An open thread where, at your weekend leisure, you can discuss anything you like.
Life, Culture and Politics from BrisVegas
Larvatus Prodeo was an Australian group blog which discussed politics, sociology, culture, life, religion and science from a left of centre perspective. more»
First?
It’s quiet… a little too quiet….
The universally unconstitutional war on drugs
The reversal of the onus of proof in drug-possession cases is incompatible with the rule of law and is therefore unconstitutional in all jurisdictions.
In the “war on drugs”, the presumption of innocence is not collateral damage. It is a deliberate target: if other people plant drugs on you (e.g. to avoid being busted themselves), you must prove that the drugs were planted (which you can’t). This situation is manifestly incompatible with the rule of law, because the power to convict — the most fearsome of all government powers — is effectively taken from the courts and given to those who are willing to plant evidence. There is no clearer case of a “government of laws” being usurped by a “government of men”.
The purported reversal of the onus of proof, being contrary to the rule of law, is unconstitutional for three reasons:
First, the mere existence of a constitution, written or unwritten, presupposes the rule of law and therefore invalidates any legislation or judicial precedent incompatible with the rule of law.
Second, the mere existence of a court presupposes the rule of law and therefore precludes the court from entertaining any proposition incompatible with the rule of law.
Third, the legislative power is limited to the making of law, which by definition must be compatible with the rule of law. Legislative provisions purporting to reverse the onus of proof, being incompatible with the rule of law, are not law and are therefore beyond the legislative power.
(Wherever there is an overriding prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, there is a fourth reason, namely that the reversal of the onus of proof foreseeably leads to punishment of innocent people, such punishment being cruel and unusual by reason of their innocence.)
Therefore, if you are on the jury in the trial of a person charged with possession of a prohibited drug — especially if that possession is construed as trafficking — and if you are told that the “law” requires the defendant to prove that the possession was unwitting, it is your civic duty to uphold the real law: put the onus of proof back where it belongs (on the prosecution), raise it to the proper standard (beyond reasonable doubt), and hand down a verdict on that basis. If the verdict is “Not Guilty”, the acquittal is binding and no further action can be taken against the defendant (or the jurors).
Defenders of the status quo will object that when drugs are found in homes, vehicles, baggage, or outer clothing, the possibility of innocent possession is always there. From this they conclude that the accused must always be convicted. The correct conclusion is that the accused must always be acquitted. Defenders of the status quo take the position that if the State can’t get the outcome it wants without reversing the onus of proof, then the onus of proof must be reversed. The correct position is that if the State can’t get the outcome it wants without reversing the onus of proof, then the State must not get the outcome it wants.
How then shall the drug pushers be defeated? Not by starving their business model, but by constipating it.
To discourage use of drugs, we need retail (“street”) prices to be as high as possible. To discourage trafficking in drugs, we need upstream (“wholesale”) prices to be as low as possible, so that concealable quantities are not valuable enough to be worth trafficking. A bottleneck in the supply chain — e.g. due to law enforcement — raises prices downstream and lowers prices upstream. Therefore law enforcement should be concentrated on the retailers.
To avoid sending the wrong price signals, enforcement further upstream in the supply chain should be just strong enough to maintain the need for concealment: the risk of confiscation, or of prosecution if caught in the act of selling, is enough; the risk of prosecution for mere possession is too much. To encourage the retail customers (junkies) to inform on the retailers, the customers must not be at risk of prosecution for possession or purchase.
To meet these requirements, the supply of prohibited drugs should remain a indictable offence, but possession or purchase of any quantity should be a summary offence punishable solely by confiscation of the contraband, with no conviction recorded (so that prosecution would be possible in theory but pointless in practice).
The same arrangement would neatly solve the problem of unwitting possession. If the drugs are yours, confiscation involves a loss. If they’re not, it doesn’t. Either way, justice is done. And notice — especially if you’re a politician — that the solution does not amount to legalisation or an end to prohibition.
