Throwing stones from the glasshouse

As per usual with the right wing, they are allowed to condone certain actions by members of their own side, but for others, the rules are twisted and changed. We have seen this so many times over the years, but most evidently since Gov. Sarah Palin has come to prominence.

Barack Obama is dismissed by the right wing as having no experience, yet Sarah Palin has as much, if not less experience than Obama. The criticism of Obama is that he is a Senator, and has not had the ‘roll the sleeves up’ experience of running a state. The contradiction here is that her running mate has also had no gubnatorial experience, no matter how long he has been in the United States senate. That’s ok for the right wing, but not for the left.

The ‘Palin daughter preganant at 17 and out of wedlock’ story is another example of what the right wing accepts happily from their side, and what they would not even dare tolerate from the left. I have elaborated on this point in a previous blog, so I won’t re-hash it here. It is the second point that proves it’s ok for the right wing, but not for the left.

Lack of foreign policy experience is what Obama gets hit with constantly. However, we know how the lovely Gov. Plain handles foreign policy questions: “I can see Russia and Canada from my house!” She has zero foreign policy experience, and is with a running mate who knows very little either, apart from what the inside of a Vietnamese prison camp looks like. At least Obama picked a foreign policy expert in Joe Biden. Again, it’s ok for the right, but not for the left.

And now, ladies and gentleman, we find the ultimate in hypocrisy from the beehived barbie doll herself. Barack Obama has had many slurs againt his character. Of them, the most damaging has been that he is a ‘friend of terrorists’, referring to his one time short lived association with Bill Ayers. To the right wing, terrorists are who we target, and try to wipe from this earth. But today we find Gov. Palin going coy on whether abortion clinic bombers, who targetted abortion clinics all across the US especially in the 1970’s and 1980’s, should be called terrorists.

Lets rewind a bit and look at what she said about Barack Obama:

Early this month, after the New York Times ran an article highlighting the ties between Obama and Ayers, Palin told a campaign rally in Colorado that Obama “sees America it seems as being so imperfect that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country”.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/newshome/5101976/anti-abortion-bombs-terrorism-palin/

This is what she said today about abortion bombers:

“Now, others who would want to engage in harming innocent Americans or facilities that it would be unacceptable to … I don’t know if you’re gonna use the word ‘terrorist’ there,”

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/newshome/5101976/anti-abortion-bombs-terrorism-palin/

The direct criticism of Barack Obama was that he ‘palled around’ with people who would ‘target their own country.’ Now, unless these abortion clinics are across the border in Mexico or Canada, these bombers are ‘targetting their own country’ and killing innocent people, just like Palin accused Bill Ayers of doing. So, if we use Gov. Palin’s standard (which we should, surely), then abortion bombers are terrorists.

Violent protests, in the form of arson, firebombing, and vandalism started in the early 1970’s in the U.S. Then, as now, most of the violence appears to be the acts of religiously-motivated criminals acting alone. However, recent cases involving the assassination and attempted murder of abortion providers in both the U.S. and Canada have shown that perpetrators appear to be sheltered by a network of sympathizers.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/abo_viol.htm

Not only are these people not terrorists, according to the right wing, they are being protected and sheltered. Forget the ‘palling around’ with a terrorist. Those who protect abortion bombers do so for long periods of time, and have a network of people helping with the protection. This is an organsied bunch of people! And now Gov. Palin refuses to call these people who take innocent lives away, terrorists, and basically says that they are a bit naughty, and possibly a slap on the wrist would be appropriate. I say again, it’s ok for the right wing, but not for the left.

If we allow this dangerous right wing to get four more years of the White House, then the last eight will seem like a picnic in the park. This far right wing is ready to rise up and take control. It’s had eight years of Cheney making the house ready for them to arrive. Intelligent, clear minded people need to rise up in bigger numbers and I plead with those Americans who read this to VOTE FOR BARACK OBAMA.

This is a moment in time where can either facilitate the rise of the right, or a return to the Clinton presidency, but this time much improved. If Clinton was seen as one of the greatest Presidents that America has ever had, then I believe Barack Obama will take the office of the Presidency to heights never seen before, and will end all that is holding that nation back.

The time has come to say to the right wing, enough of the double standards, enough of the negativity, enough of the hypocrisy.

It’s time to say enough to the father-daughter road trip around the country.

Enjoy your day.

