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Give me Reason over superstition any day

It's a delicious April autumn evening and I've had a beautiful stroll under the waxing gibbous moon, which will be full the night after tomorrow. The stars are bright, and I've been admiring Mars, and Orion's Belt, and the Southern Cross. And I walked with many things that are in my thoughts, and one of them is Reason.

Reason's a beautiful thing: it's given us transport, democracy, medicine, and the eradication of smallpox from the world. No praying nor mumbo-jumbo have ever worked such wonders. In recent months, a few people have disputed this with me, saying, "But Shakespeare said, 'There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio/Than are dreamt of in your philosophy'". But Shakespeare didn't say this ... these are words that he put into the mouth of Hamlet, one of his characters. Hamlet said it, not The Bard. I'm no Shakespeare, and never will be, but I've written stuff that I've put into the mouths of characters, some of it total rubbish. And who says Shakespeare is the decider of what's true or not anyway? He was clearly a fallible man -- his plays abound with errors of fact. In 'The Winter's Tale', for example, he speaks of the coast of Bohemia. Though some might dispute it, Bohemia has no coast. Even if Bohemia did have a coast, there would still be dozens or hundreds of errors one could point to in Shakespeare's works.

Some people also refer to certain other writings and people, all supposedly infallible. Scriptures and popes, for example. I don't have confidence in such things. Give me Reason any day, because I've consistently seen over a lifetime of observation, and trial and error, that Reason and logic actually work. Now, I agree with Rabindranath Tagore, another bard with whom I'll never compare, that "A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that uses it". But that still doesn't reduce my faith in Reason, logic, science, and a skeptical brain. I think they are wonderful tools, and I'd rather have them than any knife, or any superstition.

Categories: superstition, religion, reason, rationality, skepticism, science, shakespeare

Mark Danner: Torture: Stripping Bare the Body

Torture: Stripping Bare the Body: "A former president of Haiti, once observed that political violence 'strips bare the social body' allowing us 'to place the stethoscope and track the real life beneath the skin.' This stripping bare produces a 'moment of nudity' that presents an opportunity to place the stethoscope against the naked skin and listen to the reality beneath. The U.S. wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere have involved torture and human rights violations replete with black sites, secret prisons, extraordinary rendition, that is, kidnapping and in some instances custodial deaths all accompanied by the now infamous waterboarding, stress positions, extreme temperatures, dogs, beatings, threats and loud and incessant music. 'The CIA used an alternative set of procedures,' proclaimed Bush. What? Enhanced interrogation techniques. What? Can anyone say torture? Geneva Conventions? Obama does not want to hold those responsible for crimes accountable. Why not?" One of the recent victims of American torture was 'waterboarded' (waterboarding is a torture of near-drowning) 83 times.

http://www.araustralia.org/index.htm

Categories: usa, bush, cheney, iraq, afghanistan, war-on-terror, torture, cia, obama

Happy birthday, Rhino, April 25 - R.I.P.

Rhino, born Apr. 25, died a few yrs ago, can't recall when. We were bashed by thugs together, played pool together, visited 'ladies of the night' in Sydney together, camped in the bush together, laughed together till the tears streamed down our ugly faces, harassed by cops together, argued together, got drunk as skunks together, were rich & poor together, watched the stars together, watched him slowly die together, adored his departed mother Christina together. Too much love, too many experiences to tell. See ya, mate. I never forget April 25. He & me shared so many adventures around this big land. I have a song, 'The Ballad of Pip & Rhino', but it's on a floppy disk somewhere and my computer doesn't take floppies. Neither did we, in our young days. 

Thank you, Baz le Tuff for the excellent photo of Reinhard Raftl.

The story of nuclear disarmament

http://bit.ly/dhxBuo The story of Nuclear Disarmament: "Nuclear disarmament and the containment of nuclear material is back on the international agenda - with both Washington and Tehran trying to claim the moral high ground. This week on Rear Vision the history of the world's attempts to contain nuclear material and weapons." Reagan was passionately devoted to nuclear disarmament - something not very often acknowledged.

Categories: nuke, nuclear-disarmament, abc, radio-national, usa, ussr, history, war, peace

Liam Clancy sings 'And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda'

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



Categories: war, peace, australia, ww1, music, youtube, video

Anzac Day, public holiday, Australia, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa and Tonga

Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives.
You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.
Therefore rest in peace.
There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours ...
You, the mothers, who sent their sons from faraway countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace.
After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, commander of Turkish forces at Gallipoli, 'father of the Turkish nation', showing great magnanimity to his former enemies

Today we mourn the dead and the criminal stupidity of those who send them to their fate. It is the anniversary of the Allied invasion of Turkey at the Battle of Gallipoli on this day in 1915. (The Anzac covering force, the 3rd Brigade of the Australian 1st Division, began to go ashore shortly before dawn at 4.30 am on April 25.) An estimated 131,000 Allied soldiers were killed and 262,000 wounded (sources vary widely); about 250,000 (some sources say 450,000) Turkish men were killed or wounded in an area measured in a handful of square kilometres.

Anzac (or ANZAC) Day, named from the acronym of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, commemorates the landing of British and ANZAC forces on the beach at Gelibolu (Gallipoli), Turkey, on this day in 1915, in a failed invasion of Turkey in World War One. In Australia, it is generally commemorated with more reverence and enthusiasm than practically any public holiday, including Australia Day and Easter. Perhaps only Christmas is as widely commemorated ...

