Never ceases to be proven, that one. Time and time again.
More reflection on that in another post, but for now I just had to share this brilliant 'equation' I came across in the blog www.anythingbuttheist.blogspot.com...
Oh yeah...
Friday, December 30, 2011
RAVE: Work Is Evil
Being on holiday does show one thing to anyone with half a brain: simply, work is bloody awful.
Never ceases to be proven, that one. Time and time again.
More reflection on that in another post, but for now I just had to share this brilliant 'equation' I came across in the blog www.anythingbuttheist.blogspot.com...
Oh yeah...
Never ceases to be proven, that one. Time and time again.
More reflection on that in another post, but for now I just had to share this brilliant 'equation' I came across in the blog www.anythingbuttheist.blogspot.com...
Oh yeah...
RANT: Apartheid South Africa A Mirror to Israel
I'm on an anti-Israel offensive today. Just minutes after reading that the IDF launched a deadly attack on Gaza, my anger at this rogue state has just gone through the roof.
There they go again- the Big Bully Israel punching way above its weight, no doubt largely thanks to the massive support of the United States and the vociferous pro-Israel lobby in Washington D.C.
I am often amazed at how people seem so appalled when Israel is called an apartheid state. They get seduced by Israel's patina of 'democracy' (as long as you don't live in the occupied territories), the 'sophistication' of Tel Aviv (just as Johannesburg was back in the 1980s) and its (mostly) white and European-looking population. Yes, that does help in the United States and Europe.
This was South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s:
Sound familiar? Hang on, doesn't this all sound very much like Israel today?! Yes, it most certainly does.
Yet calling Israel an apartheid state (which it most certainly is) is hysterically attacked as being 'anti-Semetic' (which it need not be, convenient as that attack may be). The 'anti-Jew' counter-attack by Israeli and Zionist apologists is so old, so tired and so knee-jerk, it's beyond reproach. Yawn.
No, I'm just anti-apartheid and oppression of human rights, and I don't like bullies, Israel.
This image pretty much says it all, whether one likes it or not:
Do you get my point?
There they go again- the Big Bully Israel punching way above its weight, no doubt largely thanks to the massive support of the United States and the vociferous pro-Israel lobby in Washington D.C.
I am often amazed at how people seem so appalled when Israel is called an apartheid state. They get seduced by Israel's patina of 'democracy' (as long as you don't live in the occupied territories), the 'sophistication' of Tel Aviv (just as Johannesburg was back in the 1980s) and its (mostly) white and European-looking population. Yes, that does help in the United States and Europe.
This was South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s:
- 'Bantustans' ("homelands") for the 'others'
- laws and regulations along racial lines
- an 'enemy within' that had to be brutally contained
- deep-seated paranoia
- a militarized state
- a much-feared secret service
- death squads mandated by government to 'eliminate terrorist threats'
- endless and very 'justifiable' wars/ skirmishes with or raids on neighbours
- a 'beacon of hope' in a region of dictators and 'failed states'
- mandatory conscription
- the fervent support of Washington D.C. and many in the West
- the condemnation of most of the rest of the world
Sound familiar? Hang on, doesn't this all sound very much like Israel today?! Yes, it most certainly does.
Yet calling Israel an apartheid state (which it most certainly is) is hysterically attacked as being 'anti-Semetic' (which it need not be, convenient as that attack may be). The 'anti-Jew' counter-attack by Israeli and Zionist apologists is so old, so tired and so knee-jerk, it's beyond reproach. Yawn.
No, I'm just anti-apartheid and oppression of human rights, and I don't like bullies, Israel.
This image pretty much says it all, whether one likes it or not:
Do you get my point?
RANT: Israel the New Year's Aggressor - Again
It's that time of year again - it's the final days of the year, so that must mean Israel is once again thinking of going on a rampage against Gaza and the occupied territories.
After all, they did conduct a massive (and highly illegal, not to mention internationally condemned) offensive against Gaza three years ago at exactly this time of year. It was a brutal assault which killed over 1, 500 Palestinians - and four (or was it three?) Israelis.
According to Press TV on this latest Israeli assault:
"...a Tel Aviv official has again threatened to launch another war on the blockaded and impoverished territory, describing the move as “a war of necessity for Israel”. Referring to the military plan as a “swift and painful” war, chief of staff of the Israeli military, Lt. General Benny Gantz, also claimed that the measure was “not a matter of choice, but a war of necessity” for Tel Aviv."
"A war of necessity"...in what way?
The reasons given why and all the background machinations make very little difference - once again, Israel the Rogue Apartheid State will go on an illegal rampage and kill countless innocent Palestinian civilians and, if lucky for the IDF, a few Palestinian terrorists. The excuses, the reasons, the geopolitical fluff - it will all ebb away soon after the dust settles and Palestine must count its dead yet again.
According to the Irish Times:
"ISRAELI OFFICIALS are stepping up their rhetoric, warning that another invasion of Gaza is just a matter of time. Speaking as Israel launched two air strikes on militant targets in the strip, Israel’s top general, chief of staff Lieut Gen Benny Gantz, warned that cracks had emerged in Israel’s deterrence of militant groups and a second round of fighting was no longer a matter of choice for Israel. “Such a round must be initiated by Israel and must be swift and painful. I do not advise Hamas to test our mettle.”