This week saw the death of one of the great characters of not only the fashion world, but of Hollywood in general. Richard Blackwell, known simply as ‘Mr.Blackwell’ was known for his list of ‘worst dressed’.

A failed actor, and little known designer when he started his diatribes for the fashion inept, his lists became more famous for the one liners that went with the particular fashion faux pas, than the bad fashions themselves. He picked on the clothes, not the person, and I have always wondered whether anyone actually changed their clothing habits because of what he wrote about them. He was oblivious to whether the particular celebrity was well known, or little known. If they were wearing something hideous, he was going to call them on it. Here are some of his better lines:

“Looks like she was dressed by a colourblind circus clown”

“She dances in the dark – and dresses there, too.”

“She resembles a tattered toothpick trapped in a hurricane.”

“A painted pumpkin on a pogo stick.”

“Shrink-wrapped cheesecake.”

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/fashion/article4976308.ece

Blackwell had a very simple belief in fashion. It was there to enhance the woman’s beauty, not take it away. We have all seen the celebrity who walks down the red carpet, and we say under our breath, “Oh my, that’s not a good choice.” Blackwell did the same thing, but louder.

“I merely said out loud what others were whispering . . . it’s not my intention to hurt the feelings of these people. It’s to put down the clothing they’re wearing.”

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/fashion/article4976308.ece

Through all of Blackwell’s nastiness, he was trying to shock women into taking a good long look in the mirror and see what their outfits were not doing for them. We can all do with some advice when wearing clothing, and I know I listen if I hear someone telling me that something doesn’t match, or it’s just downright hideous. Blackwell didn’t sugar coat his opinions. But celebrities deep down loved being on his list.

While the stars got a dressing down from Mr. Blackwell, they also took pride in being skewered by him. “You haven’t made it in Hollywood until you’ve made the list,” Lynn Redgrave once said.

http://www.gaytvblog.com/2008/10/fashion-maven-m.html

Celebrities love attention, even if they say they hate it. Being on Blackwell’s list gave them the publicity they craved, and could in turn send fabulous new wardrobes coming their way from sympathetic designers. It was a win-win situation.

What is little known about him is how tough his life was growing up. He was from a poor Jewish immigrant family, who suffered both physical and sexual abuse as a young man.

As a child, he claimed he was severely beaten by his stepfather (he never knew his biological father), often resorting to sleeping in the alley beneath his fire escape with a broken bottle he used for protection rather than face further abuse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Blackwell#Personal_life

I always admire people like Richard Blackwell, who overcome immeasurable odds, and make it. Seen as nasty, he was more ‘constructively critical’. He also achieved great longevity in his relationship, being with his partner, Robert Spencer, for over 60 years. We celebrate hetrosexual relationships lasting this long, but rarely do we celebrate same sex relationships of the same length.

So, Mr. Blackwell, may you rest in peace. If there is a heaven, it may be a tad boring when it comes to fashion. White, white and more white seems to be the trend up there, and always has been. Maybe he will adopt Nathan Lane’s line in the movie ‘The Birdcage,’

“One must have a hint of colour.”

Enjoy your day.

General Colin Powell today endorsed Barack Obama for President. It’s a powerful endorsement, not only because Powell is a Republican, but more because even though John McCain is a longtime friend, Powell did not feel that he was up to the job.

There are a number of things Powell said that need mentioning here. Powell’s reasons were threefold. Firstly, he respected McCain, but felt that the United States needed generational change. Secondly, McCain’s choice of Gov. Sarah Palin as his VP was a disappointment, and Powell does not believe she is even vaguely ready for the job. Lastly, Powell has been disappointed at the way the McCain campaign has dipped sharply down into slanderous and negative waters. It has made him believe more than ever that Barack Obama is ready for the challenges that the United States faces.

Colin Powell has always been a man of integrity, and this merely confirms that. I am sure many people were surprised when he became George W Bush’s Secretary of State. We all thought he had more intelligence than that. But it was said at the time that if Al Gore had asked Powell to be his Secretary of State, Powell would have accepted. Powell is first and foremost a military man who wants nothing more than to serve his country. He has always been above politics, and not into partisanship. I personally believe that he is more a moderate democrat than a republican, and the reason he left the Bush administration was because he couldn’t listen to ’stupid boy’ at the top of the tree anymore.

