Last night as I lay dreaming of pleasant days gone by,
Me mind being' bent on rambling to Ireland I did fly,
I stepped aboard a vision and followed with my will,
Till next I came to anchor at the cross near Spancil Hill.
Delighted by the novelty, enchanted with the scene,
Where in my early boyhood where often I had been.
I thought I heard a murmur and I think I hear it still,
It's the little stream of water that flows down Spancil Hill.
It being the twenty-third of June, the day before the fair,
When Ireland's sons and daughters in crowds assembled there.
The young, the old, the brave and the bold, they came for sport and kill,
There were jovial conversations at the cross of Spancil Hill.
I paid a flying visit to my first and only love,
She's white as any lily and gentle as a dove.
She threw her arms around me, saying 'Johnny I love you still.'
She's Mag the farmer's daughter and the pride of Spancil Hill.
I dreamt I stooped and kissed her as in the days of yore
She said 'Johnny you're only joking, as many's the time before'
The cock crew in the morning, he crew both loud and shrill,
And I woke in California, many miles from Spancil Hill.
Sunday 30 November 2014
A Verse On Sunday
'And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.'
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was before John the Baptist, who came after John the Baptist, who is and always will be, has given of his fullness to those who believe.
It is a remarkable thought - that we have received of the fullness of God, of his completeness, his truth, his abundance.
God's love is overflowing. His love is free, unmerited, boundless. Such is the nature of grace, such is the nature of God.
For God's love is giving, selfless and sacrificial. It is the stuff of life. Each time we manipulate our fellows, each time we treat them as a human resource who exists to gratify our appetite, we deny a little of the divine Love.
It is in giving that we live, giving from the abundance that we receive from God, even when that abundance appears to us to be a 'mite'. There is always something we may give, be it ever so small, be it no more than a smile.
We receive so much from the Lord it is good to remember and to be thankful, even when those good times have ended in, perhaps, a sad and terrible way. To be thankful, to smile, to bless, are far far from easy, but it is in giving that we receive.
It is in giving, without the expectation of earthly reward, that we are truly alive.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was before John the Baptist, who came after John the Baptist, who is and always will be, has given of his fullness to those who believe.
It is a remarkable thought - that we have received of the fullness of God, of his completeness, his truth, his abundance.
God's love is overflowing. His love is free, unmerited, boundless. Such is the nature of grace, such is the nature of God.
For God's love is giving, selfless and sacrificial. It is the stuff of life. Each time we manipulate our fellows, each time we treat them as a human resource who exists to gratify our appetite, we deny a little of the divine Love.
It is in giving that we live, giving from the abundance that we receive from God, even when that abundance appears to us to be a 'mite'. There is always something we may give, be it ever so small, be it no more than a smile.
We receive so much from the Lord it is good to remember and to be thankful, even when those good times have ended in, perhaps, a sad and terrible way. To be thankful, to smile, to bless, are far far from easy, but it is in giving that we receive.
It is in giving, without the expectation of earthly reward, that we are truly alive.
Saturday 29 November 2014
The Bankers Are Not To Blame
Whilst having lunch with members of my Spanish group, educated, more prosperous people than I, not all working in the state sector, I heard again the view expressed that the bankers are to blame for the financial mess in the Western world, and all the consequences that flow from it. The people who express this view are the same who like to blame Mrs. Thatcher too, for many of our ills.
The main gripe is that the banks were bailed out by the government here in the United Kingdom. Too big to fail, it is said. Fury, resentment - the financial crisis brought on by criminal bankers, who puzzlingly were bailed out by 'our' politicians. No doubt there was corruption, cronyism etc, etc.
Gordon Brown famously announced that he had abolished boom and bust, and sadly many people believe him, blaming criminals for ejecting us from the very Eden created by Gordon the Good.
In reality, the story is a little different. There may well have been skulduggery, and the ethics of the financial markets and, indeed, society itself may have nose dived in the past century, and no doubt the regulatory system was open to abuse.
However, the underlying cause is simply a normal business cycle. Capital moves into unproductive areas, e.g. housing or tulips, - a bubble is created, a crash ensues and capital is reallocated - 'real' capital survives, 'ficticious' capital is pared or eliminated.
