the brigadier's ghost...

In 1966 I was working in Melbourne for the Victorian Railways. I had a friend who worked at Tooronga station and I would often visit him there (to illictly drink beer and talk shit). But this story is not about him or me. It's about a hobo, a homeless person.

He used to use the waiting room at the station to sleep there at night, on one of the hard wooden benches. He was very well behaved and so he was welcome. He never arrived before the last train had departed, and he was always gone by the time the station was opened in the morning. He never drank or caused any kind of problem. We would make sure there were old newspapers for him because he used these like blankets to keep warm, especially during the harsh Melbourne winters.

During the day, he would sometimes drop by the ticket office for a chat and we'd let him in and give him a cup of coffee or tea. And little by little we'd glean a few clues about his past. He had been a brigadier during WWII. It was clear he had had some kind of "nervous breakdown", a popular terminology of that period for what we now call post traumantic stress disorder (PTSD).

His mind was well stocked, as they say. He would talk about all sorts of things and it was clear he was a highly intelligent and educated person, but he would not talk about the war. Nor would he talk about why he preferred to "live rough". I mean, he would go through rubbish bins looking for food scraps. We thought he was penniless, but when we tried to give him money he would refuse, saying he had plenty of money in the bank because his veteran's pension was going into his accout and he never drew any out.

Apparently he had relatives who had offered to accommodate him, but he didn't want to be a burden on them. But we could never figure out why he chose to live like that. He would generally hide during the day because the police used to move vagrants on if they found them. So he became this timid, furtive person who looked nothing like a brigadier who was once in charge of several battallions during the war.

The best we could get out of him was that he could no longer live within society because he scorned everything it stood for and, he said, it's what would cause endless wars in the future.

Well, we dismissed this at the time as the rantings of a man who'd lost his marbles and one winter's morning, after a particularly cold night, my friend found him dead on that waiting room bench. It turns out, according to one of his relatives who came down to the station a few times to belatedly try to find out something about their "crazy" relative, that he had quite a tidy sum in his bank account and that there was a will. He had left the entire amount to be disbursed to charities caring for war orphans in Japan and Germany. This relative seemed to think this was tantamount to treason and they were contesting the will. We never heard how it all ended.

A year later, having forgotten all about this, I joined the Army to go kill communists in Vietnam because if we didn't kill them there they would come and kill us here... I didn't know then that politicians told monstrous lies...

I don't know why I had to get up at 1am to type this, except that I know from experience I would not get any sleeep if I didn't. Goodnight all...

some deaths are more equal than others...

The Tsunami. How do you write about what happened? The media has its ghouls all over the Indian Rim asking banal and inane questions in an attempt to capitalise on the world's insatiable appetite for news stories and images. Well, have we had enough yet, boys and girls?

The prognosis is that the eventual death toll might go as high as 100,000. My heart goes out to all who are suffering the loss of a loved one, those who were injured, those who have lost much (if not everything) and those who in the days and weeks to come will face suffering (if not death) from thirst, hunger and the epidemics of disease that follow such events.

It is truly heart wrenching.

But I detect a hypocrisy here in Australia - the hypocrisy which results when the massive death and suffering caused by a tsunami, i.e. a natural, unavoidable disaster, unites us in grief, concern, and commiseration for those affected, and yet, when an even greater death toll, exacted under even more horrendous circumstances, visited upon a people subjected to a war which was totally avoidable, only half of this country's population is seriously troubled, whilst the other half is actively barracking for the invaders, the perpetrators of that war crime. Why? Because we're part of that invading army, we're accomplices in that war crime, but only half of the population is willing to tell it like it is.

And I too am a hypocrite. I feel little for the invaders of Iraq who are killed or injured, or for the insurgents killed or injured whilst fighting them. I see them all as belligerent fools, sucked into perpetuating the myth that the use of violence and killing is a valid way to resolve conflicts, be they political, ideologicial or religious - all of them cowards too timid to try more peaceful methods.

"The greatest coward can hurt the most ferociously." - The Eurythmics

it hertz to be a lonely whale...

Solitary whale wanders seas, calling, calling, to no avail...

