Optimism vs Election depression

Well, sometimes things are just weird.

Let's start with the good news. As long as she doesn't disappear into the net, I now have one very nice beta, who is doing a very good job. Hopefully she sticks around. She picked up on some things (namely that I'd been a little over savvy in my cutting) that made me rewrite some of the first chapters. Well and good. At least she didn't hate my characters :)
I started part time work. YAY! Money! I have to move all the way to Queensland next year (image moving from Texas to Canada. About the same distance) and it's going to take a bit.
I don't dislike my job. Okay, it can be boring at times, but the people I work with are nice, the customers are generally nice, I didn't have to do anything horrible, and I get paid according to a quite nice EBA. Which means I get paid more on Sunday.
So, there's two things going well.
And then there's this bloody election.
This is one topic of conversation that definitely is not going to be part of a checkout conversation unless someone brings it up. I live in a country seat, and we've been Liberal (the conservative party) for so long that the Liberal's MP office is starting to rust. If Labor ever did win, they'd have to move into the Liberal's old building, so "rusted-in" is that office.
So yes. I'm a fan of biggish government. Which means I will probably die before I consider voting for the Liberal party. So we're not going to have any conversations about politics, cause they will turn into debates :)
In other news, Australia now has a hung Parliament. Which means we have ANOTHER WEEK OR TWO of this until someone actually forms minority government. And then, stuff will only happen if Labor is that minority government, because the Greens control the Senate. A bill has to go through the House of Reps and the Senate to be passed. If the Libs form minority government with the independents, they will be able to pass things through the House of Reps. However, Can you see a right wing policy (the Liberals lean to the right, for those wondering) getting through a GREEN CONTROLLED SENATE (the Greens are the leftest leaning party you can go while still being pragmatic and practical IMHO)? Nope. Not going to happen.
So, yes. We get another three years of BS.
I think that's enough depression on the the national scale to offset the happiness in personal life. Delightful.

As I said. Sometimes things are just weird. In an awful way.

Andrew Bolt, thank you.

Now, for people who aren't Australian (not that anyone not Australian will be reading this) I'm going to briefly explain who Andrew Bolt is. He's a man that writes a column in the Herald Sun, a Victorian tabloid。 His opinions often stretch into the right, and he seems ( I can't claim to read his mind, but this is what I have gathered) to not believe in climate change, blame migrants for a fair share of everything ( I incidentally remember almost walking out of a SAC because I felt his opinion was rubbish and insulting. and I had to analyse his opinion in a calm manner. So difficult) and doesn't (as far as I can tell) think there were any forced removal of Aboriginal Australian's for purely racial reasons. I disagree with him on most points.
So, yesterday, I spent the day mooning around the ABC and The Age, in a slight ecstasy over the fact that a female is our prime minister. Not only that, she's a ranga! And not married, atheist ect. ect.
Then I realised that, raised as I was, and given my own left leanings, that I was deliberately doctoring my view.
So I went to the man who's opinion I often hate. Hello Andrew Bolt.
I was pleasantly surprised. Not ecstatically surprised, it only took him a day to start wondering a bit more and for her personal life to come up - but it was done in an analytical way. Not typecast rubbish. So then I skipped over to the Australian. Again, pleasantly surprised. They didn't think she was going to win the upcoming election, I'm not sure they liked her (this is both the Australian and Andrew Bolt) but...
I think, somehow, that no one knows what to make of her. As Bolt pointed out, one of her major supporters was the workers union - and they were pushing the strongest on the miners tax. Yet Gillard's first action was to declare a truce with the mining industry.
I'm not sure what to make of it at the moment. Give it time. Opinions will form. Yesterday, the opinions were still not quite formed. From the people I expected the most venomous response from, they were carefully measured pieces.
For the first time in my known history, I agreed with Andrew Bolt. I thought it would take a miracle for that to happen.

A miracle somewhat like Australia's prime minster being sworn in by Australia's Governor General. Both of them women.

Left step, Right step, turn in the middle

I believe I was seventeen when I proudly thought to myself : aren't I adaptable. Look at me! I have friends who will be the next leaders of this world, and I have friends who never finished year 10. Aren't I wonderful.
What a load of bullshit. Fine, I will concede to my then 17 yr old self that I didn't make any of those friends with collection of demographics in mind - I made those friends because I liked them.
I also remember being proud of my bi-partiality at one time. Yeah, I'll listen to everyone’s views on politics and the world today. From Andrew Bolt to the local greens representative.
Again, what a load of bullshit. In this case,　I really was reading Andrew Bolt to seem well rounded.
I firmly believe everyone has a right to say what they want. Doesn't mean I want to listen to them. Doesn't mean I won't stoop to throwing a newspaper across the room. Or has lately been, my computer.
I live in China. Right now, I am in a city that is smaller than Melbourne, with a population that is half of Australia's. The air shows the strain of it - you can carry it in your hands.
My only connection to totally understandable literature, movies, family, and friends is my laptop. I could go to a internet cafe, but they scare the hell out of me. The occasionally one is known for being a front for prostitution. Comfortingly, they're never called internet cafes, but internet bars. (网吧）
But sometimes, when I read about the politics in my country, I feel like throwing the computer into the wall and watching while it breaks into a thousand little pieces.
I feel like I can't vote for Kevin Rudd, because he promised a heap that I actually wanted (namely action of greenhouse gases and the problems they cause) and then abandoned it all at the first sign of someone not liking it. My main thoughts:

News flash mate. You will never please everyone. Please decide what you stand for, and quickly. There gets a point where walking the middle of the road doesn't work. The moment you step a little left or right of the line, the other side will try to pull you back their way, and you will end up back in the middle again. With no position.
On the other hand, I have no plans on voting for someone who says that global warming in nothing but spin, and says virginity is something to be treasured, who runs around in budgie smugglers to show his manliness, and who says most of what comes out of his mouth is a lie. My virginity is my business, and I like an honest man who doesn't always have to prove he is a man.
But, god damn it all, I respect Tony Abbot more than I respect my Prime Minister. I disagree with everything that comes out of Abbot's mouth. Every word he says is opposite of what I think. But at least he has a position and a spine.
I respect him. I hate his policies. I would never vote for him.
So the question eventually becomes - what to do? If this was any other country, I would just not vote at all. Well, maybe not, but it would be tempting. A hell of a lot more tempting then the decision between a weasel and someone who I disagree with on every turn.
But I am Australian. For anyone who doesn't know the county, voting is compulsory. You get fined if you don't do it. Until this point, I always thought this was a good thing.
At this point, whatever way I vote, I will be ultimately responsible for degrading my country further. Come November, it will be the choice of two evils. I will be expected to choose the lesser one.
Ultimately, I will vote green as my primary vote, then sit in the booth and figure out preferences. I will put of voting for Labor or Liberal as long as possible.
But in the end it will have to be done.
Damn it; can someone in politics that has a possibility of ruling please either grow a backbone or some policy that I can agree with?
Swing right, swing left, turn around in the middle. Problem is the middle is nowhere. Is nowhere really better than a bad decision?