A new approach to Iran

President Barack Obama has issued a video appeal to Iran - its government and people. Time will tell what results from this approach but it is certainly a change from the Bush era rhetoric.

Glenn Greenwald on the issue.

"Loving Our Enemies, the People of Iran"

Now let us keep track of developments.

google problems ...

  .. give me the s**ts ...

    .. so much for 'free speech'

-=*=-

[this slug added 090326,1907 to g00se the g00gle-b0t]

-=*=-

When Richard Tonkin dropped his ugly, hateful t**d on our doorstep, some of us were gobsmacked, others outraged - some a bit of both and then more.

But something funny came out of it (no, not funny "Ha, ha" but funny peculiar); one could say that I became outraged all over again. (Yeah, and looping again - as usual.)

If one were to google the exact last 12 words (double-quoted) of 'good' old Tonker's s**ty little comment, one would get, as well as 'not much,' a rude message via and courtesy of google - obviously at the instigation the ADL (see bottom of the google-linked message). Well, well; imagine that! Long story short - google (like where Tonks 'works') is into pro-Z censorship!

-=*=-

Time to switch search-engines, I think.
 

earth wind & fire

Help Somebody

'Help somebody!' It's the thought that kept rising to the fore in my mind as I begun to hear breaking news, urgent reports revealing what our fellows faced. Fanned by furious winds, fires roared and ripped through bush and building, burning across paddocks of dry, dead grass, exploding through forests, engulfing all in its path. It rained embers, spreading the hellish inferno so quickly, so far and so wide. Smoke blinded and choked, smothered and suffocated. Flames, vast walls of flames, fast moving columns of fire ... please forgive me for not continuing to describe in detail how they wreaked havoc. We need not dwell on the horrors they inflicted upon hundreds of human beings and thousands of animals.

I listened, alarmed. I felt impelled to help. I felt frustrated. As the fires burned, I could not help somebody by being on the frontlines . I was not in a position to do so. I could not help somebody in the way a person with the skill of a fire-fighter would, trying to tame a firestorm or the way a medic would, tending to the injured; I am not one of those so skilled.

Yet I drew comfort in the knowledge I have developed different skills, and I could, indeed I would use these skills to help somebody soon enough. I would help lift somebody up, up, up.

If we all stand together
We'll all stand tall, tall, tall
We wouldn't let each other
Tumble and fall, fall, fall
Now let's reach down together
And lift somebody up, up, up
Give a little love and kindness
It won't take much, much, much

Moment of Truth

After the fire, scorched earth. Shelters now cinder, all around ash. Scarred landscapes, shattered lives. So much work to do to together to recover and rebuild.

I can join with others to do this work for as well as having developed the necessary skills, I am lucky. I did not live in the path the destructive powers took that first day, nor where it turned and twisted, threatening, and indeed tearing through townships in the days that followed.

I make my home on land by the salty sea water, within a place known to the Yalukit-willam clan as koort-boork-boork, which means 'clump of She-oaks', literally: Many-She-oak-She-oak. This place, a safe base where I've made a home for my family was -- many, many moons ago -- the place where people would be invited to join in ceremony, to partake in a peace festival, where there would be an exchange of water and the leaves of a gum tree, as well as feasts of fish, shellfish and the meat of birds, possum, kangaroo.

This was a place where connections between community members were made and re-made. I feel connected to this place and its ancient purpose as common ground, and I feel compelled to act in ways congruent with the spirit of this place.

A call came in the week that followed the blackest days and nights. I responded to the call and was swiftly recruited into the ranks of those skilled at bringing relief to those affected by disaster, skilled in the second wave of response after the initial emergency response, skilled at assisting communities to stay connected, to maintain resilience, to recover and rebuild. Now I can reach out and help somebody.

For thankfully something great has happened. People have been brought together, all to do our part and lend a hand to those affected by the bushfires. An organisation has been built, a virtual organisation, an alliance of many organisations. Three tiers of government and non-government organisations working together, focused on a clear and important mission, serving these people from our broad community. Lending a hand, helping them get back on their feet.