Liam Clancy

Categories: war, peace, australia, new-zealand, turkey, wwI, calendar-customs

Blogmanac post number 7,001

I'm celebrating 7,000 Wilson's Blogmanac (founded on April 26, 2003) posts by sharing some special stuff from Australia's free national treasure, ABC Radio http://www.abc.net.au/rn/. Alpha: 'Tapes of Thought: Arthur Russell' http://bit.ly/byafN3 (Philip Glass, Dylan, Ginsberg, Talking Heads & more. Beta: 'Trailblazer Antoinette Kennedy retires in WA' http://bit.ly/couBtW - a truly remarkable interview with a judge. Gamma: 'Terrorism Conspiracy Theories and the 1978 Sydney Hilton Bombing, Lockerbie, 9/11 and the London 7/7 Bombings' http://bit.ly/dahlfW. Delta: 'New book highlights global threat to ape species' http://bit.ly/bCyscm. Epsilon: 'Mixed reaction to reopening of Curtin detention centre' http://bit.ly/bafSvj. See also 'Poetica' http://bit.ly/3J2SS7 -- truly marvellous.

Categories: australia, internet-resource, abc, radio, radio-national

Why I, Like, Really Dislike Facebook's 'Like' Button - PCWorld

Why I, Like, Really Dislike Facebook's 'Like' Button - PCWorld: "I couldn't sleep this morning, so I schlepped down to the nearest Wifi cafe. To escape the execrable soft jazz playing in my local beanery I plugged in my noise-canceling ear phones and dialed up Pandora. Before I'd even logged in, the site launched into one of my favorite Tom Waits songs, 'Jockey Full of Bourbon,' followed by songs from John Lee Hooker and Tift Merritt. Bang bang bang, three of my top artists, just like that."

Coincidence? Nope. Pandora pulled my musical preferences from my public Facebook profile. I didn't ask it to. It just did. It was both cool and just the tiniest bit creepy. Welcome to the Facebook-powered Web ..."

Categories: facebook, internet

Facebook seeks more revenue, not control of Web, analysts say - Computerworld

Facebook seeks more revenue, not control of Web, analysts say - Computerworld: "Contrary to a lot of online buzz, analysts say that Facebook's moves this week don't indicate that the company is looking to take over the Web.
"
Facebook on Wednesday unveiled a bevy of development tools aimed at enabling the social networking phenom to extend its reach across a greater expanse of the Web.

"The new tools let operators of other Web sites share user data with Facebook, providing the social networking firm with new online advertising opportunities ..."

Categories: facebook, internet

US military to end Haiti quake mission in June

http://bit.ly/cbso2g "The US military will end its disaster relief mission in Haiti at the beginning of June, nearly six months after the massive earthquake struck."

Categories: haiti, earthquake, foreign, aid

The Venus Project

The Venus Project - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "The Venus Project, Inc is an organization that promotes Jacque Fresco's visions of the future through a website and by distributing videos and literature with the goal to improve society by moving towards a global resource-based economy and the design of sustainable cities, energy efficiency, natural resource management and advanced automation, focusing on the benefits it will bring to society ..."

Thanx, Lynnie.

Categories: energy, oil, utopianism, environment, community

Samaranch dead - my heart pumps piss for him

So we note the death http://bit.ly/d8jGXD of His Excellency, the Marques de Samaranch (Juan Antonio Samaranch) http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/jul17.html, Spanish sports official, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 1980 to 2001, its greatest period of corruption. Samaranch is probably remembered for four main things: his fascist career, his long reign as president of the IOC, his commercialization of the Olympics, and the corruption among officials and athletes that the commercialization engendered.

Samaranch was for years a member of the fascist Falange party in Spain and a national councillor under the notorious and brutal 36-year dictatorship of Generalissimo Francisco Franco. The Times of London wrote: he 'proved expert at the mixture of obeisance to the regime and political manoeuvring necessary to progress through the [fascist] ranks'. By 1975, when Franco died, Samaranch was top fascist in Barcelona, and an IOC Vice-President.



Categories: sport, fascism, authoritarianism

Australian legal experts concerned over proposed people-smuggling bill

Australian legal experts concerned over proposed people-smuggling bill: "The United Nations refugee agency has raised concerns over Australia's decision to temporarily stop processing visa applications from asylum-seekers from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. The regional representative says the decision could lead to asylum seekers being stuck in mandatory detention for extended periods without effective judicial oversight. The suspension of visa applications is the latest in a string of measures Australia's federal government has taken in recent months to try and deal with the constant flow of asylum seeker boats arriving. One measure involves changes to the laws that govern people-smuggling. Some legal experts are worried planned changes could lead innocent people being unjustly punished."

Categories: australia, refugee, afghanistan, sri-lanka, racism

Another Iceland volcano under watch

Another Iceland Volcano Under Watch | LiveScience: "News reports earlier today that another volcano on Iceland had erupted just as Eyjafjallajokull was beginning to calm down turned out to be false. But scientists are warily keeping their eye on one of Eyjafjallajokull's neighbors, which has been known to erupt following its sister."

Categories: iceland, volcano, globalization

Iceland volcano ash cloud: At least Europe has a backup in trains, ferries, buses

Iceland volcano ash cloud: At least Europe has a backup in trains, ferries, buses / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com: "Iceland volcano ash cloud: At least Europe has a backup in trains, ferries, buses.

"The Iceland volcano underscores the need for the US to invest more heavily in surface transportation -- and move quickly to reauthorize the six-year transportation law."

Categories: iceland, volcano, globalization

Australia's bogus 'people smuggling laws'

"The 'people smuggling laws' currently under scrutiny by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee are a brazen attempt to 'lock Australia's borders'.