The legislators could further increase the pressure on retailers by creating an offence of being a “habitual” supplier of drugs, so that a seller could be convicted on the evidence of a large number of buyers, each of whom was the sole witness to a sale, without the need for two witnesses to any particular sale.
Thus it is not helpful to prosecute people for possession, let alone to reverse the onus of proof.
But of course the powers that be won’t see it that way — because they won’t want to pay compensation to people who have been unconstitutionally “convicted”, and perhaps also because they want the drug trade to remain viable so that they can keep scoring political points by pretending to fight it.
So, if you are charged with possession, and if the prosecution can’t prove that your possession was voluntary and you can’t prove that it wasn’t, you should invoke the “rule of law” defences (and, if applicable, the “cruel and unusual punishment” defence). As the prosecution won’t want those points of law to be tested in court, threatening to test them might persuade the prosecution to back off.
The liberal party’s indefensible support of tobacco companies objection to plain packaging illustrates the hopeless corruption of politicians’ decision making when buttraced against corporate donations.
What happens when for example when an energy company seeks approval from the same said politicians to mine shale oil all around the magnificent pristine region of Gloucester? Even if it is not in the public interest, won’t the politicians give approval for the mines? Why do we allow political donations when it’s as plain as the light of day that it is ruining this country?
That is because of last week’s Rapture.
tigtog got away but how many others didn’t?
Kim has gone missing , and Anna Winter, and Mark Banisch as well.
I am surprised at God’s choices of friends.
Thank you, Gavin R. Putland, for putting up the silliest comment on LP for a long time, and that takes some doing.
You have brought joy into my Saturday morning.
Nah Mark’s around. I believe god tried but Mark tied him up in a complicated sociological argument and god retired hurt. Not sure about Kim and Anna. Tigtog moves in mysterious ways…
Gordicans @3
buttraced?
Tune into Four Corners on Monday night- great expose concerning the cruel realities of live animal export. http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2011/s3229270.htm
The exporters have been busy engaging in some spin on Landline criticising animal welfare groups for not telling them about the abuse…. http://www.abc.net.au/landline/content/2010/s3223504.htm
Min for Agriculture Joe Ludwig will be under enormous pressure to halt exports to Indonesia after the program airs. In damage control this morning, the exporters have temporarily ceased export to three abattoirs in Indonesia (to be resumed when it all blows over).
http://www.theage.com.au/national/slaughter-suspended-over-indonesian-cattle-cruelty-20110527-1f8ci.html
There is a Private Member’s Bill before Fed Parliament to phase out live animal exports but neither the ALP or the Coalition want it to see the light of day. Will big money win out – or will there be a sufficient groundswell of public revulsion at the cruelty to propel the bill through parliament?
National Sorry Day was commemorated in numerous events around the country. These events are a small window to understanding. In between, in many of the key institutions of the state, it is business as usual so far as Aboriginal citizens are concerned. In my own office the event was marked b the presentation of a local Aboriginal history by two non-Aboriginal people who had, so far as the Aboriginal staff are concerned, failed to consult with them or include their views in the preparation of the history. Talk about disempowering.
The sheer amount of ‘push back’ that is required from Aboriginal staff to merely occupy their seats is astonishing. The culture in the office is so hostile to Aboriginality that it has generated a union grievance (on their behalf) arguing that the office is a culturally hostile environment for Aboriginal staff which is, of course, in breach of numerous official commitments to the contrary. This is mostly driven by the hostile and abusive attitudes of young staff towards our client base; one person is so offensive that one of my Aboriginal colleagues has said that “he talks to them like he is a mission manager”.
If office management doesn’t get its head around the need to vigorously address this grievance then it will end up in front of the Anti-Discrimination Board.
The path to overcome genocidal policies is long and hard. Changing institutional behaviours is akin to turning an ocean going tanker around except more arduous. There is a difference now compared to prior times: in the wake of the Bringing Them Home report there are now many non-Aboriginal Australians who stand shoulder to shoulder with Aboriginal Australians in fighting racism and ongoing genocide. But we need more, always need more, to make that commitment.
