Australia just got its first female Prime Minister. Obviously, this is a HUGE historical issue, and I will give it due analysis in my next post.
But for now, I want to say something short about the manner in which it all came about:
I also realise that I may or may not be forfeiting any future career in journalism by saying this, but that's the cost of exercising my own right to free speech, I suppose.
His name is Kevin Rudd. He was the Prime Minister of Australia. He took office after 11 years of socially conservative, economically liberal Liberal Party rule. He had the Unions behind him. He was one of the most popular PMs when he came in, and retained high popularity right up until a few months ago. He led Australia, with his Cabinet, through the worst recession since the Great Depression, and this country also came out of said recession in the best shape of ALL the OECD countries. He tried, three times, to introduce a carbon trading scheme to reduce greenhouse emissions, and was held back on that front by both a petulant opposition, and a weak-kneed Labor Party (his own party).
And all this, within one term (that's only THREE years here in Australia), he was today deposed as leader of the Labor Party, and therefore as Prime Minister of Australia. His deputy, Julia Gillard, was the challenger, and his best mate, Wayne Swan, who was the Treasurer, is now her deputy.
It is all good and historical for Gillard, and I suppose Swan too perhaps.
But let me tell you the key reasons Rudd doesn't have his job anymore::
Firstly, the Australian Labor Party is like the Democratic Party in the USA. How so? In that it is the party more likely to introduce social change legislation, and more likely to tax rich people. It is also the more likely to fold and buckle on itself, which is what has happened here today.
The laughable thing about this is that we have another Federal election mere months away, and they decide to throw it all out here and now.
Perhaps the ALP is going for the Palin-effect - wishing and hoping that all the alleged problems with the current government will be swept quickly under the carpet and simultaneously outshone by the fact that Gillard is a woman. We may also get the alleged Hillary-effect, whereby the women of the country will scream and whinge and chant "I am woman" and talk about "not betraying my sex" and promise to vote for Gillard purely on the basis of her gender.
This concept, by the way, is bullshit. It didn't work for Clinton, or Palin for that matter. Women just aren't that stupid.
The other reason, that is, in conjunction with the utter spinelessness of the Labor Party is this:
The Media.
No surprises there.
The Australian media can be just as incessant, negligent, narrow-minded and useless (among other traits) as the US media, or any other developed nation for that matter.
This is the home of the Murdochs, and the Packers. Journalists will group together like some sort of oppressed racial minority and then inexplicably spit fire and brimstone and all manner of shit at anyone who offends one of their own. I will cease my criticism of the state of Australian media for now, ending with this question to you: is it good to have a united media front as such, regardless of accuracy or perspective?
The Media has done all it could to undermine Kevin Rudd, and by god, they have succeeded exceedingly! He just quit the Prime Minister-ship! They will now seek to destroy Gillard.
If and when a Liberal MP becomes PM, they will seek to do the same to him/her, though not so much. This would be because the Libs favour big business, and media is big business. It's that simple.
Most recently, the government, under Rudd, introduced the idea of a "super tax" on the mining industry. It is not what it sounds like. "Super" does not refer to superannuation (retirement funds), and does not refer to a massive increase in taxation in general. It means 'more than usual' profits gained by the mining industry.
Since secondary industries (factories and production) in this country have been all but shut-down, dismantled, and sold for parts at reduced prices, the only source of income this country had to rely on in terms of exports had been primary industries. And lately, mining has outstripped agriculture. Who would have thought, back when the English brought their convicts here, that there was gold, iron, copper, tin, silver, coal, uranium, nd all other manner of highly useful and valuable mineral deposits buried underneath the broad, brown, and barren landscape of New Holland (modern Western Australia)?
we know now, and we have giant mining companies like BHP and Rio Tinto, both Australian and foreign, digging it all up and flogging it to China.
As always, when money starts moving, the government sticks its nib in and stems the tide with a tax. Because it happened under a Liberal, Big-Business-loving government, the only tax stopping the deluge of MONEY from the mining boom was a paltry 3% or so, based on what were essentially start-up costs of the mines.
Lately, the ALP and Rudd have decided that the billions of dollars the mining co.s are getting from digging up Australia's metals and selling was excessive to the extreme, and that given the oddly depressing economic situation of the world, the Australian people could make a better run at these "super" profits.
OK, so whoever came up with the term "super-tax" should be shot. It just sends the wrong message, which can be misconstrued in so many ways, the main ones I already outlined above.
"Excess Profits Tax"? "Mining Endowment Tax"? "Primary Industry Gross Accumulation Tax"? I just came up with those off the top of my head, and all of them sound better, and makes it just a little harder for the Media to misconstrue it as it has.
But no, the ALP's backbone stopped the show and broke itself, so that the coming election didn't have to break the sweat. "Election, sir, I wonder if I could hobble myself so you don't have to. Can I? Really? Ok!" >crack!<
The Media took candy from a baby on this tax (and this is only the most recent example), and took sides also, egging on the mining industry to run outlandishly inaccurate advertisements on TV, declaring the END OF AUSTRALIA, because retirees won't get to invest their money into over-priced mining stocks, (and watch it all vanish, as only a stock-market can do).
The country will plunge into a horrific recession! And why? Because the CEOs of the mining giants can't buy an extra ivory back-scratcher!
Incidentally, this week a group of Mining industry leaders were in Africa, seeking areas to which they could flee, skedaddle, and take Australian jobs with them. They all had the bright idea to get on the same plane, to charter the plane from some dodgy African government or company (they're all dodgy there), and lo and behold that plane crashed. I cannot express too much sympathy on this news, aside from condolences to the families of the people. And to warm what may have just sounded cold-hearted, I said it because we didn't lose any people who were going to go on and change the world for the greater good. Did we?
The Media then was negligent enough to allow an insignificant Liberal MP to say on camera that those 6 top-dogs died because the Super-tax drove them off to Africa, etc. etc. No, sir, they died because their GREED drove them off to Africa.
To put the Super-tax thing to rest for now, all it ever was was an increase, and a marginal one at that, on the tax on the mining companies. It would cease the paltry 3% (ie nothing) that the govt. was getting now, and begin taxing the outrageous profits of the Mining companies. The result would be a drop in the bucket for the Industry, but comparatively large increase in income for the Australian Government. That means more money for roads, schools, libraries, and other stuff that separates our civil landscape from Africa.
