Living @ the speed of life...

2003-07-13T22:39:00.000+01:00

Party politics and representative democracy are facing a crisis. Politicised webloggers are a reallity, an ever increasing force for change. The question "But can [blogs] be used politically, and if so, how and to what end?" only indicates to me that the power elite have been caught on the hop, and as per usual are out of touch with what is happening at grassroots level...

Blogging is only part of the answer. Just as important, or maybe more so, is what we do when we are not blogging...

2003-07-11T01:01:00.000+01:00

Question.

When is a Weapon of Mass Destruction not a Weapon of Mass Destruction?

Answer.

When it is Wanton Mass Deception.

2003-07-10T21:10:00.000+01:00

U.S.A. Man Deus

I met a traveller from an oil-rich land

Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;

And on the pedestal these words appear:

"My name is George W, president of presidents:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

2003-07-10T00:30:00.000+01:00

Question.

Where does the I stop and the We begin?

2003-07-09T00:31:00.000+01:00

Haiku

I feel unfulfilled

I did everything they said

Something is missing

2003-07-08T01:15:00.000+01:00

Questions, Questions, Questions.

Where are the WMD?

How much does a war cost?

When will we see through the lies?

Is the Army an equal opportunities employer?

Where is Osama Bin Laden?

Is Free Trade really free?

How many angels fit on the head of a needle?

Is Reality TV an oxymoron?

What is the difference between an oligopoly and a democracy these days?

Do we really live in a civilised society?

Is Guantanamo Bay moral?

Does violence beget violence?

When we hear the truth, how will we know?

2003-07-08T00:54:00.000+01:00

Haiku

Magicians rule us

Beware of the sleight of hand

See through the smoke screen

2003-07-06T23:10:00.000+01:00

Wake-up Call

So you try your best. After all, thats what they tell you, isn't it? If you try your best, work hard, keep your head down, you can make it. Thats right, isn't it? Work hard and play by the rules and you will be happy and successful and prosperous. So you keep swallowing the shit hoping that the next mouthfull will taste better but it never does. And you're gagging on it!!! What will it take to make you angry? To make you stand back and ask yourself "what the fuck is going on here?"

It takes a jolt, a shock and yeah its the hardest thing to do, to see yourself, really see yourself for the first time, naked without the shit, without the facade, without the lies and deceptions. You start to question everything...Everything...

None of the old assumptions can be taken for granted. About yourself or the world you live in. Its disconcerting. Its exhilerating. You see and hear things differently, like seeing and hearing everything for the very first time...Eventually you realise that every new day is a new beginning and that nothing ever stays the same...Nothing...

2002-09-17T00:52:00.000+01:00

Streams of Bloggishness wrought by Ray Sweatman from blogs by many...(including mine, I'm happy to say)...

2002-09-14T22:10:00.000+01:00

The Seduction of Convenience

Convenience is a great seducer. After all, the path of least resistance will always prevail in a world filled with unthinking, disposable, automatons. It's not our fault, we are encouraged not to think, to strive for Happiness™(as portrayed on any TV commercial between any infomercial on any commercial station in Consumerland™), to accept convenience in our lives and ignore consequences. We are encouraged to feel small, to feel helpless, insignificant. We are encouraged to keep our heads down, don't rock the boat, don't cause trouble, don't draw attention to ourselves.

Products are now built with a minimal life span, the quicker we use it up the quicker we buy another. A razor used to last a lifetime, now you are lucky if it gets you to the other cheek. We used to want quality and endurance from products. We used to touch and smell food before we purchased it. We used to enjoy speaking to each other, face to face. We used to eat less and do more. Soon we will be plugged into our Automasofa™ replete with catheter, intravenous drip and credit card swipe machine, experiencing Life™ in all its 3D, surround sound, Technitouch™ glory. Never moving except to swipe our credit card for the next delivery of Air™. Of course it comes in any flavour you could desire and is piped direct to your Blinkermask™ for your convenience...

2002-09-13T10:20:00.000+01:00

And Bush wonders why he can't get international support for his war...

This at Sandhill Trek would be reason enough for some...

