.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

bikes...

These are the bikes I have owned.


Three are of the actual bikes.


The rest are from the net.


Thought I'd show you.


I don't know why.


S'pose it's zen.


Maybe not.

oh god...

Responding to the discussion in the previous post, Icy Vovo emailed me the following which I thought deserving of a new post:

A leader should provide vision and integrity. Propaganda is the enemy of integrity. The Pope leads with weakness as he lacks integrity. He is not worthy to represent God on earth. He needs to be reminded 'Thou shalt not lie'.

My response to Icy Vovo is: Is God a lie? Who/what is god? I pose these questions because if God is a lie, then all those who claim there is a God are waging pure propaganda and are therefore enemies of integrity.

It's a minefield, I tell ya...

Catholicism, condoms, and AIDS...

In a comment on an earlier post, JahTeh said:"This is such hypocrisy when the Church discourages condom use which is contributing to the AIDS epidemic which is killing thousands in Africa."

This point of view is a popular one.

But I'm nothing if not a Devil's Advocate, so here goes...

She's wrong.

The Catholic church teaches that sex should only be done for the purpose of procreation and only by married heterosexual couples. The church teaches that sex outside such marriages is wrong. The church is perfectly entitled to teach such precepts. Therefore, if you and your wife are practicing Catholics, why would you need to wear a condom?

This whole uproar is overlooking the fact that a condom becomes an issue only if you are having sex outside of the Catholic precepts. In other words, if you should be wearing a condom, it's because you are ignoring Catholic teaching. Now, if you're going to ignore Catholic teaching, you'd be mad not to ignore the Catholic rule on condoms as well.

The Catholic church is not responsible for the outcome when people ignore its teachings, and to suggest otherwise is try to shift responsibility away from those who are really responsible i.e. non-Catholics or Catholics who break the rules of their church.

I'm open to any reasonable argument which seeks to show me where I'm wrong...

Waiting...

cheat neutral...

Carbon trading is the answer, according to Penny Wong and Kevin Rudd...

Still a bit confused about how carbon trading works?

This clever bit of satire explains it PERFECTLY >>>

( I did give this clip a bit of a plug about three months ago, so some of you keener types may have already watched it. So bite me...)

blog your head off...

It's official. Blogging's good for you. Expressive blogging, that is. And here at DD we're nothing if not ex#*%@pressive!!!

Iran, or not Iran...

I've said previously that the US is itching to invade Iran.

But...

An interesting article in Counterpunch by Uri Avnery puts up a convincing argrument for why the US and/or Israel would be mad to attack Iran. However, Uri does not factor-in the possibility that the US and/or Israel are indeed stark raving mad.

[Thanks to Mike B. for the heads-up]

more comPELLing news...

In the previous article, I introduced you to the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal Pell.

Well, in this article, I shall honour him with the Diogenesian Discourse's Archidiot of the Year Award.

Why?

Pell is reported as having the view that the way to deal with climate change is to make more babies.

This gem of "wisdom" flies in the face of overwhelming evidence that the biggest single problem facing humanity right fucking (pardon the pun) now is the size of the global population. But Pell, as we have seen, is not big on evidence-based reasoning.

"No western country is producing enough babies to keep the population stable" he is quoted as saying in The Australian.

I need say no more...

the pope and the cardinal...

The pope's in town. He believes in God. He also believes that the current climate change catastrophe is caused by human activity.

Cardinal George Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney, and the pope's host in Sydney, also believes in God. But Pell is a climate change skeptic.

Now this is interesting. Think about it for a while....

Pell, without any substantive evidence for the existence of a god, can summon up a veritable mountain of unshakable faith in the existence of the non-existent. Yet, when the vast majority of climate scientists tell us that climate change is human-caused, Pell discovers The Church of Selective Skepticism...

Well, not quite...

He didn't "only just" discover Selective Skepticism. Pell is an old hand at being selectively skeptical when it suits him. And it suited him to be skeptical about the truth of Anthony Jones's allegations of sexual assault by a priest.

