League Experimentation
I've been a season ticket holder for the Rabbitohs three years now, and other than those occassions when the game is technically an away game but hosted at Souths' home ground, I haven't visited any other team's pitch. Tonight I'm headed for the north shore for the Manly match-up and will get to see whether the behavior exhibited by the fans at ANZ bears comparison with the Brookvale crowd.
Update: A one-point loss for the Bunnies, but generally more cheery than I get coming back from a home-game loss. That may be a function of the venue, one not a thoroughly serviced by public transport, as anything else. Still, it was fun, and a much different experience than my norm. Attending a game with 20,000 people in a 80,000 capacity stadium is one thing. Being there where the fans fill the available space? Feels more like a game. My ANZ sightlines are good, but I'm fully 20 to 40 metres further back from the sidelines than at a standard oval, so I don't get quite the sense of the size of the players and speed of the game normally. League is fast, and meant to be so, and I got a good feel for that tonight. Not that I'm going to switch teams.
18 June 2010
Turn of the Century
I suppose I had to know that there'd be issues with moving into a building as old as this one and as small. With only 4 units, there isn't a lot of money coming in, so ovderall maintenance has largely been restricted to what's been required more than what would be proactive. When the big hail storm of 2001 tore up roofs all over town, a special levy was required for repairs, but there's been little else. That's about to change.
The building's old. Probably 1920's old, with an extension maybe 20 years on (and apparently clad in asbestos, although opinions differ). The damp course is limited, it seems, to the exterior walls, and one thing and another has led to a significant interior wall rising damp problem. There's a lot of expansion-contraction cracking, interior and exterior, some worse than others. There's sewer-vs.-storm drainage issues - more a regulatory problem than anything else - and pointed need for exterior painting.
The engineer's been through this morning and will provide a report and a recommendation on a builder. It's going to cost us plenty. How much remains to be seen, but I'm figuring on $20-40k, i.e., $5-10k apiece. Still, it'll be worth it, as the actual structural problems we don't have at this point will be avoided.
I suppose I had to know that there'd be issues with moving into a building as old as this one and as small. With only 4 units, there isn't a lot of money coming in, so ovderall maintenance has largely been restricted to what's been required more than what would be proactive. When the big hail storm of 2001 tore up roofs all over town, a special levy was required for repairs, but there's been little else. That's about to change.
The building's old. Probably 1920's old, with an extension maybe 20 years on (and apparently clad in asbestos, although opinions differ). The damp course is limited, it seems, to the exterior walls, and one thing and another has led to a significant interior wall rising damp problem. There's a lot of expansion-contraction cracking, interior and exterior, some worse than others. There's sewer-vs.-storm drainage issues - more a regulatory problem than anything else - and pointed need for exterior painting.
The engineer's been through this morning and will provide a report and a recommendation on a builder. It's going to cost us plenty. How much remains to be seen, but I'm figuring on $20-40k, i.e., $5-10k apiece. Still, it'll be worth it, as the actual structural problems we don't have at this point will be avoided.
14 June 2010
Wear & Tear
One of the things I meant to do following last month's half marathon was to review the performance of the super-terrific shoes I bought back in January.
I'd meant to buy the trainers, but all they had in stock was the racing model. On the advice of the salesman, who claimed to use the racers exclusively, I went with that choice, although they were far more colorful than anything I'd normally buy.
Back in the days when New Balance was new and Nike were experimenting with waffle irons, it became a principle that the laces would be set back up away from the toes, allowing a better fit and less problems with blisters, or so they said. The Newton pinches a bit around the toes, I find, which was surprising, but in the end it didn't offer me any trouble.
The shoe does indeed encourage, even force, you to land on the forefoot. This didn't cause me much difficulty as I largely run that way anyway. But in some circumstances, such as wet roadways, where the rain interacted with the petroleum by-products lingering on the surface made things a bit slick, it sometimes felt less secure than landing more flat-footedly might have. Still, I didn't slide around all that much, so it's probably just my own insecurity interacting with Sydney drivers, who only get more aggressive as driving conditions deteriorate.