Imagine roaming the world's largest ocean year after year alone, calling out with the regularity of a metronome, and hearing no response.

Such, apparently, is the situation faced by a solitary whale, species unknown, that has been tracked since 1992 in the North Pacific by a classified array of hydrophones used by the Navy to monitor submarines.

The animal is called the 52 hertz whale because it makes a distinctive stream of sounds at around that basso profundo frequency, just above the lowest note on a tuba.

Sources:
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer had it HERE >>> but this link is now dysfunctional.
The Sydney Morning Herald has it HERE >>>

so you think war is ok, do you, fuckwit?

I am just so totally sick of people who've never really seen war face-first telling me how it's OK to be doing mass-murder in order to justify our particular economic/cultural/ideological/ /religious bullshit. Hundreds of thousands of people are getting killed because we have replaced dialogue with mass-murder. Talk about the rule of law, if we ever get international law happening in any real sense, this shit is a major, major war crime.

I've got an idea: Next time you come across a politician, activist, or religious leader spruiking the need for war, KILL HIM/HER !!! If this idea really caught on, no politician, activist, or religious leader would ever talk about war as a way of solving problems ever again. I'm a pacifist, but if there has to be killing, kill those who tell us that war is the way to go!!! Does this make sense? No. Would it work? Yes.

Now, before the spooks come knocking on my door, I need to provide a disclaimer.

Disclaimer: Killing politicians, activists or religious leaders is wrong. Do not do it! Notwithstanding the above rant, I have no intention of harming any politicians, activists or religious leaders.

So now, you totally insane bastards from ASIO, AFP, FBI, CIA, NSA, or whatever, can crawl right back under your rock again, OK? And please take a pro-war politician, activist, or religious leader with you! Thank you.
.

it's up to us...

I'd like to propose a whole new way of dealing with this beast called democracy.

People not happy with their government or their party should keep in mind that these are just machines which are mirroring their voters. The problem is not the government or the party, the problem is the people who vote for these clowns.

Take, for instance, our treatment of assylum seekers: Forget Howard. Forget Latham. The problem is the average Australian rednecks. And boy are they average. Far too many of them are either full-on card-carrying racists/xenophobes or they're closet racists/xenophobes (you know the type, "I'm not a racist/xenophobe but..."). And now racism/xenophobia has been translated into Islam-hating and is shaping attitudes towards the Iraq war as well.

Change the people and they will choose different politicians. Bottom-up education.
Educate you next door neighbour, your work colleagues, your cousin, your sister, whoever. Educate. Educate. Educate. That should be our task. Engage and educate the rednecks. Because unless we change the demographic, the Howards and the Lathams will always bow to these ignorant souls.

Another reason we must educate the rednecks is to offset the government's lies and propaganda (the government's "education"). Remember, the government is actively pushing all the rednecks' buttons, and it's working. We can no longer rely on the opposition, it has sold out to populism, so it's up to us.

Given the present redneckness of the Australian psyche, we have exactly the politicians we deserve. Want to change that? Educate a redneck today.

the meeja we had to have...

Journalist, author and documentary filmmaker John Pilger talks to Antony Loewenstein about the media.

What's your view on the Australian media's reporting on Iraq, especially in the corporate media?

It's a version of the way it's reported in the United States. That means the Iraqi people barely exist. It's an honourable "war" not a conquest. Britain is slightly different; a couple of newspapers broke ranks and did a terrific job of telling people the truth - there is nothing like that here.

In what way?

Well, there is no real sense that we are living through the biggest political scandal of our lifetime - the unprovoked attack on a defenceless country justified by a series of documented lies, the killing of up to 100,000 people and the devastation of that society. We have seen an increase in child mortality and people are drinking water mixed with sewage, along with toxic contamination including depleted uranium throughout the country. What has been done to that country, on top of a dozen years of economic sanctions driven by the United States and Britain and supported by Australia, is an epic crime. I interviewed Professor Richard Overy, one of the world's leading authorities on Nuremburg and international law, last year and he said that under international law, what had happened in Iraq was a major crime against humanity, and Bush and Blair could be in the dock. Imagine that perspective, that truth, in our media.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald Full story >>>

(Thanks for the heads-up, Paul.)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone!