GregM @4, I’m still here and I’ve got an idea for a post which will go up on Monday.
Paul, you were never going to get raptured.
I woke up this morning to find the Guardian had published a blistering attack by David Cameron on the G8 nations for failing to provide sufficient development aid. He also took on domestic critics of aid. After a strong defence of spending British money on saving lives overseas, he adds:
I think it’s really sad for the more social democratic governments – and especially for British labour – that they find themselves being lectured on a topic like this by a Tory member of the Bullingdon club. Need to wake up to themselves much?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, despite his many faults Cameron is definitely a better form of Tory. The world needs more Tories like him and a lot less Tony Abbots.
The Daily Mash summarized the Daily Mail’s anti-aid campaign yesterday too, with a call for more dead poor people.
At work, fixing my stupid, terrible SQL which is terrible and also stupid.
Is that your personal SQL, Jacques, or mySQL in general?
Code I’ve written for a report due to be handed to DEEWR on Tuesday. I’ve worked on it for a few weeks, rolled it into production, then noticed that the results it produces are utterly nonsensical.
Still, I’ve made good progress in spotting what I’ve done wrong and fixing it. But it’s always a little soul-destroying to roll something out and then notice horrible mistakes immediately after sending the email asking the client to check it out.
The queries I’ve fixed so far were broken due to cartesian join explosions producing insanely high totals. The one I’m looking at now seems to be a case of double-counting, currently thinking about how to rewrite it.
aaaah, SQL. What a joy you are…
*shudder*
I’m trying to get my head around ‘pre-commitment’ in the pokies debate and I’m not reading anything that answers my doubts on its effectiveness in countering problem gambling. For instance, there was a case reported recently in the local press involving a middle aged woman, a bookkeeper/cashier, who was stealing from her employer amounts in the order of $500 per day to feed her gambling problem; on a regular basis she would draw a dodgy check on her employer’s account,forge a second signature & have it cashed either at the bank or club and then gamble it away;she was eventually caught having stolen and lost some $200,000 over a couple of years. How, if she pre-commits (daily or as required) to the amount she has stolen, can her addiction be counteracted ?
Have I missed something ?
My new query produces results that are too small, based on the client’s guesstimates. I reckon I might go home and attack this again tomorrow.
I’m a big fan of small easy bits of SQL wrapped in procedural code, Jacques. Fuck those cartesian joins. (Basically, if it’s not a fair bit like FORTRAN, I don’t much care for it.)
I prefer writing a query and letting the database do its magic. But when I have a case of the not-paying-attentions then I deserve to cop it in the neck.
I’m a big fan of small easy bits of SQL written in someone else’s code, DInR. Preferably, code that I never had to see or think about. SQL is like that stinky fermented Swedish tinned fish. Best handled by someone else a very long way away from me, and the less I see (or smell!) of it the better…
“ongoing genocide”.
If people want to win the planned Aboriginal referendum, I hope they won’t use phrases like that in the “Yes” campaign. Also certain to ensure defeat are phrases like “Invasion Day” and “Always has been, Always will be, Aboriginal land”. To win a referendim you need bipartisan support and the aforementioned phrases and attitudes are unacceptable to the Coalition and indeed, most of the electorate.
On Friday, I went to the National Press Club for Bill Shorten’s <a href="http://www.npc.org.au/speakerarchive/bill-shorten-270511.html" talk on not-for-profit sector reform.
The room was full of not-for-profits, it was broadcast on Sky but only half a question to Shorten was actually about the topic of his speech. Only journalists get to ask questions, and they all chose to ask him about other stuff (future fund, pokies). No-one held him to account or drilled down into the subject of his speech.
Now – I would have thought reforms that promise to define in black letter the definition of a charity and set up a regulatory body for not-for-profits would have got someone interested. It certainly would in the UK or the US. Disappointing.