Which raises more questions about Pell... He hides behind the Catholic Church's Towards Healing process for dealing with complaints about sexual abuse by Catholic clergy. This process limits compensation for victims to $50,000 and effectively prevents them from going public with their complaint. And when an alleged victim does go public, the Church, and I must assume here that this means with Cardinal Pell's powerful blessing, moves into full-on litigious counter-attack mode.

Jesus wept...

Anyway, it seems that Pell and The Pope will soon become even more closely acquainted...

Welcome to Sydney, Joseph Ratzinger...

...

“Modern life is often a mechanical oppression and liquor is the only mechanical relief.”

—Ernest Hemingway

The 10 best things about booze >>>

talking about the market economy...

OK, this next bit is from a discussion forum in which I was locking horns with a person whom I consider to be an arrogant, white supremacist personage of Dutch extraction who, on previous occasions, has argued (if my recollection is correct) that the white race is genetically superior to other races. He's tried posting comments on this blog in the past but so far he hasn't managed to say anything which I consider to be unworthy of deletion...

In the forum he said:

So far the market economy has pulled all the peasants out of their
squalor and has given them cars, homes, tellies and all sorts of other
goodies, in fact each year everybody is somewhat better of.

* * * * * * *

And then this exchange followed:

[1]

I said:

If you remove all gains flowing to the rich by the exploitation of the
poor, you'll get a zero sum equation.

He said:

Decidedly untrue, living standards are ever on the up worldwide, not
just in the western world, often spurred on by western know how and
activities.

I said:

Depends on how you define "living standards". And you nicely ignore
the modern contributions of non-western scientists, doctors,
engineers and thinkers, etc. And I take it that your term "western"
is a euphemism for "Superior White Man"

You also overlook the fact that the modern "western" lifestyle is
totally unsustainable. No doubt, buried deep in you psyche, is not
just a racist world view, but also one that condones a class system to
"organise" what your "superior" mind sees as "society".

I see that the arrogance, racism, and pig-ignorance for which the
Dutch of old were so well known has not yet been bred out of your
lineage. Superior "western" breeding practice, I presume. Thank you,
[xxxx], you're helping me get a handle on what is meant by "well bred".

[2]

I said:

We're only doing well because of what we've stolen, or cheated or
killed to get.

He said:

We, as we in the west, are doing well because of the work ethic
that was drummed into us as part of our religion. While the colonials
where out with the mad dogs in the midday sun the natives had their
siesta. You should travel a bit more and find out why natives are
poor.

Sitting in the shade drinking coffee and playing cards while watching
wives fetch water and till the soil with a sharp stick does not pay a
lot.

I said:

Not even worth responding to, other than to point out the obvious
white supremacist, racist, Calvinist mindset through which you view
the world you have so widely travelled. A mindset which has allowed
only the most pig-ignorant "observations" to register within what you
no doubt think is a "consciousness".

[3]

I said:

If we had to give back all the stuff we've stolen from, or cheated out
of, or exploited from, poor unsuspecting people, and if we had to pay
a fair price instead of a pittance (or glass beads) for the resources
we've plundered, we'd be a lot poorer and our victims a lot better
off.

He said:

Sure, you can see that clearly, when the colonials moved out the poor
were all of a sudden a lot better of, fair prices were paid, nobody
got raped shot or otherwise traumatized anymore, shining examples
abound, just have a look at Zimbabwe and similar old colonies.
All these millions of displaced people are clearly our fault, after
all we sold them guns at market prices.

I said:

See my previous comment.

He said:

Colonials enforced stability Gerry, a prerequisite for economic
activities.

I said

Yep, I think you're getting close to getting it. All you need to do
now is to think long and hard to try to figure out what the terms
"stability" and "economic activity" are euphemisms for. But I fear
that your thick Calvinistic, white supremacist, economic rationalist
skull won't let you join the dots correctly...

He said:

Rhodesia was a peaceful wealthy country until the colonials moved out,
nationalizing farms and assets does not get the natives to work them.

I said:

You're joking, right? Rhodesia (a name for a stolen piece of
territory, "acquired" by rape, pillage and murder) was "peaceful" only
whist the indigenous people were totally suppressed by white man's
force, The "wealth" was the result of the virtual enslavement of the
indigenous population and pillage of the "acquired" resources.

