BUM'd Out on Labor Day

Technorati tags: Humor, Politics, BUM 2008, May Day, Labor Day

Mayday! Mayday!

Well, Labor Day started badly with Liverpool being knocked out of the European Champions League semi's, losing to Chelsea this morning.

The little red engine that simply couldn't... Making it an all English Champion's League finals in Moscow, between Manchester United and Chelsea.

Yeah, bummed out about that, for sure. But there's always next time.

And for those expecting to see Walski later today at B.U.M. '08... well, you won't. Can't make it... two years in a row... some family stuff had been scheduled for today, so Walski has to forego.

And yeah, bummed out about that, too.
(a day to not labor much, and more, in the full post)

So anyways, today is a day off. Just as well, too, since Walski finally woke up rather late-ish this morning, having gone back to bed after the disappointment at Stamford Bridge. The world, fortunately, doesn't quite shut down on Labor Day - definitely not most news sites. Although, that said, Malaysiakini has taken a deserved day off, it appears.

Yesterday saw the TV media (and audience) getting their first taste of a new Parliament environment, which apparently was televised live on RTM 1. You can (and probably have) read all about it in the various news reports, so Walski won't regurgitate here.

But the new environment seems a lot like the old environment - loud, unruly, childish, with colorful ephitets thrown about with reckless abandoned. We now have Bigfoot and Big Monkey in the house, referring to BN Backbencher leader Bung Mokhtar (yes, the bocor one) and DAP veteran Karpal Singh, respectively. The real difference in Parliament this time around, is that BN can no longer bulldoze shit thru the august house, not having their up to now perpetual 2/3 majority.

But it's still entertaining. So entertaining, in fact, that RTM is now reviewing their decision to telecast the Q & A portion of the parliamentary sitting. Really chicken shit of 'em to chicken out after doing it for one sitting... but then again, that's RTM for ya. It's no big secret what kind of behavior we see in Parliament, so what's the big deal? Oh wait... the big deal is probably that it shows BN MPs behaving badly. Sort of shatters that pristine image, if you think about it.

Bummed out a little about the RTM potential flip-flop bit, but definitely not bummed out - in fact, optimistic - about the rest of the 12th parliament being more meaningful. More about nation building, less about name-calling.

May 1st, however, is not entirely about not doing much and whingeing... this time around, it's also the day that Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad's blog debuts. And it's simply called Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. The first post talks about the appointment of judges, which the Tun argues may not change much any time soon, as the proposed changes (like the yet undetailed Commission, for instance) may require a constitutional amendment. Since BN can't bulldoze anything thru parliament anymore, changes will have to have some consent from the opposition. But Walski thinks that if such amendments aren't detrimental in the long run, and are carefully done, to achieve a good end, the opposition will probably go along with the amendments.

The Opposition, Walski thinks, is probably a lot more pragmatic than BN would like to give them credit for. In particular, the Opposition doesn't have the mindset of being against something just for the sake of opposing something BN proposes. Which is exactly what Walski would expect BN to do, if they were in the opposition's shoes. Vindictive fucks, mirroring an old school approach to petty politics. Another reason why they're gonna eventually fade into the history books.

Not bummed out about Tun starting to blog (not at all!), and not bummed out about BN eventually disappearing off the face of Malaysian politics.

In any case, today is Labor Day. Which means that Walski has to go do that family thing he talked about earlier. Well, another post may appear, if time permits.

Otherwise, for those attending B.U.M '08 today, have a great time, and sorry Walski can't be there. For all it's worth, he'll be a little BUM'd out about not being there.

But just a little...