2011

2011 has been an interesting year. Here are a few of the highlights of my year in the form of seven items of interest:

1.     After many years of effort, 2011 was the year my book The Emergency Bouzouki player was published.  

2.     The Emergency Bouzouki player was edited by John Oakley-Smith, who I first met as a young musician growing up in South Africa. A tremendously influential intellect and musical artiste, working on the book has given me the opportunity to re-release one of his wonderful songs from his 70’s album ‘Matinees on Saturdays’ well known to everyone of my generation in South Africa. Here is  ‘The Lady from the Odeon’ written and performed by John Oakley-Smith as a digital download. 

3.     Cate Mackenzie is a Love coach and a fabulously vibrant personality who I had the pleasure of recording with this year, releasing her CD the ‘Open your heart’ meditation, which features my new age music.

4.     Jojo Alves and I used to do duo gigs in South Africa over 30 years ago. He was an amazing guitarist then and this year saw the release of a three year project, which I executive produced, of his new guitar style called ‘six on seven’. A two handed guitar style. Here is the introduction to the 2 neck guitar and here is the YouTube video of the 'Warrior Waltz' 

5.     My 2009 album of meditation music written with Hugh Burns Angels and Unicorns  has been my best selling album this year and is well worth a listen.

Wishing you all of the best for 2012.

Religion. Whats not to love about it.

As Mark Twain observed
"religion began when the first conman met the first fool."
All religious belief relies on the principle of blind faith to sustain dependence on that which any intelligently designed rationale knows as an entirely ridiculous proposition. Even attempting to debate this subject is ridiculous.

The Earth is 6,000 years old. Err?

Unfortunately, if statistics are to be believed some 50% of Americans really are that dumb. 

For those that know, no explanation is necessary and for those who don't, no explanation is possible.

Them that know, know that they know, them that don't know. They don't know they don't know.

An argument that can be used equally well from both sides of the fence. Those denying the theory of gravity could use this logic just as efficiently as those who believe that gravity exists.

Ultimately the most reliable truth of our age is that the truth is what you choose to believe. Anyone so lacking in rational thought as to believe the Earth is 6,000 years old (half of Americans) and that they are so self-important every moment of their lives has been carefully thought out to the most minute detail by an all seeing all powerful god who so loved his 7 day creation that he gave them Syphilis, malaria, cancer, genital mutilation, gigantism, obesity, dwarfism and a whole host of other demonstrations of his loving benevolence, deserves to discover life after death, however improbable this outcome may be.

Preaching to the converted is pretty much a waste of time beyond light relief, and that is the point of this page. Fun. Religion is the single most destructive of mans inventions and one day, hopefully soon, the overt practice and recruitment oriented advertisement of religious belief will become illegal.

Certainly the targeted abuse of children in the early capture of their vulnerable young minds is a heinous offense which should be stopped IMMEDIATELY, being no less than a cynical and malicious child-abuse hate crime. What is wrong with teaching children a compassionate kindness based regard for all other living creatures without the divisive corrosive malevolence which is the lifeblood of all religion.

Religion. Whats not to love about it.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Religion-Whats-not-to-love-about-it/   Fun fun fun.

Mad dog killed in desert

When Paul Simon said 'I don't believe what I read in the papers - they're just out to capture my dime' he was observing the cynical commercial motivation affecting factual news reporting. Since then the relationship between mainstream news and truthful, balanced fact reporting has turned considerably worse, as news media become more than ever, the delivery needle for injecting Government designed public opinion into the heart of the majority.

No news event demonstrates the corrupt nature of press formulating public opinion more succinctly than the decision to demonize and  assassinate Gaddafi. From the moment they failed to 'declare war' while sending in waves of bombers to kill many women and children in pursuit of their one clear agenda, to kill Gaddafi, it was clear to anyone aware of US foreign policy and its controlling use of media that this decision was made before the first wave of bombs fell on the first Libyan kid and that media did not in any way offer reliable reporting of the facts. I have never been more embarrassed by the state of world journalism than I am by the events surrounding the assassination of Gaddafi.

I was reminded at the time when Gaddafi was being so severely bombed, of the way it was for the ANC in the 70's and 80's, when they may have buckled under the weight of  Reagan's American and Thatchers British opprobrium encouraging the mighty bombs of the SADF, were it not for the significant and vital assistance offered to them by Gaddafi, the terrorist sponsor, without whose aid Mandela might still be in an Apartheid jail.  

Unquestionably the list of things that worked out rather well during Gaddafi's leadership tenure, like raising Libya from the poorest Country in the world to the highest in Africa's  'Human Development Index' have either been revised or ignored. The demonisation is so complete that I was told off by an intelligent friend (Lisa) for speaking up for a man 'who used chemical weapons to genocide his own people.' People who know little or nothing about Libya suddenly knew everything about why Gaddafi was a monster who had to be killed because he was a 'Mad Dog'.

I am particularly offended by the blanket postering of his gruesome corpse over every front page in the World - force feeding an image to children without considering parental warnings commonly associated with images of such a damaging and offensive nature - for one reason. To render the name and the memory of Gaddafi beyond redemption. No chance of any Gaddafi heir resurfacing in Libya. No chance of remembering him in any way beyond that bloodied pulp. And then there is this business of leaving his bloodied corpse to ROT in public display until the stench of his decomposing flesh required visitors wearing a mask to stop themselves heaving - when Muslim tradition demands - and he himself requested in his will - that a Muslim be buried as soon as possible (Usually within 24 hours.) As if even his Muslim identity had to be destroyed.  This is pretty shabby behavior on a number of levels.

