Article: The Recess of Electoral Education (Onya Magazine)

What are the most important subjects taught to our children in primary school? Mathematics. History. English. Foreign Languages. Politics. If you thought the last subject felt out of place, you aren’t alone. During my time at a state primary school in the South Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, politics was a barely touched upon subject – I scarcely recalled learning about the separation of powers or the Australian Federation until at least the intermediate years of high school. Although it didn’t deter me from higher studies of politics at VCE and tertiary levels, it would seem an exception to the rule. In Australia it’s compulsory to vote in elections – another exception to worldwide democratic norms – but are we afforded a suitable introduction to our vital institutions, civil society and its processes to make an informed decision from a young age and into maturity? What is meant by “political literacy” in 2011?

Read more at Onya Magazine.

Opinion: Principled Stand, Plummeting Poll?

Winston Churchill remarked that, “Some men change their party for the sake of their principles; others their principles for the sake of their party.” This was especially true for William Morris “Billy” Hughes, our most principled – and arguably audacious – Prime Minister.

Originally a Labor man, he pushed for conscription and held two plebiscites on the issue which were defeated. His caucus was fed up with him and threw him out in 1916. He challenged those who, “thought like him to follow him.” And he did and clung on to the Prime Ministership until 1923.

In this day and age, it’s more likely that the politician in question will sanction their party to electoral oblivion.


Read more at Onya Magazine.

A Silent Defeat

I have talked about Korzybski's Manhood of Humanity in great detail in a post here, contemplating if we have indeed entered such a phase. I refuted such an idea, instead postulating we are stuck in the adolescence - an unstable transition that sees us valuing erroneously, remaining fearful of the future and striving toward ideals that are equally transitory. Reading Life, Inc. by media theorist, documentarian and writer (in addition to practising general semantics) Douglas Rushkoff a rousing and chilling condemnation of the corporatism that pervades our entire waking life, I wondered if it would be more appropriately titled the Adolescence of Humanity instead. If we worshiped gods and insanity as children, we now supplicate to corporations, brands and unsanity as adolescents.

Corporate culture does not merely exploit that we as humans routinely mistake the map for the territory, it insists that the map is identical to the territory and manipulates us into believing no other possibility exists. Corporations and brands exist merely as higher-level abstractions and as such requires our blind faith, not reason, to validate their outlandish claims. The intentional confusion of logical levels (PC vs. Mac instead of classifying both as "computers") separates us into categories and demographics that equally require our belief and complete and total submission to that belief to keep us spending our money on their brand - the goods and services they produce are largely irrelevant. Only a cult-like devotion to a product would elicit emotionally charged responses towards any claims of inferiority - "Flash isn't necessary for the web experience" is like saying an index finger isn't necessary to make a hand functional, but iPhone and iPad zealots parrot the line nonetheless.

Corporations and special interests wish us to be blissfully aware of the dual-function of language as behavior and language forming behavior. Buying a coffee from an abstracted "coffee house" stand in a local shopping mall, there was an item that could be purchased called a "babycino" - a thimbleful of frothed milk given to children. It pacified the children into thinking they were adult and sophisticated using the sound "cino" in the name as well as giving the illusion of care and provision for the children as parents (it's for baby - why would one deny a baby the pleasure of a beverage?) making both parent and child feeling content and even attached to the product. The drink becomes irrelevant but the kinesthetic experience remains. I asked the barista why it had such a name. He said, quizzically, "because it's for babies." He missed the point. It's for the corporation that owns the coffee house and no-one else.

A Static Flame

Looking around this society of ours, we have become so preoccupied with time and its forward motion we have become afraid of its very existence. In one respect, we in Western countries have strode headlong into a complete disavowal of change. We fear it, we reject it and we try to cover it up to the best of our ability.

As Marcus Aurelius said in his Meditations, "The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it." We sell bottles of anti-change, we charge money to keep change at bay and we legislate change away in parliament.