A sensational, salubrious, summer solstice if you're in the southern hemisphere and a wonderfully warmfuzzy winter solstice if you're in the northern hemisphere (you know, the one that's going to freeze over the day after tomorrow...)

** May I also take this opportunity to say please accept with no obligation
implied or implicit my best wishes for an environmentally conscious,
socially responsible low stress nonaddictive gender neutral celebration
of the summer holiday practiced within the most enjoyable traditions
of the religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice with respect
for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others or their
choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

I also wish you a fiscally successful personally fulfilling and
medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally
accepted calendar year 2005 but not without due respect for the
calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society
have helped make Australia great (not to imply that Australia is
necessarily greater than any other country or is the only "Australia"
in the western hemisphere) and without regard to the race creed
colour age physical ability religious faith or sexual preference of
the wishee.

By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms: This
greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely
transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no
promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for
her/himself or others and is void where prohibited by law and is
revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted
to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for
a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday
greeting whichever comes first and warranty is limited to replacement
of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher...

** Pinched from a message by Bear, posted in a usenet newsgroup somewhere out there in cyberspace where no one can hear you scream...

All the very best to all of you (you deserve it for reading this blog.)

depression...

Yes, I know, we don't talk about it in polite company. It makes people uncomfortable. One should just "get over it". You're a wooss if you don't. And what's more, we won't talk to you again about anything meaningful until you do! Bloody Hell !!!

I was thinking about my partner just now (see previous post). And for some weird reason, I started singing the Beatles' song Help, by way of expressing my appreciation for the fact that she is always there for me.

And as I was singing this song, loud (I'd had a few glasses of Cabernet Sauvignon), in an empty house, at 11.20pm, tears streaming down my cheeks, I wondered where Lennon and McCartney got the wisdom, at their young age, to understand what older people suddenly hit by depression are going through.

So I went on the Net and got the lyrics to refresh your memory:

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

Help, I need somebody,
Help, not just anybody,
Help, you know I need someone, help.

When I was younger, so much younger than today,
I never needed anybody’s help in any way.
But now these days are gone, I’m not so self assured,
Now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors.

Help me if you can, I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won’t you please, please help me.

And now my life has changed in oh so many ways,
My independence seems to vanish in the haze.
But every now and then I feel so insecure,
I know that I just need you like I’ve never done before.

Help me if you can, I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won’t you please, please help me.

When I was younger, so much younger than today,
I never needed anybody’s help in any way.
But now these days are gone, I’m not so self assured,
Now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors.

Help me if you can, I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won’t you please, please help me, help me, help me, oh

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

I guess you have to be older, so much older than today, to appreciate these lyrics.

misty mountains melancholy...

It's very misty up here in the mountains this evening. Not coping well at the moment. Feeling very bleak. Like the scene outside. My beloved is away visiting her family in Queensland. Of course I could have gone with her but I just wasn't up to socialising so I stayed behind. I don't do large gatherings very well at all. Not looking forward to the Christmas period either. Hermits generally don't. I almost don't know how to do life anymore. Nor am I trying. So shoot me.

Spent a lot of time thinking today. It occurred to me that I never did well at social skills and in the last ten years I've pretty much trashed most of those I did have. So shoot me. (That's twice I've said that. Wonder what it means.)

As Groucho Marx said "I don't want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member."

I seem to have hit the wall with blogging. I think I've ranted myself to a standstill. I don't know where this blog will will go from here. No idea at all.

I would very much like as much feedback as possible from readers about what they liked about my blogging and what they didn't like about it. I'm up for criticism, so don't hold back. Please. I need the feedback because I no longer have any idea about what I'm doing or why I'm doing it. I realise different readers will have different responses, so all kinds of responses will be respected, and on the off-chance that I end up resenting some critique, well, hey, that would be my problem and not the reader's.

That's about it really...

the checkpoint...

A snapshot of life with checkpoints in Baghdad, compliments of Iraq Dispatches:

Salam and I said our prayers for safety and braved the airport road.

