Infinite Closure
*
"It is testament to the emotionality of the shifts in intellectual analysis that a similar process had happened in the minds of ordinary if politically-minded people. Highfalutin' texts mirrored the gut feeling of those who would be the willing cogs in a new state machine. So it is that the political world in which we now live is a bizarre inversion of what it was only, say, three decades ago; with overt socialism now residing in a nostalgia zone akin to 'the summer of love'...Instead of being handed the control of the means of production, as Marxism demanded and predicted (indeed purported to guarantee), working men have been falsely demonised as a mass of oppressors. The state has become a growing parasite on those who do the real commercial labour on which all prosperity depends."
Steve Moxon, The Woman Racket.
He had walked this very beach more than 40 years before, waiting to die after swallowing a packet of aspirin. It didn't happen. He was still here, in a parallel, extended life; a different course. All around him were antiseptic white pillows, the smell of metal and linoleum floors. Windows shafted light. We were claustrophobic. We were hidden in twisted little valleys high up in the mountains, zig zagging down from the snow line and the tree line, so stark, so beautiful. His own agonies were tiny in comparison to the grandeur of this place. The village was a long way away. His past life in the city almost impossible to understand.
Our clarity was a sad little bunch of undertow images, forlorn faces in glistening water, bubbles rising, the flittering underwater shapes. The messages were more and more urgent, as she virtually pounded on the door. He caught sight of her through the windows of his room. She kept walking past, peering in, looking furtively up and down the corridor. He groaned towards her. It's not possible, it's just not possible. There's more than us that's at stake here, he heard. I've done enough, he replied. I've done everything I can to save our humanity. I've lost. We've all lost. There comes a point when you have to admit defeat.
Sometimes she would be gone for half an hour or more, then she would be back again, walking past his door, peering in. Why was she so bold? Was it yet another trap. She kept tap tap tapping on the inside of his brain. You've got to let me in. You've got to try. Humanity, what's humanity, he found himself asking. You're a dismal wretch, wench, we might have loved once but that time is not now. All is lost. Determined to end his haunting, he struggled out of bed. He was so weak, weaker than he had ever been. The room circled around him as he steadied on his feet. No one appeared to be watching, that was more ominous than ever. Surely they knew his real thoughts by now.
Once again, yet again, in a kaleidoscope of flash photo images, she was back in the large armchair, curled up, and for a moment pretended not to notice him as he settled in to the chair next to her. Then she was leaning in, whispering urgently. It has to be now. You have to try again. There isn't anyone else who can do this. You were the first of the elites; the first to be fully diagnosed, treated, upgraded. You know more about them than anyone else ever will. You must have detected a fracture, someway in, or they wouldn't keep wiping you like this. We'll never be individuals again, none of us, if you don't act.
Why me? he asked.
Just lucky, I guess, she smiled briefly, sadly. She looked him straight in the eyes.
Don't worry, they can't hear us, she said. I've wrecked the equipment and they don't seem to have noticed. I think there are other things going on. I don't think we're the only ones.
Are you sure? he asked, interested at last.
Yes, I think so, she said, noting the light for the first time. They're preoccupied with something, I can tell. And I think it's that there's more of us. No one's buying it anymore. There's a move back.
Why do I keep seeing pictures of a burning building, he asked.
It was the Social Policy Centre headquarters, she answered. It was the hub. It was where the intelligences coalesced, became like one large functioning organism. It was like the heart of everything. It was only a tiny, logical step from where we were before, but it was everything. They took control. They know you're fascinated by it. They want to know why. They think that as a resistant you know other resistants, ones completely outside the grid, never been implanted.
Is that possible? he asked.
The village, she said. They were never implanted. It was a religious movement. They abhorred all modern development. It didn't matter how they tried, they would never give up. That's why you keep seeing images of a safe place. They want to know if there's a connection with the building, the fire. It was their heart. It was the biggest threat to their authority they have ever faced. It was a moment when all grace gave way. When everything moved to a significant place. When his own heart united with a greater calling, and those pristine valleys and curdled little lives came swirling into a larger moment, the point when he knew for certainty: he had to go back. The thought filled him with dread. It was bordering on suicide. Well, it was suicide. The chances of survival this time round were almost nil.
What choice do I have? he asked.
None, she whispered, her eyes glistening. None at all. For us, for everyone.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/05/11/1210444244367.html
BARACK OBAMA has overtaken his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in super-delegate endorsements and is contemplating his presidential campaign, saying he would be willing to hold joint town hall meetings with the Republican candidate, John McCain.
