Thought for Today: Violence...

Hmmm....

Corruption and SBY...

"My President is not capable of stopping corruption! Save the KPK! Save Indonesia!"

It has an almost "Hereos" ring to it, "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World!".

But, the reality is that nothing is likely to save the presidential legacy of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. There is little likelihood that the dysfunction that is the SBY presidency will generate any debate like the Soeharto presidency. There will simply be no debate as to whether SBY should be declared a national hero. It is sort of like not cleaning up spilled wine straight away; the longer you leave it the more ingrained the stain!

The funny here, in that really perverse kind of a way, is that SBY came to the Indonesian presidency on a promise that he has not been able to keep; rooting out and eradicating corruption. The problem, corruption, is big. Yet, when Indonesia most needed leadership, SBY has been missing in action. Some might want to argue that SBY is the Teflon president. I would suggest that nothing ever sticks because he is not there to start with as all the hard yards are done by others and then spun by those closest to the president to intimate that he was at the forefront of any response.

To the contrary, why is it that corruption still exists on such a grand scale six years into the SBY presidency? Although, I am waiting for the presidential spokespeople to start spinning the apparent decision of the office of the attorney general to allow prosecutors to drop the fabricated case against Bibit and Chandra. It would be just too funny now for the spin to come that the president worked hard behind the scenes to see that the case was dropped, particularly after the claims that he had to keep arm's length and let the judicial process take its natural course.

Unfortunately, Mr. President, there was never anything natural about this case from the start. It was a "stitch-up" and an attempt to forever smear the reputations of two good, decent, and honest men who put all those personal traits on the line to fight your war against corruption! These men are the epitome of the testicular fortitude that you yourself lack. I am sure in the future that you will not see Bibit or Chandra lobbying to become national heroes. Two good men who are more concerned about the direction of their nation and the futures of their children and grandchildren! Now, if you ever need some pointers on how to maintain dignity and lead in times where the forces of evil line up against you, then you should give them a call; you might learn a thing or two.

Mr. President, it's time for a little 20 / 15 vision!

Obama, The Joker, Hope, and Socialism...

Is this picture racist? Or, is it acceptable under the definition of freedom of speech and freedom of expression provisions? Or, is it acceptable political parody?

The image has been finding itself posted in and around Los Angeles and has caused quite a stir. The racial overtones relate to the fact that it is Obama and the image is supposedly intended to be a take on the black and white minstrel theme in reverse. Or, it could simply be a comment on the current debates surrounding the development of a health care bill.

For those who are fans of Batman, then they will recognize that the picture picks up on the image made famous by Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight.

Interestingly, no one has claimed responsibility or ownership of the image.

The Problem With Bureaucracy + Law

This is out of the UK, specifically the Greater Manchester area. The story involves a lost cat, a woman trying to help, and an ordinance on posters.

A little cat had lost its way and ended up in the garden of Joy Tracey whimpering and obviously lost. Now, Joy, perhaps living up to her name wanted nothing more than to give the little moggy some joy and reunite it with its owners, who were probably as distraught as the cat was and wondering where their little feline family member had disappeared to.

So, Joy tried all of the things she could think of in this personal quest to reunite the cat with its family including trips to the RSPCA, animal shelters, pet shops, and advertisements in the local paper. For me this sounds like the woman was really going above and beyond in trying to get the cat back to its owners. Most people would have either booted the cat to the next yard or taken it to the pound and dumped it there.

However, in a last ditch desperate effort, Joy decided she would print up some posters and hang them on local lamp posts in the belief that maybe someone will either recognize the cat or know a family who has lost a cat. It is worth noting that there were just 12 posters involved; a very targeted campaign indeed.

This is where the bureaucracy become bureaucrazy and the law an ass! The ordinance is one designed to stop what some consider an eyesore, namely: the unfettered postering of walls and lamp posts with advertisements and other things. Now it seems that the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations 1992, Clauses A, B and F prohibits posters from being postered on lamp posts and the council was determined that the ordinance must be enforced to the letter of the law. Postering apparently attracts a heavy fine.

Lucky for the council, the posters included Joy's phone number so they were able to call her and tell her to remove the posters or risk the fine.

The question here is the ordinance intended for this purpose. The poster was in essence a public service announcement. The council's over-bureaucratic approach suggests that they were not necessarily acting in accordance with the spirit or intent of the law but rather with the mentality of; poster, prohibited, fine!

For as long as I can remember lost pets were almost universally photographed and made into posters and hung on light posts, telegraph poles, and anything else in the public domain by either the person who lost the pet or by those who had found it.

The cat was eventually reunited with its loving family.