Sitting in a long line of vehicles we were quiet. Holding our breath.

Imagine sitting in a long line of cars knowing that any one of them could be a car bomb, waiting with you to inch closer to the checkpoint.

I only saw one US soldier there-the horrible duties of searching cars and manning the checkpoint is being handled almost entirely by “Global” security contractors, most of them Nepalese. The rest are ING. Imagine that as your job.

This bit intrigued me because the airport road is one of the most dangerous places in Baghdad, and once again we see the US farming out the very dangerous job of checkpoint "duty" to non-American "contractors" and the Iraqi National Guard, in this way getting others to take the heat off the Occupying Power.

the freedom...

A brief excerpt from a new book by Christian Parenti:

"Ah the freedom. Look, we have the gas-line freedom, the looting freedom, the killing freedom, the rape freedom, the hash-smoking freedom. I don't know what to do with all this freedom." -Akeel, a 26 year old Baghdad resident on life in the new Iraq.

Read more books !!!

did bush authorize abu ghraib torture?

Well, according to this link found on Gandhi's blog, he did.

gunns vs greens...

In Tasmania, the timber (logging) company Gunns is suing anti-logging activists including Senator Bob Brown, Tasmanian Greens leader Peg Putt, the Wilderness Society and Doctors for Forests, citing their "ongoing damaging campaigns and activities" against the company. Twenty writs have been served on individuals and groups.

Over at Public Opinion, Gary Sauer-Thompson has an informative piece on this issue.

the world at war...

I was watching "The World At War" on the ABC (for you foreigners, that's the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the last vestage of non-corporate-propaganda TV.)

And the subject was the rise of the Nazis in Germany, 1933-1938.

I found some of the parallels with America and even here in Australia disturbing:
The anti-communist diatribes.
The passing of "emergency" laws.
The arrests (without trial) of dissidents and political "enemies".
The increased use of propaganda and fear (people were too afraid to protest).
Universal conscription.
Propaganda took on a Christian form, but a Nazi substance.

But the most ominous thing was a comment by one of the German interviewees who described those times in this way: "Something wrong was going on, but the thing to oppose it didn't exist."

Guard your right to protest jealously my fellow citizens, lest you lose it whilst you sleep...

feeling safe...

There are some 700 American military bases on foreign soil worldwide.

It's for our own good.

They are just there to protect all of us.

From what?

the case for hate...

Look, I don't know whether hate is good/bad, right/wrong, better/worse. OK? If you've been reading this blog, you'll know that I've been grappling with the distinction between anger and hate because I've been told that anger can sometimes be acceptable but that hate is never acceptable. But let's put that aside for the moment and contemplate upon the following case for hate from Life of Riley:

I can’t help it, I’m still stuck with the same passions I had way back when…when I discovered what capitalism was –and still is, because any number of reforms won’t change it much at all. Essentially it is still the same as it was I first came to hate it.

So that’s my word of advice: you gotta hate and hate passionately. That’s the knack. You have to have something festering inside you, a driving hatred that won’t flinch otherwise all the ideals in the world aren’t worth a brass razoo.

Sorry, but that's how it is.

Maybe you’re shocked. “I can’t do that! I’m not like that.” Then more’s the pity. If you can’t hate the systematic slaughter of the people of Iraq for the sake of a few more cheaper barrels of oil then I must ask you to take your misery elsewhere for the company it craves.

Peace on earth? Goodwill to all men? No thanks. Bring the troops home and I may consider it.

Ok, let's have your feedback. Don't be backward in coming forward now, you hear?

it's the economy... part 1

I think this topic has the potential of going sequential...

I'm merely your average idiot trying to understand what's going on. But hey, on the subject of "the economy" I get dizzy just trying to see which way is up. Here's what I've managed to glean so far about "the economy":

On the one hand we collectively give rise to it and on the other it totally controls us. Our jobs, our income, and in many ways our very lives, depend on the welfare of the economy. Yes, that's right, most of us now perceive that what's best for the economy is also what's best for our own welfare.

