Economics and Political Activity, Languages and Travels, Speculative Fiction

[tcpip]

The second part of my article of on the global financial crisis has been published on LeftFocus. Will be speaking at the St. Kilda branch of the ALP on the same subject next month. Primarily inspired to address concerns raised by forwrathandruin I have elaborated material regarding a transformation of policing and military forces under the title Arm The People, Abolish The State (this is, of course, just a sketch). Have arranged speakers for a public transport forum in early June; Gavin Putland from Prosper Australia, Tony Morton from the PTUA and Carlo Carli, former parliamentary secretary for infrastructure.

Continuing Bahasa studies; with a fortnight of simply reading through books have started to write-up what I've learned: lesson one, more coming during the week. On a completely unrelated travel matter, on Sunday I was informed that I had been nominated as one of two delegates of the Melbourne Unitarian Church to attend the ANZUUA conference in Sydney in October; so that's New Zealand, Indonesia, Brisbane (Gencon) and Sydney (ANZUAA) I have to get to in the next few months. I think I should plant a few trees to make up for all this.

My review of John Wick's "Houses of the Blooded" is up on RPG.net. Finished the final session (round-trip) of Gulliver's Trading Company on Sunday and playtest; have recommended to author that now the game system has a greater level of stability to work harder on the thematic content. On a related sombre note one of the greatest (in my opinion) psychoanalystic science fiction authors, J.G. Ballard (The Drowned World, Atrocity Exhibition, Vermilion Sands, War Fever) has died.

Comments

[thepanda.livejournal.com]

I haven't really formed any opinions about a regulated civil militia, but the other article is pretty good, I think. It's been a long while since I took an economics class, and capitalist class has at least some function in terms of contributions to society, but land ownership shouldn't be private.

=3= either way, it's all kinda complicated ~ Economics aren't my forte.

Mike's statement

[mr-figgy.livejournal.com]

JG Ballard died Sunday 19 April at 7am. A giant in literature, he'll be greatly missed. One of my best and oldest friends.

[recumbenteer.livejournal.com]

Landlords produce no value - Lev, you've been too influenced by Adam Smith.
Go back to the physiocrats - Land is value. You folks in cities are just fighting over the scraps :-)

Ok, to be a little more serious, there may be some value to consider the physicocrats as a way of addressing enviornmental issues. Perhaps we could have a 'caloric theory of value', rather than a 'labour theory of value'.

Labour after all is constrained by its capacity to be reproduced. Constraints are social (class distortions) and physical (environmental carrying capacity).

[roblayton.livejournal.com]

You have articles everywhere. Very active. Quite the online presence. Inspiring.