Longing for the day ...

Australian Idol

On a lighter note, I was persuaded by my family to audition for Australian Idol. I went to the site to check it out and discovered that I'm too old. They didn't mention the age restrictions on the show.

Glad I didn't waste a whole Saturday ...

The politics of right

OK, well, this is the subject I've been trying to avoid - partly because I'm not convinced I'm right, and partly because new information comes to light about it regularly. But now I think it's time I made my position clear on a very important issue, which is being debated at many levels in Australian society. Writing this down will also help me clarify my thinking on the matter.

The short summary of my position is this: I think helping the US administration to invade Iraq was a bad idea but now that we're in there we should stay until Iraq looks like it might genuinely become and remain a stable democracy. That might take a lot longer than the people in charge are publicly acknowledging.

This argument is going to take a few posts. I'll start with the reasons I opposed the war and work up to why I think the whole world should now get behind the efforts to rebuild Iraq.

First, I had several school mates who served in the Australian Navy in the first Gulf War and I opposed that for ... more naive, idealistic reasons. I wrote a song about that, Maniac, which will be published here soon. I also had two grandfathers who served in the two World Wars. But I abhor anything to do with human beings killing each other and destroying each others' hard-won developments. That belief was cemented by my experience on the Kokoda Trail, scene of some of Australia's finest military moments and a sphere my maternal grandfather used to tell me about.

I never bought the post-September 11 claims that Iraq was linked to that event or that Saddam Hussein had anyting to do with supporting al Qa'ida. When I was searching for material for On line Opinion's Issues Brief I learned that Osama bin Laden called Saddam Hussein "Apostate" which is about the worst thing a fundamentalist religious nutcase can call anyone (in his eyes). However, I also agree with Graham Young's point, that the issues of the Middle East and terrorism are inextricably linked. Particularly in terms of finding a solution.

I also found it difficult to understand how Hussein could possibly have any significant Weapons of Mass Destruction after years of sanctions and inspections. The bottom line of the inspectors' reports was not that they thought there were WMDs there but that they could not *account for* WMDs that they had known were there earlier on. That's a significant but subtle difference that was enough for me (and the majority of the UN Security Council) to believe that any threat Saddam's regime posed could be countered by a UN-led inspections team and there was no justification for invasion.

However, there were very good reasons for removing Saddam that had nothing to do with WMDs. He was, without doubt, one of the most brutal and despicable depots in human history. Not only he but all of his henchmen had perpetrated the most unspeakable acts of barabrity imaginable - the world is a better place without him. There was also a certain amount of doubt about his capacity to harm people outside Iraq that, as in Owen McShane's analogy, could be easily and premanently resolved with some "exploratory sugery".

But setting such a precedent was so dangerous that even the desperados leading the charge into Iraq couldn't publicly acknowledge it. This, of course, left me, and much of the thinking of the Left (whether they acknowledged it or not), on the horns of a dilemma. Plenty of good reasons to invade and plenty of reasons not to ... how to decide?

In the end, I opposed the US-led initiative because I did not believe that this action would, in the long run, improve the lot of the People of the Middle East. Although there was no doubt about their military and economic strength, I did not (and still don't) think the US was culturally equipped to rebuild Iraq as a lone outpost of Western-friendly values in the Middle East. The evidence to the contrary is, to date, mixed, at best.

There is some evidence that things are improving in the eyes of the locals, and plenty of evidence that supplies/infrastrucure, etc are being restored, but the long-term viability of a democratic Iraqi state is clouded by the continued harassment of militant (whether domestic or imported, it doesn't matter) and the intricacies of inter-denominational Islamic politics; Sunni vs Shi'ite (not to mention the Kurds). There is no doubt that the residents resent the US involvement, which is not surprising. I'd hate it, too.

Al Qa'ida will continue to make Iraq a troublespot for their own ends long after the Interim Council have ceded power to the locals under some negotiated Constitution.

What a week I've had!

Well, it's been one of the best weeks I've had for a long time. On Tuesday I received notice that a nice woman in Florida, USA, liked Bun' Ber E's CD enough to buy it from CDBaby. That was a pleasant shock.

Then, on Wednesday night, we won our touch footy Grand Final. This was not nearly such a shock, since we finished the season on top of the ladder, but it was wonderful, nonetheless.

Then, last night (Friday), the NRL season started with a cracker of a game between Penith and Newcastle. Once the footy is back on TV, the world is in its natural order.

Of course, the week was almost overshadowed by the news that we have to spend more money fixing our poor, ancient car ... but nothing was really going to dampen my week.

Also got more gigs to play, including St Patrick's day at Dicey Reilly's, Mt Gravatt. Love it!

An I just discovered that Bun' Ber E's tunes will soon be downloadable individually from Apple iTunes or MusicMatch. This is great progress! Love it.

If only I could have more weeks like this one ...

Success of sorts

Well, we've just sold our first Bun' Ber E CD from CDBaby! Thank you to the person who bought it. Florida will never sound the same again. This is a very exciting turn of events and I hope it will be the first of many more.

In other news, our house is now completely re-tiled and we have a new kitchen, of which we're very proud. Also, tomorrow night is Grand Final night in the touch, and we're all nervous about that too.

Finally we're doing ridiculous number of gigs for St Patrick's day, including ones the Sunday before (at 7am!), the Friday after and on the day. This is, methinks, overkill but I'll take the Craic!

Now if only I had more time in the studio ...

Love me footy

Right!

Both my touch club's mixed sides have made it to the Grand Final next week. The men's team are playing their major semi-final on Wednesday, too.

Not that I haven't been here before, or that we're playing for sheep stations, but it's always exciting being close to winning something. I love the feeling when the whistle goes at the end, and you realise that after six months of trying you're finally the best in your competition (whatever it might be).

If only everyone could win something, it would be great (but perhaps not so special ...)

That's what it's all about

The New York Times recently ran this (requires registration). It looks at the "Grey Album" and the drive to produce new art by merging the old and the new.

I thought I was a bit of a no-brainer, to be honest - that's what this site it all about. I'm making all of my stuff available to anyone who wants to create something new from it, and encouraging them to do the same.

To me, that's what music is all about - sharing, swapping, playing, jamming ...