Disappointing Angharad but not surprising. Hold it in the National Press Club under their auspices and the issue du jour for the media will get the run. Hold it elsewhere and the media won’t show. A bit of prior press baiting – who is a charity and who isn’t ..tax deductibility…rorts? -
might have helped. Something outrageous from Gary Johns might have lit the fire.
Jacques, my preference for embedded SQL is probably at least partly because the system I work with is highly denormalised. (It’s actually based on the CODASYL model, and has only been shoehorned into a relational database for convenience. It has the referential integrity of an ISAM-based system, combined with the performance of a relational database – the best of all possible worlds.)
If I were working with a normalised data model, I’d probably agree with you.
So, who’s going to the Rugby in Brisbane on Sunday… Reds to beat the Crusaders in a World Cup final preview
I’m not trying to upset anyone, OK.
I just want to share Dave Shappelle’s view, that may or may not , relate to the slutwalk issue.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K1KHqi9bXc
Peace all
Where do you work Anthony?
Well yes, Pablo, in hindsight that would have been a good idea. Although can’t imagine a contribution from Gary Johns would have engendered a useful debate!
It would have been useful if someone had questioned the need for defining a charity. There’s a pretty good discussion to be had in there – sometimes leaving it up to common law might in fact be more useful than trying to codify it. Definitely mixed opinions on that one.
Katz redefined the rapture to meet her own world view and God is still scratching his head about what the new definition means.
@9 – akn – “continuing genocide”
Yeah, right. No wonder there is so much hostility if you re telling people they are complicit in committing genocide when they aren’t.
@19 – precommitment is a joke. Who is going to set the level? The gambler? I don’t play pokies (live poker and blackjack are my downfall) but if I need a card I’ll set my limit at $1,000,000 per day.
ok then, thought that idea would be contentious:
i) GregM – nah, won’t disclose that as it would breach the regs;
ii) OBR: Australia fits the bill for genocide for which see Prof. Colin Tatz ‘Genocide in Australia’ (at http://www.kooriweb.org/gst/genocide/tatz.html) in which process the illegal removal of children was the key strategy. If Aboriginal children are still being removed illegally (which they are) then I maintain that the genocide is ongoing.
Further evidence for genocide is extra-legal killings like that of Domadgee on Plam (http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Palm-Island-buries-Doomadgee/2004/12/11/1102625574497.html) and the (West Australian) death in transit of Aboriginal Mr War in a prison van (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/12/2597089.htm).
Now, that’s my contention regarding genocide, not an Aboriginal claim. But I’ll stick with it because I’m not in the business of appeasing those with bad conscience who, by their silence and ignorance, are complicit in continuing genocide.
OBR – I think you’re misquoting akn @ 9
“The path to overcome genocidal policies is long and hard. Changing institutional behaviours is akin to turning an ocean going tanker around except more arduous. ”
Specific reference to genocidal institutional policies, not to you.
The hostility comes from people who aren’t prepared to listen to whats being said, and was there beforehand anyway – hence not listening in the first place.
So I call bullshit on your comment and your attitude.
You’re hostile toward blackfellas full stop, and you’re trying to blame them for it.
@36
I think you’ve cracked that nut nicely. I thought recently that racism towards the Aborigines is a bit like a bad smell that you cant’t trace. I thought that’s what white racism must be like, it’s pervasive and tolerable to us because we’ve got used to it. To the Aborigines it’s uncanny and distateful, unclean. That’s a bit of whimsy but what else do we have? There’s a blind spot the size of Uluru when it comes to racism in this country.
Call it NoSQL, that’s hip and funky.
Back at work.
Oracle error messages, Y U SO OBTUSE.
Unrelated awesomeness, my mum has returned to the country of her birth after six decades.
I attended Macquarie Unis graduation ceremony yesterday, to witness one of hubby’s students get her puffy hat and gown. Well done her, but the ceremony was a bit of a mixed bag.
The dress of the annointed reminded me somewhat of Hogwarts and there was even one woman there with an outfit plus rapier that caused one academic to privately describe her as a leprechaun. Bizarre, but I don’t recall them in Harry Potter.