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that economic liberalism is compulsory for developing countries but optional for Bush and the American steel industry...

Maybe it has to do with the fact that a lot of people around the world believe Bush is as much a threat to world peace as Saddam Hussein including, former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela...

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that 178 countries signed up to the Kyoto accord. Bush did not...

***I was pleased to find that someone arrived at the site the other day having typed america, greed & insular into Google. I must be doing something right...***

2002-09-12T23:23:00.000+01:00

It's all hocus pocus and sleight of hand to deflect attention from the real issues...

So basically nothing has changed. America is still bullying the rest of the world and has made it quite clear that unless the United Nations play by American rules they will take home their football...

Or...

Same old script, same old cast of characters; familiar, swarthy, moustachioed bad guy; simple, all American, cowboy, good guy; show down; high noon; staring each other down in the heat of the desert... ineffectual towns people (read "rest of world") look on...ah if only real life were so simple...

Or...

Check out such real issues as Isolating US Unilateralism in this piece at Znet.

Or...

Switch on the TV and watch Survivor....

2002-09-11T19:19:00.000+01:00

"Honor them with peace, not war"

2002-09-10T00:51:00.000+01:00

This works on so many levels...(Via Gnosis )

2002-09-07T22:12:00.000+01:00

What justification is there for war with Iraq?
What support is there, internationally, for war with Iraq?
Where is this dossier of evidence so damning as to condemn many thousands of Iraqi civilians to death in a war which is as much about control of oil markets and boosting Bush's popularity as about the so called "war on terrorism"? Tony Blair may back Bush on his call to arms but the British public are far from convinced, as are many of Blair's own cabinet.

The leaders of the Western World cannot continue throwing their weight around like bullies in the school yard. This is the very behaviour which leads to extremist attitudes and inevitably to atrocities against the West such as those on 9/11. Bravo George and Tony, just keep leading us down the same old bloody and arrogant path. 9/11 should have been a wake up call, a time to reflect and ask ourselves why any organisation would find it necessary to slam 4 hijacked civilian jets into the very heart of Western Democracy.

Certainly any developing power with the means of producing weapons of mass destruction will be monitored closely but any actions to stop such development should be pursued through the UN. That's what they are there for. The UN Security Council must sanction any such attack. It has not.

2002-09-05T20:37:00.000+01:00

So you take the pills. And when they start to work their patented magic on you, you take stock. You can't do much else. Theres a lot of that. Just thinking. Thinking about all the things that brought your life to this point. Thinking about all the dreams you once had for your future. And eventually, after a few months of this self analysis, you begin to realise that there is a future for you. That's a surprise, at first. For the longest time it was hard to see as far as tomorrow. And then you start to realise that you can change. That is a revelation. Suddenly you understand it's not too late, you can do things now that will put your life closer to the path you truly wanted. So you start to set goals for yourself. Nothing too big at first, just small things that you could not do only a couple of months ago. Like, making phone calls or going out of the house to buy groceries. Little victories each one. It's a start. It's something you can build on...

2002-09-03T15:08:00.000+01:00

Let's not beat about the Bush here. The outcome of the Johannesburg World Summit will prove to be a catastrophe of the highest magnitude, the repercussions of which will be felt for generations to come. This was an opportunity for global relations to grow up, to lead the people of the world into a new safer, wealthier, more peaceful and sustainable future. But that opportunity has been thwarted by greed, an unbelievable lack of vision and a criminal lack of leadership. This was a chance for the United States of America, the shining light of western democracy, to lead the world, to show that greed and self interest are not at the heart of such a powerful and great nation.

For a country whose decisions and policies have such far reaching effects to maintain such an insular outlook is not only short sighted politically, it is insane. At a time when American foreign policy is under such worldwide scrutiny, at a time when the people of the United States are dying in terror attacks by fanatics who see the US as some kind of all consuming, corrupt, cesspit of humanity, it is being shown to be nothing but subservient to the excesses of personal/corporate greed. Posturing and threatening war on legitimate foreign states, ignoring international law, showing a complete disinterest in the future of our ecology and the poor in the world is hardly the way for such a country to act. History will record how shallow, cowardly and self-serving the politicians of the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries have become.