We all got to do our part
Lend a hand and open up your heart
It's all up to me and you
We gotta get ready for the moment of truth.

Love Is Life

It does not serve the people to discharge duties now as if its just another day in the office, acting in a manner that is detached, officious, bureacratic. To the fore now must come the flexibility that is born of empathy and compassion. We have to care, to create solutions, to overcome obstacles. To help people through this setback in life, we have to draw upon our capacity for love, for imagination, for achievement.

February's firestorms, which burned out 4,500 km² and destroyed thousands of structures, have made an estimated 7,500 people homeless (at least for in the short-term). Our best work by way of recovery will be informed by an understanding of what it is like to have been through a traumatic event, to have escaped with your life and little else, and to face a great need to regain some, if not all of the utility of most of the material things lost.

Have you ever seen a flower
Tryin' to bloom in a dry barren land
But then comes a sweet spring shower
Just to lend a helpin' hand
Like the love of you and I
All at once it came alive
You brought love
And your love is life

Fan the Fire

There is a folk wisdom: Fight fire with fire. It conveys two meanings. One is its first, literal meaning. We can starve a fire of material to burn, and make it easier to put out, by burning material in a controlled way. The other is a figurative meaning. If you 'fight fire with fire' in a conflict or a contest, you use the same methods or 'weapons' as your opponent.

What made the firestorm on 7 February so very destructive was the combination of various forces. In combination, extraordinary climatic conditions, a persistent drought, and an exceptional heat wave affecting south-eastern Australia, created high fuel loads that were tinder-dry. On that day various fires were (probably) sparked by lightning, arson, discarded cigarette butts. In combination with these, the intense heat wave and high winds -- a howling hot northerly -- fanned the flames into firestorms of terrible ferocity. It incinerated all in its path.

Dare we now fan flames? And in which direction? We have many decisions to make.

Do we decide to turn upon those whose 'tree-change' lifestyles may have been the better, more sustainable in different circumstances or a different place, but are now clearly revealed to be maladaptive and unsustainable in contemporary circumstances in that bush on those hills? I think not. I think we discuss the lessons learnt and apply them, but let's not over-react. Greens did not cause these fires. People living 'greener' did not cause these fires.

Do we decide to fan flames of discontent, of dissatisfaction with wasteful and wrong ways of living in spite of - rather than within - the natural limitations of our land and environment? Yes, but it would seem the time for heading off catastrophe is past. We need to ensure we stop doing more damage, repair and remediate what can be, but most importantly, for our safety and survival we must learn to to adapt. We need to adapt to a climate that has changed, to an environment that is damaged, to a worsening situation.

Do we decide enough is enough, and no longer set ourselves divided into diametrically opposed camps? Do we do something altogether different, avoid the trap of a never-ending blame game, and focus on adapting to what we face now and in future, remediating what can be, setting upon a sustainable course to curb the frequency of future emergencies?

Yes, yes ... playing histrionic blame games is pointless. Playing blame games gets us nowhere, turns us inside-out, sends us running in vicious cycles. It discourages us from gaining the understanding needed to solve a highly complex and poorly understood problem. Let's not play blame games. It is far better to be focused on the future than dwelling on, and getting stuck back in the past.

Instead of pointing fingers, do we look to creating an extraordinary combination of positive forces? Say we invest our energies and set about intensifying feelings of community connectedness, can we create stronger, more resilient communities, and thereby assist people to both head off and cope well with events that threaten them harm?

