moving home now

Well, i've had enough of too many blogs .. so i'm combining all my social / personal blogs, and shifting everything over to my main home at michalk.id.au

New blog: five by five
at : michalk.id.au/5x5
it's not pretty yet, but all the content is over there ..
and i won't be posting here again.

Please Join Me.

..and Update your RSS feeds :)

Latest headlines here:


kind regards, michael


image and photo credits: licensed under creative commons at flickr: Thanks very much Lawrence Whittemore.

Hope? coming to cinema near you

Via Delia at biddyjournal, news of a movie called Hope, which tells the stories of Siev-x. Screening very soon !! At the Nova in Melbourne, and around the whole of Australia.

i referred to an article in New Matilda a while back, and they've since changed all their links: Tony Kevin wrote on the seventh anniversary of the tragedy, describing the heartfelt compassion in the Canberra memorial that so many people struggled to create.

"Each pole represents compassion, love and acceptance of the stranger Australian values that were in little evidence in Australia during the 2001 election campaign"

353 people on the boat .. only 7 made it to Australia.






(image from wikipedia, thanks :{

from desert to oasis

Time for some good news. i've just been reading Pitchfork Design .. where Sam talks of a new project up near Swan Hill; and her inspiration is this amazing tale of greening the desert in Jordan.

This video is so worth watching, from desert to fruit trees and oasis: "You can solve the problems of the world in a garden," says Geoff Lawton the permaculture artist behind the project.




.. and read up on Sam's projects too, she's doing amazing work rebuilding the gardens in schools around Victoria. go Sam!

Coked up aeroplane

Via Sydney Indymedia, news of a plane crashing with 3-6 tonnes of cocaine. Several people seem to believe that this plane "belonged" to the CIA; and also that the same plane had been frequently used to transport enemy combatants to Guantanamera Bay.

(Whole story was reported in 'daily Kos')

Can you imagine what the CIA would be doing with that much coke? When you follow the discussion, you find that a number of people are taken by the idea that the US govt is actually in charge of the illegal drug market. And that major banks are laundering cash from the whole thing.

Bizarre! i'm aghast and flobbergosted. Who would believe such things. Does this mean we can't trust our governments here in the West? But i thought we lived in a civil society, a democracy. Surely this is just paranoid ranting?

The government, that runs a war on drugs, supports a covert drug smuggling operation? But wouldn't that be hippo-critical ..?

don't tase me bro (remix)

One of the lowlights of '007 was the "don't tase me bro'' incident, which was converted into a brilliant remix (check in video); and plenty of re-remixes on the tube. Some commentators said he was an attention-seeking git; i prefer the term performance artist.



If only that dead Canadian guy had heard the song, he might have been able to rap out a quick defensive beatbox.

You have to be ready when they come to get you. And you too could make the most memorable phrase of the year. So what's your catchphrase gonna be? And what kind of incident would you like to make the news?

Marching Powder - a ripsnorting read

Finally i've read a book that has nothing to do with terrorism or international politics. My very good friend Shanny lent me an extraordinary tale called "Marching Powder", the true story of an Englishman inside a Bolivian prison.

Ooh yeah, a true story. We love it.

So Thomas McFadden became famous because he started giving tours, and became the unofficial tour guide of San Pedro prison, in La Paz; Lonely Planet had the prison listed as a must-see destination mainly because of this guy's charming demeanour (and cocaine parties).

But it's not only tourists who pay their way into the prison .. the prisoners themselves have to pay an entrance fee into San Pedro - after they are sentenced. They then have to buy their own cell through the internal real-estate system!

.. there are restaurants and shops set up so that people can survive;
.. prisoners' families stay inside the prison because they can't live in the ruined outside economy without their breadwinner.
.. And the best cocaine laboratories are hidden away inside the prison.

It's plainly written, and very enjoyable, although painful and frightening in places. There's a lot you find hard to believe, and corruption drips off the page. i'd give it a big 8 star rating.

Apparently Brad Pitt is producing the film, due this year.
(more info:

• interview with author and subject, at bNet;
• review in SMH, '03;
• talk of a documentary at foreign correspondent;
  
• the author in Wikipedia.)

gazillions of gigalitres

Just before new year, i was listening to the heaviest rain i'd heard in melbourne for years. Such a delicious sound. i revelled in the delights of pounding water.

But of course, most of that water was going down many drains into the bay, because we don't have a huge embedded system to catch, keep and recycle storm water.

