Exultant Crimes

*

It was awful. And yet at the same time it was truly exultant; as he came slowly back into his own body. There were wild ways. He stood on the rooftop bar. He saw the city spread beneath him. It took him back, back, to the 1970s and Penang, when he was the only Westerner in the penthouse bar, or whatever it was called, the bar that took up the entire floor of one of the only high rise buildings in Penang at the time. He often went there. There was that dark, slightly musty, over-airconditioned feel; and the whiskey splashed down his thirsty throat, and groups of gangsters, or were they businessmen, drank in their dark corners at their dark tables. He was splashed into infinity while below the city and its lights swirled into musty enthusiasm; and everything was glorious. On the way home, drunk, the tuk tuk drivers would shout, in that universal chant he loved so much: Hey Johnnie, you want something?

Well of course he wanted something. Didn't he always. And now, almost 40 years later, he stood in another rooftop bar in another part of Asia, this time in Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand, drinking more coke than could possibly be good for him; watching the way, the wayward, the filtering lights heading down the main highway into the darkest night; listening to the karaoke, or whatever it was, drifting up from from the car park way below, looking at everything, so swishy, as if he could possibly afford this; and thinking; waves of pleasure, waves of disgrace; come take me skyward and let the brain drift across everything, consume the old city walls and the moat beneath; this place of ancient history and modern bars, let's go back to the streets again, let's get dirty.

Then another bar and another bar, always the rooftops, avoiding the girly bars on the streets, the black moths and their hard black eyes, mister, mister, kahb, kahb, up here there was almost no one, up here they kept their distance and went about their own lives. In this quiet city in the north where everything seemed so much more provincial, yet again so charming. Kah koon kahb. The harsh rise of the inflection. The charming bow. No wonder so many westerners liked it here; the meetings full of retired, loud mouthed yanks. He felt hungover without even having a drink. Life had seemed so full of possibility; back there in Penang, where he had been a frequent visitor. So what the maid roused on him for not keeping his room tidy? So what the streets were full of chaos as he ate his steamed chicken and rice. He loved them.

He loved the old men smoking heroin in their tampered, dampened cigarettes. He loved the filthy bars and the tiny alleys stretching down from Julia Street. He loved the addicts pestering him; Johnnie, Johnnie, you want something. And sometimes, when he came back after an absence, they would tell him how they had been in jail and things were getting bad, not like they used to be, the crackdown. But there was always furtive movement. There was always another shadow. Hey Johnnie, the drag queen exclaimed in astonished delight when she saw him at Berlin airport, remember me, Penang. Why you not been there some time? It emerged she was struggling not to be tossed out of the country. Some man was always willing to pay; had paid for her flight to Europe; but in a life of infinite tragedy a visa was just another complication. She didn't want to go back to the streets of Penang, that was one thing for sure.

So now he stood in yet another rooftop bar, this time on the 21st floor; and looked out across another sea of sparkling lights where the dark of the night stretched out and up; and felt, oh yes, exultant, alone, crumbling, annoyed to be older, to have wasted so much of life; and later still, in the long night, he watched the Thais sing in the Hot Shot disco at the base of the Porn Ping Hotel in Chiang Mai, and wished for company, for someone to talk to, for someone to share the experience with; as he danced, surrounded by dancing Thai girls and a few drunken farangs, and knew that in the infinity of disgrace this indeed was a slippery place; and smoking inappropriate cigarettes outside, the first line of defence, wasn't going to keep him sober forever. Oh how nice it would be; to boost the ecstasy, to merge into the swarm, to sink deeper and deeper into the beat of the music and the psyche of the place; and hear loud clouds of thunder and tropical outbursts; and know that if tragedy loomed, so too did ecstasy. Walk one way or the other. Take a path. One experience is much like the next. No one would remember. The most out of it person in the room waved cheerfully at him in acknowledgment of a kindred soul: why here, why even now?

THE BIGGER STORY:


AN expert on the federal seat of Lindsay believes the mood in the electorate is leaning away from Kevin Rudd after only one term in office.

Tom Dusevic, The Australian’s national chief reporter, has covered Lindsay since 1996, charting Jackie Kelly’s four terms under John Howard and David Bradbury’s Kevin 07 success.

