Cypriots hit with extraordinary one-off tax on savings.

Cypriots hit with extraordinary one-off tax on savings.

I was amazed at this development at the weekend and ordinary Cypriots reacted with shock that turned to panic after a 10% one-off levy on savings was forced on them as part of an extraordinary 10bn euro (£8.7bn) bailout agreed in EU HQ in Brussels.

Folks rushed to banks and queued at cash machines that refused to release cash as resentment quickly set in. The savers, half of whom are thought to be non-resident Russians, will raise almost €6bn thanks to a deal reached by European partners and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It is the first time a bailout has included such a measure and Cyprus is the fifth country after Greece, the Republic of Ireland, Portugal and Spain to turn to the Eurozone for financial help during the region’s debt crisis. The move in the Eurozone’s third smallest economy could have repercussions for financially overstretched bigger economies such as Spain and Italy.

Latest news on this story from UK Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/mar/18/cyprus-bailout-markets

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Coalition for Marriage Booed out of Birmingham

Birmingham Town Hall was booked for a Tory Coalition for Marriage rally. The venue was far from full – CfM’s Colin Hart claimed they could have filled it three times over, so the many empty spaces were puzzling. Mr Hart said they had left space for Tory delegates, so the only conclusion is that not as many turned up as they would have hoped.

Ann Widdecombe (somebody nobody will marry under any circumstances) introduced as “Strictly Come Dancing Star and former Cabinet minister”, was the star turn. MPs were thin on the ground.

Apart from David Burrowes, who was on the platform, the only other parliamentarian spotted was Gerald Howarth, who was sitting with Amanda Platell of the Daily Mail.

In any case, all attendees were greeted by a vocal band of protesters, who chanted “Tory scum get out of Brum” and other accusations that the Conservative party is made up of chinless bigots.

NEVER TRUST A TORY

As the Conservatives – AKA The Party of the Rich – prepare for their annual conference in Birmingham, British people are realising in greater number than ever before just how little the elite politicians care about ordinary citizens.

An example of this can be seen in how the Tories are aiming to allow the mainsteam communications media to continue to self-regulate, even as the scandal of phone-hacking is still being investigated, and police are still in the process of questioning and charging possible criminal suspects.

It is exactly the same with the financial crisis: the failed and disgraced bankers and financiers are close friends, colleagues and relatives of members of the Tory Party – that is why there have been no arrests stemming from the actions leading to the world recession.

Not only that, but Cameron has appointed individuals from the worst offending banks to sit on committees considering Britain’s finances and made others government officials.

Those close to the corridors of power suggest this is because the politicians know that it will be easier to sneak this lack of statutory regulation through before any high profile sentences are passed against the Prime Minister’s former media secretary, Andy Coulson, and close friend Rebekah Brooks.

Hacked Off said it was concerned by comments made by Tory ministers.

Appearing before the inquiry, the education secretary, Michael Gove, argued against the statutory regulation of the press and urged Leveson to “consider carefully” his proposals. 

Theresa May, home secretary, has given a warning on possible “unintended consequences” if self-regulation were scrapped. Gove, of course, formerly worked for Murdoch’s News International, a subsidary of News Corp.

On 5 July 2011 in partnership with Professor Brian Cathcart and other concerned individuals, the Media Standards Trust formed the “Hacked Off” campaign.

The Media Standards Trust was formed in 2006 to address concerns of a deterioration in journalistic standards at a time when the media were becoming enormously powerful while remaining largely opaque and unaccountable.

WOMANIFESTO – A PLAN TO SAVE HUMANITY

The Womanifesto is the philosophy underpinning the novel

DOG Sharon: The Future is Female 

The Womanifesto calls for a positive re-evaluation and adoption of what have traditionally been referred to as Female Values and Perspectives with a corresponding paradigm shift in human affairs.

By this we mean an emphasis on cooperation and community rather than competition and individualism, with society organised to protect its weakest members, namely children and the elderly.

In the present global economic system we are told there is no alternative to production being governed by the Market.

However there can be no production without people and people are created by reproduction.

Therefore whoever controls reproduction controls production and future human society.

This explains why religions and other bastions of male power have worked so hard to regulate and deny female sexuality.

These sad people kill to oppose abortion, fight against birth control and do anything to prevent children getting proper sex education.

The rulers need our children for their wars and as workers, but they don’t want to acknowledge the power of reproduction.

They can’t let the women speak out.

So they denigrate the Feminine and attack women because they’re scared.

When women manage reproduction, the risk posed by overpopulation – probably the biggest challenge facing humanity – will quickly diminish and our species will no longer threaten all other life on the planet.

If women see a future where their children will be working for slave wages or die in wars or starve or die of thirst – if women see this, they will refuse to bring more children into the world.

Why should women give birth to children in a society that abuses most of the people most of the time, a society that lets tens of thousands of kids die each and every day from preventable causes?

Women everywhere are demanding change, and will not be denied. The genie is truly out of the bottle.

The existing order is based on violence or the threat of violence. But as violence creates more violence this is obviously counterproductive.

Women and children suffer most from wars and crime, face sexual assault, domestic violence and constant harassment.

Violence in all its forms must become a thing of the past.

We’ll need new politics for this new society and we’re calling it Lowerarchy.

Everybody knows a hierarchy is a pyramid-like structure with power concentrated at the top. This model worked well for kings, emperors, presidents, prime ministers, warlords and tyrants of every kind, and when allied with military might, has allowed these dictators to dominate the vast majority of people for the last several thousand years.

Hierarchies are part of our heritage, but then so is cannibalism: both have no place in a modern egalitarian society.

Government has developed from the absolute rule of kings and is the means by which the few dominate the many – so is part of the problem not a solution.

Lowerarchy is the opposite of hierarchical organisation.

In the Lowerarchy there will be no need for leaders as there will be no nations to lead. Local people will decide for themselves how to live and manage resources.

Then artificial national boundaries can be dissolved, and with no nation states to defend, armies will become redundant so can safely be disbanded.

Likewise, security services can be dismantled as we would all be on the same side.

The alternative to the above?

Catastrophic overpopulation, continued unfettered competition and the commodification of everything, wholesale destruction of the natural world, mass extinctions, more pollution and greenhouse effects on the climate, a further widening of the gap between the rich and poor, loss of civil liberties, wars over resources, famines and the likely destruction of the species.

It’s time we changed the way we live –

Let’s make the Future Female!

READ THE NOVEL NOW

Noam Chomsky Documentary

Great overview of Chomsky’s work over the last five decades

Dear Kitty. Some blog

This video shows part of rhe classic Canadian documentary Manufacturing Consent based on the Noam Chomsky/Edward Herman book by the same name. Explores the propaganda model of the media.

By Noam Chomsky, Truthout in the USA:

Noam Chomsky: Issues That Obama and Romney Avoid

Friday, 05 October 2012 09:11

With the quadrennial presidential election extravaganza reaching its peak, it’s useful to ask how the political campaigns are dealing with the most crucial issues we face. The simple answer is: badly, or not at all. If so, some important questions arise: why, and what can we do about it?

There are two issues of overwhelming significance, because the fate of the species is at stake: environmental disaster, and nuclear war.