What did the Media really do to lead directly to today?
They overblew the entire thing. They broadcast images of a few hundred union marchers in Sydney, and said that the Australian Council of Trade Unions was no longer on the ALP's side. They gave voice to idiot MPs and mining executives, and even attempted to make it seem like they were being unnecessarily personally offended and made to do without by the tax.
The Media declared united and therefore unilaterally that the govt. was losing the mining tax issue.
And what did the ALP do in response?
The ALP buckled, as to be expected, fired its most popular leader and installed a woman on the badly disguised premise of the Palin-effect. (Palin lost her election, by the way. Remember that, Media??) "Oh shit, we ARE losing it!" "Oh shit, we are going down FAST!"
The ALP's relationship with the Australian voting public is based much in melodrama. They assume that the public is a scornful mistress, which will cut, turn, and run away from them as a lover at the first sign of trouble.
John Howard, the soulless Liberal PM preceding Rudd, stayed in power for ELEVEN! years, because he understood the real nature of the voting public. Firstly, never listen to polls. or at least not for 95% of the time. Secondly, he realised that the public is not a scornful mistress, but more like a suburban housewife - we will stay put and do nothing, suffer countless incidents of domestic violence, never confront issues head-on, whinge incessantly and indirectly, be murderously passive-aggressive, and put up with almost ANYTHING to keep our man with us. Howard cooked his own goose when he tried to drastically reform labour laws, and the only reason that did him in was that he'd already spent 11 years doing nothing of import, and I guess it was too out of character. Actually, another reason is that among the useless population of the ALP members, there was someone who realised that workplace relations could be a point of contention in the 2007 election.
I don't want this to seem at all like an indictment upon Julia Gillard. She has been, for more often than the public ever realised, the real power behind Rudd's office, doing all the work, effectively, while he gallivanted off to observe(but not actually participate) in international affairs, and ask the US president to visit, knowing full-well that himself and Australia are just not important enough, even if the Gulf of Mexico wasn't transforming into an oil-ocean.
But the beaten housewife that the public is was never really aware of the work Gillard has been doing in the background. So it cannot be used as reassurance for her selection as Australia's first PM today.
That's Australian politics for you.
From The Tominator.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
On Absolutism
Absolutist thought is only going to take you in one direction. And when you reach the end of that road, expect little.
Why?
:: That's the way it is.
(I'd give you a better reason, but as an Absolutist thinker, you will be satisfied with that.)
Why?
:: That's the way it is.
(I'd give you a better reason, but as an Absolutist thinker, you will be satisfied with that.)
Reality Strikes
I have comeback from Japan twice now, and left my job in Sydney once. And each time I played the numbers game.
What I mean is that I collected as many contact details from as many people as possible, saved them, and when I got back Home, I try to contact as many people as I can.
Sometimes I don't contact everyone.
Usually, most people don't contact me.
The reasons for this are simple: People's lives get so small and involved that they forget about the world outside their field of vision. Right now, most of the people whose contacts I got (about 100 people) back in Japan are busy with their job, their family, some kind of travel, their laundry, their car, riding a train, or any other kind of daily activity. And in their lives, each of them has deemed, perhaps subconsciously, that whatever they are doing is more important than contacting Tom.
I should not take it as an insult. SO many people are like this.
There is, however, one person who I do take is as an insult from - my ex-girlfriend. We were still somewhat enamoured when we broke up, but now, as I expected, her job is far more important in her mind than communication with me. And I have no way of talking to her now, because she works 23 hours a day, and won't answer her phone while she is working! -- but that is another story that I am not sharing on this blog.
So now we know who our friends are, I suppose. This is one way of looking at it.
I will say that I feel sorry for the bullshit my friends suffer in Japan:
"Why didn't you plan out your life when you were in High School??"
"Why aren't you married??"
These are all questions that a COMMON Japanese person will ask you, I am sure.
Whe I left my job at AEON, how many people asked me "What will you do in Australia??"
Everyone.
How many had a surprised look on their face when I said "I don't know."
Everyone.
This is because it is common, apparently, for Japanese people to p[lan out their entire lives when they are 16 years old.
I tell you that when I was 16, I was a very, very unhappy Tom. And if I were living a life that I had planned out then, I would be living an unhappy life now, too.
I am by no means living the high life now, by the way. I had a year and a half of genuine, good and educational experiences while I was in Japan, and now I am living like I am still in High School. This is incredibly depressing. But I am not writing this to depress you.
The question I often find myself asking is this:
"Do you have a time machine???"
Do I have a magical machine that will let me travel back in time, into the past, and do things all over again?
The answer, of course, is NO!
So I should not live as though I "could have, should have, would have" done this or that.
Re-doing things in the past cannot be done, so I should not wish I could do them.
Do you follow me?
So, my problem then, is to live in the Present. Essentially, I think, I should live in the present, hope for the future, and learn from the past. I do believe that most people, including myself more often than not, live in the past, eke through the present, and stumble into the future.
If I live for the future, it means that I have grand expectations, plans, a life-map that I made when I was 16. LIFE is not obliged to follow my plans. Why should it? I am one of 7 billion people in the world, why should the Universe do as I, one person, Tom, instructs it to do?????
Be careful, though.
Thinking like this can quickly lead to more depression, based on the feeling of: "Whaaaaaa! I don't matter at all in this world. Whaaaa! I should just die, should never have been born."
This is stupid thinking.
Why?
Firstly, I am one of 7 billion people in this world. The Universe does not cares with equal, in equal amounts, whether I live or die. Since I am alive now, and that line of 'reasoning' presents no reason at all to end my life, I am forced to default directly to something akin to "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." ie nothing needs to be done.
I know, I know. This presents a LOT of rational thinking. So sue me. Rational thought has embedded itself in my though processes over the last few years, and I am not going to get rid of it, because it can provide me with Certainty when Irrationality would send me into the drink.
Secondly, the idea "I don't matter in this world" is wrong. "This world" as I choose to define it now, is MY world.
The ONLY world I know is the one that I see between waking up in the morning and falling asleep at night. My World can get damn small sometimes, but other times, like my trip across Japan, it can get really, really big! Sometimes too big.