Whatever atrocities may or may not be associated with Gaddafi's 42 years in office, those responsible for his killing- the NATO controllers and their payroll - are in my book - destined for far worse.
Now that they seemingly have got away with the whole thing - with nary a voice being raised in asking - where was the reporting of this war where so many died - and so many children died.
The basic questions that we might have been interested in knowing more about:

 Who financed the rebels.  How were they financed.  What deal was done in exchange for this financing.  Who are these rebels.  Who paid for the Toyota 4 X 4's.  Who did the mechanical work mounting all those weapons on those 4 X 4's?  How many British bombs were dropped.  How much UK taxpayer money was spent bombing Libya.  How many children did our bombs kill.  How do our RAF pilots feel about dropping bombs on children.  How many schools and hospitals were flattened.  Who is negotiating the Oil contracts now.  Who is negotiating the reconstruction work? What happened to Gaddafi's plan to shift the oil pricing away from dollars to a Gold standard?  What happened to the remains of his grandchild who we blew up in Tripoli.

None of which I expect to hear too much about. 'Mad dog killed in the desert' is the only story they're selling.

Now that we have touched this new low in reporting and blind acceptance, we can expect to see a lot more of this media invention leading to State sponsored assassination. We are all the poorer for the 1% invading Libya, no matter how much they needed the money.

Wealth

Mahatma Gandhi observed,

"All amassing of wealth or hoarding of wealth above and beyond one's legitimate need is theft. There would be no occasion for theft and no thieves if there was wise regulation of wealth and social justice."

With ever increasing numbers falling below the poverty line, it is interesting to see the extent to which extreme wealth is concentrated more than ever in the hands of a small minority.

Possibly 1% of the Earth own the same amount as the remaining 99%. Are these events connected. Does the accumulation of this extraordinary wealth, controlled by so few, have a bearing on the extreme poverty of so many and in economic terms, is there a link between the numeric imbalance between the changing fortunes in either camp?

And what of the opportunities control of this extreme wealth represents.

Consider Mukesh Ambani. India's richest man and the 4th richest in the World. He has a new boat coming. The YACHT.  And of course there is his house overlooking the poor people, where his wife and three children have some 440,000 square feet of space to be waited on by their 600 staff. The HOUSE.  Ambani sold his London Apartment for some £140 Million. The London APARTMENT.

Obscene wealth?

How about the Saudi Defense minister, Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz. Obviously ministerial salaries in Saudi are pretty good when you can afford a $200 Million YACHT.

Oligarch Abramovitch, described in a London Court this week by his former associate as a 'Gangster' spends obscene wealth obscenely. On one boat alone he has spent a rumoured $1 Billion. The YACHT.

Robert Kuok. A Malaysian businessman, 88, spent almost $5 Billion on a boat that is Gold Plated. The Gold Plated YACHT.

Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud owns 3 palaces, a $500 million yacht, and a private Boeing 747 with an Airbus A380 on the way.

In the US, just 400 people have more wealth than  half of all America combined. Add the resources owned by the top 1% wealthy in the world - and the figure will be approximately the same as that shared by the remaining 99%.

Even if the wealth of Putin is not the trillion dollars rumored, he is undoubtedly wealthy to an extraordinary level and those who criticize his wealthy ways seem to end up badly.

Do the 1% super rich warrant their wealth? Is their wealth commensurate with their endeavor? Does this wealth in any way reflect a contribution that has made the world a better place?

The saying 'it takes money to make money' suggests that as these uber fortunes accumulate, the flow of money toward their gravitational pull can only mean one thing. The rich will continue to get richer while the poor will get poorer. Never before has the contrast between the two been so evident. It seems that the 99% exist solely to provide the services required by the Super rich 1%, who own 99% of everything, from the Government, to the Mosques, to the land and to the skies. 

The most likely scenario in respect of change in the distribution of wealth - is that ten years from now the numbers will read 99.2% own the same as .8%.

Unless.

Greek Embassy performance

Appointments manager page on Embassy web site. Note the Passport booking option is NOT AVAILABLE.

Every 5 years for the past 25 years I renew my Greek passport at the embassy in Holland Park. The performance of the civil servants tasked with running the embassy provides an interesting and accurate insight into the workings of Greece's Government.
Last time, 5 years ago in 2006, performance reached an all time low.  Let me run you through the experience.
With passport photos and supporting documents at the ready - drive to Holland Park and park in the £4 per hour parking. Then stand in queue for three hours until you get to the counter. Civil servant then looks at your passport photos and says 'These are wrong. You need to have them done according to this document. Come back when you have done it.'
That is visit number 1 done. Cost in parking and petrol £25.

Visit number 2 - three days later with new passport pics.
Drive to Holland Park and park in the £4 per hour parking. Then stand in queue for three hours until you get to the counter. Civil servant then looks at your documents and says "The pistopitiko requirements have changed. You need to go back to your home village of registration and have them issue a new original document.'
My home village of registration is Adamas in Milos. Several thousand miles away.
That is visit number 2 done. Cost in parking and petrol £25.

Visit number 3 - ten days later with new pistopitiko acquired through the generous efforts of my Uncle in Athens.
Drive to Holland Park and park in the £4 per hour parking. Then stand in queue for three hours until you get to the counter. Civil servant then looks at your documents and says '.........

OK - let me speed this process up.....