The former is regularly on the front pages. On Sept. 19, for example, Justin Gillis reported in The New York Times that the melting of Arctic sea…

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US ARMY “SPRAYED RADIOACTIVE PARTICLES ON ST. LOUIS”

St. Louis Community College-Meramec sociology professor Lisa Martino-Taylor told The Associated Press that her research showed that the Army may have sprayed radioactive particles with zinc cadmium sulfide while claiming that it was testing a smoke screen that could prevent Russians from observing St. Louis from the air.

digitaljournal.com/article/333710

Those tests were concentrated in predominately-black areas of the city, which Army documents called “a densely populated slum district.”

 

In 1994, the Army confirmed to Congress that St. Louis was chosen because it resembled Russian cities that the U.S. might have to attack with biological weapons.

 

“The study was secretive for a reason,” Martino-Taylor explained to KDSK last month. “They didn’t have volunteers stepping up and saying yeah, I’ll breathe zinc cadmium sulfide with radioactive particles.”

Click here for short film report from Press TV

Documents showed that the Army used airplanes to drop the chemicals in Corpus Christi, but sprayers were mounted on station wagons and buildings in St. Louis.

“It was pretty shocking. The level of duplicity and secrecy. Clearly they went to great lengths to deceive people,” Martino-Taylor observed. “This was a violation of all medical ethics, all international codes, and the military’s own policy at that time.”

“There is a lot of evidence that shows people in St. Louis and the city, in particular minority communities, were subjected to military testing that was connected to a larger radiological weapons testing project.”

Last month, both Missouri Sens. Claire McCaskill (D) and Roy Blunt (R) demanded that Army Secretary John McHugh come clean about the testing. For its part, the Army refused to comment on the matter until it had responded to the senators, the AP reported. 

Doris Spates was a baby when her father died inexplicably in 1955. She has watched four siblings die of cancer, and she survived cervical cancer.

After learning that the Army conducted secret chemical testing in her impoverished St. Louis neighborhood at the height of the Cold War, she wonders if her own government is to blame.

In the mid-1950s, and again a decade later, the Army used motorized blowers atop a low-income housing high-rise, at schools and from the backs of station wagons to send a potentially dangerous compound into the already-hazy air in predominantly black areas of St. Louis.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/secret-cold-war-tests-in-st.-louis-raise-concerns/article/feed/2035889#.UG60hpjR4eo

Demo for Spanish women’s reproductive rights

This was missed by most media

The Free

With all the excitement of the attacks on  Occupy Congress and the monster response demos lets not forget Saturday was also the Global Action Day for free abortion, safe and free..

Some cities, such as Madrid and Barcelona, ​​turned violet to demand the decriminalization of abortion.
Feminist platforms throughout Spain have held today, for the first time in the country, the Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion. The festival, which began in Latin America in the 90s, gained special importance on this side of the pond due to the announcement of the Minister of Justice, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, of the anti abortion legislation.

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ZEITGEIST – CULTURE IN DECLINE pt 2

Peter Joseph’s latest film is out and available to watch on my Facebook page.

The movie is entitled

CULTURE IN DECLINE pt 2

Click here to watch

It’s fairly short and enjoyable.

It was on YouTube for a while but now appears to have been taken down.

CREEPY JIMMY SAVILE IN CHILD ABUSE ALLEGATIONS – latest update

After the BBC claimed to be ‘horrified’ at allegations about Jimmy Savile and sex abuse, more women have come forward to add to the controversy.

Yet the media still call this abuser ‘Sir’

According to today’s UK Guardian, two women have come forward with further allegations of sexual abuse by Savile.

The BBC now says it will assist any police investigation.

One alleged victim waived her anonymity to describe how she and a friend were allegedly molested by the Jim’ll Fix It star in the 1970s when they were 14.

Pictures of victim of ‘Sir’ Jimmy Savile with him.

Dee Coles told ITV News that she and her friend were made to perform sex acts on Savile in a camper van when they were on holiday in Jersey.

“He didn’t seem like a stranger. He was on our telly every Saturday night. It was exciting being with someone on TV,” said Coles.

“But I felt immense panic as soon as the door locked. Afterwards, it was shame.”

Unbelievably, Michael Grade told Channel 4 News on Tuesday night that he heard rumours about Savile’s conduct while he was boss of BBC 1, but said any suggestion of a cover-up was ”ludicrous’.

Grade said he had fleetingly heard rumours, claiming: “There were question marks, certainly.” But he added: “I never heard anything that gave me cause to think we should investigate or do anything about it. There were questions, but the entertainment industry is awash on a sea of rumours.”

But as this Savile bloke had access to children and vulnerable people, Grade’s hand-wringing counts for nothing. If he had heard stuff he should have investigated and not stopped his own journalists from doing so properly.

 

IS YOUTUBE CENSORING VIDEOS OF MASS DEMONSTRATIONS?

Friends on Facebook are reporting that videos of the mass demonstrations taking place across much of the world are being taken down from YouTube after Google agreed to requests from national governments.

To see original post click here

This stands in stark contrast to YouTube refusing to delete the Innocence of Muslims film clips which sparked Islamic protests across much of the Muslim world.

The largest public protests, rallies, and demonstrations that the world has ever seen are happening with almost no media coverage. Not only is there a blackout on these events in the media, but YouTube is frequently removing footage of these mass rallies and events when requested to do so by governments:

‘Google, the owner of YouTube, has complied with the majority of requests from governments, particularly in the United States and the UK, not only to remove You Tube videos, but also specific web search terms and thousands of “data requests,” meaning demands for information that would reveal the true identity of a You Tube user.’ These events are truly inspiring and should be front page news! Yet mainstream media is working with governments to keep people uninformed and dis-empowered.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=436891156333068&set=a.434881336534050.98526.307551552600363&type=1&theater

The Crisis & Abusive Systems: Simon Cowell’s X-Factor as Metaphor

Pink at his best… funny, cutting and perceptive.

Why I became a vegetarian

This sort of sums up the way I feel as well

Walmart Workers Ask For Basic Rights, Walmart Calls Riot Police

I suggest shoppers across the world boycott all Walmart stores and subsidiaries like ASDA in the UK

Attack the System

By Jessica Testa

Photo by @daneyvilla.

Via: instagram.com

About 650 people protested a major Walmart distribution center Monday in Elwood, Illinois, the Chicago Tribute reports.

At Walmart contractor Roadlink, workers have been on strike since mid-September, claiming unsafe working conditions and unfair wages. From the movement’s website:

No one should come to work and endure extreme temperatures, inhale dust and chemical residue, and lift thousands of boxes weighing up to 250lbs with no support. Workers never know how long the work day will be- sometimes its two hours, sometimes its 16 hours. Injuries are common, as is discrimination against women and illegal retaliation against workers who speak up for better treatment.

Reports from the protest vary, but photos show riot police restraining some protesters with zip-ties. The rally had apparently been declared an “unlawful assembly.”

Photo by @daneyvilla.

Via: instagram.com

Photo by @daneyvilla.

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ARE MOST HUMANS PEDOPHILES?

One of my favourite words is NEOTENY

(I’m indebted to my friend at the excellent and highly informative Dear Kitty. Some blog for setting my chain of thoughts in motion for this article)

The word NEOTENY derives from the German word Neotenie, which in turn comes to us from a combination of two Greek words νέος (neos, meaning ‘young’) and τείνειν (teínein, meaning ‘tending to’)

NEOTENY is defined as: the retention, by adults in a species, of traits previously seen only in juveniles and is a subject studied in the field of developmental biology. It is also called pedomorphosis. 