The mesh upper kept my feet pretty cool, a positive, as I'd been experiencing problems with blisters. This was more a condition of running on hot pavement in high summer than the shoes, however. Once things started to cool off a bit, it became increasingly less of an issue.
What I was especially interested in seeing was the wear. From January through May, and putting in something like an average of 20k per week, the shoes held up remarkably well, as you can see.
I'm still using this pair, but in the end, seriously debating whether to get a new set or reverting to standard issue Asics/Nike/New Balance/Addidas/whatever. The main point is that other than the gimmick of the cleats or lugs or whatever you want to call them that force your landing, there was no benefit to these shoes I couldn't get for $50+ less.
One of the things I meant to do following last month's half marathon was to review the performance of the super-terrific shoes I bought back in January.
I'd meant to buy the trainers, but all they had in stock was the racing model. On the advice of the salesman, who claimed to use the racers exclusively, I went with that choice, although they were far more colorful than anything I'd normally buy.
Back in the days when New Balance was new and Nike were experimenting with waffle irons, it became a principle that the laces would be set back up away from the toes, allowing a better fit and less problems with blisters, or so they said. The Newton pinches a bit around the toes, I find, which was surprising, but in the end it didn't offer me any trouble.
The shoe does indeed encourage, even force, you to land on the forefoot. This didn't cause me much difficulty as I largely run that way anyway. But in some circumstances, such as wet roadways, where the rain interacted with the petroleum by-products lingering on the surface made things a bit slick, it sometimes felt less secure than landing more flat-footedly might have. Still, I didn't slide around all that much, so it's probably just my own insecurity interacting with Sydney drivers, who only get more aggressive as driving conditions deteriorate.
The mesh upper kept my feet pretty cool, a positive, as I'd been experiencing problems with blisters. This was more a condition of running on hot pavement in high summer than the shoes, however. Once things started to cool off a bit, it became increasingly less of an issue.
What I was especially interested in seeing was the wear. From January through May, and putting in something like an average of 20k per week, the shoes held up remarkably well, as you can see.
I'm still using this pair, but in the end, seriously debating whether to get a new set or reverting to standard issue Asics/Nike/New Balance/Addidas/whatever. The main point is that other than the gimmick of the cleats or lugs or whatever you want to call them that force your landing, there was no benefit to these shoes I couldn't get for $50+ less.
Happy Birthday, Queen
Thanks for the day off.
Of course it isn't really Liz's birthday, it's just the commemoration or some such, a practice observed throughout the Commonwealth. Last week it was NZ's turn. Funnily enough, it isn't even her birthday across Australia. I think WA gets next Monday.
I suppose the idea is that in days of yore the monarch would travel through its dominion collecting tributes. Travel being what it is, different days across the year would become the official date for such payments.
I don't know about NZ, but if you want to guess what HRH would have gotten from us? Opals, sure.
Thanks for the day off.
Of course it isn't really Liz's birthday, it's just the commemoration or some such, a practice observed throughout the Commonwealth. Last week it was NZ's turn. Funnily enough, it isn't even her birthday across Australia. I think WA gets next Monday.
I suppose the idea is that in days of yore the monarch would travel through its dominion collecting tributes. Travel being what it is, different days across the year would become the official date for such payments.
I don't know about NZ, but if you want to guess what HRH would have gotten from us? Opals, sure.
06 June 2010
Power & Serenity
As part of the Vivid Festival, Lou Reed, as he does whenever he's touring, brought his tai chi master, Ren GuangYi, who graciously consented to teach four sessions for beginners. The rain stopped late on Friday night, but I didn't go for the 7 a.m. session on Saturday, electing to sleep in and go to today's eleven a.m. class. Again, the weather held, and there I was without about three or four dozen others, running through the basics of the Master's Power 21 set, movements meant to be performed in a limited space, but for maximum effect. You see tai chi here and there, but doing it, having it explained - where your weight should settle, how to turn and pivot, you get the sense of the martial arts behind it. The best part: Lou Reed came along and even helped various of us move into the correct stance.