[4]

Take your pirate's logic elsewhere, [xxxx]. Here I 'lll expose you for
what you are: An apologist for racism, mass murder, plunder, rape and
pillage, disguised in the gaudy robes of faux civilisation.

He said:

Strange that all the mass murder, plunder, rape and pillage, you
speak of is mainly done by coloured races against other coloured
races, that is after these bad colonials leave and can’t stop the
natives doing such things anymore.

I said:

Oh, I see, you're saying two wrongs make a right. Jesus spoke to
Calvin and taught him this? And who taught this to you?

[5]

I said ( in response to a comment about communists killing their opponents):

I wouldn't put you up against a wall, [xxxx], but I wouldn't be
surprised if someone else did. In fact, buddhists might call that
"your karma".

He said:

If there is any putting against walls it will be me doing the putting,
after all it’s only landowners that can have guns nowadays, my karma
could well run over your dogma.

I said:

"Landowner" ??? Bwahahahaha... You bought stolen property, and you
knew you bought stolen property. It was perfectly OK in you mind to
buy stolen property, because your racist, white supremacist, Christian
"ethics" blinded you into believing that what you were doing was OK.

Jesus is rolling in his grave...

Jesus was a communist...

Calvin was a prick...

======== end of transcript =======

Gets a bit lively in there, eh...

To date he has not replied. He might come back with some thing like "Gerry, you're not worth arguing with."

And he'd be right...

It goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway), that if you want to comment on any of the above, you'd be most welcome. Why else do you think I posted this? (rhetorical)

really...

Deep in the comments bin on another blog, I said this:

Now, RH... Lad... I need to set you straight about what you said:

"...if it weren't for Christ I'd have killed about 10,000 people by now, you'd be one of them. It's nothing. -You're nothing. I could shoot you like flicking on a light switch. Really."

Firstly, RH, it's not Jesus who's stopping you killing, it's you. You have chosen not to kill and you say you do that in the name of Jesus. Others kill in the name of Jesus. Both types are nutters using Jesus for their own ends. No different from the Osama bin Liners of this world , really...

Secondly, I've killed heathen communist scum in Vietnam in the name of Australia, Queen Elizabeth The Second, Jesus H. Christ, and Lyndon B. Johnson. Quite a few times. And it's nothing like flicking a light switch. Really. And once you've "flicked that switch", something happens inside your psyche which can never be switched off. You are in hell. You have no idea.

If killing for you is as easy as flicking a switch, you are a psychopath, RH. Really.

caution...

In the coming days, major roadworks will commence on this blog.




A few months ago, a mysterious, God-caused event made the main text in this blog "disappear". Right throughout the entire blog. All 800-or-so blog posts...

My ego was NOT happy... I cursed God... She did not reply... Bitch!!!

I immediately contacted the NSA and asked them why they had done this. They said George made them do it, and that they were not going to help me fix the problem, and that I should not call them again, and that they "knew people".

Fair enough...

So I got into the innards of the template (yeah, this is an old-style blog), changed some colour code, and bingo, all the text was back, and we had a brand new look to boot.

Compliments flowed thick and fast...

The masses loved it...

John Howard rang and said he was so uplifted by the new experience that he and Janet had just consummated their erection defeat. At least that's what I think he said, it was a noisy line...

But all was not as it seemed...

I used to use different font colours for quoted bits and so on. In the new scheme, these bits of text were now almost illegible. All the way throughout the entire blog.

Disgusting!

So, I'll be changing the colour scheme again in order to fix this problem. In the meantime, if the blog keeps changing colour, do not fret my little dears, its only uncle Gerry twiddling his knob...

community service announcement...

You know those multi-blade razors? The ones that give you a closer shave? The ones that are guaranteed to have her swooning at your feet? Yeah, those ones. Well, don't it just rip your scrotum how they go blunt so quickly?

Diogenes to the rescue! After every couple of shaves, hold the razor under a strong jet of hot water for about five seconds, with water striking the blades at the angle indicated in my beautifully drawn diagram at left.

Bingo! Your razor will last for months.

It's so depressing...

