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Sometimes it’s hard not to react. Though always better to bide one’s time, think things through, decide on a sane and sensible response, sometimes it’s hard not to react.

The president of the United States (I cannot bring myself to use a capital ‘P’ when describing this present incumbent, at least not when describing him as the ‘president’) is the Commander-in-Chief. How frequently has he informed us of that fact?

On his watch, so many people have suffered and died. So many have lost their homes, their jobs, their families. Both in America after Katrina, and in Iraq for the last four and a half long years, this man has propagated suffering on a massive scale.

While the US media plays down Iraq – no mention for days at a time, or, “it’s getting better”, or, well-placed camera shots of apparently crowded streets with happy shoppers enjoying their new found American freedom – in the middle of the night they come, his Nazi-style, jack-booted, servants of death seeking out God-knows-who, spreading fear and killing indiscriminately in their passing: a child here, an old man there, a toddler in a car.

These are the ones who do his dirty work: his ‘Gestapo’.

Read about them from media not in bed with corporate government – HERE.

Meanwhile, back at the Commander-in-Chief’s place, life has been busy. He’s been making a video.

Watch it HERE, but keep a bucket to hand.

You may feel the urge to vomit.

Filed under: Obscenities

I’ve just been decorating the Christmas tree. It’s a ritual. Of course, it’s all artificial; in a box. Fifty weeks of the year it sits on a shelf in the bedroom closet, in two pieces, wrapped away with its 15-watt star and a bevy of glittery, hanging things.

Part of that ritual includes dusting off another item buried at the back of a cupboard since last January. Out comes the CD of Christmas music by the choir of King’s College, Cambridge, and onto the player it goes, soon to perfume the living room with glorious trebles, rich baritones, and those piquant soprano warblings so characteristic of ‘Kings’.

Every year at this time I ask myself the same question. Why do I so adore this rich, melodic, religious music with its poignant lyrics, even though I have no doubt the stories they portray are, at best, fable?

The answer is not difficult to fathom.

As a young boy I loved musicals. One of my favorites was, “Carousel”. Ever since that time so long ago, the music of “Carousel” has held a special affection in my heart, yet Rogers and Hammerstein wrote musical fiction, didn’t they?

It doesn’t have to be true to be enjoyed, and the King’s College choir provide the added charm of evoking memories of Christmases long gone.

“Carousel” was a charming fairy tale, and so is the story of Christmas. A child, born in poverty in a manger, growing up to realize the problems in his world and teaching us how best to overcome them; through love and fellowship; recognizing everyone as our neighbor, even the poor, the lame, the leper.

Most will be aware of the reports this week from Colorado, of a man refused a bed for the night at a Christian Mission, who shot dead two workers and wounded two others. It immediately raised the thought in my mind, “Hmm, no room at the inn.”

It came unbidden, but I let it linger because, while the circumstances may in reality have had little to do with the Biblical story, Denver is a town that enjoys great wealth, and wealth is a magnet for so-called “Christian” Super-churches.

Sure enough, only hours later the New Life “Super-church” in Colorado Springs came under fire from the same man. This time his luck ran out and he was shot dead by a church security guard.

I wonder how many others, besides the writer, find this whole sordid story distasteful in the extreme?

You see, I can’t get that phrase out of my head: “There was no room at the inn.”

It’s not just that the gunman was turned away. In all likelihood he would have opened fire even if he’d been allowed in. Besides, they probably didn’t have a spare manger.

According to reports, the shooter had a grudge against Christians. I don’t condone that, but I can understand it. At least, so far as the Christians of New Life Church, Colorado Springs, are concerned.

Sadly, the gunman got it wrong. These are not Christians at all. Like many of the religious sects prevalent in America today, they’ve simply hijacked the name to cover up what they are really all about.

The New Life Church has security guards with guns. Jesus would not have approved of that. No, don’t try to convince me otherwise. I know he’d not have been happy with the idea, which is strange because I’m not even a Christian.

And you see, if I – a pagan – know that about Jesus, and the New Life Church of Colorado Springs doesn’t, it stands to reason they can be no more “Christian” than I am. In fact, probably less so.

Pastor Brady Boyd of the New Life Church, Colorado Springs, said after the shooting:

“Our prayers right now are for the people that were injured and their families.”

No prayers for the gunman, or his family, it seems.

Compare that to the truly Christian Amish community of Pennsylvania who, in October 2006, lost a number of their children to a schoolroom shooting. Their immediate reaction was to pray for the killer, and offer help and solace to his wife and family.

Now Jesus would have approved of that.