PS: no cats.
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
As part of the Vivid Festival, Lou Reed, as he does whenever he's touring, brought his tai chi master, Ren GuangYi, who graciously consented to teach four sessions for beginners. The rain stopped late on Friday night, but I didn't go for the 7 a.m. session on Saturday, electing to sleep in and go to today's eleven a.m. class. Again, the weather held, and there I was without about three or four dozen others, running through the basics of the Master's Power 21 set, movements meant to be performed in a limited space, but for maximum effect. You see tai chi here and there, but doing it, having it explained - where your weight should settle, how to turn and pivot, you get the sense of the martial arts behind it. The best part: Lou Reed came along and even helped various of us move into the correct stance.
PS: no cats.
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
04 June 2010
Vividity
Slow Music Night was definitely the right choice of show for the Vivid Festival. Not only did Laurie Anderson act as host, Lou Reed turned up to perform, along with the rest of the showcase musicians, and they were a cast of stars in their own rights, mostly. I could have done without the violinist, who was a bit of a noodler, and Holly Miranda didn't exactly wow me with her Feist-meets-Beth-Orton-crossed-with-Cat-Power performance. But Shara Worden, of My Brightest Diamond, whose cover of Blind Willie Johnson's "Lord I can't keep from crying" raised the hairs on my neck, and Colin Stetson consistently blew me away, and the Blind Boys of Alabama (formerly the Five Blind Boys... - only three left) were a stand-out. Emily Haines was o.k., but couldn't keep up with Lou on her duets with him, which was a shame. I hope the rain holds off for some of this weekend, so I can get some Tai Chi in.
Slow Music Night was definitely the right choice of show for the Vivid Festival. Not only did Laurie Anderson act as host, Lou Reed turned up to perform, along with the rest of the showcase musicians, and they were a cast of stars in their own rights, mostly. I could have done without the violinist, who was a bit of a noodler, and Holly Miranda didn't exactly wow me with her Feist-meets-Beth-Orton-crossed-with-Cat-Power performance. But Shara Worden, of My Brightest Diamond, whose cover of Blind Willie Johnson's "Lord I can't keep from crying" raised the hairs on my neck, and Colin Stetson consistently blew me away, and the Blind Boys of Alabama (formerly the Five Blind Boys... - only three left) were a stand-out. Emily Haines was o.k., but couldn't keep up with Lou on her duets with him, which was a shame. I hope the rain holds off for some of this weekend, so I can get some Tai Chi in.
03 June 2010
Winter
So let's see: it's rugby league season, and I have my home games tickets to ANZ Stadium for Rabbitohs home games, so pretty much at least every other weekend more or less there's an event to attend; the Sydney Film Festival is on (but not much I'm really interested in, although that hasn't stopped me from buying a ticket to a documentary on the roots of Reggae on the same day at the same time as a Rabbitohs game - smart!); the Vivid Festival is on (tai chi on the Opera House forecourt, with Lou Reed & his tai chi master - is Lou an early riser? Saturday morning is the way to go; or does he sleep in? Sunday midmorning, then); and today Leonard Cohen tickets go on sale for his triumphant return in November. So much to do, so little time to do it in.
So let's see: it's rugby league season, and I have my home games tickets to ANZ Stadium for Rabbitohs home games, so pretty much at least every other weekend more or less there's an event to attend; the Sydney Film Festival is on (but not much I'm really interested in, although that hasn't stopped me from buying a ticket to a documentary on the roots of Reggae on the same day at the same time as a Rabbitohs game - smart!); the Vivid Festival is on (tai chi on the Opera House forecourt, with Lou Reed & his tai chi master - is Lou an early riser? Saturday morning is the way to go; or does he sleep in? Sunday midmorning, then); and today Leonard Cohen tickets go on sale for his triumphant return in November. So much to do, so little time to do it in.