Test your "mettle", Israel? You have no character and no moral stature as a nation, Israel, therefore how can you have "mettle" to be tested?
I'm sick to death of this rogue nation let loose in a tinderbox region, all because of the express support of the biggest bully on the block, the United States (Israel being the second-biggest bully), fired up by an all too powerful pro-Israel and Jewish lobby in Washington D.C.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Israel is nothing more than a pathetic apartheid state masquerading as a democracy and the only 'beacon of light' in a 'mad' region.
I should know - I lived in apartheid South Africa. I know all the signs, baby. And Israel has them in spades.
Do you get my point?
After all, they did conduct a massive (and highly illegal, not to mention internationally condemned) offensive against Gaza three years ago at exactly this time of year. It was a brutal assault which killed over 1, 500 Palestinians - and four (or was it three?) Israelis.
According to Press TV on this latest Israeli assault:
"...a Tel Aviv official has again threatened to launch another war on the blockaded and impoverished territory, describing the move as “a war of necessity for Israel”. Referring to the military plan as a “swift and painful” war, chief of staff of the Israeli military, Lt. General Benny Gantz, also claimed that the measure was “not a matter of choice, but a war of necessity” for Tel Aviv."
"A war of necessity"...in what way?
The reasons given why and all the background machinations make very little difference - once again, Israel the Rogue Apartheid State will go on an illegal rampage and kill countless innocent Palestinian civilians and, if lucky for the IDF, a few Palestinian terrorists. The excuses, the reasons, the geopolitical fluff - it will all ebb away soon after the dust settles and Palestine must count its dead yet again.
According to the Irish Times:
"ISRAELI OFFICIALS are stepping up their rhetoric, warning that another invasion of Gaza is just a matter of time. Speaking as Israel launched two air strikes on militant targets in the strip, Israel’s top general, chief of staff Lieut Gen Benny Gantz, warned that cracks had emerged in Israel’s deterrence of militant groups and a second round of fighting was no longer a matter of choice for Israel. “Such a round must be initiated by Israel and must be swift and painful. I do not advise Hamas to test our mettle.”
Test your "mettle", Israel? You have no character and no moral stature as a nation, Israel, therefore how can you have "mettle" to be tested?
I'm sick to death of this rogue nation let loose in a tinderbox region, all because of the express support of the biggest bully on the block, the United States (Israel being the second-biggest bully), fired up by an all too powerful pro-Israel and Jewish lobby in Washington D.C.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Israel is nothing more than a pathetic apartheid state masquerading as a democracy and the only 'beacon of light' in a 'mad' region.
I should know - I lived in apartheid South Africa. I know all the signs, baby. And Israel has them in spades.
Do you get my point?
Thursday, December 29, 2011
RANT: Arizona Anything But Humane?
For a state now infamous for its draconian and, many say, downright racist anti-immigrant laws, Arizona is again in the news for all the wrong reasons. This time it has to do with a recovering heroin addict who took his little cat into the Arizona Humane Society in Phoenix to be treated, only for the little thing to be euthanized because he could not afford the $400 to have her treated...
The story from Google News/ Associated Press:
PHOENIX (AP) — Animal lovers threatened to pull donations to an animal rescue group and the public flooded the agency with scathing comments and calls after a man's cat was euthanized when he couldn't afford its medical care, prompting the Arizona Humane Society to go into damage-control mode Wednesday.
The group has hired a publicist, removed dozens of comments on its Facebook page and directed a team of five volunteers to respond to the overwhelming calls and emails it has received since The Arizona Republic published a weekend story about Daniel Dockery and his 9-month-old cat, Scruffy.
Dockery, a 49-year-old recovering heroin addict, told the Phoenix newspaper that he took Scruffy to a Humane Society center on Dec. 8 because she had a cut from a barbed-wire fence, an injury that he described as non-life-threatening. The agency said it would cost $400 to treat Scruffy, money he didn't have.
The Humane Society cited policy when it declined to accept a credit card over the phone from Dockery's mother in Michigan or to wait for her to wire the money. The staff said if he signed papers surrendering the cat, Scruffy would be treated and put in foster care, he said.
Instead, Scruffy was euthanized several hours later.
Dockery told the Republic that he was devastated.
Of course, the Arizona Human Society has gone into PR overdrive now that it has been flooded with hundreds of complaints and plenty of outrage from animal lovers.
What they did to that little cat was outrageous and unacceptable. No wonder Dockery says he is devastated.
But this is not a uniquely 'Arizona thing.' This is all too typical of so many so-called 'animal protection' societies all over the world. They claim to want to protect animals, but too often get caught up in their own dogma and over-eagerness to euthanize animals left, right and centre. They hide behind vapid, meaningless words like 'animal safety' and 'quality of life'.
Ironically, they so often do such good work, which makes their callous acts all the more unbearable and unacceptable.
Too often animal societies act like the final word, the all-knowing God-like experts, who hold sway over the lives and deaths of little innocent animals.
I'm frankly sick and tired of it.
The Arizona Human Society should be ashamed of itself. As should so many of their ilk, who play Old Testament God with the lives of animals day in and day out.
Do you get my point?
The story from Google News/ Associated Press:
PHOENIX (AP) — Animal lovers threatened to pull donations to an animal rescue group and the public flooded the agency with scathing comments and calls after a man's cat was euthanized when he couldn't afford its medical care, prompting the Arizona Humane Society to go into damage-control mode Wednesday.