As I continue to watch snippets of FOX News and physically watch the veins in every part of my body almost burst, Powell’s announcements has restored in me  a sense that decency, fairness, honesty and integrity still exist in this world, and, God forbid, in politics. Sean Hannity, that unfortunate right wing thug from FOX News has just hosted not one, but two documentaries on Obama titled: Obama & Friends: The History of Radicalism . For those of you who have not seen this slanderous piece of right wing garbage, let me fill you in on what it tries to instill in all of us. Hannity spends the entire show, basically building a case that Barack Obama is a terrorist, and a subversive, who has been groomed by radicals from a very young age. He is basically saying that if Barack Obama becomes President, America is in danger. I was not only horrified at the level that this man, and the thug journalists of his ilk will go to, but that they can get away with what they say. It was the most appalling piece of television I have watched in a very long time. What I wouldn’t do to find some dirt on Sean Hannity. Don’t worry folks, I’m looking, and as he is a right wing conservative, I am sure I will find plenty.

How does this relate to Colin Powell’s endorsement of Obama? It’s Powell’s belief that the McCain campaign has gone ‘too low.’ As I have said before, we can pull apart an opponent’s policies, but when we get to slandering their name and resorting to downright defamation, then I think Powell, like the majority of us, draw the line.

Adm. Henry Ulrich, the former commander of U.S. naval forces in Europe, said he thought Powell’s decision was not easy.

“Colin Powell is a very, very, very bright, thoughtful person, and I can assure you that he did not enter into this endorsement without giving it lots and lots of thought and give it all the due process it deserved,” Ulrich said. “I think it is remarkable that he has endorsed a Democrat, and so I am sure he didn’t do it lightly.

 http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-powell20-2008oct20,0,4586523.story

To wait this long into the campaign before you endorse someone means that you have sat back and given your party the best chance to succeed. But this endorsement has proven that McCain is running out of time and options. That’s why Hannity is bending over backwards to dust off the ‘politics of fear’ that got George W Bush re-elected four years ago. It’s all the right wing have. It’s all they know.

Barack Obama, accepting Powell’s endorsement, said this:

“I am beyond honoured and deeply humbled to have the support of General Colin Powell. He knows, as we do, that this is a moment where we all need to come together as one nation – young and old, rich and poor, black and white, Republican and Democrat.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/race-for-whitehouse/colin-powell-endorses-obama-966599.html

The right wing just love the politics of hate, fear, prejudice and bigotry, because that is where their power is. Sean Hannity does not want his followers smarter than him. He needs them to look up to him and say, “You’re wonderful Sean!” However, Obama has been constant thoughout this campaign. No matter who has tried to detour him off his message, whether it be Palin’s remarks about, “palling around with terrorists”, or McCain allowing his supporters to call out things like ‘terrorist’ and ‘kill him’ when he refers to Obama, Barack Obama continues to spread the message of hope and a better America. And when you see crowds of 75,000 and 100,000 people still attending his rallies, you can tell that people prefer his message of hope than the right wing message of hate.

Let me make a prediction now. If Barack Obama becomes President, do not be scared that he will be assassinated. Yes, that’s a risk. However, I believe that his election will lift the American spirit so high, that assassination will be the last thing from people’s minds.

 I am sure Colin Powell believes the same.

Enjoy your day.

Many times in my professional life I have seen people ‘get ahead’, and gain positions of power and responsibility that they are not even vaguely capable of succeeding in. They have ‘talked the good talk’, and were able to impress those that hire. However, when it came to them actually producing results, they failed dismally, and were unable to match the ‘walk’ with the ‘talk.’

I am sure all of us have worked with someone, at the ‘coalface’ as they call it, who should  be the boss, or at least in a more powerful position. But they never get there, and never achieve their true potential. They either point blank refuse to ‘play the game’ or have no idea how. The next time we look at our boss and call him or her stupid, re-assess that thought. These people may be incompetent, out of their depth, indecisive and downright lazy, but they sure ain’t stupid. If they were stupid, they wouldn’t be in the position they are in, earning double the salary that you and I make. They make it their life’s work to manipulate their way up the employment ladder, will little or no idea what the job entails the higher they climb. They are masters (or mistresses) of the ‘game’ and are about five steps ahead of most of us. For those of us who don’t play the game, then the top of the tree will always escape us. We are the silly ones that assume that hard work and sincerity will get us by. Unfortunately that rarely works.