In my view, I feel that the fear of change is another source and cause of so much misery and discontentment for so many people. They fail to recognize the only constant is the thoughts of the self and his actions and those too are subject to change. People jump unabashedly into work, into relationships and into commitments that prevent or minimize the chances of change. People foolishly believe that some institutions are forever; that once one problem has been solved, it cannot resurface in another guise as it evidently does in many cases.

Politicians are even scrambling to cover up the fact that change is inevitable; they use scientists with dubious rationality to insist that climate change is a myth; there is no credible reason for things to constantly change, even at the submicroscopic level. Just like a belief in God, they believe that humanity has no agency for change; all is predetermined, all will reveal itself in God's own time. This divine control is filtered down into religion, into politics and even into households that follow the words of God, Allah and Yahweh.

So we attempt to control change and re-label it progress. Like unconscious Marxists, we believe that progress towards higher standards of living and technology will lead us into utopia. With all changes, there are winners and losers. We focus on minimizing harm rather than maximizing utility associated with change; we irrationally suppress all change just in case something bad happens.

And shit does happen; it happens to every one, some more frequently than others. Sometimes shit happening allows us to learn and lead us in a new direction. To embrace that rather than shy away from it is the challenge we must all face. To recognize a life in four dimensions can still lead to one of fulfillment and happiness is the one change I believe that everyone should make.

What was once a great love is now deadened; what was once a routine hobby lies in the corner of a room. There's change everywhere; its ultimately up to the individual whether he stands amongst it or walks along with it, tempering it to his own needs.

Never Surrender

"An honest politician is a national calamity." - Robert Anton Wilson

Writing a piece on the Australian Government's proposed Internet Clean Feed for Onya Magazine, I quickly realized some things about governance in the 21st century. Governance is an annoyance at its best, a hindrance to personal and in some cases, small-collective satisfaction at its worst. There's a role for collective action in our civil society and in the cases where Governments overlegislate and create more problems for more people ala the Clean Feed, its time for many leaders both political, economic and civil to sit down and ponder the end of a "space-binding" method of governance replaced by "time-binding" governance, instituted and regulated by information technology mechanisms.

The mindset that space and the matter that resides in it should be the basis for its government has reached a halting limit. The Clean Feed is a blaring example. The old Magniot Line mentality has prevailed even now, in the 21st Century though one can still send a malicious payload wirelessly. Now we must explore other frontiers to govern ourselves both with a public service and without. Will we? Perhaps in a technologically backward-ass country such as my own, only time will tell, and for us time may come too late.

Straight On 'til Morning

If there's something to be said about political discourse in the United States, its this; people love their tribes. They love being in one camp vs. the other. Not all but some people are tied to the gut with love for their own teams and hard-boiled derision for the other. I always open my eyes wide with surprise whenever I hear a growl of "COME ON!!!" in local bars as their Quarterback races toward a touchdown. But as time wears on during my time living here, my surprise wanes.

On television, the big three news networks are built on similar principles. CNN taking a moderate approach much like its sister TIME Magazine, MSNBC taking on the left-liberal "watchdog" approach as the right Fox News bulldog mauls them with half-truths, distortions and their own version of political correctness; didn't you know that America is a conservative country and liberals are meant to govern in its shadow? Standing before a wall of books in a local Borders store, politics seems to boil down to partisan nit-picking, vituperative retort or self-congratulation with little to no regard for what ideas may benefit the country. Not once since I have been here have I heard a Fox News commentator commending a Democratic politician for a good idea, nor have I heard the same platitudes coming from an MSNBC journalist for a Republican.

I remember in high school during my International Studies class, we had a tireless and unabashed conservative as our teacher. Since I was entering my political education post-9/11, the Iraq War was about to begin. As a neo-realist, he believed the war was just and necessary. However, one remark he made remains as clear as day in my mind; I remember he said something along the lines of:

"The division between the two parties aren't so sharp that they'll fuck up the country. Sure, some people are dissatisfied with [former PM] Howard. But you'll find just as many people upset about Mark Latham if he was Prime Minister."