And who is the most important person in this world of mine? It is ME! It's MY world, after all.
And your world is YOUR World. We happen to share a lot of the same things in our separate worlds. We share the planet, the air, the water, all the food and petrol, and we also have the ability to communicate with each other.
THAT is where is gets interesting.
I could exist in my world forever, the only person, the only thing that matters. This would be achievable with a lobotmy, zeroing in and remiving the parts of my brain that function and desire communication in all forms on all levels.
But I also have an ability to communicate with others, and I want to do it more often than not. I think this is part of being a Human Being, (and maybe you should ask your nearest neurosurgeon, but I think that lobotmy would remove too much of my brain, and leave me in a state mediacally and commonly referred to as a "vegetable".)
It is also the beginning of the Difficulty.
To date, I cannot find a way to make my communications with other people's worlds work to my advantage.
I exist in a time where MONEY is more important than GOD ever was, and I don't have any money to speak of. Why is it important? Because I have to BUY my food, BUY my clothes, BUY my petrol. If I ever move out from my parents' house, I will need MONEY to PAY RENT on my apartment, BUY electricity, water, gas, etc. At some point eventually I will have the unbridled privilege of paying a mortgage! Handing over half my yearly income to a bank, and the other half to the tax man. I will never reach a tax-bracket that will allow me to claim exemption from paying taxes. Never, at any point in regular life, will I be free of some kind of thought regarding MONEY.
In fact, the only time in life (in general) that I do not have think about money is when I write things, similar to this. I guess it is philosophising, or something like that.
To date, and at least for the last 5 years or so, I have done a lot of philosophising. A lot of thinking. A lot of wondering, pondering, and making grand assessments about my world. I have had what I thought were noble ideas about what is right and wrong, presented my views on good and evil sides of things (because "good" and "evil" are only viewpoints, after all), and said grandiose stuff and tried to make WHOEVER WOULD LISTEN think more than they would.
But in the modern world, that kind of activity is useless. I could only offer the kind of thing that busy, money-making people would see and think: "I have a little extra money, a boring life, and some time on Saturday. I think I will go to that philosophising guy's lesson." at which point they will pay me, and for 30-50 glorious minutes I will be the most important thing in not only My world, but that money-making person's world, too! This is in fact the nature of my existence at the AEON job in Mito. For 10 hours a day, 5 days a week.
And look at me now, I am so desperate to tell and talk to people that I am giving away my best product for FREE! And yes, that IS the sad reality: I have to refer to it as a 'product', and put a monetary value on it.
So, I realise this post is too long.
I don't want you to get the wrong idea from what I say, because it is very easy to do that.
In the last page or so of crap that I have just written and posted, I have been coming to grips with reality. For someone like me, who has ambitions that are more Dream than Reality, the conversion of Dreams into Reality is a very difficult process. I do not even know where to begin.
I have a friend, he is studying to be a psychologist. He will make more money than I ever will, and he will be more successful than I ever will. He said to me that I need to tone my presumptions about life down a bit, and seek just a stepping-stone. He is right, because I constantly feel that I will someday make some giant, unsupported leap from anonymity to fame and fortune, despite Reality.
That is what I will try to do. I have no direction now, so I will start with that, and I suppose I will have to build a path from scratch, unless I can numb my delusions of grandeur away, and one day focus on doing a job or living a life that may not be grand or important, but it will let me pay the bills.
A few days ago I began the process, in my mind, of relinquishing all delusions of grandeur, so that one day I may be able to accept the life-role of becoming some kind of suburban serviceman, perhaps a tradesman like a carpenter or plumber. In such a life I will have to be satisfied with working physically demanding jobs, then screwing my customers (monetarily speaking) for all they are worth, confident in the fact that I can do something that they cannot. I will probably wish I would have been a lawyer, doctor, or investment banker, because then the work wouldn't be so physical, but I could still screw my customers.
(I'll put a little disclaimer in here: I know some doctors, and might meet a banker or lawyer or two one day, and I am sure that they are not all bastards. To those people, I will dose this Reality: your colleagues are making a bad name for it. I'd say sorry, but I am not liable, and have no control over it. Ask your lawyer colleagues why that last sentence sounded so fucking pansied.)
I'm starting to wish that the milkman's job was still an option, then at least I could screw my customers the right way.
What is my ultimate message in this post? I think it is:
Life is not going to go your way without good and solid reason,
And also:
Confronting reality is the first step. One cannot walk a path if one does not know where the first stepping-stone will bear the foot.
From Tom.
What I mean is that I collected as many contact details from as many people as possible, saved them, and when I got back Home, I try to contact as many people as I can.
Sometimes I don't contact everyone.
Usually, most people don't contact me.
The reasons for this are simple: People's lives get so small and involved that they forget about the world outside their field of vision. Right now, most of the people whose contacts I got (about 100 people) back in Japan are busy with their job, their family, some kind of travel, their laundry, their car, riding a train, or any other kind of daily activity. And in their lives, each of them has deemed, perhaps subconsciously, that whatever they are doing is more important than contacting Tom.
I should not take it as an insult. SO many people are like this.
There is, however, one person who I do take is as an insult from - my ex-girlfriend. We were still somewhat enamoured when we broke up, but now, as I expected, her job is far more important in her mind than communication with me. And I have no way of talking to her now, because she works 23 hours a day, and won't answer her phone while she is working! -- but that is another story that I am not sharing on this blog.
So now we know who our friends are, I suppose. This is one way of looking at it.
I will say that I feel sorry for the bullshit my friends suffer in Japan:
"Why didn't you plan out your life when you were in High School??"
"Why aren't you married??"
These are all questions that a COMMON Japanese person will ask you, I am sure.
Whe I left my job at AEON, how many people asked me "What will you do in Australia??"
Everyone.
How many had a surprised look on their face when I said "I don't know."
Everyone.
This is because it is common, apparently, for Japanese people to p[lan out their entire lives when they are 16 years old.
I tell you that when I was 16, I was a very, very unhappy Tom. And if I were living a life that I had planned out then, I would be living an unhappy life now, too.
I am by no means living the high life now, by the way. I had a year and a half of genuine, good and educational experiences while I was in Japan, and now I am living like I am still in High School. This is incredibly depressing. But I am not writing this to depress you.