The musical interlude had a choral group try singing Queen‘s classis Night at the Opera. I’m not sure of the connection to MQU, but to choose such a well-known heavily produced orchestrally-supported piece with such complex vocals rendered with all the support an editing studio can supply set the bar imnpossibly high for our amateur MQU choristers. Oh dear I thought as they started tring to augment with choreographed gesture.
The welcome to country was by contrast very uplifting. I’d been expecting the pro-forma performance, but instead, the speaker gave a substantial account of what it meant to indigenous people, and of his connections with the area, and an ancient ancestor whose activities around land agitation resulted in land grants along the Richmon Road which came to be known as “Blacks Town” — hence the new name. He also spoke of a culture that had lived in harmony with the ecosystem and each other for millennia before European occupation and yet had been described by Cook as the happiest people he’d ever met. It was a poignant moment and for me, a highlight. About half the hall applauded. Some were not English speakers, plainly, and perhaps missed the significance, but a number looked like very conservative white folk.
Annoyingly for me, the program had at least four typos in it — how hard is it to get the titles of theses correct? Cryptospiridium without a “p”? Constrains rather than constraints? Oh dear.
There was a nice gathering outside. Amusingly, the crowd of guests from South-East Asia were playing to the stereotype, systematically photographing themselves in every conceivable configuration before anything worth photographing and plenty that wasn’t. Some chap approached both hubby and his student to be snapped alongside him even though we had no idea who he was. He did take care to ensure that both really did have PhDs though! As we returned to the car park, a trail of happy snappers was still working its way west …
both AKN and Jules’ attitudes will ensure the defeat of the referendum they care so much about if carried over into the campaign. The results of the British AV referendum also exposed the myth of the “progressive majority”.
That would be because the Hogwarts robes (I assume you’re talking about the movies not the books) are based on academic gowns. The dress of the anointed has always been the same.
oops … massive Skitts Law own goal here …
Ugh … careless typing … skulks away slightly shamefaced …
It’s a universal law that posts about speling errurs contain erors.
Angharad @ 31. I only offered Gary Johns as a possible spark as he has made some running on who’s a charity largely from a right wing perspective and as a former Labor minister he might have offered enough antagonism to have got the press aroused. I agree it might not have worked to wit another Hawke minister….’it seemed a good idea at the time’. (Use of RAAF jets to spy on Tasmania’s Robyn Grey and his prospective dam building)
akn: “Now, that’s my contention regarding genocide, not an Aboriginal claim. But I’ll stick with it because I’m not in the business of appeasing those with bad conscience who, by their silence and ignorance, are complicit in continuing genocide.”
The issue of genocide in Australia was looked at in the case of Buzzacott v Hill.
http://portsea.austlii.edu.au/au/other/HCATrans/2000/427.html
Angela@8, I have written to my local member about this matter on two occasions and received a rambling reply from one of his staffers defending the indefensible(RSPCA conditions, some people just hate live exports), and when I heard the live export industry discussing this on the country hour on Friday my bs antenna went up.They only ever act in the face of revelation about cruelty and it is a bloody disgrace.
I would urge everyone who thinks that a decent society has an obligation to protect animals from base cruelty to contact their local MP and voice their disgust.
cryptosporidium without a single ‘p’ Fran?
Now that IS careless.
I believe I am insufficiently psychopathological to be a truly effective maintenance programmer.
furious balancing @47
IANAL, but you should note that Buzzacott v. Hill (and the contemporaneous Nulyarimma v. Thompson) did not make findings on whether genocide occurred. Rather, it made findings about whether the crime of genocide exists in domestic law in Australia.
Because international laws to which Australia is a signatory are not “automatically” incorporated into domestic law, there is no crime of genocide in Australia. Thus the question of whether genocide occurred (according to the Convention definition of genocide) was not substantively investigated.