28 May 2010
Fixing Cat
I don’t see any good reason to deny the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens a visa. I also don’t see any reason to reward him by attending any of his concerts or buying any of his music, past, present or future. He supported the fatwa on Salman Rushdie no matter what he claims now. He wasn’t joking, he wasn’t taken out of context, but he is an ass for trying to avoid saying he was wrong and apologizing. Let him go where he wants, but let him play to an empty hall.
I don’t see any good reason to deny the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens a visa. I also don’t see any reason to reward him by attending any of his concerts or buying any of his music, past, present or future. He supported the fatwa on Salman Rushdie no matter what he claims now. He wasn’t joking, he wasn’t taken out of context, but he is an ass for trying to avoid saying he was wrong and apologizing. Let him go where he wants, but let him play to an empty hall.
18 May 2010
SMH Half Results
2:02 clock time and 1:59 chip time is much better than I had any reason to expect. I'll take two weeks to rest before training for the half in October and see what kind of result I can manage then.
2:02 clock time and 1:59 chip time is much better than I had any reason to expect. I'll take two weeks to rest before training for the half in October and see what kind of result I can manage then.
17 May 2010
It Can't Happen Here
From the Department of Good Thinking, 31 new offshore drilling projects for Australia. I guess it'll be o.k. so long as we don't use BP.
We have more solar energy beaming down you'd think we could make a go of that, but I guess we'll keep digging coal and pumping oil until every last molecule is expended. Thank goodness the ETS was abandoned until 2013.
From the Department of Good Thinking, 31 new offshore drilling projects for Australia. I guess it'll be o.k. so long as we don't use BP.
We have more solar energy beaming down you'd think we could make a go of that, but I guess we'll keep digging coal and pumping oil until every last molecule is expended. Thank goodness the ETS was abandoned until 2013.
15 May 2010
Around the World in 210 Days
Phileas Fogg's got nothing to worry about, but all props to Jessica Watson, sixteen years old and alone on a pretty small sailboat for all that time. What do you bet she tends to wobble a bit for a week or two now on dry land again? She doesn't get a record - some miles short and the category "eliminated" - but it's quite an accomplishment. I won't go into the whole "what were her parents thinking" trope. That's nonsense, clearly, now. And whether or not technological assistance made this possible only in the last twenty years hardly matters either. Good job, kid. What next?
Phileas Fogg's got nothing to worry about, but all props to Jessica Watson, sixteen years old and alone on a pretty small sailboat for all that time. What do you bet she tends to wobble a bit for a week or two now on dry land again? She doesn't get a record - some miles short and the category "eliminated" - but it's quite an accomplishment. I won't go into the whole "what were her parents thinking" trope. That's nonsense, clearly, now. And whether or not technological assistance made this possible only in the last twenty years hardly matters either. Good job, kid. What next?
12 May 2010
Iron Man, All Jets Ablaze, He Fights & Fights with Repulsor Rays
And not just Iron Man, because Iron Man 2 features 'Rhodey' Rhodes as War Machine (basically Iron Man's suit with additional guns). Best of all, it's got Mickey Rourke as Whiplash, and he's about as menacing as you could want in a villain. Sam Rockwell slimes his way through the picture as the egomanicial and ultimately incompetent corporate bad guy so well it hurts to watch him, kinda like Ricky Gervais in "The Office", and Garry Shandling is perfect as the sleazy Senator. The rest I could take or leave. Scarlett Johansen's pretty, sure, and I'm sure she enjoyed flying around on wires as the Black Widow, but that's about as far as that goes, and don't get me started on Gwyneth Paltrow, stuttering her way through every movie I've ever seen her in like she's desperately seeking a good ad lib. But so what? People complain about the Hollywood blockbuster like it's a bad thing. It's not true; they should all go back and watch Sullivan's Travels.
