Monday 29 October 2018
We are a motley crew.I recall when I was a bus driver in Sydney in...1978. I'd open up the doors and welcome people aboard the 190 from Wynyard to Palm Beach and most folk seemed to like that, until some guy one afternoon didn't like it and hit me in the face with a claw-hammer. Its a funny world. We are a motley crew. I was discussing 'empathy' with a young nurse tonight and she said she had problems with having empathy for people who were addicted to Ice, alcohol, or anything else. I acknowledged that empathy is a bit like harmony. Harmony is a worthy goal...as is empathy. The notions spring forth naturally from our emotions and need to be honoured. Empathy is very creative. Emotions create reason. Without emotions, there is no human reason. The other day at work a patient who is always worried about something and tends to break into every conversation or anything I'm doing with anyone else, and I was very busy with someone who was pretty-very crook... anyway, she couldn't wait and so burst into the conversation with..."I'm going to..." then she looked into my eyes...and paused...and then said "I'm just going to bugger off to my room for awhile." I believe she is beginning to appreciate the concept of empathy. Must be the goatee. Keep the faith. We are a motley crew from go to whoa.
Saturday 27 October 2018
have no problem with the youth of Australia. It is all about growing. Fortunately I was of a generation before them establishing that peace was the best outcome, and there haven't been any wars that we've been really involved with for a long time. That's a great thing. Mind you, we blew off a few billion dollars every year for the last ten buying weapons from the USA to drop on some poor villages in Syria, for sure...money that could have helped us and not destroyed them good people. Still...If kids grow up in peace they are most likely to expect peace as being normal rather than something to be anxious about as we were in those days. Life is better in peace. We need to choose our allies far better than we have. America never delivers, and is far too expensive. to ever have as a 'friend'. A friend doesn't do what America does.
I was always concerned that matters in Asia were controlled by America but with the rise of Trump and the departure of America from this area, I feel some hope. Asia is a matter for Asians, controlled totally by Asians. For this reason, I support Trump in letting go of Asia. Asia was always far too expensive to maintain, and just too far away for America. It was never part of America. Never will be, never can be. Asia is Asia. As the Chinese note...when you look at it...on the numbers...as the Chinese see it, China IS Asia, and I think this is true to the same extent that America IS Canada and Mexico, Central America, and most of South America etc...this is a reality. This is how things are. China IS Asia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia etc. That's really what China is...and China is doing well. It should be enough for America to wield power and might within its own borders, and through Canada, through Mexico and South America etc...that is enough. There needs to be no war or clash of minds or cultures etc. The USA is...America, fundamentally North and South. Asia is Asia, and... China is Asia. And, just yesterday, China and Japan came to some agreement that would have been impossible if America was a powerful country anymore in Asia. China and Japan...wow, these brothers have a lot to work out, and they will work it out a lot better left to themselves and the fate of each other. Even the one Korea is doing better now, North working with South, without America in it at all. This is a good thing. As for me, growing up in a Sydney suburb, working class, not many prospects, my dad being persecuted and unemployable because he was a catholic in Sydney in this days, anyway, I worked as a poetry editor for a decade from 1970 after a good catholic school education, before my publishing company well, we went broke with the new technology and sold out to a tobacco company, Benson & Hedges, and BP Oil, who bought us up to prove their credentials as ... socially aware... so they could acquire government grants...etc in the late 1970s and so... i did nursing/ I am sure it wasn't a good idea, but, at the time, it was an idea. I have liked some of it.
One Ireland.It is interesting to look at things over time. A 'solution' to Irish nationhood was to divide it into 2 states. It hasn't worked, but England didn't care at all about that, until now, and it has to face up to Brexit...now it cares. This is what the English are like. This is how they think. This is what they do. A progressive Europe is far better off free of that garbage. Ireland is one Ireland, pure and simple.