The group has hired a publicist, removed dozens of comments on its Facebook page and directed a team of five volunteers to respond to the overwhelming calls and emails it has received since The Arizona Republic published a weekend story about Daniel Dockery and his 9-month-old cat, Scruffy.
Dockery, a 49-year-old recovering heroin addict, told the Phoenix newspaper that he took Scruffy to a Humane Society center on Dec. 8 because she had a cut from a barbed-wire fence, an injury that he described as non-life-threatening. The agency said it would cost $400 to treat Scruffy, money he didn't have.
The Humane Society cited policy when it declined to accept a credit card over the phone from Dockery's mother in Michigan or to wait for her to wire the money. The staff said if he signed papers surrendering the cat, Scruffy would be treated and put in foster care, he said.
Instead, Scruffy was euthanized several hours later.
Dockery told the Republic that he was devastated.
Of course, the Arizona Human Society has gone into PR overdrive now that it has been flooded with hundreds of complaints and plenty of outrage from animal lovers.
What they did to that little cat was outrageous and unacceptable. No wonder Dockery says he is devastated.
But this is not a uniquely 'Arizona thing.' This is all too typical of so many so-called 'animal protection' societies all over the world. They claim to want to protect animals, but too often get caught up in their own dogma and over-eagerness to euthanize animals left, right and centre. They hide behind vapid, meaningless words like 'animal safety' and 'quality of life'.
Ironically, they so often do such good work, which makes their callous acts all the more unbearable and unacceptable.
Too often animal societies act like the final word, the all-knowing God-like experts, who hold sway over the lives and deaths of little innocent animals.
I'm frankly sick and tired of it.
The Arizona Human Society should be ashamed of itself. As should so many of their ilk, who play Old Testament God with the lives of animals day in and day out.
Do you get my point?
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
It Says It All - Occupy Wall Street
I haven't commented yet on the Occupy Wall Street movement that has taken the United States by storm since September. It came slap bang in the middle of my mini-hiatus from writing in this, and also took a momentum so diverse and so unexpected that I didn't really know how to comment. Well, I did - but on so many different levels, I didn't know where to commence...
So, for now, these brilliant cartoons are what I think are the best of the wry, sardonic cartoons that have proliferated online since the Occupy movement took hold...
Possibly one of the best of the lot...
So, for now, these brilliant cartoons are what I think are the best of the wry, sardonic cartoons that have proliferated online since the Occupy movement took hold...
Possibly one of the best of the lot...
REVIEW: Looking Back At My Wishlist for 2011
Back in January I made a wishlist of what I would like to have seen unfold in 2011. So, with three days to go until the end of this year, I decided to go back and comment (in red below) on how my wishes actually transpired:
********************************************************************************************************
Here is a mix of things that I look forward to in 2011 (in no particular order):
* More of Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert weaving their magic against the financial terrorists on the Keiser Report and all over the alternative media - this they continued to do in their inimitable fashion during 2011 - thank goodness. for that..in fact, I believe Max even got madder this year - only a good thing...
* A 'two-tier', more corporatist Internet being stopped in its tracks - a usurped, corporatist and less free Internet is still (shockingly) very much on the back burner (perhaps pipeline?)...
* The slowdown or even demise of the too-powerful and destructive Germany-France axis in the EU (Merkel and Sarkozy should get a room and leave Europe in peace) - as if. Merkozy just got stronger and more Macchiavelian in 2011. Their demise cannot come soon enough...
* Less conspicuous consumption, less greed - the planet can't take it (I can't take it) At least people spoke more about greed in 2011 - and even demonstrated against it in many cities around the world...
* Less religious fanaticism of all stripes - religious lunacy remains one of the biggest cancers in the world - hardly. This is like wishing for peace in the Middle East - almost impossible to ever happen. A string of bombs against Christians in northern Nigeria, including at a Catholic Church, by Muslim extremists on Christmas Day speaks volumes about religion and peace in the world...
********************************************************************************************************
Here is a mix of things that I look forward to in 2011 (in no particular order):
* More of Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert weaving their magic against the financial terrorists on the Keiser Report and all over the alternative media - this they continued to do in their inimitable fashion during 2011 - thank goodness. for that..in fact, I believe Max even got madder this year - only a good thing...
* Wikileaks going from strength to strength - hmmmmm, this didn't really happen. We are all the poorer for that...
* Julian Assange left in peace to do what we all need him to do Hardly - he lost his extradiction to Sweden battle, and now he is appealing that too. 2012 could be very bad for him indeed...
* The alternative media going from strength to strength - a mixed bag judging by the successes of People Power in 2011, as well as the continued suppression of alternative media in many quarters...* A 'two-tier', more corporatist Internet being stopped in its tracks - a usurped, corporatist and less free Internet is still (shockingly) very much on the back burner (perhaps pipeline?)...
* The Euro possibly collapsing - or at least countries like Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Belgium going back to their former currencies - hurrah to the drachma, escudo, punt and Belgian franc! This didn't happen in 2011 - what a pity. Quelle damage!
* The slowdown or even demise of the too-powerful and destructive Germany-France axis in the EU (Merkel and Sarkozy should get a room and leave Europe in peace) - as if. Merkozy just got stronger and more Macchiavelian in 2011. Their demise cannot come soon enough...