"My submission to the inquiry is now readable and online here:

http://www.safecom.org.au/pdfs/senate-legcon-peoplesmuggling-bill2010.pdf

"The associated media release page is here:

http://www.safecom.org.au/smuggling-laws.htm

"I dare to hope you all read it - if only to see how our politicians use the excuse of Australia's ratification of the UN People Smuggling Protocol to manipulate legislation in Australia in the hope they can 'stop all the boats', and make criminals out of anyone who (even spuriously) can be painted as being connected to the arrival of any boat.

"Very best wishes,

"Jack" (Jack H Smit)

Categories: australia, refugee

My love affair with Dakota

Despite my official name (Philip, Greek: 'lover of horses') I'm not much of a horseman. But Dakota, the chestnut mare residing in a paddock in a laneway near my home, 'The Ponderosa', loves & trusts me. Now, ain't that something?!

Australian Constitutional Preamble

Oldie but goodie: an exclusive view of the Constitutional Draft Preamble, by Tim Ferguson:

We, the people of the broad, brown land of Oz, wish to be recognised as a free nation of blokes, sheilas and the occasional trannie.

We come from many lands (although a few too many of us come from New Zealand) and, although we live in the best little country in the world, we reserve the right to bitch and moan about it whenever we bloody like.

We are One Nation but we're divided into many States. First, there's Victoria, named after a queen who didn't believe in lesbians. Victoria is the realm of Mossimo turtlenecks, caffe latte and grand final day. Its capital is Melbourne, whose chief marketing pitch is that it's "livable".

Next, there's NSW. It is the realm of pastel shorts, macchiato with sugar, thin books read quickly and millions of dancing gay-boys. Its mascots are Bondi Lifesavers who pull their Speedos up their cracks to keep the left and right sides of their brains separate.

Down south we have Tasmania, a state based on the notion that the family that bonks together stays together. In Tassie, everyone gets an extra chromosome at conception. Maps of the state bring a smile to the sternest faces.

South Australia is the province of half-decent reds, a festival for foreigners and bizarre axe murders. They had the Grand Prix but lost it when the view of Adelaide sent the Formula One drivers to sleep at the wheel.

Western Australia is too far away from anywhere to be relevant in this document.

The Northern Territory is the read heart of our land. Outback plains, sheep stations, kangaroos, jackaroos, emus, Uluru and dusty kids with big smiles. Although the Territory is the centrepiece of our national culture, few of us live there and the rest prefer to fly over it on our way to Bali.

And there's Queensland. While any mention of God seems holy in a document defining a nation of half-arsed agnostics, it is worth noting that God probably made Queensland. Why he filled it with dickheads remains a mystery.

We, the Lullaby league of Oz, are united, primarily by the Pacific Highway, whose treacherous twists and turns kill more of us each year than die by murder.

We are united in our lust for international recognition, so desperate for praise we leap in joy when a ragtag gaggle of corrupt IOC officials tell us Sydney is better than Beijing. We are united by a democracy so flawed that a political party, albeit a redneck gun-toting one, can get a million votes and still not win one seat in Federal Parliament. Desirable, sure. But fair? Not when you consider Brian Harradine can get 24,000 votes and run the bloody country. Not that we're whingeing.

We've chucked out the concept of "fair go" in the downsized '90s. Instead, we want to make "no worries" our national phrase. We love sport so much our newsreaders can read the death toll from a sailing race and still tell us who's winning, in the same breath.

We treasure our politicians, who talk about listening with such persistence it's hard to get a word in. We tolerate our Prime Minister, who is not only short but a Methodist, hanging offences in decent countries. And we like watching Parliament on TV because Natasha Stott Despoya is a total spunkrat.

We, the wicked witches of the land of Oz, want to make it clear this continent is ours and always has been. Mind you, Liberal Party polling shows that there were some people here before Captian Cook so we should address the issue once and for all. While possesdion is nine-tenths of the law, our ancestors were fortunate enough to discover that genocide, cultural extinguishment, baby theft and flour poisoning make up the other tenth.

So Oz is now ours and that's that. Our midget Methodist master says we have no reason to feel sorry for killing more Aborigines per capita than the Nazis did Jews and Liberal Party polling says we're OK with that. Why don't we say sorry? In the words of our PM - because, because, because, because, because. Now can we just drop the whole thing before the Olympics start?

Phew, with that nasty bit out of the way, we the Brain, the Heart, and the Nerve of Oz, want the world to know we have the biggest rock, the tastiest pies and the worst dressed Olympians in the known universe. We don't know much about art but we know we hate the people who make it. We shoot, we vote.

We are girt by sea and pissed by lunchtime. And even though we might seem a racist, closed-minded, sports-obsessed little People, at least we're better than the Kiwis.

Now bugger off, we're sleeping.

Source: Late Night Live with thanx to Lynn FUX of Israel.

Categories: australia, humour, humor

Satchmo - What a Wonderful World

http://bit.ly/39b7rx YouTube - What a Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong

Crystals, seashells and planet destruction

I went to Bellingen Markets yesterday. There are still people there, and also in Bellingen shops, selling and buying crystals (brutally mined from Mother Earth with explosives, usually in poor countries), and seashells (taken live from the oceans, killing wildlife & helping to make them extinct) -- almost always for the vanity of many women and a few men.



Categories: environment, bellingen

Rhythms of the immune system

http://bit.ly/ayvcmF Rhythms of the immune system - Science Show - 17 April 2010: "A survey showed that tumours disappear completely in just 7% of patients when treated with chemotherapy. Did the time of administering chemotherapy have an effect? Daily blood measurements show fluctuation in inflammatory markers in the blood. A cycle emerged. It's now thought the immune system is being regulated, being switched on and off against the tumour. The periodicity is roughly 7 days. This matters, as hitting the immune system with chemicals when it isn't receptive might be ineffective."