America is not the sole perpetrator in this respect. The USA, Canada, Australia, Japan and the OPEC countries all refused point blank to sign up to any agreement which implemented timetables or material targets. Brazil had been touting a target of a paltry 10% renewable energy sources by 2010, with strong support from the EU among others but that was dead in the water. No way. Not even considered. The lack of leadership which America and other wealthy nations have shown at the summit is shocking.

We must now come down from our ivory tower of comfort and the detached consumer culture of the twentieth century and wake up to the realities that lie ahead. We all have a part to play. We all must take back the personal responsibility which we have relinquished for far too long. Ignoring the consequences of our actions. Still striving for an individualistic American Dream long since devoid of any moral value, for our wants and dreams are insatiable but the resources upon which these dreams are built, are finite and for every one man getting richer so millions get poorer.

How can we continue to base our economy on growth and more when the resources to achieve these ends grow ever less? How can we base our progress as a species on something as volatile and essentially valueless as Market Forces? How can we continue to support political parties whose policies perpetuate the depletion of global resources? Parties who relentlessly ignore the plight of their sinking ship of gluttons and thieves while the burden of their consumption drags them to a watery grave. History will record how shallow, cowardly and self-serving the civilians of the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries became. How they shrugged their shoulders and did nothing to stop the rot. And how they deserved what they got.

2002-09-01T00:12:00.000+01:00

Recieved two emails this week that I thought I should post...

The first from a friend of mine...

"Nigerian woman sentenced to death for having a child out of wedlock. I have attached the link to the Amnesty International site of which on the right hand side there is a letter to the Nigerian president that you can sign. She has 30 days to appeal against her sentence. It takes literally one minute. It may be worth forwarding this on to all your friends -
http://www.mertonai.org/amina/
I have signed it."

So have I...

The second, a worying phenomenon highlighted in an email from Michael Albert at ZNet...

"-- the reason I am writing at all today -- is odd, but you should please heed it. There is a new hacking stunt afoot. People send messages that they concoct in other people's names and with other people's return address as the seeming source.It is a way to spread disinformation designed to generate confusion and hostility, as well as to drain people's energies...The aim is that the misrepresented person should be hit with thousands or even tens of thousands of messages, with ensuing time wasting recriminations.
My warning is simple. If you get a message that seems to be from or to include words from some left figure or list or institution that are contrary to what you think that figure -- list or institutions -- believes, or even if you are not sure, but the words are incendiary -- don't rush to reply. Assume there is something horribly wrong. Soon enough it will be evident if the person, list, or institution, really has lost their way, or if, instead, it is a hack."

Just passing it on...

2002-08-27T12:37:00.000+01:00

New commenting from Blogout... Life's too short.

2002-08-26T20:58:00.000+01:00

BTW, sorry about the unavailability of the commenting service at the moment but the young man who provides it, does so for no charge. I'm hoping that service will resume tonight or tomorrow at the latest...

2002-08-26T20:19:00.000+01:00

FREEDOM™ is for sale! It costs you your LIFE™. There are no guarantees or warranty or any written agreement, for legal purposes, just a nod and a wink and a handshake...if you're LUCKY™.
We give our lives away so cheaply. $£€¥10, or whatever, per hour and for what?... The remotest of remote chances you might win the lotto or patent something desirable or find a cure for cancer (who's going to find one, if there is one? Some pharmaceutical corporation who will promptly patent it and sell it back to you if you can afford LIFE™) or suck up to the RICH™©® and live vicariously, fooling yourself that it will all turn out right in the long run.....
The Free West... FREEDOM™ by whose definition?
What is the number one reason people want to be rich..... IT BUYS THEIR FREEDOM!!!!!
If you want FREEDOM™ define your own version patent it and live it. Otherwise go back to Work tomorrow and bend over, 'cause you are getting FUCKED™!!!

2002-08-25T01:44:00.000+01:00

***This is something I came across quite recently but had known and lived by for many years. I am not Buddhist, nor do I subscribe to any theistic cult...
An extract from the Kalama Sutra:

The Buddha said

Do not believe in anything
Simply because you have heard it.