* The cringe-worthy 'Tea Party' crowd in Washington D. C. being shown up for the showboating, embarrassing rightwing nut jobs that we all know they are - interestingly, this did come to pass in more ways than one. Most gratifying...
* Sarah Palin having less power and shutting that big, worthless poodle mouth of hers - thank goodness, this too came to pass. There must be a God after all, Sarah...
* Michael Schumacher winning races again in Formula 1 and proving why he's the best ever - go Michael! Unfortunately, this did not happen in the 2011 season. Go Michael!
* Less environmental disasters, wherever and however possible - again, as if. Fukushima, anyone?
* More medical breakthroughs, especially in stem cell research - not entirely sure on this score, but quite sure there wouldv'e been some amazing breakthroughs this year...
* More sanity in business, finance and the global financial markets - yeah, Vittorio, fat chance. The pillaging and financial rape by financial terrorists continued unabated this year...
* More social and political unrest and upheaval in China - it needs it, we need it - it happened to some extent, but nowhere as prolific or as damaging to China as I had wished...
* Less stupidity, bad grammar and bad manners, thank you very much! Next...
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
RAVE: A Quote for the Ages - Zhou Enlai
On a secret visit to China in 1971, Henry Kissinger asked his Chinese counterpart, Zhou Enlai, what his opinion was on the outcome of the French Revolution. To which Enlai responded:
"It is too early to say"
Brilliant.
How prescient are those words in this age of endless babble that too often amount to little more than empty sound bites.
Sometimes the simplest answer is the most complex and erudite.
Do you get my point?
RANT: I Don't Know How She Does It Either
Sarah Jessica Parker - an amiable, passable actress who has made herself a fortune playing 'beautiful, desired women', when she is anything but. And she's a fashion icon to boot.
I enjoyed "Sex in the City" as much as many others, but this is one damn overrated and limited actress. Yet she keeps churning them out.
Yet another example of how the Hollywood schleb machine can make a superstar out of anyone.
I don't know how she does it either.
Monday, December 26, 2011
RANT: The Semantics of American War
A few days ago I happened to see a byline scrolling at the bottom of the screen that irked me to hell and back. It was in the immediate aftermath of the American 'withdrawal' from Iraq that recently took place. It was on CNN, I do believe, and stated:
"Iraqis now no better off than they were under Saddam..."
Excuse me, correction if you please. It really should have read:
"Iraqis now worse off than they were under Saddam..."
Tyrant though he may have been (albeit a very convenient one for Western powers when it so suited them..), at least under Saddam the Iraqi people were the best educated in the Arab world, and amongst the best universities, hospitals and infrastructure in the Middle East. At least Baghdad was intact and considered one of the cleanest and most beautiful cities in region.
But all of that is very unimportant of course when the Iraqis now enjoy 'freedon and democracy', American style, not to mention being on the brink of civil war and Baghdad being this decade's equivalent of what Beirut was in the '70s and '80s.
Yes, this invasion was really worth it.
Well done, America, and your 'Coalition of the Willing'. A job very well done.
Do you get my point?
"Iraqis now no better off than they were under Saddam..."
Excuse me, correction if you please. It really should have read:
"Iraqis now worse off than they were under Saddam..."
Tyrant though he may have been (albeit a very convenient one for Western powers when it so suited them..), at least under Saddam the Iraqi people were the best educated in the Arab world, and amongst the best universities, hospitals and infrastructure in the Middle East. At least Baghdad was intact and considered one of the cleanest and most beautiful cities in region.
But all of that is very unimportant of course when the Iraqis now enjoy 'freedon and democracy', American style, not to mention being on the brink of civil war and Baghdad being this decade's equivalent of what Beirut was in the '70s and '80s.
Yes, this invasion was really worth it.
Well done, America, and your 'Coalition of the Willing'. A job very well done.
Do you get my point?
RAVE: 100% Made In Italy
I may be 41 years of age, but I continue to be spoiled each and every Christmas by my terrific mom. This year was no different. She outdid herself yet again, bless her generous soul.
Undoubtedly, my favourite present this year was a Race Transporter Set made by Italian miniature carmakers, Brumm. This particular one is an exact replica of the Ferraris driven by Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi at the 1981 Monaco Grand Prix, replete with figurines of the two legendary drivers, as well as the Fiat eight-wheeler transporter truck (as shown above from the Brumm site). Just beautiful.
My mother knows what a fervent Ferrari supporter I am (a demented tifoso since 1977 to be exact), so she couldn't resist buying it for me, she said.
A snobbery for quality is a family trait, so the fact that this set is a collector's item with only 500 having been made (mine being #107 of 500, by the way) and the only one of its kind being sold in South Africa no doubt swayed her quite immensely.
But what was the deciding factor that made her decide to buy it on the spot? It was a snob issue, but wasn't about being a limited edition or the only one being sold in this country. According to her, what sold this set for her was the fact that it was 100% Made in Italy.
100% Made in Italy.
Not only 'Made' in Italy', but 100% so. For those of us sick to death of the sub-standard, utterly poor craftsmanship of 'Made in China' that pervades the world of consumer goods today, and where a car has some parts made in China, others made in Vietnam and others still made in Mexico, one despairs at how everything for the middle class has become so shoddy and so devoid of quality.
