Monthly Archives: May 2009

Valgkamp 2009 – Landsmøtevideoer

Som en del av min ortogonale valgkampdekning forsøker jeg å se alt som er lagt ut av videoer fra de aktuelle partienes landsmøter. Her er noen lav- og høydepunkter så langt, de fleste av dem fra Fremskrittspartiets landsmøte, fordi de har den overlegent beste tilstedeværelsen på YouTube.

Aina Stenersen, leder i Oslo FpU, roper høyt om kriminalpolitikk, til vekselvis overbærende smil, flauhet og applaus fra forsamlingen:

Mette Hanekamhaug fra FrP snakker om integrering slik jeg skulle ønske partiet alltid gjorde det, med fokus på likestilling og valgfrihet. I den grad jeg sympatiserer med FrP i dette spørsmålet er det med det som sies her.

Mazyar Keshvari i FrP synes vi skal slutte å snakke med alle land vi er uenige med:

Ove Vanebo, leder av FpU, argumenterer for aktiv dødshjelp utifra gode liberale prinsipper:

Dakars Henrik Asheim, leder i Unge Høyre, er et “offer” for rødgrønn skolepolitikk. Han og hele hans generasjon har blitt utsatt for et “ran” som har sørget for at “tusenvis av ungdom” har fått “drømmene sine knust”. Jeg får plutselig et bilde av Håkon Lie som stormer inn på scenen, trekker gutten etter øra ut i bakgården, og banker ham opp.

Valgkamp 2009 – Miljøvern

I valgkampåpningen foretok jeg en kjapp og usaklig oppsummering av partiene det er uaktuelt at jeg stemmer på i år. Kun Venstre, Høyre og Fremskrittspartiet står igjen. Jeg er en vingler, og har sjelden stemt på samme parti to valg på rad, men det har som regel vært ett av disse tre. Det er de jeg nå vil fokusere på, ett emne om gangen. I dag: Miljøvern.

Jeg har et ambivalent forhold til miljøvern. Jeg er for miljøvern, men skeptisk til miljøvernere. De framstår ofte som dogmatiske, med en naturmystisisme jeg ikke deler. Miljøvern er til for mennesket. Ingen skal leve i fattigdom for å bevare utrydningstruete dyrearter eller lette på rike idealisters samvittighet. Samtidig er det først og fremst verdens fattige som lider av miljøproblemer og klimakaos.

FrP har liten troverdighet i dette spørsmålet. De har tonet ned klimaskepsisen, (en skepsis jeg ikke deler lenger), men det er tydelig at for FrP er miljøvern en pliktsak. Lyspunktet er at de er åpne for kjernekraft. Kanskje er det et blindspor, men isåfall et forfriskende udogmatisk blindspor.

Høyre står litt sånn midt i mellom.

Venstre kommer klart best ut. Jeg liker ambisjonene, og selv om jeg tror mange av de foreslåtte tiltakene vil være dyre og/eller meningsløse, så må noen gå i front for å eksperimentere med løsninger, for å finne ut hva som fungerer, og gjøre nye oppdagelser. Hvis ikke Norge, hvem?

Oppsummert i blogbite-vennlig logoform:

At least I knew it was a game

My captor now lifted the wire noose until I stood. I was conscious, as I have been on several similar occasions, that we were in some sense playing a game. We were pretending that I was totally in his power, when in fact I might have refused to rise until he had either strangled me or called over some of his comrades to carry me. I could have done several other things as well – seized the wire and tried to wrest it from him, struck him in the face. I might have escaped, been killed, been rendered unconscious, or plunged into agony; but I could not actually be forced to do as I did.

At least I knew it was a game, and I smiled as he sheathed Terminus Est and led me to where Jonas stood.

Jonas said, “We’ve done no harm. Return my friend’s sword and give us back our animals, and we will go.”

There was no reply. In silence the two praetorians (four fluthering sparrows, it seemed) caught our destriers and led them away. How like us those animals were, walking patiently they knew not where, their massive heads following thin strips of leather. Nine-tenths of life, so it seems to me, consists of these surrenders.

- Gene Wolfe, The Claw of the Conciliator

40′s movies marathon – part 10

Errol Flynn as Jeb Stuart, being treated by happy, recaptured slaves in Santa Fe Trail (1940)Raymond Massey as John Brown in Santa Fe Trail (1940)Ronald Reagan as George Custer, and Errol Flynn as Jeb Stuart, in Santa Fe Trail (1940)

Santa Fe Trail (1940, USA)

John Brown and his gang of evil abolitionists terrorize Kansas in the 1850′s, but Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan come to the rescue. The overall message is that reasonable people may disagree about slavery, but only fanatics are strongly opposed to it, and it’s a shame that Northern abolitionists caused a civil war over such a minor issue. In one surreal scene, one of the bad guys, acting all shifty and evil, tries to smuggle runaway slaves on the train. In another, slaves freed by Brown welcome their recapture by the army, because they miss their owners. Watched it all, mostly because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I’m not sure what fascinates me more: The real history of John Brown, (who arguably was a terrorist), or the fact that a pro-slavery telling of his story stars major actors and a future president – and was one of the top movies of the year. IMDB reviewers say Santa Fe Trail is an inaccurate but honest look at the origins of the Civil War, which is fucking stupid.