Many prominent evolutionary theorists, including Stephen Jay Gould and J.B.S. Haldane argue that neoteny has been a key feature in human evolution. See Wikipedia for more details.

These are the more obvious neotenous traits in humans: flattened face, broadened face, large brain, mostly hairless body, hairless face, small nose, reduction of brow ridge, small teeth, small upper jaw (maxilla), small lower jaw (mandible), thinness of skull bones,  limbs proportionately short compared to torso length, longer leg than arm length, larger eyes, and upright stance. 

So what are the effects of these neotenous changes?

In a cross-cultural study, more neotenized female faces were found to be the most attractive to men while less neotenized female faces were the least attractive, regardless of the females’ actual age. Michael R. Cunningham found that the Asian, Hispanic and White female faces that tended to be considered most attractive were those that had “neonate large eyes, greater distance between eyes, and small noses”.

This led Cunningham to conclude that “large eyes” were the most “effective” of the “neonate cues”.

Jones, D. Sexual Selection, Physical Attractiveness and Facial Neoteny: Cross-Cultural Evidence and Implications. p.723.

Now if these research findings are true, doesn’t this have profound implications for our society, and especially the way we demonise men, and some women, who are sexually drawn to young people and children?

I’m certainly not condoning pedophilia – I suffered sexual abuse as a kid so I know only too well how destructive of young lives this illness can be.

But I think we need to ask some searching questions of ourselves, both as a society and as a species.

Not surprisingly, one of my least favourite words is

PEDOPHILE

PEDOPHILE is defined as an adult who is sexually attracted to young children. The word derives from two Greek words, paidos meaning a boy or child and phileein meaning to love.

The word PEDOPHILE is a term of abuse for many nowadays, yet much of our culture seems to focus on us looking like children. Has anyone else noticed this contradiction?

Fashion models are notorious for being extremely thin, yet what is this but an attempt to appear as pre-pubescent?

And what about Manga?

The great majority of mature women shave their legs and under their arms, pluck their eyebrows and other parts of their faces, use creams and potions to stave off or reverse the aging process, wear make-up to make the skin appear smoother and younger and try in many other ways to appear young.

What is this all about, if not to appear childlike? And if this is the case, shouldn’t we be talking about it?

So what do YOU think?

Are YOU drawn to younger-looking people? Is this natural, or is it created by marketing and advertising?

Do YOU want to appear younger than you really are?

If so, why?

If not, how do YOU feel about this process?

HOAX, UNSOLVED MYSTERY OR CONSPIRACY – YOU DECIDE

Have you heard about the first female USSR cosmonaut that died on re-entry?

What about the man who supposedly wrote the official USAF book debunking Roswell, then disappeared? 

This engaging short film discusses these and other scientific mysteries.

Click here to watch.

WHY WE NEED TO MAKE THE FUTURE FEMALE

The reactionary males are scared.

They’re clever enough to see the curve of history (herstory) points to female empowerment but stupid enough to think they can stop this dynamic.

I’m arguing that it’s crucial for women to manage human society or there will be no human society in the very near future.

And the same goes for the climate, oceans, natural world etc etc

Towards an advanced and mature p2p world civilisation

A map for the future 🙂

Social Network Unionism

Our current civilization is based on the dominancy of capitalist mode of production relations and other social relations that are in large portion outcomes of or strongly determined by the principal relationships of this mode, including ‘foreign’ relations between alienated human societies.

The rising people’s grassroots movement openly and clearly challenges and wants to change these relationships at a global scale.

This conscious ‘demand’ of the peoples is being unsuccessfully undermined by the mainstream media.

The existence of astonishing number of alternative visions for the aftermath of the approaching collapse is the proof of this: the gift economy, solidarity economy, participatory economy, resource based economy, commons based economy, and many more.

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DIVIDE AND CONQUER

This cartoon speaks for itself…

Olympia.gr

Βασική αρχή για να χειραγωγήσεις την κοινωνία είναι η αρχή «διαίρει και βασίλευε». Είναι παλιά αυτή η «συνταγή» και απολύτως αποτελεσματική. Στρέφεις ένα μέρος της κοινωνίας εναντίον του άλλου, «ποδοσφαιροποιείς» κοινωνικές ή επαγγελματικές τάξεις και το πεδίο είναι ελεύθερο να κάνεις ό,τι θέλεις την ώρα που οι άλλοι θα παίζουν το παιγνίδι των «καλών» και των «κακών».

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WHAT REALLY HIT THE PENTAGON ON 9/11?

We’ve just watched a really mind-blowing documentary film about 9/11 – in particular the supposed attack on the Pentagon.

BTW Does anybody know why this building has five sides?

The movie is entitled

National Security Alert

(click to view)

If you only watch one 9/11 film in your life, then I suggest you spend one hour twenty minutes on this movie.

This is what the makers say about the documentary:

In 2006 Citizen Investigation Team launched an independent investigation into the act of terrorism which took place at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

This exhaustive three-year inquest involved multiple trips to the scene of the crime in Arlington, Virginia, close scrutiny of all official and unofficial data related to the event, and, most importantly, first-person interviews with dozens of eyewitnesses, many of which were conducted and filmed in the exact locations from which they witnessed the plane that allegedly struck the building that day.

Be forewarned: Our findings are extraordinarily shocking and frightening. They are also deadly serious, and deserving of your immediate attention. This is not about a conspiracy theory or any theory at all.

This is about independent, verifiable evidence which unfortunately happens to conclusively establish as a historical fact that the violence which took place in Arlington that day was not the result of a surprise attack by suicide hijackers, but rather a false flag “black operation” involving a carefully planned and skillfully executed deception.

(More at citizeninvestigationteam.com)

CREEPY JIMMY SAVILE IN CHILD ABUSE ALLEGATIONS

News broke today that creepy former Radio 1 deejay and television presenter Jimmy Savile was interviewed under caution by Surrey police in 2007 about sexual assault allegations dating back to the 1970s.

However, the force dropped its 2007 investigation after the Crown Prosecution Service advised that there was insufficient evidence for a prosecution, the force said on Monday.

The development came to light after up to 10 women told a documentary they were assaulted by the Jim’ll Fix It frontman, who died last year.

The supposed ‘lack of evidence’ can be read to mean Savile was rich and connected to powerful figures, as a former BBC presenter says she actually caught him abusing a young girl.

Broadcaster Paul Gambaccini has added to the claims that Savile sexually abused schoolchildren, claiming the star used his charity work and ‘imperial personality’ within show business to prevent his private life being exposed.

Speaking ahead of a forthcoming ITV documentary that claims Savile abused schoolgirls during his many years of stardom, Gambaccini said his former Radio 1 colleague played tabloid newspapers “like a Stradivarius” in order to keep the abuse secret.

Now the BBC is under pressure to explain why it stopped an investigation by it’s own journalists. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9577087/Sir-Jimmy-Savile-sex-abuse-claims-ITV-goes-where-BBC-fears-to-tread.html

Late last year the BBC decided to drop a Newsnight item investigating allegations of sexual abuse by Savile, who died last October aged 84, leading to accusations the piece was ‘killed’ to spare the Corporation’s reputation. Instead, two tribute programmes celebrating his BBC career were aired.