Do not believe in traditions
Simply because they have been handed down
For many generations.

Do not believe in anything
Simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.

Do not believe in anything
Simply because it is found written in your Religious books.

Do not believe in anything
Merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.

But when after observation and analysis you find anything that agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all,
Then accept it and live up to it.***

2002-08-24T22:40:00.000+01:00

***This one is for The Happy Tutor VeganErotica.com manufactures hand-crafted vegan bondage gear, whips, belts, harnesses, and other vegan leather (a.k.a. "pleather") items. We also sell vegan condoms and other sex products. I jest you not...***

2002-08-23T22:55:00.000+01:00

***These are the sort of market pressures we are up against...The Onion | Dad Defends Purchase Of Bargain-Brand Cereal***

2002-08-23T03:34:00.000+01:00

***"And it's Monkey High
and Monkey Low,
And 'round and 'round we go,
Falling from limbs,
And chasing our shadows."
This from Ray Sweatman just reminded me. Two young Mormons called to my door the other day. We had a long discussion. I asked if they believed in evolution. The more vociferous of the two said he found it offensive to think that we evolved from monkeys. I don't want to make fun of these boys, but it was several million years ago. The arrogance of Man never ceases to amaze me...***

2002-08-23T02:08:00.000+01:00

***In You LIve Your Life As If It's Real, Ray Sweatman says "And later, I go over Waiting for Godot line by line. And most of them just can't go there. It's just too much of a test of their own faith. It's too real. It takes too much thought. Too much searching, just trying to figure out the author's perspective. And, of course, it doesn't advance their careers at all."
I think that it is easier to make a Leap of Faith, to wear those blinkers, than face the stark but beautiful Truth...
As Lucky says "Given the existence...of a personal God quaquaquaqua with white beard quaquaquaqua outside time without extension who from the heights of dvine apathia divine athambia divine aphasia loves us dearly with some exceptions for reasons unknown but time will tell..." Shall I go on?***

2002-08-23T00:53:00.000+01:00

Anyway, as I was saying, you try to put your belief in this shiny little pill and your disbelief on the back-burner. You are suspicious but you want to get better. Best not to ask too many questions. There's relief in the diagnosis itself, you thought you were just going crazy. Now you have an explanation for how you've been feeling and acting these last few months. Slowly fading away. Slowly withdrawing from life, from interaction. The sudden rages and inconsolable guilt for lashing out at the ones you love. The deadening of the senses. The atrophy. No future. No past. A life in stasis.

2002-08-21T23:00:00.000+01:00

***The frightening thing about The Osbournes is that Ozzy seems to be the sane one... It's all pap fed to us intravenously, piped or beamed, in any flavour, anything to keep us docile...
Television, the drug of a Nation; I suggest the Rock'n'Roll Solution...
(as would Michael Franti and Ozzy, presumably)***

2002-08-21T13:40:00.000+01:00

***Has the UN become a toothless, old lion..."The summit bureaucrats have even invented some new jargon to describe these partnerships: "Type II outcomes." At the US's insistence, the un has essentially given up on Type I outcomes, which are traditional, multilateral, negotiated agreements between governments. Type II partnerships are purely voluntary, piecemeal agreements aimed at getting private-sector money into un-friendly projects. They also put major corporations close to the heart of international governance." See what you think.***

2002-08-19T01:45:00.000+01:00

***"The revolution will not be televised"...cause it's already here on the www...***

2002-08-18T23:16:00.000+01:00

You are fairly shaken up but you live. And after some time for your body to heal, you try to get on with things. It's not easy but life is like that. You work through the pain. But you are not happy. In fact you are deeply unhappy and you don't even realise until, eventually, a couple of months later, you snap. You are in the darkest, loneliest, most desolate place you have ever been. You are on the edge of the abyss. The only thing that saves you is a thought, no, an instinct from somewhere deep inside you to survive this and to provide for and protect your young family...

