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Suzy McHale’s Journal: 2004

After starting an initially-private journal on my computer in 2001, I began keeping an online journal from this month onward.

November
December

November

Tuesday 2/11: Wallmeyer twins

One week till my 34th birthday. :-(

Public holiday today because of a certain horse-race. I hate horseracing because it is cruel to horses (the ones who aren’t successful get sent to the knacker’s – i.e. the slaughterhouse). Similarly with greyhounds. I hate the whole wasteful and cruel industry.

On 60 Minutes on Sunday there was a report about two Australian anorexic twins, Rachel and Clare Wallmeyer, who are my age, but have been anorexic for 20 years (began at 14). They look and sound like old women, and weigh only 32 kg. They have never had a job, boyfriends, or anything resembling a normal life (they still live with their parents) because anorexia has had them in its grip for so long. Their health is obviously affected by the years of starvation (their bone density is that of a 100-year-old, and they have never menstruated) and they are close to death. Indeed, they want to die as they feel their lives have no purpose. I had an eating disorder for 5 years or so, but fortunately I never got to this extreme (though for my parents it was bad enough). I more-or-less recovered by myself, gradually easing out of that mindset. But in the early stages (first two years) I could have become like them. You can visit their page at the 60 Minutes website (a transcription of the story is forthcoming). Anorexia is a horrible, devastating mental illness that seems to affect so many women (and some men). I might do a page about my experience with it, sometime.

Wednesday 3/11: Evils of globalization

Finally got around to visiting the Nologo.org site, an anti-globalization movement started by Naomi Klein who wrote the book No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies. Never mind Iran and North Korea; the real “Axis of Evil” are the World Bank and World Trade Organization and the third of the Unholy Trinity, the International Monetary Fund!, whose “economic reform” policies have brought much misery to the people who can least afford it (Russia being one such country). All this so-called “reform” involves is cutting funding for essential government services (e.g. for welfare, public schools and hospitals), selling off publicly-owned assets (as happened in Victoria during the 1990s), tax breaks for large corporations and so on. There is a real obsession with the economy and stock market in the modern era; they are almost like some religious movement to which governments are in thrall to. And a banal, dehumanizing and utterly dreary religion it is, too.

A couple of extracts from two recent newspaper articles:

When she was 23, Noreena Hertz was part of a World Bank team that advised the Russian government on its privatization program.

“Being more junior, I was the person sent to Russia to live in the factories and feed back information to the bank. I spent months in the factories. In one, I slept in an empty ward in the sanitarium. I realized very quickly that the master plan of privatizing Russian industry overnight was going to impose huge costs on hundreds of thousands of people. These factories were producing goods that once they were launched, no one would want in a too-competitive market. They would have to slash tens of thousands of jobs. But also, these factories provided schools, hospitals, health care and retirement – cradle-to-grave. I raised these concerns in Washington, to say there weren’t any safety nets in place. It became clear to me that it was really a political play, that they wanted to take assets out of the state’s hands, so that the Communist Party wouldn’t come back.” (“And debt becomes her,” Valerii Lawson, The Age, 12 October 2004.) (See also this review of Noreena’s book at Socialism Today.org.)

And this:

China has learnt a lot from Russia, they saw all the problems that developed there after the sudden fall of the Soviet Union, and they are determined they do not want a country like Russia.

– “Chinese pride rises above old problems,” Sunday Herald-Sun, 10 October 2004.

Ouch.

Thursday 4/11: George Bush back in

Looks like George W. Bush is back in for a second term. Oh well. I suppose it will make our Dear Leader (PM John Howard) happy. :-S

Tuesday 9/11: 34 today

34 today. Aaargh! Six years until I turn 40.

Sunday 21/11: Terrorist outrages

Have recovered from the trauma of being another year older … I think I am supposed to be “grown-up” by now, but I certainly don’t feel like I am.

