Eat leather, boy! Take it like a Texan. Oh...sorry, you aren't.
You know what I always say,
"Democrats cannot always defend themselves from the people they have screwed," Costick67.
Friday, 19 December 2008
Bagdad Bosanova
Finally, something good came of the Bush43 presidency. Democracy in action. Raise your shoes in honour of the ruler of the known world.
Eat leather, boy! Take it like a Texan. Oh...sorry, you aren't.
You know what I always say,
"Democrats cannot always defend themselves from the people they have screwed," Costick67.
Eat leather, boy! Take it like a Texan. Oh...sorry, you aren't.
You know what I always say,
"Democrats cannot always defend themselves from the people they have screwed," Costick67.
Wednesday, 10 December 2008
keystone cops and the right to leak
This is next in a series of lessons (for foreigners and video-gaming fans) on politics in the UK. Try to remember, this is essentially about the credit crunch and cover-ups:
the first cover up
This is a very deferent country. Most people know their place and behave accordingly, especially those in the media. Therefore, the only way for the public to learn about how the government is destroying the nation through incompetence is through leaks to opposition politicians. If the content of the leak
is not about issues of national security, it's fair game. Recently, this compact has broken down because of the general erosion of personal rights. Everything is illegal now, by the way. The police 'broke into' a politician's office and home, and cross-examined the politician himself for 9 hours, although he must have had a piss-break once in a while.
(first, they came for the politicians, and we laughed and said 'good!')
Big Brother..... I mean, the police, found the name of the leaker and paraded him in front of the media.
(then they came for the bureaucrats, and we laughed and said 'good!')
This was done for show, in order to scare other public servants from leaking other embarrassing info or leaving discs on trains. [in much the same way that Guantanamo is designed to keep middle class jihadis from getting off their couches]
The shell game and the second cover-up
The next bit is the interesting part. In order to cover up the abuse of politicians rights, of the rights of free speech and of habeus corpus, a farce has been spun which has ensnared a number of other people. You see, it's not the police's fault that they broke the law, it was the speaker of the House of Commons who was to blame. He let the police into the Commons, because they're not allowed to enter unwelcomed. So, blame the speaker. He had soiled his shorts so badly that he lied to parliament about his cock-up. Hang him high for losing the confidence of parliament! Not.
This gets better. Since Britain has, with great difficulty rid itself of most of its medeival laws, it still has to deal with behaviour which would not be allowed anywhere else, other than Chicago.
The mayor of London, Boris the-Spider Johnson, has taken the police commission under his wing, because the separation of the government and the police is something not widely accepted here. Caramba! So, Boris had a chat with the new police chief (having just fired the last one) on his first day on the job, for the chief to tell him about the raid on Parliament which victimised a colleague of Boris' in the Conservative Party. So, hang the mayor high for interfering with the police! not.
Who is the architect of all this keystone cop mayhem (the raid, speaker-gate, Boris-gate)? Who has been designing this conga-line of Punch and Judy scenes for our entertainment? In any serious country, the main issue would have been the abrogation of rights mentioned above which are worse than Watergate because the POLICE were made to do the dirty work. As it stands, the minister is still in place and the opposition is not complaining! It boggles the mind! That's because all of this story has been but theatre. If it weren't, heads would be rolling for any of the above injustices and yet all is calm. Strange, no?
working on a conspiracy theory
This grand scheme must have been orchestrated to keep the nation's hateful eyes off of Gordon Brown, author of the credit crunch. As a result, people will have nowhere to vent their anger at their financial ruin since they will not see GB's face on the nightly news. Before you know it, we'll have any number of other scandals to keep us busy and hating others, like jaywalking illegal immigrants. Keep tuned to The Sun. (just don't look directly at it, or it'll fl**k you up)
You doubt? Then why has the credit crunch left the front pages. Hundreds are still losing their jobs every week. Bankruptcies and foreclosures are up. Who would gain from keeping the public in the dark? We otherwise would be finding out how hopeless our politicians are.
The shell game and the second cover-up
The next bit is the interesting part. In order to cover up the abuse of politicians rights, of the rights of free speech and of habeus corpus, a farce has been spun which has ensnared a number of other people. You see, it's not the police's fault that they broke the law, it was the speaker of the House of Commons who was to blame. He let the police into the Commons, because they're not allowed to enter unwelcomed. So, blame the speaker. He had soiled his shorts so badly that he lied to parliament about his cock-up. Hang him high for losing the confidence of parliament! Not.
This gets better. Since Britain has, with great difficulty rid itself of most of its medeival laws, it still has to deal with behaviour which would not be allowed anywhere else, other than Chicago.
The mayor of London, Boris the-Spider Johnson, has taken the police commission under his wing, because the separation of the government and the police is something not widely accepted here. Caramba! So, Boris had a chat with the new police chief (having just fired the last one) on his first day on the job, for the chief to tell him about the raid on Parliament which victimised a colleague of Boris' in the Conservative Party. So, hang the mayor high for interfering with the police! not.
Who is the architect of all this keystone cop mayhem (the raid, speaker-gate, Boris-gate)? Who has been designing this conga-line of Punch and Judy scenes for our entertainment? In any serious country, the main issue would have been the abrogation of rights mentioned above which are worse than Watergate because the POLICE were made to do the dirty work. As it stands, the minister is still in place and the opposition is not complaining! It boggles the mind! That's because all of this story has been but theatre. If it weren't, heads would be rolling for any of the above injustices and yet all is calm. Strange, no?
working on a conspiracy theory
This grand scheme must have been orchestrated to keep the nation's hateful eyes off of Gordon Brown, author of the credit crunch. As a result, people will have nowhere to vent their anger at their financial ruin since they will not see GB's face on the nightly news. Before you know it, we'll have any number of other scandals to keep us busy and hating others, like jaywalking illegal immigrants. Keep tuned to The Sun. (just don't look directly at it, or it'll fl**k you up)
You doubt? Then why has the credit crunch left the front pages. Hundreds are still losing their jobs every week. Bankruptcies and foreclosures are up. Who would gain from keeping the public in the dark? We otherwise would be finding out how hopeless our politicians are.
Update: check Youtube for Peter Schiff, the prophet with the answers.
short order cooks & the flipside of the American dream
This is about a story on exiledonline.com
A new book ("Outliers") has arrived on the scene to explain to Americans why they are not successful, because the successful Americans wouldn't be wasting their time reading that book.
This book is necessary because financial success is the meaning of 'the pursuit of happiness. Turns out that there's an excuse or two that are ready-to-use. All that decides your fate is when, where and to whom you're born, which explains Bush43. One other small issue is whether you have a horse-shoe up your butt, or not. Of course, your birth particulars could certainly help your luck.
This should also solve another perennial problem for Americans who think that most Europeans, with their 5-week annual vacations, are lazy lay-abouts who are only interested in their cafe lattes and sex. Now you know why, okay Joe? Still confused? Read paragraph two (above) again, particularly the "All that matters..." part. It took Americans 232 years of 'liberty' to discover what Europeans have known all along. "Look after number one (yourself) or else you'll fall on number two (feces)".
All men are created equal, but most US men are unwilling to accept that. And that's why American governments have let schools, healthcare, human rights and workers' rights laws, and infrastructure to rot. Each American thinks that he's going to be the next self-made millionaire, and so, big government reminds him of communism.
There's one theory in the book that I have a problem with; the reason for the math abilities of East Asians. It probably has less to do with generations of detail work and toil, and more to do with the complexity of their languages and how they're used. checkitout!
goto: http://exiledonline.com/book-review-outliers-the-story-of-success-and-why-youre-not-having-any/
A new book ("Outliers") has arrived on the scene to explain to Americans why they are not successful, because the successful Americans wouldn't be wasting their time reading that book.
This book is necessary because financial success is the meaning of 'the pursuit of happiness. Turns out that there's an excuse or two that are ready-to-use. All that decides your fate is when, where and to whom you're born, which explains Bush43. One other small issue is whether you have a horse-shoe up your butt, or not. Of course, your birth particulars could certainly help your luck.
This should also solve another perennial problem for Americans who think that most Europeans, with their 5-week annual vacations, are lazy lay-abouts who are only interested in their cafe lattes and sex. Now you know why, okay Joe? Still confused? Read paragraph two (above) again, particularly the "All that matters..." part. It took Americans 232 years of 'liberty' to discover what Europeans have known all along. "Look after number one (yourself) or else you'll fall on number two (feces)".
All men are created equal, but most US men are unwilling to accept that. And that's why American governments have let schools, healthcare, human rights and workers' rights laws, and infrastructure to rot. Each American thinks that he's going to be the next self-made millionaire, and so, big government reminds him of communism.