I remember back in the early 1990’s watching a British TV series starring Penelope Keith called ‘No Job For A Lady.’ The show’s main character, Jean Price, was a newly elected Labour MP who thought that she could enter parliament and, by the very nature of hard work and a good heart, could make things happen for her constituents. Wrong. She soon realised, with the help of the scruffy Scottish MP that she shared an office with, that the only way things are done in the political sphere is to play the game. She refused, thereby cementing the fact that nothing gets done without eating a massive serving of shit, usually from a bull.

Politics is probably the worst area for game playing, as is evident in this US Presidential election. Even though Barack Obama looks sincere and genuine, and not swallowing ‘the way Washington works’, he would have done his fair share of game playing in order to get to where he is now. What concerns me is that  the Republicans have decided to play a very dirty game. And this dirty game may not stop on election day. Rumours are already spreading that if McCain looks like he will lose, Republicans may even do their best to try and ‘fix’ the election.

It’s not so much the fact that Obama is a Democrat, although the Republicans fixed the 2000 election in favour of George W Bush. It’s more the fact that the Republicans will not only lose, but they will lose to a black man. The most conservative elements of the Republican party would be in the deep south, and we all know how they feel toward African Americans. The Ku Klux Klan still have many Republican members, and weild a lot of power in the south, and the evangelical movement has a lot of sway right throughout the United States. The only way that Americans can ensure Barack Obama gets in, is to deliver him a landslide victory on November 4th. Then there will be no doubt how the American people have spoken. The American people can take the game away from the Republicans, and make it a victory for good old fashioned honesty, integrity and fairness.

We constantly complain about things ‘not being fair’. It’s called ‘corruption’ as it intensifies. But in many ways, we are all ‘unfair’ and ‘corrupt’ if we look for an advantage. We can call it ‘kissing arse’, ’sucking up’, taking advantage of a ‘contact’ we might know, but it all amounts to the same thing. We have played a game to get to where we want to be. Then we sit down with our children and tell them to play fair and ‘do their best.’

This world is becoming less fair, and children see that. Our workplaces, political institutions and our social and sporting clubs need to be ‘free and fair’ if we are to teach our kids anything. If they aren’t, then forget about global warming; the human aspect of our world will implode long before the earth does.

Enjoy your day.

When FOX News, the bastion of unbalanced, right wing biased journalism, find it hard to say that John McCain is going to win this Presidential election, you know things are lost or very close to it. This last Presidential debate seemed to sign the death warrant for Senator McCain, and the right wing are running the other way.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am very fearful that the American people will get cold feet, and play safe with McCain. I will not rest easy until it is confirmed that Barack Obama is the next President of the United States. The prospect of McCain and Palin leading the charge is one of the most frightening prospects I can think of next to dying of a long, painful illness. It’s at that level. Yes, it’s that bad.

Two interesting thoughts have crossed my path these last couple of days. First is the fact that the right wing see McCain as someone who has run out of steam. He needs to make a home run, and he just isn’t making it. The last debate was his chance to really send Obama packing, but it didn’t happen. For me, I thought Obama was as empty on specifics as McCain in the early part of the debate, but he did warm up, and dealt out some specifics toward the end. McCain just didn’t seem to gather traction, and he said he was ‘bipartisan’ more times than Sarah Palin winked in her debate.

What seems to be coming out of all this is the fact that Obama is running a very discliplined campaign. He is staying on message. No matter what shit is being thrown at him, he is sticking to his message. McCain is constantly changing his message. Firstly he tries to steal Obama’s ‘change’ slogan, which is hard for a man of 72 to pull off, and someone who basically agrees with everything the current administration has said and done. Then he tries to be the financial ’saviour’ and that didn’t come through. And now he is trying to say that he is ‘Mr. Bipartisan’ who will bridge the gap between the divide that is the two parties, just because he may have agreed with Democrats once or twice in his Senatorial career. No matter what he is pulling out of his hat, the people are just not wearing it. Also, as one political commentator observed in this last week, McCain almost knows he can’t win this. McCain was compared to former Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who had that same ’smell’ of defeat in everything he did, everything he said, and every action that he made before he lost last November’s Federal Election. McCain knows it’s over. I even think he has given up on a miracle.