On ABC1, Virginia Trioli (what a spunk, eh?) is interviewing my mate Penny Wong about Ross Garnaut's report which was released today.

Now, Ross, being an economist and therefore unable to bring himself to commit economic heresy, can't say what I'm about to say:

Measures capable of effectively dealing with climate change would crash the global economy. Absolutely no doubt about it. Ergo, depression, baby !!!

Now, since The Economy is The New God, we must not crash the global economy. Ergo, we will not be able to seriously impact climate change.

And here's the Catch 22: The joint impacts of climate change and oil depletion will absolutely crash the global economy. Ergo, depression, baby !!!

Are we getting this yet, boyzangurrlz? There's a depression not too far down the track.

hallelujah...

I've become a collector of versions of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah".

So far I've got versions by:

Leonard Cohen
K.D. Lang
Jeff Buckley
The Choir Of Hard Knocks

... and I quite like this YouTube version by K.D. Lang >>>

They all reduce me to tears. Every time.

(...don't suppose anyone can tell me how I can download (save-to-disk)
stuff from YouTube...)

a gaggle of non sequiturs flying in formation...

Spot the non sequiturs:

I said something about wanting to provoke thoughts, and then...

He said:

Ok .. thoughts now provoked, and continuing the odd discussion in the link from first comment.

I happen to like (agree with?) the philosophy of a bloke called Democritus - some ancient Greek that i have never met, nor is there much in the way of "writings" by him. Did he exist? have no idea, can't prove it one way or another. Do i "believe" in his concepts? Well .. yes .. sort of, but only because i think ( according to what i have read) that he was logical in his thinking - but only because i concur with the record of his thinking.

I said:

...did you merely want us to know that you agree with Hipocritus (about what??? so what ???), or was there actually a point you were trying to make?

Oops, I meant to say Democritus.

He said:

mm, and here's me at the moment chortling over the TV program "Gil Mayo Mysteries". Whaddya want .. serious?

I said:

I've killed a bunch of Davo's comments because the dude has apparently decided to use this blog to further his PHD studies in non sequiturs. Anytime he wants to stay vaguely on-topic, I'll probably stop deleting his comments. Grrrrr...

He said:

"If you arrogant sons of bitches think you can just keep your thoughts private and not share them ..".

O, silly me. Was under the impression that there was a topic, here.

Is there something here I'm not getting? Quite possibly. I'm often not getting it...

WARNING !!!

I write to provoke your thoughts. If you arrogant sons of bitches think you can just keep your thoughts private and not share them by submitting comments, then I may as well shut the bloody thing down. You think I'm doing this for the fun of it? This blog's like your brain - use it, or lose it... Grrrrrr...

So, the ball's in you court, my luvvlies, LAST WARNING !!!

the spin just doesn't stop...

"Australia is experiencing the biggest oil shock in thirty years." I heard a TV announcer say last night.

Makes it sound almost benign. Certainly only cause for moderate and short-term worry, right?

Wrong.

The idiot forgot to mention that its global, not merely Australian.

The idiot forgot to point out that thiry years ago the "oil shock" was a mere hiccup as the world adjusted to the fact that the US's territorial oil supply had peaked and that from that point onwards, the US would need to obtain ever-increasing amounts of oil from other countries by either begging, borrowing, or stealing.

The idiot forgot to mention that what's happening now is not so much an "oil shock" as it is "the end of oil".

In the last twelve months the price of crude has DOUBLED. When you view a graph of the the price of crude over the last ten years, you see a graph that indicates clearly, to all but an idiot, that the rate of price increase has already gone exponential. And all the logical indicators are that the graph will get steeper and steeper.

What does this mean? Well, rather than repeat myself, I'll refer you to stuff I said two years ago >>>

white noise...

"That of which I do not know, I cannot speak" I said, believing myself to be profound...

"Taurus Excreta !!!" shouted the First Patriarch of Dai Ippo Zen...

alice in wonderland does catch 22...