Yes, FMark, I know, I spoke about it with the claimant [is claimant the right word?] because I know some relatives of his and he was visiting them at the same time I was, not long after it was before the High Court. I found the discussion in that transcript an interesting [and occasionally depressing] insight none-the-less and I just thought akn, if he wasn’t already familiar with the case, may also find it interesting.
Thanks FMark for sparing me the task of reading judicial opinion. I hope that Furious Balancing wasn’t proposing that judicial opinion, that genocide cannot occur in Australia, was the absolute arbiter of whether or not genocide had occurred. That remains unclear.
For purposes of clarity Article 2 of the convention defines genocide as:
By those measures I reckon the period of our legal nationhood, since federation, was genocidal.
Paul Austin: what are you talking about?
good grief. akn, I wasn’t proposing anything. you said genocide wasn’t an Aboriginal claim, I was pointing you in the direction of a case where it was.
Gosh, aren’t personal soap boxes fascinating things?
Furious Balancing: apologies for that misreading. Prior apology has been lost in the ether. And thanks for the reference…
furious balancing @54
Apologies from me also for a similar misreading.
My reading of the “white” literature on genocide in Australia is that:
A) There is a consensus (excepting wingnuts like Windshuttle) that what happened in Tasmania was genocide according to the convention definition.
B) Whether what occurred on the mainland is considered genocide according to the convention definition hinges around interpretation of the “intent to destroy clause”. There are creditable scholars who debate this point in good faith.
Paul @ 42.
Yeah thats right. WE are responsible for the decisions made by other voters. Not the voters themselves. Not that there’s a there’s a progressive majority in Australia anyway.
My attitude is simply this. If you try and blame someone else for your attitude then you’re a child. Grow up. It leads to victim blaming, which happens alot. There might have even been a march about it once or something.
If someone doesn’t want to recognise indigenous Australians in the constitution, or a preamble or at some function, then they don’t want to recognise indigenous Australians full stop. Thats all there is to it.
” The dress of the anointed has always been the same.”
VS Naipaul commented on this point when he was in Qom in the 1980′s.
How like the scholars and fellows at Oxford and Cambridge were the imams in their robes and finery.
Bob Gould’s funeral on Friday a welcome respite amidst the maelstrom.
Some reports here.
http://ozleft.wordpress.com/
Gil Scott Heron is dead. At 62. This is a sad thing.
My favourite of his songs was probably Home is Where the Hatred Is.
sg- Gil Scott Heron is dead. At 62. This is a sad thing.
Agreed, he seemed to be getting back into his stride. The Rs have been playing a lot of his stuff over the last few days, I heard Johannesburg for the first time since the eighties.
“My favourite of his songs was probably Home is Where the Hatred Is.” that is a bloody good song, stopped me in my tracks yesterday.
I’ve been wondering how far he got with his bio of MLK, I’d buy the dead tree version of that.
MH posted this in the politics-free zone of Lazy Sunday, so I’m reposting it so that the politics tragics don’t miss it:
Writers who’ve given themselves more time to consider this thing called slutwalk, are expressing views far more cogently than I seemed able to in my shoot from the hip attempts.
So glad to see the opprobrium I routinely suffer from the ‘feminist’ hivemind, at LP isn’t actually universal.
from Maiy Aziz at ABC’s The Drum
and Nicole Brady at The Age:
Here here.
Jospeh Carey @60, if both Bob Gould and Denis Freney were wrong in their Marxist views about the afterlife, and Bob Gould’s childhood faith is true, the angels will now have to endure an eternity of stoushing between the two of them.
@ Link, unfortunate then that both writers have either missed the point or are choosing to harp upon only that one aspect. It’s not just about reclaiming slut, it’s also about the things they lament it is not about. Didn’t they see the men, young and old, marching? Did they look? Did they notice that it wasn’t a horde of scantily dressed women or were they too busy being hyperbolic?
