buggery.org

William Gibson:

It gets harder, the more I think about it, to see that causing many of the remaining pool of undecided US voters to go Bush. I think OBL needed a logo moment, though, in terms of the ongoing validity of his global brand, and look what he’s been able to pull off, with virtually no outlay: The world’s full attention, as both candidates drop everything to respond.

You know who would’ve completely gotten OBL? Andy Warhol.

“When smashing monuments,” the Polish Holocaust survivor and satirist Stanislaw Lec once remarked, “save the pedestals — they always come in handy.”

A German auction house is flogging off the left leg of the famous statue of Saddam Hussein pulled down for the benefit of the TV cameras on 2003-04-09 after the American-led war on Iraq.

The auction site is in German, but with the help of Babelfish I can report that:

With arguable symbolism and at the same time usually-broadest pictures, the conquerers of the world and particularly all Iraqi citizens showed that the dreaded dictator so for a long time does not govern any longer over its country.

Wizzo!

If you happen to have about a hundred thousand euros lying about the house you could own this piece of trash, which would mean you could decorate your home in the style of Edina Monsoon from the BBC TV show Absolutely Fabulous:

(via Boing Boing, Edina’s house pics from BBC)

“It feels like – like someone putting a hot washcloth on you, over every part of your body at the same time, inside and out.”

Brent spent the day in the Alfred Hospital Emergency Department yesterday, his second trip there in less than a week. It was a long and, at times, difficult day.
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Ten years and one day ago was the last time I spoke to Daren. (more…)

After my moaning and groaning about being blue the other day, I’ve decided to pull myself up by the bootstraps and count my many blessings. Probably nothing I need to do in public (but that could be said of many things I’ve done) so here goes: (more…)

Globalvote2004.org is offering the other 97 percent of the planet a chance to vote in the US Presidential election:

Even if you are not a US citizen, the November 2 presidential election will have a huge impact on your life. The very idea of democracy requires that you should have a say in choosing who determines your destiny. This site therefore allows non-Americans to vote in the 2004 US presidential election.

Well, it’s a non-binding vote, and hugely open to abuse, but so’s the official poll if last time is anything to go by. I voted for Walt Brown, the Socialist Party candidate, and I strongly urge you to do the same.

(via Antiminke)

I’m a bit blue at the moment. Not depressed, exactly, just not quite as bright and shiny as I’d like to be. It happens from time to time.

There’s no reason for it that I can identify – I could attribute it to the re-election of the Howard kakocracy, but that isn’t it. And there’s no solution, except to ride it out. It will pass, soon I hope.

In the meantime, I’m finding it difficult to get things done, and finding it hard to enjoy the things I usually enjoy. I don’t sleep well, can’t focus, everything’s a chore. But it will pass.

The Guardian © Steve Bell 2004

I’m not going to write or, if I can manage, think, about politics for at least a week. Every time my mind wanders anywhere near the train wreck that was/is our new Alien Overlord government I get physically sick. I have to close my eyes and do what my dad always advised me to do when I was frightened of the boogie monster: “try to imagine a peaceful scene with a sailing boat on a lake in the sunshine beneath a clear blue sky,” he’d say. My dad liked sailing boats. And hated Tories.

I’ve spent the last 36 hours hiding from a world I don’t understand any more. At least I hope I don’t understand it, because when I look at the results of last weekend’s election the picture I see is very scary indeed.

History will record that, against the odds but in line with almost everyone’s predictions except mine, John Howard won the 2004 general election. He increased his party’s vote and will hold a majority in the House of Representatives that will be practically unassailable three years from now. The Liberal-National coalition will continue in government until at least 2010.

At the same time, it’s clear that the Labor Party, Australia’s oldest political party, has lost its way, with its share of the vote eroding for the last four elections in a row. Unless Labor finds a way to reverse this trend, it is headed for oblivion, and a new opposition party isn’t going to spring into existence, fully-formed, to take its place any time soon.

Compounding this, for the first time in a quarter of a century the Senate will be controlled by the government, with the coalition holding at least 38 of the 76 seats, and with the (conservative, evangelical christian) Family First party making up the numbers. In recent history neither of the two main parties have had a Senate majority, leaving the government of the day to deal with minor parties (the Democrats and the Greens) and independent senators to pass legislation.

Opposition in disarray. A compliant Senate. This is not a recipe for good government, regardless of who is in power.