However, a BBC spokesman said no evidence of any allegations of misconduct had ever been found in its files, so it was “simply not possible for the Corporation to take any further action”.

Money & Power

Ha! Tea 'n' Danger

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NO EVIDENCE OF JESUS

I’ve just watched a short film entitled

The First Jesus

This what it’s about…

He was called the King of the Jews, believed to be a Messiah. Just before Passover, the Romans beheaded him and crucified many of his followers outside Jerusalem.

But his name was not Jesus… it was Simon, a self-proclaimed Messiah who died four years before Christ was born.

Now, new analysis of a three-foot-tall stone tablet from the first century B.C., being hailed by scholars as a “Dead Sea Scroll on stone,” speaks of an early Messiah and his resurrection.

Was Simon of Peraea real? Did his life serve as the prototype of a Messiah for Jesus and his followers? And could this tablet shake up the basic premise of Christianity?

Watching this film reminded me of the real Dead Sea Scrolls.

The initial discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, by Bedouin shepherd Muhammed edh-Dhib, his cousins Jum’a Muhammed and Khalil Musa, took place between November 1946 and February 1947.

Eventually a total of a collection of 972 scrolls were recovered, consisting of texts from what is now known as the Hebrew Bible, or the Old Testament, and extra-biblical documents found on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, from which they derive their name.

They were specifically located at Khirbet or Qumran in what was then British Mandate Palestine, and since 1947, what has been known as the West Bank.

The texts, and coins found with them, have been dated to the centuries immediately before and after when Jesus was supposed to have lived.

When these discoveries were first made, the Catholic Church thought there may well be evidence of Jesus and his teachings but that wasn’t the case. Some have argued that the church immediately set about suppressing this knowledge.

According to the texts, the men of Qumran fervently believed in a doctrine of last things. They fled to the desert and were readying themselves for the imminent judgment, when their enemies would be vanquished and they, God’s elect, would be given final victory in accordance with the predictions of the prophets.

However, the evidence shows that they actually believed in three messiahs— a prophet, a priest and a king.

Dr. Will Varner – Professor of Old Testament at The Master’s College and Director of IBEX, the college’s campus in Israel.

Yet no mention whatsoever is made of Jesus or John the Baptist in all these texts.

Doesn’t this seem unlikely if Jesus was the person Christianity claims?

The only reference to Jesus at all can be found in the writings of the Roman historian Titus Flavius Josephus (37 – c. 100), and that was written some decades after the period.

And there’s no evidence in Roman archives, yet the Romans were known for their administration.

KNOCK KNOCK – WHO’S THERE?

We’ve lived in this street for a little under two years and it’s a lovely place. The neighbours are friendly, the countryside starts literally just round the corner and the house itself suits us perfectly. Many species of birds congregate in the huge beech trees lining the canal that runs close behind the houses opposite and the Dawn Chorus has to be heard to be believed.

The town itself is clean and pleasant and lies near the centre of the motorway system and the airport, so it’s easy to get to pretty much anywhere quickly. There are some lovely parks within walking distance and the gym and swimming pool complex is less than a mile away. The shopping centre, also fairly close, is perfect for our needs with a good mix of chain stores, supermarkets and small specialist shops.

There’s only one problem: someone keeps slamming their front door at all hours. It usually happens late at night and in the early hours. We can tell it’s the same door by the noise it makes – a rattle of glass, a thump of wood on wood and the after-jangle of the letterbox and knocker reverberating.

And it often happens twice.

I’ve heard it countless times, lying in bed in the dark.

On several occasions we’ve gone to windows and looked and listened but there is nobody about, no vehicles start so we’ve returned to bed none the wise.

But today I thought I’d blog about it and see what others think. What would readers do if they were here, and would they make efforts to track down the nocturnal door-slammer?

And if they found out, what would they do then?

Our road is a short cul-de-sac meaning there are only a few houses close enough to belong to the culprit. The folks on our left don’t have a door with glass and a knocker and I’ve heard their door shut – so it’s not them. The neighbours on the right are quiet people and they have a porch with sliding doors, which means we can exclude them as well.

Further along on the right come two lovely families who both have young kids. The children play out in the road and are very friendly and sociable. Both sets of parents are thoughtful and aware people and would hardly slam their doors at unsocial hours and risk waking their own youngsters up. We can safely discount them as well.

That leaves five possible venues.

Two houses stand at the end of the road and three face us. Let’s begin with those opposite.

Furthest away is a nice bloke in his early 40’s. He’s a gentle person and cycles around the local lanes when not travelling the country selling hi-tech computer security software. He runs the neighbourhood watch and was very friendly when we first moved in. (probably checking us out as my partner was fond of quipping) I’ve seen him shut his door and he’s quite quiet and deliberate, as would be expected from someone who sells security systems. He isn’t the door-banger.

I’d like to digress here for a minute and briefly look at doors and how we use them. I used to work for a globally-known local automotive manufacturer and remember learning how problems with doors were, for a time, a major source of downtime, and causing great irritation to management. Although cars are built on increasingly mechanised production lines, the correct fitting of doors still requires lots of human involvement. Experienced workers bend and thump the fitted doors with mallets to achieve that satisfying ‘clunk’ we all expect when we casually leave a vehicle and swing the door shut behind us. It’s a mix of science, technology and old-fashioned metal-bashing.

Doors in houses likewise have to be hung by experienced people to avoid gaps, draughts and sticking. But all kinds of doors can be damaged by slamming. Whether this lack of care is due to ignorance, or some psychological transference of anger, I cannot say, but I often see folk treat both car and house doors as if they were unbreakable. Doors are designed to be shut thoughtfully, and work much better and for longer if they are used properly. If you’ve been used to taking your bad moods out on the humble door, then this is a plea to be nicer in future.

The people opposite would be easy to blame for this anti-social slamming as they’re considered ‘strange’ and ‘up to no good’ by some in the road. As far as I know, the couple are guilty of nothing more than not being talkative or sociable, and have never done anything wrong or impacted badly on anything or anybody. Yet keeping themselves to themselves, as the old saying goes, appears now to be tantamount to being a career criminal according to the so-called respectable neighbours. I’m naturally talkative and highly sociable but wonder what people would be saying if I had severe agoraphobia?

However, I’ve seen the people opposite leave for work and they don’t shut the door like that. So it’s not them.

The people in the house next to them are perhaps the quietist in the road. Their front door is to the side of the property and they come and go almost imperceptibly. They really respect their doors, so we can scratch them from the list.

That leaves two properties in the frame – apologies readers; I couldn’t resist one pun – the biggest houses in the road.

The property nearest us houses a family with several teen-aged and older kids and a middle-aged mum and dad. There’s always someone arriving or leaving so their door is regularly opening and closing. It’s a quiet door and not the offender.

Which points to…

The final house in the road is inhabited by a single woman in her middle to late 50s. We’ve spoken to her several times and she comes across as nervous and slightly scatty yet warm and gentle. She has a job requiring no little intellectual input, works in her garden and has a very friendly cat. So could she be the phantom slammer?

I woke early this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep, so got up and absentmindedly looked out of the bedroom window. The woman at the end came out of her front door, walked to her car, opened the door, closed it again, then walked back to her front door and slammed it shut. Then while I was watching she performed the whole sequence again.