Well, now that the Australian Government lost the recent by-election in the jew-rich area of the east Suburbs of Sydney, they have canned the idea of Jerusalem becoming the site for the Australian Embassy. Who would have guessed that? All that enthusiasm...is instantly gone. Back to reality. That scam didn't work. Next one, Scomo? Attack the Unions. Blame the refugees. The usual suspects, now the jews, as a marketing reference point, didn't come to the party. Blame the Irish.
Well, now that the Australian Government lost the recent by-election in the jew-rich area of the east Suburbs of Sydney, they have canned the idea of Jerusalem becoming the site for the Australian Embassy. Who would have guessed that? All that enthusiasm...is gone. Back to reality. That scam didn't work. Next one?
Mens History of Hair based upon Baldness as the Dominant Gene: In the 70s and 80s it was the Comb-Over. In the 90s the shaven head became de rigeur. Following on into the 21st century, caps + goatees + the shaven head became the thing. It still is, in some places like cairns...goatee + cap...and driving a ute. That's the thing. In the mid 2018s etc you see the preponderance of narrow hipster brimmed hats on balding heads with beards in the 30+ year olds in real life, although, on tv, the toupee still coming in on every channel, with the rich, like Elton John and Trump and Sting etc, paying out millions for harvesting their genital hair to implant upon their heads. I remain with a full harvest of back hair that can be sold to anyone interested in real male beauty. I'm thinking of extensions and..blonde dreadlocks. Best to stop there and not begin to discuss what women do even though it is kind of obvious.
Thursday 18 October 2018
Tuesday 16 October 2018
The Australian Government is considering announcing that they define Jerusalem as the capital of Israel because there is a by-election next week in a very rich area of Sydney, and their hold on government depends on the "Jew Vote"....but the Government won't announce the defining of the new Jerusalem as the capital of Israel...if they see it this way, or not...until after the election...but they are really thinking about it. What can you say? Just something else about the Australian Government that I will have to forget. Ordered some pizza for dinner.
Sunday 14 October 2018
Small Tattoo of the Sun. I got this small benign skin cancer on a hot tropical Friday, riding the BMW K1100LT from Cairns to Rockhampton, about a 1200km journey, maybe around the year 2000. in the year 2000, she would have been about 12. I had trouble with family business at that time and just wanted to make sure that daughter knew I was caring and thinking about her....and I rode the bike down to make sure to make a connection with daughter who lived with her Mum in Rockhampton. I started about 6am and rode South for Cairns and pushed the bike up to around 200kph to make good time for awhile. I had fingerless leather gloves on and they were fastened by a press-stud but still left the top of the hand exposed. My right hand felt the heat and light and bite of the Western Queensland sun for about 6 hours. I arrived in Rockhampton around sunset, set up my small tent, had a shower, rode up to pick up daughter, take her to dinner and movies, drop her back off home, then I slept the night in the tent, then, early next morning, rode back to Cairns. I had to be back for work the next day. I did that. So, ever since, I have had this small tattoo of the sun on my right hand, and, in this way, I remember how it is to be a father.
ah, there it is.
Thursday 11 October 2018
the independent organisation Bellingcat seems to do a good job of investigating and discovering how many Russian spies are lurking around. You'd think this would actually be the job of various governments...unless those governments want to make a statement for the sake of celebrity and self importance, but dont actually have the data...so are happy that BellingCat makes it up for them. I'd like to see Bellingcat's list of donators.
As for the Australian Prime Minister, on TV every day now...3 hours coaching for 5 minutes air time, every day...rather than governing. Governing is quiet, thoughtful, and really hard. Governing is why the Australian PM is paid more than the US President...the job is to actually do the work...be quiet, be astute, head down. He is A ridiculous clown always saying 'Hey, look at me! I've made it!'. Scott Morrison is the Kim Kardashian of politics.
