Friends, Al Jazeera today carried the story about yet another apology issued by the ultra-rich Roman Catholic Church for child abuse and molestation. In this instance, the German Church was in hot water.

This follows on from apologies given by the Irish Roman Catholic Church recently for the same reasons and, before that, the American Catholic Church, etc. These apologies seem to move from country to country as some members of the Roman Catholic clergy are discovered using children as their sexual playthings.

Of course, the Catholic Church claims to be Christian and, as I recall it, Jesus was particularly fond of children but not in the way that the men in frocks are. He did say, “Suffer the little children to come unto me.” By this, he did not mean that the children should be made to suffer the sexually sick acts of depraved priests.

It is time that the Catholics put their Church in order (which may involve changing their abnormal celibacy edicts). It is not good enough to offer cascading apologies and to give victims monetary compensation for what is vile sexual assault. It is not good enough to move offending priests from Church to Church in an effort to hide their gross behaviour. It is not good enough to send offenders or victims off to counseling.

No, it is time that any member of any clergy who offends against children is defrocked, then charged, then imprisoned.

Continue reading →

Friends, some inside contacts sent me this intimate photograph of Bibi Netanyahu taken during the lecture he was getting from Hilary Clinton over the 1,600 settler units fiasco and the complete humiliation of Joe Biden and his boss, Obomber.

Apparently, not only was he making rude gestures at her but, under the table, with his other hand, he was doing rather bizarre, unspeakable things.

I think more of these photographs should be made available, don’t you? It helps us to learn who and what our world leaders really are!

This Reuter’s photograph of  despairing Senator Chris Dodd mirrors my own despair today about most things in this world.

His despair has been caused by an inability to get regulations through which would have regulated the U.S. banking and financial industries, the ones that caused the catastrophic Global Financial Crisis.

The lobbyists have had a field day as they seek to allow banks and financial institutions and their leaders to do again whatever they like regardless of the damage they have already caused or will cause again.

‘Too Big To Fail’ has become the catch cry of the bastards who are running our world for their own selfish benefit. The people who have lost their jobs and/or houses, well…who cares about them? Not the wealthy, that’s for sure. They will make lots of money out of the situation, you know, buy houses at fire sale prices then sell when the market recovers.

The failure of achieving real financial regulation in the U.S. has highlighted the abject failure that is American democracy and, sadly, many of the European democracies. The moral of the story: the political process can be bought if you have enough money.

Continue reading →

Friends, the announcement by the Israelis that 1,600 new settler homes are to be built for Ultra-Orthodox Jews in East Jerusalem signals the death knell for the Palestinians.

With unbelievable contempt for the visiting Vice-President of the U.S., the Israelis made their imperial plans clear right in the middle of what was supposed to be yet another attempt to discuss the Road Map and the setting up of a Palestinian State. It takes a great deal of arrogance for Israel to publicly humiliate the only nation that  financially and militarily and politically supports the racist State of Israel.

I have followed and supported the Palestinians for more than ten years despite getting a lot of static. I guess a few things happened along the way that made me question whether they had a future or not. One of those things was Jenin (see top photograph). Witnessing that massacre and the destruction it caused, and how the IDF kept the media kilometres away so their evil could not be photographed, gave me the feeling that the brutal Israelis were capable of anything. As with the Americans,  it is their way or the highway.

Next was the imprisoning of Arafat (see middle photograph) in Ramallah and, soon after, his death. With him died the final hope for a Palestinian State because the only way the Palestinians were going to get any rights or throw off their occupation or achieve a State was to fight tooth and nail using any means at their disposal.  Suicide bombings weren’t pretty but they certainly rattled the Israelis for a time, gave them a taste of their own medicine.

Continue reading →

The Israeli flag dwarfs the American one! Coincidence?

Where is the Palestinian flag?

Friends, the ritual meeting between America and its ugly child, Israel is in progress yet again. Joe Biden, Vice-President, has arrived in Israel to talk the talk (but not to walk the walk) and express the usual meaningless platitudes and make the usual empty promises to the Palestinians.