There's one theory in the book that I have a problem with; the reason for the math abilities of East Asians. It probably has less to do with generations of detail work and toil, and more to do with the complexity of their languages and how they're used. checkitout!
goto: http://exiledonline.com/book-review-outliers-the-story-of-success-and-why-youre-not-having-any/
Monday, 8 December 2008
Fascist violence in 70s Latin America an economics experiment, Chicago style
Chicago-bang-bang, indeed. On the "Ascent of Money" it was more or less made clear that socialists and communists were ruining the world economy so blood-thirsty fascist dictators (like Pinot-Chet)
[here he is looking like a true democrat, man of the people]
were required to save the whole world, ........for the rich, that is. So, the talking-head I will call 'Prof boy' is not a poli sci lecturer. It's a weakness. His blood runs green; greenback, that is. Growth is good. Greed is good. The welfare state is a disaster.
Okay, so let's say for a moment that Prof boy's not a mouthpiece for the Man and try to see what his ideas have done for mankind, the other 99% of mankind that has to fight for the last 5% of the planet's wealth, lest we destroy the whole place. Prof says that public pension funds are too broadly based and so if people enjoy good health, like in Japan, the nation will go broke. His solution is private investment of 'pension savings', in the stock market. [Note: he said this with a straight face, although I was watching it through my own pained squinting eyes]
People in the black markets or without steady work will have no safety net, but that's better for the 85% of the nation of Chile which is not in poverty. Success! What's fifteen percent to you and me? It's not flesh and blood, after all; it's a number.
Fly in Ointment, Kimo-sabe. The lazy rich, seeing all this filthy lucre lying around tend to want to illegally pocket it any way they can. If you rob a bank with a mask, it's 20 years, if you rob it with a white shirt and tie, it's 5. Get the math?
There has been no shortage of financial debacles since the bubble mentality took hold in the West. In the 80s, Bush41's son used Reagan's savings-and-loan law to rob his own bank, as did many other lazy rich. In 1987, US stock market crash emptied many people's 401k stock portfolios. Pop goes the pension. Employees at Enron who had all their pension savings in Enron stock are robbed by Ken Lay. Fast forward to 2007: derivative activities ($567 trill.) sink the REAL economy. Who cares about the 401k when you're sleeping in an abandoned 406?
Stocks are the ghost image of a company. They mean nothing in and of themselves if a company is bust. Derivatives are the ghost of a stock or an orange or whatever. Never has the gambling metaphor been more clear. Thanks, Prof boy. Bring on the next money-trader's messiah.
Okay, so let's say for a moment that Prof boy's not a mouthpiece for the Man and try to see what his ideas have done for mankind, the other 99% of mankind that has to fight for the last 5% of the planet's wealth, lest we destroy the whole place. Prof says that public pension funds are too broadly based and so if people enjoy good health, like in Japan, the nation will go broke. His solution is private investment of 'pension savings', in the stock market. [Note: he said this with a straight face, although I was watching it through my own pained squinting eyes]
People in the black markets or without steady work will have no safety net, but that's better for the 85% of the nation of Chile which is not in poverty. Success! What's fifteen percent to you and me? It's not flesh and blood, after all; it's a number.
Fly in Ointment, Kimo-sabe. The lazy rich, seeing all this filthy lucre lying around tend to want to illegally pocket it any way they can. If you rob a bank with a mask, it's 20 years, if you rob it with a white shirt and tie, it's 5. Get the math?
There has been no shortage of financial debacles since the bubble mentality took hold in the West. In the 80s, Bush41's son used Reagan's savings-and-loan law to rob his own bank, as did many other lazy rich. In 1987, US stock market crash emptied many people's 401k stock portfolios. Pop goes the pension. Employees at Enron who had all their pension savings in Enron stock are robbed by Ken Lay. Fast forward to 2007: derivative activities ($567 trill.) sink the REAL economy. Who cares about the 401k when you're sleeping in an abandoned 406?
Stocks are the ghost image of a company. They mean nothing in and of themselves if a company is bust. Derivatives are the ghost of a stock or an orange or whatever. Never has the gambling metaphor been more clear. Thanks, Prof boy. Bring on the next money-trader's messiah.
[interp. of photo. It's your kids lives you're gambling away]
Update: (more on this later) It is a truism, one that even Warren Buffet will allow, that if everyone is into the stock market, then it will soon be in trouble. The cause of the trouble will be the inflation of values such that they do not reflect reality. So, eventually they will come crashing down. Has anyone heard of price/dividend calculation? Lookitup.
The conclusion?: Gambling of this sort should be heavily controlled and taxed more to LESSEN speculation. Stocks only have value to a company if it is looking to place more stock on the market. As a result, rich people will have to go and do something, like build (and employ people), manufacture (and employ) and not sit at their computer moving shares around.
Costick67 may be a prophet, part 2
Though I wasn't the first, a few posts ago, I equated many of the starker aspects of 1940s Germany (if you understand) with a more recent debacle nearer, say, the Middle East. While this whole idea of the tables having long since been turned has started to infect Israel after all. People in the government are calling the settlers' recent actions a 'pogrom', a Russian word for a concerted racist attack (on a particular nation, that nation having since taken the upper hand, at 'home'). Peace in our millennium? What a thought.
Costick67 may be a prophet, part 1
A few posts ago, I mentioned that people would be going back to the Iron Age thanks to Bush43. Well, one of his bafflegab footsoldiers, Sarah Palin Pitbull, was out telling people across the great nation of Alaska that they should fight the credit crunch by bagging their own food: berries, fish and wild game (otherwise known as Bush meat). Anything to promote gun-play, I guess.
Those of you short on faith or long on humour should visit: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/healthwellness/110446/
Those of you short on faith or long on humour should visit: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/healthwellness/110446/
Plane stupid, and yet brilliant
(For foreigners and video-gaming fans) Here's yet another lesson in British politics. Plane Stupid, a wild group of direct action democrats, stormed through the chicken wire at Stansted in a protest against the needless expansion of airports serving boorish bored bourgeois travellers and the rich businessmen encouraging this "me, myself and I and fl**k everybody else and the planet" generation.
Here's the toxic stuff though. The BBC London, all bitchy at the shortage of champagne and canapes, decided to give a lesson in democracy to its viewers. A Plane Stupid campaigner was sat in front of a target and spat at by a Transport wonk and the BBC's talking head. Not only was the necessity for direct action in a healthy democracy belittled (freedom demands dilligence), but also, the poor boy was set upon with such a barrage of bull-cack as to make me gag.
Mr Wonk says 'follow the democratic path', i.e. wait 4 years for the next crop of politicians, local and national, to tell you they will help you if you vote for them, and then they'll show you the door of their new political office; the exit door! We all know that politicians side with business, business wants travellers, therefore politicians will push for new runways. Right, Boris the- Karloff Johnson?
When the Plane Stupid lad said that the unintentional cancellation of flights that day had saved the earth from several hundred tons of CO2, Mr Wonk replied "One of the people going to Poland, to discuss the next CO2 deal, could not fly today." Oh, the pain. The unstated subplot is that Mr Wonk doesn't give a toss for CO2 anyway. He wants business as usual. But, good rhetoric doesn't rely on truthing, innit?
Both of the 'representatives of the people' were attacking the PS warrior, with the Beeb's talking head taking on quite a tone. They cut off the PS crusader regularly. He stuck his ground, and I'm glad to see that the group can take full frontal attacks from the Man and still keep going. checkitout!
http://www.planestupid.com/
Here's the toxic stuff though. The BBC London, all bitchy at the shortage of champagne and canapes, decided to give a lesson in democracy to its viewers. A Plane Stupid campaigner was sat in front of a target and spat at by a Transport wonk and the BBC's talking head. Not only was the necessity for direct action in a healthy democracy belittled (freedom demands dilligence), but also, the poor boy was set upon with such a barrage of bull-cack as to make me gag.
Mr Wonk says 'follow the democratic path', i.e. wait 4 years for the next crop of politicians, local and national, to tell you they will help you if you vote for them, and then they'll show you the door of their new political office; the exit door! We all know that politicians side with business, business wants travellers, therefore politicians will push for new runways. Right, Boris the- Karloff Johnson?
When the Plane Stupid lad said that the unintentional cancellation of flights that day had saved the earth from several hundred tons of CO2, Mr Wonk replied "One of the people going to Poland, to discuss the next CO2 deal, could not fly today." Oh, the pain. The unstated subplot is that Mr Wonk doesn't give a toss for CO2 anyway. He wants business as usual. But, good rhetoric doesn't rely on truthing, innit?
Both of the 'representatives of the people' were attacking the PS warrior, with the Beeb's talking head taking on quite a tone. They cut off the PS crusader regularly. He stuck his ground, and I'm glad to see that the group can take full frontal attacks from the Man and still keep going. checkitout!
http://www.planestupid.com/
Sunday, 7 December 2008
Of churches, pop stars and egos
a lesson in diplomacy and modesty. Let me see if I've got this straight: John Lennon appears to say that his band is bigger than Jesus; Catholic Church gets pissed off; Lennon dies; twenty years later, the Catholic Church forgives Lennon.