I still remember a time when 'Made in Italy' or 'Made in France' was more than enough, but that is no longer the case.
After all, was it really all 'made in Italy' or 'made in France', or only parts thereof? Or, worse still, just the design concept thought up in Italy or France, with the actual manufacture made in some poxy developing country, with the attention not being to details like craftsmanship or quality, but to the cold, hard bottom line?
That is why today ONLY '100% Made in Italy' will ensure that a middle-class lady who knows and appreciates quality will pay that extra so she can buy her overgrown baby of a son a limited edition Ferrari set.
That is what 'Made in Italy' used to represent and should represent.
Once again, I hanker for a time gone by when quality and attention to detail and things that lasted (and that weren't only meant for the super rich) actually meant something. This Christmas my mother and I were able to enjoy that feeling once again, if only through a miniature replica of the 1981 Ferrari F1 team.
Do you get my point?
RAVE: 10 Reasons Why I Love Christmas
It's the day after Christmas, and I'm still reveling in how much I love this particular day of the year. Not withstanding my birthday (THE most important day of my year, it goes without saying), there is no other day of the year that I look more forward to than December 25th.
And this from a self-avowed agnostic (make that an atheist who would like to think 'there's something out there' but very much doubts it).
A child of God born to a virgin in a stable in Bethlehem and visited by three Kings from the Orient whilst a big star blazed in the low horizon? Makes perfect sense.
I wasn't buying the stories of the Old Testament (all horror, pillage, rape and countless people begat) nor those of the New Testament (one too many miracles) at already the tender age of 8. Scripture classes made for terrific listening, but it all seemed so unreal to me. Great drama, no doubt, but all frankly nonsense. Never bought it - and I still don't.
But Christmas has become about as secular as Valentine's Day, and I can understand how more orthodox Christians and true believers of what's scribbled in the Bible must hate this. Understand, but don't give a damn. After all, Christians had their time - for many centuries, the Inquisition included - now it's ours. And that includes reveling in the rollicking, consumerist kitschfest that Christmas is today.
Ten reasons why I love Christmas so much?
And this from a self-avowed agnostic (make that an atheist who would like to think 'there's something out there' but very much doubts it).
A child of God born to a virgin in a stable in Bethlehem and visited by three Kings from the Orient whilst a big star blazed in the low horizon? Makes perfect sense.
I wasn't buying the stories of the Old Testament (all horror, pillage, rape and countless people begat) nor those of the New Testament (one too many miracles) at already the tender age of 8. Scripture classes made for terrific listening, but it all seemed so unreal to me. Great drama, no doubt, but all frankly nonsense. Never bought it - and I still don't.
But Christmas has become about as secular as Valentine's Day, and I can understand how more orthodox Christians and true believers of what's scribbled in the Bible must hate this. Understand, but don't give a damn. After all, Christians had their time - for many centuries, the Inquisition included - now it's ours. And that includes reveling in the rollicking, consumerist kitschfest that Christmas is today.
Ten reasons why I love Christmas so much?
- Christmas Presents: Much as I deplore the consumerism that engulfs society for the rest of the year, on this day I am an uber-consumerist-nihilist. I LOVE getting presents - and giving them too. I'll take them all, thank you very much
- Christmas Morning: Is there any feeling better than waking up early on Christmas morning, knowing that presents await one under a tree? I feel very sorry for those who open their presents on Christmas Eve - what to do the next morning?! I think not...
- The Christmas Tree: The one time one can decorate to one's gaudiest, kitschiest heart's content and still feel very, very proud of the outcome
- Christmas Lights: white, multi-coloured, many, few - I love them all. What creates the mood better than all those twinkling lights?
- Christmas Lunch: I mean the pecuniary delights of traditional Portuguese and Italian Christmas food - panettone, bacalhau, zabiglione - not the bland, horrendous fare of the Anglo-Saxons. Bless them with their overcooked turkeys and caramelised vegetables. If even Nigella Lawson or Jamie Oliver can't make English Christmas food look good, then who the hell can?
- Christmas Music: The most sappy, annoying and nauseating music ever written and sung suddenly becomes so cheerful and apt and sets the mood for a season (caveat: except the muzak type that assails one in department stores and supermarkets - that stuff is annoying beyond belief)
- A Time to be Corny: No other time of the year gives one as much carte blanche to immerse oneself in total cornydom as does Christmas
- A Time to be Kitsch: See 1, 3 and 4 above - and hurrah for that.
- A Time to Enjoy being Spoilt and Spoiling Others: Any why not?
- A Time to be a Child Again: Well, stuff it, at least it is for me...
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
RAVE: More Merkozy Images to Savour
I hate them so much, that finding delectable images that lampoon Merkozy is one of my favourite Internet pasttimes at the moment.
For the prosecution...
For the prosecution...
RANT: Merkozy - The Scourge of Europe
For all the many tyrants and shysters that have flooded the news in 2011, very few have made me as angry, even outraged, as have the sickening little Franco-German couple disparagingly known as Merkozy.
Merkel of Germany and Sarkozy of France are so despicable in their quest to ensure Franco-German hegeomony in Europe, they even make a weasel like Cameron of the UK look quite good.
Their cosy, even incestuous little relationship has so epitomized what is rotten to the core today in the EU and Eurozone, that they only serve as hideous cariciatures...
