Author: R J Adams

I’ve been an alien for ten years. Ever since I came to America. I used to hate the description, found it demeaning. Now, I wouldn’t change it for the world.

The lack of posting on Sparrow Chat of late has been due partly to pressure of responsibilities elsewhere, but mainly out of frustration -and, it has to be admitted, a degree of disgust – at the apathy of a generation (both American and British) that seems hellbent on personal financial self advancement at the expense of its fellow human beings. The “Fuck you, I’m alright, Jack,” generation is alive and well and living it up while others are homeless, existing in their cars (unheard of ’till I came to America), or blowing their (or others) brains out from desperation of their plight.

While the British do, at least, have a modicum of non-propaganda news in the form of the BBC, which perhaps gives them less of an excuse for this self-centered, grab-it-all, mentality, than the Americans whose media perpetuates the ‘American Dream’ myth 24/7, neither can take pride in being the first generation to leave full-time education with the sole ambition of making pots of money for themselves. Gone are the youthful dreams: “making the world a better place”, “joining the Peace Corps”, or “helping those less well off than myself”. Now, they just stab each other in the back for the prime jobs at Goldman Sachs or J.P.Morgan.

On the subject of American media, one has to marvel at a major news outlet, ABC, on its flagship World News show tonight, sparing valuable program time – amid the crisis in Syria, the Egyptian riots, US universities dropping to 14th in international rankings, all of which it failed to cover – to a precocious eight year old girl getting nipped on the hand by a dolphin at SeaWorld. America waited breathlessly through all the adverts to hear “what the parents had to say about it.”

Don’t bother with the expense of flying a reporter out to the Democratic Republic of Congo to interview the parents of the latest atrocity victim, raped and beheaded by rebel soldiers while the Chinese pillage the country of all its vast mineral wealth to make fucking Ipads for the indolent youth of Britain and America. That same indolent youth isn’t interested in “what the parents of that child had to say about it.” No, they’d rather have some cozy little home-spun yarn involving an all-American sweetie and an overly playful dolphin.

ABC obliged.

And, while we’re at it, the whole western world is simply agog to know where the hell David ‘bore the pants off me’ Beckham is off to next. Is it Monaco, or isn’t it? Will he be having a piss in the next ten minutes? Does he fart while making love to that skinny bint he married?

These are all questions of inexplicable importance to the populace of Western nations. Did you know Lindsay Lohen’s been arrested again today for slapping a woman in a nightclub? I couldn’t bloody well care less if she drops her knickers and shows her arse in Walmart’s window.

What’s the matter with people today? Why do they shut out the important happenings in the world, in favor of the trivial and absurd?

Yesterday, some NFL player shot his girlfriend dead. Then, he drove to the football ground and killed himself. This criminal act resulted in the orphaning of a three month old baby. The media treats him as some sort of fallen hero. Three minutes silence before the football game commenced today in honor of this man. He was a murderer, for God’s sake! He shot and killed another human being in cold blood. Yet, we’re told by the media, “it’s a tragedy” and we have to feel sorry for him. No-one suggested we should feel sympathy and compassion for campus killers, or the guy who shot up the cinema in Colorado recently. But then, they weren’t aspiring football stars.

You know, he can be forgiven for leaving his three month old daughter parentless, but had he persuaded his girlfriend to have an abortion six months ago, they’d probably have lynched him.

I’m so glad I’m not a member of the human race.

It’s been exactly a week since President Obama was re-elected for another four years, and already it’s started. The will of the majority no longer holds any meaning for American politicians.

Tweedledum and Tweedledee, otherwise Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, have been shouting their mouths off about President Obama’s possible nomination of Susan Rice as Secretary of State, to replace the retiring Hilary Clinton.

Rice is an eminently suitable choice for the post, given her experience as US Ambassador to the UN. The only reason McCain and Graham can give for opposing her nomination is that she ‘misled’ the American people five days after the Benghazi embassy attack. She stated it was likely an escalation of violence, following on from the riots in Cairo that resulted from the anti-Muslim video published on the internet, that had caused the Benghazi incident in which four Americans died.

As the American people have still not been shown any concrete evidence to support the ‘9/11 terrorist attack’ theory, now bandied as ‘fact’ by the media and certain politicians, Sparrow Chat still considers the initial explanation the most plausible.

Perhaps, the date of the Benghazi incident, coinciding with “THAT” anniversary, was just too good an opportunity for certain factions in American politics to miss?

“Keep the War on Terror alive, at all cost, lads!”

Incidentally, the question Lindsey Graham was asking on the Fox News image above, is one he already knew the answer to. The reason so many requests for additional security were denied was because Lindsey Graham and his fellow Republicans had drastically cut the national security budget.

In 2011, Hilary Clinton warned:

The scope of the proposed House cuts is massive. The truth is that cuts of that level will be detrimental to America’s national security.”^[1]

Despite Clinton’s remonstrations the cuts went ahead.^[2]

Meanwhile, this week, America races towards the ‘fiscal cliff’, while Europe erupts into general strikes and pandemonium as Greeks, Spaniards, and even Germans, give vent to rage and frustration as governments continue to bail out the banks and hand their electorates the bill.

