as these require funding, such as for promoting the event or for getting banners and such made up. The Howard government would like us all to believe that the bulk of the mandatory fee is spent on partisan political activities and materials. Maybe it is; without looking at their books, how would I know? On the other hand, university students are not a monolithic bloc, and the student body in a conservative educational bastion would likely spend their union fees on partisan activities in support of the present government. But the PM’s convinced the students are all against him and spending their parents’ money unwisely, in opposition to mom & dad’s voting patterns, in other words, spending it on the Labor party.

So the push is on for an end to student unions via legislation for “voluntary student union” (VSU) fees. Passing by the University of Technology, Sydney, or Sydney University, I can see the level of opposition to VSU, but there are plenty who support the new scheme (including the National Party waffle-maker, Barnaby Joyce, whose latest cri de coeur to cross the floor is over intramural sports; God forbid he should have a conscience over industrial relations mangling or the inane sedition laws). My experience with the VSU supporters, other than the Liberal-voting populace, is with mature-age, part-time students. They don’t believe they get their money’s worth. They don’t live or otherwise spend much time on campus, and since they’re usually working, they don’t participate in the sports or other social activities provided for by the union. For them, the union is a waste, and I see their point.

The VSU reform therefore only proves my point as to its motivation. Instead of providing an alternative for the part-time or otherwise non-participatory students, the legislation is meant only to gut the funding of student unions so they cannot act even if they’d like to, even if it would be to the benefit of all students, including the part-timers. The legislation is meant to undercut the ability of student unions to provide an alternative message to the Liberal-National coalition government. Whereas a little learning can be a dangerous thing, for this government, ignorance is bliss.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
Sure we’ve got secret prisons, says that death’s head, Condoleezza Rice, but they’re so we can help people. America sounds more and more like a tyranny every day, and it sickens me. Rice claims there’s no torture, and I’ll have to take her at her word, despite the indications of war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, but we’re in violation of major international treaties, first of all, and without some reasonable level of accountability – even as little as Red Cross/Red Crescent inspections – no one can be sure we’re any better than the Soviets at their worst or the various military juntas of South America. Claiming any justification in “you’re complicit” is despicable, even if true, since at least the Europeans are trying to achieve transparency. Oh, and let’s not forget that American law, including habeas corpus, is applicable to citizens and non-citizens alike, even “illegal combatants.”

“We must bring terrorists to justice wherever possible,” Rice hypocritically pronounces, “but there have been many cases where the local government cannot detain or prosecute a suspect, and traditional extradition is not a good option. In those cases the local government can make the sovereign choice to cooperate in the transfer of a suspect to third country, which is known as a rendition.” In which case, Dr. Rice, why don’t we, acting in cooperation with the “local government,” render the suspect to America for interrogation, trial, and incarceration? Why is “traditional extradition” inadequate? Who are the “third countr[ies]” and how are they permitted to participate; what do they get out of it; what is the extent of their involvement? “These efforts” wouldn’t be “misunderstood” if we were open about what we’re doing. Threatening Europe over the decision to “work with us to prevent terror attacks against their own countr[ies]” is shameless. But Rice, like her masters, knows no shame.

Right Hand, Left Hand
We don’t use propaganda, Donald Rumsfeld would have us believe, it just happens. Well-meaning contractors working in Iraq are putting stories in the local media there without identifying the content as coming from the U.S. military. I’m not at all surprised that the Pentagon would have a hand in news reports in Iraq, despite any lip service paid to a free and independent media being integral to democratic efforts there. I’m even sort of gratified that we’re at least paying for the column space. What does surprise me, even if it shouldn’t, is how intent the Bush administration is on treating the matter as it does other scandals, with a cover-up. Claiming ignorance, Rummy says he doesn’t know how it started, if it’s being done “in accordance with policy,” and the Pentagon chimes in similarly. What nonsense. Of course you knew: it was your idea. These are just stalling tactics. If the government would run its Iraq operations openly, there’d be no scandals. O.k., yes, there would still be scandals; the press is easily scandalized. At least they wouldn’t be these hand-in-the-cookie-jar it-wasn’t-me lying scandals. Cover-ups. You’d think the GOP would’ve learned something after Nixon.

Looking for a New Job
Twelve years ago, NYC politicians put term limits up as a voter referendum, and, reflecting the prevailing sentiment regarding government, it passed. I thought it was a bad idea at the time, infantalizing voters, who, at each election, could vote in someone new if they were dissatisfied with the incumbent. Having made their bed, the politicians are uncomfortable and want to put things back they way they were. Tough, I say. The problem is, however, that the pollies are going to have a try without putting up another referendum. They've learned one lesson: voter dissatisfaction is more likely to have an effect on your career if you force the issue in a broadly sweeping context than if it's just this or that candidate for office. But legislating the reform of the reform is just playing the same games that got the voters dissatisfied in the first place. Go on, be brave: put it on the ballot or live with your mistake.