Categories: science, radio-national, health, cancer

Iconoclastic Individualism - Henry David Thoreau (part 1)

http://bit.ly/Ox4GY YouTube - Iconoclastic Individualism - Henry David Thoreau (part 1)

'We've Got to Get Back to the Mother', by Drew Dellinger

I once was blind, but now I see
I understand that the planet is the source of me
Literally, just like a mom gives birth to a babe
Mother Earth's given birth to everything that's been made
Word to the Mother
Source of every other
Thing, every being, in the ring of creation
And every individual's a manifestation
Of the grace innate in this place, space and time
Expressing the blessing, caressing my mind
Holy Osmosis!
That's what the cosmos is
Boomin',
Universe,
Earth,
Human.
From the beginning
The spinning Universe possessed
A spiritual interior
Inside the manifest
Blessed with a blast from the past
Free at last
As the Big Bang
Rang, sprang, sang from the start, from the void
Like a joy from the heart of the dark
And the light's
The birthright of us all
You and
I are all
The fire ball
The higher call
Inspires all with a sense of place
Let us find the divine mind
Behind every face
I've just begun to recognise the whole
soul force
Word to the Mother
Word to the Source

We've gotta get back to the Mother
We've got to get back to the Earth
We've gotta get back to the Mother
We've got to get back to the Earth

Word to the Mother
So how dare we
Have the nerve to disturb
The planetary Source
The very force that brought us alive
If She ain't in effect
There ain't no way to survive
How can we see no wisdom
From the ecosystem
This industrialized phase craze to pave highways
Yikes!
50,000 toxic sites
Nuclear power plants
Constructed with haste
Without any clue
What to do with the waste
Radiation. Seeping deep in the nation
Losing patience
With corporations
And abusers
Grinnin' like their winnin' when we'll all be the losers
Ignore natural forces
Deplete our resources
No remorse, we're off course, hold your horses.
Mother may I
Try to say why
My society lost sight of the whole
As we try and we try till we die to control
The Earth dream that can never be tamed
That can never be sold and that can never be named
What's a shame and is lame is that we thought it was clever
To dam every river ever
Never-never land is at hand unless we see and rediscover
There ain't no other
It's absurd to have to say it:
But Word to the Mother

We've gotta get back to the Mother
We've got to get back to the Earth
We've gotta get back to the Mother
We've got to get back to the Earth

The story of the Mother as I reminisce
is enough to make this brother ecofeminist
How can we limit this limitless exponential
Growth potential. Economy is secondary
Earth's essential.
The Mother exists in every wave on the sea
Every bird in the sky and every leaf on the tree.
Community, unity, you and me, family
All of us children born from 4 billion years
Of the blood sweat and tears
of the Earth
We need to
let her be
Let her grow
Set her free, let her fly, let her flow, let her go
And unfold
The way the mother intended
Activities that damage the Earth must be suspended.
Listen cause we're missin' what the Mother's advice is
She'll help us deal with ecological crisis
She's mightier
Than Aphrodite or Isis
And twice as creative, illustrative of the point
When the Earth gives birth to the Now
Still We try to milk every sacred cow
We need to chill untill we see
That no creature is my enemy
They're all kin to me
Earth is the remedy
For the malady ...

Source

Categories: rainforest, activism, poetry, environment, deep-ecology

Ben Heine amazing artist

Check out Ben Heine at http://www.flickr.com/photos/benheine/4390592844/

Categories: art, flickr

Introducing the spiral didgeridoo

"Didgeridoos are such an amazing wind instrument able to produce such deep tones with rich timbre and unusual rhythm effects that thousands of people worldwide have mastered the circular breathing and become proficient in playing them. Nimbin's Sam Bernard was one such enthusiast. While he enjoyed playing traditional didges, he was frustrated by how heavy they are, and how difficult to transport. 'Have you ever tried getting on a plane with one?' he said. 'It goes in the hold, you can't take it on as cabin baggage.' So Sam started designing instruments that had the same tube length, but with the tube curled up, and the Spiralidoo was born. Sam has sourced a factory of timber craftsmen in Indonesia, skilled in the technology of carving half spirals from hardwood, which they then glue together. The finished products weigh less than 1.4 kg and fit neatly into a handy carry bag. They can be supplied oiled, or painted and varnished, or supplied with paints to add your own design. Different length spirals produce tones of different pitches, from C to G. They are increaaingly turning up on stage in the hands of serious didge musicians. Sam has a range of Spiralidoos available. Check the website http://www.spiralidoo.com"
Source: Nimbin Good Times, April 2010 edition

Categories: music, indigenous, nimbin, design

That's 'Slut' with a capital 'S'

At http://bit.ly/OgKmh is a very fine article, with interview, about Vanessa del Rio, a beautiful and liberated woman ... and an especially lovely colour drawing of her by my favourite cartoonist and modern artist, Robert Crumb (http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/aug30.html). Worth reading.

Categories: crumb, pornography, sex, sexuality, art

How many times does the letter 'F' appear in this sentence?

Finished files are the result of years of scientific study combined with the experience of years.

The Next Hundred Years

The Next Hundred Years: "Ever wondered what the world will look like as we enter the 22nd century? Will the US or China dominate? Not many of us will be around to experience it. Forecaster and geo-political analyst, and author of The Next Hundred Years, George Friedman, will let you know in advance what the world is in for. What sort of world will your kids and grandkids grow up in?"