The “super-churches” of America, run by marketing associations and making $millions for the few in charge at the top, have nothing whatever to do with Jesus of Nazareth, or the religion that spawned from his name; a name that has been ‘taken in vain’; a mere tool for making money.

Perhaps that’s what the gunman was so upset about? We’ll probably never know.

Fables originated as wisdom passed down by word of mouth. As stories, it helped to make them more easily remembered in the time before paper or printing press. Those fables in the Bible don’t end with the Christmas nativity stories. They go on to describe a man who obviously loved and cared for his fellow beings. He only once resorted to violence, when he became so angry and frustrated that the temple of his God was being used for common money-making and marketing by those charged with its care. In a fit of indignation, he drove the priests and marketeers out, whipping and forcing them into the streets.:

“My Father’s house is a house of prayer, but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”

It’s easy to visualize Jesus taking a similar stance with the New Life Church of Colorado Springs. Today, they’d almost certainly shoot him.

One doesn’t have to be a god to be outraged at corruption. The wealthy gain their riches off the backs of the poor. The American government could teach the Pharisees and Sadducees a thing or two about bleeding the lower classes. It isn’t hard to imagine John Adams, or Benjamin Franklyn, or Thomas Jefferson, striding into Congress with a bullwhip and chasing out the money-grabbing, corpulent, toads:

“This is our American people’s House of Government, but you have turned it into a degenerates den of corruption!”

No, one doesn’t have to be a god, or even believe in a god, to recognize love conquers hate, compassion overcomes prejudice, and our neighbor isn’t just the guy in the house next door.

Unfortunately, calling yourself a Christian doesn’t guarantee recognizing any of those things. Though if you don’t, you’re simply a hypocrite. Probably as much a hypocrite as the “Christians” who fill their houses with firearms and vote unerringly for Republican politicians who believe assault rifles make great Christmas gifts.

Thankfully, I don’t have that cross to bear. I may not believe Jesus of Nazareth was the son of a god, but I can understand and accept the concept, “Thou shalt not kill.”

On the occasions I fail to fully measure up to the words of Jesus, the Buddha, Mohammad, or any of the other great teachers, I can console myself that, after all, I’m only a lowly member of the human species, who enjoys Christmas carols for what they truly are: heavenly music made by magical, earthly, voices.

Filed under: Christmas killings

It’s a part of the culture in America. Individual achievement is rated more highly than collective effort.

Maybe it stems from the old idea of the American Dream: one man arrives on these shores with nothing, then, using his intelligence and abilities, rises to become President of the United States.

The problem with that idea, in practical terms, is the other 299,999,999 American citizens who don’t make President.

Let me illustrate what I mean.

We all know the total cock-up in New Orleans, created by Bush and the American government after Hurricane Katrina. Two and a half years after the disaster, many of the poorer areas remain uninhabitable. So much for FEMA, Federal Aid, and George Bush’s atrocious guitar playing while Louisiana drowned.

Disgusted by the plight of Louisiana residents, Frank Stronach invested $10 million of his own money into Magnaville, a 325 hectare site some 150 miles from New Orleans. Capable of housing 110 people, but designed to eventually accomodate 300, Magnaville is a mobile home community, each with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, air-conditioning, washer/dryers, and front and back porches. The site boasts a community center and basketball courts.

Residents of Magnaville live there rent free for five years. The only stipulation is they have to obey the rules. One of those rules is the residents have to be in, or actively seeking, work. To aid in that, Stronach is developing organic farming in the community and has negotiated with a large chain of natural foods supermarkets to take the produce.

All in all, it’s a great success story for people left with nothing after Katrina struck, and it’s all the brainchild of one man who was, as NBC Nightly News aptly commented, “Making a Difference”.

So Frank Stronach is an American hero. Except, he’s actually a Canadian business man. It’s why most of the residents of Magnaville don’t call it that at all. They’ve named it, “Canadaville”.

That doesn’t make Frank Stronach any less a hero. After all, he’s done what the American government failed to do. If one man can achieve so much, imagine how much more a really efficient government, properly organized and run, could have done for the people of Louisiana.

In many ways, Canadaville sums up the total ineptness and corrupt degradation of, not just the Bush administration, but of US governments back through the ages.

With a presidential election looming, take a good hard look at the pseudo-aristocratic riff-raff presented for your edification and eventual vote. Then ask yourselves the simple question:

Which one of these individuals can form a government that could do better than Canadian Frank Stronach, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina?

This will narrow the field considerably.

“Making a difference” is the real job of a government. It’s what the other 299,999,999 have the right to demand.

Read more about Canadaville HERE

Filed under: Citizen’s rights