First of all, who gave that Church the right to dole out hatred? Did Jesus tell them to do that? Isn't the goal of Christianity to try to understand the person opposite you? Love thy neighbour, or perhaps his wife (sorry, broke a commandment). If they had talked to Lennon, they would have found out that he was misinterpreted intentionally by a hack looking for fame. Lennon was actually decrying the fame system. See what self-righteous hatred does? It makes you look stupid.
Although, I must say that, as a comment by a British musician, it seemed more fitting with the sensational interpretation. Many musicians over here get an altogether inflated sense of self after a while. Cases in point: the lead singer of soporific Coldplate says 'we de greatest'. The Brothers Eyebrow of Oasis say that they are the greatest singer and songwriter (respectively) ever, or some crap like that. The reason? British society is so full of backbiting and jealousy, from the Queen on down to the dustman, that when you are famous enough to isolate yourself from it for a while, the ego that you hide so well and that sustained you, becomes this monstrosity visible from space with the naked eye.
First of all, who gave that Church the right to dole out hatred? Did Jesus tell them to do that? Isn't the goal of Christianity to try to understand the person opposite you? Love thy neighbour, or perhaps his wife (sorry, broke a commandment). If they had talked to Lennon, they would have found out that he was misinterpreted intentionally by a hack looking for fame. Lennon was actually decrying the fame system. See what self-righteous hatred does? It makes you look stupid.
Although, I must say that, as a comment by a British musician, it seemed more fitting with the sensational interpretation. Many musicians over here get an altogether inflated sense of self after a while. Cases in point: the lead singer of soporific Coldplate says 'we de greatest'. The Brothers Eyebrow of Oasis say that they are the greatest singer and songwriter (respectively) ever, or some crap like that. The reason? British society is so full of backbiting and jealousy, from the Queen on down to the dustman, that when you are famous enough to isolate yourself from it for a while, the ego that you hide so well and that sustained you, becomes this monstrosity visible from space with the naked eye.
Saturday, 6 December 2008
Do rich know when it's not Xmas?
I love it when obscenely rich people ask me to donate money to charity. Cheeky bastards. Line them all up to sing us a tune and move our very human instincts of concern for those who are suffering. It actually gets stronger when a recession hits. So, call in those lazy troubadours. Tell me the rumours of £ 0 having gone to Africa are not true. Tell me it wasn't a make-work project for out of work Rats. Did the musicians give any money themselves? Well, they did give their services for free. What a gift!
We are so giving. And we must always give because we have permanently destroyed the Africans' home societies with our mercantilism and our IMFism, such that they cannot survive at home. We are even flooding their markets with produce, putting their farmers out of business.
So Live-Aid-my-career musicians make it look like we're helping Africans so that we can feel righteous in blocking these Africans from risking their lives coming to our countries in search of a living.
As the song goes:
"At Christmastime it's hard, but when you're having fun
There's a world outside your window
And it's a world of dread and fear"
But rich folks cannot shed a tear.
They're immortal, and thus less human.
They're the pretty face on the immoral economic system that's screwing Africa.
Have a look in the mirror, Fameboy.
Saturday, 29 November 2008
Alien metastasises
Although this will be a slow week, the mothership that is this blog will spawn its first two viral pods for cos67 and cosine67.
-Costick67 (8^P
So what?
I have no answer for that.
If you're curious, though, just link to them from my profile page. This site here will remain the most personally representative, being my political home. The other blogs will be experimental without the mind-altering substances which that tends to connote. They will have a flavour which I hope will be more freeing and entertaining. I will use them to flesh out some 'characters' that need some room to develop. So, checkitout!-Costick67 (8^P
Monday, 24 November 2008
Beating around the Bushes'
I foresee the growth of a new disingenous movement of back-handed compliments for the exiting (You're still here!) executive leader of the US.
According to David Evans in the 4 Nov 08 Guardian, "let's hope he's remembered as the man that paved the way for the United States' first black president." His greasy wax mug will sit in Tussaud's next to other politicians who've reached across the racial divide, like South Africa's de Klerk and Venezuela's Chavez.
Bush's undying efforts to solve the problems of the environment such as greenhouse gases, waste of resources and social ills such as consumerism and consumer debt have been solved by his complete destruction of international trade and debt financing. Companies cannot get loans, so their factories are closing, making Kyoto achievable.
Even though prices of liquid carbon fuels have returned to below-normal levels, the stuff cannot be delivered because of 4-score Somali pirates on the Horn of Africa. International mistrust is at such a high, no Western country wants to take the blame for another international fiasco like Iraq or Afghanistan, so the oil barons have to fend for themselves. Perhaps Blackwater would like to give the Indian Ocean a try. See? Bush is promoting private initiative and job creation again! Brilliant. Crazy like a fox.
By saddling the US with a 12 trillion dollar deficit he has emasculated the US as a world power and put it in hock to its biggest importers of goods, China, Japan and the Middle East oily kings.
I can forsee a solution to the political troubles in the Levant, like, real soon, or else the plug will be pulled and the Pentagon and Homeland Security will be sh**ting in the dark.
Now, if only more people would lose their homes because of the nationalised banks' refusal to make loans, then there will be less electricity and gas consumed. People will go back to the wild, eating roots and wading for fish. Bush will have taken some of us back to the wild idyll of the Iron Age. Imagine the documentaries. History does indeed repeat itself.
Bush for President of the world! Totally.
According to David Evans in the 4 Nov 08 Guardian, "let's hope he's remembered as the man that paved the way for the United States' first black president." His greasy wax mug will sit in Tussaud's next to other politicians who've reached across the racial divide, like South Africa's de Klerk and Venezuela's Chavez.
Bush's undying efforts to solve the problems of the environment such as greenhouse gases, waste of resources and social ills such as consumerism and consumer debt have been solved by his complete destruction of international trade and debt financing. Companies cannot get loans, so their factories are closing, making Kyoto achievable.
Even though prices of liquid carbon fuels have returned to below-normal levels, the stuff cannot be delivered because of 4-score Somali pirates on the Horn of Africa. International mistrust is at such a high, no Western country wants to take the blame for another international fiasco like Iraq or Afghanistan, so the oil barons have to fend for themselves. Perhaps Blackwater would like to give the Indian Ocean a try. See? Bush is promoting private initiative and job creation again! Brilliant. Crazy like a fox.
By saddling the US with a 12 trillion dollar deficit he has emasculated the US as a world power and put it in hock to its biggest importers of goods, China, Japan and the Middle East oily kings.
I can forsee a solution to the political troubles in the Levant, like, real soon, or else the plug will be pulled and the Pentagon and Homeland Security will be sh**ting in the dark.
Now, if only more people would lose their homes because of the nationalised banks' refusal to make loans, then there will be less electricity and gas consumed. People will go back to the wild, eating roots and wading for fish. Bush will have taken some of us back to the wild idyll of the Iron Age. Imagine the documentaries. History does indeed repeat itself.
Bush for President of the world! Totally.
Sunday, 23 November 2008
Marx on Duck Soup and other Opiates
Newsflash. A recent discovery was made in the Moscow basement of the Communist Party newspaper 3C P1 as they were preparing for a car boot sale. The CP will soon be leaving its tower and moving into a shed out back. They found newsreel footage of an interview with Karl Marx.
In it, he expands on his later theories:
Marx claimed that almost everything in the world has been made, intentionally or not, into an opiate for the people, by those same people or their governments and businesses. Especially some 'thing' which he called an idiot box. He would not explain, except to say it hadn’t been fully developed yet.
A brief excerpt of the interview
3CP1: You mentioned opiates.... like religion, alcohol, drugs, literature, ....footie even?
Marx: Yes, except Man United. Engels just loves them. I know not why.
3CP1: Is there anything which is not an opiate?
Marx: All zat is essential for life: work, family, food, proletarian revolution.
3CP1: Let's talk about family for a moment. How did you reach this conclusion?
Marx: I got zat idea from a colleague. I don’t understand family, myself. My wife doesn’t talk to me because she says I'm long-vinded and her tea-party friends think I'm a troublemaker. My kids call me ‘boring old fart’ and valk out of ze room. I don’t pay much attention to zem anyway, but...
3CP1: Enough, thanks. Do you think that communism is practical?
Marx: I am an ideas man. I leave zat to politicians. Bunch of chancers! I suppose left-wing extremists will seize on it, or perhaps governments with a victim agenda, like one country I know vich was forced by another, at gun-point, to import Opium.
3CP1: What country would be cruel enough to do that?
Marx: I don't remember, but business greed makes people do f**ked-up things to each ozzer. Engels told me about zis big island vere vorkers toiled for 12 hours a day, six days a veek for just enough money to feed zemselves. And the stores were selling zem sawdust in zeir flour. And yet ze poor spent all zeir extra money on beer and football. Zat's ze situation zat got me sinkingk.
3CP1: Thinking what?
Marx: Zat people are bleedingk stupid, dumkopf. Zey need ideas to set zem free.
3CP1: So, what if people try communism and it fails?