Exactly.

This was the same sound I heard so many times before. Half an hour later I heard it again and went to the window in time to see her come out and do it again.

So, readers, hopefully you can see why I’m asking for some suggestions. If this was a case of someone doing it either without thinking or deliberately trying to wake the neighbours, there are plenty of avenues open to remedy the situation; I could simply go and tell them to stop, I could send a letter, either straightforward or sarcastic, or I could report them to the local authorities.

But if this woman is acting out some obsessive/compulsive behaviour I don’t want to make her feel worse or threatened, so the above responses are all problematic.

If I talk to her she might deny it and then what do I do? How should one balance the nuisance on the one hand, and the psychological risk on the other?

Is it better to challenge such behaviour, whatever the reason, or should I mind my own business?

I know readers have more experience of this field than me and wonder what they might suggest. 

FOOD INC. – Shocking statistics about how a few giants control the US food market.

Shocking statistics about how a few giants control the US food market. The regulators are drawn mainly from the food industry and the huge financial clout of the market leaders ensures their business model triumphs over good sense and healthy eating.

Stop Alimentarius

Στo FOOD, Inc, ο σκηνοθέτης Robert Kenner σηκώνει το πέπλο για τη βιομηχανία τροφίμων της Αμερικής, εκθέτοντας την τεράστια εκβιομηχάνιση που έχει κρυφτεί από τον Αμερικανό καταναλωτή και δεν συμβαδίζει με τους ρυθμιστικούς οργανισμούς USDA και FDA.

Ο εφοδιασμός των τροφίμων του έθνους τώρα ελέγχεται από μια χούφτα εταιριών που θέτουν συχνά κέρδος πάνω από την υγεία των καταναλωτών, την ποιότητα ζωής του γεωργού, την ασφάλεια των εργαζομένων και του

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DIFFERENT BUT EQUAL Revisited

THE MOST DIVERSE CLASSES ARE THE BEST

Me with some colleagues from around the world

Gender and International Human Rights MA 

Coventry University 2010

LIES, DAMNED LIES AND INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES

ARE YOUR UNREAD EMAILS PILING UP?

If you’re prone to worrying about leaving your emails to pile up rather than deal with them promptly, then hold on, you’re in good company.

The Pakistani secret service, the ISI, hasn’t answered theirs for over a year.

PAKISTANI INTER SERVICES INTELIGENCE AGENCY

But wait you say, that’s no big deal, most emails are junk anyway. They’re probably only spam and letters from relatives raving about the holidays you weren’t invited to go on with thousands of pictures of people you never want to see again.

UNITED STATES’ CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

However, according to the Wall Street Journal, the emails are from the CIA laying out the targets and locations of the next month’s drone attacks.

And the ISI won’t reply so they can claim it is nothing to do with them…

And in the crazy world of counter-terrorism and international law, the US government lawyers regard this as tacit approval, because Pakistan does respond in kind.  It does this by “de-conflicting” its airspace – in normal speech – Pakistan prevents its aircraft from flying in the areas concerned.

In an April speech, White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said the administration has concluded there is nothing in international law barring the U.S. from using lethal force against a threat to the U.S., despite the absence of a declared war, provided the country involved consents or is unable or unwilling to take action against the threat.

So that’s okay then.

LAUNCH THEM DRONES…

A SHORT SCENE FROM THE NOVEL DOG SHARON

Once Dora had parked the Land Rover, Sharon led the women through Birmingham Shopping Centre until they were standing outside NEXT.

A muzak version of Kraftwerk’s Showroom Dummies played quietly from hidden speakers.

‘These dummies aren’t representative of ordinary women,’ said Sharon smiling. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Within seconds the mannequins began to change shape. The nearest’s arms shortened until it resembled Nina’s Thalidomide-deformed outline. Others became like human chameleons, changing colour rapidly to create a huge range of shades in every hue imaginable, all done in crazy stripes, spots, splashes and splotches.

Next Sharon made their doll’s faces transform; some had big noses, chins grew and ears dangled. Spots and pimples appeared; moustaches and beards sprouted. Long legs shortened and became hairier and one model now sported an artificial leg.

‘That’s for all the amputees,’ Sharon said without opening her eyes.

Now fingers thickened and feet grew wider. It was like a mash-up between The Clothes Show and the Incredible Hulk. Thin fashion garments stretched and split while several dozen styles of plastic buttons pinged like semi-automatic fire as the bodies bulked-out beneath. Nina and Dora watched wigs change colour, length and style, while another dummy lost her hair completely.

‘That’s for women receiving radio- and chemotherapy,’ shouted Flora.

On the other side of the parade was a fashion boutique containing loads of male and female dummies kitted out in the latest styles. Sharon glanced at the window and they began to melt. Within seconds the display looked like a 3D Salvador Dali painting. Dora couldn’t resist it. ‘Four cheers for the surrealists!’

Another doll transformed until it resembled the strap-on woman’s body on the cover of The Female Eunuch. ‘Homage to Professor Greer!’ shouted Aisha.

A fibreglass model of a bull stood on the pavement, promoting the Bull Ring Shopping Centre. As they passed it became plastic; the horns receded and udders grew beneath. Sharon shrugged her shoulders. ‘For our transgender friends.’

Sharon strolled to the main window of Marks and Spencer. She closed her eyes and puffed out her cheeks until her face was bright red, causing the shop dummies to swell sympathetically. Dora began a NASA-style countdown in reverse. ‘Size eight, ten, twelve, fourteen – mission control, do you have my size in one of those pretty little silver capsules? Sixteen, eighteen, twenty – we’re losing you honey, sorry, I mean Houston…’

Sharon opened her eyes and tossed a question to the group. ‘Who said “Fat is a feminist issue”?’

Kate was first. ‘Susie Orbach?’

‘Right first time,’ answered Sharon. ‘Give that woman a low-fat coconut!’

As they walked down the passageway that led to Debenhams, Sharon glanced at the Miss Selfridge sign to her left. Miraculously, it now read Ms Selfridge.

‘Cool!’ said Lesley.

At the next shop, Kate laughed out loud. When Sharon asked her why she explained, ‘You know me, always playing with words and letters in my mind. It just struck me as funny that tampon is an anagram of Topman.’

‘And they’re both stuck up!’ quipped Pross.

Drugs, politics, Mexican Narco-cartels and Mormons

Drugs, politics, Mexican Narco-cartels and Mormons. What could be more exciting?

In this set of 7 short films, VICE founder Shane Smith went down to Ciudad Juárez, near the US border, to investigate this bizarre story.

We learn how the “Mormon Manson” turned his family into assassins, leading to the murder of 40 people, all in the name of blood atonement. The cartel boss “El Rikin” gets revenge against a local Mormon community leader.

The Mormons illegally arm themselves and implement counter-terrorism techniques the US military used in Iraq and Afghanistan. VICE team is stalked by the cartel after going on patrol with the police and drinking with the Mormons.

We also learn what Mitt Romney’s Mexican cousins think about his strict immigration policies. VICE talks to Mitt Romney’s Mexican relatives about the time a family member was kidnapped and held for ransom by the cartel.

We also hear how the so-called War On Drugs has failed and ideas on how to reduce the violence.