Which is exactly why I wish to reproduce these images below:
Humour aside, there are serious issues at stake with regard to the Eurozone and the very future of the EU, and to have these Bruti at the helm of Europe going into 2012 is both disconcerting and very dangerous.
She fights for what every German leader secretly orgasms over - ruling the whole of Europe, whilst he fights for what every French leader secretly orgasms over - salvaging France from total obscurity.
My wish is that at least one of this malevolent duo disappears in 2012 - with Sarkozy hopefully losing the French Presidential election or Merkel getting decapitated in a freak accident whilst haranguing the European Parliament. Either will do.
Herve and Gretel need to disappear into the political woods ASAP.
Do you get my point?
Merkel of Germany and Sarkozy of France are so despicable in their quest to ensure Franco-German hegeomony in Europe, they even make a weasel like Cameron of the UK look quite good.
Their cosy, even incestuous little relationship has so epitomized what is rotten to the core today in the EU and Eurozone, that they only serve as hideous cariciatures...
Which is exactly why I wish to reproduce these images below:
Humour aside, there are serious issues at stake with regard to the Eurozone and the very future of the EU, and to have these Bruti at the helm of Europe going into 2012 is both disconcerting and very dangerous.
She fights for what every German leader secretly orgasms over - ruling the whole of Europe, whilst he fights for what every French leader secretly orgasms over - salvaging France from total obscurity.
My wish is that at least one of this malevolent duo disappears in 2012 - with Sarkozy hopefully losing the French Presidential election or Merkel getting decapitated in a freak accident whilst haranguing the European Parliament. Either will do.
Herve and Gretel need to disappear into the political woods ASAP.
Do you get my point?
RANT: Shysters of the Year 2011
Where does one begin? Here are just a few…in no particular order...
Japan: For continuing to be the master manipulator in the horrific slaughter of the mighty whale, not to mention the farcical, scary debacle that was Fukushima this year, Japan deserves a mention. For all that it has and all that it can do, this nation really should be doing so much better.
China: For standing by and whistling away whilst the Western world went into economic meltdown. For its cynical self-interest which makes the self-interest of other countries pale by comparison. For continuing to give us crappy, badly made consumer goods, whilst local industries continue to collapse in many countries. For continuing to be the biggest threat on the horizon.
All financial types: it may seem unfair to lump investment
bankers, traders, currency speculators, hedge fund managers and just about every other financial
schmuck all together into one pile of stinking manure but, frankly, don’t they richly
deserve it?
Goldman Sachs: As above, but these shysters are the poster
boys of why bankers today are nothing more than financial terrorists.
Merkozy: Merkel of Germany and Sarkozy of France were one
and the same in 2011 – so cosy and intertwined in their Machiavellian hijacking
of the Eurozone and EU it was positively incestuous – and sickening to watch.
The euro: The Eurozone was shown up for all its many flaws and many malignancies in 2011. It has allowed for the economic (and pending social) destruction of great countries like Portugal, Greece, Ireland and even Italy, and deserves to be put down - or at least decimated. Bring back the escudo, the drachma, the punt, the lira - now!
Obama: Talk about the biggest letdown in recent US political
history. Well, for many others – I had very few illusions about this one from
the beginning. But 2011 just proved how weak and how much of a Washington insider this man really is. Change indeed.
The American military-secrecy-corporate complex: The
horrific mess of Iraq, not to mention Afghanistan. Meddling in countless other ‘conflicts.’
American politicians bought to the hilt. More oil needed – ah, let’s invade
Iran. Madness, greed and hubris rolled into one – to all our detriment.
Mubarak: Egypt may still be in turmoil and Islamists growing
in stature in that country (never a good thing), but the toppling of this
dictator and his brutal regime can only be a good thing – not to mention
stunning to watch as it unfolded in early 2011.
Gaddafi: As cynical as his overthrow was, and as unpardonable
as his capture and barbaric murder was, not to mention a total perversion of
international law, this brutal, self-aggrandizing man cannot be missed.
However, the void now left in Libya can only be described as very, very scary.
Israel: As long as it remains a racist, apartheid state,
then his one’s a given. Year in and year out. Japan: For continuing to be the master manipulator in the horrific slaughter of the mighty whale, not to mention the farcical, scary debacle that was Fukushima this year, Japan deserves a mention. For all that it has and all that it can do, this nation really should be doing so much better.
China: For standing by and whistling away whilst the Western world went into economic meltdown. For its cynical self-interest which makes the self-interest of other countries pale by comparison. For continuing to give us crappy, badly made consumer goods, whilst local industries continue to collapse in many countries. For continuing to be the biggest threat on the horizon.
Canada: It may seem very unfair to pick on just one nation
for the breakdown (which it was, let’s face it) of real progress in 2011 with
regard to climate change and the Kyoto Protocol. After all, the United States
is arguably even a worse culprit, right? Yes, but one expects that from the
bully on the block, not Canada ‘the good and the fair’. Whether its defiant,
irrational stance on climate change, tar sands, seal culling or the wholesale
decimation of its boreal forests, Canada has become the biggest environmental hypocrite
on the block. And that makes it worse than even a bully.
There are many, many others. The list is too long and too exhausting.
So many shysters on such a small planet with so much to offer us all. Do you get my point?
