blamebrampton (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
blamebrampton) wrote2008-09-07 03:18 am
blamebrampton) wrote2008-09-07 03:18 am
Still not dead
Though I did cough up half a lung last night and ended up sleeping on the sofa until 5pm, which is why I am bright and sparky at 3.53am ...
Here's hoping that all my English and Welsh flist are escaping the worst of the storm, and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jadzialove and others being menaced by the cyclone. And if anyone is in Liverpool, how are things going with the giant robot spider roaming the streets?
It's been a strange week for Australian politics. In good news Quentin Bryce is the new Governor General. This is the ceremonial role of the Queen's representative in Australia. Or at least, it's usually ceremonial. A GG once brought down an Australian government and no one's ever really forgotten it. But Quentin is lovely. She was one of the first women barristers in Queensland, and has a long and strong record on women's rights and indigenous issues without for a moment divorcing herself from the broader social issues that go into constructing the complex problems behind sexism and racism.
On Friday we thought that the New South Wales treasurer would be sacked. This was good news because he is ghastly and has massively screwed up infrastructure management within the state. As it turned out, he went and the premier went, too. Now we have a new premier who is so low-key that even I had barely heard of him. He's a relative cleanskin from the ALP centre left, which might even equate to not in thrall to developers or particular unions, give it a few months to wait and see. The Labor party here is so very curate's egg, parts of it are excellent, while the rest would be perfectly at home in the Chicago of the early 20th century.
(The conservative opposition is the same. The Liberal leader is wonderful and I would have him as premier in an instant, but of the rest of his party there are too many who are anti public schools and hospitals, and also too many religious nutters for me to feel comfortable with the lot of them.)
The new premier is a bit of a cardigan man; dull and diligent, formerly a gardener and a binman (I do not jest), who went off to uni and took a degree in English Literature because he thought he ought to. I approve of cardigan men; politicians who rely on flash and personality have me running for the hills. For this reason I am very glad that I do not live in the US. I would actually explode if I had to work with journos who wrote almost wholly in terms of personality politics. Whether Sarah Palin is the perfect girl next door or the daughter of Satan is immaterial, the fact of the matter is that she lacks substantive experience and firmly believes in a set of policies that will see the alleged greatest nation in the world back in the scientific stone age. That and the incredible financial ineptitude of the Republicans over the last eight years have me boggling at commentators who are suggesting that the Democrats are now in trouble for November.
Let me put it this way: I think that if I knew John McCain, we would probably get on. As long as we didn't talk about Cindy, she scares me. I might even get on with Sarah Palin if we restricted out topics of conversation to why gays should have partner superannuation rights. But if it were my country, I would want it run by someone who has a plan for managing the massive looming Social Security disaster, who has an idea of providing health care for the millions who are doing without (because America, you're doing it wrong) and who comes from a party that has historically presided over the majority of periods of financial growth and prosperity. And so even though I think I would end up finding Barack Obama mentally exhausting if he was my next door neighbour, and do suspect Joe Biden is just a bit odd, I'd be voting for them if I was American. Because you should care whether or not you like your friends, not your politicians.
And if I was an American journalist, I would be writing stories that looked at the economy and asking very seriously whether it can survive another Republican president, rather than playing this schoolyard game of who's cooler that they've all been playing this week. Because all those savings that have kept the US from utter fiscal disaster in the last eight years, they're long gone and not on anything that will make money or protect against loss in the future.
But instead, the Washington Post's lead online politics story is on first lady fashions.
Makes the robot spider look like a good deal ...
Here's hoping that all my English and Welsh flist are escaping the worst of the storm, and
jadzialove and others being menaced by the cyclone. And if anyone is in Liverpool, how are things going with the giant robot spider roaming the streets?It's been a strange week for Australian politics. In good news Quentin Bryce is the new Governor General. This is the ceremonial role of the Queen's representative in Australia. Or at least, it's usually ceremonial. A GG once brought down an Australian government and no one's ever really forgotten it. But Quentin is lovely. She was one of the first women barristers in Queensland, and has a long and strong record on women's rights and indigenous issues without for a moment divorcing herself from the broader social issues that go into constructing the complex problems behind sexism and racism.