QUESTION FOR BLOGGERS

Hi mates – the Reader function on my blog went gone crazy for a while, only showing posts from blogs I don’t follow.

Now it has returned to normal.

Has this happened to anyone else?

🙂

BLOG AND BREAKFAST

Today we dined on organic porridge and fruit.

What do you fancy first thing in the morning?

A MAN’S PLACE IS IN THE KITCHEN

If men

stayed at home

and

did the domestic work

we

would

have

a

lot

fewer

wars.

SLUTWALK LONDON – A personal account

This interesting article brings the personal and the political together.

Crates and Ribbons

On 24 January 2011, a Toronto police officer gave a talk on crime prevention. When speaking about rape, he uttered the now infamous words, “Women should avoid dressing like sluts.” Enraged at his words and the culture of victim-blaming it reflected, Canadians marched to let everyone know that women’s clothes were not responsible for rape; rapists were. Although it was a Canadian police officer who had made those comments, the rape culture that gave rise to the sentiment was not confined to Canada. Women from around the world recognised it, shared their outrage, and have joined in the movement, with Slutwalk protest rallies popping up in more than 40 countries so far.

From the start, Slutwalk has been controversial, even among feminists. Some seek to reclaim the word ‘slut’, to redefine it to mean a sexually liberated woman, instead of a judgmental term used to cast aspersions on the morality…

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Overtaking isn’t just about driving…

Spent a few happy hours on and around the M5 motorway today.

It was dark and wet most of the time – the type of rain windscreen wipers struggle to cope with effectively. The drops were either just too slow for proper wiping or just too fast for the occasional program.

That’s all we need – mischievous rain…

We had some fun with the tame starlings, sparrows and wagtails who shared our impromptu picnic in the carpark at the motorway services. The birds were highly inquisitive and unconcerned at being close to humans, cars and lorries.

The chirping and chattering birds seemed a lot brighter than many of the frowning Homo sapiens as they emerged crumpled from their tin cans to stretch and smoke.

Motorways are great when there are hardly any other users about, but more challenging in poor weather.

We negotiated large lorries with weak lighting suddenly looming large through the haze, people on phones pulling out without warning, van drivers rubbing their eyes like they’d just woken up while their vehicles swerved across several lanes, strangely attired motorcyclists, folk that don’t switch their car headlights on in the day, however dark it is, because they’re trying to cut down on their electricity bills, students driving with one hand while eating a baguette with the other and big German saloons slicing through the mist and spray at speeds over a hundred miles an hour.

Sooz calls cars ‘killing machines’ and can’t understand why people drive at silly speeds, especially in wet, misty, low-light conditions. She wonders how they can risk other people’s lives.

She hates it when cars ‘tailgate’ each other at high speeds, as it is clear they couldn’t stop in time if something happened.

Obviously many people think it’s okay to go fast, but certain drivers and particular vehicles are more likely to be overtaking and going well over reasonable limits.

More men than women seem to be involved, and drivers of bigger and more powerful vehicles are the worst culprits.

Nobody thinks they’ll crash.

But it happens.

Everyone decides their next meeting, delivery, drop or call is important enough for them to risk everything by rushing.

Bosses push their drivers to go faster and expect results.

After all, as we’re told constantly;

TIME IS MONEY!

But if you think about that phrase, it is meaningless.

Time isn’t anything but time.

Money is what the economic system uses to manage and control human affairs.

Don’t believe the hype.

Car manufacturers make vehicles that go faster than speed limits virtually everywhere. So why is that? Surely the makers are complicit if not majorly responsible for some of this behaviour?

Think about the adverts, the sponsorship of sporting, cultural and charity events, the tie-ins with the oil companies. Cars are the most visible everyday signifier of social status and rank.

Automobiles are the prizes for conforming to the dominant business model – the better your car, the higher you are up the pyramid.

Car manufacturers sell status. People try to show this by having more powerful and faster cars than others.

Overtaking isn’t just about driving;

It’s often a political gesture as well.

 

 

SENSES AND NONSENSE

I’m sitting in the conservatory and the rain is tapping lightly on the roof.  I like to listen to the rain; it helps me to think and it forms a nice white noise background to reading. The Ficus Benjamina – Weeping Fig as it’s more commonly known – towers above me and will soon curl around the ceiling fan if left alone. It’s grown so quickly over the past two years that it’s become more tree than bush. We’ve put some fairy lights around the top which gives the room a magical quality after dark.

Beside my chair is a Jade Plant we’ve had for some years. It’s large, roughly spherical in shape and the plump leaves shine even in the half light. If I move my head to the left I can just see the blurred reflections from the twinkling fairy lights in the branches above.  

If I lean to the right I can reach another plant. I’ve just rubbed my fingers on the rough, papery leaves of the what we erroneously call the Lemon Balm and the fragrance quickly fills the room and wafts all over the house. It’s actually a Pelargonium or Geranium.

Slightly further along the wall there’s a variegated weeping fig that was an International Women’s Day gift to my partner. 

I didn’t know until recently that it was the done thing in many parts of the world to give women presents on this day.  It’s a practice I’m planning to promote in this so-called country of England.

I can hear the fan whirring on my computer down below the keyboard and the rain is getting heavier behind me.  The wind has picked up. I was out earlier and the breeze had a nasty sharpness to it so I guessed it was from the North. It’s supposedly a British obsession – talking about the weather – but I suppose people must do it pretty much everywhere.

We’re going to Gloucester tomorrow.  Parts of the town date back to the Medieval Period and if the weather isn’t too bad I’ll post some pictures. 

Good night friends, wherever you are – I hope the weather is to your liking and you are happy and healthy. 

😉

 

 

COULD IT BE THE END OF MEN?

 

Is it Bye-Bye Blokes?

Farewell Fellahs?

Goodnight Guys?

Read

DOG Sharon: The Future is Female

And

Find

Out…

SOMEONE OR OTHER?

Are you Someone or Other?

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Sleep is a naturally recurring state characterized by reduced or absent consciousness, relatively suspended sensory activity, and inactivity of nearly all voluntary …

HOW CAN YOU JUDGE ANOTHER?

FIRST STONE ANYONE?

EASY POSTMODERNISM

libertarianism

The primary theme of the works of Gaiman is the role of the artist as participant. Baudrillard promotes the use of conceptual desublimation to attack hierarchy. Thus, neotextual libertarianism implies that truth may be used to reinforce outmoded perceptions of sexual identity.

In the works of Gaiman, a predominant concept is the distinction between figure and ground. Derrida uses the term ‘postsemanticist socialism’ to denote the difference between society and reality. However, the genre, and subsequent absurdity, of Debordist situation prevalent in Gaiman’s The Books of Magic emerges again in Death: The High Cost of Living, although in a more mythopoetical sense.

HANG ON!

I HOPE NONE OF THIS MAKES ANY SENSE

BECAUSE

IT’S A UNIQUE COMPUTER-GENERATED POST-MODERNIST ESSAY

OR

IN OTHER WORDS

A LOAD

OF

BOLLOCKS

The characteristic theme of d’Erlette’s[1] model of capitalist modernism is a self-justifying paradox. Thus, Derrida suggests the use of Debordist situation to modify and challenge sexual identity.