We often hear our Prime Minister talk about how he would even go to war "to protect our interests". Our prime "interest", he assures us repeatedly, is the economy. So, he's even prepared to murder hundreds of thousands or millions of "foreign" people, if that's what he thinks is good for our economy. You'll note that all of a sudden it's called our economy. We will kill them, destroy their infrastructure and property, and we will totally trash their economy in order to feed our economy.

In the 1940's it began to dawn on our great capitalist economic strategists that these relatively new economic systems called communism and socialism would quarantine themselves from capitalism. In other words, countries whose people chose socialist or communist economic models would deny access to, or govern the conduct of, capitalist business entities called "corporations".

What?!? You mean to say there were people who didn't want corporations to exploit their country for the great benefit of a few mega-rich shareholders living in far-off countries? Unbelievable! This was like waving a red rag (pun intended) in front of a raging bull. And the raging bull (the head of which was the U.S.)charged, and the Cold War began. And it was all about stopping the growth of communism and socialism in order to maintain and increase the capitalist corporations' sphere of exploitation.

As in all wars, propaganda ruled the day. Proponents of capitalism were lauded and proponents of communism and and socialism were vilified and demonised. The people in "The Western Bloc" were just as brainwashed as those in "The Eastern Bloc". Lies ruled supreme on both sides.

By and large, "The West" won after fifty years of conducting crippling sanctions, sabotage, dirty tricks, assassinations, organised coups, the installation of corporation-friendly dictators, and many wars which killed millions (they even convinced me to do some of the killing for them, gave me medals and free memebership to all sorts of veterans clubs, most of which are propaganda outfits designed to keep the veterans firmly brainwashed about the necessity and justness of the war they took part in.) And because capitalism won, it continued to write its own history very much in its own favour. More propaganda.

And now capitalism has morphed into trans-national mega-corporations, the WTO, the IMF, and the World Bank, all working in concert to dictate the terms globally. We now talk of a global economy. And that's now become our economy.

So now it's in "our interests" to join the U.S. on its killing spree to demolish all opposition (which we now call "terrorism") to a globalised economy dominated by and giving free rein to the trans-national corporations who control American politics and through that, the American military machine. This is what our own politicians here in Australia (from both sides of politics) havs sold us into. And what for? For a few dolars more...

So, readers, how am I doing in my struggle to understand economics? All comments, hints, pointers and clues are most welcome. I'll rant more on this subject soon. There's lots to rant about...

hello big brother ...

Well, according to an article in today's Sydney Morning Herald by Rob O'Neill, here in Australia the government has passed the Surveillance Devices Act into force last week.

It lets the Australian Federal Police and state police forces investigating Commonwealth crimes plant their own spyware on your computer (remotely and without your knowledge just like any other spyware) to monitor your online and offline computer activities (including keystrokes which you might later delete.) And don't for a minute think that any of the proprietory anti-spyware programs will detect and report this type of spyware. The Act has provisions prohibiting this. Sure, they need a warrant, but the conditions for granting a warrant aren't all that restrictive.

Say hello to Big Brother, everyone... "Hello, Big Brother..."

greens, trotskyites, and the facts...

A plea to any Australian readers for information.

Today I read the Sydney Morning Herald opinion piece by Paul Sheehan in which he did a nice little number on The Greens, labelling them a Trotskyite front group. Now, I know Sheehan has all sorts of right-wing axes to grind, but I was wondering if there was any fire to go with his smokescreen.

I've been supportive of the Greens up to now, so I need to know where they really are on the political spectrum. If you don't want to make public comments on this blog, please use my email link in the right sidebar of this blog. Your emails will be treated in the strictest confidence. Any information would be most appreciated.

And while we're at it, some pointers towards understanding who Trotskyites are would also be helpful. At the end of the day I'm just a political ignoramus staggering around the political landscape trying to figure it all out.

As a complete non sequitur, I notice Gummo Trotsky has used some piss-weak excuses for not sorting his/her creative and expressive priorities out in order to keep his/her blogging relevant. Although and because I am not fit to grovel in his/her shadow, I say the man/woman is an intellectual wimp! A quitter! A wooss! You'd think that someome with an intellect of that magnitude would be able to navigate out of the Sargasso Sea they have navigated into. I'm especially pissed off because I only just started to read that blog. Damn! Damn! Damn!

free-for-all enterprise....

