Ezekiel

Bye snuffy.

We hope you're enjoying chasing bunnies under the giant wachine machine in the sky.

Uno sogno

I had a dream about an Orca* last night.

It came up out of the water ever so slowly and its face was getting closer and closer to mine. As it got closer my apprehension grew (that seal doco kept going through my head) and i tried to reason with myself that it wasn't actually dangerous and that i should hold my ground. When it got within a few centimetres of my face i looked at its mouth and nose and it looked uncannily like the muzzle of a giant black and white llama. I remarked as much to my dream companion and then promptly woke up**.

What could it mean?

Hint:

*Apparently dreaming about an orca signifies distrust and suspicious motives. A cynic might say that it's presence might have something to do with having a beer next to a pokie machine with an orca on it before bed. Then again, maybe my choice of the seat facing said machine was an expression of my own latent trust issues...

** Yes, i know my dreams are really low on narrative/actual events, i'm working on it

I'm not much of a joiner.

The time has come to join in.
Weekly meetings and so forth.

The GLRL lost me on the whole push towards relationship recognition when there are so many singles who arguably have it tougher. Uni lost me when i graduated. Impromptu activism became a little tricky with full time work and masters.

Weasel and i have talked this one over for some time and the Greens were looking like the likely lasses however my certainty levels are suffering a little and i must ponder it some more.


Greens

Pros
Politically rather close to where i'm at (or would like to be at)
Little chance of getting in office and therefore ability to remain idealistic/the conscience of parliament
Maybe important one day for BOP/swing
Membership for concession = 8$

Cons
Some dodgy deals in the past
Hippies (yes, this does actually bother me)


ALP

Pros
Relatively politically powerful
Organised
Less likelihood of hippies
If age brings a little conservatism will still probably fit in the ALP

Cons
Some well dodgy deals/policies incl. uranium, anti gay marriage, anti USU
Joining fee = 10$ concession + 20$ annual membership


Other options:

One Nation

Pros
No known dress code

Cons
Everything Else


The Australian Democrats

Pros
A party which endorses double-barreled surnames
Sounds like an American party

Cons
Excessive use of yellow, orange and green
Irrelevant

It seems too painfully humorous to suggest the Liberals. What's a girl to do?

Less than the sum of its parts

The Liberals latest bill is receiving a lot of flak from the opposition parties and more moderate (read: decent) members of their own faction. Mud slinging and hatchet jobs aside (for the record, calling Kim B. fat is not exactly news, in fact you might even be alienating the ever expanding "fat vote") let us consider the substantial thrust (ooh) of this bill. This is generally touted as something which:

"would excise the Australian mainland from the immigration zone"

Excising islands etc was a not entirely unexpected strategy used by a government who are desperately trying to suck in the borders of this continent-country to make the populace feel more comfortable. But excising the whole bloody thing? It smacks of the most concentrated kind of overkill. Not entirely unlike that kid in class when you were making paper snowflakes who cut and cut and cut and when it came time to open out ones magnificent creation he threw his angry confetti at the teacher. Or maybe that was just my primary school.

Also in the "so bad i can't stop" vein, i appear to have developed a slight SATC problem. eurovladd, this is entirely your fault.

EDIT (1400hrs): 78 votes to 62 and the legislation is passed. Lil' John, ankle tapping Australia one bill at a time, inspirational really.

The year my vote broke..

The story so far...

After 10 years of Liberal government in Australia the idealistic youth are looking for someone who might actually succeed in winning power at the next election and reversing at least some of the backwards steps we've taken in these past years. We see the imposing figure cut by Monsieur Kim of the ALP, we listen to the objections and interjections they level at the Liberals and we think... perhaps this just might work.


Little did we know that back in Canberra..

In todays SMH in an article about policy change and uranium a caucus spokeswoman said: "We can have a debate without a split" a wonderfully salient point that emphasises the importance of dissent and debate within a robust democracy or political party . She continues: "we can have an argument without damaging the Labor brand" Aaaargh! So close and then talking about branding? Please god no! Perhaps soon the ALP will cotton onto the hipness of viral marketing, now there's a campaign to ponder.

False Advertising

Smarties don't work :(

If it were a maths problem

In Lebanon so far:

406/451* deaths were Civilians. Therefore 45 combatants killed in 3 weeks or 15 combatants a week. If Israel needs another 2 weeks to destroy Hezbollah this would seem to suggest there are only around another 30 of them.

In Israel so far:

18/51** deaths were civilians. Therefore 33 Israeli soldiers have died. Including all of these deaths, at 17 a week if the stated aim is to completely annihilate Israel (population 6,352,117***) this will take another 373654 weeks or 7185 years.

Of course all of these figures are based on completely flawed assumptions such as constant death rates, non advancement in technologies, constant supply of both weapons and victims, stable intelligence levels etc etc. As such this is all a completely facetious exercise were it not for the fact that figures like "two weeks more" are so arbitrary as to be obscene.

*these numbers according to the SMH
**this number from the Israeli army statement 30/07/06
***this number from the CIA