Lord Malcolm update

Update 8 March 2007 Lord Malcolm is still with us and has plans for this month. Will let you know how they went…

See here and here.

Sirdan and I visited Malcolm last Sunday and were able to take him out into the sun for a while. I have just seen him today. There is a new round of opportunistic infection.

Dorothy had been this morning; she gave him a framed message from South Sydney Uniting Church. I had known nothing about that.

I’ve been quiet lately on Iraq, Bush, and so on…

Not that I haven’t been following the news, not to mention the various pieces The Poet has sent me.

I have just one question:

Name ONE thing George Bush has done, ONE policy he has espoused, which was not either totally misconceived and ill-advised from the start, or which has not by now gone belly-up. Just one…

Why is he still there?

Extreme prejudice… 2

My own, in this case. My commitment to diversity, pluralism, tolerance and so on did not come with me from birth. Yes, I had a remarkably tolerant and curious maternal grandfather, and that helped, but well into my twenties I was very conservative and sometimes racist and very dubious about homosexuality, the last being quite inconvenient really. Life, experience, and reading (in that order) wrought the changes you see today. I am in my sixties now and still a work in progress. I believe that is how it ought to be as well.

When twenty years ago I finally “came out” there were aspects of the gay world, and associated worlds as the picture is far more complex, that did not fit me. Take drag and effeminacy for example: I had a problem with that, because I was not thus inclined myself, and still am not. Equally, the various patterns of hyper-masculinity one finds in parts of the gay world did not/do not attract me either. I just want to be me, I guess, but that implies extending the same privilege to others, doesn’t it?

Extreme prejudice… 1

Let he that is without sin, etc…

Last weekend I saw Tony Abbott’s attack on Kevin Rudd’s version of Christianity as a stand-up comic routine. In today’s Sydney Morning Herald Tony continues to reveal that his version of Christianity is a question of cheerleading for one line of thought. He also confesses, interesting for us oldies, that the true heir of B A Santamaria is Tony Abbott and the current Liberal Party — except for Santa’s sentimental belief in trade unions. That admission would once have sunk them without trace, wouldn’t it?

On not being complacent about AIDS

Today the Australian government has reacted to an overall rise of new HIV cases in Australia between 2000 and 2005 with a proposed new advertising campaign to get the safe sex message out there again.

NATASHA SIMPSON: It’s yet to be decided what form the campaign would take, but Don Baxter from the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations, has a clear idea of how it should be designed to ensure maximum impact.

Poetry’s Decline?

Maybe, maybe not. Jim Belshaw and I share a love for Judith Wright’s poetry. My mother, who “competed” with Judith Wright in the 1920’s children’s pages of the Sydney Mail, did not share my enthusiasm for her work. An earlier generation of Australian poetry was more to her taste.

I did my bit for Australian poetry at one stage. I met a few poets at that time, and explored even more. I do genuinely enjoy the work of Robert Gray, determinedly against the cultural grain as he may be in some ways.

Watched Yin shi nan nu (1994) last night…

Just showing off, and M did invite me to his Chinese New Year party on Sunday 18 February last night. What I am talking about is Ang Lee’s Eat Drink Man Woman, a movie M recommends for its insight on Chinese culture. And the food, the food! Prepare to salivate! (Living with M was like living in this movie. ) On the DVD James Schamus, the co-writer with Ang Lee, says he got his head around the culture by thinking of the characters as Jewish… This is “a dish cooked to perfection” says reviewer James Berardinelli, and I could not agree more. The image below takes you to another review on BeyondHollywood.com.

Ang Lee has of course gone on to other things, most recently Brokeback Mountain, which I have not yet seen, believe it or not.

Oxford Street Sydney

They have been cleaning it up lately, but it is still a dowdy old queen of a street in many ways. I’m not there as much as I used to be, and very rarely at night. These days too I tend to avoid Mardi Gras, not because I don’t respect its significance, but I really don’t like crowds. You may read my thoughts on the subject by clicking the link in the previous sentence. The season is almost upon us again.