The premise of capitalist modernism states that the State is capable of significance. However, the subject is interpolated into a dialectic discourse that includes language as a reality.

Porter[2] implies that the works of Gaiman are modernistic. In a sense, Baudrillard promotes the use of Debordist situation to attack sexism.

Capitalist modernism states that sexuality is used to oppress minorities. Thus, a number of discourses concerning the role of the reader as observer may be revealed.

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR OWN UNIQUE VERSION.

BE THE ENVY OF YOUR FRIENDS

SEEM CLEVER 

CONFUSE

WINK AND NUDGE

WRITE BOOKS NO-ONE CAN READ

BE A FAMOUS FRAUD

Different But Equal – SEX AND THE BRAIN

I recently reblogged an article from my friend MADD suspicions about male and female brain types.

Click here to have a go at the fun quiz he found.

Also I’ve been reading, laughing and learning psychology from the witty and suave but spiky PinkAgendist. Stop by if you enjoy perceptive pieces.

I must also mention Dear Kitty.Some blog, Nonviolentconflict and thefreeorg for their intelligent and radical posts – I’ve learned so much in a short time from all three.

And of course other fine blogs I haven’t time to mention now, but will soon.

We all affect each other.

Their posts led me to think about thinking – always fun but a slightly weird experience  as well.

In my more political posts I’m calling for a paradigm shift in human affairs to move from a male-managed world to a female- and child-friendly future.

With cooperation rather than competition as the guiding principle.

No violence. Local organisation of life. Less people.

Women managing human society and reproduction.

No nation states and therefore no armies, weapons of mass destruction and no National Security.

But for this argument to make sense there must be actual differences between the sexes – not just differences we learn in life – but innate differences.

So yesterday I argued that we are all Equal But Different.

The title of this blog is Different But Equal

Let’s look at some differences now and start with brains.

How often have you heard men say, “I just can’t understand women…” or “My wife doesn’t understand me…”

Do women find men equally difficult to understand, or do they, on average, have more empathy and so can work men out?

Is there such a thing as female thinking or awareness? Can there be a ‘male’ type of thinking?

Are men and women more different or more the same?

And what about the brains of homosexual folk?

All interesting questions.

That’s why the relationship between sex differences in the brain and human behaviour is so controversial in psychology and society generally.

If there are real differences between the sexes then the implications are immense.

Recent studies show there are measurable differences in female and male brains.

For instance, there is a difference between sexes in the transcription of a gene pair involved in brain development unique to Homo sapiens.

Consequently female and male brains show differences in internal structure.

One of the main areas studied is the proportion of white matter relative to gray matter.

Gray matter is made up of neuronal cell bodies. The gray matter includes regions of the brain involved in muscle control, sensory perception such as seeing and hearing, memory, emotions, and speech.

White matter is the tissue through which messages pass between different areas of gray matter within the nervous system.

So the gray matter can be thought of as the processing areas, while the white matter connects.

Blood flow is also different between women and men, with females able to move blood more quickly to the areas needed and not losing functions in old age as much as males.

There are also differences in the structure and size of certain areas in male and female brains.

Studies found men on average to have larger parietal lobes, responsible for sensory input including spatial sense and navigation.

Women usually have larger Wernicke’s and Broca’s areas, regions that are responsible for language processing.

Postmortem and imaging studies over the past two decades have revealed structural differences in both global structures and sexually-related brain structures between heterosexual and homosexual subjects.

Researcher Simon LeVay showed that parts of hypothalamus related to sexual orientation not gender.

The hypothalamus is an area known to be  involved in sex differences in reproductive behaviour, mediating responses in menstrual cycles in women and the back of the hypothalamus regulates male-typical sexual behaviour.

These results were obtained from postmortem analysis of hypothalamic nuclei of known homosexual subjects compared to heterosexual patients.

The size of the brain’s hemispheres is a sexually dimorphic trait in which men tend to show asymmetry in the volumes of their hemispheres while women show more symmetry.

A recent  study found homosexual men showed hemispheric volumes to be symmetric similar to heterosexual women and homosexual women showed asymmetry in hemispheric volumes as heterosexual men do.

However differences in brain physiology between the sexes and sexual preferences do not lead to differences in intellect.

This points to females and males taking different but equally successful routes to achieve the same outcomes.

Evidence for this was found in a 2004 study finding men and women achieve similar IQ results by utilising different brain regions.

So this suggests there is no singular underlying neuro-anatomical structure for general intelligence.

In simple language, different types of brains work equally well.

So, different but equal.

Equal but different.

FAITH HEALERS KILL

Coming to a church near you soon…

EQUAL BUT DIFFERENT

DO YOU BELIEVE IN EQUALITY?

Nowadays we talk about ‘equality’ and ‘everyone being born equal’, but what exactly do we mean?

We speak of ‘equality of opportunity’ and ‘equality under the law’ but if we are unsure about the concept of ‘equality’ in the first place then these phrases don’t mean a whole lot.

People have said to me, “But humans are different, so how can they be equal?” or “We have to have difference – it’s just natural” and “I’d hate it if everybody was the same…”

These arguments are mistaking ‘Equality’ for ‘similarity’ or ‘sameness’. This kind of mistaken thinking is often a cover for discriminatory practices.

These arguments take the form of;

Women are different to men, so they shouldn’t earn as much as males,

or

Black folk are different to Europeans so it’s alright to enslave them.

But different doesn’t mean inferior.

Obviously there are differences between people, but there is no intrinsic reason why that should preclude equality.

Equality means everyone has the same right of respect from other individuals and to be treated fairly by social institutions.

Equality means we all have the same right to self-expression, self-determination and the chance to live and grow. Clearly there is a long way to go to achieve this.

What we are saying can be summed up by the phrase, “Equal but different…”

Click here to listen to the brilliant Au Pairs sing about this idea.

Our diversity is our strength, not an opportunity to discriminate against others.

Although the majority of us live in modern societies that claim to be democracies, there are plenty of old ideas still circulating that hark back to the pre-democratic systems that promoted inequality.

These hierarchical systems of social organisation are the biggest obstacles to developing truly modern societies where everyone has an equal stake and input into all aspects of life.

It’s worth briefly examining the ideas that were used to justify inequality in the past.

The Great Chain of Being 

(Latin; scala naturae, literally “ladder or stairway of nature”) was a concept derived from Plato and Aristotle and developed more fully in Neoplatonism. 

The Chain charts a fixed hierarchical structure of all matter and life. 

The chain starts from God and progresses downward to angels, demons, fallen and renegade angels, stars,            the Moon, kings, princes, nobles, men, wild animals, domesticated animals, trees, other plants, precious stones, precious metals, and other minerals.

Each link in the chain could be divided further into its component parts.

In medieval feudal society, the king was at the top, succeeded by the aristocratic lords, next came the merchants and then the peasants below them.

Solidifying the king’s position at the top of humanity’s social order is the doctrine of the Divine right of Kings.

In the family, the father was considered head of the household; below him came his wife; below her, their children.

This mistaken notion that some are more important than others underpins racist and sexist thinking, and that some nations can dominate other countries.

While there are small differences between people of various races, there is more divergence within each race than with other races.

However, there are marked differences between the sexes – this is called Sexual Dimorphism.

Men and women have different bodies statistically, meaning men tend to be taller and heavier with more muscle than women. However individuals may not display these attributes – some women are taller than some men for instance.