The smart guys at the top of town want to throw billions of dollars at private companies, to build a desalination plant which is going to use coal-fired electricity, add pollution and greenhouse gases, and line the pockets of those private investors for years to come

.. when research shows you're so much better off catching what falls out of the sky.

(um, evidence, michael? Well, Bob Brown and the Greens say so. Average households receive 8 times the water they consume, apparently.)

Here's Bob talking to a rally against desalination.



Bill Mollison once said that all the solutions are there already. It's just the political will, and getting past the stakeholders.

One of my dreams for '08 is that the people of Victoria will demand intelligently innovative, sensible and truly sustainable solutions to the water crises, and that we'll be rewarded with the best new system in the world.

And i reckon that means we collect and recycle storm water.

Oh look, here's a bunch of sane and clear-thinking locals investigating the whole DeSal/PPP setup (or maybe they're commie free radicals?). Apparently we pay for the desalinated water even if it turns out we don't need it.



(The weirdest thing .. the herald sun editorial agreed with me.)

1953 Coup d'Iran

i'm sure you know already that the uk/us partnership interceded in 1953 to overthrow an Iranian democracy. However, many people in the US do not know; so there's a group called Just Foreign Policy who are touring the states in an attempt to educate fools and eradicate ignorance.

They put together a video explaining how the 1953 oil coup happened. Definitely worth watching for the background info.




Those wretched jumped-up baton-twirlers and lever-twisters in the White House of Bush aren't thinking of invading another sovereign nation, are they? Surely not .. are they completely moronosic (sic) ?

cruelly insane irony

This is so cruelly insane it's almost not funny
"nelson waits for apology" - i say keep him waiting, ooh, eleven years?

Clearly mr half-nelson has a case for compensation.

Generations of doctor-turned-politicians, their brains and hearts stolen by ignorance; .. cruelly spurned by the staffers of inconsiderate party leaders whose compassion extends primarily to the underprivileged.

oh the hurt, the indignity, the suffering!
(irony, nay sarcasm, fully intended)

Why do people of reasonable intelligence have to behave like blithering idiots?

i wobble with anger and confusion.
Thank you Kevin for your compassion and good grace.

i refuse to let the petty, mean-spirited, blindingly incompetent opposition party ruin such a beautiful day. i say hold on to the power of truth, grace and love.

Just ignore the idiots. Rise above the fear and ignorance. Yah.

(says me who vented in a blog post. honest to blog! Contradiction?)

mmmm Sorry at Last

Thank you Kevin for having the guts to use the S words - Sorry and Stolen.

Thank you to the authors of "Bringing them Home", the 1997 report which received such a stony and stubborn silence for so long.

Thank you to all the people who have cared about justice for the Stolen Generations.


Everyone i spoke to cried yesterday. i had tears welling up all day.

Yes, there are problems our nation must face; yes there are people who continue to weasel their way around the facts, or who stare into the face of pain and refuse to see it. Of course, there's no chance of short-term solutions. But at last, the whole freaking parliament has begun to open up to the reality of what happened in our past.

I'm staying focussed on the positive, me. Nothing can spoil such a day. Pauline's gone, Jeanette's fossil-brained hero is out of the Lodge, and Kevin is at the helm. Go Kev.




What about this? A man who leads his opponents into compassion, rather than into fear or abusing them! Kevin pulls out the understandascope:

Mr Rudd acknowledged that some Australians were still opposed to saying sorry.

"I say to non-indigenous Australians -- imagine for a moment if this had happened to you," he said.

My favourite moment was when he spoke about Nungala Fejo, and had asked what she would like him to say.

A sombre Mr Rudd told an emotional story about an Aboriginal woman, Nungala Fejo, who was taken from her family outside Tennant Creek in 1930s and never saw her mother again.

"I asked Nanna Fejo what she would have me say today about her story. She thought for a few moments, then said that what I should say was that all mothers are important.

"And she added: 'Families -- keeping them together is very important. It's a good thing that you are surrounded by love and that love is passed down the generations. That's what gives you happiness'."

How long since a leader of the nation used the word love on the floor of parliament?


mmmmmm, sweet honest compassion is such a joy and a relief.

Much better than mean-spirited wrangling with words and evasion etc ..

Lots of people writing about this one ..