The Doctor says "depression...take these for three months and you should be fine.." so you do as you are told, like any good Consumer would. You're too sick to ask any questions you're too deep in the system and you want to believe. There's the tiniest nagging doubt at the back of your mind. Is that it? Is it really that simple? A little pill to cure your ill? After suffering for so long...
(My new Doctor is The Happy Tutor)

2002-08-17T01:04:00.000+01:00

Yeah, you are your own Boss. You can even keep the wolf from the door and have a little left over. You put in the hours. The hours turn to days. The days disappear...Time is slipping away. And you're still in the loop, still jumping through hoops... When you drive a cab you see humanity. And sometimes you don't like what you see. Night shift is worst. You can only make polite small talk with drunks so many times in one night after that you fall silent. You switch off and start longing for the shift to be over. You start to hate people. And you hate yourself for being in the situation in the first place. But you drive and you drive and you drive... And you're driving nails into your own coffin. Something's got to give... something's got to blow...
Bang.
Rear ended by a drunk at a red...3am...the beginning of the end.

2002-08-16T23:49:00.000+01:00

***Check out one of my favourite pass-times at Wealth Bondage. They trade Hell for leather over there...***

2002-08-12T23:18:00.000+01:00

***Sorry to interrupt the story but I think this is a subject which affects us all. Ten years on from the first World Summit on Sustainable Development and we have actually regressed... The second World Summit will take place in Johannesburg later this month. The facts are stark and the article by Kevin Watkins called "Greed is Good" on the Znet Global Economy channel (top article in "Newest") lays them bare...***

2002-08-12T19:58:00.000+01:00

So there you are, trapped but getting on with it. You try to make things better for yourself, to improve things for you and your family. But you don't have any qualifications so the only jobs available are soul destroying, working your ass off to line someone else's pocket while you can barely afford to keep your head above water. Qualifications cost money, education doesn't come cheap. Eventually you hit upon the idea of applying for a licence to drive a cab. It costs money, of course, to set yourself up and theres the small matter of an exam. You talk to the bank and yes they will give you a loan. More debt, what the hell, it will all be worth it in the end. A short course of night classes (yet more money) and a lot of study-time do the trick. You pass the test and you navigate the red tape and you're all set. You start to believe in yourself again that you can be a man. You can be a provider for your family. You start to believe that things might actually turn out okay. You have your own business, you are your own boss...
Did you ever feel like you're being set up for a fall?

2002-08-11T23:39:00.000+01:00

The Truth has always been a fascination of mine. I'm not just talking about telling the truth, though that is a part of it, but universal truths about our existence on this little blue and green planet of ours. OK, I know what you're thinking, Big topic, Long History, and yes a lot of great minds have struggled with these truths down through the ages. And who am I to stick my oar in. But I have always felt driven to find my own truth or my own place in things. I felt that it was an important journey that must be undertaken. Of course sometimes you loose sight of the things you believe are important and sometimes the sheer weight and clutter of life and survival get in the way. So you reach a point, ten, maybe fifteen years down the line when you decide that selling off your life for 10$ per hour is not your own particular truth or at least not the one which you would have chosen. But you have No choice. What you do have are a lot of responsibilities, bills to pay, mouths to feed etc. etc. Good. Responsibilities are good, they give context and purpose. What you don't have is Choice. Does this sound familiar? Does this ring any bells?
So, you know that this is not what you want. And you know that you have no choice. Trapped...
Or so it seemed...

2002-08-09T00:22:00.000+01:00

Linux and open source software in general will change the face of the software industry. This is a good thing... Use Linux and tell your friends... You will benefit... You will be doing a good thing...
Corporate monopolies will be eradicated... Corporate greed will wither and die and be a thing of the past... Wake up to the corporate monster who stalks you while you sleep... Know your enemy... And know that what you do, matters...

2002-08-07T23:58:00.000+01:00

If you have a passion, a furnace that propels you forward in life, nurture it, feed it, give it space and time and tend to it regularly...But use it to make a positive difference to your life and the lives of others. Share it.
If you've lost that fire somewhere in the noise and clutter and speed of life, given space and time, it will return. Probably somewhere and some time unexpected...