Visit number 3 led to visit number 4. Visit number 4 led to visit number 5. Visit number 5 led to visit number 6. Visit number 6 led to visit number 7. Visit number 7 led to visit number 8.  By now two Months have passed.

Visit number 8 led to visit number 9. Visit number 9 led to visit number 10. At visit number 10 an old man in front of me, said 'This is my 5th visit here. Why are you doing this to me. I am 80 years old. You should be ashamed of yourselves.' I was quite hopeful then that this would be my last visit. I was so close to the new passport I could almost taste it. But no. Visit number 10 led to visit number 11. After visit number 11, I almost wished I would not conclude the process at visit number 12. I had by now become institutionalized by the process.

Four Months had passed and without my participation in this all consuming theatre of living surrealism, I felt any prospect of a return to normal life would leave me somehow diminished. Fortunately, visit 12 turned up another requirement, although the official did say to me 'I think we have everything now. So when we call you next, it will be to collect your passport.' 

And so, on to visit 13. Some 5 Months after visit one, I parked up in Holland Park and stood in the three hour queue for what I hoped would be the last time. While there I did the maths. Average of 25 pounds per visit in parking alone for 13 visits totals £325. Petrol from Hampton Court to Holland Park - say £10 per visit. Another £130. Average five hours of my time per visit for thirteen visits plus stressful worry time along the way is of course an immeasurable quantity. But all these thoughts paled in that moment when, after keeping me waiting in a chair outside an office for an hour and five minutes, I was called in to sign a document and take away my new passport.

When I got home I wrote an e mail to my uncle in Greece, the one who helped me with the paperwork and who lives in Athens, in which I said 'No Government represented by this level of inefficiency and gross incompetence can hope to survive the economic consequences of such horrific wastefulness. This is beaurocracy out of all control and out of all reason. The idea that this system can survive is ridiculous. It is only a matter of time until it all comes tumbling down."

Five years have passed and I am now back at the Greek Embassy position for passport renewal.
Things have changed - in many ways.
The passport renewal process is now 'by appointment only'. How thrilled was I to see this on the website? Very. Off I went to the form to make my appointment.  There is no other way of making an appointment than by the 'Appointment manager' software on the Embassy site. 'Click on the date you ant for the appointment it said. Off I went to the page. But wait. There is no option available. 'There must be some mistake' I thought to myself.
Sadly not. No mistake. The Greek Embassy in London - whose job it is to issue Greek Passports renewed in London has NO available option for providing this service.

I e-mailed the embassy with this astonishing news and the reply read '.... please visit our website www.greekembassy.org.uk  to arrange your appointment and to check the required documents. In case that you can not see on our website available appointments, this is because all the appointment until the end of  January are booked. However , there are many cancellations( when one happens , the option becomes bold  and below you can see the date and time slot,) , so we believe that soon you will be able  to find an availability.'

And so - every day I log on - fill out the form and check. Nothing to see here. 

Sigh.

I will report back with progress - but I fear, like Greece's prospects for sensible Governance, I may be gone for some time. 
 

.............

UPDATE: 27 November, 2011. No further news from the Greek embassy.

Virgin Media reply

August 22, 2011.

A reply from Virgin Media to my letter of 6 June 2011, in which I detail their criminal fraud. (See previous blog Post 1. And Post 2.) In the interim I have received approximately 33 phone calls, often at socially awkward hours, three extremely threatening letters from 'Moorcroft Debt Collection' who intimated their debt collection agents would soon be around to seize property and sell it off unless I paid them - £170.80, as well as three separate 'Please come back to Virgin Media' sales packs.

The legal advice I acted on in this time was "Do nothing. This is what Virgin Media do. They will huff and puff for a few Months. Simply ignore the threats, avoid their phone calls, and eventually they will issue an apology and close the file. You can then take a view on whether or not to pursue damages."

The facts of this matter are simple. Virgin Media are no better than a criminal gang, using threats of violence, because that's what the promise of breaking into my home illegally constitutes, to extort money which they are not owed, which is called Fraud.

As you will see in the letter received today, once they see their threats have failed to serve their intended purpose, they change tack, and withdraw, with the immortal line 'I'm sorry for the misunderstanding regarding the cancellation of your service and for any inconvenience caused.'
Virgin Media reply, 22 August.

In conclusion - my experience of Virgin Media confirms they operate a fraudulent practice willingly relying on criminal extortion.

Virgin Media. Fraud.

My letter to Virgin Media.  
Worst service provider I have ever had dealings with.

Virgin Media.

Ann Curran

Head of Contact Management

Virgin Media payments.

6 June, 2011.

I am writing with regard to your bill,  £140.19 for charges up to 6 July, as well as your letter of 30 May from Anne Curran, demanding £72.17 as it relates to Section 4 of the Fraud Act 2006, "Fraud by abuse of position."

The facts in this matter are:

1.     Some Months ago I received a letter from Virgin Media accusing me of ‘Detrimental use of broadband.’ Upon review I noted in a call to Virgin Media that I was away for lengthy periods of time during this period where this limitation to the unlimited Broadband package I paid for apparently occurred. I felt the heavy-handed correspondence from Virgin media was of an unacceptably low standard. As a result I started using a new Service provider, keeping my Virgin media account solely for the E Mail addresses which were widely used in my business.

