[keep-your-eye-on] firstly from the conservatives

This occasional series is designed to profile, in about 100 words, talent the major parties should be looking out for. Of course they have their own A and B lists but every little bit helps … perhaps.

Warning: in political profiles such as this, the blog author reserves the right, Praguetory style, to immediately delete comments deemed not in the spirit of the post.

Former leader of the Surrey Heath Conservative Future before he became a trifle old, Dominic de Mariveles can be found all over the British political sphere in one form or another. Not long ago he ran a policy initiative on Waste Management:

A new national policy framework in the form of an update of the 2000 Waste Management Act is needed to provide us all with a clear procedure for domestic recycling and waste disposal.

When he's not involved in such things or in his day job in finance, he is signing petitions such as this little gem, suggesting to Tony Blair that:

The proposed bridge in the Thames Gateway connecting Beckton in the north with Thamesmead in the south should be named the "Daniel Finkelstein Bridge" after the eminent political commentator and columnist.

Interesting that a top blogger, William Luckman, also involved himself in this matter. Dominic is as charitable, such as supporting a deaf boy, David Morgan, in the London marathon:

dominic de mariveles - 12/04/2006 - Donation - good luck fatso

… as he can be ascerbic with stupidity:

One reason people despise politicians is because secretly they are quite envious that it ain't them.

I suggest the Conservatives keep a weather eye out for this young man, with a view to pre-selection in a juicy constituency somewhere, preferably in the south-east. Maybe if he were to take up blogging, it might just get him over the line.

[opera] ten simple ones to start with

Fill in the blanks:

Opera Composer Year

A____ V____ 1871

B____ G____ Mussorgsky 18____

Carmen ____ 18____

Cav____ia Ru____na Mascagni 1____0

C____ fan ____ ____ 1790

Der R____alier Richard ____ 1911

Dido and ____ ____ 1689

Don ____ ____ 1787

____ O____ Tchaikovsky 1879

Fidelio B____ 18____

Answers here.

[quotes] first 10 from the world of politics

Some lines which made this blogger chuckle:

1] Most schemes of political improvement are very laughable things.
Samuel Johnson [1769]

2] A sheep in sheep's clothing.
Winston Churchill, of Clement Attlee [no date]

3] The great nations have always acted like gangsters and the small nations like prostitutes.
Stanley Kubrik [1963]

4] This is a rotten argument, but it should be good enough for their lordships on a hot summer afternoon.
Anonymous, said to have been read out inadvertently in the House of Lords [no date]

5] It is not necessary that every time he rises he should give his famous imitation of a semi-house-trained polecat.
Michael Foot, of Norman Tebbit [1978]

6] Like being savaged by a dead sheep.
Denis Healey, on being criticized by Geoffrey Howe [1978]

7] It is, I think, good evidence of life after death.
Lord Soper, on the quality of debate in the House of Lords [1978]

8] A triumph of the embalmer's art.
Gore Vidal,of Ronald Reagan [1981]

9] There are no true friends in politics. We are all sharks circling, and waiting, for traces of blood to appear in the water.
Alan Clark [1990]

10] Being an MP is the sort of job all working class parents want for their children - clean, indoors and no heavy lifting
Diane Abbot [1994]

[bush and rove] a slight whiff of watergate

Just how much blame must Karl Rove shoulder and how much should George W. over the sackings of eight federal prosecutors?

Justice Department officials have acknowledged that former U.S. Attorney H.E. Cummins was booted from his post in Little Rock, Ark., to make room for a former Rove aide. Other fired prosecutors handled politically sensitive investigations that angered Republicans during the run-up to the November elections. Lawmakers in both political parties have expressed concern about evidence of political meddling in the weeks before the November elections, when it was becoming clear that Democrats might take control of Congress for the first time in 12 years.

Although the replacements have been robustly defended, still:

"Nobody who objectively looks at this is going to think, oh, what a coincidence," said former prosecutor Green, now a Fordham University law professor who's on leave at New York University.

This smacks very much of the White House using the Justice Department for its own party political ends. It also smacks of outgoing administrations misusing their authority in the final days. Trouble is, the U.S. already has a constitution to supposedly deal with this sort of thing.

[jacques chirac] the grey havens beckon

On Jacques Chirac's retirement:

The candidates, and France at large, credit Mr Chirac with three main achievements: standing up to the US by opposing the invasion of Iraq; recognising France's anti-Semitic crimes in World War II, and opposing racism and political extremism.

The low points were the loss of the outright control of parliament in 1997, the repeated abandonment of reforms in the face of strikes and protests, the 2002 election in which the extreme rightwinger Jean-Marie Le Pen came second, and the race riots and voters' rejection of the French-inspired European constitution in 2005.

His "crimes" during his time as the Mayor of Paris will most likely not be sheeted home to him. No doubt he'll soon pass into that twilight zone of the venerated elder statesman. As Le Figaro put it: "Pour Chirac, le temps des hommages a commencé."

[pluto] yes, venetia, it really is a planet

Venetia Burney gazing over Hydra, Pluto, Charon and Nix. Now the demented denizens of a dark demesne, the astronomo-technocratic mafia, have taken her planet away from her. But help is at hand.

Blognor Regis is really onto something here:

State lawmakers will vote Tuesday on a bill that proposes "as Pluto passes overhead through New Mexico's excellent night skies, it be declared a planet." I fully support this move.

I do too, as is evident here, here, here and here. I call on all good people to give this little girl back the planet she named. Nix to them! That's the home of my sanity they're playing with. As a lady of course, her own thoughts on the matter, in 2007, are less vehement :

"At my age, I've been largely indifferent to [the debate]; though I suppose I would prefer it to remain a planet."

