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Iraq, U.S. Elections, Novel and Various Events
Dr Daniel Mandel, of the history of department at the University of Melbourne, made claims that the west didn't really support Saddam. The editors of The Age had the good sense to publish my reminder to him this morning.
Iraq, as we all know in el-jay land, featured highly in the U.S. mid-term elections where the results were a thumpin' for the pro-war forces and the quagmire they have put themselves into. What is also worthy of mentioning is was also the first ever election of a self-identified socialist to the U.S. senate.
My novel, The Outcast Girl, is going well although I am a little behind in the NaNaWriMo recommended wordcount. Historical fiction does have its own difficulties, especially when one is including anthropological hermeneutics. The experience is very much making me want to take another visit to Java and Bali.
Various other events of the last week include re-presenting my talk on Open Source Economics at Linux Users Victoria on Wednesday, once again dovetailing with Jon Oxer's Pragmatic Idealism presentation. On the lagamorph front, Astaroth rabbit has lost his balls but has recovered without incident. On Saturday,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
caseopaya and I travelled out to the Dandenong Ranges and the Yarra Valley, specifically to visit the William Rickett's sanctuary. Appropriately Joel Wright of the NTEU gave a good presentation at the Unitarians the following day on the Stolen Wages campaign.
Iraq, as we all know in el-jay land, featured highly in the U.S. mid-term elections where the results were a thumpin' for the pro-war forces and the quagmire they have put themselves into. What is also worthy of mentioning is was also the first ever election of a self-identified socialist to the U.S. senate.
My novel, The Outcast Girl, is going well although I am a little behind in the NaNaWriMo recommended wordcount. Historical fiction does have its own difficulties, especially when one is including anthropological hermeneutics. The experience is very much making me want to take another visit to Java and Bali.
Various other events of the last week include re-presenting my talk on Open Source Economics at Linux Users Victoria on Wednesday, once again dovetailing with Jon Oxer's Pragmatic Idealism presentation. On the lagamorph front, Astaroth rabbit has lost his balls but has recovered without incident. On Saturday,
caseopaya and I travelled out to the Dandenong Ranges and the Yarra Valley, specifically to visit the William Rickett's sanctuary. Appropriately Joel Wright of the NTEU gave a good presentation at the Unitarians the following day on the Stolen Wages campaign.
no subject
Regardless of whether Dr. Mandel was aware of the facts isn't the main issue in this case, although obviously you would expect a historian to have some knowledge of actual events. What was particularly frustrating was that he used, as pivotal and definitive answers, criteria that was obviously trivial and irrelevant to the discussion at hand. A protest at a U.S. embassy in Iraq? A quote from Ramos-Horta? These are almost totally irrelevant to the critical question of the west's support (or lack thereof) for the Hussein regime.
You are quite right in noting that many debates are almost a waste of time, unless one is looking for logical fallacies as an excersise, or trolling with a little bit of time to spare. One can usually tell fairly quickly if a person is genuinely interested in protecting and promoting their point of view or not.