The other very interesting point here is from an observation I heard on one of the podcasts I listen to. It takes a look at Sarah Palin from a slightly different angle. Many, like me, just see her as stupid. She is an evangelical redneck who knows nothing. This particular podcaster said that he lives in an area of California that has a population bigger than that of the entire state of Alaska. He believes that she is ignorant, but she has a perception of herself that thinks she can do this job, when she is clearly out of her depth. He said that once she goes outside her script, she is completely lost and has no idea. This has been quite evident in the last few days when she has been grilled mercilessly on the issues, and has failed. But when you let her speak for herself, no policy comes out of her mouth. It is pure colloquial nonsense.

Obama is still playing this game as he has always played it. He is cool, calm, calculated and racheting up the pressure on the issues. Even though the mud is being flung, he is staying on policy. He could enter in the mudslinging, but all that would do is keep the voters at home, as they will perceive both candidates as pathetic, and both candidates will lose vital votes. The best thing Obama can do is stand back and keep on message. When they look at him and see him being serious about the issues, and then look at McCain and see him slandering Obama, they will go Obama’s way. Things are getting very serious in the financial world at the moment, and the word ‘Depression’ is floating in the air.

Voters will turn to the man who is talking straight about the issues and how he is going to fix them, rather than the man with his tongue poked and who refers to his opponent as ‘that one.’

Enjoy your day.

I said in a blog way back when Hillary Clinton started to lie when the chips were down, that it was underhanded and wrong. It demonstrates that someone has nowhere to go; no substance to contribute.

Hillary Clinton had the potential to get nasty, and even though I applaud her for how far she has come in her life, I am glad she isn’t the nominee for President. She has the potential to bare the claws when the going gets tough. This can be a good quality in a measured way, but I had the feeling that under enough pressure it could get vicious.

So it absolutely makes my blood boil when I witness this same gutter politics tarnishing the last part of this Presidential race. Vile, vicious, character destroying accusations, exhibited as a last resort when nothing else seems to work. This time it has come from the ‘pitbull with lipstick’, Sarah Palin. Just days ago, I thought she was dumb, which she is. But these last 24 hours have proven to me that this woman is a dangerous, nasty piece of work who can’t even begin to compete on policy, so she resorts to total character assassination.

“We see America as the greatest force for good in this world,” Palin said at a fund-raising event in Colorado, adding, “Our opponent though, is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country.”

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/04/palin.obama/index.html

The Republicans have nothing left. McCain’s suspension of his campaign to ‘rescue America’s financial future’ was a dismal failure. His running mate is getting appallingly bad press everywhere, and no one believes the ‘maverick of the Senate’ line. So, if he is failing on all those counts, then lets get that redneck, narrow minded voter squared away, and link Obama to…you guessed it…terrorism. His middle name is Hussein, he is most probably a Muslim in Christian clothing, and now he is linked to a known political agitator of the early 1970’s, a time when Barack Obama was learning to tie his shoe laces, and ride a bike!

Yes, he did meet Bill Ayers in 1995. But this isn’t about Obama meeting Bill Ayers. This is about the Republican team scraping the bottom of the barrel and using whatever tactics it can to destroy Barack Obama and remain in White House. As Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein said,

“He’s leading in the polls. He’s leading in most of the battleground states. And this is going to be a month, I think, of character assassination. And so the Republican position is to try to assassinate Barack Obama’s character and try to place him in a position where the trust that he has built dissipates, the credibility that he has dissipates,” Feinstein said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/05/campaign.wrap/index.html

This particular blog post I hope passes by as many American eyes as it can, because it is the American people who I am directing this to. This attack says more about John McCain, Sarah Palin and the Republican party than it does about Barack Obama. Ask yourself these questions. Do you want a President and a Vice-President who plays dirty when they can’t win a fight? Do you want a President and Vice-President who have no qualms about destroying another’s reputation and good name for the sake of votes? Do you want a President and Vice-President who have little or no grasp of the issues, so decide to give up on the issues and spend the rest of their valuable time pointing fingers and spreading gossip and inuendo? And finally, do you want a President and  a Vice-President who will resort to any measure, no mater how low, in order to win?

Politics is a dirty game, we all know that. They all lie; they all get a bit down and dirty. But even if you are Republican, doesn’t this level of mud slinging disturb you? When we take Australian school children to watch a session of Parliament in action, they always come out of the experience disgusted, because of the way the politicians have behaved. Comedian Robin Williams calls the British House of Commons, “Congress, but with a two drink minimum.” We have certain unspoken ethics and morals that we wish our politicians to have some sense of. For God’s sake, even prisoners have a code of ethics; they have no time for those who have hurt women or children. That is why this outburst by Palin should not be tolerated, whatever side of the political fence you sit on.