The question I often find myself asking is this:
"Do you have a time machine???"
Do I have a magical machine that will let me travel back in time, into the past, and do things all over again?
The answer, of course, is NO!
So I should not live as though I "could have, should have, would have" done this or that.
Re-doing things in the past cannot be done, so I should not wish I could do them.
Do you follow me?
So, my problem then, is to live in the Present. Essentially, I think, I should live in the present, hope for the future, and learn from the past. I do believe that most people, including myself more often than not, live in the past, eke through the present, and stumble into the future.
If I live for the future, it means that I have grand expectations, plans, a life-map that I made when I was 16. LIFE is not obliged to follow my plans. Why should it? I am one of 7 billion people in the world, why should the Universe do as I, one person, Tom, instructs it to do?????
Be careful, though.
Thinking like this can quickly lead to more depression, based on the feeling of: "Whaaaaaa! I don't matter at all in this world. Whaaaa! I should just die, should never have been born."
This is stupid thinking.
Why?
Firstly, I am one of 7 billion people in this world. The Universe does not cares with equal, in equal amounts, whether I live or die. Since I am alive now, and that line of 'reasoning' presents no reason at all to end my life, I am forced to default directly to something akin to "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." ie nothing needs to be done.
I know, I know. This presents a LOT of rational thinking. So sue me. Rational thought has embedded itself in my though processes over the last few years, and I am not going to get rid of it, because it can provide me with Certainty when Irrationality would send me into the drink.
Secondly, the idea "I don't matter in this world" is wrong. "This world" as I choose to define it now, is MY world.
The ONLY world I know is the one that I see between waking up in the morning and falling asleep at night. My World can get damn small sometimes, but other times, like my trip across Japan, it can get really, really big! Sometimes too big.
And who is the most important person in this world of mine? It is ME! It's MY world, after all.
And your world is YOUR World. We happen to share a lot of the same things in our separate worlds. We share the planet, the air, the water, all the food and petrol, and we also have the ability to communicate with each other.
THAT is where is gets interesting.
I could exist in my world forever, the only person, the only thing that matters. This would be achievable with a lobotmy, zeroing in and remiving the parts of my brain that function and desire communication in all forms on all levels.
But I also have an ability to communicate with others, and I want to do it more often than not. I think this is part of being a Human Being, (and maybe you should ask your nearest neurosurgeon, but I think that lobotmy would remove too much of my brain, and leave me in a state mediacally and commonly referred to as a "vegetable".)
It is also the beginning of the Difficulty.
To date, I cannot find a way to make my communications with other people's worlds work to my advantage.
I exist in a time where MONEY is more important than GOD ever was, and I don't have any money to speak of. Why is it important? Because I have to BUY my food, BUY my clothes, BUY my petrol. If I ever move out from my parents' house, I will need MONEY to PAY RENT on my apartment, BUY electricity, water, gas, etc. At some point eventually I will have the unbridled privilege of paying a mortgage! Handing over half my yearly income to a bank, and the other half to the tax man. I will never reach a tax-bracket that will allow me to claim exemption from paying taxes. Never, at any point in regular life, will I be free of some kind of thought regarding MONEY.
In fact, the only time in life (in general) that I do not have think about money is when I write things, similar to this. I guess it is philosophising, or something like that.
To date, and at least for the last 5 years or so, I have done a lot of philosophising. A lot of thinking. A lot of wondering, pondering, and making grand assessments about my world. I have had what I thought were noble ideas about what is right and wrong, presented my views on good and evil sides of things (because "good" and "evil" are only viewpoints, after all), and said grandiose stuff and tried to make WHOEVER WOULD LISTEN think more than they would.
But in the modern world, that kind of activity is useless. I could only offer the kind of thing that busy, money-making people would see and think: "I have a little extra money, a boring life, and some time on Saturday. I think I will go to that philosophising guy's lesson." at which point they will pay me, and for 30-50 glorious minutes I will be the most important thing in not only My world, but that money-making person's world, too! This is in fact the nature of my existence at the AEON job in Mito. For 10 hours a day, 5 days a week.
And look at me now, I am so desperate to tell and talk to people that I am giving away my best product for FREE! And yes, that IS the sad reality: I have to refer to it as a 'product', and put a monetary value on it.
So, I realise this post is too long.
I don't want you to get the wrong idea from what I say, because it is very easy to do that.
In the last page or so of crap that I have just written and posted, I have been coming to grips with reality. For someone like me, who has ambitions that are more Dream than Reality, the conversion of Dreams into Reality is a very difficult process. I do not even know where to begin.
I have a friend, he is studying to be a psychologist. He will make more money than I ever will, and he will be more successful than I ever will. He said to me that I need to tone my presumptions about life down a bit, and seek just a stepping-stone. He is right, because I constantly feel that I will someday make some giant, unsupported leap from anonymity to fame and fortune, despite Reality.
That is what I will try to do. I have no direction now, so I will start with that, and I suppose I will have to build a path from scratch, unless I can numb my delusions of grandeur away, and one day focus on doing a job or living a life that may not be grand or important, but it will let me pay the bills.
A few days ago I began the process, in my mind, of relinquishing all delusions of grandeur, so that one day I may be able to accept the life-role of becoming some kind of suburban serviceman, perhaps a tradesman like a carpenter or plumber. In such a life I will have to be satisfied with working physically demanding jobs, then screwing my customers (monetarily speaking) for all they are worth, confident in the fact that I can do something that they cannot. I will probably wish I would have been a lawyer, doctor, or investment banker, because then the work wouldn't be so physical, but I could still screw my customers.
(I'll put a little disclaimer in here: I know some doctors, and might meet a banker or lawyer or two one day, and I am sure that they are not all bastards. To those people, I will dose this Reality: your colleagues are making a bad name for it. I'd say sorry, but I am not liable, and have no control over it. Ask your lawyer colleagues why that last sentence sounded so fucking pansied.)
I'm starting to wish that the milkman's job was still an option, then at least I could screw my customers the right way.
What is my ultimate message in this post? I think it is:
Life is not going to go your way without good and solid reason,
And also:
Confronting reality is the first step. One cannot walk a path if one does not know where the first stepping-stone will bear the foot.
From Tom.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Making of "In The Land Of Lonely Men"
Peoples,
I just posted one of my rarely seen poems. It is titled "In The Land Of Lonely Men".