A few years ago Sydney City Council had an exhibition on Sydney Streets. Perhaps that old Cronulla pic in the previous entry has prompted me, but I thought I’d indulge in a bit more nostalgia with two photos of Oxford Street from that 2003 exhibition. The top one is in the 1940s, the bottom from 2003. It’s around 20-25 minutes walk from here in Elizabeth Street Surry Hills.

Howard government and debate control

Sounds like a conspiracy theory, doesn’t it? I say it is no such thing, but a plainly obvious tendency for the current Australian government to mould public opinion by a whole range of strategies and techniques. Some have called it a culture war, and it is real, in my opinion. My tag “culture wars” will take you to more on this.

The Sydney Morning Herald has a very pertinent article by Sarah Maddison and Clive Hamilton, The Repression of the Bleeding Hearts:

A decade is a long time to be in government. Any government in power for so long will leave an indelible mark on the society it governs, changing the culture, identity, values and direction of the nation. For those in the community who disagree with government policy, there is some comfort in the knowledge that at the very least they can publicly express their dissenting opinions through the recognised institutions of democracy. This capacity for public debate and dissent ensures that governments must continue to publicly justify their decisions - a hallmark of democracy. But what happens when these democratic institutions are themselves eroded by government. What are the costs when a government tries to ensure that its values are the only values heard in public debate? What are the consequences for a nation whose citizenry is denied essential information about controversial policies?

Joel Levy Conspiracies: 50 reasons to watch your back (2005)

Joel Levy’s small compendium Conspiracies (Allen & Unwin 2005) is in the “Best Reads of 2007″ not for literary reasons but for its usefulness as a tool to think with.

From fake moon landings to the murder of Princess Diana, a modern-day paranoiac has plenty of reasons to keep looking over his shoulder. Could one man act alone to assassinate a hugely popular American president? What dark secrets are harboured by the Bush family (and the British royal family) about their 1930s collusion with the Nazis? Have the Freemasons secretly grasped control of the world’s economy? Who is holding back on the explanations, and why?

The conspiracy theory is more popular than ever. A staple of movies, books, TV and, above all, the Internet, it has now seeped into global consciousness to an unprecedented degree. More people now believe in more conspiracy theories than at any time in history.

The Little Book of Conspiracies reviews the essentials of 50 great and small conspiracies, whether documented or alleged, from your toothpaste giving you lead poisoning to the real reason the Titanic sunk. There are plenty of reasons to be paranoid…

Each chapter follows this formula:

1. A concise account of the theory
2. A concise account of the “official” view.
3. A % believability rating called “How paranoid should you be?”

That last one is one of the book’s best features. While the proposition that there was a massive deception on WMD to mobilise public opinion prior to the war in Iraq gets a 99% believability rating, that Marilyn Monroe’s death was anything other than suicide scores 3%, and of course many old favourites score down to 0%.

There are many sites covering similar ground on the internet, and in the bibliography many of them are listed.

See conspiracy theory in Sourcewatch.

Teaching: generational change

The next year or two will see a massive generational change in the teaching service as the Boomers retire or fall off the twig. I began my career way back in 1966, forty-one years ago. Not many teachers with that length of record were still in the service when I started, and once I moved to the Wollongong area in 1970 just about everyone seemed to be a twenty-something. Those days may be about to come round again.

I thought of this today as I was negotiating with a Year 11 boy, just back from the familial holiday visit to China, who wishes to start coaching next week. He is the cousin of Jessie, who was a Year 12 coachee last year. (God, now these coachees have lived their entire lives during the period I have known M!)

The Rabbit begins his teaching career proper on Monday in one of these schools. Good heavens, their Multicultural/ESL Consultant, Carol Marshman, is stationed in Wollongong! These people have been cut back severely in recent years. Where once maybe four consultants in this field covered from just north of Wollongong (The Shire) to the Harbour and west to around Ashfield, now one does that job. I can tell you from experience these consultants were mighty useful, but these days it must be hard for them to have an effect.

