The nation decides

A rather grand statement isn't it? 'The nation decides'. It is often used in relation to Australia's Federal Elections and today is election day.

A few nations have been deciding lately. The United Kingdom decided to leave the European Union much to everyone's surprise; not the least their own. Having made the decision, that nation appears in the process of a complete breakdown.

The United States is in the process of reaching a decision of its own and few of its citizens appear happy with the options. The rest of the world meanwhile is keeping our combined fingers crossed that the decision the USA makes is the 'right' one. In bridge playing terms we hope that a winning card isn't 'trumped'.

Returning to Australia our options appear uninspiring. The Prime Minister usurped his predecessor to take the position and so is looking to win the position by popular vote for the first time. Although most were relieved when he usurped the previous PM his performance since has been disappointing.

Malcolm Turnbull, Prime Minister

His opponent, the Leader of the Opposition is not averse to a spot of usurping himself having been involved in two such coups against two earlier PMs. To the surprise of many his performance in the election run up was more convincing than his earlier performance as the Opposition Leader although even that slipped in the late days of the campaign as both leaders resorted to negativity and mudslinging.

Bill Shorten, Leader of the Opposition

One of them may be the incoming PM by the time counting of the vote concludes for the night but if the neck and neck Polls beforehand prove accurate then we may not be certain for days.

One way or another one of the two will be PM in the next government. But will anything change?

The not so beautiful game

In light of Mr Blatter's re-election as the head of the world's football body FIFA the following table - widely circulated - provides startling, indeed shocking, information. It says something about Mr Blatter that as his organisation's President he didn't have the decency to accept responsibility, even if it was only symbolic, for its abysmal activities. It is also a sad commentary on those many national Federations who stand by this failed executive, evidently preferring the benefits of corrupt largesse to being a member of an honest, reputable structure.

Capital punishment

Two young Australians face execution in Indonesia within the next few days. They are convicted drug traffickers. The Australian Parliament and prominent Australians have pleaded for the death sentences to be commuted. Indonesia's President has not heeded any of these pleas and appears immovable on the matter.

By all accounts the two Australians have turned their lives around in the many years they have spent in prison awaiting their sentence to be carried out. Their reform has been one of the arguments pleaded in their favour. Some in Australia, especially amongst those who have lost loved ones to drug usage, support the intended executions.

I can understand that view but I am not in favour of capital punishment. I wish that the Indonesian President would agree to commute the sentences. There seems no hope of that.

I am glad that our Governments - of both persuasions - have pleaded on behalf of these and other Australians who face execution. Perhaps if our Governments would use diplomatic channels constantly to argue against all executions - and not just those where Australians are involved - we might see countries which practice capital punishment changing their policies over time. Otherwise why should any country show clemency to Australians when they execute their own nationals with impunity?

12 Years A Slave

This year's Academy Award winning Best Picture, '12 Years A Slave', is based on the experiences of Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) a free man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery.

The film opens with Northup already in servitude. A short flashback sequence then provides images of his family life as a free man and in general terms how he was kidnapped. From that point the film focusses intently on life as a slave.

I had held off seeing this film, released in Australia some time ago, because I felt the material would be harrowing to view and that's how it transpired. Director, Steve McQueen, has crafted a stunning film that relentlessly reveals the shocking abuse inflicted on those in servitude. The images, shocking enough in themselves, are made all the more powerful, book ended as they are by static images that are almost portrait and landscape works of art in appearance. It is as though McQueen is daring the audience to watch whilst the camera lingers for uncomfortably long periods on the sickening behaviour.

Ejiofor retains an almost saintly dignity throughout in a performance commendably devoid of excess theatrics but I found the pick of the performers to be Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong'o and Paul Dano. The only discordant aspect in casting is that of Brad Pitt in a short but key cameo near the end which smacks of celebrity tokenism.

Whilst the events depicted in the film date back to the 19th Century I could not help but reflect on current day injustices - some sadly not too far from home - where humanity remains badly lacking.

This film is not an entertainment but it is an important reality check on past and present instances of discrimination, abuse and intolerance. The lessons of history which we never seem to learn.
★★★★

Line of discrimination

Somewhere in all this lot is a line of succession

Prime Minister Gillard is conducting a 'presser' at the moment. Don't you love modern jargon? For as long as I can remember there have been 'press conferences'. Now, in just a few months, 'press conferences' have become 'pressers'. Is it Twitter that has done this to us? With its 140 characters limit per message I suspect so. Journalists now compress all manner of messages.

Anyway, getting back to Ms Gillard's 'presser'. She is pleased to announce the Council of Australian Governments has acted to remove the discrimination that a first born male has precedence over an older born female in the line of succession to the British throne (and as a consequence also to the 'Australian throne'). Well, bully for that.

Not that I disagree with ending this gender discrimination. What a shame though that our Prime minister isn't equally as eager to remove discrimination based on sexual orientation. Marriage equality anybody?

Where there's smoke....

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

wtf?.....

I've just been reading about this man who is a competing to be the Republican Party's candidate for the US Presidential election later this year.