To me the answer to this last question is certain: Yes, we can. And the work I now do in concert with so many others will certainly test the hypothesis. Besides, what harm could be done by building stronger interconnectedness and interdependence between us whatever future we face? None, as far as I can see.

ohh it's a shame
I'ts a shame, it's a shame
The flame of love is about to die
Somebody fan the fire
The flame of love is about to die
Somebody fan the fire
Love is dyin' today
Somebody fan the fire
The flame of love is dyin' i say
We gonna fan the fire, come on along
Little children starving in a foreign land,
Talk about it brother
Man afraid to shake his brother's hand (fan the fire, fan the fire)
Woman in trouble callin' but nobody cares (fan the fire, fan the fire)
People denied the rights that are truly theirs (it's a shame).

C'mon Children

It is a myth that all the Australian bush has completely adapted to regular fires. The ecological effects of fire vary according to the season, frequency, intensity, scale and patchiness of burning in a landscape. Bushfire in Australia has both negative and positive effects on the ecosystems in this land. Ecosystems become severely affected when fires are too hot and large. Regenerative fires generally are of a less intense nature than that we have just witnessed.

The February fires have been devastating to a number of wildlife populations. It is feared endangered populations of gliders, owls and lizards are among the dead. For those that have survived, the recovery process will be long and slow. The homes of much of the fauna of our land are lost and they are not going to be readily rebuilt. We cannot rapidly reconstruct a native forest.

Yet people will see our native bushland mostly healing itself after after these fires, regenerating and bouncing back to teem with life once more. Some Australian flora requires a combination of heat and smoke to release seeds. The heat, smoke and ash of the February fires will provide triggers for germination of many, if not all plant species. Many fauna populations will rebound. People will see this and think all is right. It will not be all right. Not all species will come back strongly. It is likely that some will not come back at all.

The explorer, Thomas Livingstone Mitchell, in his 'Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Australia' (published in 1848) observed the interrelation of the land and the people indigenous to it: "Fire, grass, kangaroos and human inhabitants seem all dependent on each other for existence in Australia, for any one of these being wanting, the others could no longer continue."

Whilst not suggesting that we all should now start to live exactly as the indigenous people did in the 1800s, I am a firm believer in the need to recognise, and then act in accord with the fact, that sustainable co-existence in this country must be founded on a harmnious interdependence between elements: earth, wind, fire, water, mineral, vegetable, animal, etc.

I find seeds of hope within the resources now being applied to promote and progress the recovery and reconstruction of individual homes and whole towns. I see that what is being done now, and what we will come to do in the weeks, months, and years ahead, may bring about a positive change with lasting effect. As we recover and prepare to rebuild in this environment, we've the opportunity to learn about and better understand the nature of it. With better knowledge of the land and its ecosystems we can make this opportunity one in which we shape and adopt new ways of living within the limits of these lands. We can seize the opportunity to better promote what is balanced, sensible and sustainable.

Come on down and lend a hand
Need your love, to save the land

This World Today

It is in our hands, this world today. We must answer this: In what state will we leave it as legacy to our children, and their children, and theirs, and so on?

In this new world
Of suffering
Love, peace of mind
Should be our thing
Let man join hands
The old and the young
And let every heart
Now beat as one
In this world today.

The nasty DZs [name changed to protect the innocent - we authors]

[saved as draft, then republished]

[this post has been moved to webdiary_not-so-libre.]
 

what you see ...

  .. might be what you get ...

    .. but that may not be quite what you expected

-=*=-

Preamble: Addressed to our newest member, also any seeking truth & justice, etc. and how we might get them.

We now know that we the people - yes, some are sheople[1] - are being constantly propagandised. In fact, it's propaganda (a deliberate distortion of reality - when not outright lies) which is one of the main things turning people into sheople (another thing is the natural tendency to sloth, yet another the insidiously encouraged selfishness). Some laugh about (dumbed-down!) sheople, some of those laughing wickedly - the wicked ones are obviously either doing the lying, or benefiting from the lies, or both.

This theme (truth vs. lies) should never be trivialised - like when it became necessary (for the propagandists) to deploy "All politicians lie!" on account of Howard's filthy, in the worst case warmongering lies becoming Oh, so totally obvious - even to the most dumbed-down of sheople.