After a stop in central Oregon, Senator Obama was asked if he supported a suggestion that in his campaign he debate issues with Senator McCain in local venues.
"I think that's a great idea," he said. "Obviously we'd have to think through the logistics … Should I be the nominee, if I have the opportunity to debate substantive issues before the voters with John McCain, that's something I'm going to welcome."
The Clinton camp was dealt a psychological blow on Saturday as Senator Obama took the lead in the super-delegate tally for the first time, garnering super-delegates from Utah, Ohio and Arizona, plus two from the Virgin Islands who previously had supported Senator Clinton.
It marked a rapid change of fortune for Senator Clinton, who though trailing Senator Obama in the committed delegates from the primaries had kept a solid lead in super-delegates - almost 800 of the party elite who vote for whoever they choose in the nominating contest and will be decisive in this close battle.
Out of respect for Senator Clinton many will keep their allegiance private until after the final primary on June 3. Others will go public to maintain Senator Obama's momentum if Senator Clinton, as expected, wins in West Virginia tomorrow.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/weekinreview/11leib.html?hp
WASHINGTON — So, now that it might finally be over (or maybe close to it, possibly, perhaps), does Senator Barack Obama come out a bloody mess, or a battle-tested warrior?
In recent weeks, a wiseguy consensus seems to have settled on the former: the idea that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has so weakened Mr. Obama in the race for the Democratic nomination — so diminished him, distracted him, exhausted him — that he could be a grievously damaged nominee.
The wiseguys invoke the Republican race of 1976 and Democratic contest of 1980 as examples of what happens when candidates — Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, respectively — get battered in primaries, emerging damaged in the summer and losers in the fall. They mention surveys showing almost 50 percent of Clinton supporters in Indiana telling exit pollsters that they would sooner vote for Senator John McCain or stay home than vote for Mr. Obama. They suggest that by staying in the race, Mrs. Clinton is playing a spoiler’s role.
But there is a competing view that says that Mrs. Clinton, rather than being a spoiler, has in fact been an unwitting mentor to Mr. Obama, a teaching adversary who made him better. Could competing against Mrs. Clinton have improved Mr. Obama as a candidate in the same way that competing against Larry Bird and Magic Johnson in the 1980s made Isiah Thomas and Michael Jordan champions in the 1990s?
Herein, we cover our pundit posteriors with the requisite “to be sure” paragraph in which we acknowledge that the wiseguys are called wise guys for a reason, and it’s not entirely sarcastic. And yes, Mr. Obama has all kinds of healing work to do, the Democrats might really be fractured beyond recognition, the wiseguys might be right and Obama might be toast.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article3913108.ece
Barack Obama is bracing himself for a ferocious onslaught from Republicans who, even before he finally wraps up the Democratic nomination, are already mapping out their plan of attack for November’s general election.
Strategists working for John McCain believe that Mr Obama is a vulnerable target who can be portrayed as inexperienced on foreign policy and a “limousine liberal” out of touch with the concerns of voters.
“We’ll make the case that Barack Obama is a wonderful new voice selling old, discredited ideas, including the most massive tax increase since Walter Mondale ran for president,” said Steve Schmidt, a McCain adviser. “It’s a combination of weakness, not being ready to be president and not being able to deliver on the things he says he will deliver on.”
Frank Donatelli, deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee which has already amassed a 1,000-page dossier on the Democratic Senator, put it more bluntly: “We are going to exploit Obama’s youth and inexperience.”
Others, operating in the shadows outside Mr McCain’s campaign, are identifying Mr Obama’s relationship with Tony Rezko – a Chicago property developer indicted for corruption – or his links with violent 1960s radicals like Bill Ayers of the Weather Underground. “There’s plenty of stuff out there, I’m kinda like in a candy store,” said Floyd Brown, who has been responsible for some of the most negative Republican advertising in previous elections.
One proposed TV advert is said to show a series of Democratic politicians, except for Mr Obama, wearing a Stars and Stripes lapel pin, before a message fills screens asking: “What’s he got against the American flag?”
Last week Mr Obama denounced Mr McCain for repeating “a smear” that he had been endorsed by the militant Islamic group Hamas. The Democrat insists that his policy is not to negotiate with this “terrorist organisation”. But on Friday one of his advisers, Robert Malley, resigned from the campaign after admitting to The Times that he had held meetings with the group.