This viewpoint made the most sense - in a two party system, the prevailing party must capture the center to win government. President Obama promised tax cuts for 95% of Americans during his campaign and likewise Kevin Rudd promised to run as an "economic conservative." Even David Cameron, current UK Conservative Party leader has been described as a "moderate."

For coverage of news here, its a matter of holding up who is "more wrong" to intense scrutiny rather than asking what the facts are and analyzing what the intended and actual effects may be.

Warning: Politicians Talking

Outside my apartment in Atlanta, GA, there's a small post with a fluorescent marker on the top. It reads "WARNING: UNDERGROUND FIBER OPTIC CABLE." I kind of laughed first off, considering that the only people afraid of Fiber Optic cables are Telstra and the Australian Federal Government. In the US, people lament that their Internet services are sub-standard at best, saying that Asian powers such as South Korea and Japan have got the right idea and are beating them over the heads with it. That may be true; however, if the US are blind, then Australia is blind, deaf, lame and crippled from the waist down when it comes to providing internet - wireless or otherwise - to its citizens.

As huge billboards proclaim that "4G is now in Atlanta" most of Australia can't even manage to lay claim to having workable 3G services in urban areas at even half-affordable prices. Working with the Australian Domain Name Administrator earlier this year, more commonly known as auDA, we had to facepalm ourselves almost constantly every time the Government announced a new "initiative" regarding communications and the internet. We recoiled at how embarrassing our "firm" was presiding over the fair use of domain names when next to no-one could put anything on their websites that people could access with their supposed "broadband" connections (which may or may not be capped. Why do we cap data transfer? Like the IT Crowd chides Jen for wondering why "the internet" feels so light; it doesn't weigh anything.)

First there was the whole content filtering debacle and now the government costs Australian business money by flaking on even the most obvious infrastructure upgrades (Fiber to the home, for instance) that will futureproof domestic communications, even while wireless services catch up to fill the gaps, eventually becoming the standard for rural and regional centers. If the world thought Australia was a joke before, we might as run around with clown masks on now.

If Conroy and co. ever get a clue, please let me know so I can call up Julia and congratulate them myself.
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And now it's raining and thundering so much here I can't remember a time when I saw such a thing.

Taking it like a Champ

Talking to people in and around Atlanta, one dude who clearly wasn't a fan of Dubya did have an admiration for him insofar that (and I paraphrase)

"No matter what dumbass idea he* had, even if it was going to wreck the country, he always stuck to his guns. If he said he was going to do something, he did it."

As startling as that striking observation was, determination as a character trait isn't considered a flaw; on the contrary, its something that most would consider a strength. Although misplaced in so many ways the way George W. Bush used it during his term, President Obama isn't displaying the same kind of iron-willed fortitude as his predecessor, allowing the right-wing to scare out moderates by putting words in his mouth and the left to grow increasingly dissatisfied with his performance to date. So we have an appearance of indecision, sheepish policy statements and general confusion among some of those who are acting more hysterically than others.

Of course the standard "special interests rule this town" argument can still be applicable to the debate, but if the Obama administration wanted everyone to have affordable health insurance, he would finagle a way for everyone to get it, instead of having conservative pundits showing an uncharacteristic regard for the environment by lamenting at the amount of paper wasted every time they take out a copy of it to show how large and complicated it looks (In comparison to what, we shall never know.)

It seems that some of the respect for Obama would be restored for him if he did a little more of this instead of umming and ahhing.

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*Its also worth noting that the same friend I quoted also used "A load of Dubya Bush" as a synonym for "bullshit."

Tried, Tested, Success-ted

Apart from the brilliant riposte given by a Democratic Congressman from Massachusetts to a ill-informed town hall protester with a reality tunnel so narrow the light of day seldom enters through, many people are confusing the "public option" - namely setting up a government run enterprise to compete against private insurance companies to cover uninsured Americans - with "nationalized" medicine directly owned and administered by a government agency much like Medicare Australia or the UK National Health Service.