YouTube - Russia, Poland and US Strategy

YouTube - Russia, Poland and US Strategy

Categories: poland, usa, russia, military, geopolitics

Kerry Thornley, founder of Discordianism

On April 17, 1938, was born Kerry Thornley (d. November 28, 1998), co-founder (along with childhood friend, Greg Hill) of the alternative religion known as Discordianism. In this context he is usually known as Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst, a name he derived from Omar Khayyám. He and Hill authored the religion's seminal sacred text, Principia Discordia, Or, How I Found Goddess, And What I Did To Her When I Found Her.

Thornley served in the same platoon as Lee Harvey Oswald in 1959, and, in 1961, wrote a book, The Idle Warriors (unpublished until after 1963; later reprinted as Oswald) with Oswald a key character featured under the fictional name of Johnny Shellburn – the only book in which Oswald appeared prior to President John Kennedy's assassination in 1963.

Jim Garrison, District Attorney of New Orleans from 1962 - '73, best known for his investigations into the assassination of JFK (as depicted in Oliver Stone's JFK movie), at one time formed a theory that Thornley was an Oswald-lookalike co-conspirator, and a CIA agent. In 1968, Garrison charged Thornley with perjury after Thornley's denial that he had been in contact with Oswald in any manner since 1959. The perjury charge was eventually dropped by Garrison's successor Harry Connick, Sr.

Thornley wrote of himself: "I was an extreme rightwing laissez-faire capitalist. I wanted John Kennedy assassinated and made no secret of it." Fellow Discordian, Robert Anton Wilson, said that Thornley was "just about" "the most paranoid man in America", but Wilson was open to the possibility that Thornley might have been Manchurian Candidated. Thornley came to believe that he had been a subject of the CIA's notorious LSD-soaked Project MKULTRA mind-control research program. Fnord.

According to Thornley's biographer, Adam Gorightly (The Prankster and the Conspiracy), Thornley coined the term 'paganism' to describe various Nature religions. This assertion is difficult to verify; however, the modern use of the terms 'pagan' and 'neopagan', as they are currently understood, is largely traced to Oberon Zell-Ravenheart, who, beginning in 1967 with the early issues of Green Egg magazine, used both terms for the growing movement ...

Today is 'BoomTime, Day 34 of Discord, YOLD 1276' in the Discordian Calendar



Categories: discordianism, assassination, jfk, jfk-assassination, biography

Poland: You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows

Those considering the recent 'accidental aircraft destruction' http://bit.ly/a18Yn0 of the 'leaders' of the political, military & religious elite of Poland might like to read http://bit.ly/b428A9. See also http://bit.ly/bRyYNO and http://bit.ly/a9RSbS. Poland is a new battleground for global supremacy, as Wilson's Almanac has been saying for months.

Categories: poland, usa, russia, imperialism

Condy & Christine had fun while 1,000s died

In the height of Katrina, US Sec. of State Condy Rice went shoe shopping http://bit.ly/JZ5p3. In Australia, 2009, on the day of our worst-ever natural disaster, http://bit.ly/om4CI, Police Commissioner Christine Nixon also had a lovely day http://bit.ly/cCJ32p when 173 people burnt to death, 414 were injured and 1.1 million acres, plus their wildlife & livestock, were burned.

Categories: australia, usa, natural-disaster, condoleezza, hurricane-katrina, bushfire

The Empire of Atlantium

In 1981, three Sydney teenagers created a micronation known as the Empire of Atlantium http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_Atlantium, and it still exists. Among the causes Atlantium supports are the right to unrestricted international freedom of movement, the right to abortion, the right to assisted suicide, and decimal calendar reform.

Categories: utopia, utopianism, activism, activist, suicide, abortion

Collateral Murder - Wikileaks - Iraq

YouTube - Collateral Murder - Wikileaks - Iraq: "Collateral Murder - Wikileaks - Iraq" http://bit.ly/a7Nw50

"Wikileaks has obtained and decrypted this previously unreleased video footage from a US Apache helicopter in 2007. It shows Reuters journalist Namir Noor-Eldeen, driver Saeed Chmagh, and several others as the Apache shoots and kills them in a public square in Eastern Baghdad. They are apparently assumed to be insurgents. After the initial shooting, an unarmed group of adults and children in a minivan arrives on the scene and attempts to transport the wounded. They are fired upon as well. The official statement on this incident initially listed all adults as insurgents and claimed the US military did not know how the deaths occurred. Wikileaks released this video with transcripts and a package of supporting documents on April 5th 2010 on http://collateralmurder.com"

Categories: iraq, war-on-terror, usa, disinfo, youtube, video, whistleblower

Americans lean on Australia over Net censorship

Americans lean on Australia: http://bit.ly/aCcCwP "IF THE UK ATTEMPTS to bring in an Internet filtering scheme similar to that being touted in Australia it might find itself being tapped on the shoulder by Uncle Sam.

"The Australian government has just had a visit from the American ambassador Jeff Bleich, who told the Rudd government that its plan to filter the Internet was not very nice.

"The Aussie politicians claim that they want to protect children from the dangers of the world wide web by filtering out content that good Aussie kids should not be interested in. However also on the hit list are websites displaying topics that the Aussie government does not want its citizens to think about ..."

Categories: internet, authoritarianism, australia, censorship, rudd

Social Fault Lines: The Disaster of Poverty in Haiti

Toward Freedom - Social Fault Lines: The Disaster of Poverty in Haiti: "Laura Wagner, a U.S. anthropologist who survived - barely - Haiti's earthquake in January, writes, 'Social scientists who study catastrophes say there are no natural disasters. In every calamity, it is inevitably the poor who suffer more, die more, and will continue to suffer and die after the cameras turn their gaze elsewhere. Do not be deceived by claims that everyone was affected equally -- fault lines are social as well as geological.'"
Thanx Lynn for the link http://bit.ly/9ciufe.