In terms of Peter Dutton, he has shown that, as a leader, that whenever wealthy friends ask him for his help, he will help them, whilst keeping unwealthy folk in cages on islands as a warning to others. He is, arguably, Australia's best advocate for helping wealthy white South African people in the whole world. He should get some award for that...after all, wealthy white South African pastoralists are just like him...and not like THEM. These are his Qualities as... a man.
advice of 65 year old mental health nurse to patients of various ages... well, the human condition never changes. when you get to a certain age you are wise to choose what you wish to change about yourself, if anything at all, rather than listening to the world. you are fine as you are anyway. for young people, well, attend to what is most important to your own development as a being. you have to work out what that is, for you. the great thing about not committing suicide, or of having silly failed attempts, is that, generically, as we age, especially beyond 50, is that we get happier. this is the story of humanity. there is nothing wrong with being happier. there is nothing wrong with doing the hard yards. that's what we all have always done. at the same time, respect those who choose to go. if you study grief, well, suicide matters in the heart and mind of those who remain after you for a year or so, then they will just grieve for you the same as if a car accident or a cancer took you from us. that's the truth of it. that's all we can do. respect.
TRUE TIME SAGA Today I have achieved the hitherto impossible and reset the time on my Casio G Shock watch to daylight saving time. This only took 3 hours of effort...last time it took about 40 hours of failed effort. I have a long history with the watch, buying it at Melbourne Airport a few years ago, en route home to Cairns, reading the 40 pages of instructions, and setting it up. Then, when we moved to Victoria, and when daylight saving came along, I couldn't change the hands by one hour no matter how many hours I spent trying. I took it to 2 watch shops and they couldn't do it either, so I posted it back to Japan, to Mr Cashio, who owns Casio, saying 'look, I don't want this watch anymore. I dont want a refund. I just am sick of it. Please think about what you make." Anyway, a nice letter from Casio Japan, and the time adjusted watch came back to me, with the usual 40 page booklet...so I have persisted with the watch. Last night, tooling around with it for a few hours, brought the watch up to current local time, although it is now 5 minutes fast and has 3 alarms that I have no control over....but that's good. That's fine. I can live with that. I can live 5 minutes into the future.
I think there is benefit in the notion of immigrants being required to live in provincial areas of Australia for, say, 5 years, as a condition of their journey to citizenship. What has to come with it is major infrastructure programs to develop the provinces at the same time. This would work. Take, for example, Tasmania, a big island with hardly anyone on it, and those who are there are giants, have two heads, and with a skill set that can only cut down trees...this would be a grand place to re-develop and make actually sustainable with migration and big money for infrastructure. This would work. A multi-cultural Tasmania. Give it ten years with a big focus on social and structural development, and they'd have a higher living standard and more diversity than anyone or anywhere else in the country. They may even choose to secede...and that, all in all, would be a good thing for Tasmanians.
Nauru: The concern I have with the Australian Government, and with particular luminaries like Scott Morrison and Peter, the bald guy, Dutton, is that they are proud of their achievement in locking up genuine refugees on remote off shore islands around Australia because this deliberate cruelty is a solution to the problem. We pay these Ministers a lot of money to be fairly bright and to work things out, generally, without cruelty as the best way forward for the country, and yet they remain proud of their policy of cruelty rather than having another notion about how to do things properly, legally, and compassionately. These are not bright nor hard working nor hard thinking politicians. These are cruel and racist men. These are little men and they make us a little and cruel people. The refugees, going crazy for years on these remote islands, deserve normal lives, as do we. The weak link in the paradigm is our government of little and proud racist men. We deserve better governance.
Wednesday 10 October 2018
From my palliative care end of life days over 30 years of noticing: the folks who had the most pleasant deaths were: Hare Krishna folk Catholic Alcoholic folk, usually men Moslems. and then the rest... Those who had the most horrible painful deaths were Evangelical Christians Mahayana Buddhists Vegans and then the rest... Interestingly, Hare Krishna and Vegans have the same diet, so I'd suggest that the meaning of life, at the end of life, in terms of rank human life suffering, has more to do with something other than diet.