What many people aren't aware of is that what Mr. Obama terms the "public option" has been tried and works rather successfully in Australia under the guise of Medibank Private, the government-owned public health insurer. Originally a not-for-profit entity, it was recently incorporated and thus required to pay tax on its earnings; therefore wholly funding itself (through users subscribing to its service and reinvesting profits into the business) and contributing toward the upkeep of the public health system through the 10% GST (as well as the other taxes it will now be required to pay as an incorporated entity.)

As a beneficiary of Medibank Private* rather than one of the myriad other private insurers on the Australian market, it works rather well if you can afford to pay, as well as taking up the 30% government rebate and the waiver of the Medicare levy surcharge if one earns over AU$73,000. Of course people still point to the public health system as inherently inefficient despite the private sector attempting "relieving the burden" on it. In my view, pundits from both sides should be looking at the other side of the coin: in reality Australians that are covered with private health insurance experience little to no waiting times for care in the private sector - which is the only option most people in the US have. Although the fallacious "USPS does well against privately run mail carriers" argument may fall through, an extensional and largely functional example could prove more compelling for policymakers and those who matter the most in this debate - the 46,000,000 uninsured.

*in July 2007 I underwent a hernia operation and could pick my doctor, time of surgery and hospital I was admitted to, all with a private room via my coverage (at the time) with Medibank Private.

Natural Born Somethings

To me, the most bizarre debate that seems to simmer at the fringes of American politics and civil society at the moment (even more so than the dude at 2:58 of this video) is that of the Birthers, the name of a group who claim the presidency of Barack Obama is illegitimate due to his "reluctance" or "inability" to produce a valid birth certificate that proves his US birth and citizenship.

Since he was (or maybe he wasn't?) born in Hawaii, I'm assuming that to get a birth certificate, you would probably have to rock up at a Hawaiian State births, deaths and marriages registry or something similar, take a ticket, wait in line, produce three or four forms of ID, pay a fee and blah blah blah. Such a damn hassle, man.

Seriously; these Birthers don't know how government services work. You can't tell one of the legions of interns and assistants to go for you - you'd have to front up, in person. I'm assuming these Birthers are from the right of the American political spectrum; so therefore even if Mr. Obama did actively try to refute the claims of the Birthers' group, he would have to take Air Force One and its mandatory military escort to Hawaii which would then open him up to criticism from the same group for wasting taxpayer money. Oh, and taking time off for personal reasons, too.

Shut A Gate on It

Dear Australian politicians,

I'm merely a humble observer of your craft; the way you sit in that green chamber and thrust arguments with iron will into the air almost brings a tear to my eye; but your political scandals kind of suck.

Mr. Rudd and Mr. Swan, surely you could embezzle a large sum of money or steal the crown Liberal Party jewel which they have stashed away underneath Joe Hockey's seat. But this crap about sending emails to some car dealer just doesn't make your government any more interesting than it already is(n't.) I think Malcolm is barking up the wrong tree when he demands a copy of the email for all to see - I doubt that either one of you could figure out the print function on Microsoft Outlook. Better call up your "tech support" guy quick smart a (It's the button marked "Delete" guys.)

Until you come up with a scandal that doesn't suck, I will force Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser out of retirement so we can re-enact the 1975 Constitutional Crisis. I mean, ACA would be forced to sort of pay attention to it. Imagine all the creepy music and grainy, black and white montages they could play in slow-motion? Don't deny them this golden opportunity to devolve Australian public affairs further into frivolous muckracking!

Yours,

Crushtor

Democracy of One

I love the Australian Parliament. No really. I mean, how great is it when the entire future of environmental political economy in Australia comes down to one man who hates pubs and lesbians - I mean, what would Jesus do when the fundament of the Australian economy is put into his sweaty hands? Say G'day to Obama and co., of course! From The Australian:

[Fielding] told The Australian he came to Washington to hear both sides of the climate change debate -- today's conference was just one in a series of meetings he was holding with advocates on both sides of the issue. "I've paid for this out of my own money," Senator Fielding said. "This issue is too important to Australians not to look at the debate first-hand in Washington. In the end I will draw my own conclusions."