It is very difficult to overstate the significance of this. For the last eight years, as they’ve slashed and burned their way through Australia’s social and moral fabric, the coalition has nonetheless been restrained from implementing some of the more radical parts of their agenda by the Senate. That all changes on July 1 next year (the new Senate comes in on that date). Howard and his gang will be free to sell the rest of Telstra, destroy the independence and diversity of the media, continue to restict the rights of unions and workers, and turn the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission into a toothless tiger. That’s just what we already know is on the agenda. What other measures they might have filed away in the too-hard (until now) basket I shudder to think.

What is clear is that Howard has won. Not just this election but he has done what he always set out to do: he has changed this country forever. On Saturday Australia abandoned the ideals of decent, caring, honest government for low interest rates. It doesn’t matter to the majority of Australians that their government joined an illegal war, is actively campaigning against human rights and the UN, and has a thinly-veiled policy of turning Australia into a nation of winners and losers. What matters is tax cuts. Interest rates. National security. Border protection.

My country – the country I always believed was populated, in the main, by good people who placed the good of the community above self-interest, seems to have disappeared from view.

I don’t want to harp on about this – there will be plenty of opportunity for more reflective analysis in the weeks and months ahead – but I do think we witnessed more this last weekend than a change of government. And I think it’s deeply disturbing.

I’m just going out the back for a minute. Don’t worry if you hear a gunshot.

I’ve done my civic duty – wandered down to the end of my street to the local primary school and cast my vote. In my slippers.

It always makes me smile when the AEC worker asks “have you already voted today?” before giving you your ballot papers. I wonder if anyone ever gives the wrong answer. It’s a bit like the “and did you pack your bag yourself?” question when you get on a plane. Necessary, but hardly enlightening.

In the end I put the Greens first in both houses but ignored the how-to-vote and made up my own mind on preferences, mostly so I could put the Democrats even further down the ticket than the Liberals, plus of course there’s nothing a psephile like me enjoys more than voting below the line in the Senate, which today in Victoria means numbering 65 boxes. As usual, it’s a lot easier to decide who to put first than it is to decide who to put last. In the end One Nation got my last vote, preceded by Family First (Lesbian witch burning party), the Christian Democrats (Fred Nile) and the Citizens Electoral Council (Lyndon Larouche Loony Right). Apart from One Nation, who will always go last on a point of principle, I ordered the others based on their respective (slim) chances of getting a quota.

The usual festive atmosphere is prevailing down at Merri Primary. The school has put on a sausage sizzle ($2 a snag) and they’re selling raffle tickets (dunno what the prize is). If I had got dressed before I went to vote I’d probably have had some change and bought a ticket.

The last of the pre-election polls is on the front page of the Age this morning, predicting a landslide for Howard. Can’t believe the polls at all in this election. There are still as many as one in five voters who haven’t decided, an astronomical figure. I still reckon it could go either way.

Brent’s in the kitchen chopping salads and getting ready for the election party tonight. I think it’ll be a small affair – a dozen or so – but it will be fun to have a barbie and get sloshed while watching the fall of civilization. Misery loves company.

Today we bear witness to the spectacle that is Australian democracy in the raw, as millions of Aussie battlers take a few moments away from their busy lives to visit the local primary school or church hall and do their democratic duty. Number all the squares. Small green ballot paper in this box, large white ballot paper in this box. If you spoil this paper, see the officials for a replacement.

Vote early and vote often, as they say.

Yet more polls are predicting a sweeping return for the rodent. But at least a million people say they haven’t made their minds up yet, and many more will change their minds before the day is out. Despite the doom and gloom, I maintain a cheerful optimism that many of those votes will go to the new bloke. Aussies like backing the underdog, and besides, voting for the guy you think will lose gives you three years of “don’t blame me, I didn’t vote for him” rights when the country goes pear-shaped.

May the best man win. I say that with the deepest and most heartfelt sincerity. Mostly because I don’t want the duplicitous evil little runt who’s held office for the last eight years to win, and he sure as hell ain’t the best man.

Just 24 hours before the polls open in what will be a critical election for Australia. The polls continue to point to a narrow victory for the incumbent, but there continues to be large numbers of undecided voters.

I woke up this morning with a deep sense of despair for my country. If Howard is re-elected, what will it mean for Australia? What will it mean if we reward Howard with a fourth term and the soft exit from politics that he so desperately craves?
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I’m having a toy with Flikr and I’ve uploaded a few more shots of the wedding for those of you who need a fix of “goo and gaa” in these dark times. Here.

Apart from the fact that other people seem to think Flikr is good, I’m experimenting with this with a view to (maybe) moving the galleries offsite. I’m rather chuffed to report that around 600 people visit this website every day, generating an average of around 11,000 hits/day. This is of course good news (I’m flattered that so many of you enjoy my rants) but it’s costing me a bomb. I’ve exceeded my data transfer allowance for the last three months in a row, and I’m approaching the point at which I need to upgrade my hosting plan (from 2000MB to 4000MB per month). That’s getting rather pricey. You’re worth it, of course.

