These are a few of my favourite things ...

Currently:

1) My Leica M6, plenty of film and an interesting city to wander around in where the people are

2) The books of Haruki Murakami

3) The music of The Smiths and Morrissey. Check out this unique Morrissey comic.

4) The graphic novels of Joe Sacco and Adrian Tomine

5) Rima's sweetness and sense of humour

6) Training with Rizam

7) The fact my golf game has suddenly become greatly improved

8) Manchester Utd's prospects for season 2004/05

Australian Govt tells Spain & the Philippines that they are encouraging terrorism

John Howard will do whatever the US Government asks Australia to do. What else is new. Do we as Australians have any independent, self respect left?  
 
Alexander Downer insults Spain and the Philippines.
 
When will Alexander realise that the spanish kicked out their conservative government because they lied and tried to make political capital out of the Madrid bombings (by pointing the finger at ETA)? He'll only get the message once he has been kicked out of office.
 
So does the end justify the means? The Dostoevsky dilemma. Is it worth saving one life - if by doing so you may harm a hundred others? Alexander says of course not.

Ummmm Bored

Last night's Paella causing mysterious digestive disturbances.

Sending SMSs trying to find out how my friend went in Singapore Idol.

Concerned about the battery life in my ipod.

Gym tonite. But I don't seem to be losing weight.

Snore ......

Lord Butler: Another enquiry ... a few more questions ... but no one accountable

Tom Happold in the Guardian:

"We are told that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. On that information, we invade said clear and present threat. Then we fail to find any WMDs, and discover that much of our intelligence was "seriously flawed". But nobody is to blame. In brief, that's the conclusion of Lord Butler's report.

If democracy is based on accountability - the notion that politicians and public servants must answer for their actions - then today's report is a profoundly undemocratic document. Lord Butler and his colleagues make a point of backing John Scarlett's promotion to head of MI6. Who said the establishment was dead?"

I cannot believe the politicians (Blair, Bush & Howard) and public servants are not answerable for:

1) going to war on a false basis ie killing people on the basis of a falsehood,
2) over exaggerating their case for war,
3) failing to adequately plan for the occupation and
4) increasing terrorism through the creation of an unstable Iraq and breeding ground for terrorists,
5) failure to adequately address the Israeli-Palestinian issue ie Mr Sharon tear down that wall,
6) the atrocities of Abu Grahib,
7) the encouragement, support and legal license to push the boundaries of what the Geneva convention and allow torture,
8) the decline in the credibility and moral standing of the US, UK and Australia in the world.

If Public Inquiries cannot address accountability of politicians (Blair, Bush & Howard) and public servants then we have an obligation to our own morality and the value of democracy to kick Bush, Blair and Howard out at the next election (wherever you may be).

Mr Happold continues: "If the BBC had to cleanse itself with the blood of three sacrificial resignations after Lord Hutton found against it, is it too much to ask for someone in Whitehall to take the blame for taking us to war for reasons that turned out to be false?

...

Cleared of the "deliberate distortion" of intelligence, Tony Blair remains unrepentant about going to war over flawed information."

How do you explain to the families of servicemen who have died, to the Iraqi people, that there loved ones were killed on the basis of 'seriously flawed' intelligence gathered and acted upon in good faith by politicians and public servants who will not bear any of the consequences of their decisions?

There is something very wrong with our system of government.

Haruki Murakami

I have recently finished reading the Wind Up Bird Chronicle.

"I saw myself as the wind-up bird, flying through the summer sky, lighting on the branch of a huge tree somewhere, winding the world's spring.
If there really was no more wind-up bird, someone would have
to take on its duties. Someone would have to wind the world's spring in its place.
Otherwise, the spring would run down and the delicately functioning system would grind to a halt.
The only one who seemed to have noticed that the wind-up bird was gone, however, was me."

Haruki Murakami, "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle"

Perfume girl is coming to stay tomorrow.

During my trip to China, I purchased some leather slippers and a tea pot and cups from the teahouse in Prince Gong's gardens.

Last Tuesday I received a postcard from Boris. The picture on the front of a pasty white, wrinkly old man milking a cow with his bare hands - a gleeful smile on his face. The cow was a Fresian and the man's thick dark blue clothes seemed to indicate that the picture had been taken at some farm in France or Germany.

However, the stamp and postmark indicated the postcard had been sent from Rayong in Thailand. The comment on the back:

"Wish you were here. You'd love these teats. Cheers Boris"

This reminded me of another quote of Murakamis:

"The past increases, the future recedes. Possibilities decreasing, regrets mounting."

from "Dance, Dance, Dance," by Haruki Murakami