In a recent report which notably reflects the implicit horror of what the occupiers are doing, the Globe and Mail’s Doug Saunders describes a scene in Naray, on the northeast border with Pakistan, where 200 trigger-happy US Army soldiers huddle in tents, sheltering themselves from regular rocket attacks. He was greeted by a certain Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Kolenda, a clean-cut, steel-eyed officer in the 173rd Airborne, who introduced him to one of the key battlefield tactics of the new American military — the two-hour PowerPoint presentation.

>>> Princess Patricia And The Taliban by ERIC WALBERG

Wiser Earth

WiserEarth serves the people who are transforming the
world. It is a community-editable international directory
and networking forum that maps and connects the
largest movement in the world – the hundreds of thousands
of organizations and concerned individuals within civil
society that address social justice, poverty, and the
environment.

WiserEarth provides the tools and a platform for non-profit
organizations, funders, social entrepreneurs, students,
organizers, academics, activists, scientists, and citizens to find
each other, make connections, build alliances and share
resources.

WISER stands for:

World Index for Social and Environmental Responsibility.

Use this link to find out more:
http://www.wiserearth.org/article/About

the perfect storm...

Oil depletion.

Globalisation of big business.

Population explosion.

Climate change.

Radicalisation of politics and religion.

A perfect storm.

lunar brogue nails it... again...

http://lunarbrogue.blogspot.com/2008/05/pre-rudd-profile.html

Of course, Rudd has redoubled our commitment to standing shoulder to shoulder with that Great Force For Good, A-fucking-meriKKKa!!! He even saluted The Great American Idiot...

YANKEE GO HOME !!!

Grrrrrrrr...

O Canada...

The Canadian National Anthem

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!

From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

The Inuit sang it with great pride in their hearts as they were being fucked-over by the white man...

he said, she said...

He said "The Rose, now THERE'S some kick-ass lyrics!"

She said "I'm not interested in your drug-era crap."

You can tell she likes classical music, can't you?

kiangardarup...

Don't waste your time reading my diogenesian diatribes... do yourself a favour and read a blog worth reading.

http://kiangardarup.blogspot.com/

Go on...

Don't put it off...

market forces...

A free market is a wonderful thing. Everything just magically falls into place to create a win-win situation for all concerned. And pigs fly...

We will now begin to see what market forces will do with oil and gas reserves. With prices set to go exponential, would you be in a hurry to exhaust your reserves at current prices when, in the very near future you will be able to ask double that price? It would make "good business sense" to keep the stuff in the ground as long as possible to capitalise on future skyrocketting prices.

We can see now why OPEC interests are dragging the chain on production. They understand business perfectly. Minimising production creates shortages which push the price up.

Welcome to Capitalism 101 - Supply and Demand.

A war, you say? We'll force them to produce at the point of a gun? Oh yeah? Iraq shows us how that wonderful idea works. You end up burning more oil waging the war than any hoped-for increase in supply such a war might ever have given you.

Why do the Americans let idiots run their country? (Oops, I forgot... idiots _like_ to be governed by even bigger idiots.)

Even Bill Clinton was way off the mark when he exclaimed "It's the economy, stupid!" Someone should have immediately countered with "No, Bill, it's institutionalised greed, stupid!"

Capitalism's chickens will soon all be coming home to roost...

And Karl Marx will be vindicated.

reality and survival...

What if it becomes a reality that we cannot stop the catastrophic effects of global warming?

What if we're just a decade or two from the next ice age? A frozen North America, Britain, Europe, Russia.

What power shifts will have happened by then, given that oil and gas depletion will have become a serious reality?

Who will survive the catastrophes of an ice age, radical climate change, resource depletion, collapsed major economies, mass starvation, vast political power shifts, and the angst caused by all of this?

Do you really believe that democracy works, or that it will survive the pressures of the future?

How will you prepare your kids for The Collapse?

Do you think by avoiding these questions it will make it easier for you and yours to deal with the future?

Prozac, anyone?

I've already said it all...

Nothing to say I haven't already said before...

I really think this blog should be shut down...

But I'm too addicted to talking shit to shut it down...

Wonder what wonderful "counsel" my counsellor will have for me today...

I am ***SO*** over this life of mine...

Anyone reading this blog needs to go get a life...

Sorry, no wisdom here today...

There wasn't any yesterday either...

Kerouak was a genius...