And not just Iron Man, because Iron Man 2 features 'Rhodey' Rhodes as War Machine (basically Iron Man's suit with additional guns). Best of all, it's got Mickey Rourke as Whiplash, and he's about as menacing as you could want in a villain. Sam Rockwell slimes his way through the picture as the egomanicial and ultimately incompetent corporate bad guy so well it hurts to watch him, kinda like Ricky Gervais in "The Office", and Garry Shandling is perfect as the sleazy Senator. The rest I could take or leave. Scarlett Johansen's pretty, sure, and I'm sure she enjoyed flying around on wires as the Black Widow, but that's about as far as that goes, and don't get me started on Gwyneth Paltrow, stuttering her way through every movie I've ever seen her in like she's desperately seeking a good ad lib. But so what? People complain about the Hollywood blockbuster like it's a bad thing. It's not true; they should all go back and watch Sullivan's Travels.
06 May 2010
Minimal Maximal Marimbas
Synergy Percussion put on a program of Steve Reich compositions at the City Recital Hall tonight, including Part 1 of "Drumming", one of my favorites, and a new piece, "Mallet Quartet". The highlight of the evening, however, was "Sextet", a piece involving four different marimbas, two of which were, over the course of the piece, played with violin bows. I attended on the mistaken impression that Reich's "Double Sextet" would be performed, the one he got the Pulitzer for last year, confusing it with the "Mallet Quartet", due to my usual vagueness, but that hardly matters, as it was a highly enjoyable evening. The one non-Reich piece, "Kalabash", by Nigel Westlake, was very funky, as advertised, but put me in mind of nothing quite so much as music from "West Side Story", whereas the Reich pieces, for all the staccato sections' resemblance to newsflash dit-dit-dit-dit-dit, really sounded like nothing but themselves, unique compositions finally, not lacking in any way any complexity for all their "minimalism". An excellent evening worth staying up for.
Synergy Percussion put on a program of Steve Reich compositions at the City Recital Hall tonight, including Part 1 of "Drumming", one of my favorites, and a new piece, "Mallet Quartet". The highlight of the evening, however, was "Sextet", a piece involving four different marimbas, two of which were, over the course of the piece, played with violin bows. I attended on the mistaken impression that Reich's "Double Sextet" would be performed, the one he got the Pulitzer for last year, confusing it with the "Mallet Quartet", due to my usual vagueness, but that hardly matters, as it was a highly enjoyable evening. The one non-Reich piece, "Kalabash", by Nigel Westlake, was very funky, as advertised, but put me in mind of nothing quite so much as music from "West Side Story", whereas the Reich pieces, for all the staccato sections' resemblance to newsflash dit-dit-dit-dit-dit, really sounded like nothing but themselves, unique compositions finally, not lacking in any way any complexity for all their "minimalism". An excellent evening worth staying up for.
04 May 2010
Swing Votes
I’m not surprised that PM Kevin Rudd isn’t polling so well lately. Backing off on even a bad choice on carbon reduction was enough to get me seriously thinking about going Green. Even though, as usual, tax reform gets me nothing, I’m not unhappy with the cherry-picking and slow pace of implementation Labor conducted following the Henry Tax Review, I am unhappy with other, more or less consequential implementation failures. Do we have hospital reform yet? What about water management? Whaling? Getting scared out of the home insulation scheme was just stupid, not to mention ineffective communications management. (I don’t blame the government for contractor errors; I do blame them for letting the Liberals control the message.) A one-term Labor government wouldn’t make me happy, though. If the Coalition does come back into power, and worse, under Abbott, we’d be reverting to anti-labour schemes and the culture wars altogether too soon.