Yet another dreadful week for terrorism, with that poor lady, Margaret Hassan, apparently being murdered after weeks of being held hostage. She did nothing but help the Iraqis; I can’t understand the mentality of people who would do that. I think this has been the worst year for terrorism since 2001. Also there was a documentary about Beslan on 4 Corners last Monday; you can read the transcript here. I hope someone finds Shamil Basayev and chops off his head!

Terrorism is the one thing I would agree with conservatives about; the Islamic terrorists are horrible people and there is no excuse for their brutality. I have nothing against moderate Islam, like I have nothing against moderate Christianity or other religions; it’s the fanatics from all religions who are the real menace. I wish they could all be exiled to another planet, where they could slaughter each other to their hearts’ content, and leave the rest of us in peace!

I am sorry to be so negative, but it’s hard to write about anything cheerful, as there is so much awfulness in the world. I probably sound like a grumpy old sod; all my enthusiasm for things (if I ever had any) vanished long ago.

Thursday 25/11: Ukraine elections controversy

Weather is warming up – into the mid-30s by Saturday. :-(.

Big fuss in the media over Ukranian elections. An alternative viewpoint can be read at Pravda.ru: “The OTPOR factor in the Ukraine?” by Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey. “First it was Georgia, now it is the Ukraine. Pro-western factions ready to sell out to the Washington camp, orchestrated by their foreign masters, sweep to power on the crest of a wave of popular revolt, hooliganism and riots. The Otpor factor. However there is a difference. Eduard Shevardnazde had alienated his people against him, whereas the Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovich, has just over half of his electorate on his side.” The defeated candidate, Viktor Yushchenko (the one sucking up to the West), wants to introduce “free-market reforms,” and we all know what that means – yet more misery for the least well-off. The USA and Europe probably have intentions of setting up NATO bases there, or something like that. “The reaction by the West to the defeat of their puppet candidate was as predictable as it was immature and meddlesome.” As TBH sums up, “In plain English, you can like it – or lump it.” So there! (I like this guy.)

Pravda.ru (the online news is a different organization to the newspaper) is kind of crappy, more like a tabloid in some sections, but if you can ignore the headlines like “Russia to launch space mail for extraterrestrial civilizations,” there are still some interesting articles to be found.

Saturday 27/11: Ukraine activists

HOT yesterday. Am I the only one in this country (aside from Mum) who doesn’t like the hot weather?

Found this article in today’s The Age about who is behind all the chaos in Ukraine: “US democracy warriors drive protests.” Three guesses as to which country it is!!

Washington has exported a new battle-hardened style of revolution to Kiev.

With their websites and stickers, their pranks and slogans aimed at banishing widespread fear of a corrupt regime, the democracy guerillas of the Ukrainian Pora youth movement have already notched up a famous victory – whatever the outcome of the dangerous stand-off in Kiev.

Ukraine, traditionally passive in its politics, has been mobilised by the young democracy activists. It will never be the same again.

But while the gains of the orange-bedecked “chestnut revolution” are Ukraine’s, the campaign is a United States creation, a sophisticated and brilliantly conceived exercise in Western branding and mass marketing that, in four countries in four years, has been used to try to salvage rigged elections and topple unsavoury regimes.

Funded and organised by the US Government, deploying US consultancies, pollsters, diplomats, the two big US parties and US non-government organisations, the campaign was first used in Europe in Belgrade in 2000 to beat Slobodan Milosevic at the polls.

Richard Miles, the US ambassador in Belgrade, played a key role. Last year, as US ambassador in Tbilisi, he repeated the trick in Georgia, coaching Mikhail Saakashvili in how to bring down Eduard Shevardnadze.

Ten months after the success in Belgrade, the US ambassador in Minsk, Michael Kozak, a veteran of similar operations in central America, notably in Nicaragua, organised a near identical campaign to try to defeat Belarus hard man Alexander Lukashenko. That one failed.

Experience gained in Serbia, Georgia and Belarus has been invaluable in plotting to beat Leonid Kuchma’s regime in Kiev.