Marx: Zen I'll look pretty good.
3CP1: What the fluk? Huh?
Marx: Zats right. Rich people vill think zey've totally screwed ze vorkers and zen zey'll insert zeir heads straight into zeir arses. If ze vorkers von't accept abject slavery, zere vill be wars for zem to die in,
zen if zey manage to save money, zey'll have zeir savings confiscated in several scandals over 30 years. Con after neo-con. People vill be starving. After zat, all bets are off. The scheisse vill hit ze fan.
3CP1: Where will this happen?
Marx: I am not a prophet, but zat island and its spawn are the best candidates. Maybe some far-off republic. Yes, zat's it. Republicans!
3CP1: But, these are democracies.
Marx: Ha! The Athenians tried democracy, and vere are zey now? Shagging sheep and fleecing tourist. Or is it ze ozzer vay around? Verdammich!
Do you know vat I think of democracy?
3CP1: What?
Marx: Okay. I vas just elected, let's say, so I vill tell you in anozzer 4 years. In ze meantime, sit on hands please, ...........oh, and shut-up. Zat's vat I think. Meanvile, I'll help myself to your money. If you don't like zat, I vill have you meet ze police. Nice fellows having big weapons.
In it, he expands on his later theories:
Marx claimed that almost everything in the world has been made, intentionally or not, into an opiate for the people, by those same people or their governments and businesses. Especially some 'thing' which he called an idiot box. He would not explain, except to say it hadn’t been fully developed yet.
A brief excerpt of the interview
3CP1: You mentioned opiates.... like religion, alcohol, drugs, literature, ....footie even?
Marx: Yes, except Man United. Engels just loves them. I know not why.
3CP1: Is there anything which is not an opiate?
Marx: All zat is essential for life: work, family, food, proletarian revolution.
3CP1: Let's talk about family for a moment. How did you reach this conclusion?
Marx: I got zat idea from a colleague. I don’t understand family, myself. My wife doesn’t talk to me because she says I'm long-vinded and her tea-party friends think I'm a troublemaker. My kids call me ‘boring old fart’ and valk out of ze room. I don’t pay much attention to zem anyway, but...
3CP1: Enough, thanks. Do you think that communism is practical?
Marx: I am an ideas man. I leave zat to politicians. Bunch of chancers! I suppose left-wing extremists will seize on it, or perhaps governments with a victim agenda, like one country I know vich was forced by another, at gun-point, to import Opium.
3CP1: What country would be cruel enough to do that?
Marx: I don't remember, but business greed makes people do f**ked-up things to each ozzer. Engels told me about zis big island vere vorkers toiled for 12 hours a day, six days a veek for just enough money to feed zemselves. And the stores were selling zem sawdust in zeir flour. And yet ze poor spent all zeir extra money on beer and football. Zat's ze situation zat got me sinkingk.
3CP1: Thinking what?
Marx: Zat people are bleedingk stupid, dumkopf. Zey need ideas to set zem free.
3CP1: So, what if people try communism and it fails?
Marx: Zen I'll look pretty good.
3CP1: What the fluk? Huh?
Marx: Zats right. Rich people vill think zey've totally screwed ze vorkers and zen zey'll insert zeir heads straight into zeir arses. If ze vorkers von't accept abject slavery, zere vill be wars for zem to die in,
zen if zey manage to save money, zey'll have zeir savings confiscated in several scandals over 30 years. Con after neo-con. People vill be starving. After zat, all bets are off. The scheisse vill hit ze fan.
3CP1: Where will this happen?
Marx: I am not a prophet, but zat island and its spawn are the best candidates. Maybe some far-off republic. Yes, zat's it. Republicans!
3CP1: But, these are democracies.
Marx: Ha! The Athenians tried democracy, and vere are zey now? Shagging sheep and fleecing tourist. Or is it ze ozzer vay around? Verdammich!
Do you know vat I think of democracy?
3CP1: What?
Marx: Okay. I vas just elected, let's say, so I vill tell you in anozzer 4 years. In ze meantime, sit on hands please, ...........oh, and shut-up. Zat's vat I think. Meanvile, I'll help myself to your money. If you don't like zat, I vill have you meet ze police. Nice fellows having big weapons.
Savings on ice
I've just realised the full weight of the tax-haven and the laws in the semi-British bailiwicks which surround this verdant fortress of rectitude. The Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey (home of the cow) do not have the same banking laws as the rest of the country. Thus, offshore banks can set up shop and if things go tits-up, as they did, the savings of British people are not protected. This allowed some of the Icelandic banks to 'take' the savings of families, organisations, municipal governments, etc.
It is fitting for a government that presents itself [or at least did until recently if the law has changed] as 'the City', where rich Germans could hide their money from their own government. So, tax-haven Britain has no moral leg to stand on in this case. Iceland is not a tax haven, as far as I can tell. How can the UK petition the government of Iceland for those deposits when their whole country is bankrupt, and when their banks did nothing illegal? They just lost all of their deposits because they followed the laws of international banking, i.e. grab the lucre and run. Britain cannot complain about that either, for obvious reasons of authorship. If Iceland pays up on behalf of its '25 crazy bankers' then it will be branded as a haven for stupid politicians. The IMF will instantly set up a torture chamber there
-Costick67 ( 8^P
It is fitting for a government that presents itself [or at least did until recently if the law has changed] as 'the City', where rich Germans could hide their money from their own government. So, tax-haven Britain has no moral leg to stand on in this case. Iceland is not a tax haven, as far as I can tell. How can the UK petition the government of Iceland for those deposits when their whole country is bankrupt, and when their banks did nothing illegal? They just lost all of their deposits because they followed the laws of international banking, i.e. grab the lucre and run. Britain cannot complain about that either, for obvious reasons of authorship. If Iceland pays up on behalf of its '25 crazy bankers' then it will be branded as a haven for stupid politicians. The IMF will instantly set up a torture chamber there
-Costick67 ( 8^P
Rove v Wade-a-minit, part 1
Electioneering is such a refined art. The pursuit of bending and contorting the public's will, once every 1400 days, is the bedrock of our democracy. So, when I see strategists like Karl Rove helping many recent failed campaigns in the US, I take off my hat to a man who knows how to spread a message. Case in point: An Indiana [I don't see no Indians] election official of unknown political affiliation 'distributed a blog that called Barack Obama a "young, black Adolph Hitler."'
In another case, there was an 'email (sic - indeed)... sent to Jewish voters warning of a "second Holocaust" if the Democrat was elected.' [That one was sent to us by Vata Putz].
At many American universities, those bastions of higher thought and debate, the week before the election was, for no apparent reason, the time to have "Islamofascism Awareness Week"'. I suppose they wanted to clear up the belief among the semi-educated that Obama was a Muslim and thus a fascist.
Those rank highly, even next to the claims in the Texas governor's race, that GWBushwacker won, when Rove started a whispering campaign that the female then-governor was a lesbian. That was enough to tilt the balance in favour of the Clan's favourite son.
In 2000, the same source provided the news that John McCain had an illegitimate black child, though that must not have been referring to his adopted black son. Right?
THE PRECEDING MESSAGE WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE DEMOCRACY NGO 'SARCASM' and its message "keep truthing, keep blogging, and keep your eyes on those faulty voting machines."
[see A Karpf 'Islamofascist slanders' Guardian Tues 4 November 2008 p30]
In another case, there was an 'email (sic - indeed)... sent to Jewish voters warning of a "second Holocaust" if the Democrat was elected.' [That one was sent to us by Vata Putz].
At many American universities, those bastions of higher thought and debate, the week before the election was, for no apparent reason, the time to have "Islamofascism Awareness Week"'. I suppose they wanted to clear up the belief among the semi-educated that Obama was a Muslim and thus a fascist.
Those rank highly, even next to the claims in the Texas governor's race, that GWBushwacker won, when Rove started a whispering campaign that the female then-governor was a lesbian. That was enough to tilt the balance in favour of the Clan's favourite son.
In 2000, the same source provided the news that John McCain had an illegitimate black child, though that must not have been referring to his adopted black son. Right?
THE PRECEDING MESSAGE WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE DEMOCRACY NGO 'SARCASM' and its message "keep truthing, keep blogging, and keep your eyes on those faulty voting machines."
[see A Karpf 'Islamofascist slanders' Guardian Tues 4 November 2008 p30]
News flash: Philistines not aware of 'holocost'
Outnaboutcanuck sent its intrepid reporter Phil Ossified to a territory called 'occupied' to get to the bottom of this scandal:
I feel that history is more than ideas; it is alive in our minds. I was looking to discuss the ghettoisation that preceded the horror and interviewed Wadi to see what he knew. "I nothing about that. have problem. Wall take away well for watering gardens. No food." When I insisted, he started yelling "Yuala kafir %&£#**." I can only pity his ignorance.