@Link, only some of the people who are planning to march in SlutWalks are marching to ‘reclaim’ the word ‘slut’. Others, in fact most of the crowds around the world, judging by photos taken by actual participants (vs photos taken by journalists), are marching in the non-slutty clothes to emphasis that women get called ‘sluts’ and treated like ‘sluts’ no matter what we are wearing – dressing modestly is no protection against being raped, and when the police tell us that it is they are telling a falsehood and reinforcing the rape myths that hurt all rape victims.
As for engaging men in the debate, many men have marched as allies in the SlutWalks that have already taken place, because they believe in the major message as much as the women marching do:
WHATEVER WE WEAR
WHEREVER WE GO
YES MEANS YES
NO MEANS NO
i.e. what Mindy said
Maybe Fran’s busy …. so, if you want approve of something someone has written or said, it’s “Hear! Hear!”, not ‘here here’
@Russell
I was left wondering “Where? Where?”
Who says the Liberal Party is still a boys club? Joe Hockey, of course:
Shame for Julie Bishop and Sophie Mirabella that they are left out of the
sausage fest^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hcamaraderie of shadow cabinet.“making both genders more intent on ending sexual violence”
I don’t understand this part of that sentence by Nicole Brady. Both genders? Given that it’s mostly men who perform the vast majority of sexual assaults, it’s mainly up to one gender to show “more intent on ending sexual violence”. There’s nothing a woman does to invite assault, that I know of, anyway. Prevent sexual assault. Just don’t do it.
BTW has anyone on LP got anything to say about Germany’s announcement on nuclear power? Robert Merkel, perhaps?
Tyro, the Swiss made a similar announcement.
Good heavens, what are the Europeans smoking, first ambitious carbon emission targets and now shutting down nuclear power industry. Meanwhile we are stuck with the great big friggin scary c tax.
Tyro and Ootz, my tidy mind says that this should have been posted on the Climate Clippings thread which is meant to function as an open thread for sharing links etc.
I’ve done a comment, but it had quite a few links, so I’ve thrown it up as a separate thread.
Would it be fair to say that TV comedy shows are supposed to be funny?
Angry Boys isn’t, imo.
I don’t think Lilley means for us to LOL at this one so much, Ambigulous. I dunno – someone I read the other week (wish I could remember who) thought that if he wants to write satirical social commentary instead of just sketch comedy, then why not give a few other actors a go instead of hogging all the best parts?
Vale Gil Scott-Heron.
Wit and wisdom and rage and effortless cool.
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/kill-your-dogs-urges-germaine-greer-20110603-1fjgy.html
.
The dog owners could always resort to the less drastic measure of picking up the pieces!
Urine is also a rich source of P but I don’t have a simple solution for that !
Been in hospital for a week. For a while thought they were goiung to rapture me. But I refused to go/ Am okay now. registerted for eye op as well, but don’t yet have a date.
Good to be back at LP. but I have heaps to do, so I probably won’t get into the swing of LP till tomorrow.
Once I got well I missed youse all. A mate of mine is thinking of getting me a laptop so next time round I can pester you from my hospital bed.
Love youse all.
@PB, glad that you’re back with us! I hope you’re warmly wrapped up in a cozy position now, and that you have plenty of soup to hand.
Look after yourself, Paul.
Am wrapped up and warm. Just done a little bit of shopping. Wore me out. Taxi driver was snarly about delivering me and shopping to front door. Not to worry. Homecare is going to help me with shopping from next week. (More or less collapsed in Woolies Arcade last pension day. Big drama. Carted out of shopping centre on stretcher etc, etc.) Still I saved heaps of money on food and just ordered a recent book on slavery in the 18c West Indies. Matthew Parker’s The Planter Barons. It got very good reviews in the Guardian and its quite hard to get books on 18C Caribbean. Not really a huge amount published in book form.
Also have Agora to watch tonight. Looking forward to that. Its supposed to be wonderful. Off to eat now. Will get my head together tomorrow.
Thanks for good wishes.
Well, if you saved enough to buy a book, Paul, it almost makes it worth while …
PB, relieved to hear you are on the mend and in good spirits.