Categories: haiti, earthquake, natural-disaster, poverty

Humane or tough: a response to asylum seeker arrivals in Australia

Humane or tough: a response to asylum seeker arrivals in Australia: Audio and transcript http://bit.ly/dnDDWb "As more and more refugees arrive in Australian waters by boat, Rear Vision takes a look at the history of Australia's policies on asylum seekers, from the first boatload of Vietnamese back in 1976 through to today." See also 'New racist attacks on refugees' http://bit.ly/a9fs3F. Wilson's Blogmanac http://wilsonsalmanac.blogspot.com/ , founded on April 26, 2003, is dedicated to the 353 victims of Australia's shame, the SIEVX disaster http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/oct19.html , and casualties of poverty and authority worldwide.



Categories: refugee, human-rights, australia

Thunderbolt: Scourge of the Ranges

If you're interested in Robin Hood, Wild Bill Hickok, Ned Kelly, Jesse James, Billy the Kid, outlaws, stagecoach robberies & Colt 45s, this book's for you. I'm enjoying 'Thunderbolt: Scourge of the Ranges' http://bit.ly/d3EJyA, about Captain Thunderbolt (Frederick Ward; died 1870), notorious Australian bushranger http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/may25.html. A few connections: (1) about 4 years ago I picked up a hitchhiker named Ward, who claimed to be Thunderbolt's great-nephew and I was convinced that he was, by his family knowledge; (2) one theory is that Thunderbolt wasn't shot (it was his brother the police killed) but died in a retirement home in Stanmore, Sydney, in 1926, when my Dad was aged one -- and I was born near Stanmore; (3) I knew another descendant of Thunderbolt, a woman for whose sexual appetites was known in Thunderbolt country as 'Thunderbreach'; (4) Thunderbolt was the only person ever to escape the brutally harsh colonial prison of Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour, where my in-laws lived in the prison governor's residence, about 125 years after Ward escaped by swimming with a box over his head. I stayed in that mansion quite a few nights. The old Cockatoo Island sandstone prison is fascinating, and when I stayed there one could still see the tiny, cold cells, the remains of an old well, and the iron bands used to hold convicts when they were flogged.

See also Highwaymen, outlaws, bushrangers, pirates, gangsters, etc in the Book of Days http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/articles.html#baddies

Pictured: A photo I took of Thunderbolt's Rock one misty June, 2007, morning at Uralla, New South Wales, This was his hide-out.

Categories: book, crime, australia, legend, bushranger, sydney

The great native pet debate

From Background Briefing - April 11, 2010; http://bit.ly/b4qM0U - The great native pet debate: "Marsupial-loving reporter Ian Walker grew up wanting a pet like Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. Could encouraging more native mammals as pets be a canny new 'anti-extinction strategy'... or a future disaster to be cleaned up by the RSPCA? What happens when we apply market forces to the concept of extinction? The results may surprise you ..."

Listen now; transcript will be available in several days

Categories: australia, wildlife

Should artificial colours be banned?

From the full transcript at Ockham's Razor radio program http://bit.ly/aNg02J: "Whether or not artificial colours affect everyone is where some confusion occurs. A study done in the general population and recently published in The Lancet, a well-respected medial journal, reported that six artificial colours, and the preservative, benzoate, caused increased hyperactivity and attention problems in children. But, to make a long story short, it was shown that some children changed a lot, whereas others changed only a little. Overall the results were significant statistically, so they showed that reactions are certainly occurring. The most important result of that study was that it showed that children in the general population do react to these additives, showing changes in distractibility, impulsivity and restlessness. It is now known why some children change greatly and others not at all. This difference in response was also found by other researchers managing this complex question in the past. Some toxicological research has shown variation in the speed of metabolism of the suspect aromatic compounds in different individuals, just as there is variation in the rate that people metabolise other chemicals. This is often identified with regard to medications. Perhaps most children are able to metabolise the chemicals quickly enough not to suffer any adverse reactions to them."

Categories: health, science, allergy, children, food

An EXTRAORDINARY amount rotten in the state of Poland

For some months, various people have been staring at me with incredulity or drifting away in boredom when I've said that Poland, of all places, is one of the most important new battlegrounds between the USA (and thus the CIA) and Russia (KGB) in their struggle for geopolitical supremacy. This morning, the news: "POLISH LEADER, 96 OTHERS DEAD IN RUSSIA JET CRASH: Smolensk, Russia -- The crash of an aging Russian airliner ravaged the top levels of Poland's military, political and church elite Saturday, killing the Polish president and dozens of other dignitaries as they traveled to a ceremony commemorating a slaughter that has divided the two nations for seven decades.

"Poles wept before their televisions, lowered flags to half-staff and taped black ribbons in their windows after hearing that President Lech Kaczynski and the upper echelons of the establishment lay dead in woods a short drive from the site of the Katyn forest massacre, where 22,000 Polish officers were killed by Soviet secret police in one of Poland's greatest national traumas.

"Thousands of people, many in tears, placed candles and flowers at the presidential palace in central Warsaw. Many called the crash Poland's worst disaster since World War II.

"Twenty monks rang the Zygmunt bell at Krakow's Wawel Cathedral -- the burial spot of Polish kings -- a tolling reserved for times of profound importance or grief.