For decades, the charade has continued: America pretending to be the honest broker that, cross your heart, really, truly wants to see the creation of a Palestinian State while Israel pretends it is busting a gut to give the Palestinians their own State while it steals more and more of what little is left of their land and builds even more settlements with lightening speed.

The whole circus is deeply ironic and profoundly boring. Joe, in the deeply symbolic photograph, is not wearing his skullcap yet but he will. He and Benny will swear eternal friendship once again and Joe will swear fealty to Israel no matter what it does to the Palestinians or any of its neighbours. And Israel will thank America for its continuing support via endless armaments and money and its continual blocking of U.N. Resolutions and Reports critical of Israel.

Continue reading →

“Ain’t U.S. democracy great?”

Friends, I looked at Al Jazeera this morning. Iraq featured heavily in its coverage of world events.

First thing I noticed was a lead article about explosions in Najaf and Ramadi prior to the election on March 7th which is later today. Three people had been killed and fifty had been injured (see above). There are expectations that many more people will be killed before the election is over. Remember the Shia are a minority group in Iraq and there is no love lost between them and the Sunnis.

Then in the FOCUS section there are two articles. One deals with whether or not U.S. troops should or should not withdraw from Iraq. This is because there are many questions about the ability of the war-ravaged country and its warring groups to survive without the presence of Big Brother America. The other article suggests that Iraq waits on a knife-edge as the election hour approaches with hope and fear in equal proportions.

Then, lower still, in the blog section, another article states: KIRKUK’S ARABS FIGHT AGAIN FEDERALISM. As you may recall, the highway to Kirkuk killed many Allied troops. Obviously some Arabs are not happy with the direction their country is taking under the brutal foreign invaders. Another article suggests that George W Bush brought democracy to the Middle East and this should be used as an example by other Arab countries. Surely the person who wrote this must be on drugs or in need of deep psychotherapy!

Continue reading →

“When the earth is ravaged and the animals are dying, a new tribe of people shall come unto the earth from many colors, classes, creeds, and who by their actions and deeds shall make the earth green again. They will be known as the warriors of the Rainbow” — Old Native American Prophecy.

Friends this was part of a comment from Grace. It plucked a string inside me, me who is home again, who is ready to begin a more normal life again and do more with my life.

I thought about the person who saw this vision in the midst of the annihilation of his or her people by the new ‘civilized’ white men who came in winged ships and brought death and disease and greed and destruction with them just as they did in Australia.

The Warriors of the Rainbow. How beautiful! The rainbow, a symbol of great beauty, comes after the storm when, for a moment, the earth has been washed clean and the air has been cleansed. Perhaps we who contribute to this blog and similar blogs are part of the genesis of the Warriors of the Rainbow.

Continue reading →

Friends, today Reuters carried news of a new book written by Liu Mingfu which said that China must challenge and overcome America’s domination of the world if it is to avoid being neutered by the war-mongering nation.

The call for China to abandon modesty about its global goals and “sprint to become world number one” comes from a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Senior Colonel, Liu Mingfu, who warns that his nation’s ascent will alarm Washington, risking war despite Beijing’s hopes for a “peaceful” rise.

“This book represents my personal views, but I think it also reflects a tide of thought,” Liu told Reuters in an interview. “We need a military rise as well as an economic rise.”

It sounds to me as if the sleeping dragon is beginning to awaken and it is aware that America, currently, is trying to out-manoevre it in terms of military strategies, military dominance and control of world resources.

Friends, the battle lines are being drawn. Where Russia will fit into this equation I don’t know. Could it be that the two adjoining countries, Russia and China, will join in a military partnership? Are we about to see a new Cold War? Will America’s need for access to the lucrative Chinese market overcome its desire for world military dominance? Will America go bankrupt soon? Will America decide that Iran is too insignificant to waste a war on?

These issues will unfold over the next few years or decades.

The struggle has begun! The dragon and the bear versus the eagle.

Who is your money on? Will this be the war that ends all wars and leaves the world a moonscape?

P.S. Read the whole article on Reuters.