The operation – engineering democracy through the ballot box and civil disobedience – is now so slick that the methods have matured into a template for winning other people’s elections.

Irony and street comedy mocking the regime have been hugely successful in puncturing public fear and enraging the powerful. In the centre of Belgrade is a dingy office staffed by computer-literate youngsters who call themselves the Centre for Non-Violent Resistance.

If you want to know how to beat a regime that controls the mass media, the judges, the courts, the security apparatus and the voting stations, the young Belgrade activists are for hire.

They emerged from the anti-Milosevic student movement, Otpor, meaning resistance.

The catchy, single-word branding is important. In Georgia last year, the parallel student movement was Khmara. In Belarus, it was Zubr. In Ukraine, it is Pora, meaning high time.

Stickers, spray paint and websites are the young activists’ weapons. Irony and street comedy mocking the regime have been hugely successful in puncturing public fear and enraging the powerful.

The Democratic Party’s National Democratic Institute, the Republican Party’s International Republican Institute, the US State Department and USAid are the main agencies involved in these grassroots campaigns as well as the Freedom House NGO and billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Institute.

If the events in Kiev vindicate the US in its strategies for helping other people win elections and take power from anti-democratic regimes, it is certain to try to repeat the exercise.

The places to watch are Moldova and the authoritarian countries of central Asia.

Surprise, surprise! This is all a cynical ploy by the USA to spread its influence and power through the former Soviet Union countries. (The CIA was doing this sort of thing in the 1960s, in South America, and look what happened to countries like Chile.) The U.S. wants to turn these countries into free-market economies so U.S. corporations have new markets in which to expand. Don’t believe the bullsh*t they espouse about “democracy” and “freedom”.

December

Friday 3/12: Enjoying The Pyramids of Mars

December already?! Another year almost gone. Time seems to go faster the older you get – the days, weeks and months go by almost without my noticing. Perhaps it’s the monotony of my life which makes this more apparent.

My favourite Dr. Who episode is currently screening on ABC TV: “The Pyramids of Mars”. The last time I saw this was when it first screened in 1975, and I recall being fascinated with the sinister Sutekh character! I loved the mask he wore and tried to draw it. Even nearly 30 years later, the episode still holds up well (it is in four 20-minute parts; the final two screen next week). Sutekh is of an ancient and powerful alien race, the Osirians (who later entered Egyptian mythology). When he gets in a bad mood, he tends to destroy planets and stars and things. The Osirians imprisoned him in a pyramid on Mars* millennia ago. I guess the writers of the episode got inspiration from the “Face on Mars” in the Cydonia region. But I just love this episode because it’s got all my favourite elements – lost civilizations, other worlds, space and time, beings with powers beyond humanity’s comprehension, and the coolest bad guy ever! In fact, there are many things there that are missing in the real-world space program – namely, mystery, magic and awe.

Also, another novelty (these days at least!) is that there are no American accents! Most sci-fi movies now seem to have a bunch of gung-ho American/NASA types charging about the solar system/universe, but there is none of that in “Pyramids”. A relief! (Sorry, but such movies and books get very tiresome – it’s the same world view over and over again.)

The special effects in the episode might be 1970’s standards, but who cares – the story holds me enthralled! And it leaves sci-fi series like Enterprise (the latest in the Star Trek franchise) for dead. I watched a few episodes of this, but these were so dreary that I couldn’t sit through them. (Actually I have a small TV in my bedroom that I bought years ago, and I watch it while lying down in bed – I usually fall asleep in the process! I figure that a program is good if I manage to stay awake through all of it!)

(*Correction: after actually reading the plot, Sutekh is in fact “held prisoner inside a pyramid in Egypt by a signal transmitted from one on Mars.”)