“I like trees, I like forests, I believe in an environmentally sensitive nation,” said the PM yesterday, while unveiling his Tasmanian forests policy.

Does a sensible environment policy flow from the fact that the nation’s leader “likes trees”? Does the fact that John Howard “likes trees” (who doesn’t?) make a damn of difference when the future of Australia’s dwindling old-growth forests is at stake? Who does Howard think he’s kidding?

You, and me.
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Firstly, a personal update: I woke up this morning feeling super! Chest is fairly clear, head no longer feels like a balloon full of mucous, headache and body ache seems to be gone. Sweet relief, and just in time for me to go back to work. Cruel irony, but I’m relieved to be feeling better.

Just three days left before the election. and (I won’t be the last to say this) it’s too close to call. The polls seem to be pretty much on a knife edge, 50:50 for both sides, but I’m going to go out on a limb now and predict a Latham victory. Probably a narrow victory, but I feel quietly confident that Iron Mark will be PM next week.
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So today we had the much-anticipated ALP forests policy announcement – Latham has unveiled a plan to immediately halt logging in Tasmania’s high-value old growth forests pending an expert report into which of the forests should be preserved. There’s also an $800 million fund to compensate loggers and provide retraining, and a promise of “no net loss of jobs” in the Tassie forest industry.
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The Sunday before a federal election always promises a few surprises – Sundays are usually slow news days, and so there’s a substantial opportunity for the leaders to pull one last rabbit out of the hat and get it on the evening news.

Latham has just announced he’ll cut the cost of prescription medicines if he gets in - a maximum co-payment of $4 per script for pensioners and concession card holders (down from $4.60), and $25 for others (down from $28.60). He’s also promising to double the immunisation allowance paid to new mothers.
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Just watched Laurie Oakes grilling the Short Man on Sunday. Howard looked decidedly worried, and the Sphere of Influence was very much on the attack, especially over the coalition’s preference swap with the conservative Christian “party” Family First, also known as the Assemblies of God pentecostal church.

Hot on the heels of their success in winning last year’s “Australian Idol”, the Assemblies of God are keen to reach even higher and crowbar their way into the Senate, and if they succeed, they’ll be doing so on Howard’s coat-tails.

Oakes read some excepts from a letter from the FF Senate candidate for Queensland, who is an AoG pastor, claiming that FF/AoG were planning to make Australia “the great south land of the holy spirit.” Family First will be the beneficiary of the coalition’s second preferences, ahead of Meg Lees’ proto-Liberal Progressive Alliance, and Oakes put Howard under the spotlight pretty effectively on that.

Separation of church and state? We don’t have any of that rubbish here.

UPDATE, 11.55: The transcript of the interview is online now; I’ve cut and paste the relevant bits below the fold.
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This morning’s Sun-Herald in Sydney is running with the results of an opinion poll showing Labor ahead in Eden-Monaro, which is considered a “bellwether” seat because it has followed the national trend in every election since 1972. It’s also the seat in which I spent my formative years, and the seat in which I joined the Labor Party at the tender age of 15, many years ago. (I’m no longer a member of the ALP.)
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I’m feeling much improved this morning – no more sore throat, chest is much better, head is clearing. Looks like I’ll be hale and hearty again just in time to return to work on Wednesday, which could be a cruel irony but I’m taking as a positive. I’m looking forward to getting back to work.

As a consequence of spending most of yesterday asleep, and hitting the hay early last night, I’m up at the crack of dawn today and firing on all cylinders. Not sure how long that’s likely to last, but while it does, I’m enjoying feeling close to 100% again. I’ve already had a look at the Sunday papers and there’s lots to pique my attention, so I expect I’ll have a few posts today, either in the main blog or in the “pokery” section at left.

Back in Melbourne now. We arrived in Sydney yesterday morning feeling very much worse for wear, and quickly got to work changing our flight home. I’m sad we won’t be at Sleaze Ball in Sydney – the buzz seemed pretty positive in spite of the driving rain – but of course we have had such a wonderful couple of weeks that Sleaze Ball couldn’t compete anyway.

I’ll pick up the pace over the next couple of days once my chest and head start to clear. Expect lots of political commentary in the coming week before we toss John Howard on the scrap-heap of history next Saturday night. Melbourne readers who’d like to join us for an election night shindig in Buggery Mansions are welcome to get in touch.