They are planning to build a major shopping centre some kilometres outside a major rural town. Several other towns around Australia have already experienced this new trend.

The critics argue that this results in the gutting of the town's traditional shopping centre hence destroying the towns's character, eventually leaving the town centre with the heart ripped out of it, replaced by a graveyard of closed shops .

But what struck me was the brilliant rhetoric used by this particular town's Chamber of Commerce president in his defence of this latest example fo "free enterprise" in action:

"Some must fail for others to succeed."
"You have to have losers to have winners."
"If you stop people from failing, you stop people from succeeding."

Who wins? The multi-national retail giants and the orbiting franchise chains.

Who loses? The town's locally owned small businesses.

Why? Well, soon under the FTA (Free Trade Agreement), a local council can be sued for millions of dollars of "lost profit potential" by the multi-nationals if it refuses to grant development approvals of this kind.

Are we getting this yet, boys and girls? Under the FTA, the local citizens of towns can be made to pay (via council rates) millions of dollars to the investors of multi-nationals (mostly very rich foreign investors) if these multi-nationals are thwarted in their plans. So, they rip us off for millions if they come in, and now thanks to the FTA, they rip us for millions if they are prevented from coming in. That's what I call a win-win deal. That's the new face of free trade for ya.

And remember, neither of our major parties had the guts to stand up to Bush's team of "negotiators" when we "agreed" to the FTA with the U.S. In the recent elections in this country, only the Greens and the Democrats were prepered to oppose the FTA outright. And in a deal of spectacular rat-cunning, the Labor party arranged its preferences in such a way as to ensure that these minor parties would not have the balance of power in the Senate. And you still think that Labor is not a sub-branch of the Liberal Party?

Wake up, Australia, you're standing in it... And the brown tide is rising...

the bigots are at it again...

It's war on secularism. And the pogrom is in full swing. Only secularists commit child abuse, adultery, rape, and murder. Only secularists are disgusting homosexuals. Secularists are incapable of morally sound decisions and actions. Secularists are the cause of all of society's ills. If you're not religious you're responsible for all of the evils in the world. Believe it! It's The Truth - the church told me so!

Wow, how stupid do these religious bigots think I am?

what you get is what you get... it's a zen thing...

And what you get here is anger and cynicism repackaged ad nauseam. If you're here reading this, it's because it's your karma to do so. COME BACK!! WHO TOLD YOU YOU COULD GO ?!?!? I HAVEN'T FINISHED WITH YOU YET !!! I HAVEN'T EVEN STARTED...

Still here? I'm pleasantly surprised... Thank you for staying... It's the mood swings you know... They're so unpredictable... Now, where was I? Oh yes, anger. And hate. I want to talk about these two daemons today because I'm still having problems with them.

Isn't hate just anger with the volume turned up? Can you hate without it having some basis in anger?

Thanks to some nudging from our American "friends", we're not far from passing laws here in Australia that will try to outlaw "the incitement of hatred". Ostensibly religious and racial hatred. This could get tricky for some social commentators and bloggers.

I express a lot of the anger I have. Anger at some religions for instance. Anger at what some religions teach. Is the expression of that anger going to be interpreted as "inciting hatred"? Are they trying to outlaw the expression of anger? Are they trying to suppress dissent? Will ranting be banned? That would make me pretty angry. And I would express that anger. I might even rant... Gee I get confused...

we're stuffed - part 1...

It's not getting any better, is it? I mean, at the end of the day, we're lifestyle junkies. Junkies addicted to the ever-more consumerised, trendy, glitzy, oh-so-meaningful, oh-so-sophisticated, oh-so-important lifestyles which the marketing machine brainwashes us into "needing".

Never mind that this lifestyle consumes about five times the per-capita share of the world's resources (based on today's world population, which in fifty years looks set to double, making this ratio ten times the per-capita share.) But we couldn't give a rat's arse about that, eh. We want, nay, we must have this lifestyle. It's to die for.