Wikipedia article: Pyramids of Mars

Tuesday 7/12: Storm damage

A spectacular storm came through last night at 9 p.m., for about half an hour over the city and suburbs; it did the usual amount of damage (flooding, power blackouts, etc.) though we escaped the worst of it here. It was accompanied by a monsoonal downpour. There were huge blinding flashes of sheet lightning in the clouds. This was the first big storm of the season. If the ISS was passing over Melbourne at that time and the crew looking out, the storm far below would have been an awesome sight, with lightning illuminating the interiors of the clouds with a purplish glow, and perhaps they would have glimpsed sprites, that strange lightning which shoots upwards from the tops of clouds and has only been a verified phenomena in the last decade or so. (There was a French-Russian experiment brought up by the Soyuz TM-33 crew to study and photograph sprites; I will have to look it up. – It is the LSO experiment.)

Storms have always scared me, though; they often seem to come in the middle of the night when I am unpleasantly awoken by a huge crash of thunder! I then hide under the bedsheets until the storm passes.

Sunday 12/12: Zealous Zubrin

Warm and humid weather all week – yuck. Thunderstorms and rain most days. Hopefully it will end this week!

Another Ukraine story: “U.S. money helped opposition in Ukraine”. Hah! I knew it! Edit, 2/2/2022: link dead; very similar article at Archive.org.

Found this amusing movie via NASA Watch: The Mars Underground, starring Dr. Robert Zubrin, the hyperactive scientist who wants humanity to drop everything and head off to Mars (that’s his steely-eyed gaze on the cover at right). Keith Cowing of NASA Watch doesn’t particularly like him (I think the feeling is mutual). The movie appears to be the most amazing piece of self-promotional hyperbole you’ve ever seen; it’s worth quoting the plot summary here:

The Mars Underground

“Zubrin really, nearly alone, changed our thinking on this issue ….” (Carl Sagan)

The Mars Underground is a landmark documentary about renowned aerospace scientist and visionary, Dr. Robert Zubrin, and his struggle to get the first human mission to Mars off the ground.

Shot entirely in breathtaking High Definition (HD) and directed by accomplished documentarian, Scott J. Gill (Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy, The Blood Earth), The Mars Underground brings to life Dr. Zubrin’s vision, known as “Mars Direct,” through startling 3-D CGI animation of the launch, voyage and landing of spacecraft, as well as glimpses into the future of man’s reign on Mars.

Through Dr. Zubrin’s compelling words, moody cinematic visuals and lush original score, The Mars Underground is a surreal journey from the glory of the 1960’s Space Race, the decline of NASA in the 1980’s and 1990’s, through the faltering moon and Mars programs of today, and into one man’s quest to propel humanity towards a new world.

The Mars Underground imagines the “terraforming” of Mars, venturing forward in time to show the planet transformed into a viable world of oceans, a sustainable atmosphere and, ultimately, life. With the zeal of a wild-eyed genius, Dr. Zubrin also predicts how humans on Mars would look, sound and feel for generations to come and the children eventually born there – the first true Martians.

But in The Mars Underground there are vocal dissenters, inside NASA and elsewhere, questioning Dr. Zubrin’s conclusions and the true feasibility of such an ambitious undertaking. “Mars Direct,” they say, could be revolutionary in its consequences, or it could be an unrealistic, highly detailed fantasy. Too many dangers. Too many unknowns. His mission blueprint, they say, will never leave the drawing board.

The Mars Underground is the incredible true tale of one scientist fighting impossible odds to change the direction of the space program, turn science fiction into science fact and lead human beings into the next great frontier.

“Zubrin is showing us the way.”

– Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut

Yeah, right :-S.

Saturday 18/12: Shark victim

Another HOT day; mid-30s. Given a choice, though, I prefer hot dry weather to hot humid weather (Hell is hot and humid!). The hot dry weather is great for drying the washing!