Yes, hit an opponent with facts about policy. Yes, trip your opponent up on things they have done politically in the past. Yes, slap them in the face with their contradictory stand on issues that matter. That’s what should happen. That’s politics. But character assassination is what politics used to be like. The reason Barack Obama is getting a landslide of support is not necessarily because he has fantastic policies. It’s because he wants the political process and the way things are done, to be different. Kevin Rudd, Australian Prime Minister, coined a phrase during his election campaign last year. ‘Stop the blame game’ was meant to say to the Australian people that we have problems to fix and we cannot waste precious time blaming someone else. Obama illudes to that same ideology.

So, if you do vote for McCain and Palin, and they get in, remember this blog, and remember what everyone has said. Because when it’s all said and done and you are lumped with these two keystone cops driving the clown car, you’ll be regretting the decision to act on an impulsive statement from the world’s most vicious Barbie doll.

You’ll be asking questions about real issues, and all they’ll be able to do is stare at you, smile stupidly, and say, “Let me get back to you on that one.”

Enjoy your day

It may be 13 years to the day that O.J. Simpson hugged attorney Johnny Cochran, and walked away from a Los Angeles courtroom free of the double murder of his ex-wife and lover. But on this day in 2008, he wasn’t so lucky. Did the jury convict O.J.Simpson fairly? Even without the previous high profile trial, the facts of this particular case confirm in everyone’s mind that this gentleman is not at all a gentleman. He is a bad egg that will spend his life where he should spend it; in jail.

My father was a great one for quotes, lines, and little words of wisdom, gleaned mainly from his mother, who herself gleaned them from all sorts of places. Shakespeare, the Bible, poetry etc. One of those quotes was, ‘as you sow, you reap.’ This basically means that wherever you sow your seed, that’s where it will grow fruit. If you spend your life being a decent person, good and fair to others, you will get that back in return. Having lived in Thailand these last five years, the Thai people also have a saying. It is ’som nom na’, which translated means, ’serves you right.’ But I personally like a former colleagues eloquent expression ‘every dog has its day.’

Simpson, many say, should have been convicted of that double murder all those years ago. Even if we believed him then, he mocked all of us by writing the book ‘If I Did It.’ This explained how the murder ‘would have’ occurred. Now if you didn’t commit the murders, how would you know? It was a blatent slap in the face to his ex wife’s family and the family of Ron Goldman, his ex wife’s lover. It basically said he did it, and there is nothing anybody can do about it.

So when it surfaced that Simpson was up for armed robbery and kidnapping, many people started to smile again. Simpson has been acquitted of the murders. No one can try him again for that. But to get him on something else is as tantalising as it was for Eliot Ness’ ‘Untouchables’ getting Al Capone on tax evasion when it was known all along that he was a mob boss responsible for everything from murder to dealing in prohibited alcohol.

It also demonstrates that maybe Simspon isn’t playing with a full deck. He gets off on a murder charge. This would be a good time to lay low, even if he did do it. He got off. Shut up. But no. He decides that in 2007 he was going to write a book and play with all of us a little. How can you be so stupid as to think that you can write a book detailing the murders, and then say to people that you didn’t do it? He then gets himself involved in an armed robbery. Yet again he feigns innocence. How much lying does he think we have the stomach for?

Talk has been strong about whether the jury judged the facts put toward them in this trial, and didn’t bring pre-conceived prejudices from the previous trial. Of course they would have known it was Simpson, and what that meant. But the fact that they took 13 hours to deliberate, and that there was another person involved who had an identical charge, means that they looked at the evidence before them, and judged the two men accordingly. If there were any residual thoughts lingering about Simpson, it would be the facts of this trial that would speak to them, and maybe confirm what they always suspected about Simpson’s behaviour, and his intent. The fact that he is back in trouble with the law on a serious charge says that he is not the nicest gentleman in the neighbourhood.

Even though some may ask whether the jury were impartial or not, I don’t see too many people complaining about fairness or justice here. Simpson has received a fair trial both times. That’s all anyone can ask for.

However, this verdict does ensure that O.J. Simpson won’t be coming in contact with anyone but prisoners for a very long time.

Enjoy your day.

The much awaited debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin is over, and it has amazed me just how much praise Palin is getting and how much ‘ho-hum’ Biden is getting. It is even more clear evidence that the American people want 4 more years of stupidity and complete lack of understanding.