I had to agree with my liberal friends that the banks should have been allowed to fail. But they had not thought through the consequences, nor thought through, in a rigourous, non conspiratorial way the reasons for the bail out.
The consequence of allowing the banks to fail would have been high interest rates. Lending would still have been available for small and medium businesses, house prices would have crashed to an affordable level, causing pain to existing mortgage holders, and the after a year or two the adjustment would have been accomplished and 'real' growth would have resumed.
However, this did not happen, because there was one beast simply too big to fail - the government. The government was - and is now even more - in debt. High interest rates would have caused a government default. It would have been the end of the New Labour social and political revolution, a revolution created by indebtedness, and maintained by indebtedness by the New Conservatives.
Without the bailout, millions of parasites, the very people who blame the bankers, would have lost their incomes and their pensions.
To maintain their privilege it was necessary for the bureaucrats to keep interest rates low and to bleed the productive population over a period of years. Labour costs of the subject population are to be kept as low as possible. The third world is imported to drive down wages and to do the dirty jobs - nothing benevolent about that.
No, the bailout, the continued financial crisis has nothing to do the normal economic cycle, little to do with the wicked bankers. What turned a downturn into a catastrophe was the government and the political imperative of saving the Welfare Warfare state.
The main gripe is that the banks were bailed out by the government here in the United Kingdom. Too big to fail, it is said. Fury, resentment - the financial crisis brought on by criminal bankers, who puzzlingly were bailed out by 'our' politicians. No doubt there was corruption, cronyism etc, etc.
Gordon Brown famously announced that he had abolished boom and bust, and sadly many people believe him, blaming criminals for ejecting us from the very Eden created by Gordon the Good.
In reality, the story is a little different. There may well have been skulduggery, and the ethics of the financial markets and, indeed, society itself may have nose dived in the past century, and no doubt the regulatory system was open to abuse.
However, the underlying cause is simply a normal business cycle. Capital moves into unproductive areas, e.g. housing or tulips, - a bubble is created, a crash ensues and capital is reallocated - 'real' capital survives, 'ficticious' capital is pared or eliminated.
I had to agree with my liberal friends that the banks should have been allowed to fail. But they had not thought through the consequences, nor thought through, in a rigourous, non conspiratorial way the reasons for the bail out.
The consequence of allowing the banks to fail would have been high interest rates. Lending would still have been available for small and medium businesses, house prices would have crashed to an affordable level, causing pain to existing mortgage holders, and the after a year or two the adjustment would have been accomplished and 'real' growth would have resumed.
However, this did not happen, because there was one beast simply too big to fail - the government. The government was - and is now even more - in debt. High interest rates would have caused a government default. It would have been the end of the New Labour social and political revolution, a revolution created by indebtedness, and maintained by indebtedness by the New Conservatives.
Without the bailout, millions of parasites, the very people who blame the bankers, would have lost their incomes and their pensions.
To maintain their privilege it was necessary for the bureaucrats to keep interest rates low and to bleed the productive population over a period of years. Labour costs of the subject population are to be kept as low as possible. The third world is imported to drive down wages and to do the dirty jobs - nothing benevolent about that.
No, the bailout, the continued financial crisis has nothing to do the normal economic cycle, little to do with the wicked bankers. What turned a downturn into a catastrophe was the government and the political imperative of saving the Welfare Warfare state.
Thursday 27 November 2014
Bigot Of The Day - Ridley Scott
Today, the very first Bigot of the Day, is honoured by the famous film director Ridley Scott.
Mr. Scott has been making a film all about Moses, and the main characters are catagorized as being 'white.'
This may not come as too big a surprise to some of us, as the film is being made in North America and the other major market is likely to be the European colonies, areas with a large pinky pale population.
The audience generally likes to identify with the heroes portrayed in films, as they similarly like to identify with sportsmen. We like to think that heroes are sort of like us, could even be us at a stretch of the imagination, which is why few kids identify with Wayne Rooney.
I suppose that were the film made in Bollywood the main actors would be South Asian and were it made in Nollywood the main actors would be African. Should I be offended were that the case? I think not.