Hope the laptop will eventuate for you, then you will not only stay in contact with your community, but able to work, listen to music, watch movies, even tele if you have Eyetv etc all that at the fingertips. I could not be without it when spending long periods bed ridden. So well worth considering and make sure you setup your self well and make it simple, it will become a life line in those fragile days.
Good to hear from you again Paul B. Take your time, and keep well.
Cheers!
I always make sure I can buy books. Life without them will be a misery. Have got a new you beaut magnifying glass with a little light. Helps me focus on long paragraphs.
Am embarking on a series of daily exercises lying flat on the floor on my back without moving in preparation for my op. If I can’t stay absolutely still flat on my back for half an hour, no operation. So far I’ve managed 15 mins but I have a few months to work up to it. Am feeling well enough to get back to writing up some stuff on disc this afternoon which I wrote before I went into hospital. Life is good especially after I’d been through a few days thinking they might have to cut me open. Fortunately it ain’t necessary, but I got a poem out of it which I haven’t typed up yet. Needs a bit more work on it yet. A sort of riff on Dylan Thomas’s “Do not go gentle into that good night”, plus some Grand Guignol. Maybe it’ll be ready in a few days. (My handwriting is execrable.)
All the best, Paul – hope it’s not too cold in Armidale.
Here you go, LP-ers.
Not an entirely fruitless week.
THAT GOOD NIGHT.
They gather in the dark light,
hooded whispering vultures
hovering across my hospital bed.
uttering facts and re-assurance.
They want to send me hundreds of miles away,
away from friends, familiar places, dreams,
so my breast bone can be hacked apart
ready for a needle into my too large lung.
Without this I might burst, painlessly, or not,
with it I can still float effortlessly in rips
and undertows, those nightmares of my childhood.
(Cancer runs like gold through my bones.
what else is there to be scared of?)
Death, I think, would be easier that way.
I am ready for that, or just not breathing.
Besides, I hate travel, except to that other world
where she waits patiently. That last breath, caressing -
“I really didn’t mean to die before you.”
This other stuff is more like farm work.
The sort of thing done to pigs.
I will not go gently under that good hacksaw.
If I carried it through Heaven’s gate
I would decapitate Saint Peter.
(I promised her I would not die in rage
but that was before I became a medical phenomenon,
I do not need more choices on how to die.
And no, I will not tear my ribs apart all by myself
and squeeze my lungs free of the air
with my bare hands, though I have the strength still.
At that point they began to wonder
if they should section me.
(I go mad in hospitals; the nurses could tell them.)
Bars on beds are just as bad as bars in gaols
and I move less freely in medical wards.
Besides, I intend to breathe gently
as I go into that good night.
No screaming for me.
“a series of daily exercises lying flat on the floor on my back without moving …”
I’ve been doing that exercise for years, don’t worry Paul it’s just practice .. you can build up to hours and hours of it (helps to have a little radio with headphones for RN & Classic FM)
That, Russell, is very reassuring and much appreciated. will take your advice. I have a few months to practice, I gather.
When lying still on the floor Paul (I sometimes have to as well) and if one is able to, position the TV effectively then a DVD trilogy always does the trick…Godfather is always worth the effort, forces one to stay still and you get to see all the scenes you usually skip thru, cause you can’t move you are stuck with them
Hope you go well anyway, keep on keeping on with it, best.
Paul – why the need to lie still for 30 mins? When I had an operation last year the extremely cute anaesthetist took care of that for me.
FDB,
Its a local anaesthetic, and the doc tells you what to do. Am only under for 3 minutes but I guess there’s all this other stuff they do. Guess all the mysteries will be revealed when they do the op. I think they’re worried about the pressure on my lungs (which needless to say, are quite fucked) through laying flat on my back on a hard surface.
When laying still for prolonged periods, better not forget to pace your circulation regularely with simple breathing exercises which any yoga practitioner can show you in a minute or two.
Excellent point, Ootz. I do hope the physio at the hospital gave you advice on bed-rest breathing exercises and circulation exercises with ankles etc?