2002-08-06T21:37:00.000+01:00

Spent some time alone with my son today. Just the two of us, like the song. He's seven. It doesn't happen that often. My wife and two daughters were out of the house for an hour or two. I made his lunch and we chatted. Then we sat quietly and ate lunch, enjoying each others company. He said "Daddy, we should do this more often" and I agreed. After lunch we went to my office, the front room of our house. I gave him some crayons and some scraps of paper and he sat and drew some pictures for me while I worked on the computer. After a couple of minutes he showed me his work and we discussed the colours and his writing (and how much it's improving). We got to the last piece and he smiled as he showed it to me. It said

"I, heart(big, bright and orange), U".

Just then his friends came calling and off he went out to play. And I thought yes, we must do this again. This is, after all, what life is all about.

2002-08-06T21:35:00.000+01:00

Submitted this site to a few search engines today. Try out the links to the left when you're finished reading the posts. Will add some contact details at some stage soon so you can let me know what you think of all this.

2002-08-05T21:02:00.000+01:00

Have you ever felt an uneasiness, an empty feeling in the pit of your stomach, a kind of underlying dissatisfaction, theres something not quite right but you can't quite put your finger on it, in fact something downright stinks but your life is so full of shit that you just shrug it off and try and get on with the task in hand, you bury yourself in that task, you loose yourself in it for a couple of hours or you light another cigarette or you put on a cd, something loud and kickin' to drown out the noise, or you have a beer just to try and shake it off and you have another beer and you start to feel like things might be ok so you have another and another and...and you make it through the night, you don't sleep, you're unconscious but even still that feeling persists and you get up and you try to get on with all the shit and eventually you think its alright, that you can cope, you can keep it under control?...but you can't keep it down for ever...'cause eventually it comes back but this time its harder to shrug off, it's more intense but you do the same old tricks to try and fool yourself you're ok, you can handle this, but you can't and you wake up one day and everything has ground to a halt and you're standing in an empty house feeling numb and tears are streaming down and down and you feel them on your cheeks and you wonder what the hell is happening to you but you're out of control you can't do anything to stop the tears and you still don't know where they're coming from or when they will stop and you feel like a fool, you feel guilty for feeling so helpless...Did you ever feel like that?...

2002-08-04T16:56:00.000+01:00

Why are some non vegetarians so aggressive and hostile towards vegetarians? Is it because in choosing not to conform to what society dictates is the norm they have chosen to single themselves out and so are deemed a legitimate target? Is it because vegetarians by their very nature are an easy target? Or is there something more going on here than meets the eye?

Yes vegetarians have chosen to stand out from the crowd. They have chosen to be led by their own morals and not follow the herd. (Morals is a very unfashionable word these days, probably the fault of religious institutions and religiously driven moralists trying to impose their own, ill-founded, moral code on a society which was growing up.) They have chosen what is not, in the eyes of society, the normal way and so they can be victimised with justification (a "sit down, you're rocking the boat" mentality). Historically this has always been the case for non-conformists and so it is no surprise.

Vegetarians are, in general terms and from my own experience, sensitive (to a personal code of morals), non-violent, caring individuals. Which of course leaves them wide open to bullying because in a society where personal gain is still held in much higher esteem than social awareness, the above characteristics are seen as weaknesses to be ridiculed.

Or is it that the aggressors feel the need to defend their weaker moral standing by attacking vegetarianism which is an easy target (see above) but which is, in my opinion, obviously the more ethical choice of lifestyle?

2002-08-03T23:42:00.000+01:00

Journals are important because when we write our true thoughts for posterity we get to know ourselves a little better every time. For a long time they have been a way for people to be truthful with themselves. A very personal honesty. At the beginning of this new millennium technology and perhaps human evolution are taking this to its next stage; a very public honesty.

A web log is a public act and should not be undertaken lightly. Not for fear of what people might think of the author but because any action has consequences. Therefore I am starting this blog, with some apprehension, as an experiment in public honesty.
Hopefully I will learn something through the process and (though attracting a readership is not my purpose) hopefully people will want to read it .