• Dale writes about the joy of being in the heart of Redfern;
• Ms Fits takes up one of the members for his lack of manners;
• Ali Cobby Eckermann explains why people turned their backs;
• Richard Flanagan mentions the occasion as he launches an important new history: Van Diemen's Land;
• Sarah rips up Nelson's ideas, with fury and indignation;
• Jo Blue congratulates Kev from overseas: "it takes guts to admit mistakes";
• Richard gives a serve to people making excuses and papering over the facts;
  
• Xavier printed up his concise version of brendan's response (language warning);
  

mmm, i enjoyed reading all these people and more



(Full Text over at The Age, plus some extended videos on youTube, and the abc has plenty)

music video from UK

Here's a song i think you'll like.
From the xxteens (via imageyenation), a warning. With a funky beat.
It's called "How to avoid becoming a terror victim".

The accompanying video (below) could be hilarious, unless you are Easily Scared, or on the lookout for Seditious Material; in which case it would be Terrifyingly Insulting to your Sensitivities. Beware: attempted humour and satire.






And this is how i felt after watching the video.

I feel a bit nervous
I feel a bit mad
I feel like a good time that's never been had
I feel a bit fragile
I feel a bit low
Like I learned the right lines
But I'm on the wrong show

(I'm Living in the Sensitivities.)



Best lines in the xxteens lyric?

"store a decent amount of cash someplace in case ATM's malfunction"
"try to fly on wide-bodied planes, terrorists often avoid hijacking them"

But they sound better in the song than they look in text.


Hope your whole week goes really well.
i'm staying indoors.


Next up, we need a song called "How to avoid becoming a terror suspect". Any ideas?

Billy Bragg keeping the faith

It was a joy to hear Billy Bragg on 3RRR this morning as i drove to work. His new songs are moving and poignant, heartfelt as always, although he's mildly smoothed out his rough accent for the singing. (Interview podcasted via libsyn, and playable right here:



He had some words of encouragement for people who are expecting a lot of the New Rudd Labo(u)r experience. In twelve months, you will all be disappointed. You will say things like, "Rudd's no different from Howard". He's seen it before, when they finally kicked out Thatcher, and were lumped with the oh-so-promising Tony B.

But do not give up hope, and do not become cynical.

i don't know why people are expecting much, remember Bob Hawke, anyone?
What a let-down. People thought the world would change overnight, even Bob did.
.. and it hurt so much when they chose to govern from the centre(right).
But you'd rather Keating to Howard in retrospect, wouldn't you!! Well i would.

Jude reminded me the other day of a joke doing the rounds back in 1996. People were saying, "Oh there's no difference between Keating and Howard."

The response goes: "Well yes, you've got a small bucket of sick (Keating), versus a whole swimming pool full of the stuff."

Billy also urged us not to bucket Peter G too much, because he has crossed the line from activist to politician. That's what happens when you make this choice. Political change is a slow game, and politics is the art of compromise. "You've just got to make sure that the compromise is on your terms."

His strongest point? Cynicism is the real enemy. Do not spend all your energy carping about how bad the new government is. Get Active, and Do Something. He said. Hold firmly onto your belief in the possibilities of change. Yeah!

Interviewer's most embarrassing moment: "Have you played here since your first tour in 1984?"
Billy: "Ah, yes i've come here for every album."
Interviewer backtrack: "Of course, of course."

One of those classic questions that pops out and you instantly regret it.
"Of course, i was at that concert."
Oh boy was she blushing.

While i'm waiting for the 3RRR podcast to emerge (fingers crossed), here's the man talking about the need for a British Bill of Rights (quick comment). (Interview podcasted via libsyn)



.. and the well-meant "All you fascists (are bound to lose)" .. a bit repetitive but catchy.

Stay strong, hold onto your dreams

It's that time of year when people dream about what they want, next time round the sun.

i'm sure you have dreams about a better world, and you're probably working in some way toward those dreams. Well hang on in there, cos you know the agents of fear won't win.

YOU are gonna win, with your dreams of inspiration and balance, creativity and love.

So, if you're dreaming of bringing more love and connection, more strength in community, more safety and peace into this world, or more pleasure to yourself, i say thank you. Thanks for your dreams, thanks for your actions of love and caring, no matter how small or fleeting.

Take some heart from Ben Harper, "Don't let them take the fight out of you".



i once went to a Ben Harper concert, with jude and Jody-Lee. Such a good night!

My dreams for '008 include these:
1) Garden full of yummy vegetables all year round
2) More time camping in the bush, away from the city
3) More time singing with friends
4) Melbourne recycles storm water instead of going "desal"
5) President bush is impeached, and democracy is repaired.

What about you? Wanna share your dreams for '008..?