Senator Fielding says tomorrow he is scheduled to meet Obama administration environmental specialists in the White House. President Barack Obama campaigned on green jobs and greenhouse gas emission cuts.

"To get to the bottom of it I have to talk to both sides," Senator Fielding said.

Umm, OK, cool. I guess being there makes it extra-scientific for him. I mean, a copy of the Skeptical Environmentalist and An Inconvenient Truth and some half-decent reasoning skills wouldn't have been good enough to improve/fuck up the entire Australian nation. Hey, neither one of them are right! You just have to choose who you think is more wrong. But hey, what would Jesus do? Probably block my website at an ISP level.

But in Australia, the government has to reason with just one person at times since they hold the balance of power in the Senate. They do have the power to force their own agenda and play the hero. If they don't, they'd risk sending everyone back to the polls (and I mean everyone - voting is compulsory in Australia at all levels) and piss the electorate off even more. Kinda makes me wish we had a filibuster.

No Country for Tired Ideas

An excerpt from an upcoming article for ETC. on "Working Families: Who Are You? The General Semantics of the Rudd Labor Government."
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When Mr. Rudd mentions his commitment to "fiscal conservatism", we find ourselves drowning in a semantic ocean, with the droplets that fall into it represented by two undercurrents of mainstream political economic thought. During the previous election campaign, the estimates of the Labor Party's proposed spending was a number significantly less than the Liberal Party. A cleverly (if not deliberate) tactic to confuse the referential index of voters, which equate "fiscal conservatism" with free-market oriented policies, a balanced budget and tax cuts, etc. By the same virtue, "fiscal conservatism" could also mark back to a time when of Social Democratic-Liberal consensus that allowed for broad, interventionist economic strategies; a policy enacted during the tenure of our longest serving Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies. This economic policy let him and his successors from the Liberal Party to rule continuously from 1949 to 1972 (Splits in the Labor Party and the tarring of the ALP with the "communist" stick by opponents notwithstanding).

The point that Rudd and Treasurer Wayne Swan attempt to convey is that "fiscal conservatism" "is" responsible, job-friendly, growth-oriented, etc. while distancing the term from being identified as or associated with "economic rationalism" (a term equivalent to "Reaganomics" or "monetarism", used heavily in the 1980s) which can be viewed as "radical" or "unsafe", etc. or, if one was to see it through a two-valued orientation, "not conservative."

A Wit Unparalleled

In my view, I have never once read a finer exposition on the U.S., or rather Western liberal democracy and how we "see" and "live" in it. Truly remarkable. Allow yourself a few moments to savor.

"Corporations fill but one cage in a large menagerie. Let us glance at some of the other queer creatures created by personifying abstractions in America. Here in the center is a vast figure called the Nation -- majestic and wrapped in the Flag. When it sternly raises its arm, we are ready to die for it. Close behind rears a sinister shape, the Government.. Following it is one even more sinister, Bureaucracy. Both are festooned with the writhing serpents of red tape. High in the heavens is the Constitution, a kind of chalice like the Holy Grail, suffused with ethereal light. It must never be joggled. Below floats the Supreme Court, a black-robed priesthood tending the eternal fire.

The Supreme Court must be addressed with respect or it will neglect the fire and the Constitution will go out. This is synonymous with the end of the world. Somewhere above the Rocky Mountains are lodged the vast stone tablets of the Law. We are governed not by men but by these tablets. Near them, in stain breeches and silver buckles, pose the stern figures of our Forefathers, contemplating glumly the Nation they brought to birth. The onion-shaped demon cowering behind the Constitution is Private Property. Higher than Court, Flag, or the Law, close to the sun itself and almost as bright, is Progress, the ultimate God of America.

