Who am I kidding?

On picking one self a cause and do something about it.
The situation in China per post below does leave me outraged, but I kind of think I have to finish an essay [Mississauga intonation]. Being a Pisces, I have many causes on the go, most of which get no further than my imagination, where they are realized to their completion, and always a fantastic success. Any claim that a strong letter of outrage would be forthcoming was a passing fancy. Instead, here is a letter I wrote on behalf of my ex roommate to the National Student Loans Service Centre.

To: National Student Loans Service Centre
PO Box 4030
Mississauga, ON

RE: Name of person here

July 2, 2003

To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is to confirm that I have read correspondence from Name of person here to you regarding his financial situation and request for interest relief.

Name was fortunate enough to get an internship and then some consulting jobs with the name of company here in location, but sadly he has not had work with this organization since mid April. Furthermore, he expects that it is likely that the rest of the summer will be without work from name of company. While he has been looking for work in his new field, he has been on the waiting list for supply teaching with the name of cname of c, but due to SARS, they have not needed his services. It is most unfortunate and beyond his control that both of the careers at which name is competent and has at his disposal have hit hard economic times. One can only hope that he does not have to resort to dinted cans of tuna.

name is a tenant in my home. His rent is $500 / month. Due to his circumstances, he has given me notice and will be moving out at the end of August 2003. It is with sadness that I see him go back home, like so many 30-somethings reduced to a mere statistic… the nest isn’t empty quite yet, folks.

Should you require more information from me, please contact me at my home number (phone phone), for I too am also unemployed.

Regards,
Prettiebottom

Like cute things?

Are you a spasticated middle aged lady on the verge of filling her closet with pink sweatshirts with airbrushed kittens on them? Then you're going to love http://cuteoverload.com/
(Thanks to Jink for the 411 on this most excellent site)

Prettiebottom hurt, ass goes unscathed

For immediate release:
Yesterday I passed out at the Duff Mall. Dehydration, heat, no oxygen, too much noise, too many people, lowered blood pressure = head rush = collapse. While I did hit my face on the metal railing of a bench on the way down, the blow to my most important asset was absorbed by a brave and heroic Valencia orange. No other citrus fruit were hurt in this incident.

Beijing 2008

There's no procrastinating like getting on the bad side of the Chinese authorities procrastinating.

So, a brill episode of Frontline (PBS) called The Tank Man aired earlier this week. Framed around what would Tank Man (the infamous protester who stood in front of the tanks at Tiananmen Square in 1989) be doing in today's China, the show discusses the cleavages that are now the norm, and a China that rests on binary oppositions (urban-rural, political limitations-economic freedom etc)

I believe it will be available online for viewing at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tankman/

Further, this reminded me of my outrage at the time of the announcement that Beijing would host 2008, for the economic situation is such that labour, to build the new sites as the docu outlines, is offered in return for food. Not wages, just for food, which is totally a departure from the whole political economy argument that wages replace our own, humanized ability to acheive use-value (aka social reproduction) and infact turns the situation into an argument better rooted in political ecology (that bodies need food to function, and capitalist-like behaviour alienates workers to the point that they are no more than plow horses or ox or other beasts of burden).

Chinese authorities, I would like to remind you that, ironically, I do think of myself as something of a Marxist (Somewhat. You will notice that I am a landowner as per post below).

Anyway, back to labour. Sooner or later, I will draft and post a letter of protest that I will send to the IOC. In the meantime, here are some interesting links:

http://www.olympicwatch.org/
http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/china/beijing08/
http://www.clb.org.hk/public/main