Tibetan Liberation Front: What did the Chinese ever do for us? "Well, roads, bridges, trains, houses, jobs, education, a future for the kids, heat in winter, scholarships to world universities, peace, food, a future for non-religious kids, they stop the kids from setting themselves on fire, and we are not serfs anymore, and not slaves to a theocratic dynasty that locks up boys with celibate holy men instead of getting an education."
Sunday 7 October 2018
I know swearing is harsh, and I often don't like it at all, but at the same time, it can be meaningful or very funny...context and timing are most critical. Swearing and a comedic theme can go well together. Comedy is funny because it breaks some social law in some way. A man slips on a banana whereas he should have just been walking...pretty much all comedy is like that...something that shouldn't happen...happens. So I think pretty well all comedy comes about as some sort of insult to what is normal or acceptable or appropriate, whatever 'appropriate' means. I taught my children as best i could that swearing was for a few reasons: Either to indicate significant pain, shock, indignation or betrayal. Swearing in these contexts was a very good thing to do. Or, swearing was a way to improve comedy delivery. The Australian vernacular is rich with possibilities in this manner. The traditional saying 'every man and his dog were there' still, to me, is far more entertaining and meaningful when one says 'Every cunt and his dog were there'.It means the same thing, yet is just more fun and colourful to say. We should teach our children well. Imagine, if when reading the bible, instead of Pilate dismissing his wife's concern about having a threatening dream of Jesus the night before, instead of just dismissing her concerns, he had said "look, Cheryl, I acknowledge that you've had a bad dream, but, I just got home...just let me relax a bit. I received a bad scroll from Rome, the city is running out of wheat, and I've been dealing with the Jews all day...I've had a cunt of a day."
Thursday 4 October 2018
I'm not opposed to Donald Trump. If he can improve the lot of poor and working class Americans, then he will be a good President of that country. Obama, Bush, etc didn't do that because their focus was about the world with America as policeman. I agree with Trump that the world doesn't need a policeman, that the world is far better off without America as a Policeman or an influence. But America does need someone who delivers jobs to people in America. So far, he is doing that. That's his job. Americans voted for Trump, so his job is to meet their needs. It hasn't got anything to do with the World Order, international financial stability, NATO, or anything else. He has his elected term, see how he goes in that hard ground
Interestingly, the one fellow in China who foresaw the Western World Crash of 2008 in 2003, and helped China to avoid it, and thus jumped China 20 years ahead of all expectations, is now their Minister for Propaganda. He makes Coca Cola, the BBC, Google and Facebook look very amateur indeed...simply because they are real amateurs in the real world and don't really know what they are doing. The world has changed, and they missed it.
Once a year, in China, the mothers gather together and study the world gold price. When the gold price goes low, they arrange parties in Singapore and Hong Kong to catch up and talk about their husbands and the world. They arrive in hordes of thousands, they stay in nice hotels, buy everything made of gold at a low price, and take it home. This causes the world gold price to go up. Then, they sell. Women....
China, like India, like Korea, like japan, like Pakistan, produces very intensely bright human beings. If all universities on earth based their acceptance of students on the basis of their applicants on merit, on intellectual test results and real promise, then one third of every university on earth would be made up of North Asian women.
China: As it is, run by the Party, with only 80 million members of the Party...lifting 20 million people out of poverty every year for the last 20 years. That's 400 million people moving out of early death, ignorance, and poverty into the Middle Class, buying things, spending money on education for their kids in Europe and America...to know the world... That's the biggest dent in world poverty the world has ever known. That is better than the best achievements of any charity or medicines sans frontiers or any government actions etc on earth in the history of human kind. Mr Xi's Plan: Accelerate the process. That's the One Belt One Road Program. That's not a bad thing. We will just have to get used to being okay without wars.