2.     Despite the fact that I barely used the Virgin Media unlimited broadband service – I received a second letter once more accusing me of ‘Detrimental use of broadband’ which demanded that I call Virgin Media to provide assurances of submission to the Virgin Media code of ethics for the still unqualified offence presented as ‘Detrimental Use of Broadband.’ No indication of what this offence might entail was offered. I was at this point disturbed by the threatening approach to customer service and resolved to terminate my use of Virgin Media’s products with permanent effect. Writing to a customer demanding they call in to provide assurances on limiting the product sold as unlimited or else face being disconnected without further notice is to my mind unacceptable business conduct.

3.     On Thursday 5^th May 2011, at 11am I phoned Virgin Media to cancel my subscription. I was advised of the 30-day notice period and assured the service would remain active until 4^th June. This would enable me to effect changes to a new e-mail address for the various areas, such as Internet Banking, Share trading accounts, PayPal and Amazon accounts as well as the commercial scripts which run sales for my business – all of which return to my e-mail account, which was controlled by Virgin Media. 

4.     At 4 PM on the 5^th of May - my e-mail ceased working. I called the operator to be told ‘I see they have put a hold on your account’. I requested that ‘they’ call me to explain. The operator told me ‘They will not do that.’ I would like to be very clear on this point. Virgin Media suspended my e-mail account on the 5^th of May, despite being told that the extent of how I rely on this for my business. When I called in to enquire – I was told by the operator – who accessed my file before she spoke to me – thereby confirming that the matter of this disconnection in on your files – that despite my protestation that this was shocking business practice and that someone from Virgin should call me to explain – she said ‘They will not do that.’ I asked the Virgin Media representative if I could quote her on that and she said ‘You can do what you like.’   

5.     On Friday 6^th May with no Internet service available to me from Virgin Media with my broadband account quite obviously suspended two things became clear: Firstly I was paying for a service that I was not receiving and secondly, that I would now have to incur costs to adjust my business accounts which rely on my e mail address.

6.     I consulted with a Telecoms experienced lawyer following which I cancelled the direct debit payment at 11.30 AM on Friday the 6^th.

7.     On Saturday 14^th May, the Virgin media phone line, which was a part of the package with the broadband was disconnected. By this time I had still not received so much as a courtesy call from Virgin media explaining why they suspended my service although I did receive bulky correspondence inviting me to ‘Come back to Virgin media.’ Demonstrating the lack of cross-departmental cohesion that is as offensive to the customer as it is an indication of ineffectual business practise.

8.     On 30^th May I received a letter from Anne Curren chasing payment of £72, which followed an invoice for £140.19. These amounts are for services that were not provided. I understand the correct legal term for the attempt to charge for a service you have no intention of providing is attempted fraud. Virgin Media knew the service was not being provided – having themselves terminated the service on 4^th May 2011, yet Virgin media sent a bill charging £140.19 for the period to 06 July 2011.

9.     My costs in physically contacting and effecting change of e-mail address for my business arising from the termination of my e mail account on the urgent basis required by the disconnection exceed £500.  The stress of dealing with this harassment style bullying incompetence that is the face of a company who cut-off the service of a very long standing premium customer and then reply to the request to be called by someone responsible with the words ‘They wont do that’ should have a compensatory value. My legal costs in establishing my position in this matter, is a further consideration. The fraudulent attempt to extort further payment for services offered after the termination of the service provided may be no more than an administrative oversight in your view, in mine however it has the serious consequence of requiring additional time commitment in the form of taking legal advice and authoring this time intensive correspondence.

10.  I dispute your charges, as detailed above, as they relate to services that were never provided and that you never had any intention of providing. The act of presenting these charges is attempted fraud.

11.  I look forward to your proposals for recompensing me for:

11.1. The costs of transferring, under conditions of urgency, my e mail account information on the 4^th of May from approximately 17 key business links all of which required time intensive correspondence with verification and explanation in a process occupying most of my time for two full days.

11.2. Compensation for being exposed to the schoolyard bullying style incompetence that characterised my correspondence with Virgin media and the ‘Detrimental use of Broadband’ issue leading to the termination of my account without as much as a phone call, but with a surfeit of threat and malign implication. The cost in addressing the fraudulent claims for charges for services you had no intention of providing.

11.3. The cost of my legal advice, including how best to deal with the daily harassment via telephone of your company’s calls to my private number. There has been a call and message left on my phone every single day this week demanding payment including on the weekend.

As a premium rate customer of the Broadband service in this area, from the very outset with Nynex who laid the original cable over 20 years ago, then with Pipex who bought them out, then with NTL who bought out Pipex and then most recently with Virgin Media. Over 20 years as a premium rate customer of the broadband service provided to this location and until now, over a 20-year period, without any complaint. In the past year the Virgin Media service has declined noticeably. There were periods when I was unable to even download a basic e-mail in less than 3 minutes, despite your advertised reassurances of ‘lightning fast’ broadband. I repeatedly ran tests on broadband download speed-reading to confirm that over 50% of the time using your broadband service, the download rate was under 100K. Yet I was being charged and paying for your top of the range broadband product. Curiously despite the hugely varying download speeds and the inconvenience the slow download periods imposed, at no time did the cost of the service I was paying for reflect the fact that I was not receiving what was being advertised. “Happy to take the money for the goods but nowhere to be seen when the goods went bad” is a fair assessment of this aspect in my dealings with Virgin Media. The decline in the service provided has been matched by the decline in professional standards. I can’t think of any company I have dealt with in the past that has caused me as much stress and disgruntlement as Virgin Media.

That you have the temerity to try and send me an invoice after cutting off my service is entirely consistent with the standards I have come to expect from Virgin Media. As a former customer the experience will in my case be remembered for the only good thing arising from the business relationship, which is the story I look forward to telling.