I’m not surprised that PM Kevin Rudd isn’t polling so well lately. Backing off on even a bad choice on carbon reduction was enough to get me seriously thinking about going Green. Even though, as usual, tax reform gets me nothing, I’m not unhappy with the cherry-picking and slow pace of implementation Labor conducted following the Henry Tax Review, I am unhappy with other, more or less consequential implementation failures. Do we have hospital reform yet? What about water management? Whaling? Getting scared out of the home insulation scheme was just stupid, not to mention ineffective communications management. (I don’t blame the government for contractor errors; I do blame them for letting the Liberals control the message.) A one-term Labor government wouldn’t make me happy, though. If the Coalition does come back into power, and worse, under Abbott, we’d be reverting to anti-labour schemes and the culture wars altogether too soon.
24 April 2010
Harold Potter
The Magicians, by Lev Grossman, is like Harry Potter meets Narnia but for grownups. It's pretty obvious, all up, but doesn't pander nearly as much as J.K. Rowlings' books do, naturally enough, since she wrote deliberately for children and only accidentally caught an adult wave of interest, and dispenses with any religiosity such as imbues C.S. Lewis' books, in favor of the principle that if magic is real it must follow its own rules, like physics, an analogy made early on to express the unfathomability of either system ultimately: "turtles all the way down". But it's well done, for all that the ending, particularly the final two chapters, essentially cop out on what might have been a good metaphorical entertainment about real life relationships. You don't miss the point, but you do get excused from feeling it, which is too bad. A little too much set-up, a hell of a climax, and then a big let down. Maybe it's not so far off real life at that.
The Magicians, by Lev Grossman, is like Harry Potter meets Narnia but for grownups. It's pretty obvious, all up, but doesn't pander nearly as much as J.K. Rowlings' books do, naturally enough, since she wrote deliberately for children and only accidentally caught an adult wave of interest, and dispenses with any religiosity such as imbues C.S. Lewis' books, in favor of the principle that if magic is real it must follow its own rules, like physics, an analogy made early on to express the unfathomability of either system ultimately: "turtles all the way down". But it's well done, for all that the ending, particularly the final two chapters, essentially cop out on what might have been a good metaphorical entertainment about real life relationships. You don't miss the point, but you do get excused from feeling it, which is too bad. A little too much set-up, a hell of a climax, and then a big let down. Maybe it's not so far off real life at that.
23 April 2010
Cheaters Never Prosper
The Melbourne Storm have been found cooking the books and therefore stripped of two premierships and all their points for 2010, including those they haven’t even won yet, effectively relegating them to the bottom of the ladder for the season. All this, and more, because over the last five years, they’ve exceeded the salary cap by $2 million, buying the best players and a remarkable winning streak. Salary caps are sometimes controversial, but if you’re capped at $4.4 million and spend another $2 million on top, you’re really gaming it and deserve what you get. The players suffer for management’s behavior, and the fans, but I suppose something had to be done.
The Melbourne Storm have been found cooking the books and therefore stripped of two premierships and all their points for 2010, including those they haven’t even won yet, effectively relegating them to the bottom of the ladder for the season. All this, and more, because over the last five years, they’ve exceeded the salary cap by $2 million, buying the best players and a remarkable winning streak. Salary caps are sometimes controversial, but if you’re capped at $4.4 million and spend another $2 million on top, you’re really gaming it and deserve what you get. The players suffer for management’s behavior, and the fans, but I suppose something had to be done.
18 April 2010
Round Six
Bummer Bunnies, but it wasn't the ref's calls that did you in, it was all the dropped balls. Two penalty field goals didn't help, and neither did Isaac Luke's missed conversions, but it was mistakes that did us in. Still, not quite 1/4 through, so plenty of time to catch up and make something remarkable of the season. I guess this shows why Roy Asotasi is captain.