The theme of truth vs. lies is part of the larger tapestry of truth and justice vs. lies, theft and murder - at which point we have to deploy one of the expressions made infamous by the B, B & H troika's worst offender; Q: Are Xxx with us, or agin' us? - Where the 'Xxx' here are deliberate, premeditated liars.

Lies are deployed to deceive - it's one reason to cite the definition[2], so we all understand both the mechanics and the gravity.

An obvious 'worst case scenario' is when lies are deployed on the way to murdering theft - as in the illegal invasion of Iraq now morphed into an equally brutal occupation (murder for oil), and the 60+ year depredations of Israel against the now criminally dispossessed former legal owners of most of the land Israel occupies, Israel's neighbours or in fact just about anyone who resists Israeli-Zionist criminality (murder for land and water).

Now, Ern, we come to your "free speech" and the MSM (mainstream media.) Here we also come up against the hoary old idea of 'expectations,' and how realistic they are (or were, if revised - or sadly shattered.) My own expectations of the MSM *were* that they were "news agencies," i.e. their job was to inform us - as citizen-voters need to be. A special case of the MSM are the publicly financed broadcasters AusBC and latecomer SBS. Coming to my violated, realistic expectations; in plain text: I did *not* expect to be lied to (do you?)

Well, how silly, how utterly naïve! (Ah, ha ha ha!) Everybody lies - or at least those trying to cheat us, steal from us do ...

The MSM (plus publicly financed broadcasters) turn out to be corrupt and venal - their 'news' is sold to us, we the people-sheople, under false pretences; a lot of the 'news' we get has already been bought and paid for by (vested interest) villains, and equally obviously, many (most?) of these villains are of the Zionist persuasion.

Their 'news' is laced with lies and propaganda; in the case of publicly financed broadcasters, we the sheople are actually paying them via our taxes to lie to us. Now, just how "free speech" is that?

There's more to come of course (seemingly endless battle) and whereas you are (partly) correct with your idea that the MSM can make or break a government - the Whitlam tragedy still sears - it is not simple.

-=*end*=-

PS You pose a good question, Q: Is there "an alternative to suicide?"

A: One thing is perfectly clear, doing nothing is not a viable option.

The question then becomes, Q: How to become most effective?

A1: Ah! Start with insisting on the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, perhaps?

A2: In blogging, endlessly arguing with any lying blog-troll once recognized is pretty pointless - but worse, continuing such a dialogue enables the troll to keep pressing his/her/its lying agenda - see Lakoff (Don't Think of an Elephant!) Another thing is that lying trolls, by nature, are simply not interested in facts - quite obviously, facts are just too inconvenient for trolls, since the acts (here murder for spoil) under consideration are mostly criminal. Always more of the same will only get you ever more same-old same-old, so: (1) identify any liar, (2) say so loudest, then (3) terminate all discussion with him/her/it.

-=*=-

Ref(s):

[1] sheople = sheep + people. Some prefer 'sheeple,' but that's just a bit too animal - all as usual and of course IMHO.

[2] lie2 —n. 1 intentionally false statement (tell a lie). 2 something that deceives. —v. (lies, lied, lying) 1 tell a lie or lies. 2 (of a thing) be deceptive.  give the lie to show the falsity of (a supposition etc.). [Old English] [POD]

some work to do ...

  .. after peeling an onion ...

    .. I'm doing it; perhaps you could too

-=*=-

Following a tip from a friend (g'day!), I started with one article, then began back-tracking. I'm still doing it (i.e. reading it all) - because I think it's worth it; perhaps you should start on it too ... if so, I can help, by outlining the path. Although I usually despise this format, I present it 'newest 1st,' since that was (largely) the order of discovery:

02 Mar 2009
Floyd Unmasked: A Savage Purveyor of Violence
[Chris Floyd]

27 Feb 2009
Feudal Gestures: Bailout Lords and Their Modern Peons
[Chris Floyd]

February 26, 2009
It's Time to Break Up the Big Banks
The Geithner Put
[counterpunch/Mike Whitney]

