Coming Back

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"To anyone with even a glancing knowledge of the Arab world, it has long been obvious that the first result of a democratic election in almost any Arab country would be a government that took its distance from the United States, and that Washington would ultimately come to see as at leas unreliable, if not an outright enemy... The likelihood of some sort of Islamist group or party coming to power sooner or later, by election or by revolution, has just got a lot bigger in most of the larger Arab countries."
The Mess They Made, Gwynne Dyer.

Crawling through different circumstance, facing angels hiding in the never reaches, weird, solitary states of consciousness, all of this came harking back. He didn't know where it all began; he didn't know why he continued. The scenes of dereliction that had once fascinated him so much were now just that, scenes, able to be washed away or replicated on a daily basis. The people he was once so fascinated by, they just looked like scum bags. He could see their sick eyes in sunken cheeks, he could smell their stale sweat and unwashed clothes from metres away. They had all stayed at the party way too long, and now it was too late, they would never dig themselves out of the hole.

They lose all life skills, the policeman told me as we stood idly chatting, waiting for the latest subjects of media interest, the group of tourist operators who were briefly held hostage in China, to be spirited away by the Australian Federal Police out a back entrance. They're entitled to privacy, a PR person chirped. You're just protecting commercial interests, their deals with the networks and the reputation of China, he snapped. You're saying that, not me, she chirruped again. We're little more than a communist country, he said, and slammed the phone down. Australia ranks 28th in the world for press secrecy; and it's no bloody wonder.

But all of that was just tom foolery and fluffery; he knew how bad the country had got, how secretive, how dysfunctional. He knew the conservatives had betrayed the country just as bad as the left, if not worse, because they blew historic opportunities to make things better, and did nothing but sit on their fat bums and comfortable wages, and let the bureaucracy run amok, seeping ever deeper into every corner of our lives.

They lose all life skills, the policeman said, and I nodded in agreement. We were talking about Newtown, where he often worked, I knew I recognised him, out of context, here at the airport. You've been hassling them outside the station lately, I said, I was watching you from a car the other day. We have to do something, he said, they hassle all the passengers, begging for money, fighting, stealing. We get quite fond of some of them. Why don't you send them to the Salvo farm, straighten them up, something like that? I ask. They'll never straighten up, he says, they're past it. They can't cook a normal meal, they can't pay the rent, they can't get a job, they just can't live a normal life. We're quite fond of some of them, we're not trying to be cruel, but nothing will work.

Yes, that's true, nothing will work, he thought, that's how he had often felt; the downward spiral into Belmore Park, his sad death, the Mission Beat van approaching, his spirit scuttling into the surrounding skyscrapers, rising, rising. It had seemed so often that there was no way out, no bridge back to a normal life. Remember when we used to go to meetings, how happy we were? Suzy asked; as our lives disappeared down the gurgler, as we blew tens of thousands of dollars and went bankrupt, as we lost the house, our social standing, any self respect. The sick diseased sweat poured out of us; and our sad eyes could no longer look at each other. There had been too much crime, too much waste, too many lost opportunities. Rob you soon as look at you, she said, and we both laughed.

That was then and this was now. There were different paths. He didn't have to die. He could sober up and be a sensible citizen. He could go to work and support his children. He could be a role model of courage and decency; integrity, multiple talents. He could stand tall and hold his head high. He could stop sweating foul stale sweat and instead walk briskly, fitter, healthier, happier. He could laugh and throw off his own dark moods, like fleeting shadows. He didn't have to live at the bottom of a lead aquarium, every step weighed by impossible weight, like some creature at the bottom of a mercury sea. He could be free, happy, content, creative. Go forth, be happy, live a productive life. It was all possible. Surrender not to the dark side; live in the light, be blessed, allow yourself good fortune; and whether exuberant or despairing, be quiet, be dignified, have grace, fear not, be silent, do not reveal your vulnerabilities, do not give them the opportunity to attack; and never, ever complain, or explain.

THE BIGGER STORY:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/mildura-kill-car-driver-had-priors/2008/03/09/1204998282825.html

THOMAS Towle, who has been found responsible for the deaths of six teenagers in a crash near Mildura, had numerous previous driving convictions over seven years.

Towle, 36, yesterday hugged his lawyers and family members after a jury found him not guilty of six counts of culpable driving causing death. Instead, the jurors found him guilty of dangerous driving causing death, a charge introduced almost four years ago by the Victorian Government.

The maximum jail sentence for culpable driving is 20 years' jail. It is five years for dangerous driving causing death.

Attorney-General Rob Hulls said when introducing the law on dangerous driving causing death or serious injury that it was proclaimed in response to community concerns that culpable driving did not adequately deal with drivers who caused fatal crashes when driving while drowsy.

In a statement read by Mildura Secondary College chaplain Colin Cole, the parents of the victims said they were deeply shocked and saddened by the verdict. "It seems to them that the decision handed down today devalues the lives of Shane and Abby, Stevie-Lee and Cassandra, Cory and Josie and those who were also injured physically and emotionally as a result of this tragedy," he said.

A Supreme Court jury reached its verdict yesterday after deliberating for almost three days, since Friday.

Towle stood with his head bowed during the brief hearing.

Justice Philip Cummins asked the victims' families and members of Towle's family not to show emotion in court while the verdict was being announced.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23345542-663,00.html

DEMOCRATIC presidential hopeful Barack Obama trounced Hillary Clinton in Wyoming yesterday as their tight race left them battling for every nominating delegate.

The Illinois senator was the projected winner by US television networks, leading the former first lady by 59 per cent to 40 per cent, or 4459 votes to 3081, CNN reported, with 96 per cent of the vote counted.

The outcome meant Senator Obama would win the lion's share of the mere 12 delegates at stake - a tiny number compared with the 2025 needed to secure the Democratic Party's presidential nomination at its August convention.

But the victory represented good news for Senator Obama after a difficult week in which he lost nominating contests in delegate-rich Ohio and Texas, and found himself on the defensive in the face of attacks from the Clinton campaign.

With no candidate yet able to lock in victory after eight long weeks of primaries, every vote and every delegate still counts in the battle to be the party's nominee in the November presidential election against Republican John McCain.

And with only two contests before the end of April, every win carries weight in the battle for momentum, with the candidates already eyeing Mississippi, which holds its primaries tomorrow.