I look forward to your reply to the points raised above.

Andrew Brel.

Katya Koren and Islam

I have wondered, and this wonderment has persisted consistently almost all of my life,  how it is that something as staggeringly dumb as belief in an invisible chap in the sky who runs the show and requires total blind submission to his ways, is not permanently and conclusively eliminated from the list of blights on mankind.

The great qualities we possess as a species have reached many fantastic landmarks. Great minds have turned to the challenges facing our survival and demonstrated just how amazing we can be when applying rational logical thought in a forward direction. We have managed to overcome many of the diseases that have blighted our evolutionary path -  TB and smallpox to mention but two - yet this much more sinister and murderous pox on humanity, one which could so easily with mere legislation be wiped out at the swish of a pen, continues to flourish. How is this possible?

I am reminded of this today looking at the picture of Katya Koren. A  Ukranian 19 year old who participated in a beauty pageant,  for which reason she apparently attracted the rape and stoning death attention of  3 Muslim youngsters including, Bihal Gaziev, 16, who suggested (according to the Police report) that his belief in the invisible man in the sky and his set of rules regarding how to live on Earth required killing young Katya, in an appropriately barbaric way. 

His claim, published in the Daily Mail, that she was in breach of Sharia values has a sound ring to it. Rape and brutal murder are far less likely to accompany the actions of a rational logical thinker than an adherent to blind faith. Although the story was later amended by the Daily Mail to exclude any religiously motivated thinking, Bihal Gaziev's actions represent his Religious belief.

One need look no further than Tony Blairs example to see how loosely Biblical interpretation, in his case 'Thou shalt not kill,' lend themselves to the illogic of the blind faith supplicant.

Bihal's claim is much like that of John Joe Thomas, 28, of Pennsylvania, who, just a few Months ago filled a sock with rocks and bashed 70 year old Murray Seidman, who had named him as his sole beneficiary in his will, to death, with the explanation that he read in the Old Testament that homosexuals should be stoned to death. "Thomas said he received a message in his prayers that he must kill Seidman." Well why not. If you believe in the invisibility of logic, then you can do whatever your prayers tell you to do.

Just another Biblical tragedy and there are no shortage of tragedies arising from that unholy book.

“The battle for mans extinction has never been more fiercely contested, on one side, the supplicants of irrational blind faith and on the other, rational logical minds.” The Emergency Bouzouki Player.

For those supplicants of blind faith, who number more than half of the Earth and who populate almost all of the most powerful offices – from the US Presidency to the Billionaire sheikdoms – there is no workable moral code. The premise of their position – scriptural prescription – is ridiculous. So much so that the only way it can survive is reliance on an idea called blind faith. Blind faith as an argument for believing anything is a ridiculous premise which cannot survive without defeating its ideological opposite. Rational logical thought.

Debating the merits of scriptural prescription is ridiculous, being the intellectual equivalent of debating the flatness of the Earth. The scriptures, the bible, the Quran and all their silly derivatives are ridiculous. Childrens fairy stories rehashed through the millennia to support the ‘my god is better than your god’ argument whose premise is an ‘eternity in heaven’ for submission, and an ‘eternity in hell’ for the rest. 

The purveyors of this cynical relief package for the desperate and needy – the Popes, Bishops, Imamsm Fathers and Padre’s – perpetuate a delusion they can only maintain through blind faith. They are, without exception, not only ridiculous, but the enemy of reason, in service to a system of social, psychological, spiritual and intellectual abuse. Perpetuating, often on pain of death, submission through the metaphorical equivalent of thought lobotomy, into their social order in which the right to independent thought is forbidden and non-conformity persecuted.

Mans great advances since the first thinkers began developing ideas and sharing them for the betterment of all, have, almost without exception, arisen from non-believers, often despite persecution by the Religious powers of the day. Often those thought-contributors who were under the influence of the Church - would have to suppress their inventions if they threatened the Church's absolute stronghold on stupidity. Were it not for non-believers pursuing logical rational thought and directing the benefits toward upliftment of our human race in general, we would in all certainty already be extinct as a species.

And yet, more than half the planet believe through blind faith in a scripture based prescription which relies on a logical argument that a 9 year old would easily discredit with basic thought. How is it that seemingly intelligent people defend this iniquitous, exploitative, divisive product whose purpose is no more than to offer ridiculous promises – heaven and hell  - while offering nothing in return. Perhaps this is related to the fact that more than 50% of the Earths population live in abject poverty, less than $2 a day. This poverty layer make prime harvesting fields for souls so desperate they will believe anything. 

Is it not the most cynical of devices for churches to recruit from the underbelly of those most dispossessed by economic misfortune, who will believe anything for the price of a hot meal?

In terms of the powers that be, using the example of the USA, the heartland of Christian belief with their ‘In God we trust’ approach, who could legislate to end the pernicious growth of this social cancer, the motivation to do so is at odds with the formula for success in a democratic election. (And I use the word democratic in its loosest American style interpretation.)  Dumbed down believers in blind faith prescription will vote accordingly - their vote is so easy to manipulate - believe in invisible things and you will believe whatever you are told - in his name. 

The words 'God' and 'Democracy' are so linked in American politics that the chances of a leader being elected who didn't openly and enthusiastically embrace the little mighty Jesus in his manifesto - would stand no hope.  America's leadership is limited to either a leader who believes in an invisible man guiding his hand - or one who lies about it. Any suggestion that this represents democracy - rule by the people - must acknowledge the distance America's democratic model represents from the Greek invention.