"The crash also shocked Russia. Sensing the depth of the tragedy for Poland, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin personally took charge of the investigation and very quickly and publicly offered condolences, along with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

"'On this difficult day the people of Russia stand with the Polish people," Medvedev said, according to the Kremlin press service ...'"
Source: Associated Press http://bit.ly/cDB1Qz



Categories: poland, russia, cia, disinfo, disinformation, assassination

While Americans count pennies, Exxon pays zero income taxes

While Americans count pennies, Exxon pays zero income taxes - Allison Kilkenny - Unreported - True/Slant

That particular feeling

I've had a tough day, and not easy. In fact, quite monumentally difficult. How can I explain? It kinda feels as if I had a remarkably bountiful patch of Phalaris aquatica ready for the harvest, and in the stealth of night some rascal ripped it up just for his own pleasure. And as if his mangy cur left a turd upon my doorstep (as someone's dog actually did last night). But there is always tomorrow, and I almost never have any problem with tomorrows, and I can even tolerate mongrels, up to a reasonable point. It's todays I generally find most challenging; but I think I do OK, under the circ's. I do bloody well, if truth be known. I do OK. I work very hard and almost always rest easy. Insomnia is not for me, but for others, and I feel for them. It must be awful.

For a long time I've considered that those who sleep easy must either have good consciences, or bad consciences. (Silly, really.) For all my many faults, I like to think I'm of the former variety. Let others be the judges.

I hope you sleep well, too. Until tomorrow, or whenever it might be, bright blessings from Wilson's Almanac http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/ and your almanackist, Pip.

Categories: happiness, entheogen

The Guantanamo Bay 'suicides'

The Guantanamo Bay 'suicides': Audio: listen to the full story at http://bit.ly/cOTWhH: "In 2006 three prisoners were found dead in Guantanamo Bay. The official story, according to the Pentagon, the military and the US Justice Department was that they had committed suicide. The real story, just emerging now, paints a much more troubling picture."

www.harpers.org/archive/2010/01/hbc-90006368

Categories: guantanamo, usa, torture, human-rights, civil-rights, war-on-terror, bush, rumsfeld, cia, suicide, crime

Opening lines of 'Song of Myself' by Walt Whitman

I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.

My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air,
Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same,
I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,
Hoping to cease not till death.

Creeds and schools in abeyance,
Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten,
I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,
Nature without check with original energy.

Houses and rooms are full of perfumes, the shelves are crowded with perfumes,
I breathe the fragrance myself and know it and like it,
The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it.

The atmosphere is not a perfume, it has no taste of the distillation, it is odorless,
It is for my mouth forever, I am in love with it,
I will go to the bank by the wood and become undisguised and naked,
I am mad for it to be in contact with me.

The smoke of my own breath,
Echoes, ripples, buzz'd whispers, love-root, silk-thread, crotch and vine,
My respiration and inspiration, the beating of my heart, the passing of blood and air through my lungs,
The sniff of green leaves and dry leaves, and of the shore and dark-color'd sea-rocks, and of hay in the barn,

The sound of the belch'd words of my voice loos'd to the eddies of the wind,
A few light kisses, a few embraces, a reaching around of arms,
The play of shine and shade on the trees as the supple boughs wag,
The delight alone or in the rush of the streets, or along the fields and hill-sides,
The feeling of health, the full-noon trill, the song of me rising from bed and meeting the sun.

Have you reckon'd a thousand acres much? have you reckon'd the earth much?
Have you practis'd so long to learn to read?
Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems?

Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of all poems ...
Source: Wikisource

Walt Whitman, 1819-1892, in Wilson's Almanac
See also: 'Walt Whitman Shall Not Sleep', by your almanackist

Categories: poetry, american-literature

New changes coming to Wilson's Almanac

Today after 9 yrs & 3 months, with Edition # 3,000 of WILSON'S ALMANAC FREE DAILY EZINE http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WilsonsAlmanac/message/3000 I've retired the DAILY Almanac. But it will take a new form I'm excited about. When polled, 2/3 of 3,579 daily readers said they would stick with 'The Almy' in its new form. Stay tuned.

Categories: almanac, calendar-customs, internet-resource

Easter Monday traditions & folklore

At my home town of Bellingen, NSW, Australia, it is an ancient Easter Monday custom (dating from a recent year) to put away the washing, microwave Good Friday's hot cross buns, make a cup of tea and write to one's friends abroad with tales of ancient folk customs ...

However, Australia is not the only country with a heart-warming sense of culture and community: thankfully there are other places of the world where Easter Monday is commemorated just as richly. Poland is one of these, and Dyngus Day is its Easter Monday. It is also called: Smigus, Smingus, Smyngus, Splash Monday, or Wet Monday (Mokry Poniedzialek or Lany Poniedzialek).



Poland's Dyngus, or Smigus, Day is said to hark back to the baptism of the founder of Polish Christianity, Prince Mieszko I (c. 935 - 992), and his entire court, on Easter Monday, 966. Dyngus is an ancient celebration which is still observed both in country villages and the big cities, with singing, pranks, visiting friends' houses, and the custom of dousing.

The custom of pouring water is an ancient spring rite of cleansing, purification, and fertility – at this time of year there are drenching customs enacted in Sri Lanka and Thailand during their respective New Year celebrations. In a Spring custom of pagan (pre-Christian Slavic) times, the Poles 'confronted' (dingen) Nature with their pouring of water and switching with pussy willows to purify themselves for the year ahead. The alternative name for the day comes from smiganie, meaning 'switching' ...