So, two more things. First off, track work almost sent me home before I'd even gotten started. I'd let two trains go by before anyone thought to make an annoucement that busses were on in place of trains, and let me tell you the bus out of Strathfield is a nightmare, wherever you're going from there, let alone the bus then to the stadium (which was only surpassed by the bus returning to Lidcombe station, crawling through traffic all the way).
As frustrating as bad traffic and poorly organised bus dispatching may be, nothing tops Rabbitohs fans after a loss. Listening to them kvetch you'd think we'd be in the premiership every year except for the perfidy of the referees. I've sometimes said it would be interesting to go to another team's home ground to compare the crowd behavior during the game, and as this was technically an away game for us, I had my chance. Everybody boos, everybody complains how the other side isn't being held at ten metres or is passing the ball forwards, everybody cheers penalties awarded and mocks injuries it seems. But how they respond to a loss remains unclear to me, travelling as I was in a bus full of Souths fans. I guess the Parramatta supporters all drove in.
Bummer Bunnies, but it wasn't the ref's calls that did you in, it was all the dropped balls. Two penalty field goals didn't help, and neither did Isaac Luke's missed conversions, but it was mistakes that did us in. Still, not quite 1/4 through, so plenty of time to catch up and make something remarkable of the season. I guess this shows why Roy Asotasi is captain.
So, two more things. First off, track work almost sent me home before I'd even gotten started. I'd let two trains go by before anyone thought to make an annoucement that busses were on in place of trains, and let me tell you the bus out of Strathfield is a nightmare, wherever you're going from there, let alone the bus then to the stadium (which was only surpassed by the bus returning to Lidcombe station, crawling through traffic all the way).
As frustrating as bad traffic and poorly organised bus dispatching may be, nothing tops Rabbitohs fans after a loss. Listening to them kvetch you'd think we'd be in the premiership every year except for the perfidy of the referees. I've sometimes said it would be interesting to go to another team's home ground to compare the crowd behavior during the game, and as this was technically an away game for us, I had my chance. Everybody boos, everybody complains how the other side isn't being held at ten metres or is passing the ball forwards, everybody cheers penalties awarded and mocks injuries it seems. But how they respond to a loss remains unclear to me, travelling as I was in a bus full of Souths fans. I guess the Parramatta supporters all drove in.
17 April 2010
Piling on
Like the Counselor, I've refrained from much commentary online, somewhat in deference to my devoutly Catholic parents, and recognizing the complexities of the situation, but just how much stupid am I expected to take from Rome?
The "world attacks" and small words for body of the church to do penance - as if it was all the rest of the members and not its leadership, at every level, that's at fault - the weaseling, the odious comparisons to the Holocaust . . . how is it possible to accept that there are any among the clergy untainted?
I was raised in the Church, went to Catholic schools, including a prep-seminary (for a year; I was a wash-out wannabe, thank Christ), and never had even the least creepy experience, although God knows some of the priests and nuns I encountered had issues, usually of anger. The vast majority were loving, kind, caring persons, and many deeply intellectual. They were mostly educators and devoted to the task, and of those who were merely among the practitioners of mysticism, even those sincerely meant to apply themselves to using their rites to establish a community that would support and nurture among them all and sundry their better natures for the benefit the community thus fostered.
But I always liked John the Baptist best, and there's no way he, of the Jesus who overturned the money-changers tables in the temple, would accept this cabal. For centuries the Church has used its power relationship to abuse the weak and vulnerable, and it has to stop. Calls for penance are meaningless if the amount to rhetoric or the traditional, anecdotal "ten Hail Marys". And so far that's all we've got. It's time to throw it over. Christianity is not to blame, but those who claim its oversight are. Sack the Pope.
Change we can believe in.
Like the Counselor, I've refrained from much commentary online, somewhat in deference to my devoutly Catholic parents, and recognizing the complexities of the situation, but just how much stupid am I expected to take from Rome?