Go right ahead and pop your thoughts in the comment box, right hereio. One or more dreams, very welcome :)

Hope your year is full of joy, healing and fun; lots of dancing, and great books.

(click below where it says "Comments" or "Post a comment"
(lemme know if you need assistance:
(mic at michalk dot id dot au

(img: thank you Alberto+Cerriteño and also mick y )

Watch out - i'll Read at you !

The shiningly witty Ms Fits has had a book-related brush with some patrons at Meredith.
Story involves a Dog with a dog during Dr Dog (?! yes, read up.)

Apparently, it's Not Okay to read while Dr Dog is playing. Not even quietly in the distant background. Interferes with other people's enjoyment. Too freakish. Too girly-swot.

What is going on in this crazy old world. i know we've never really been a bookish nation but what happened to live and let effing live. Aren't Australians supposedly renowned for our laidback and tolerant approach to life?

Oh, i remember tolerance, that was before the time of darkness.
For about five minutes, after the previous time of darkness.

Not as if Ms Fits was crouched motionless in the mosh pit, reading aloud over the band. The book wasn't anything like 'How to Destroy Swamp Rock Fans in One Easy Sitting'.

i guess we just hate interLekchoools. SmartRRRses!
Watch out! They'll be burning witches next, on piles of books. You mark my words. Lucky she got out alive.

Too much ignorant hooligan-ism-ality going on for my liking !




(image: thanks florianB, and sidelong.)

chalki on faine

So yes, i had an interview with jon faine (a month ago now). It was a strange experience for me, as i don't often appear on radio. You can hear it all over again .. right here.

Or tune into his more recent work on the abc site.


provided by ODEO



Listening back, i mildly regret implying that people in the bar were not likely to be literary critics. It was funny at the time, a standard knee-jerk dig at people you don't know, insinuating a lesser intellectual sophistication, and flag-flying the stereotype that "rednecks can't read and probably wouldn't want to anyway".

(When in fact a whole heap of well-educated people are ignorant and prejudiced too.)

However i have worked for many years with people whose self-worth has been destroyed by the stigma of low literacy. Believe me, if you can't read in this society, you get looked down upon by everyone.

On top of this, having a low level of literacy is about more than your own personal abilities; in fact the overall levels of health, wealth, employment and social cohesion in the local community all contribute to a person's ability to learn at school. There was some great research recently that highlighted the interconnectedness of all these factors.

Apart from that, i'm okay with the interview.
i'd recommend following up that research - Tony Vinson and Peter Norden. Brilliant.

Related: Research on Social Disadvantage in Australia.

(image: thanks mrtwism)

thanks 4 support + humour !

Throughout this bizarre saga, i have found colleagues, friends and family to be wonderfully supportive, and genuinely hilarious. So thanks to all of you, especially:

Tim - always on the lookout:
"Did you say fertiliser? Michael, you don't know who's listening! (Louder) i am not associated with this person."

Bushy for his crack-up comments:
"Think we got ourselves a reader", "Whatcha reading for?" and "Read any good books lately?"

Amarina for leaning across to the window of her ute and drawling,
"We don't like your type around here."

Gayle, as i was dancing in the doorway at the launch of i dream a highway, northcote high st.
"I'm sorry we're going to have to ask you to leave. Heard about you and your inappropriate dancing."

Rhi and Ben:
"Gotta get you a t-shirt that says 'Northcote's favourite terrorist'"

My fabulous sister for sending me the "I'm a tourist not a terrorist" t-shirt from amsterdam.
Lou for reading through the first letter to the editor.

Plus thanks to people who've joined in this online storytelling experience:

• Rhi and Jo for posting brilliant comments to the blog, and twice!
• Katie, A.Duck, BiddyB, Howard, for their delightfully supportive comments.
• Susan for her limerick all the way from Canada ..
  

Colleagues who applauded my entrance at a work celebration day, the morning after this whole thing hit the headlines.

My mother for showing her protective side and saying, "I just want this to go away. i think it's over now."

Okay mum, i'll write about other stuff now. Hope, the future, and being polite.
i won't talk about the fear and hysteria gripping the western world, or the possibility that governments are using this fear to destroy civilian freedoms. No no no.

End of America? Ten step program

I've found some references to Naomi Wolf's latest book, and it is scarier than the one by Richard Flanagan. "The End of America" is apparently about the ten steps any would-be dictator can take to rapidly shut down a democracy. She's done her research on the early years of several dictators .. and here's the crazy stuff - she suggests that Bush's US government has taken all ten steps.