I went further down to talk about the programme of annihilation that started slowly and led to indiscriminent mass killing. As I was talking to Jamael, we were interrupted by a plane dropping its bombs nearby. "So what about the feeling that the victims had of being lambs awaiting a slaughter?" His response was "I see if my family okay," and he tried to leave. When I insisted, he starting waving his arms and screaming "Yuala kafir %&£#**." I wish I spoke the lingo. There's a message in there somewhere.
When I wanted to talk about the camp guards in the towers who, when they saw exhausted people, even prostrate children, in the open near them, would shoot them. So I found an old man outside his home. As I started to interview him, he interjected, "Go around corner. Soldier up there. Gun is point." I didn't understand so I just followed him.
I went to talk to a moderate politician, who was removed from office at gun-point by local rebels last year, to talk about the futile uprising that was crushed in the ghetto. However, I could not get through to him, it seems. All he kept saying is "What to say. Those bastards no trust democracy. I elected. They talk about anti- fata all times! Shoot gun. Is bad." I wondered openly if that was a local dish they were talking about, because I was kind of hungry. He replied "Get out of hhheeeerrr!" There is simply no time for learning or cooking here, it seems.
In the town square, I wanted to discuss the so-called 'last solution', but the curious crowd around me scattered as a jeep sped towards us. It seems that it was an out of control 4X4, because it mounted the pavement and didn't seem interested in avoiding the pedestrians. I was shocked at the poor driving skills in this place. I'm sure he'll lose his license for that. And, just when I was about to reach a breakthrough.
Altogether, I have found it true that these philistines have no idea about one of the most horrible episodes in human history. I suppose for their part, the British and even the Germans have been sensitised. They've learned that if they could put themselves in the place of the minority which is in their control, they would not do such a thing again. The minority are not animals or pawns to an -ism, after all. It is certain though that if aggressors, and victims, do not understand this message of history, they are bound to repeat it.
[see: A. Karpf 'Islamofascist slanders' Guardian Tues 4 Nov 2008 p30]
I feel that history is more than ideas; it is alive in our minds. I was looking to discuss the ghettoisation that preceded the horror and interviewed Wadi to see what he knew. "I nothing about that. have problem. Wall take away well for watering gardens. No food." When I insisted, he started yelling "Yuala kafir %&£#**." I can only pity his ignorance.
I went further down to talk about the programme of annihilation that started slowly and led to indiscriminent mass killing. As I was talking to Jamael, we were interrupted by a plane dropping its bombs nearby. "So what about the feeling that the victims had of being lambs awaiting a slaughter?" His response was "I see if my family okay," and he tried to leave. When I insisted, he starting waving his arms and screaming "Yuala kafir %&£#**." I wish I spoke the lingo. There's a message in there somewhere.
When I wanted to talk about the camp guards in the towers who, when they saw exhausted people, even prostrate children, in the open near them, would shoot them. So I found an old man outside his home. As I started to interview him, he interjected, "Go around corner. Soldier up there. Gun is point." I didn't understand so I just followed him.
I went to talk to a moderate politician, who was removed from office at gun-point by local rebels last year, to talk about the futile uprising that was crushed in the ghetto. However, I could not get through to him, it seems. All he kept saying is "What to say. Those bastards no trust democracy. I elected. They talk about anti- fata all times! Shoot gun. Is bad." I wondered openly if that was a local dish they were talking about, because I was kind of hungry. He replied "Get out of hhheeeerrr!" There is simply no time for learning or cooking here, it seems.
In the town square, I wanted to discuss the so-called 'last solution', but the curious crowd around me scattered as a jeep sped towards us. It seems that it was an out of control 4X4, because it mounted the pavement and didn't seem interested in avoiding the pedestrians. I was shocked at the poor driving skills in this place. I'm sure he'll lose his license for that. And, just when I was about to reach a breakthrough.
Altogether, I have found it true that these philistines have no idea about one of the most horrible episodes in human history. I suppose for their part, the British and even the Germans have been sensitised. They've learned that if they could put themselves in the place of the minority which is in their control, they would not do such a thing again. The minority are not animals or pawns to an -ism, after all. It is certain though that if aggressors, and victims, do not understand this message of history, they are bound to repeat it.
[see: A. Karpf 'Islamofascist slanders' Guardian Tues 4 Nov 2008 p30]
Saturday, 22 November 2008
exiledonline.com checkitout!
Some good stories:
Yo Ho Ho and a tanker of oil
Bush the War President
-This is MAGIC! I am not worthy. Some quotes:
"What George W. Bush loved best about his job was being a war president. Playing war, that is, as opposed to making war like a grown-up. Remember him strutting onto that carrier in his little flight jacket? You never saw Eisenhower, a real general, playing out his martial fantasies this way. You can take the drink out of the drunk, but you can't take the swagger out of a fool."
"Reagan and Bush senior were cautious about betting America's chips. Liberals used to make fun of Reagan for picking on tiny helpless nations that couldn't fight back. Now they are remembering with pure nostalgia Reagan's invasion of Grenada, air raids on Libya, and even our 1984 withdrawal from Beirut." [don't forget mighty Panama- Cos67]
"Those came courtesy of Cheney and his neocon punks. What a crew these guys were! Like their boss, they were also woofers, boasters -- but of a different variety. Dubya was your standard frat boy loudmouth,
but Cheney, with his talk about "working the dark side," was more like the ultimate Dungeons and Dragons nerd. And you couldn't ask Hollywood to serve up a goofier selection of dorks than his neocon staffers, who drifted from the universities to D.C. the way has-been pop singers switch to country and western to leech off a new bunch of suckers."
"So we poured American blood and treasure into the Iraqi dust to prove the half-baked theories of a bunch of tenth-rate professors. The most expensive experiment in the history of the world, all to learn something any 10-year-old could have told them: people don't take to foreign troops on their streets, and not everybody wants to be like us. You know those Ig-Nobel awards they hand out to the dumbest science projects of the year? The Iraq invasion is the all-time winner. Retire the trophy with the names of the winning team: Bush, Cheney, Kristol, Wolfowitz, Feith."
"The campaign went so well, so fast, that it taught Bush and Cheney the wrong lessons. They started exporting democracy to Afghanistan, even hiring a local Pashtun girl to read the Kabul evening news. When you tell a big, backwards tribe like the Pashtun that you're going to turn their whole world upside down for them, you shouldn't expect them to be grateful. But we did, setting ourselves up for a whole lot of trouble later on." [it would be like them asking for a burka to be put on the statue of liberty, er, modesty- Cos67]
"You can spin Iraq a hundred different ways, but it still comes up bad news because once the dust settles, the Iranians are in control of the whole region, and they didn't have to fire a shot. We destroyed their old rival for them."
"We know a little about the enemy now, and there's less violence because all the neighborhoods had already been ethnically cleansed. Baghdad is now a Shi'ite city. There are a few Sunni enclaves, but the Shia rule the city and the country, with the Kurds fortifying themselves up north and wishing they could saw their territory off and relocate it somewhere in mid-ocean.
That's what Bush's trillion-dollar investment in Iraq has bought. Meanwhile, if you look at the rest of the world map, you get a real shock. Regions like Latin America and Central Asia that eight years ago were American protectorates in all but name have turned against us while we were distracted with Iraq." [NOW who's the scary alien?- Cos67]
Friday, 21 November 2008
Build prisons not schools
The British cabinet's justice guy, Strawman, is playing both sides of the street on the issue of prisons. With his leftie pals, he talks about the opportunity to re-educate the poor souls that the police forces are forever chucking into the dank corrections edifices. Fluff! His practical side believes that the money that is being saved from cuts to education (see yellowed post below) should be spent on building more prisons. And we shouldn't scrimp. 'Let the private sector do it up right. They'll take care of the unionised guards once and for all.'
This is visible politics in action. Education lives in the minds of the populace, but most of them don't realise what a gift it is. Prisons, on the other hand, are a blight on the landscape. Thus they are sink-holes for the hatred generated by life's stresses. The Sun and Daily Mail keep our noses deep into those institutions by screaming for bread thieves to be sent to the gallows. That should keep those few pesky leftists from bothering the Queen's rightful representatives in the cabinet.
[see 'Straw man' editorial Guardian Tuesday, 28 October 2008]
This is visible politics in action. Education lives in the minds of the populace, but most of them don't realise what a gift it is. Prisons, on the other hand, are a blight on the landscape. Thus they are sink-holes for the hatred generated by life's stresses. The Sun and Daily Mail keep our noses deep into those institutions by screaming for bread thieves to be sent to the gallows. That should keep those few pesky leftists from bothering the Queen's rightful representatives in the cabinet.
[see 'Straw man' editorial Guardian Tuesday, 28 October 2008]
Thursday, 20 November 2008
Electronic memory bank 1.0 - Fix lies about the crisis
If the net, and blogs particularly, are to be of any value, they must discuss key public issues and make sure that politicians can no longer tell us lies in the belief that we have forgotten what they've done. In the US, people used this technique to defeat Karl Rove's lies about Obama (where Rove had been very successful in previous elections).