Oh well. Bihal Gaziev and John Joe Thomas have an important lesson for us all. As believers they are guaranteed a place in heaven, albeit two different heavens.  Another two good reasons to believe.

Book launch talk

Here is the transcript of my book launch talk in Hampton Court on 26 May. 

The Emergency Bouzouki Player is a war story.

I started writing this book in January 1979 when I found myself in a place called the shooting range, one week into basic training as an infantryman in the town of Kimberley, in a unit called 11 Kommando, being prepared for a war called the ‘Border war’, which we now know as ‘the war for apartheid’.

The border war as some of you will know was at the time Africa’s longest running conflict, going on for some 23 years and in 1979 it was at its height even though the terrorist leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, Nelson Mandela had been captured and sentenced to life in prison.

My story started with a realisation. I had been press-ganged. Shanghai’d if you like out of my student life as a happy musical 18 year old and placed in a uniform under the life and death auspices of thoroughly unpleasant Afrikaner Army instructors charged with, in their own words ‘breaking down the person to build a soldier’.

I was at that time a soft skinned University student with liberal leanings, and did not take kindly to being ‘broken down’. To compound matters still further, I am a Libran, and as any Libran will understand, possessed with an advanced sense of justice and fairness. The shock of being threatened – on pain of death – with the prospect of becoming a soldier to fight the war in defense of apartheid was iniquitous to me. I literally could not believe that what was happening around me could be either legal or acceptable.

Although my circumstance was a common one in that every South African born white male of my generation had to serve 2 years of National service, I fell into a small minority group for whom reluctant compliance was replaced by obstinate commitment to fight the system, and so my war began. I was drafted into a war, and a war is what followed. Two years of bitter war with the South African Army.

I completed 5 days of basic training before I reached my self-determined tipping point, after which time I became a deceitful refusenik. Integral to my deceit was the claim to be a bouzouki player. This was especially significant in my story because my only hope of salvation from being sent to fight and kill on the border lay in being transferred to the Entertainment corps. A quite amazing unit tasked with providing a top class show band to service Government and senior military functions.

Being possibly the most desirable posting in the Army, many thousands of gifted musicians applied for a place in the Entertainment corps and the competition for selection was tough. When my turn came to fill out my application for the role of guitar player, in the column marked ‘do you play any other instruments’ I wrote Bouzouki, even though I had no skills on that instrument. I made this claim because, as a Greek, I obviously knew a bit about the Bouzouki, and understanding the South African stereotypical way of thinking, I bluffed that being Greek and saying I could play the bouzouki would add up to – aha – now we have a Bouzouki player.

By this slim thread of deceit and coincidence, I became the South African Army’s premier Bouzouki player and by devising a clever rolling plectrum style on my guitar, was able to approximate the sound of a bouzouki with sufficient conviction to fool even the Prime Minister with my smooth sultry bouzouki styling’s.

On one occasion where I was performing my bouzouki music for the Prime Minister, the odious PW Botha, also known as the great crocodile, possibly because he was so very ugly he resembled a crocodile, driven by his close proximity to a moment of sociopathic rage, I told him  that his ‘bum stinks.’

A modest footnote in the annals of revolutionary protest I know, but certainly the only occasion where a teenaged troop in uniform was able to insult a Prime Minister to his face, in the presence of half of his cabinet, and live to tell the tale.

That tale, and many more like it form the fabric of the book. Two years in the life of a Greek teenager at war with the South African army and two years that shaped the destiny of the emerging South Africa.

In my role as a bandsman in the Entertainment corps I traveled the length and breadth of South Africa and the war zone, which, when I look back on it, was a lot like watching surgery take place from the perspective of the scalpel.

A microscopic insight into the festering toxic puss rotting the soul of a diseased nation. South Africa in 1979 was a sick society. Driven by a fanatical fundamentalism, a religious belief system acquired through that cynical sickening confidence trick called blind-faith.      

With their blind-faith, their god and their iniquitous laws of hate empowering a tiny minority to persecute harass and kill at their whim, they, the devoutly Christian Afrikaner ruling elite, armed, trained and turned a generation of 18 year olds with white skins into the killers and persecutors of their black peers, on a scale that I still find quite incredible. Along the way they found time to kill off many of the very best South Africa had to offer, killing off almost an entire generation of future leaders, like the remarkable Neil Aggett, who I met not long before his terrible death after 70 days of torture in John Vorster square, and the equally remarkable Steven Biko.

I always found it a curious aspect of Christian belief that the Afrikaner Police who tortured and killed Biko and Aggett  are Church going Christians who are assured an eternity in heaven, whilst the atheists Biko and Aggett who gave their lives in service to helping those less fortunate are at this very moment serving their time in the burning pits of hell.

But the book is not limited to doom and gloom and self-limiting stupidity. There are many humorous moments along the way with many inspirational occurrences to raise the spirits, and looking back on it through the retrospectometer, it supports a principle that extends far beyond my own story. That bad experience is a far more efficient teacher than good. And so in that sense, it is a book with a happy ending, being a tribute to the resilience of youth and proof that the human capacity for optimism generates its own unstoppable force. 

Order Hard copy HERE  (With postage £22 to anywhere in the world.)

Order e book copy for Kindle HERE

Order ebook for ipad from itunes HERE

Israel 1967.

Is there anything more stomach turning than listening to an Israeli leader telling off an American President? Watching Netanyahu with his huge IQ rolling out the old platitudes for an embarrassingly docile Obama with his silly reference to the 1967 border is like watching a snake swallow a mouse.