The "world attacks" and small words for body of the church to do penance - as if it was all the rest of the members and not its leadership, at every level, that's at fault - the weaseling, the odious comparisons to the Holocaust . . . how is it possible to accept that there are any among the clergy untainted?
I was raised in the Church, went to Catholic schools, including a prep-seminary (for a year; I was a wash-out wannabe, thank Christ), and never had even the least creepy experience, although God knows some of the priests and nuns I encountered had issues, usually of anger. The vast majority were loving, kind, caring persons, and many deeply intellectual. They were mostly educators and devoted to the task, and of those who were merely among the practitioners of mysticism, even those sincerely meant to apply themselves to using their rites to establish a community that would support and nurture among them all and sundry their better natures for the benefit the community thus fostered.
But I always liked John the Baptist best, and there's no way he, of the Jesus who overturned the money-changers tables in the temple, would accept this cabal. For centuries the Church has used its power relationship to abuse the weak and vulnerable, and it has to stop. Calls for penance are meaningless if the amount to rhetoric or the traditional, anecdotal "ten Hail Marys". And so far that's all we've got. It's time to throw it over. Christianity is not to blame, but those who claim its oversight are. Sack the Pope.
Change we can believe in.
14 April 2010
Jammed
A big accident closed down a major stretch of freeway yesterday afternoon and evening. Hours of traffic, jammed to a standstill. The Roads & Transport Authority screwed around for an interminable time, what must have felt like eternity, as anyone who's ever been in Los Angeles traffic could attest to, as I have, and swear feels like the least motion forward, forever thwarted, is purest torture. So what are we treated to on the news? The State Opposition party calling for the State government minister's head, no, the whole State government, thank you, all of 'em. This morning we have the RTA head sacked, and fair enough, I reckon, but is this the state of government in this country? Just what is the ministerial responsibility, State or Federal, for their portfolios? At what point are they advised? At what point is their intervention (a) called for or (b) effective? I do not expect any politician, front-bench, let alone back-, to have the day-to-day operational oversight of the bureaucracies that form the civil service or otherwise. Ultimately, from a policy point of view, they must be responsible. For example, if the Minister for Defense were to direct that armed forces payroll should only process certain categories of entitlements in some particular way and this resulted in failing to pay legitimate claims, then that Minister is certainly responsible. If the Defense Department itself reorganized its pay schema and failed in its requirements to pay entitlements, the Minister's responsibility ends with sacking the idiot in charge and ordering rectification. But that's not how it plays here.
It's all very silly, so I thank my stars not to have teabaggers and Republicans frothing at the mouth at every turn, but it can't be long now.
A big accident closed down a major stretch of freeway yesterday afternoon and evening. Hours of traffic, jammed to a standstill. The Roads & Transport Authority screwed around for an interminable time, what must have felt like eternity, as anyone who's ever been in Los Angeles traffic could attest to, as I have, and swear feels like the least motion forward, forever thwarted, is purest torture. So what are we treated to on the news? The State Opposition party calling for the State government minister's head, no, the whole State government, thank you, all of 'em. This morning we have the RTA head sacked, and fair enough, I reckon, but is this the state of government in this country? Just what is the ministerial responsibility, State or Federal, for their portfolios? At what point are they advised? At what point is their intervention (a) called for or (b) effective? I do not expect any politician, front-bench, let alone back-, to have the day-to-day operational oversight of the bureaucracies that form the civil service or otherwise. Ultimately, from a policy point of view, they must be responsible. For example, if the Minister for Defense were to direct that armed forces payroll should only process certain categories of entitlements in some particular way and this resulted in failing to pay legitimate claims, then that Minister is certainly responsible. If the Defense Department itself reorganized its pay schema and failed in its requirements to pay entitlements, the Minister's responsibility ends with sacking the idiot in charge and ordering rectification. But that's not how it plays here.
It's all very silly, so I thank my stars not to have teabaggers and Republicans frothing at the mouth at every turn, but it can't be long now.
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