During his latest visit, Dusevic talked politics with local identities and people in the street.

In a visit to the Penrith Press, Dusevic described Lindsay as a “bellwether seat” - one that political analysts watch as a guide to the mood of the country, particularly among swinging voters.

As he wrote in his article: “Since its inception in 1984, Lindsay has always been a seat held by the government of the day. When voters change direction, they tend to charge ahead in large numbers.”

The Liberals haven’t even selected a candidate to challenge Mr Bradbury, who holds the seat by a margin of 6.3 per cent.

Dusevic wrote:

If the current mood in the striving heartland can be discerned from a couple of days on the ground in Lindsay this week, Labor could be in trouble at this year’s poll: Rudd is on the nose and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott appears to be, in the language of politicos, “cutting through”.

Abbott’s robust critique of the federal government’s economic stimulus, stalled emissions trading scheme, home insulation debacle and Rudd’s persona is being taken to heart by some who voted for Labor in 2007.

As well, the Coalition’s populist and costly turn on paid parental leave is winning applause among younger women - but has not been embraced by those parents who, some years ago, had one child for mum, one for dad and one for the country.

Dusevic met two 25-year-olds from Glenmore Park, Louise Bushby and Luke Daly, who voted Liberal and Labor respectively in 2007. Ms Bushby is on maternity leave from her bank job with eight-month-old son, Logan, and Dusevic wrote that she was thrilled by the prospect of the Coalition’s paid parental leave scheme.

Bushby and her partner Brenton, a mechanic, are organising their wedding for later in the year and would like to have more children. “Tony Abbott’s plan would give me more income and more peace of mind so that I would be able to stay at home with my baby,” Bushby says.

Her take on Abbott’s scheme pales in comparison with the enthusiasm displayed by her childless friend Daly.

For the child-care worker, the second-eldest of five children, paid parental leave is a vote changer. He’s contemplating starting a family with his partner.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hwK_CSpBxsNuVUEaDuOwmSSCiqGwD9ELT55G1

BAGHDAD — Iraqi election results Friday will likely show a virtual tie between the two top vote-getting blocs led by the prime minister and his chief rival, a political equation that could add up to bitter political wrangling and risk re-igniting violence.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite who enjoys wide support with the Shiite majority, is neck and neck with former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, who's popular with Iraq's Sunni minority.

If neither camp emerges with a clear mandate, many fear a drawn-out political debate to form a government could spill over into violence and complicate American efforts to speed up troop withdrawals in the coming months.

Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani, himself a candidate, called on Iraq's electoral commission to hold off releasing the tally Friday because he fears the political rivalries could erupt into violence. That concern has been echoed by many members of al-Maliki's State of Law coalition, who say they fear the Shiite majority could react in outrage if they feel the results aren't what they expect.

Such pronouncements likely reflect political posturing. Election officials have dismissed calls for a further delay or a recount of the returns from the March 7 vote.

Many Iraqis fear a return to violence between the Sunni and Shiite factions amid the horse-trading that will ramp up in earnest once all results are made public.

Al-Maliki's coalition has drawn much of its support from the Shiite majority and his attempts to appeal to Sunnis were undercut by his support for a ban on many Sunni candidates for alleged ties to Saddam Hussein's regime.

The Sunnis largely threw their support behind Allawi's Iraqiya bloc, which while headed by a Shiite has billed itself as secular.

Iraq's Kurdish faction sees itself as a key electoral kingmaker, though followers of radical anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr could also play a pivotal role after garnering a significant number of seats.

"Everybody's talking to everybody," said Michael Hanna, an Iraq analyst with the Century Foundation. "None of these governments make a whole lot of sense in terms of consistent ideologies ... It's all about wielding power."

A senior Sadrist official, Amir Taher al-Kinani, warned Thursday that it is important Allawi's Iraqiya coalition not be sidelined because it represents the Sunni spectrum and excluding the bloc could lead to conflict.

"We fear the violent acts and then another unstable four years," he said.

Friday's announcement will have the full results — and more importantly, the number of parliamentary seats per bloc.

http://liveforfilms.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/sci-fi-post-apocalyptic-36436.jp