RAVE: This TIME They Got It Right
Time Magazine is not what it used to be. Once it was a
news-breaking, world-renowned news magazine that often broke and set the tone
of international news. Now it is nothing more than bitsy, crass reporting, yet
another reflection of the slow, excruciating demise of meaningful journalism.
Time became purveyor of the superficial, soundbite drivel that masquerades as
journalism today.
The lowest common denominator pandered to yet again in an
era of dumbed down, inattentive and commercial banality.
And very often Time would get their Man or Person of the
Year very, very wrong. Rudy Giuliani or Mark Zuckerberg, anyone? Uh huh…
However, this year Time Magazine got it very, very right.
Their Person of the Year for 2011 was not a famous man or
woman or any of the other, usual and ‘famous’ suspects. Instead, it was the
man, the woman, the very person that came to epitomise 2011, and deserve all
the kudos. Their Person of the Year was the very embodiment of an exciting,
historic and, yes, watershed year – it was The Protester.
The Protester in Tunis, Cairo, Sana’a, Bahrain, Homs, Amman,
Benghazi, Athens, Barcelona, Madrid, London, Paris, Minsk, New York, Oakland,
Portland, Los Angeles, Rome, and everywhere else this year was the collective
awakening of those ordinary people sick to death of the corruption, the greed,
the power elites that are robbing our very future and our very humanity.
The Protester is everyone of us who has had enough and
knows that the system, wherever and whatever that ‘system’ might be, is rotten
to the very core.
Well done, Time Magazine. At least this time you got it right.
MAN OF THE YEAR 2011: Mohamed Bouazizi
My chosen Man of the Year for 2011 is a man who died on only the fourth day of this year. He was not a famous man. He was not a man of any great consequence, so to speak. He led an unremarkable, ordinary life in the small North African country of Tunisia.
He was a simple fruit seller.
Yet, after years of petty harassment and abuse at the hands of authorities in the small town of Sidi Bouzid, and at his wits end, he had finally had enough. So it was that on December 17th 2010, after having his plight ignored by the local governor, this man stood in the middle of traffic and set fire to himself in protest against the corruption and abuse of power he could no longer tolerate.
His words shouted out as he set fire to himself? "How do you expect me to make a living?"
This man was Mohamed Bouazizi.
He was just 26 years of age.
His act of desperate defiance became an instant cause celebre in Tunisia, and he remained in a coma for 18 days until his death on January 4th 2011.
More than 5000 people attended his funeral and many were heard shouting out that his death would be avenged and never be forgotten...
That would be putting it mildly.
Within days after his death, a welling up of public outrage and disgust against the despised regime of President Ben-Ali erupted in the streets of Tunisia, and within weeks one of the longest-running and most brutal dictatorships in the Arab world collapsed...no, to be more precise, it was toppled; topped by sheer People Power.
What happened in Tunisia in the early weeks of 2011 stunned the entire world.
And so the Arab Spring was born.
It was a veritable house of cards that fell in one of the most repressed and undemocratic regions in the world:
A groundswell of outrage by ordinary people all over the world, sick and tired of the lies and manipulation and outright obscene greed of the super rich and their corporate-politico puppets. A rage that marks 2011 as a watershed year for humanity, much as were 1789 or 1848 or 1968 or 1989...
And all because one man decided he could take the abuse of power no more, and whose desperate act of defiance is a mirror to all of us who have simply had enough.
For all those reasons, and many, many more, I do not hesitate in making Mohamed Bouazizi my Man of the Year for 2011.
He is a our everyman, a martyr for humanity.
He was a simple fruit seller.
Yet, after years of petty harassment and abuse at the hands of authorities in the small town of Sidi Bouzid, and at his wits end, he had finally had enough. So it was that on December 17th 2010, after having his plight ignored by the local governor, this man stood in the middle of traffic and set fire to himself in protest against the corruption and abuse of power he could no longer tolerate.
His words shouted out as he set fire to himself? "How do you expect me to make a living?"
This man was Mohamed Bouazizi.
He was just 26 years of age.
His act of desperate defiance became an instant cause celebre in Tunisia, and he remained in a coma for 18 days until his death on January 4th 2011.
More than 5000 people attended his funeral and many were heard shouting out that his death would be avenged and never be forgotten...
That would be putting it mildly.
Within days after his death, a welling up of public outrage and disgust against the despised regime of President Ben-Ali erupted in the streets of Tunisia, and within weeks one of the longest-running and most brutal dictatorships in the Arab world collapsed...no, to be more precise, it was toppled; topped by sheer People Power.
What happened in Tunisia in the early weeks of 2011 stunned the entire world.
And so the Arab Spring was born.
It was a veritable house of cards that fell in one of the most repressed and undemocratic regions in the world:
- Egypt - the overwhelming, joyous overthrow of the most reviled and powerful of them all, Hosni Mubarak
- Yemen - which will yet fall
- Syria - on the brink
- Libya - Qaddafi was goodriddance, even if his ouster by being murdered was barbaric and if for mostly wrong and no doubt the most cynical reasons
- Bahrain, Morocco, Algeria, Jordan, even the UAE - dictatorships all, and all very, very, very worried
- Saudi Arabia - can we hope?
A groundswell of outrage by ordinary people all over the world, sick and tired of the lies and manipulation and outright obscene greed of the super rich and their corporate-politico puppets. A rage that marks 2011 as a watershed year for humanity, much as were 1789 or 1848 or 1968 or 1989...