The politicians' natural instinct is to 'muddy the waters' in any such discussion so that enough of their supporters and of the rest of society will leave them be.
I, Cos67, hope to add my voice to the continuing trend in truthing. Case in point: The Question Time show, which I have criticised, actually allowed a brief audience comment after the Scottish Secr. of State (kisr. of arse) ABSOLVED PM Brown of ANY blame in the 'international' financial crisis. The audience person said "remember, Brown was chancellor (or 'chancer') when the Financial Services Authority was instituted." [again, NOBODY was allowed to answer this point!]
Perhaps the FSA was instituted in the knowledge that it would do exactly what it did. The FSA effectively freed the markets from oversight because (according to a documentary) it did not have the ability to do its job properly. It didn't understand, for example, those debt vehicles that later destroyed our economies. Well then! What better excuse did it need for dis-allowing such dubious paper to be traded?
Didn't Brown realise this? He's an economist, I believe. Or did he plan this scam because he was trying to prove that "there will be no more boom and bust cycles" (world-beating hubris, uttered in parliament- look it up). Now we have bubble and burst cycles- much better. How much responsibility does he bear?
Last point: Private Eye publisher on have I got news for you, (when asked whether he will admit that Brown has saved us from 'drowning'- in the crisis) says basically "I will, if Brown admits that he had pushed us in the water in the first place."
Don't forget these ideas. Pass them on.
-The FSA failed us.
-no more boom and bust. More bubble and burst.
[lingo- http://www.wordwebonline.com/en/CHANCER]
The politicians' natural instinct is to 'muddy the waters' in any such discussion so that enough of their supporters and of the rest of society will leave them be.
I, Cos67, hope to add my voice to the continuing trend in truthing. Case in point: The Question Time show, which I have criticised, actually allowed a brief audience comment after the Scottish Secr. of State (kisr. of arse) ABSOLVED PM Brown of ANY blame in the 'international' financial crisis. The audience person said "remember, Brown was chancellor (or 'chancer') when the Financial Services Authority was instituted." [again, NOBODY was allowed to answer this point!]
Perhaps the FSA was instituted in the knowledge that it would do exactly what it did. The FSA effectively freed the markets from oversight because (according to a documentary) it did not have the ability to do its job properly. It didn't understand, for example, those debt vehicles that later destroyed our economies. Well then! What better excuse did it need for dis-allowing such dubious paper to be traded?
Didn't Brown realise this? He's an economist, I believe. Or did he plan this scam because he was trying to prove that "there will be no more boom and bust cycles" (world-beating hubris, uttered in parliament- look it up). Now we have bubble and burst cycles- much better. How much responsibility does he bear?
Last point: Private Eye publisher on have I got news for you, (when asked whether he will admit that Brown has saved us from 'drowning'- in the crisis) says basically "I will, if Brown admits that he had pushed us in the water in the first place."
Don't forget these ideas. Pass them on.
-The FSA failed us.
-no more boom and bust. More bubble and burst.
[lingo- http://www.wordwebonline.com/en/CHANCER]
Monday, 17 November 2008
Middle-earth political tit for tat for naught
Those who are not yet convinced that British politicians are either corrupt, crazy or 'having a laugh', are discussing the latest point-scoring competition between the two top parties. It basically has to do with both a Labour and a Tory politician currying favour with a Russian oligarch (with criminal ties, according to the US) on his yacht moored at Corfu. This is little more than a score-settling between private-school boys (including some of the other Brits who were present, and who are the ones who ratted out the politicians). In the end, it's zero sum gain because other stories of both parties' corruption have come to the fore as well.
The one such sordid case that has not been mentioned, outside of one tv show, is that of Lord Somesuch who is a citizen, but also a super-rich 'non-resident' tax-dodger (how can he be a UK politician, you may ask?). Still, he bought his lordship (which is apparently illegal) and is funnelling more 'donations' to Labour (again illegal for a non-resident) through a shell game with his various companies, British and non. Now, that's interesting and proof exists to back it up. Why is nobody else talking about it?
Back to the previous case, there is no hard evidence that anybody did anything wrong, so, why the fuss? Is it for purposes of distraction? It seems that the Labour guy, who had been seconded to the EU as trade minister, seems to have done the Ruskie a favour by lowering tarriffs on the aluminum he was exporting to the EU. Was this done illegally? What was the pay-off? Money for Labour, which is near bankruptcy, or access to high-society lady-boys for the minister?
Side note: it has always been British policy that the Ruskies were not to have access to the Mediterranean. Most recently it was sorted post-WW2 at Yalta (which wasn't enough to convince the Greeks who had a 4-year civil war anyway). Now it seems that not only are they out on the Med, but they are also 'drowning' 'officers' of the British government. Vodka, Meester Bond?
See Economist 25th Oct pg46.
The one such sordid case that has not been mentioned, outside of one tv show, is that of Lord Somesuch who is a citizen, but also a super-rich 'non-resident' tax-dodger (how can he be a UK politician, you may ask?). Still, he bought his lordship (which is apparently illegal) and is funnelling more 'donations' to Labour (again illegal for a non-resident) through a shell game with his various companies, British and non. Now, that's interesting and proof exists to back it up. Why is nobody else talking about it?
Back to the previous case, there is no hard evidence that anybody did anything wrong, so, why the fuss? Is it for purposes of distraction? It seems that the Labour guy, who had been seconded to the EU as trade minister, seems to have done the Ruskie a favour by lowering tarriffs on the aluminum he was exporting to the EU. Was this done illegally? What was the pay-off? Money for Labour, which is near bankruptcy, or access to high-society lady-boys for the minister?
Side note: it has always been British policy that the Ruskies were not to have access to the Mediterranean. Most recently it was sorted post-WW2 at Yalta (which wasn't enough to convince the Greeks who had a 4-year civil war anyway). Now it seems that not only are they out on the Med, but they are also 'drowning' 'officers' of the British government. Vodka, Meester Bond?
See Economist 25th Oct pg46.
Sunday, 16 November 2008
lions led by market-led policies
For 9 years I've watched the UK education system flail about on the ground after repeated abuse from the government. As always, the government is trying primarily to get something for nothing (see railways, hospitals). The second motive, thanks to New Labour of the Right Wing, is the desire to push people to spend the money they have and don't have, to send their kids to private schools. [Don't complain. It's good for the economy, stupid.]
The government does this by running the state school system into the ground, allowing kids to run amok and leaving staff with no options for obedience training. I've seen the inside of a classroom, and it's an ugly sight. Funding is continually cut. Box-ticking bureaucratic work is foisted upon staff who work 12-hour days [staff turnover is of the McDonald's kind; can you say 'revolving door'].
Schools in deprived areas are doubly penalised because their poor, poorly-fed desk monkeys are performing badly thanks also to a lack of funding. All the more reason to destroy a perfectly good building and community and send the kids to the shiny new Academies (privately-run schools taking government money) which preach the new business mantra all day, instead of the national curriculum [since the school bosses are friends of the government, the schools are essentially run by Labour dictat; bye-bye school board]. That's why the OECD finds the UK languishing near the bottom of educational-results surveys, with the US and its No Presidents Left Behind policy.
[Economist 8 Dec '07 pg71][Photo: Wang: Follow Me]
P.S. much the same is happening to the NHS health-care system.
Thursday, 13 November 2008
Afghan Ministry of Opiates, Burkahs and Surface-to-air Missiles
This just in. Stop the (hash) presses. America spreads its wisdom by encouraging their Afghan stooges to use gung-ho government agencies to repress their own people. This latest ministry is being trained by the retired director of the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (also known as Parties R Us). In both cases, things destructive to human life are, through incompetence, promoted by a government.
Their latest report notes that there is a "record opium harvest" (Guardian) this year. Who else could possibly be gathering data like this? Not the British and American occupiers surely, since they have strict anti-drug policies which have benefitted the private prison-building industry to no end, thereby providing builders and lazy unqualified layabouts with jobs in construction and corrections, respectively. However, it's not unheard of for armies to charge protection money and sort out transport for a cut of the action.
And this reporter had previously thought that invaders had swooped down into this mountainous country to protect the future flow of gas from Central Asia (through Pakistan), thereby cutting out the Ruskies. As we can see, private initiative always leads to diversification and job creation, in a mafia stylee, doesn't it?
Reminds one of the Opium Wars. We now have: The Gas & Oil Wars and the Opium Futures and Derivatives Market.
Dinosaurs Roam the Earth, trampling livelihoods underfoot
This time in which we are living is an age of extremes. It calls to mind the rise and fall of the dinosaurs whose size and destructiveness led to their downfall, but not before they ran into humans (Hi, S.Palin fans!). Now, certain humans are taking the place of those massive, all-consuming dinosaurs, wandering the planet plundering all before them.
Stockasaurus Soros, Sharasaurus Buffetorus, Ragasaurus Murdochus, Retailasaurus Waltonus.