This caused a storm earlier in the year, but i missed it. There's an article in the Guardian, and some youtubed interviews with Noami, including this one:


In this interview she speaks mainly of the first four of the ten steps:
1) Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy (Osama, Saddam ..
2) Create a gulag - an off-shore prison with different laws (Guantanamera ..
3) Develop a thug caste - a paramilitary force not answerable to the people (apparently a private army called Blackwater already operates in the USA?
4) Set up an internal surveillance system aimed at ordinary citizens (make sure everyone has a fridge magnet, break down trust and stir up discontent between different social groups ..

Having a vote doesn't mean you're living in an open society with the underpinnings of civil rights and freedoms; because closed societies (countries without freedom) do have elections, and they do have newspapers.

Why does the President have the right to federalise the national guard, to torture people, to detain citizens without charge? Naomi sees this as a war on the citizens of democracy.. that our apathy and our terror has blinded us to the rapid onslaught of tyranny.

People in Alabama being put in prison for donating to the Democratic party? Time to wake up, says Ms Wolf. Now! Every day counts. Let us restore the rule of law.

Blimey! Surely it can't be that bad? I mean America is land of the free, isn't it?
You don't think we're going to see vigilantes in the streets? Concentration camps? Invading other countries for colonialist gain .. oh ..

First Tuesday - mixed response

When the First Tuesday Book Club on abc.net.au reviewed "The Unknown Terrorist", the book didn't come off so well.

• Marieke said it was "Earnest" and would only convert the true believers (the people who don't need converting).
• Jason Steeger enjoyed the book, and said it was more of a tragedy: "Not a thriller, it's dressed up as a thriller .. it's more of a contemporary horror story."
• The other guy (?) said it was "Too stark, too stereotypical .. but a bit too raw," although "the Flanagan brothers are very good news for Australia." More like a film script in novel form.
  

But Germaine stole the show with her wild and angry commentary, calling the preface "infuriating, pretentious bilge" .. to begin the book with a weave around Jesus and Nietszche. Ms Greer found the narrator and The Doll to be "inextricably tangled", and the plot to be nonsense: "couldn't have got it past a harlequin editor".

"Greatest load of old nonsense!" Germaine says she will cut her throat from ear to ear if this book wins the Booker (she toned this down when asked to compare Flanagan's supposed exaggeration with her own). Oh Germaine, your vitriol is unsurpassed! What a delightful roller-coaster!

i'm glad i'm not the author of the book. i felt nervous enough just having enjoyed it. i'm also glad i can enjoy reading a book without having my internal critic give me angst all the way through. Must be awful being a critic.

Ooh, look, they've reviewed Chris Womersley's new book, The Low Road. This won a premier's award for unpublished manuscript, and my mum gave it to me for my birthday. I wonder if it's the sort of book i can read in public places...?

all the best, and happy reading :) !

Art of Suspicion

Hasan Elahi - the Visible Man - found himself on the wrong side of federal government agencies. "Where were you on september twelfth?" they asked him, before grilling the guy with nine lie detector tests.

So Hasan decided to publish every tiny morsel of his life. Many times during each day, images from his location are broadcast live in the name of art and safety.

Will this transparency be required of all citizens in the future? Are we heading in the Right Direction? Would you be prepared to wear a GPS Ankle Bracelet for your own safety?

Here's an interview with the artist.





(Read more on this fascinating suspect: Wired on Elahi, Live tracking, article in World Changing, Wikipedia, CBS News, Wired article about Sousveillance)


(image: thanks for what are you looking at by nolifebeforecoffee, and under Surveillance by Naccarato at flickr)

Latest Auzzie Fashion - Burqini

Enough reacting to the desperate and vicious attitudes of media commentators!

.. here's some good news. Unfortunately i missed the SBS documentary, but Martin Flanagan (Richard's brother), demonstrates his delightful flair for interviewing Aussie sporting greats, in this piece on Mecca Laalaa.

Mecca has hit the headlines because she represents a change in attitude at Cronulla Beach, Sydney. Following the riots of 2005, the local council decided to encourage non-anglo people (especially Muslim people) to become lifesavers. But they only invited the men. Ms Laalaa however has always wanted to be a lifesaver. So she fought the discrimination, and joined the lifesaving forces.

Now she's pioneering a new Australian fashion .. the "burqini", which is a wetsuit with a hood. Yeah! Go Mecca!

Let's all keep an eye out for the positive and healthy changes in our cultural environment. It's not all bad, is it!