"Looming along the coasts are two horrid monsters, with scaly paws outstretched: Fascism and Communism. Confronting them, shield in hand and a little cross-eyed from trying to watch both at once, is the colossal figure of Democracy. Will he fend them off? We wring our hands in supplication, while admonishing the young that governments, especially democratic governments, are incapable of sensible action. From Atlantic to Pacific a huge, corpulent shape entitled Business pursues a slim, elusive Confidence, with a singular lack of success. The little trembling ghost down in the corner of Massachusetts, enclosed in a barrel, is the Taxpayer. Liberty, in diaphanous draperies, leaps from cloud to cloud, lovely and unapproachable.

"Here are the Masses, thick, black, and squirming. This demon must be firmly sat upon; if it gets up, terrible things will happen .... Capital, her skirts above her knees, is prepared to leave the country at the drop of a hairpin, but never departs. Skulking from city to city goes Crime, a red, loathsome beast, upon which the Law is forever trying to drop a monolith, but its aim is poor. Crime continues rhythmically to Rear Its Ugly Head. Here is the dual shape of Labor -- for some a vast, dirty, clutching hand, for others a Galahad in armor. Pacing to and fro with remorseless tread are the Trusts and the Utilities, bloated, unclean monsters with enormous biceps. Here is Wall Street, a crouching dragon ready to spring upon assets not already nailed down in any other section of the country. The Consumer, a pathetic figure in a gray shawl, goes wearily to market. Capital and Labor each giver her a kick as she passes, while Commercial Advertising, a playful spirit, squirts perfume into her eyes.

"From the rear, Sex is a foul creature but when she turns, she becomes wildly alluring. Here is the home, a bright fireplace in the stratosphere. The Economic Man strolls up and down, completely without vertebrae. He is followed by a shambling demon called the Law of Supply and Demand. Production, a giant with lightning in his fist, parades reluctantly with Distribution, a thin, gaunt girl, given to fainting spells. Above the oceans the golden scales of a Favorable Balance of Trade occasionally glitter in the sun. When people see the glitter, they throw their hats into the air. That column of smoke, ten miles high, looping like a hoop snake, is the Business Cycle. That clanking goblin, all gears and switchboards, is Technological Unemployment. The Rich, in full evening regalia, sit at a loaded banquet table, which they may never leave, gorging themselves forever amid the crystal and silver ....

"Such, gentlemen, is the sort of world which our use of language fashions."

-- Stuart Chase, The Tyranny of Words (1937), pp. 23-25.

Intrigue and Incense

When a party is in opposition, especially one that believes in its divinely ordained right to rule our nation by virtue of their mere existence, high profile players usually snipe at one another via the media when it becomes evident their policies won't wedge the government of the day - case and point of John Hewson telling Peter Costello to resign. That's all fine and dandy, but the fact that he attacks the man personally on his achievements baffles me to say the least. Not really out of character for the usual Tory ad hominem smear politics. (Remember! They made Latho cry! Actually fucking cry!)
Sure, he was never made leader of the parliamentary Liberal party, but he did deliver a GST and win a whole bunch of elections; something Hewson never achieved despite his ambitious aspirations, even suffering a defeat, losing the "unloseable" Fightback! campaign of 1993. (And he was in Opposition! He not only didn't win, he actually lost. Cue the sad trombone.)

On second thoughts, the squabble could be reduced to an Onion-esque headline: "Old loser tells hurt loser to quit."

You and he were...buddies, weren't you?

Watching Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, a timeless cult classic which I thought I had seen to absolute death still cracks me up after watching three times in a row (once with "directors'" commentary.)

I had a good time at the Darkplace party last night; partying 'til 6am felt good again (even if I did take a break during a showing of The Lost Boys.)

I really hope I get one of the jobs i've applied for soon; however K-Rudd doesn't really fill me with confidence. Although I will take his/our money, just for the record.