"It is testament to the emotionality of the shifts in intellectual analysis that a similar process had happened in the minds of ordinary if politically-minded people. Highfalutin' texts mirrored the gut feeling of those who would be the willing cogs in a new state machine. So it is that the political world in which we now live is a bizarre inversion of what it was only, say, three decades ago; with overt socialism now residing in a nostalgia zone akin to 'the summer of love'...Instead of being handed the control of the means of production, as Marxism demanded and predicted (indeed purported to guarantee), working men have been falsely demonised as a mass of oppressors. The state has become a growing parasite on those who do the real commercial labour on which all prosperity depends."
Steve Moxon, The Woman Racket.
He had walked this very beach more than 40 years before, waiting to die after swallowing a packet of aspirin. It didn't happen. He was still here, in a parallel, extended life; a different course. All around him were antiseptic white pillows, the smell of metal and linoleum floors. Windows shafted light. We were claustrophobic. We were hidden in twisted little valleys high up in the mountains, zig zagging down from the snow line and the tree line, so stark, so beautiful. His own agonies were tiny in comparison to the grandeur of this place. The village was a long way away. His past life in the city almost impossible to understand.
Our clarity was a sad little bunch of undertow images, forlorn faces in glistening water, bubbles rising, the flittering underwater shapes. The messages were more and more urgent, as she virtually pounded on the door. He caught sight of her through the windows of his room. She kept walking past, peering in, looking furtively up and down the corridor. He groaned towards her. It's not possible, it's just not possible. There's more than us that's at stake here, he heard. I've done enough, he replied. I've done everything I can to save our humanity. I've lost. We've all lost. There comes a point when you have to admit defeat.
Sometimes she would be gone for half an hour or more, then she would be back again, walking past his door, peering in. Why was she so bold? Was it yet another trap. She kept tap tap tapping on the inside of his brain. You've got to let me in. You've got to try. Humanity, what's humanity, he found himself asking. You're a dismal wretch, wench, we might have loved once but that time is not now. All is lost. Determined to end his haunting, he struggled out of bed. He was so weak, weaker than he had ever been. The room circled around him as he steadied on his feet. No one appeared to be watching, that was more ominous than ever. Surely they knew his real thoughts by now.
Once again, yet again, in a kaleidoscope of flash photo images, she was back in the large armchair, curled up, and for a moment pretended not to notice him as he settled in to the chair next to her. Then she was leaning in, whispering urgently. It has to be now. You have to try again. There isn't anyone else who can do this. You were the first of the elites; the first to be fully diagnosed, treated, upgraded. You know more about them than anyone else ever will. You must have detected a fracture, someway in, or they wouldn't keep wiping you like this. We'll never be individuals again, none of us, if you don't act.
Why me? he asked.
Just lucky, I guess, she smiled briefly, sadly. She looked him straight in the eyes.
Don't worry, they can't hear us, she said. I've wrecked the equipment and they don't seem to have noticed. I think there are other things going on. I don't think we're the only ones.
Are you sure? he asked, interested at last.
Yes, I think so, she said, noting the light for the first time. They're preoccupied with something, I can tell. And I think it's that there's more of us. No one's buying it anymore. There's a move back.
Why do I keep seeing pictures of a burning building, he asked.
It was the Social Policy Centre headquarters, she answered. It was the hub. It was where the intelligences coalesced, became like one large functioning organism. It was like the heart of everything. It was only a tiny, logical step from where we were before, but it was everything. They took control. They know you're fascinated by it. They want to know why. They think that as a resistant you know other resistants, ones completely outside the grid, never been implanted.
Is that possible? he asked.
The village, she said. They were never implanted. It was a religious movement. They abhorred all modern development. It didn't matter how they tried, they would never give up. That's why you keep seeing images of a safe place. They want to know if there's a connection with the building, the fire. It was their heart. It was the biggest threat to their authority they have ever faced. It was a moment when all grace gave way. When everything moved to a significant place. When his own heart united with a greater calling, and those pristine valleys and curdled little lives came swirling into a larger moment, the point when he knew for certainty: he had to go back. The thought filled him with dread. It was bordering on suicide. Well, it was suicide. The chances of survival this time round were almost nil.
What choice do I have? he asked.
None, she whispered, her eyes glistening. None at all. For us, for everyone.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/05/11/1210444244367.html
BARACK OBAMA has overtaken his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in super-delegate endorsements and is contemplating his presidential campaign, saying he would be willing to hold joint town hall meetings with the Republican candidate, John McCain.