And all because one man decided he could take the abuse of power no more, and whose desperate act of defiance is a mirror to all of us who have simply had enough.
For all those reasons, and many, many more, I do not hesitate in making Mohamed Bouazizi my Man of the Year for 2011.
He is a our everyman, a martyr for humanity.
WORD OF THE YEAR: Kakistocracy
Today I heard what has to be my 'Word of the Year' for 2011:
KAKISTOCRACY
And cited by no other than the inimitable and simply brilliant Max Keiser, whose show The Keiser Report on Russia Today I continue to watch as often as possible.
K-A-K-I-S-T-O-C-R-A-C-Y
And I thought he said 'cacastocracy', believing it to be his play on the word 'aristocracy' and the word 'caca' which, well, we all know means shit, shite, crap...call it what you will. I thought it was his take on the shitty power financial-military-corporate elites that currently rule (and destroy) the world. That sure made me laugh out loud.
But, much to my surprise, it is an actual word, the meaning of which is:
(kăk'ĭ-stŏk'rə-sē, kä'kĭ-)
n., pl., -cies.
Government by the least qualified or most unprincipled citizens.
KAKISTOCRACY
And cited by no other than the inimitable and simply brilliant Max Keiser, whose show The Keiser Report on Russia Today I continue to watch as often as possible.
K-A-K-I-S-T-O-C-R-A-C-Y
And I thought he said 'cacastocracy', believing it to be his play on the word 'aristocracy' and the word 'caca' which, well, we all know means shit, shite, crap...call it what you will. I thought it was his take on the shitty power financial-military-corporate elites that currently rule (and destroy) the world. That sure made me laugh out loud.
But, much to my surprise, it is an actual word, the meaning of which is:
(kăk'ĭ-stŏk'rə-sē, kä'kĭ-)
n., pl., -cies.
Government by the least qualified or most unprincipled citizens.
What a word that so eloquently and precisely conjures up these morally corrupt and filthy elites that continue to hold sway in this increasingly mad and unjust world.
This priceless word is the living epitome of what 2011 became and for which it will go down in years to come - as the watershed year in which the working and middle classes all over the world finally woke up and realized that the rich and the powerful most certainly do NOT have our interests at hand, never mind at heart...
So, once again, I must tip my hat to the brilliant Mr. Keiser. He has done it again.
Or maybe it should be cacastocracy after all...?
Do you get my point?
RANT: Sacre Bleu, M. Spielberg!
Over two months since my last post and what finally gets me irked enough to write my first post in such a long time?
Or, rather, the hacking and hashing of a world-renowned and much-beloved character by Hollywood - yes, the cultural whoremeisters and moneyed scheisters of LA are at it again.
IS NOTHING SACRED IN/ BY/ FOR HOLLYWOOD?!
And this time the whoremeister is no other than Mr Steven Spielberg...
Ahem, Mr. Spielberg, THIS is Tintin...
An urbane, inquisitive and totally lovable journalist, the epitome of a kinder, more polite and frankly better time, and who happens to have one rollicking (read: NOT explosive or demented or OTT) adventure after another.
What Tintin is most decidedly NOT is THIS, Mr. Spielberg...
What is Spielberg's vision of Tintin? Yet another tedious, swashbuckling Indian Jones rehash that endures more explosions than the London Blitz and pulls off daredevil stunts that would have made Evil Knievel blush like a girl, Now, a la Spielberg, he is the epitome of our garish, pumped up times..NOT!
I cannot remember the last time a movie trailer horrified and appalled and angered me so much...
You may have given us classics like Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T., but with this pimping of my beloved Tintin you show yourself up as nothing more than the sum total of how hackneyed and schlocky Hollywood has truly become, Mr. Spielberg...
And don't get me started on Captain Haddock...
Shame on you. Please forgive him, Monsieur Herge.
- Occupy Wall Street? No
- The inevitable invasion of Iran? No
- The ongoing fight for freedom in Egypt? No
- Rising tensions in Syria? No
- The never ending Eurozone debacle? No
Or, rather, the hacking and hashing of a world-renowned and much-beloved character by Hollywood - yes, the cultural whoremeisters and moneyed scheisters of LA are at it again.
IS NOTHING SACRED IN/ BY/ FOR HOLLYWOOD?!
And this time the whoremeister is no other than Mr Steven Spielberg...
Ahem, Mr. Spielberg, THIS is Tintin...
An urbane, inquisitive and totally lovable journalist, the epitome of a kinder, more polite and frankly better time, and who happens to have one rollicking (read: NOT explosive or demented or OTT) adventure after another.
What Tintin is most decidedly NOT is THIS, Mr. Spielberg...
What is Spielberg's vision of Tintin? Yet another tedious, swashbuckling Indian Jones rehash that endures more explosions than the London Blitz and pulls off daredevil stunts that would have made Evil Knievel blush like a girl, Now, a la Spielberg, he is the epitome of our garish, pumped up times..NOT!
I cannot remember the last time a movie trailer horrified and appalled and angered me so much...
You may have given us classics like Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T., but with this pimping of my beloved Tintin you show yourself up as nothing more than the sum total of how hackneyed and schlocky Hollywood has truly become, Mr. Spielberg...
And don't get me started on Captain Haddock...
Shame on you. Please forgive him, Monsieur Herge.
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