3 Nazis i have met in my life. One: I parked my BMW K1100LT in the carpark outside the shopping centre and an old guy came up and started talking about the bike. He said they had changed a lot since the War. He said he was riding the Wermacht twin machine through L'Arc de Triomphe in Paris, he was one of the first wave of German Infantry to take Paris. It was a beautiful day. His machine gunner was in the sidecar, singing. He had stuffed fresh red roses in the barrel. The girls of Paris were so beautiful. He felt so...triumphant. He had a new full length black leather coat made to order. The world, for him, was a wonderful place that day. He said 'well, eventually, we lost, but I have never forgotten the joy of that day when I was 25. It was my birthday. The future was this wonderful possibility...My parents, my friends, my self, we were all so proud of me...times go by...anyway...you have a nice bike.' 2: Jacques, the 80 year old painter/artist. As a young man he was very interested in, and joined Hitler Youth and was very proud and happy. For the first time in his life, he felt respected. He was 16. When it came to being conscripted into the German Army, he got scared and ran away, not because he disagreed with Hitler, but because he was scared of the exercises and of eventually getting hurt. He had a low pain tolerance. So, at 20, he stole his parents money, and he ran from Germany, across Europe, across Africa, and Asia and ended up in Australia...learning and extending his painting skills in every place. He remains a very celebrated artist with his paintings doing well around the world, in galleries, etc. I asked him how he looked so young and fit, for a man of his age, and he replied 'well, I think it is because whenever I have been faced with a challenge, or any kind of personal responsibility, I have run away." 3: Mrs Myrtle: 100, having outlived all her enemies, living in a remote Australian hospital. She lived on a large pastoral property and by the age of 20 had shot to death 7 aborigines, including 3 kids, who had taken to living on her river's edge. Then she married well and lived a grand life, a true matriarch, surrounded by many tens of kids, twenties of grandkids, 30s of great grand kids... 'Mind you," she said "you wouldn't do that these days." I asked 'You wouldn't shoot people?" No, you wouldn't have so many kids, not these days.. Real people, real lives. Life is quite an interesting thing. I think everything is going to work out fine.
Wednesday 3 October 2018
Letter to Hon Peter Dutton Minister of Home Affairs Dear Mr Dutton As an Australian, I am saddened by the lack of commitment you have given to your role. Australia has a lot of problems yet all I have seen of your actions is various games to promote yourself and hurt anyone who requires your help. in this way you are, by your presence in parliament, adding to the problems Australians have. I believe you should resign from the Ministry, and from politics altogether, and do something else, for your own good, and for the good of the country. Yours sincerely John Fitzpatrick ..... just send a posted letter to the minister or the opposition leader of your choice...once a week. Every week. It works.
Oh, I finally remembered his name...Minister for Home Affairs and French Au Pairs...Peter Dutton! That's his name. His name eluded me for awhile there today...then I felt the vomit rising in the back of my throat, gulped, and his name, Peter Dutton, came out of my mouth. That's the bastard. Scomo's scrotum. A real Australian Statesman.
I recall when my Dad couldn't get a job in Sydney for many years and we lived in a tent that local protestants set fire to from time to time, with Mum my brothers and myself inside..because dad was Irish Catholic Refo Bog Rubbish. Still, Dad never took to drink or violence, never swore or hurt anyone, he just tried harder....I feel some compassion for those Iraqi refo men on Manus Island...but Australia doesn't change very much at all, at all. We are best at Fear and Exclusion and Cruelty rather than other human qualities. Dad was just damn lucky he was just a tyke, a celt, a fenian, not a kyke, nor a nigger, nor a spag, a wog, nor a chink, nor a nip, nor an eastern european rag picker, and very fortunate indeed that he wasn't brown, yellow, an abo, or a woman... Don't go singing "We are One but We are Many" Not yet by half.
Tuesday 2 October 2018
I used to think that Bill Shorten was kind of a shoe-in to be the next Australian Prime Minister as long as no one saw him, or heard him. But, he was on TV today for a minute and actually said a few good things. I'd prefer Penny Wong for PM because she is a very good bureaucrat rather than a populist politician, per se, but Bill would be ok. The great thing is, in the 2019 election is that Labor will most likely win. The comforting thing is that if they lose, they will dump Bill Shorten...so it's a kind of win-win thing.
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