Our lifestyle is stuffing the air we breathe, it's stuffing the rivers and forests, it's stuffing the climate, and it's stuffing every culture except our "superior" culture. I couldn't think of a better way of breeding "terrorists".

This new monoculture, globalised corporate fascism, with "Christianity" and extremist Zionism happily by its side, is on the march (onward God's soldiers, eh?) and it will not stop until it "hits the wall". And when it does, the planet will be utterly stuffed and we will crash into an economic abyss that will make the Great Depression look like a minor recession.

Billions of "expendables" will die of starvation world-wide. Corporate, privatised armies will protect the Corporations' few managers, supervisors and employees (slaves), whilst they exterminate those who can't or won't live as slaves (the "final solution" for overpopulation and resource depletion, eh?)

Any resistance to this wonderful way of "doing business" will be labelled "terrorist" if militant, and "anti-social" if peaceful. So much for the the teachings of Jesus (which these days have little to do with the "teachings" of the "new Christianity".

So what are the alternatives? I'll get to that soon...

more holiday reading...

Another book I haven't read yet but which looks like a "must read" is The Other Israel: Voices of refusal and dissent by Tom Segev, Jonathan Shainin, Roane Carey.

This from Amazon's website:

The Other Israel is an urgent and passionate intervention by Israeli citizens challenging the continued occupation of Palestinian territory and the failed policies of Ariel Sharon’s government. Against a backdrop of increasing violence on both sides, the book presents a broad range of dissenting voices that articulate practical, legal, and moral objections to the occupation. Written from within the throes of the unfolding tragedy, it includes contributions from journalists, novelists, activists, military reservists, and former government officials. MORE >>>

capitalism, socialism and minestrone soup...

"I am but an egg" said Michael Smith, the main character in A Stranger in a Strange Land... And that pretty well sums me up too.

I am embryonic when it comes to understanding capitalism, socialism and why there's such a tension between these two ideologies that we had to have forty years of "cold war", the world's biggest and most deadly arms race, and lots of "little" wars, killing millions and causing untold destruction and heartache.

I'm only just beginning to see glimmers of light after decades of propaganda-induced darkness. And the more I see, the angrier I get about how I was misled and abused by my government, and how that's still happening. But that's another blog post still to come and it may have something to do with proposing the death penalty for political leaders who plead ignorance...

Back to the minestrone soup... Minestrone soup had its origins, centuries ago, in the soup kitchens the Catholic church provided to feed the many starving people, usually because of some war. Now back to the present...

Recently, I was puzzled and alarmed at our government's winding-back of welfare services and at the same time witnessing the government's promotion of "faith-based" welfare services. Seemingly unrelated, has been my puzzlement about why the communist regimes of both the Soviet Union and China had banned religions.

And then the penny dropped... It's about dependence... A person needing welfare services is dependent on the source of the welfare and is also naturally thankful and kindly disposed towards this source. This gives the welfare source great psychological influence over the welfare recipient. Ditto for education.

Now, since capitalism likes to hive-off welfare services and education to the church, and churches welcome this symbiosis because it gives them a grip on people's minds, is it surprising that the churches would sing the praises of capitalism and "educate" us about the evils of socialism and secularism?

And what are we seeing right now in America and here in Australia? Surprise, surprise, it's a major campaign against the "evils" of secularism. And the misinformation is coming at us thick and fast. Goebbels has taught them well...

edward w. said...

This guy has popped up several times recently as someone who had important things to say. Sadly, he's dead now.

So, here's my thing: Which of his works most contribute to an understanding of what we're dealing with now? Your input is desperately being sought, readers...

read more books...

Public debate of the United States’ role in the world has finally begun in earnest, and Ivan Eland delivers a penetrating argument in this landmark book, exposing the imperial motives behind interventionist U.S. policy, questioning the historical assumptions on which it is based and advocating a return to the Founding Fathers’ vision of military restraint overseas.

The above is from a review of Ivan Eland's new book "The Empire Has No Clothes" (read the complete review here). You might even think about including it in someone's Christmas stocking. Like mine for instance. I'd love a copy, thanks.

And for an even better review, in my ever-so-humble opinion, GO HERE >>>
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