The poem, as looooooooooong as it is, speaks for itself, but in this 'Making Of' special post, I want to tell you some other key things:
I wrote it on location at the Capsule Nagoya (or maybe it was called something else), but it is in Kanayama, Nagoya
I wrote it on the last of a four day stay in Nagoya.
That was in late March, 2010. Should have written the exact date, but I'll find that later.
Enjoy.
From The Tominator.
I just posted one of my rarely seen poems. It is titled "In The Land Of Lonely Men".
The poem, as looooooooooong as it is, speaks for itself, but in this 'Making Of' special post, I want to tell you some other key things:
I wrote it on location at the Capsule Nagoya (or maybe it was called something else), but it is in Kanayama, Nagoya
I wrote it on the last of a four day stay in Nagoya.
That was in late March, 2010. Should have written the exact date, but I'll find that later.
Enjoy.
From The Tominator.
In The Land Of Lonely Men
IN THE LAND OF LONELY MEN
When freedom hits upon you
And you think just what to do,
It can sometimes be startling
You'll not know things you thought you knew.
My quest for more perspective
Will be forever deeper than my knees
Because time, and time again, good sir,
I miss the forest for the trees.
I sit here in this alcove,
An ash tray is my closest thing;
It's putrid contents (something floats)
Would just remind me of the sting.
I feel it, FELT it, I should say,
For many turnings of the Earth;
I've felt it frequent recently
As I question my true worth.
The room behind me is quite sad,
I'll give its description a try
But fear not, my lovely reader,
I doubt my poem will make you cry.
Before I spot the closest thing
That exists behind my back
First I see the faintest pall
Of cigarette butts burnt and black.
The room itself is somewhat odd
The decor seeks to show and tell
Of some place a hundred years ago
Back when alarm clocks were a bell!
The brightest light's about forty watts,
So its darker in here, too
But let me tell you more of it
As the pall I can see through.
The TV blares to fill the room
But I can't understand the show
Everyone seems to be watching it
Are they attracted by the glow?
The watchers, they're a usual lot
"Homogeneous" best puts it flat
And they all wear same blue PJs
And the description stops at that!
I am once again the oddity,
I don't fit the usual bill,
There are some things that I don't do
And somethings that I will.
I'm at the Capsule in Nagoya,
There are Japanese on all sides
Should a gaijin ever be spotted
It's soon enough before he hides.
I got here just two days ago,
And I leave it in the morn',
So from my arrival until now
I can be believed to warn:
The big-city capsule can be a lonely place
One of the loneliest on this globe,
The basic plotline of the place
Is lonely right down to the robe.
You can make the check-in easily,
You don't need to utter a word
Bust point to a pictured laminate,
Nod or shake to what you heard.
With key in hand and shoes off now
Migrate luggage to your locker,
Dump your stuff as best you can
So far none of its a shocker.
Pull out only what you need
Then tramp on through the pall,
And on your way just notice
The other inmates in the hall.
There are five things they'll be doing,
One in which each seems to engage:
TV, smoking or sleeping,
Playing games or turning a page.
The games, it is important to note
Are not the Western style;
They're gambling or playing on a phone
Some useless thing that takes a while.
Trundling on to the capsule suite
We find the quarters for our sleep
And we're thrilled to see the tatters
In the blind to let some peep.
I've done a Capsule place before,
Back in Asakusa, Tokyo,
And I tell you in this next stanza
Where I would rather go.
The TV must be paid for,
The partition, it has holes,
The Capsule itself is just too short
To stretch my head out from my soles.
Enough about the capsules,
Just this one more then my Point!,
The bathroom also must be paid
But its not too bad a joint.
(Yes, we're all butt-naked,
And it gets hard not to look,
But quite often its even harder
To see bigger than a hook!)
It's a depressing place, it sounds,
But the tunnel has a light:
First of all I can proudly say
that from here it can get bright!
I've seen the way the men here live
(And some DO LIVE HERE, I'm sure)
I've seen how far a place can drop
Even once its hit the floor.
In all my time here in this place
I've gone batshit by myself
I knew there was a problem
And it could soon affect my health.
There's no-one here to talk to
I therefore hunted to extreme,
I even called my loveless ex,
'Coz things are nicer than they seem.
For her part I will say just this
There is no room for me at all
She'd no sooner comfort me
Than she would kiss this wall.
It seemed heartless at the time,
And even now it's hard to say,
But it was a pretty nasty talk
And we had it just yesterday!
I saw a movie here tonight,
At a cinema nearby,
It's message was to be aware
You need a co-pilot when you fly.
My Dreams are still quite possible
Though I'm yet to find the way
And it's not going to happen tomorrow,
But I'll stumble on it, one day.
I know inside I'm trying
But I'll always go off the track
And it's not the tracklessness that is
The monkey on my back.
Perspective, once again, it rings,
That word I always find;
The problem's not the direction
It's what's playing on the mind.
I viewed this place so loathsomely,
I swear, I nearly cried
The feeling hijacked my holiday
No matter how hard I tried!
But then today I did some things,
Some things that I can hark,
A science museum and a movie,
And I snuck into a Park!
My blood was pumping once again,
The malaise was gone and done,
I got back my Adventure!
My Holiday back I'd won!!!
So even now, as I sit and write,
And the stench of 'backy fills my nose
I don't have to be unhappy
Even though this place really blows.
I've learnt a lot from being here,
And some I already know
The rest I'll figure out some day
Long after I will go.
AND tomorrow, I am off again!
I'll leave Nagoya, back on my trip!
I'll travel on a slow train,
And in Kyoto, let 'er rip!!!!!!!!!!!
Tom O'Keefe.
When freedom hits upon you
And you think just what to do,
It can sometimes be startling
You'll not know things you thought you knew.
My quest for more perspective
Will be forever deeper than my knees
Because time, and time again, good sir,
I miss the forest for the trees.
I sit here in this alcove,
An ash tray is my closest thing;
It's putrid contents (something floats)
Would just remind me of the sting.
I feel it, FELT it, I should say,
For many turnings of the Earth;
I've felt it frequent recently
As I question my true worth.
The room behind me is quite sad,
I'll give its description a try
But fear not, my lovely reader,
I doubt my poem will make you cry.