Crucially, modern research points to differences in brain organisation and processing systems, and I think this is really important.

Men and women think differently yet this isn’t taken into account in education and other aspects of life.

In my next post I will examine these differences in more detail.

IGNORING THE HIERARCHICAL SYSTEM…

DON’T FIGHT THE SYSTEM – IGNORE IT!

The Max Keiser show, On The Edge, was really good this week and the guest Mike Ruppert from collapsenet.com explained clearly the ideas behind my novel DOG Sharon: The Future is Female and the related Womanifesto!

Mike Ruppert is an interesting character with plenty to say about the state of the human world. He’s advocating growing your own food, getting together and building local partnerships, and ignoring the authorities as much as possible. He suggests we let ’em sink in their own incompetence, because their business model has failed.

A paradigm shift in human consciousness is needed to move onwards and upwards. But it’s no good tinkering with the system or looking to leaders.

EVERYBODY IN EVERY GOVERNMENT IS OUT OF THEIR MINDS – THERE’S A TOTAL DISCONNECT WITH REALITY!  Mike Ruppert

The inequality of the current economic system has developed from the idea that all the lands of the Earth and all the peoples are just commodities that may be owned by a small elite.

This hierarchical system can be easily visualised as a pyramid with a king, emperor, prime minister, president, priest, pope, patriarch, imam, ayatollah, shah, csar or tyrant on the top and everyone else beneath.

Below the kings come the nobles and below them the middle classes. Of course, the bottom tier is by far the largest as it is made up of the working masses.

Without the masses the elites would be at the bottom, so they need lots of new workers.

Shit comes down, money and power flows up.

It’s a brilliant idea – if you’re near the top.

But, most of us are at the bottom.

In the shit.

Lowerarchy is the opposite of Hierarchy 😉

As more and more of us see through the illusion of control a tipping point of consciousness will be reached which will allow everyone else to make that leap.

That’s the paradigm shift.

The only way is up…

What do YOU have to hide?

Exactly true. I made a deliberate decision not to be cowed and keep on saying what I think. The elites are scared now, more than ever before, that they cannot control the narrative. The TV is dead and they know folk are finding out too many things the rulers want to remain unsaid, unreported and unknown.
The bogeyman is real – it is the State

FLOURIDATION – healthy or not?

FLOURIDATION – healthy or not?

What do you know about FLOURIDATION? Do you think it’s a good idea or are you worried about this process.

I’ve just watched a documentary and now I’m concerned the process is probably not such a great idea. 

The flouride is added to water in the form of Hexaflourosilicic acid, a waste product from the industrial processes used in making fertilizers.

Hexafluorosilicic acid is also commonly used for water fouridation in several countries including the United States, Great Britain, and Ireland. In the U.S., about 40,000 tons of fluorosilic acid is recovered as waste from phosphoric acid plants, and then used primarily in water fluoridation, sometimes after being processed into sodium silicofluoride.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexafluorosilicic_acid

There’s scientific evidence to study and the economic, social and political background which leads me to think this is a massive con.

Edward Bernays, the man who has been called the father of public relations and who worked to promote smoking for women and the propaganda behind a coup in Guatemala, was employed to push this process onto the American public.

Anyway, don’t believe me, watch some of this movie, 

An Inconvenient Tooth 

a documentary film about the water flouridation controversy which arises from moral, ethical, political, and safety concerns regarding the fluoridation of public water supplies. Then see what you think.

The controversy occurs mainly in English-speaking countries, as Continental Europe does not practice water fluoridation. Instead, fluoride is added to most table salt in Europe.

In the UK, my area the West Midlands, is part of the 10% that uses this process.

SPELLCHECKER OR LANGUAGE WRECKER?

SPELLCHECKER OR LANGUAGE WRECKER?

I really love blogging as I greatly enjoy both communicating my ideas with others and hearing what they’ve got to say. As bloggers will all be aware, WordPress has an onboard Spellchecker that lets the writer know if they make mistakes when authoring their posts.

Now I’m writing this in MS Word and will copy the text across to my blog New Post window. When I write the posts directly in WordPress I’ve noticed a common and regular issue with spellings that the Spellchecker flags up as incorrect. I’m talking about the difference between American and British English.

So when I write words such as ‘theatre’, ‘centre’, ‘harbour’, or a whole group of words that end ‘-ise’ the spellchecker underlines the words as incorrect. The checker likes ‘–ize’ rather than ‘-ise’ and the US versions of many common words. I’m sure British English writers can think of more examples.

Now although an English graduate and postgraduate and sometime teacher of language and literature, I’m not one of those that believes in a fixed, static language and do not worry if folk subvert or evolve what is sometimes anachronistically known as the Queen’s English. But I don’t know if I want to give up all my English English spellings simply because of a spellchecker.

I know some other British bloggers feel strongly about this as our language is very much part of our identity and it can feel like an attack on our history and culture when a dumb spellchecker says it is wrong.

Sometimes it’s nice to show my geographical background by the way I write and spell certain words, although I don’t know how readers respond to this, be they Americans, Canadians, Australians, Europeans or Asians. And English is the second language for most people, so this is something that affects most of the world in one way or another.

So my questions to readers are these;

• Should we just give up on British spellings as old-fashioned and obsolete and adopt US versions en masse?
• Should we continue with traditional spellings and try to keep them current, even though it’s fairly obvious US versions will one day become dominant and ubiquitous?
• Should we use English forms when writing to British folks and use US variants when writing for an international or mainly US audience?
• Not bother either way and just do what feels right in an ad hoc manner?
• Something else?

I’d like to hear what others think, wherever you live and whatever version of English you usually use.

Please comment…

DO YOU LOVE EVERYBODY?

 

It’s easy to love the nice people,

and those that agree with your side. 

But what of the billions that you’ll never see,

What of those, can your love be that blind?

Can you love all the violent, the crazy, the sad?

Can you love those who shout you’re so wrong?

And what of the people that hate you, and worse,

Did you pray that they’d fail all along? 

Or,

Does your love know no bounds, and thus easily surrounds

All the life on this planet of ours?

The facts about, brutal farmers, badgers, culling and TB.

Birmingham’s Poor Feel Benefit Cuts

While we’e talking about the rich and poor, read how Birmingham’s poor are being treated by the worst UK government ever

Birmingham Against The Cuts

In a report on welfare reforms from 17 charities and non-profit organisations, the effect of cuts to housing benefit on low paid, unemployed, disabled, carers and older people and their communities has been raised by almost every organisation submitting evidence to the council.

Midland Heart, one of the regions largest social landlords, say their customers

Generally feel dismayed and negative. They are unhappy and unenthusiastic about the changes to the benefits system and afraid that they will be unable to live on reduced benefits

From April 2011 the rate for Local Housing Allowance (LHA), which replaces Housing Benefit, restricts claimants to the cheapest 30% of the private rented market. This does not take into account the substantial number of landlords who will not take welfare claimants, with “No DSS” a common feature in house letting adverts. Giving Hope, Changing Lives – a social inclusion process led by the Bishop…

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WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

 

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

I’ve felt since I was old enough to understand life that being wealthy was wrong.

Hence I’ve always identified with the Robin Hoods rather than the robbing bastards. 

Which side are YOU on?