Schools in the Campbelltown area vary in their demographics. Be interesting to know more about the issues The Rabbit’s school will present. Perhaps we’ll learn more on his blog one day.

Meanwhile, my thoughts are with him. It can be a tough job, make no mistake, but it also has its rewards.

Perhaps my English and ESL site will be of some use. I note its usage is growing. Interesting too what people look at on the two sites. WordPress tells me a lot, but does not count the static pages when it indicates what people have visited. Sitemeter does, but in its free version only perserves the past 100 visits in detail, and these days that may only be half a day’s worth. It’s 86 so far today, with over twelve hours left. The most recent stats from Sitemeter has ranked visits thus:

Mulrunji decision ‘historic’ for Indigenous justice

After a decade when we have in important respects gone backwards in the highly important symbolic issues concerning Indigenous Australia, it is wonderful to see Sir Laurence Street capping his distinguished career with this decision on the Palm Island matter. (See ABC News.)

The decision to charge a Queensland police officer over a death in custody has been described as one of the most significant events in the last 200 years of Aboriginal history.

Former New South Wales chief justice Sir Laurence Street has recommended Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley be prosecuted for the manslaughter of Palm Island man Mulrunji in 2004.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Leanne Clare, has been criticised for her ruling last year that there was not enough evidence to press charges.

The State Member for Townsville, Mike Reynolds, says it is an historic decision.

Mr Reynolds says he has spoken to many people on Palm Island who feel they have been vindicated by the decision to have the case heard before a court.

“Everyone is saying that this is one of the most important days in the 219 years in regard to justice for Indigenous people,” he said.

The Palm Island community celebrated into the night and Mulrunji’s friends say they are looking forward to having their day in court.

Family friend David Bulsey says the focus now is getting a fair trial…

It would be totally improper to preempt what such a trial might find, but I think the Queensland Police Union needs to do some soul searching nonetheless.

(My nephew worked on Palm Island for some years, by the way.)

M. Hulot’s Holiday (1953+)

As someone points out in comments on Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot, “there were a number of versions of the film as Tati added bits over the years : for instance, the ‘Jaws’ sequence was added after Spielberg’s film was released.” The DVD offers two soundtracks, one in English (sometimes rather odd English) done by Jacques Tati himself, and the other in French. Only occasionally does the dialogue matter, however: the ironic news broadcasts and the snippet of Marxist discussion being a couple of such occasions.

Mister Bean owes Tati a great debt.

If you have never seen this comic classic, you really must. Don’t expect a plot, but do expect to laugh. The image at the head of this entry is from the end of the movie and is the only use of colour in it.

More wildlife in Surry Hills

The great Port Jackson fig overhanging the traffic in Elizabeth Street (which could be a worry one day) was alive with lorikeets this morning, screeching and darting, occasionally crashing into windows, and all this just a few minutes from Sydney’s Central Station.

It is not unusual to see lorikeets in the inner city — in East Redfern PK is regularly visited by them in his Housing Department tower block — but perhaps the drought has driven them east in greater numbers this year?

The picture comes from an excellent site: Greg Holland & Leon Keasey Bird Photos.

Australia Day / Survival Day

First Fleet in Port Jackson 1788. Click to learn more.

Are the days of the states numbered?

Australia is a federation, each state and territory having its own government with powers set out in the Constitution and with constitutional change requiring a referendum. Nonetheless, the definition of the relative powers of the states and the centre in Canberra has been subject to adjustment before. The trend towards reduction of state power has been on for at least thirty years, but under John Howard has accelerated. I suspect this will continue, whoever wins the 2007 election.

One area where the change is notable is in the area of climate change and water and energy management, where the government’s scepticism, symbolised in its refusal to sign up to Kyoto, has been rebadged “realism” and has in fact become more flexible. Two items in last night’s 7.30 Report show very well how things stand today: Howard pledges $10b to solve water crisis and Malcolm Turnbull interview — and a very good interviewee Turnbull is, definitely future PM material, I’d say.