Before I spot the closest thing
That exists behind my back
First I see the faintest pall
Of cigarette butts burnt and black.
The room itself is somewhat odd
The decor seeks to show and tell
Of some place a hundred years ago
Back when alarm clocks were a bell!
The brightest light's about forty watts,
So its darker in here, too
But let me tell you more of it
As the pall I can see through.
The TV blares to fill the room
But I can't understand the show
Everyone seems to be watching it
Are they attracted by the glow?
The watchers, they're a usual lot
"Homogeneous" best puts it flat
And they all wear same blue PJs
And the description stops at that!
I am once again the oddity,
I don't fit the usual bill,
There are some things that I don't do
And somethings that I will.
I'm at the Capsule in Nagoya,
There are Japanese on all sides
Should a gaijin ever be spotted
It's soon enough before he hides.
I got here just two days ago,
And I leave it in the morn',
So from my arrival until now
I can be believed to warn:
The big-city capsule can be a lonely place
One of the loneliest on this globe,
The basic plotline of the place
Is lonely right down to the robe.
You can make the check-in easily,
You don't need to utter a word
Bust point to a pictured laminate,
Nod or shake to what you heard.
With key in hand and shoes off now
Migrate luggage to your locker,
Dump your stuff as best you can
So far none of its a shocker.
Pull out only what you need
Then tramp on through the pall,
And on your way just notice
The other inmates in the hall.
There are five things they'll be doing,
One in which each seems to engage:
TV, smoking or sleeping,
Playing games or turning a page.
The games, it is important to note
Are not the Western style;
They're gambling or playing on a phone
Some useless thing that takes a while.
Trundling on to the capsule suite
We find the quarters for our sleep
And we're thrilled to see the tatters
In the blind to let some peep.
I've done a Capsule place before,
Back in Asakusa, Tokyo,
And I tell you in this next stanza
Where I would rather go.
The TV must be paid for,
The partition, it has holes,
The Capsule itself is just too short
To stretch my head out from my soles.
Enough about the capsules,
Just this one more then my Point!,
The bathroom also must be paid
But its not too bad a joint.
(Yes, we're all butt-naked,
And it gets hard not to look,
But quite often its even harder
To see bigger than a hook!)
It's a depressing place, it sounds,
But the tunnel has a light:
First of all I can proudly say
that from here it can get bright!
I've seen the way the men here live
(And some DO LIVE HERE, I'm sure)
I've seen how far a place can drop
Even once its hit the floor.
In all my time here in this place
I've gone batshit by myself
I knew there was a problem
And it could soon affect my health.
There's no-one here to talk to
I therefore hunted to extreme,
I even called my loveless ex,
'Coz things are nicer than they seem.
For her part I will say just this
There is no room for me at all
She'd no sooner comfort me
Than she would kiss this wall.
It seemed heartless at the time,
And even now it's hard to say,
But it was a pretty nasty talk
And we had it just yesterday!
I saw a movie here tonight,
At a cinema nearby,
It's message was to be aware
You need a co-pilot when you fly.
My Dreams are still quite possible
Though I'm yet to find the way
And it's not going to happen tomorrow,
But I'll stumble on it, one day.
I know inside I'm trying
But I'll always go off the track
And it's not the tracklessness that is
The monkey on my back.
Perspective, once again, it rings,
That word I always find;
The problem's not the direction
It's what's playing on the mind.
I viewed this place so loathsomely,
I swear, I nearly cried
The feeling hijacked my holiday
No matter how hard I tried!
But then today I did some things,
Some things that I can hark,
A science museum and a movie,
And I snuck into a Park!
My blood was pumping once again,
The malaise was gone and done,
I got back my Adventure!
My Holiday back I'd won!!!
So even now, as I sit and write,
And the stench of 'backy fills my nose
I don't have to be unhappy
Even though this place really blows.
I've learnt a lot from being here,
And some I already know
The rest I'll figure out some day
Long after I will go.
AND tomorrow, I am off again!
I'll leave Nagoya, back on my trip!
I'll travel on a slow train,
And in Kyoto, let 'er rip!!!!!!!!!!!
Tom O'Keefe.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Drill, Baby, DRILL!!!!!
The United States' unquenchable thirst for oil and all its related petro-chemical products have, to say the least, led to the worst environmental disaster EVER!
If you are unaware, I strongly suggest you pull your head out of your arse and go search "Deep Horizon Oil Spill", and check out the gi-fuckin-normous oil spill that is engulfing the Gulf of Mexico, and is now larger than many registered countries in the UN!
How did it happen? Other and more connected people are doing the research now, and half of them are burying what they find because it doesn't look good for them, but I'll give you what I have gleaned:
In short:
One day BP, global oil super-corporation, owned an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. This oil rig was a special oil rig, because it could be in many ways claimed as residing inside US territory. Such a claim would give an embattled US President an orgasm: embattled for his racial background, super-strong and unyielding psychopathic Republican opposition, and an inherent spinelessness that all politicians possess, have all made him eager to jump at any chance to look good to the dumbasses of American society whom, by the grace of Democracy ("the worst system except for all the others") he must woo on a daily basis.
A year ago, President Obama advocated drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Because two world wars and gross over-consumption (with total disregard for the future) on the part of the American public has led to a critical shortage in the USA, the President and all leading members of society have advocated drilling inside US territory. Any problems with that? Well, only the fact that said over-consumption has also led to all available wells being tapped out. This means that to find and procure new oil sources, the drillers must drill deeper and deeper than ever before. Luckily, selective advancements in techonolgy ("selective" meaning selection of fossil-fuel technologies over alternative technologies 100% of the time) have enabled oil companies to drill almost to the core of the Earth itself!
BP, through some backdoor dealing (which is OK, because everybody does it anyway) was given a reprieve from having to follow those pesky bloody safety protocols. After all, when the public and polity demands that you drill, baby, DRILL!, how can a company really be expected to waste even more time by following strict and easy-to-read regulations? I mean, after all, what's the worst that could possibly happen?
Well, the WORST that could possibly happen is the decimation of millions of sea-life, pollution on an untold scale, and a clean-up operation that will never likely be completed for sake of time and cost. Also add to that the location of it - if you are going to shit all over a part of the United States, why not shit all over New Orleans again? No recent US Federal Government has ever really given a damn about that city anyway. And why should it? There are only HUMAN BEINGS living there.