America’s top military brass have finally managed to convince us all they really are human beings by fornicating readily with other men’s wives and girlfriends, while the media make loud, “tut-tutting” noises and use words like ‘sordid’ and ‘tawdry’. Excuse my ignorance, but I always thought that’s what soldiers did? I guess the crime was to be found out.

Climate change finally got a mention on the CBS News tonight, as the national weather service admitted Hurricane Sandy was probably made much worse by the effects of global warming. Even so, the news segment was well peppered with, “possibles”, “mights”, and “maybes”.

I guess the powers-that-be have decided times are right to begin hinting at the possibility that man-made climate change could be real after all. Better to give the masses a bit of warning before all hell breaks loose and civilization as we know it disintegrates totally.

Though, given all the other news this week, can anyone really still have doubt it’s not already happening?

^{[1] “Secretary Clinton: House Republican budget cuts will endanger national security” Washington Post, February 14th 2011}

^{[2] “Forget Big Bird. What about the Snuffleupagus in the room?” Dana Andrews, Washington Post, October 2012}

It seems long ago, now. Yet, I remember it vividly. I was sitting in the early summer sunshine, on a hard bench outside Rick’s coffee shop, just off the ‘Dam’, watching some of the most stunningly beautiful girls on the planet walk by, on their way to – only they knew where.

The ‘Dam’ is in the Centrum District of Amsterdam, a large square with many intersecting routes, hence the abundance of pedestrian traffic. Rick’s place is just off the square, near the Red Light district, and close by a canal with a typically unpronounceable Dutch name.

Two young-ish men, my pal and I, had arrived the day previous after an hour’s flight from Liverpool Airport, one of the smallest in the world, to Amsterdam’s Schiphol, one of the biggest.

We were there for a weekend, to enjoy a delicacy frowned on in most western countries, yet readily tolerated in Holland: cannabis sativa, the marijuana plant. And Rick’s was well known for stocking some of the best bud available.

By midday, after draining the dregs from my Dutch coffee cup, I freely admit to being – to coin a colloquial expression – ‘as high as a kite’. Not that it’s a particularly accurate expression of one’s senses and feelings after smoking a marijuana joint. I was at peace with the world. Everything felt right. The sun’s warmth was unbelievably embracing; all around seemed comfortable and homely; even the pigeons cooed at me with love and affection.

It wasn’t the first time I’d smoked pot, neither was it the last. But, to do so freely in public without disapproving glances, or some officious police person rushing out the woodwork to arrest you for ‘doing drugs’, was a strangely settling experience. It made one feel that Holland was a deal saner than any other nation in the northern hemisphere.

In the evening, we took a walk through the Red Light district. Had it been London, Liverpool, or New York, the very idea of naked females displaying their wares in shop windows would be unthinkable. In Amsterdam, it’s the most natural thing in the world.

I was chased up the street by a big, black, girl with enormous bosoms. Clad only in a tiny, bespangled, bikini bottom, she rushed out her front door after I’d paused momentarily to admire her. She pursued me for a few yards, in a vain attempt to persuade me into her boudoir. There was nothing sinister. She was laughing, I was laughing, my mate almost wet himself with glee.

I graciously refused her invitation. We were both married. It wasn’t why we were there.

In April this year, the Dutch government passed legislation to prevent foreign tourists buying cannabis in the coffee shops. Only Dutch citizens, it seemed, were to be allowed to participate.^[1]

It was another blow struck in the name of conservatism; a high-handed, arrogant, moralistic, political narrow-mindedness more usually found in the USA or, to a lesser extent, Britain, than in the liberal corridors of the Dutch parliament.

Thankfully, the regulation only lasted a few months. The coffee house owners created such a fuss – it was, after all, tourists who spent the most money – that, after a change of government in September, it was decided to let local politicians make the decision whether to enforce the law, or not. The Mayor of Amsterdam was adamant. There’d be no restrictions in his city.^[2]

I was greatly relieved to read it. Not that it would affect me personally. I never returned to Amsterdam, and when I moved to America gave up any idea of ever smoking a marijuana joint again. I had no desire to end my days languishing in a gulag US prison along with a plethora of other poor souls whose only crime was to partake of something the rich and powerful decreed lawful only for them to enjoy.

No, my relief was for the next generation of young-ish men, or women, who could once again make that trip from Liverpool Airport to Schiphol, for one weekend in a place where the word ‘freedom’ is more than just another marketing tool of corrupt politicians.

^{[1] “Dutch cannabis cafe owners fight changes” BBC, April 27th 2012}

^{[2] “Amsterdam tourist cannabis ban rejected by mayor” BBC, November 1st 2012}

^{NOTE: There is much waffle in the media about the long-term effects of marijuana on cognitive abilities, and its abuse by certain members of society, particularly the young. It has always been my philosophy to never blindly accept so-called ‘facts’ dished out by the media or those with their own dodgy agendas. Most things in life are open to abuse. Alcohol and tobacco, freely on sale throughout the western world, are prime examples. Religion, politics, sex, marketing, are less obvious, but equally pertinent examples of subjects regularly abused for a political or commercial purpose. There’s a world of difference between the meanings of ‘use’ and ‘abuse’. This article is not about persuading anyone to partake of marijuana, or any other recreational drug. It’s about individual freedom, or, more succinctly, the lack of it.}