A teenage boy got taken by a Great White Shark off the coast of South Australia this week. Two sharks attacked him in tandem, which is somewhat unusual behavior. One or two people get taken by sharks a year; it’s an unfortunate risk of swimming along the coastlines of Australia. (The other dangerous predator [i.e. which eats people] are crocodiles, in the north of the country.) There is debate over whether the shark responsible should be killed; the boy’s family have said that they would rather see the shark (an endangered species) caught so it could be radio-tagged and tracked. We humans tend to forget that other predatory creatures do not regard our lives as sacred; to them we are merely prey. Still, it is not much comfort if someone you know is killed like that – though, by far the most danger to people is from their own kind. Predatory creatures (as far as I know) don’t set out to kill maliciously, but humans do.

Sunday 19/12: Soyuz dream

I was having a vivid series of dreams last night in which the Soyuz undocked with the current crew, then an explosive bolt misfired and the crew were sucked out and perished! I was reading about the disaster in the newspapers which gave detailed descriptions of the tragedy, and how the crew would have burned up in the atmosphere. The ISS was to be left unmanned, and how would this affect the Russian space program? The dreams were quite detailed but have faded a bit now. I hope they are not prophetic!

Monday 21/12: Parents away

Four days until you-know-what. Mum & Dad have driven up to Rochester for the night to see my sister and her family, as they do every so often. I stay home to mind Sasha (the dog). I tend to fret a lot about people I know being killed in car accidents! People are killed every week in those death machines, hundreds a year in Victoria alone. I did see in an edition of Time magazine a few months ago that there are about a million people killed each year worldwide in automobile accidents (not to mention the many more injured). All such an unnecessary waste of life. I do hope technology might somehow reduce dependence on cars in the future (better public transport would be a start), but many more people will die in the meantime.

I did a Google word search for my name, and both my sites came up in the top two links! So they have obviously been “Googled”. I don’t care that much what my site’s ranking is, but it’s nice to know it’s there!

Sunday 26/12: Christmas aftermath; fussing with my website

The Day After. Had a quiet Christmas as usual, with Mum & Dad. The relatives all have their own Christmas lunches to go to, so we never see them. The last time I saw my cousins was at Gran’s funeral in October 2000. Anyway, we had a good meal (Mum’s cooking!), and I managed to finish a glass of white wine (constituting my entire alcohol intake for the year!). I generally don’t drink as 1) I don’t have a social life to speak of and 2) I’m not that keen on the taste. Given my personality type though, I have a potential to become alcoholic, so I am best to avoid making a habit of drinking!

My sister’s husband is working on his first website, so when it is ready I will link to it, probably on the About me page. I would like all my family and relatives to put up sites so I can link to them!

I have a few more pages “under development” – actually, only existing in my head so far – so more will appear in 2005, assuming I can stop fussing around with the appearance of my website to do any! I am still not happy with its appearance, but I seem to be stuck on this design. I don’t know what else to do!

Wednesday 29/12: Ukraine elections

Looks like Yushchenko won the second elections. Surprise, surprise. The news channels here (Australia) made little secret of their bias towards him, one newsreader even referring to him as “The Hero of the Orange Revolution”. Yeah, right. :-S A letter from yesterday’s The Age:

Of course Yushchenko won. But let’s see whether he’s still the people’s choice at the next election without $75 million in U.S. taxpayers’ money helping persuade Ukrainians choose him.

– Gordon Drennan

A news item summary from the same paper regarding the Iraq elections:

Iraq poll meddling rejected

Iraq’s Election Commission has described as unacceptable a suggestion in Washington that it adjust the results of next month’s poll to benefit the Sunni minority in the event of low turnout in Sunni areas.

Isn’t this called “vote-rigging”? Double standards, here?

Friday 31/12: Indian Ocean earthquake disaster

Last day of the year; another quiet year for me, but a horrible year for the world, culminating in this horrendous earthquake and tsunamis in Asia. 100,000 or more people could be dead – an unimaginable amount. Mainly in poorer regions that can ill-afford this catastrophe. At least other countries and the U.N. are coming to help. It will take years, or decades, for the peoples here to recover, though, and there are traumas they will never recover from, namely the loss of loved ones.