So its a big mess, and so its an unparalleled catastrophe. So what? It looks like humanity will just have to take another hit for sake of the oil companies. They've had us by the balls for many decades now, and they deserve to be in that position, too. Do you know why? Because we, as a public and a population of this Earth, and more importantly, as a CONSUMER BASE, have handed our balls, hairs and all, to the oil companies, and figuratively asked them to squeeze as hard as they like.
It would seem that Barack Obama is no different to any of us. His predecessor, George W. "the cat sat on teh mat" Bush was not only a stooge for Haliburton and other oil interests, but more likely than not received monetary or candy kickbacks in lieu of the usual sexual favours that oil (and other industries) lobbyists hand out to keep their cronies onside.
Back to Barack: I am the furst to claim that he has been a victim of circumstance, that circumstance being a horridly psychotic Republican minority and a tragically and pathetically impotent Democratic majority in his congress. But I am also the first to claim that Obama has done nothing to STOP BEING the VICTIM, and take control. After all, despite being evil and nasty, his predecessors got done what they wanted to do, regardless of congressional circle-jerk masturbation sessions.
The oil spill crisis is a great example:
OK, so it is evident now that the aptly named Deep Horizon rig may well have produced enough oil to run the country (USA) for about a month or so. But given further selective technological development, the demand would increase ten-fold before the month was up.
Making things easy, I can present Obama with two clear, opposing options to deal with this crisis. The first is the option he already chose: to clean it up, to take personal responsibility, and to continue allowing oil-using cars and technology to be created. This is wrong in SO many ways, not the least of which is that it is ultimately BP's fault, having not exercised the basic human diligence and decency of being safe! The buck stops there!
The better option (are you ready for it??) is this:
Seize the opportunity to condemn oil drilling and rigging and production and, for the hell of it, all petro-related industries. This kind of thing is enough to piss people off, I guarantee. And it could not have been in a more opportune location - oil is washing up on the shores of Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and Texas! These are ALL "red states", and are without exemption among the many states in the USA that haven't a single damn clue about anything that happens outside their borders! Obama, you could win these states on this!
You could take the momentum from this, the single worst disaster ever, and use it like FDR used Pearl Harbour, and wage a war on the oil industry.
You are in charge of the biggest credit card in the world, and could use it to FINALLY pump up new industries, revamp the electric car, and resurrect the rust-belt. In turn, jobs would be created, the environment would be cleaned, and YES, you can get monetary rewards and eternal hero-status!
So, I think the choice is clear. Remain a bitch, and go down into oblivion as "that half-black guy what was president", or alter the course of human history.
You already set new precedents throughout your entire life so far, WHY STOP NOW???? Especially when it aligns with the good of mankind at the same time!
But I do not expect any revelations out of a US President these days, and not for a while, either.
I don't think anyone does.
From The Tominator.
If you are unaware, I strongly suggest you pull your head out of your arse and go search "Deep Horizon Oil Spill", and check out the gi-fuckin-normous oil spill that is engulfing the Gulf of Mexico, and is now larger than many registered countries in the UN!
How did it happen? Other and more connected people are doing the research now, and half of them are burying what they find because it doesn't look good for them, but I'll give you what I have gleaned:
In short:
One day BP, global oil super-corporation, owned an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. This oil rig was a special oil rig, because it could be in many ways claimed as residing inside US territory. Such a claim would give an embattled US President an orgasm: embattled for his racial background, super-strong and unyielding psychopathic Republican opposition, and an inherent spinelessness that all politicians possess, have all made him eager to jump at any chance to look good to the dumbasses of American society whom, by the grace of Democracy ("the worst system except for all the others") he must woo on a daily basis.
A year ago, President Obama advocated drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Because two world wars and gross over-consumption (with total disregard for the future) on the part of the American public has led to a critical shortage in the USA, the President and all leading members of society have advocated drilling inside US territory. Any problems with that? Well, only the fact that said over-consumption has also led to all available wells being tapped out. This means that to find and procure new oil sources, the drillers must drill deeper and deeper than ever before. Luckily, selective advancements in techonolgy ("selective" meaning selection of fossil-fuel technologies over alternative technologies 100% of the time) have enabled oil companies to drill almost to the core of the Earth itself!
BP, through some backdoor dealing (which is OK, because everybody does it anyway) was given a reprieve from having to follow those pesky bloody safety protocols. After all, when the public and polity demands that you drill, baby, DRILL!, how can a company really be expected to waste even more time by following strict and easy-to-read regulations? I mean, after all, what's the worst that could possibly happen?
Well, the WORST that could possibly happen is the decimation of millions of sea-life, pollution on an untold scale, and a clean-up operation that will never likely be completed for sake of time and cost. Also add to that the location of it - if you are going to shit all over a part of the United States, why not shit all over New Orleans again? No recent US Federal Government has ever really given a damn about that city anyway. And why should it? There are only HUMAN BEINGS living there.
So its a big mess, and so its an unparalleled catastrophe. So what? It looks like humanity will just have to take another hit for sake of the oil companies. They've had us by the balls for many decades now, and they deserve to be in that position, too. Do you know why? Because we, as a public and a population of this Earth, and more importantly, as a CONSUMER BASE, have handed our balls, hairs and all, to the oil companies, and figuratively asked them to squeeze as hard as they like.
It would seem that Barack Obama is no different to any of us. His predecessor, George W. "the cat sat on teh mat" Bush was not only a stooge for Haliburton and other oil interests, but more likely than not received monetary or candy kickbacks in lieu of the usual sexual favours that oil (and other industries) lobbyists hand out to keep their cronies onside.
Back to Barack: I am the furst to claim that he has been a victim of circumstance, that circumstance being a horridly psychotic Republican minority and a tragically and pathetically impotent Democratic majority in his congress. But I am also the first to claim that Obama has done nothing to STOP BEING the VICTIM, and take control. After all, despite being evil and nasty, his predecessors got done what they wanted to do, regardless of congressional circle-jerk masturbation sessions.
The oil spill crisis is a great example:
OK, so it is evident now that the aptly named Deep Horizon rig may well have produced enough oil to run the country (USA) for about a month or so. But given further selective technological development, the demand would increase ten-fold before the month was up.