They rend asunder the livelihoods, savings, and lodgings of their defenseless victims. They add nothing to the world, except the golden shower which 'trickles down' on occasion. Meanwhile, their feces would require millennia to become oil and thus merely stink up the place, wherever it is that they don't reside, of course. You see, these beasts have developed to the level that they externalise all problems. Their victims pay for them. How is this done? These great shadowmakers believe that the corporation is an individual, yet, unlike people, it exists without the requirement for social cohesion or morals; in other words, it is also a monster. Oh, and they've blackmailed or bribed all the major governments of the world.
They will most certainly lead the Earth to cataclysm because they cannot be restrained by any law. Socrates said that the Law is like a spiderweb. The great and large walk right through it, and the small, like bugs, get stuck. I, Cos67, add that it is the larger-than-life monsters and their lesser scavenging dinosaur pals, the Politicus Spinicus Mendicans, who have set up these very webs in that specific way. In fact they do have eight limbs..... like Vishnu, but most of those appendages reside up their own poop-chutes and thus don't see the light of day.
Recent trip to Holland
I spent all of 22 hours in Holland recently. As the UK is crumbling around my ears, it's nice to see a visible state aparatus. It's a nice enough place. Lots of blonde, happy folks. Being from the verdant isles, I am cynical about all that happiness. It seems that the taller and blonder are indeed happier, and look down upon the short and swarthy.
Outside of the cosmopolitan areas, not only do public servants not speak English, but they don't understand when someone obviously has no idea what they are being told, i.e. me.
Tuesday, 11 November 2008
forgetrance being ignored
Update 11 Nov.
On the London nightly news on some channel they had the following:
A report of an old geezer from Croydon, with his great-grandaughter, and his medals, talking about himself having flown these cute ancient bi-planes and strafing the Gerry boats. IMMEDIATELY afterwards, the talking head says something like 'all of this talk of glory, queen and country has increased the intake at the MoD'. They showed a couple of numb-skulls pledging their bodies to their queen, in real time. The first thing one of those boys says is 'the chance to travel'. He's already a t.v. star in his own mind, whilst attracting even more cement-heads. I rest my case (see below). It was all staged perfectly. BAFTA, I say!
As a child, when I was shown reels of fighting on the front in WW1, during our remembrance ceremonies at school, I was probably one of the few who realised that this was not a Hollywood flick. Every man falling down represented a life being snuffed out... for no good reason. I was probably one of the few who knew where the nuke bomb shelters were in my area, and often noticed the air-raid sirens and would think 'what if..?' I've even been to the Canadian government's bunkers.
When I was trained as a soldier, I was shown MY beach-front dugout and the hole into which my sacrificed body will be planted, if they find my remains of course.
The rest of you have probably rejected all such thoughts because they would pain you. You stop for a minute a year, and think, or maybe not, but the thoughts of avoiding further bloodshed are likely rejected as too hypothetical, unlikely. Unfortunately, the government counts on all this when they send paid soldiers to the front, and so not enough pressure is brought to bear on the government. We are safe at home, so we don't care. If we feel anything it is nationalism, love of democracy, support for the poor buggers at the front, hatred or fear of and disdain for a particular national/religious group (brought to you by the government's Hate Ministry), and, the perennial whitey's burden.
I must admit the letters from the WW1 front read on another show tonight, aided by pictures, was more like it. Pictures of fly-covered bodies and how those flies would land on soldiers and their food; stories of massive rats and bloated cats feasting on bodies and faces; blanched skeletons; soldiers instinctual fear of bombs slowly taking over their rational minds. Gassed boys spewing up green bile. 1500 dead per hour. Now, that's war! Bon appetit.
Running out of soldiers. Comfortable London politicians throwing more men into the fray with conscription. Absolutely mental situation.
Someday, I'll explain what I mean by 'for no good reason.' Any guesses?
Prezzi for the working class
There was a recent show in which Labour's John Prescott tried to exchange ideas with people of all walks of life about the class system in the UK (The Class System and Me). For the uninitiated, he grew up working class in Yorkshire, me tinks, so he fancies himself a working class hero (he's now very affluent).
Note 1: Mocking the show, Jim Shelley in the Guardian wrote:
"Prezza is tucking in to (sic) lobster thermidor. 'What peopff fugutt is claff is in your blurgh.' [trans: What people forget is class is in your blood.]
Note 2: When I mocked his violent temper in front of a particular, apparently well-educated, colleague, this person snapped to his defense saying something like: "He's a gentleman and the only working class man in the government." My immediate reaction was 'Look at what the workers have to idolise. A guy who gives GWBushwacker a run for his money for neologisms and generally not making a lot of sense'. But, I have always felt that it was impressive that he at least made it to second-in-command in Labour, even if his work came to naught-for-10 years, especially for the working class.
I Have Finally Figured It Out. He was working class and failed his 11ses exam, and yet he got into Oxford? (He graduated, like GWB (from Yale), without being able to talk proper!?) This must mean that, due to his unique character, he was Chosen very early to become the Uncle Tom to his kind; for a whole generation of the working class. A master stroke. They've prevented the next revolution, for now.
Note 1: Mocking the show, Jim Shelley in the Guardian wrote:
"Prezza is tucking in to (sic) lobster thermidor. 'What peopff fugutt is claff is in your blurgh.' [trans: What people forget is class is in your blood.]
Note 2: When I mocked his violent temper in front of a particular, apparently well-educated, colleague, this person snapped to his defense saying something like: "He's a gentleman and the only working class man in the government." My immediate reaction was 'Look at what the workers have to idolise. A guy who gives GWBushwacker a run for his money for neologisms and generally not making a lot of sense'. But, I have always felt that it was impressive that he at least made it to second-in-command in Labour, even if his work came to naught-for-10 years, especially for the working class.
I Have Finally Figured It Out. He was working class and failed his 11ses exam, and yet he got into Oxford? (He graduated, like GWB (from Yale), without being able to talk proper!?) This must mean that, due to his unique character, he was Chosen very early to become the Uncle Tom to his kind; for a whole generation of the working class. A master stroke. They've prevented the next revolution, for now.
Monday, 10 November 2008
lions led by donkeys
A dream sequence:
Tony Blair is just elected leader in 1997 and he gathers the members of his Labour cabinet for a photo behind the Parliament. He's setting up the camera and giving directions, "move to the right" he says, 5 or 6 times, and the cabinet goes so far that they all fall into the Thames. How were they supposed to know he was talking politics, not art?
How things change. Once, one Briton helped the Arabs rise up and fight for freedom, and another Briton carved up the map of the Middle East to suit petroleum politics, YES, including Iraq, an "unworkable country from the beginning." Now, the PM went to these princes (pic. below), cap in hand, to have them 'help the IMF', i.e. his country, with its financial problems. This is progress, for the Arab nation.
Salam, everyone.
Tony Blair is just elected leader in 1997 and he gathers the members of his Labour cabinet for a photo behind the Parliament. He's setting up the camera and giving directions, "move to the right" he says, 5 or 6 times, and the cabinet goes so far that they all fall into the Thames. How were they supposed to know he was talking politics, not art?
How things change. Once, one Briton helped the Arabs rise up and fight for freedom, and another Briton carved up the map of the Middle East to suit petroleum politics, YES, including Iraq, an "unworkable country from the beginning." Now, the PM went to these princes (pic. below), cap in hand, to have them 'help the IMF', i.e. his country, with its financial problems. This is progress, for the Arab nation.
Salam, everyone.
errata and tossers
Jo Brand on Have I got news for u implies that Jeremy Clarkson of "Top Gear" is "the most lovable tosser". I disagree; actually, he's the luckiest tosser... on the Planet. For someone who puts his hands on the finest metalic and carbon-fibred ozone depleters around, he should be able to come up with something other than "this is the best car in the WOOORLD!"
He may be losing his touch. Interestingly, he's also proof of how close we are, genetically speaking, to camels. I offer his face, voice, teeth and chewing, spitting and knee-biting. Someone else who fits the description: she hangs out with princes and her name rhymes with gorilla.
He may be losing his touch. Interestingly, he's also proof of how close we are, genetically speaking, to camels. I offer his face, voice, teeth and chewing, spitting and knee-biting. Someone else who fits the description: she hangs out with princes and her name rhymes with gorilla.
Laying a Brick
My umpteenth visit to Brick Lane, E1 London. Even on a soggy day, parts are wall-to-wall people with brave buttheads trying to negotiate the street in their vehicles. Adding to the soundtrack are busking bands and 70's funkadelia.
The most interesting stuff is the artisan clothing, accessories and just, well, art. Some of the vestments are way weird, but I think they qualify as eye candy, because I'm not buying anyway. Checking out some people who do wear all manner of clothing off these racks, I find they are admirable, if only for their persistent desire to be odd. I tip my used trilby to them, which reminds me of the wacked out used clothing; it's everywhere!
I can safely say there's a t-shirt here for you, if only in theory, or else you're just not alive. Visit, check pulse, get back to me.