Pride and Prejudice (1940, USA)

I think I can only stand upper class twits when they’re being murdered or being decadent. Here they’re fluttering about like butterflies, trying to land advantageous marriages. Good God, why?! Watched: 12 minutes.

The Mummy’s Hand (1940, USA)

A secret Egyptian priesthood has kept a mummy alive but imprisoned for 3000 years. Stupid pseudo-archeologists arrive. Watched: 25 minutes.

Endeavored to wear it ever since

As if some invisible hand had spread a curtain over us, the shadows of the trees fell upon the howdah. The glitter of billions of shards of glass was left behind with the staring of the dead eyes, and we entered into the coolness and green shade of the high forest. Among those mighty trunks even the baluchither, though he stood three times the height of a man, seemed no more than a little, scurrying beast [..]

And it came to me that these trees had been hardly smaller when I was yet unborn, and had stood as they stood now when I was a child playing among the cypresses and peaceful tombs of our necropolis, and that they would stand yet, drinking in the last light of the dying sun, even as now, when I had been dead as long as those who rested there. I saw how little it weighed on the scale of things whether I lived or died, though my life was precious to me. And of those two thoughts I forged a mood by which I stood ready to grasp each smallest chance to live, yet in which I cared not too much whether I saved myself or not. By that mood, as I think, I did live; it has been so good a friend to me that I have endeavored to wear it ever since, succeeding not always, but often.

- Gene Wolfe, The Claw of the Conciliator

40′s moves marathon – part 9

The Letter (1940, USA) – Bette Davis kills a man who tries to rape her, but, this being film noir, (the first in this marathon), there “is in existence a letter” which undermines that story. Features Davis at her manipulative best. The story is set in British Singapore, a place where the Chinese fall into one of two categories: Ingratiating crooks, and insidious Fu Manchus. Watched it all.

Where’s That Fire (1940, UK) – Will Hay is an incompetent fireman. Hilarity ensues. Watched: 7 minutes.

One Million B.C.
(1940, USA) “Now keep in mind he can’t control / When the movies begin or end / Because he used the extra parts / To make his robot friends.” Watched: 12 minutes.

Kitty Foyle (1940, USA) – Women were much happier before they got the vote. Now they must work, and choose a husband, and even fight with men for a seat on the bus. Watched: 11 minutes.

The Blue Bird (1940, USA) – Yargh! It’s Mecha-Shirley Temple! Run! Watched: 37 seconds.

The Grapes of Wrath (1940, USA) – Starving farmers go on a road trip in post-apocalyptic America. The only place that treats them right is a collectivist farm run by a Department of Agriculture official who looks like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, after which both Tom Joad and his mother ascend, he to become the Spirit of the Revolution, she to become the Spirit of the American People. Watched it all.

A perfect moment, (a recipe)

Ingredients:
1. A new pair of ear plugs that block out surrounding sounds and sit comfortably in my ear.
2. Two albums with a high nostalgic value: Neil Young’s Harvest, and Tangerine Dream’s Tyger.
3. An hour or so on the bus, with a good book to read.

It’s raining. Traffic is slow. The bus scratches another car, stops for a while, throws everybody out. New bus, more waiting. None of it matters. Traffic stops and starts, it’s all just part of the scenery. I’m not even reading any more, just looking out the window, smiling.

Valgkamp 2009 herved åpnet

Det er Stortingsvalg i år. Jeg liker valg – det er alltid fint å få bekreftet hvem som egentlig bestemmer – men jeg hater valgkampen i mediene. Planen i år er derfor å avholde min egen personlige valgkamp, ortogonalt med den andre.

Et av målene med valgkampen er å finne et parti å stemme på, noe jeg synes det er greit å gjøre så tidlig som mulig, (men ikke tidligere). Men først: partiene som ikke engang er oppe til vurdering.

RødtFor: Vi har prøvd kommunisme i resten av verden, så da kan vi like godt prøve det i Norge også. Kanskje det ikke blir sultkatastrofe denne gangen.
Mot: Jeg slipper neppe inn i partieliten, og må derfor stå i kø som alle andre.

Sosialistisk VenstrepartiFor: Tiden i regjering har avslørt dem som lydige sosialdemokrater.
Mot: Se neste parti.

ArbeiderpartietFor: Pålitelige administratorer som ikke gjør noe ugagn.
Mot: Sosialdemokratiet har oppnådd sine mål. Alt de har bygget som er verdt å ta vare på er ukontroversielt over hele spekteret, fra SV til FrP. Slipp til noen andre nå.

Kristelig FolkepartiFor: Deus vult.
Mot: Gud er død. Religion i politikk burde følge etter.

SenterpartietFor: Ren og skjær vrangvilje?
Mot: Alle sosialdemokratiets tåpeligste og farligste ideer samlet på ett sted.

Lesere som kan telle vil se at det nå gjenstår minst 10 aktuelle partier og lister. Ytterst observante lesere vil imidlertid innse at alle unntatt 3 av disse, (muligens enda færre), kun utgjør øvelser i lokal- og/eller ekstremdemokrati, og trygt kan avfeies.

Neste: Jakten fortsetter!