Making things easy, I can present Obama with two clear, opposing options to deal with this crisis. The first is the option he already chose: to clean it up, to take personal responsibility, and to continue allowing oil-using cars and technology to be created. This is wrong in SO many ways, not the least of which is that it is ultimately BP's fault, having not exercised the basic human diligence and decency of being safe! The buck stops there!
The better option (are you ready for it??) is this:
Seize the opportunity to condemn oil drilling and rigging and production and, for the hell of it, all petro-related industries. This kind of thing is enough to piss people off, I guarantee. And it could not have been in a more opportune location - oil is washing up on the shores of Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and Texas! These are ALL "red states", and are without exemption among the many states in the USA that haven't a single damn clue about anything that happens outside their borders! Obama, you could win these states on this!
You could take the momentum from this, the single worst disaster ever, and use it like FDR used Pearl Harbour, and wage a war on the oil industry.
You are in charge of the biggest credit card in the world, and could use it to FINALLY pump up new industries, revamp the electric car, and resurrect the rust-belt. In turn, jobs would be created, the environment would be cleaned, and YES, you can get monetary rewards and eternal hero-status!
So, I think the choice is clear. Remain a bitch, and go down into oblivion as "that half-black guy what was president", or alter the course of human history.
You already set new precedents throughout your entire life so far, WHY STOP NOW???? Especially when it aligns with the good of mankind at the same time!
But I do not expect any revelations out of a US President these days, and not for a while, either.
I don't think anyone does.
From The Tominator.
Tornadoes in Australia
Let me state categorically and unequivocally: there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with the weather in this world, or this country. It has not changed for the worse at all in the hundred+ years since the Industrial Revolution!
With that said,
I will share with you some fucking odd weather behavioural patterns we've been ahving here of late.
It is Winter here in Australia, and where that might mean white snow and blizzards and Groundhogs in other parts of the world, all it means for the majority of Australians (living in Sydney, at least) is cold, miserable and wet.
But THIS year, there's even more!
OK, so I think we can all agree that this kind of weather is NOT the best welcome back to my home country, considering I got back in the thick of it only a month ago. But what can I do about the weather? Not much yet, other than alter perspectives on it from time to time.
But even more recently, there has been the case of Lennox Head.
Have you ever head of Lennox Head??
I didn't think so. And that puts you in the sizeable majority of approximately 6,998,000 people in this world who were also oblivious a week ago. But this week, amid rampaging storms that have very much been worse than usual (flash-flooding, super-heavy downpours, etc.), there was something strange at Lennox Head:
A Tornado.
Yes, a tornado. Expected in many parts of southern-ish USA, and more commonly seen in their fierce alter ego, the Hurricane or Tropical Cyclone, a tornado is a massive funnel of winds and storm all gathered and ready to erase entire family homes and cut gashes into country-side and farms and cities. Michael Bay and Roland Emmerich have given us orgies of such destruction in recent times at the cinema, but it ain't so orgasmic when real people are being obliterated.
But what is Lennox Head, you ask? Why is Tom boring us with this post?
Lennox Head is a small town of approx. 2000 population, situated on the northern border of New South Wales. I strongly suggest that you BUY A WORLD MAP and look for these things, or even an ATLAS of the world, because you'd be amazed just how big his planet is, and also that there are more profiles possible than the one with the Americas always in the middle!
Lennox Head is NOT inside the Tropical Zone (Tropic of Capricorn down here), and is in fact many hundred kilometres outside it.
It is very VERY odd to have a tornado there, especially considering (on top of the already overwhelming facts) that there has NEVER been a tornado there before!
Destruction was wreaked, lives shattered, and homes erased.
It will continue to piss down periodically and in the most inconvenient ways throughout this winter in New South Wales.
And there have been NO changes in weather patterns for the worse, and there is nothing wrong in this country or this world. That cannot be clear enough. Nor can it be wrong enough.
Only the human mind can contain two contradicting things at once without exploding.
From The Tominator.
With that said,
I will share with you some fucking odd weather behavioural patterns we've been ahving here of late.
It is Winter here in Australia, and where that might mean white snow and blizzards and Groundhogs in other parts of the world, all it means for the majority of Australians (living in Sydney, at least) is cold, miserable and wet.
But THIS year, there's even more!
OK, so I think we can all agree that this kind of weather is NOT the best welcome back to my home country, considering I got back in the thick of it only a month ago. But what can I do about the weather? Not much yet, other than alter perspectives on it from time to time.
But even more recently, there has been the case of Lennox Head.
Have you ever head of Lennox Head??
I didn't think so. And that puts you in the sizeable majority of approximately 6,998,000 people in this world who were also oblivious a week ago. But this week, amid rampaging storms that have very much been worse than usual (flash-flooding, super-heavy downpours, etc.), there was something strange at Lennox Head:
A Tornado.
Yes, a tornado. Expected in many parts of southern-ish USA, and more commonly seen in their fierce alter ego, the Hurricane or Tropical Cyclone, a tornado is a massive funnel of winds and storm all gathered and ready to erase entire family homes and cut gashes into country-side and farms and cities. Michael Bay and Roland Emmerich have given us orgies of such destruction in recent times at the cinema, but it ain't so orgasmic when real people are being obliterated.
But what is Lennox Head, you ask? Why is Tom boring us with this post?
Lennox Head is a small town of approx. 2000 population, situated on the northern border of New South Wales. I strongly suggest that you BUY A WORLD MAP and look for these things, or even an ATLAS of the world, because you'd be amazed just how big his planet is, and also that there are more profiles possible than the one with the Americas always in the middle!
Lennox Head is NOT inside the Tropical Zone (Tropic of Capricorn down here), and is in fact many hundred kilometres outside it.
It is very VERY odd to have a tornado there, especially considering (on top of the already overwhelming facts) that there has NEVER been a tornado there before!
Destruction was wreaked, lives shattered, and homes erased.
It will continue to piss down periodically and in the most inconvenient ways throughout this winter in New South Wales.
And there have been NO changes in weather patterns for the worse, and there is nothing wrong in this country or this world. That cannot be clear enough. Nor can it be wrong enough.
Only the human mind can contain two contradicting things at once without exploding.
From The Tominator.
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