November 2007 Archives
hello americans and non.
i just thought, you know, with an american election in the works (and reworks, and deworks, and waterworks), you might want to take a look at what we're doing down here in australia.
namely, showing the evil dwarf who has slimed this place for the past age the door.
sure, the australian elections aren't as full-combat as the american ones in some ways. first off, they only really last for a month and some. none of this two year ramp up to a final year of spit-balling and televised whinging. and secondly, in these elections, the winner is clearly the winner.
in case you didn't hear; the winner this time is clearly not john howard and his "liberal" coalition. now, they is losers. big losers. as in, don't let the door hit you on the way out losers.
and there was much rejoicing.
not that the winner, kevin rudd, seems like australia's answer to vaclav havel or anything, but he is not-howard, and he is signing the (too late) kyoto accord, and he is something new.
why am i writing about this? because it's a relief. after surviving two elections that, winner or not, installed gwb as president of the usa, i was honestly worried that howard would somehow squeak through yet again.
he didn't. it even appears that he has lost his own seat in government, so not only is he not prime minister, but soon he will be somewhat less important then they guy who used to check his security badge. i'm only sorry i can't see him in person to point and snicker.
there is something else the americans might learn from australian elections. here, when the votes are being tallied, they do this great thing. they get the candidates on camera and ask them questions like:
Interviewer: Bruce, it sure seems like you're going to lose this race and be a losing loser. Do you think you're a losing loser?
Bruce: Gosh, Ned. It's early yet and there's the possibility that an entire race of lost subterranean dwellers will have mailed in votes all naming me lord chancellor of gumdrop-land, so I'll just hold on to that hope for the next twelve minutes in a frenzied delusion while you continue to taunt me.
Interviewer: Ha ha. Good one, loser.
it's good tv.
we had a little party over at our neighbours to watch the returns, drink cheap beer, and make snide comments at the television. it was very pleasant.
summer is here. i bought a bike. we've been playing lawn bowls (i suck). ed and heather sent us canned pumpkin pie filling. we bought tickets to see sufjan stevens in january. rachel and matt are coming out to visit in february.
and (ding dong) the witch is dead.
this is a test.
this is only a test.
yesterday, the master of the scruff, the compy ninja, the rock god lederer, helped me transfer my languishing web site from my crappy old provider (powweb, not recommended) to my shiny new provider (dreamhost, so far, so good).
it looks like everything has transfered pretty smoothly. if you find something that don't work, would you let me know, please?
in other news, the thing that i find most fascinating about today is not that it is a state-wide holiday for a horse race, but that in pakistan, when musharfaf went all coup-coup (is it a coup when you take over from yourself? maybe not.), who was it that stood up and rattled the cages?
the students?
the opposition parties?
the clerics?
no. it was the fucking lawyers.
what i want to know is: can we get some of them lawyers over here? thems the kind of lawyers we want.
whatever else you want to say about pakistan, i think you gotta admit they must be doing something right.
happy cup day.