After a stop in central Oregon, Senator Obama was asked if he supported a suggestion that in his campaign he debate issues with Senator McCain in local venues.
"I think that's a great idea," he said. "Obviously we'd have to think through the logistics … Should I be the nominee, if I have the opportunity to debate substantive issues before the voters with John McCain, that's something I'm going to welcome."
The Clinton camp was dealt a psychological blow on Saturday as Senator Obama took the lead in the super-delegate tally for the first time, garnering super-delegates from Utah, Ohio and Arizona, plus two from the Virgin Islands who previously had supported Senator Clinton.
It marked a rapid change of fortune for Senator Clinton, who though trailing Senator Obama in the committed delegates from the primaries had kept a solid lead in super-delegates - almost 800 of the party elite who vote for whoever they choose in the nominating contest and will be decisive in this close battle.
Out of respect for Senator Clinton many will keep their allegiance private until after the final primary on June 3. Others will go public to maintain Senator Obama's momentum if Senator Clinton, as expected, wins in West Virginia tomorrow.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/weekinreview/11leib.html?hp
WASHINGTON — So, now that it might finally be over (or maybe close to it, possibly, perhaps), does Senator Barack Obama come out a bloody mess, or a battle-tested warrior?
In recent weeks, a wiseguy consensus seems to have settled on the former: the idea that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has so weakened Mr. Obama in the race for the Democratic nomination — so diminished him, distracted him, exhausted him — that he could be a grievously damaged nominee.
The wiseguys invoke the Republican race of 1976 and Democratic contest of 1980 as examples of what happens when candidates — Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, respectively — get battered in primaries, emerging damaged in the summer and losers in the fall. They mention surveys showing almost 50 percent of Clinton supporters in Indiana telling exit pollsters that they would sooner vote for Senator John McCain or stay home than vote for Mr. Obama. They suggest that by staying in the race, Mrs. Clinton is playing a spoiler’s role.
But there is a competing view that says that Mrs. Clinton, rather than being a spoiler, has in fact been an unwitting mentor to Mr. Obama, a teaching adversary who made him better. Could competing against Mrs. Clinton have improved Mr. Obama as a candidate in the same way that competing against Larry Bird and Magic Johnson in the 1980s made Isiah Thomas and Michael Jordan champions in the 1990s?
Herein, we cover our pundit posteriors with the requisite “to be sure” paragraph in which we acknowledge that the wiseguys are called wise guys for a reason, and it’s not entirely sarcastic. And yes, Mr. Obama has all kinds of healing work to do, the Democrats might really be fractured beyond recognition, the wiseguys might be right and Obama might be toast.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article3913108.ece
Barack Obama is bracing himself for a ferocious onslaught from Republicans who, even before he finally wraps up the Democratic nomination, are already mapping out their plan of attack for November’s general election.
Strategists working for John McCain believe that Mr Obama is a vulnerable target who can be portrayed as inexperienced on foreign policy and a “limousine liberal” out of touch with the concerns of voters.
“We’ll make the case that Barack Obama is a wonderful new voice selling old, discredited ideas, including the most massive tax increase since Walter Mondale ran for president,” said Steve Schmidt, a McCain adviser. “It’s a combination of weakness, not being ready to be president and not being able to deliver on the things he says he will deliver on.”
Frank Donatelli, deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee which has already amassed a 1,000-page dossier on the Democratic Senator, put it more bluntly: “We are going to exploit Obama’s youth and inexperience.”
Others, operating in the shadows outside Mr McCain’s campaign, are identifying Mr Obama’s relationship with Tony Rezko – a Chicago property developer indicted for corruption – or his links with violent 1960s radicals like Bill Ayers of the Weather Underground. “There’s plenty of stuff out there, I’m kinda like in a candy store,” said Floyd Brown, who has been responsible for some of the most negative Republican advertising in previous elections.
One proposed TV advert is said to show a series of Democratic politicians, except for Mr Obama, wearing a Stars and Stripes lapel pin, before a message fills screens asking: “What’s he got against the American flag?”
Last week Mr Obama denounced Mr McCain for repeating “a smear” that he had been endorsed by the militant Islamic group Hamas. The Democrat insists that his policy is not to negotiate with this “terrorist organisation”. But on Friday one of his advisers, Robert Malley, resigned from the campaign after admitting to The Times that he had held meetings with the group.
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