Rick Santorum

I had heard of him but otherwise knew nothing about the man until reading some of his views this afternoon. Frankly I'm shocked that someone with views he has expressed could seriously be considered for public office but then again speech is free, especially in the USA.

Included in what I read is a pronouncement in an interview from 2003 when Mr Santorum, then a Senator from Pennsylvania, was commenting on a case before the Supreme Court that argued that anti-sodomy laws were unconstitutional on the ground that adults have the right to privacy. I could understand if Mr Santorum simply stated that he did not approve of sodomy but what he is quoted as saying was

"If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home then you have the right to anything. Does that undermine the fabric of our society? I would argue yes it does."

That interview inspired a suggestion that if Mr Santorum wants to invite himself into the bedrooms of gays and lesbians that (we) should include him by naming a gay sex act after him. The winner of the resultant contest can easily be found simply by Googling 'Santorum'. Delicacy prevents me from publishing the winning response directly but if you really want to see the named activity then the link is here. You were warned.

Yes, they can

Australian parliamentarians of all political persuasions today demonstrated that they can be as sycophantic as the best of them as they eagerly pressed forward for their handshake and photo opportunity following President Obama's address to the Australian Parliament. I watched on television as the President slowly circled the Chamber patiently greeting each well wisher and turning to camera on cue to capture the moment for posterity (and no doubt providing electioneering material for said Aussie Pollies at the next Federal ballot).

No one missed out. Not the latent rebel Senator Garrett, nor Mr Grumpy Senator Bob Brown, not even out on a limb Bob Katter and especially not a flirtatious Bronwyn Bishop. They each had their moment.

I've got to hand it to the President. He appeared to ooze charm. His PR skills seem exceptional.

I am the 75,592,651,242nd...

...person to have lived since history began according to this site.

(BBC News)

Citius, Altius, Fortius

Ten years ago today, the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games was held on a windy and cloudy evening which gave way the next morning to the crispest and clearest of days followed by two weeks of carnival atmosphere during which Sydney seemed like paradise on earth. It all succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.

A year later, almost to the day, and events in New York and elsewhere changed everything. Innocence was lost. Ansett Airlines, the official carrier for our games disappeared virtually overnight. North and South Korea who marched together at the ceremony retreated to their former entrenched positions. Marion Jones, the star turn of the sprint events was stripped of her gold medals and disgraced by her admission of drug taking. And so on and so forth.

Nevertheless all manner of celebrations are planned for today perhaps in silent hope that we might somehow return to those idyllic conditions.

Disorder...and dishonour...in the house.

(Italian Parliament)

With Australian politics undergoing historic fracturing I thought I would tune into this afternoon's broadcast of Senate debate on climate change legislation.

I sort of hoped, but in truth didn't really expect, to hear rational and reasoned debate from both sides of the political divide. The sort of debate that would assist listeners understand the issues and enable us to reach informed opinions.

Unfortunately, my worst fears were realised. The so called debate was an unbroken stream of abuse and disparagement - by both sides. Not a single speaker actually spoke to the legislation. It was non stop belittlement and mud slinging with the President of the Senate half heartedly attempting to control an endless run of interjections.

We, the tax payers, fund this kindergarten level of behaviour and we are not getting much value from our representatives.

2012

I love disaster movies. I get a kick out of seeing images of world famous landmarks crumbling, collapsing, being swamped or whatever by the 'disaster de jour'. No doubt psychiatrists have a syndrome for this character trait of mine.

2012 is an update of the biblical tale of Noah's Ark with all sorts of modern nuances relating to good and evil. The planet is about to disintegrate because of a once in 640,000 years alignment of the sun and planets and this demise was foretold by the Mayan civilisation.

All of this is good stuff as far as disaster movies go although the test as always with this genre is how effective are the special effects. The answer in this case is that they are pretty good. Of course these movies are beset with implausibilities and inconsistencies and in that regard 2012 is a bit of a shocker. The viewer is best advised to switch off all logical thought for the nearly three hours it takes for the tale to reach its predictable conclusion.

There is a surprising amount of humour in the film; I assume intended, with Woody Harrelson, in particular, revelling in his kooky role. There is also plenty of irony; again I assume intended. One of the characters is named Noah and one of the escape vessels is named Genesis and on and on it goes. George Segal is wheeled out from his nursing home to take one of many minor cameo roles; another characteristic of disaster movies.

There is disappointing news for our esteemed Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, who is deemed by many to be seeking a prominent role for himself and Australia on the international stage. Regrettably for our Kevin, neither rates a single reference in this film.

On the other hand there is reassurance that in the planet's final moments, the world's mobile phone networks continue to operate very effectively in the remotest of locations, thank you very much.

Hope for the future

At about the moment that this (pre-ordered) post is scheduled to appear, Barack Obama is being sworn in as President of the United States.

There is a lot of excitement and anticipation surrounding Obama's Presidency. Let's hope our expectations do not overwhelm him, that his actions and achievements justify the current hopeful mood and that he is well supported rather than impeded by the Government agencies and bureaucracy.

Obama wins

Yes, he did!