On Friday we thought that the New South Wales treasurer would be sacked. This was good news because he is ghastly and has massively screwed up infrastructure management within the state. As it turned out, he went and the premier went, too. Now we have a new premier who is so low-key that even I had barely heard of him. He's a relative cleanskin from the ALP centre left, which might even equate to not in thrall to developers or particular unions, give it a few months to wait and see. The Labor party here is so very curate's egg, parts of it are excellent, while the rest would be perfectly at home in the Chicago of the early 20th century.
(The conservative opposition is the same. The Liberal leader is wonderful and I would have him as premier in an instant, but of the rest of his party there are too many who are anti public schools and hospitals, and also too many religious nutters for me to feel comfortable with the lot of them.)
The new premier is a bit of a cardigan man; dull and diligent, formerly a gardener and a binman (I do not jest), who went off to uni and took a degree in English Literature because he thought he ought to. I approve of cardigan men; politicians who rely on flash and personality have me running for the hills. For this reason I am very glad that I do not live in the US. I would actually explode if I had to work with journos who wrote almost wholly in terms of personality politics. Whether Sarah Palin is the perfect girl next door or the daughter of Satan is immaterial, the fact of the matter is that she lacks substantive experience and firmly believes in a set of policies that will see the alleged greatest nation in the world back in the scientific stone age. That and the incredible financial ineptitude of the Republicans over the last eight years have me boggling at commentators who are suggesting that the Democrats are now in trouble for November.
Let me put it this way: I think that if I knew John McCain, we would probably get on. As long as we didn't talk about Cindy, she scares me. I might even get on with Sarah Palin if we restricted out topics of conversation to why gays should have partner superannuation rights. But if it were my country, I would want it run by someone who has a plan for managing the massive looming Social Security disaster, who has an idea of providing health care for the millions who are doing without (because America, you're doing it wrong) and who comes from a party that has historically presided over the majority of periods of financial growth and prosperity. And so even though I think I would end up finding Barack Obama mentally exhausting if he was my next door neighbour, and do suspect Joe Biden is just a bit odd, I'd be voting for them if I was American. Because you should care whether or not you like your friends, not your politicians.
And if I was an American journalist, I would be writing stories that looked at the economy and asking very seriously whether it can survive another Republican president, rather than playing this schoolyard game of who's cooler that they've all been playing this week. Because all those savings that have kept the US from utter fiscal disaster in the last eight years, they're long gone and not on anything that will make money or protect against loss in the future.
But instead, the Washington Post's lead online politics story is on first lady fashions.
Makes the robot spider look like a good deal ...
no subject
Then she made a comment on how the country of her childhood had turned into a hell of gay rights and disrespect.
"Hang on," I said. "The two don't go together. You do have a raft of social problems,l but that's because your public education systems are shot to hell and you have an entrenched underclass. As to gay rights, you're a woman, and I bet that you enjoy the rights that you have now that you wouldn't have had in 1901. Equality makes nations stronger and better, not weaker."
"But gay rights aren't the same as women's rights," she replied.
"They're all human rights," I argued. "It's something that I care a lot about because my mother's a lesbian and I've seen her life significantly affected by legislative homophobia."
She stopped and looked at me for a long moment. "Your mother's a lesbian? But you seem so very normal."
"I AM very normal, that's the whole point."
When I have enough money, I am going back to the US and I am going to have this conversation with 50 million people.
no subject
I always thought being a girl was what made me get minority rights, but then I look around and realize people will understand what they want and dismiss what they don't. Specially if not understanding gives them some sort of validation, like moneys or getting approval or feeling liek part of a club. It's like that quote which I'm totes murdering right nao that says something like, it's hard to get somebody to say yes when their paycheck tells them to say no (whatever their paycheck is).
I'm actually not from the mainland, but yes. Ranty Mcrants. <3
no subject
And I think that the difficult thing Americans need to get their heads around is not voting according to this week's paycheck, but according to the year's worth of money, or the next several years. Because while tax cuts can sound great, they often cost more to individuals than they give back. Of course, this all requires an interrogative press to put the issues before the voting public, so I could well be dreaming.
no subject
I *do* have this conversation, often, with people. Usually random strangers at bus stops, which has to be my #2 favorite reason for public transportation.
no subject