This time, I noticed a whole paillo de Italians. They know their stuff, from my experience. Si, certo. Maybe they're fashion spies.
[The title is in honour of Ali of Berkshire, a famous bricklayer.]
[Here's a few bricks for ya]
The most interesting stuff is the artisan clothing, accessories and just, well, art. Some of the vestments are way weird, but I think they qualify as eye candy, because I'm not buying anyway. Checking out some people who do wear all manner of clothing off these racks, I find they are admirable, if only for their persistent desire to be odd. I tip my used trilby to them, which reminds me of the wacked out used clothing; it's everywhere!
I can safely say there's a t-shirt here for you, if only in theory, or else you're just not alive. Visit, check pulse, get back to me.
This time, I noticed a whole paillo de Italians. They know their stuff, from my experience. Si, certo. Maybe they're fashion spies.
[The title is in honour of Ali of Berkshire, a famous bricklayer.]
[Here's a few bricks for ya]
Sunday, 9 November 2008
rugrat patrol
I was reading an article by Zoe Williams in the Guardian about how some of her parenting choices were different from those of her mother. As a parent, I've thought about many such issues. Since blogs are like a pub as a place for exchanging ideas, I offer:
1. I was parked in front of the idiot box (a mother's best friend) as a toddler (I remember I was so small my legs didn't even hang off the couch) and became hooked. I got partially un-hooked, not unhinged, by reading adbusters mag in my late teens. Check their website, above.
My kids watched nothing until past 2 and a half years old and they started by watching videos that I had bought. They don't watch the news, or commercials (and they know why) and don't watch when the family is eating. We supervise them and try to limit them to 3 hours a day (it's hard during winter). There happens to be a BBC radio documentary on the issue of what happens to young minds that are exposed to unsupervised tele-crap (and most of it qualifies). Opinions?
2. I did little in the way of homework, right through high school. Nobody checked. I paid attention in class and got great marks, until the important years.
We check on our child's homework and help occasionally by re-teaching concepts. My philosophy for success is a truism: The harder to you try, the easier the schoolwork gets, and the corollary. Works a charm.
3. It is vital, vital I say, to not misinterpret children's bad behaviour, especially in the first few years of their lives. Parents must not take such behaviour as a personal attack. So much of children's behaviour is instinctual, and prone to error. Parents must not remember each and every slight and allow that to colour their behaviour toward their children because doing so would create a disastrous family karma.
4. Children appreciate order and instinctively love their parents. Sometimes, though, a rap on the hands is necessary to stop silly behaviour, like when they knock stuff over intentionally, especially if the child is too young to understand the parent's desire to keep his house from falling apart. However, such measures must not ever break the spirit of the child; that amazing ability that children have to overcome adversity, and smile and play; the very definition of re-birth. Otherwise, there is a high price to be paid for fascistic control systems.
5. A child is a gift, not a chore to be finished, not a part of the order that must be kept, but a living, thinking, feeling, loving creature; a piece of the parents made whole for them to look at in wonder.
1. I was parked in front of the idiot box (a mother's best friend) as a toddler (I remember I was so small my legs didn't even hang off the couch) and became hooked. I got partially un-hooked, not unhinged, by reading adbusters mag in my late teens. Check their website, above.
My kids watched nothing until past 2 and a half years old and they started by watching videos that I had bought. They don't watch the news, or commercials (and they know why) and don't watch when the family is eating. We supervise them and try to limit them to 3 hours a day (it's hard during winter). There happens to be a BBC radio documentary on the issue of what happens to young minds that are exposed to unsupervised tele-crap (and most of it qualifies). Opinions?
2. I did little in the way of homework, right through high school. Nobody checked. I paid attention in class and got great marks, until the important years.
We check on our child's homework and help occasionally by re-teaching concepts. My philosophy for success is a truism: The harder to you try, the easier the schoolwork gets, and the corollary. Works a charm.
3. It is vital, vital I say, to not misinterpret children's bad behaviour, especially in the first few years of their lives. Parents must not take such behaviour as a personal attack. So much of children's behaviour is instinctual, and prone to error. Parents must not remember each and every slight and allow that to colour their behaviour toward their children because doing so would create a disastrous family karma.
4. Children appreciate order and instinctively love their parents. Sometimes, though, a rap on the hands is necessary to stop silly behaviour, like when they knock stuff over intentionally, especially if the child is too young to understand the parent's desire to keep his house from falling apart. However, such measures must not ever break the spirit of the child; that amazing ability that children have to overcome adversity, and smile and play; the very definition of re-birth. Otherwise, there is a high price to be paid for fascistic control systems.
5. A child is a gift, not a chore to be finished, not a part of the order that must be kept, but a living, thinking, feeling, loving creature; a piece of the parents made whole for them to look at in wonder.
Bom dia from Lula. Wake up and smell the Braz coffee
As per the CBC G20 summit report from Brazil, the local politicians have taken the rich world to task for the world-wide financial meltdown. Lula and FinMin Mantega, and the rest of the sane world, believe that new financial regs are required. I'm embarrassed to say that the Canuck FinMin was speaking out his backside when he rejected the idea, (he says) due to the difficulties we're having with the present crisis. To him: Nobody's talking about making this crisis worse, you pelt! (By the way, Canada has largely avoided the repurcusions DUE TO ITS CONSERVATIVE BANKING REGULATIONS.) We're talking about what to do if we survive this one. I foresee a samba protest, worldwide. Ole.
If they have the time, perhaps Brazil should take those communist G7 countries to the WTO for illegally subsidising their businesses and banks. No es monetarism, amigo, now is it?
G7 says: It's ah--ah--ah--ahypocrisy!
Response: Bless you! Thanks for truthing.
[G7 politicians are advised to heed message, below]
Saturday, 8 November 2008
BBC says to Labour: "I got your back"
There was a stunning example of obfuscation on last night's BBC 'Question Time' show. Every time the issue of bankers- giving-1.79 billion- pounds-in-bonuses-with-the-public's- money came up, ALL the people, politicians and non, in the panel avoided the issue and changed the topic. And the BBC's Dimbleby was in on the scam too. Nobody offered to spank the bankers. Nobody. That, my friends, is the democratic deficit (Chomsky) in action. I also noticed that the UKIP politician, who was supposed to be anti-establishment, was taking bullets for Labour's Straw. KIPper was deflecting tough political questions with his own very entertaining..... twaddle. Political theatre at its best. Look it up.
[Remember, that show is supposed to be a sop to democracy because it's so hard to be heard by that herd downtown.]
[pic: Wang "Searching for Buddha", materialism (promoted by governments and media) gets in the way of wisdom.]
Obamarama. Change we done
A breeze of Coolness has just entered that famous white building in D.C. I can just see the inauguration on 20th January. Close your eyes, imagine the Star Spangled Banner ................................... by Jimi Hendrix. Wawawawawawaoooo!
I suppose they'll have to do an exorcism to get rid of the bad vibes that arise from the White House having been built by slaves and having been occupied by flatulent morons, oh and they gotta look after the spots on the carpet............................. from W's 'tabacka' (read: chewing tobacco) spittle.
I suppose they'll have to do an exorcism to get rid of the bad vibes that arise from the White House having been built by slaves and having been occupied by flatulent morons, oh and they gotta look after the spots on the carpet............................. from W's 'tabacka' (read: chewing tobacco) spittle.
[interpretation of photo (from "Trading Places"): Joe-average guys get back at rich folk who had recklessly endanged their livelihoods.]
forgetrance day, not remembrance
Remember this instead. All this fuss, pomp and ceremony over soldiers dead or alive puts across the subliminal message to impressionable half-wits that giving your life for your country is the best thing you can do, even if the war is immoral like the one in Mess-o-potamia. Victims of this propaganda end up literally being 'cannon-fodder' (UK metaphorical meaning: useless idiot). If the poppy sellers were also openly anti-war, then I would buy one. The ones who need to 'remember' are the politicians who invariably put soldiers unnecessarily in harm's way, but though they have the memory of the pachiderm, they've also got the skin of one, and the smell too.
hello? anybody out there?
This is Cos67 signing on for the first time on 8th November 2K+8. Stay tuned for my testimony on things witnessed in the world around me and all of us: gnarly politics, social issues, entertainment, random thoughts, UFO photos (tampered with), travel, nutty people and cases of folks simply being excellent. Cos67 has just entered the building blogging.
Why blog? I have found throughout my life that nobody wants to talk about anything of importance. Personalities often get in the way; people can be arses. So, enjoy my disembodied brain. It's ALIVE!
I hope to be to blogging what Banksy is to art, except I wasn't born and raised as a toff. No offence to Sir Banksimus.
My name was created as a sign of respect for Taki 183. We are all a number in this world, so why not choose your own?
I resolve to make my stories short and sour; short enough for each to be read in one visit to the loo, if your bog is wired, that is.
I am not related to any other cos67 in the US, East Asia or anywhere else.
Peace!
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