Every Hour, On Your Hour

Trawling through the internet and Facebook the other day caused me to realize how fragmented experiences are getting these days. When I go to a party, photos are now expected to be taken and put up on Facebook. Same with trips overseas or across country; people upload a mess of photos and that's it; travelogue completed. The verbal element is all but eliminated and the days of regailing your friends with tales of your sojourn are over. "Here are all my pictures, you figure it out." Its sort of like the Lonely Planet guide you'd find in Fahrenheit 451. I know, I know, I'm an 80 year old trapped in a 22 year old body; call me old-fashioned for wanting to hear or read stories instead of looking at pictures. It's sort of like an on-demand travel slide-show party.

Don't get me wrong, I love the concept of on-demand. I don't sit down to watch TV any more; I download pretty much everything ahead of time (FastTrack just ain't fast enough) or shows that I can't get on TV where I live. Intelligent and brilliant shows such as Breaking Bad, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia or Snuff Box don't play in Australia (absent from both free-to-air and Pay TV) and if I want to see them, I'll have to download them. In the absence of a Hulu.com style service which I would gladly pay a nominal, reasonable fee for, I'm sort of forced to.

Australia seems to be the orphaned bastard child when it comes to distributed media services (especially when our fourth-rate internet service needs to be employed in order for it to function) and politicians and media owners wonder why no one bothers to invest in our entertainment and media industry.

Tomorrow (my time) shall be a most momentous occasion indeed.

In Defence of Capitalism

First Strike:
Boss: "I hate darning clothes."
Me: "So would I, if I lived in the nineteenth century."
B: "Why, what do you do with your clothes when they get torn?"
Me: "I buy new ones? Mass production for the win!"

Secondary Effects:
Nat: "When guys buy me drinks, they expect something in return."
Me: "I say you should welcome them to poon capitalism. They expect poon socialism but that's just not happening. Not now, not ever."

Oh, and my theory on the correlation between the quality of Celtic style music and the distance between the place of production and Ireland has been validated once again by the haunting, yet exquisitely crafted Slania by SWISS metallers Eluveitie.

Beat on the Brat

I've been having a major Ramones kick recently. Something tells me that my re-issue of their self-titled album on vinyl isn't enough. Hopefully Nat should be burning me their Greatest Hits compilation for me. (read: hint!)

I also jokingly considered running for my local council with Catch and Ahchow yesterday. Somehow I don't think running a borderline nut-job libertarian program of privatizing all the council services and replacing rates as a source of income by investing in the construction of a huge bell on top of Southland in a bid for the City of Kingston being home to "The biggest bell in the Southern Hemisphere" (Yeah, the North has Big Ben and the Liberty Bell!) and the ensuing consumption-free foreign tourist cash flow to fund whatever a council supposedly does. But then I hit upon an even better idea to get myself elected to office in a heartbeat.

Abolish the Kingston City Council altogether and let the State government take up the slack. Hell, I'd vote for me!

Control Denied

Due to my development of a blatant disregard for any type of formal learning, I told my examiners to define their questions better. I wrote about an entire page on why their question "democracy is more desirable than any other feasible alternative" was too subjective to be thoroughly answered. Sociology and Political Science can go fuck itself - there's nothing falsifiable about conjectures that can't be refuted. I'd much rather call my Political Science degree a Political Theology degree - there's a lot of faith and belief in which rational thought is supposed to belie.

Because thousands of Tibetans march on the street because they hate the Chinese government mean that they desire democracy? We assume they do. We believe that democracy and freedom are hand-in-hand, indissoluble, colloidal. In this democracy of mine, we lock up artists, deny same-sex couples to formalize their relationship and treat our adults like children by depriving them of the chance to fuck up and learn for themselves. If you believe democracy is freedom, remember that when you say something is, it is not!

That exam was almost as stupid as the time one of my old high-school mates gave me shit for putting too many print articles in the school magazine. That isn't relevant. But it was just as retarded.