[chavez] which one looks most like him

[altruism] harnessing and unleashing power

Just been re-reading from Nietzsche's Zarathustra [1891] and other things - surprising, huh? Some of his observations were apt, e.g. There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness [7: On Reading and Writing].

On the question of compassion, of kindness, his views are well known - that these things are to assuage the person who does them, rather than to help the receiver - the feelgood factor. And I ask, 'Why not?' All actions ultimately stem from self. If such actions also produce a collateral, cumulative effect, a snowball, why not?

My best friend added that it just takes one act, just one each day, from every single person within a sphere of influence towards someone not family or best friend and the mood enhancement then spills over and creates an atmosphere.

The shop girl who slaps the change on the counter as another irascible customer, deep in his own thoughts unsmilingly gives his order - what if someone had just complimented her on something a few moments earlier? Now she'll say something nice to the chap and he'll be momentarily brought out of himself, as someone from a trance.

There's another aspect to all this. At the point where you, quite justifiably of course, are about to unleash a cutting remark at someone who is being insufferable - stop! Go against your instinct in some sort of a bloodyminded way and actually compliment the person instead. The look of shock is worth it. And as Nietzsche wrote: When a small kindness is not forgotten, it becometh a gnawing worm.

There's no altruism in this - at least it starts out this way. It's simply behaviourism, surrounding yourself with a cushioning bubble of pleasantness in which to travel through the day. And then it slowly becomes altruism because the pleasure you produce in the other is worth its weight in gold. It's a buzz, in other words, a narcotic fix.

Just as the natural instinct is to harbour feelings of resentment, of revenge, of withdrawal, of coldness, which eventually reduce us to quiet bitterness, so a serial altruist gets into a groove and can't help himself - he needs that daily fix but not face to face. No, no. Not at all.

The greatest buzz is to do the act in such a way that you have no chance of being thanked. You simply set in motion a train of events which you know will be taking place long after you've gone and that's the greatest buzz of all, chuckling over what you just caused to happen.

Nice article on the whole thing here.

[blogfocus saturday] across the pond

Now don't get me wrong. It's not that I don't like the Brits or anything but we're … well, we're family and all that and I'm always blogging about us. So I thought it was about time we crossed the pond and presented a few of our cousins.

Just what is it with the North Americans? They'd have to be the raciest bloggers on the block and sometimes even a tad difficult to follow but they generally blog with passion and that's the type of blogging I like. Hope you do too:


1 Sisu is one of those bloggers who's right at you on her slick looking site and from the photos above, you'd have to expect the unexpected:

If you build a viaduct over old stomping grounds, the animals will come. Above, elk crossing at the turnoff from Banff to the #1 highway to Calgary, with thanks to local animal watcher Judie Dyer. The elkway called to mind the totally awesome Saudi Arabian (we think) camelway we blogged here nearly three years back. "I like camels," wrote camelblogger Almamedi, The Religious Policeman [who has subsequently quit blogging to write a book] back then. "They have a look that says 'I was here before you, and I'll be here when you're gone.'" Alhamedi's words from July of 2004 resonate now more than ever.

2 Keith Demko, of Reel Fanatic, is one of my favourite bloggers, though sadly, I don't get over to him enough. This would have to be one of his most entertaining and if you love film, his would have to be a must-see every time:

With a little dose of "Being There" you could have our hero become president. Through a series of accidental encounters, he could get us in the middle of a bloody civil war in Iraq. I think even a hack like me could write some of this dialogue:

Cheney: Mr. President, 27 people died today in suicide bombings in Iraq.

President Gump: Well, like my momma always said: Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get.

That's actually a little too close to reality for me. I think I'll just stop now before I get thoroughly depressed. Because, like Forrest says, "stupid is as stupid does," whatever the hell that means.

3 You have to smile at Bonnie Wren's blog. When you leave a comment, she hits you with this preview: Is this what you want to say? I mean, I have to ask. That's my JOB. I'm a PREVIEWER. Duh! If all's in order, she invites you to: Make it so, No. 1. Bonnie is sometimes a bit hard to fathom out but I did notice a passing reference to yours truly so the girl obviously has nothing to do. Actually, she's as busy as can be, thanks to the drug store:

Thanks to the excellent pharmaceuticals available over the counter I barely remember writing anything in February. In fact, in looking back at all the entries made in February I can only wonder who is the woman who figured out my password and why the heck she thinks she can tell tourists where to go in La Jolla. Well, that usurper can just move on out because I’m BACK. I can breathe. I still sound like a Klingon but hey! That just adds a little mystery to my marital relationship.

Eight more bloggers here.

[destruction of the lords] the road to autocracy

The Political Umpire is getting into the vital Lords question but sadly, he's gone astray. He starts well:

When Blair wanted the Hunting Act (HA) passed … [the] Lords forced him to face up to that by holding him to his original draft. One in the eye for the opportunist Blair. Another example was the disgusting lie put about by Gordon Brown concerning the Oxford applicant Laura Spence, an attempt at a bit of old-fashioned class war. The Commons was too busy point-scoring to expose Brown's lies for what they were. But the Lords came down on him like an executioner's axe including old-Labourite Roy Jenkins…

Rousing stuff, Political Umpire, so how on earth did that lead to this?

Hereditary peers have no justification. Appointments by PM patronage or some super-quango commission are a better option than hereditary peers but not much more than that.

PU, it is precisely the way the Lords was originally constituted which led to it being an effective House of Review. Elect them or even stack them from outside and the patronage system and the whip will turn the PM into a virtual dictator. And through this, the EU will become your master and mine.

I posted on the latest destruction bill here, on Martine Martin's take here and my proposals for the Lords are here.