More at our Easter Monday page


Easter at Wilson's Almanac

Categories: calendar-customs, easter, new-year, poland, australia, sri-lanka, thailand, bellingen, water

Shocking Great Barrier Reef oil spill

"Queensland Premier Anna Bligh says she wants authorities to 'throw the book' at the owners of the Chinese coal ship that is spilling oil into the pristine waters around the Great Barrier Reef." Source :: The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres (1,600 mi) over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres (133,000 sq mi). The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland in northeast Australia. Source: Wikipedia

Pope Benedict XVI is welcome in my home

I don't understand it myself. Why do I like Pope Benedict XVI? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Benedict_XVI. Here in a half-rotten weatherboard house is 57-year-old, destitute, Aussie bioregional anarchist, Protestant-raised atheist Wilson, appalled by the sexual abuse of kids by priests and the complicity of the Catholic hierarchy, right up to the Vatican -- and there in a magnificent Roman palace is (de facto) multi-billionaire Bavarian 72-year-old, right-wing, Roman Catholic Ratzinger who  insufficiently admonishes his pederast vassals. We're obvious natural enemies.

But there's something, je ne sais quoi, about Mr Ratzinger, His Holiness the Pope, that I like, and he's welcome at my place for dinner any time, given a bit of notice so I can buy something to cook. Why do I like him? I don't fully understand. Would he like me? I have no idea. I like to think that perhaps after a couple of hours together, we would both be wiser men, and good mates for life. That's the kind of hairpin I am, I guess. Your Holiness, if you're reading this, you are very welcome to have dinner with me in my home, and, I trust, some interesting conversation.

Categories: conservative, anarchism, right-wing, christian, pope, christianity, progressive

Chummy Fleming & what he did for humanity

April 3, 1863, birth of Chummy Fleming (John Fleming; d. January 25, 1950), English-born (Derby) pioneer unionist, agitator for the unemployed, and anarchist in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He enjoyed a good relationship with the Governor-General, John Adrian Louis Hope, 7th Earl of Hopetoun, who lent him money to build a house, which Chummy duly called 'Hopetoun'.

'Chummy' (the nickname at the time meant 'English') Fleming was instrumental in starting May Day celebrations and marches in Melbourne, some of the first in the world. He was a member of the Melbourne Anarchist Club which formed on May 1, 1886, the first formal anarchist organization in Australia, and there became friends with Sam Rosa and the remarkable Jack Andrews. In 1899, he was elected to the Trades Hall Eight Hours Day committee and to the executive of Trades Hall Council. He was President of the Fitzroy Political Labor League, the forerunner to an Australian Labor Party branch. For more than fifty years, he was a regular speaker at the Queens Wharf and Yarra Bank speakers corners on Sundays. In 1889, Fleming helped form a Melbourne lodge of the Knights of Labor in Melbourne.

From 1901, an interesting friendship developed between Chummy Fleming and Lord Hopetoun, Australia's first Governor-General. In May 1901, Fleming protested unemployment in Melbourne by rushing onto the Prince's Bridge to halt the Governor-General's carriage. Hopetoun told the police not to interfere and listened to Fleming put the case for the unemployed. Out of this encounter came a friendship which endured after Hopetoun returned to England in July 1902. While in Australia, he is said to have visited Chummy's house at 6 Argyle Place, Carlton, which was built with money he lent to Chummy, the house bearing the name 'Hopetoun' when completed (since demolished). According to some reports, Hopetoun is credited with pressuring the government to speed up government work projects.

Chummy and famous anarchists
In 1907, according to American anarchist Emma Goldman's autobiography, Living My Life, Chummy invited Goldman to tour Australia and had raised money for her fare ...



Categories: australia, australian-history, anarchism, labor-history, radical, socialism, history, biography

Nessun Dorma: Jeff Beck Live at the Bell Centre, Montreal - Feb 22/10

YouTube - Eric Clapton & Jeff Beck Live at the Bell Centre, Montreal - Feb 22/10 - Nessun Dorma

Resurrection stuff

Baz le Tuff writes: "My problem with the whole thing is that if you have a magic father who will raise you from the dead WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL!!!" Wilson responds: "I know. It's not like the son can take credit or anything. His old man fixed it for him. It's like when your dad bails you out of lock-up. You don't ponce around drying your nails in front of everyone and saying, 'Hey, sweeties, look at me! I just got out of priii-son, nyahh nyaah, out of prison free, just like in Monopolyyyyy.'"

Categories: easter, jesus, christianity

April Fools' Day origins & folklore

April Fools' Day (Noddy Day, Gowkie Day, Gowkin' Day), from http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/aprilfool.html

If this year's first day of April is like any other, you'll have to keep your guard against the practical jokes that others can play on you, much to your annoyance and their delight. But what are the origins of the strange cult of April Fools' Day?

There are a couple of explanations put forward by scholars to account for the trickery that takes place throughout much of the Western world on April 1.

One theory suggests that, because of the tradition of sending someone on 'a fool's errand', the practice might derive from the Biblical story in which Jesus Christ was sent uselessly back and forth between Annas, Caiphas, Pontius Pilate and King Herod, each of them not being able to resolve what to do with him.

Sending people on fools' errands has a long history. These days a teacher might send an unruly pupil to another teacher with the message, "Please give this boy a long weight". All that the lad gets, of course, is a long wait. Or else he might be sent to the Industrial Arts teacher for a "left-handed hammer". Either way, the joke's on the boy, who probably deserves it.

In merry olde England the errand was for a gullible person to be sent to the saddler's for a 'pen'orth (penny's worth) of salad oil'. In this ruse, the pun is between 'salad oil' and the French 'avoir de la salade', to be flogged. So the poor dupe got a beating for his innocent pains ...



Categories: calendar-customs