The border change that came in 1967 following the so called '6 day war' saw Israel bombing and killing all around them with great success, including the American ship they attacked on June 8, 1967. 

The USS Liberty was in 1967 the US Navy's most advanced surveillance ship, patrolling the Mediterranean in International waters within monitoring distance of Israel during the 6 day war under the command of Captain William McGonagle, when IDF boats and planes launched a sustained attack on her, killing 34 Americans and wounding 171 crew.

This attack provides a pretty clear indication of Israels position when it comes to American interference with Israels right to self defense by whatever means necessary, be it the seizure of neighboring land, or the bombing of American ships and killing of American Sailors.

If ever there was substance to the idea that pro Zionist influence runs a controlling hand over News media, it may be found in the total exclusion of the USS Liberty's attack by Israel from any mainstream press. 

IDF Planes strafe an American Navy ship flying the American flag, repeatedly, while IDF Boats launch torpedoes and make every effort to sink her. 34 Americans die and only  heroic defensive action by the American sailors prevented the ship and all who sailed on her going to the bottom of the Ocean under the weight of IDF fired missiles and torpedoes, which we can safely assume were paid for by American Israeli funding.  
And the reaction from the Worlds press is - Nothing to see here.
  The surviving crew of the USS Liberty, led by Captain William McGonagle, must have been as surprised as we all are to see how quickly the entire event was denied. 

To this day, despite the heavyweight representations by high level US Navy leaders, there has never been any accountability for the attack and killing of American sailors by the IDF. 

This is because Israel can attack anyone with impunity, including American Navy ships. It seems strange that Obama would be the only recent American President unaware of this.

Following the swift burial of the USS Liberty story, survivors of the IDF attack on that ship presented a War Crimes report. 

"The United States is obligated by law and by international treaty to investigate all reports of war crimes by or against United States Forces. This report obligates such an investigation. We are still waiting patiently for a reply." 

Obama with his tremendous enthusiasm for promoting revenge on those who launch attacks on America may well be playing a double bluff with the brilliant Netanyahu. Perhaps this is his strategy all along. Does the US at last have a leader prepared to avenge the dead of the USS Liberty?
On 8th June it will be 44 years.

Here is the USS LIBERTY memorial  website, by survivors of the IDF attack, in case you are unfamiliar with the events of 8 June 1967, some 40 km out to sea.

 

Selling news

Increasingly since the advent of rolling live TV news, news agencies face the challenge of supplying demand for popular stories in a fiercely competitive market, where Political interests often require spinning of the subject matter. In this tripartite meeting place between profit making, reporting the facts and spinning the Government cheese, the one thing you can be sure of is that the news you are seeing places the traditionally understood model of journalistic integrity guiding honest reporting of events considerably below the other two.

The Lara Logan story demonstrates how far news agencies have strayed from the path of honest reporting quite well.

Remember just a few Months ago how captivated we all were with events in Cairo's Tahrir square. The brave protesters facing down the nasty Mubarak forces. How we cheered them on. Papers ran double page spreads showing where each group had their headquarters and where the toilets were and where the Human rights activists were. All jolly good reporting which we lapped up. Thousands of miles of newsprint sold. Tahrir square - right up there with Tiananmen. The tension grew and grew and wherever you went, anywhere in the world for that matter, the talk was all perfectly clear. Mubarak bad. Protesters good. Support change in Egypt. Then, overnight, Egypt disappeared from the news. The disappearance coincided with events following Mubarak's resignation announcement, 11 February, and in the time it takes to say 'Nothing to see here' Egypt's revolution was pushed down the pecking order with just a one line mention of a journalist being assaulted in the Cairo Square.

What happened to Lara Logan, South African born reporter for CBS, is of course not the news that suits the commercial interests of the broadcasters, placing itself so firmly at odds with the product on sale. Mubarak, established regime, bad - Protesters, change for the better, good.

Twenty five minutes after Lara Logan's horrific sexual attack by around 200 men, who committed acts so violent and debased that describing them as barbaric animals whose actions demonstrate with more clarity than any gifted writer could hope to achieve with the written word, the inherent vulgarity of their belief system, Egypt was no longer suitable front-page news.

The thought that for 25 minutes whilst the good men of Tahrir square repeatedly raped, bit chunks off, urinated and ejaculated over, and generally battered this woman, no one in the crowd saw fit to intervene, although some felt it appropriate to cheer and clap, while others photographed the attack on their cell phones.

Eventually, someone did step in. Gosh and darn. One of Mubarak's soldiers, who baton charged the raping protesters and carried her body, over his shoulder, out of further harms way. Almost certainly that mans actions saved Lara Logan's life.

That soldiers story would make a good feature, wouldn't it? Brave fellow who placed his own life at risk at a time when he was very much a villain of world peace. Well. of course not. He is/was a Mubarak employee and no one is interested in that story. (I wonder if Lara Logan ever found him with thanks.)

Even her own employers, CBS News downplayed the incident. Nothing to see here.

http://www.uncoverage.net/2011/02/lara-logans-rape-in-egypt-square-much-worse-than-reported/

News is a cynical business. I find its usually safe to assume 90% of what you see is split between Government cheese and broadcasters commercial interest. Coincidentally this is about the same percentage split Ronnie Johnson's formula for identifying idiots confirms.

Mothers day recipe

Here is my plan for Mothers day dinner, which comes with the following warning. If you are nervous about high cholesterol, butter rich tastes, then look away now.

