Friends, I know that the U.S. is fond of seeing itself as a beacon on the hill but in fact the real beacon on the hill for the world is the man who threw his shoes at Bush.

The picture of Bush cowering as the harmless but deeply symbolic, derogatory missiles sailed over his head plus the knowledge that the assailant was simultaneously calling Bush a ‘dog’ will live in my memory forever!

According to Al Jazeera today, it appears his sentence has been reduced from three years to one and that means he could be out of jail by December this year and even earlier if  his good behaviour is recognized. Sanity has finally prevailed in Iraq and hopefully the man will be made a national hero as he deserves.

This man, Muntadhar al-Zeidi, has shown to the world what individuals can achieve if they have the courage of their convictions. His act of defiance and bravery sent shock waves around the world. It made leaders everywhere experience a shiver of fear as they saw that this act by one man symbolized a weakness in their seeming control of the masses.

The truth is that the authorities cannot control the masses using force. We outnumber them. They cannot put 6.5 billion unhappy, rebellious people in jail.

If we all expressed ourselves as Muntadhar did, then we, the people, can take our world back from morons like Bush, extreme governments, corporations, banksters, clerics, media moguls, and the robber barons and turn it into a place that looks after everyone, not just the cunning, the wealthy, and the unscrupulous!

This news item is good news for the world. We, the people, have real power.

Let’s use it to make our earth a better place!

The Carnage In Iraq Continues!

Friends, as you would know, the U.S. is drawing down its troops in Iraq claiming its surge worked and that Iraq is well on the way to becoming an independent, democratic nation.

But Reuters reports today that there were six suicide explosions in Bagdad which killed 36 people and wounded many more.

Look, call me cynical but I reckon six suicide explosions clearly suggest that Iraq is still the same lawless place that it has been ever since the Americans and their Coalition of the Killing arrived.

The ‘Democracy Installers’ are now going to concentrate their military efforts engaging in a surge in Afghanistan according to Obama, the new Commander in Chief (he was the one who promised a change in American foreign policy, remember?). As a sideshow, they’re also ‘droning’ Pakistan.

I hope that Allah protects Afghans and Pakistanis better than He did Iraqis!

Friends, this morning after my news browsing, I know how a feathered shuttlecock must feel as it’s hit back and forth across a Badminton court.

Some of the issues I encountered were: the launch of a North Korean rocket with the satellite on board, the U.N.’s huffing and puffing about the firing of the rocket, the inability of the U.N. to decide whether the firing actually broke any resolutions, Obama’s call for nuclear disarmament, the caning of a woman in an Arab country for sexual misconduct, the removal of photographic images of women members of Netanyahu’s cabinet by Ultra-Orthodox Jewish newspapers (showing women is considered to be immodest), more suicide bombings in Pakistan, more arrests of Bikie gang members in Australia, the collapse of an ice shelf, the killing of seals in Scotland because they damage salmon nets, etc, etc.

As I was bombarded with item after item my spirits rose and fell just like the hapless shuttlecock. Back and forth, up and down I went. Would I write a post on this issue or that? Should I combine two or three different topics? Should I use satire or straight commentary? What photographs would be appropriate? What position should I take? By the time I was finished I had a stress pain in my chest!

What struck me was the importance of compartmentalizing one’s life.

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“What are you going to spend your bailout money on, Charles?”

“Don’t know, Daphne! Might fly to the International Space Station…

Then this yacht is five years old now so I really should replace it…

Then again the share market is starting to boom…

Hmmm! Having money is a constant worry!”

“And, my friends, this is the best part. We also told them that we, who secretly represent the rich, were going to completely reform and closely regulate the whole banking and financial system, close down tax havens, stop artificial manipulation of the Stock markets, and eradicate Ponzi schemes! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

So here’s to the sheeple. True to form, they’d believe anything!”

Friends, as you would’ve gathered by now (given the current crisis and the continual  statements by politicians that the most important thing in the world is to create jobs) that life is obviously all about jobs or should be!

Now, I would make the point that if 6.5 billion humans spend their whole lives preparing for or engaging in a job, I feel that it should be mandatory that other warm-blooded animals should also have jobs. Otherwise it’s discrimination pure and simple.

Why should humans be sent to childcare centres and kindergartens at the tender age of 1 or 2 or 3 while other animals, some of whom look just like us,  just spend their days happily playing around? Then, all too soon, tiny human animals are sent off to primary and secondary schools, then colleges and universities where they are bored out of their tiny minds by a procession of mediocre teachers and lecturers.

Then they hit the big-time by, if they’re lucky and economic conditions allow, getting a job. They quickly learn to pay taxes, to buy the poorly made crap that fills whole shopping complexes, to mow lawns, to impregnate females, to get on the treadmill along with all the other bunnies while telling themselves over and over that life is great!

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Well, the leaders have met, an agreement has been signed, and people are packing up and going home. Each G20 leader is going home to his or her own country, a country that is in competition with all the other countries in the world as countries have been since human civilization began.

Each leader is accountable to the citizens of that country, not to the G20. Getting re-elected is always prominent in their minds. To get re-elected requires money, requires satisfying the power-brokers, the vested interests, the lobby groups, etc.

A thousand million dollars has been allocated via the IMF, etc, to pump-prime the world economy, to get credit going again, to shock markets back into life. There is talk of new regulations being introduced to oversee financial institutions, to make tax havens transparent, to limit CEO bonuses, to ensure that there is no market protectionism, etc. Talk is cheap!

But what is the bottom line? Has anything really changed? I guess that remains to be seen but, basically, as far as I can see, nothing has changed. We still have capitalism holding the reins of the world.

There was some talk about creating a new type of capitalism, one with morality, but the truth is that there is no such thing.

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Friends, the G20 crowd have assembled in London and they are attending a series of lavish receptions and dinners while their flunkies try to thrash out a communique that will attempt to justify their attendance which cost many millions of taxpayers’ dollars (over and above the huge bail-outs of corrupt banks and insurance companies).

The photograph shows one of the dinners where the main course is Sun-dried Capitalist Elephant. Emperor Obama, who asked the question, is shown standing possessively on the ivory tusk (trust a Yank to spot a dollar) while Prime Minister Brown is standing meekly on the animal’s neck, his head bowed, awaiting instructions. Prime Minister Rudd is somewhere in the background as befits his minor importance. Merkel and Sarkozy, once sworn enemies, are not to be seen as they are holding a rival press conference elsewhere.

As the political vultures gorge, none of them realize that there will be no more feasts like this one, that the Capitalist Elephant, driven too hard and for too long by the Merchants of Menace, has become extinct, like the Dodo.

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Friends, during Earth Hour last weekend, we turned off all the lights and spent an enjoyable hour bathing in candlelight while chatting sporadically or just enjoying the deep silence.

There is something magical about candlelight. It is so soft, so delicate. It temporarily softens the harshness of life, gives us a new perspective on things. And chatting is uplifting too, something that, all too often, the blaring, intrusive, brain-deadening television tends to stifle.

Perhaps people should have an Earth Hour three or four times a week. It could well improve relationships, give us time to reconnect, to listen, to reflect, to escape from the grim, worrying reality of world, to use our imagination, even to experience peace.

And it would save energy too, cut down on those greenhouse gases that are destroying our planet.

Make candlelight part of your life. You’ll be glad you did!