February 23, 2009
What "Nationalize the Banks" and the "Free Market" Really Mean in Today's Looking-Glass World
The Language of Looting
[counterpunch/Michael Hudson]

February 19, 2009
Fucking Raping You to Death: The Real Fun Begins
[powerofnarrative/Arthur Silber]

February 13, 2009
Welcome [Simon Johnson] to the Journal
[pbs/Bill Moyers]

February 8, 2009
What happened to the global economy and what we can do about it
High Noon: Geithner v. The American Oligarchs
with 37 comments
[baselinescenario/Simon Johnson]

-=*=-

Note that I had previously referred to the Hudson in my prima facie; the above cascade explicates a different theme. I intend to do a follow-up or revise this article (tempus fugit!) - but I thought I'd let anyone else in on it straight away ... just wanna get the facts out, soonest.

a 'little' financial bombshell ...

  .. hope it doesn't spoil your day ...

    .. like two 'little' A-bombs once did for so many hapless 'collaterals'

Sorry - but not too sorry, for mentioning the war (WW2), here's a possible reason why even that was not so simple ... but to provide a tiny bit of 'closure' here, recall that most of the A-bomb victims really were civilian. If the normative 'wo/men in the Japanese street' could possibly be ascribed any 'collective guilt,' it could only be because they 'allowed' themselves to be propagandised - just like our own sheople allow themselves to be propagandised today, over the 2003->now Nuremberg-class aggression against Iraq by B, B & H, say (murder for oil). Or possibly worse, the 60+ bloody years' long slaughter of the now sadly dispossessed therefore ex-legal owners of Palestine by Israel (murder for land & water). (When we talk of worse/worst, recall that the mainly US led invasion of Iraq may have led to the death of 1mio+, and the vicious Israeli genocide against the Palestinians has dispossessed an entire nation. Contrast to the screams over a single murder or brutal robbery in the so-called 'civilised West.') These US & Israeli war crimes cannot go unpunished - or we, as so-called moral humans are nothing more than barbaric rubbish. Not really sorry at all, for harping on these themes. Now something different, but also starting just after WW2:

February 27 - March 1, 2009
Obama and the System
The Economy and the Big Picture

  «In 1948 George Kennan, one of the chief architects of post-war US foreign policy, famously stated the chief object of US policy in the post-war era: "We have about 50% of the world's wealth, but only 6.3% of its population. ... In this situation, we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity... ” US foreign policy during the last half of the 20th Century conforms closely to Kennan’s statement of that policy’s core object.»
[counterpunch/Felice Pace]

What Pace doesn't mention is that Kennan advised "The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts" to maintain that (unjust!) disparity, or later Nixon declaring the US bankrupt on August 15, 1971, and 'cleverly' substituting oil for gold; in one single (foul!) stroke setting the world up for perhaps the ultimate dual rip-off of a world reserve fiat currency 'backed' by oil.

What Pace also doesn't mention is the profligate 'printing' of that fiat currency of late, or the artificially low interest rate regimes - and then, there were/are the tax-cuts some lackeys keep screeching for (more often than not aimed at the already rich beyond avarice fat-cats, à la Bush2), and some evil treasurers implement, like Costello's halving of the CGT. Printing money, low interest rates, CGT tax-cuts all equal *asset bubbles!* - and that's what we got; as one of many bubbles, Aus house-prices doubled, starting pretty-well immediately after Costello's CGT cut.

Anyway and long story short, looks like we've got an economic collapse well underway (hardly news).

Some of you, dear readers, may know some of this, and how lots of working people have been marginalised - and terrified - by contracting and general out-sourcing, part-timing, casualisations, cheap labour imports, all of the sly (and filthy!) neo-liberal stuff - but you may still have been puzzled as to what's really going on. The cited counterpunch/Felice Pace article attempts to explain - some, but not all; nevertheless some of it is quite novel.