Watching the debate, there is strong evidence to suggest that Palin came into it with a rehearsed script. We all know what she is like with the unscripted stuff, so it was obvious that her handlers told her to stick to certain issues and to not deviate under any circumstances. She even refused at one point to answer the way she was supposed to, and said she would answer her own way. That is being seen as Palin coming across strong, and agressive, doing it her way. Rubbish! That just proves that she cannot handle questions from the floor, and she was determined to stay on script.

When Palin came out to meet Biden, she greeted him like she was a high school debater in her first grown up debate. Biden was courteous and friendly, but you could see that he needed to stay calm, almost distant, so that he wouldn’t be accused of anything.

Palin was seen as ’speaking into the camera…to the people’ while Biden was seen as ‘talking policy…and to the moderator (Gwen Ifill).’ This was seen as a bad thing for Biden to do. Since when has talking policy been a bad thing to do? We criticise politicians time and time again when they don’t answer the question, and go on and on about nothing in particular. Now, in this instance, we celebrate it, and think that Palin did a wonderful job. Someone please tell me what she said that would give the public ANY confidence that she would be able to handle the Presidency if John McCain were to pass away. I can only look at 10 seconds of any of her comments, because it is like watching, as someone said earlier today, “George Bush in drag!” It is painful to watch her, as much as it has been painful to watch Bush fumble through the last 8 years.

What astounds me, is that Palin, lacking any brains on serious matters, patronisingly turns to Biden, and, while praising him for his experience, almost ridicules it by saying that her and McCain are all about change and reform. In other words, she believes that he is too old and its time for new blood. Has someone tapped her on the shoulder and told her that her running mate is 72 years old? Seven years OLDER than Biden! I have only seen Katie Couric, in that hideously bad interview, question her on this particular contradiction.

But what should be ringing alarm bells to the American people, is the fact that here are two Republicans, John McCain and Sarah Palin, slamming the current state of affairs in America, whether that be the economy, or the way things are done in Washington. Remember, people, George W Bush is a…Republican. Yes, that’s right. The Republicans are basically saying to the American people that they are crap at government, and now they want you to give them 4 more years. Well, I suppose if you don’t mind airheads at the top of your political tree, you don’t mind seeing your young men and women die needlessly in a foreign country, and you want to invade yet another Middle Eastern country in order to completely destroy your armed forces and your credibility around the world, then McCain and Palin are for you.

But please, don’t even think of complaining to anyone, if the world collectively isolates you and turns its back on you for giving this Republican comedy duo a chance. This world has had just about enough of morons running the show and now they expect the American people to put their ’sensible hat’ on again.

Biden wasn’t great in the debate, but Palin sure as hell didn’t win. She merely showed up, and didn’t stuff up.

Enjoy your day

Some very sad news has hit the world of Australian theatre today, with the sudden death of singer, and stage performer, Rob Guest. Guest died at the age of 58 of a massive stroke this morning. His colleagues and the entire theatre world are in total shock today, as they try to come to terms with the fact that a seemingly fit and perfectly healthy person can just pass from this world so suddenly.

When something like this happens, it does make one think of our own mortality. I have recently given up smoking, because one of my concerns was dying a horrible death, probably of cancer. I have tried to get fitter, eat better, and do all the things that contribute to what we think is a long and happy life. Rob Guest didn’t smoke, drank as socially as the next person, was reasonably fit, and was in the peak of health. He was at the time of his death playing the part of the wizard in the Melbourne production of the hit musical ‘Wicked’, and seemed to be doing fine by all accounts. Then, last Tuesday night, as he was at his computer, he had a seizure. He was rushed to hospital, where he was unconcious until his death early this morning, Melbourne time.

So why was his ‘number’ up at 58, and others live till they are 94? I have always wondered (morbid I know) when I will go. Is today my last day? Will I get hit by a car in 5 years time? Will I suffer a heart attack at 60? As said before, I am doing whatever I can to give my life the best shot possible. But all that effort might be for nothing. For Rob Guest it was.

Times like this do tend to bring out the pessimist in all of us. But it should also bring out the optimist. Guest was an optimist. He lived every day, and loved every day. According to his colleagues, he threw himself into his work with such passion and enthusiasm, that his vitality and enthusiasm was infectious. For him, he lived every day of those 58 years. He never missed an opportunity or a moment. He was never celebrated as much as other stars of musical theatre, but he was never out of work.