I have 12 large Prawns from our local fishmonger. This will form the basis for the main course, to be presented in a chowder arrangement not dissimilar to the one I enjoyed in California's Paradise Cove.

My recipe (for 2) goes as follows:

Four baby onions. Chopped fine.  Placed in a heated frying pan with good quality, large knob of French butter.  When translucent, introduce an entire bulb of garlic, crushed in a press. Mix to a pleasant buttery consistency.

Eight Estima potatoes (Small buttery new potatoes). Chopped fine -with skin on. Introduced in a new pan with heated butter. Fried until cooked through. Add good amount of pancetta lardons. Heat through in the butter.

Base of onion and garlic added to a good sized saucepan. Add 250ml of single cream and a cup of milk. (about 250ml)  Stir. Add the potato. Add the ham lardons. Season with white pepper.

Add tub (good quantity) of Mascarpone cheese. Stir in well. Should by now have produced a good cream coloured, creamy soup like base.

Boil two corn cobs for ten minutes. Allow to cool. Strip off the corn. Run through a food blender very briefly to create a corn mush. Careful not to make it too mushy. Aim for 1/4 the size for each kernel.

Clean the prawns - butterflied and halved. Flash fry the prawns in butter.  Just literally a moment in the heat to turn their colour. If the prawns are overcooked, you might as well order a chinese.

Now add the corn mush to the cheesy potato base. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Sprinkle a good measure of freshly grated Parmesan over the top - to bond with the mascarpone in a fusion of cheesy goodness.

Add a sachet of bouquet garni and allow the pan to simmer at very low heat for 20 minutes.
Now add the prawns. and simmer the pan for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool in the pan for at least 3 minutes.

Serve in a bowl topped with fresh parsley.

Present with side dish of fresh bread and assorted steamed vegetables, in this case baby asparagus and purple sprouting broccoli stems, dressed with lemon, olive oil and a splash of Balsamic.

A nice dry white wine accompaniment is to be recommended. On this occasion, a vibrant Chablis.

Goes well with a few candles and piano based musical accompaniment, on this occasion we will rely on Brad Mehldau.


Ingredients:
12 large prawns
4 baby onions
bulb of garlic
250 ml single cream
Good quality butter
Milk
2 X corn on the cob
sachet of bouquet garni
tub of mascarpone
pancetta lardons
piece of parmesan for grating
fresh parsley
baby asparagus
purple sprouting broccoli
Fresh bread
lemon
Virgin olive oil
balsamic vinegar
bottle of (nice) dry white wine
candles (At least 2)
High quality piano based musical recording.

Televised football is fixed.

For many years now the technology that has removed human error from officiating in other sports has been rejected by footballs administrators. 

Cricket has benefited tremendously from the team challenge system, where we see umpires decisions proven wrong with regularity. The same in tennis. Spectators love it because it serves the best interests of fair play.

There is only one reason why Televised footballs controllers resist this advance and it is the most obvious one.  Almost every one of the big games I have watched this season have all been very obviously decided by incorrect refereeing decisions. More often than not it is the 23rd player on the field whose performance determines the outcome. The skills of a Messi or a Ronaldo having less bearing on a games outcome than that of the whistleblower.

There is no sustainable argument for preventing the third umpire approach with each team having a number of challenges to the referees decision. The only conclusion left to draw from this ongoing failure to implement the obvious, for many years since it first became technically feasible, is that its implementation would diminish the opportunity for officials to fix games.

You will know when Football games are no longer fixed when the TV referral system comes into play. Until then - Football remains the hijacked property of a corrupt self serving set of administrators who are getting away with murder - injecting the festering pus of their self serving corruption and infecting the beautiful game.

Islamic prejudice

Today's TIMES has an exclusive feature following a comprehensive ten year study by child protection experts of a repeated pattern of sex offending across Northern England and the Midlands. Where groups of older men approach vulnerable girls 11 - 16 on the street and groom them for sex. The girls are almost all white. The men are almost all Muslim Pakistanis.

The grooming usually begins with older groups of men befriending girls aged from 11 to 16 they meet on the street. In a typical scenario, the victim is initially treated as a girlfriend and showered with presents and attention. But the relationship quickly becomes more sinister as the abuser plies the child with drink and drugs before effectively pimping her out to friends and associates.
The worst cases involve young girls being moved around the country to be repeatedly abused.

There have been 56 successful prosecutions since 1997. Fifty three were Asians. Fifty of those were Muslims.

The real story in all of this is that despite this 'Tidal wave' of horrific abuse, the story and action against those involved has been subject to a dreadful prejudice. Fear of offending the Muslim community.

A report by the Derby safeguarding children board in the wake of last years multiple arrests said there should be greater consideration of 'whether the ethnic background and culture of the perpetrators had any bearing on their decision to take part in this activity'. 

Does it seem remotely possible that believers in a religion whose prophet famously enjoyed sex with a 9 year old and whose holy book encourages the diminished importance of women through polygamy and the husbandly right to disciplinary spousal violence might in any way make believers more likely to participate in this abusive behavior or not?  

If we accept their right to practice Islamic submission in our Non Muslim Country then surely we cannot impose our Non Islamic consideration on their right to properly express the behavioral consequences associated with and arising from this same belief. That would be an infringement on their freedom of religious expression. Surely.

This tale of Islamic influence in our multi-cultural society, of how young girls are harvested straight from the street in those British towns with a high percentage of Muslim population serves as a practical metaphor for what happens next. And talking about it is simply not allowed.