“I just thought he was neglected, that he didn’t seem to have that mainstream recognition that he should’ve had.”

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/02/2379734.htm

There is one role, however, that will always be his, and that was ‘The Phantom’ in Andrew Lloyd Weber’s ‘Phantom of the Opera.’ To this day, Guest holds the title as the longest serving performer of the Phantom, performing it 2289 times over seven years. He might not have been known for many other roles to that degree, but to put that much passion and energy into 2289 performances says something about the man, his talent, and his approach to life.

Tributes have been flowing today, as they should.

“It will be a great loss. You can’t replace someone with his experience and his professionalism and his knowledge.”

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=640324&rss=yes

I believe things happen for a reason. Maybe Guest’s death was meant to shine a spotlight onto a talent that was not truly appreciated. His legacy will live on, through up and coming performers who were lucky enough to glean some advice from the master of the musical stage.

You alone can make my song take flight…

             -Phantom of the Opera

May he rest in peace.

Enjoy your day.

Throughout our lives, there will be things we like and things we don’t like. We will have strong views on some things and no view on others. We all possess bias, and we can usually back up that bias. So why is it that we seem to spend a lot of our time calling for ‘bipartisanship’ and ‘unbiased’ interactions? There may be some common ground on issues, but for the most part, isn’t being partisan and biased part of life’s interactions?

All of us sit in either one of three camps; left, right, or neutral. Both the left and the right have strong views, and can back those views. Those who are neutral sit on the fence, and are either apathetic, or have a strong preference not to get involved. They see negative aspects in both the left and the right argument. If we didn’t have opposing sides and opinions, we wouldn’t have elections, as there would be no differentiated political parties, as everyone would think the same. Opposing sides that enter into ‘power sharing’ agreements, as in Kenya and Zimbabwe, are troubled liasons from the beginning, as both sides have completely opposing views, but they have decided to live together in political ‘marriage’, as there is no other choice.

I have said many times that I am to the left of the argument. I make no apologies for that, and it at least says to others that I believe in something. I have no problem arguing with people that are to the right of the argument, as long as they are well read, and can back up what they say with facts. I may not agree, but I can see their point and at least concede that they make a well balanced, well thought out argument.

I do, however, find it difficult when either side of the ideological spectrum become extreme and baseless in their arguments. For the left, this occurs especially within the far left union movement. The thug mentality kicks in, and they become nothing but headkickers and bully boys who almost follow a line of ‘thinking’, that says all authority figures are bastards, elite, and hell bent on destroying the worker.

For the far right wing, they become patronising, hyprocritical, contradictory and also baseless in their argument. All logic goes out the window and they make excuses for bad decisions. Instead of owning up to the fact that they may well be wrong, they laugh criticism off and make out that everyone, even the mainstream media, is ‘left leaning’. They love to play victim.

That third group is the group that concerns me. As much as I despise the ignorance of the right, if they make a valid point, I say ‘touche’. But a group of neutral ‘fence sitters’ infuriate me even more. They don’t care about anything, they sail through life and they would not know one politician from another. Most times these people would then go to a polling booth on election day, scribble on the ballot, or not do anything at all, and then go home and sit on their couch. But, once their local roads are deteriorating, their schools are rubbish, their health system is stuffed and their taxes are going higher and higher, they complain. Why should they? They haven’t taken part in the process of life, so they should sit on their couch and shut up.

Singaporeans are probably the most apathetic group of people when it comes to their electoral system. Singapore is by and large a ‘benevolent dictatorship’. For Singaporeans, as long as everything is ok, and their lives are not controlled too much, they can make money and have a nice life. They don’t complain. Lee Kuan Yew, the founder of Singapore, has had his hand on the ship’s steering mechanism since Singapore’s independence in 1965. However, when Lee dies, it will be interesting to see how the political process develops then. I have said to friends in Singapore that there may be a day when someone they don’t like takes the reigns of Singapore, and changes things for the worse. Then we may see Singaporeans with a voice.

This US Presidential election is important in many ways, but what it is pushing people to do is to register to vote. Whether they are voting for McCain or Obama, they are being encouraged more than ever to get out there and make their voice heard. Bias, allegiance, support or whatever you want to call it, is good, and bias is the thing that will get a result in these elections come November.

Apathy will not get anyone elected.

Enjoy your day.