Apparently Mr. Scott does include some darkish brown characters - as servants and thieves! Since American prisons are choc-a-bloc with darkish brown people and 'black' people continue to clean the toilets of the 'white' folk, then I must assume that Mr. Scott is just reflecting the reality of Equality.
Mr. Scott has been making a film all about Moses, and the main characters are catagorized as being 'white.'
This may not come as too big a surprise to some of us, as the film is being made in North America and the other major market is likely to be the European colonies, areas with a large pinky pale population.
The audience generally likes to identify with the heroes portrayed in films, as they similarly like to identify with sportsmen. We like to think that heroes are sort of like us, could even be us at a stretch of the imagination, which is why few kids identify with Wayne Rooney.
I suppose that were the film made in Bollywood the main actors would be South Asian and were it made in Nollywood the main actors would be African. Should I be offended were that the case? I think not.
Apparently Mr. Scott does include some darkish brown characters - as servants and thieves! Since American prisons are choc-a-bloc with darkish brown people and 'black' people continue to clean the toilets of the 'white' folk, then I must assume that Mr. Scott is just reflecting the reality of Equality.
Wednesday 26 November 2014
Spanish Lessons - Feeling Awkward
I've been having a few Spanish lessons at the Instituto Cervantes, and when I go there I feel like I'm entering enemy territory. This isn't because of the Spanish people, who are fine, if generally lacking a little style. It's something to do with the Instituto itself and something to do with the pupils, who are mainly retired bureaucrats, at least in the morning classes.
The Instituto itself is well into Equality, as is the political establishment in Spain. The library has an LGTB section, needless to say.
Pupils and staff sing from the same statist hymn book. I get particularly irritated when rich functionaries tell you that zoos are cruel to animals or that going out socialising may not be good for your health.
Frankly, most of them are moralistic, scrounging Fascists. Of course, they go camping and hiking, they love to travel, the whole world is their spectacle, belonging as they do to the resentful, hateful, middle. Their own pensions are well protected, you can be sure.
Meanwhile, the workers keep on working.
For all the Equality there aren't many 'workers' taking Spanish classes. There are, you see, different kinds of equality.
It's really not very much fun. They are the same sort of people you see in the Church of England or on a Gender Studies course -bigoted, prejudiced, condemning.
It's not very much fun, having to be earnestly hateful, I'm sure, and its hard to laugh when you are double checking for offensiveness.
Strangely enough, I never see any 'black' people there, except for the two women who clean the white folks' toilets. But that is the wonder of Equality.
The Instituto itself is well into Equality, as is the political establishment in Spain. The library has an LGTB section, needless to say.
Pupils and staff sing from the same statist hymn book. I get particularly irritated when rich functionaries tell you that zoos are cruel to animals or that going out socialising may not be good for your health.
Frankly, most of them are moralistic, scrounging Fascists. Of course, they go camping and hiking, they love to travel, the whole world is their spectacle, belonging as they do to the resentful, hateful, middle. Their own pensions are well protected, you can be sure.
Meanwhile, the workers keep on working.
For all the Equality there aren't many 'workers' taking Spanish classes. There are, you see, different kinds of equality.
It's really not very much fun. They are the same sort of people you see in the Church of England or on a Gender Studies course -bigoted, prejudiced, condemning.
It's not very much fun, having to be earnestly hateful, I'm sure, and its hard to laugh when you are double checking for offensiveness.
Strangely enough, I never see any 'black' people there, except for the two women who clean the white folks' toilets. But that is the wonder of Equality.
Tuesday 25 November 2014
Official - Women Are Inferior
I have always thought that women were equal to men in the sight of the Law and the sight of God, but according to Ruling Party I am wrong. I am a little bit afraid, of course, because disagreeing with the Orthodoxy can get you into trouble.
Perhaps I've had a sheltered life, but most of the women I know are strong characters who instinctively know how to dominate creatures larger and more stupid than them, be they horses, dogs or men. As for men, I have met a few peasants who have bought into the bourgeois glorification of violence, but they are a small minority. Most guys just want a pleasant life, a bit of love, some money in their pocket, some children they can be proud of. Maybe they want to achieve, but most of them are not competitive, except for fun. Certainly they do not compete in the back stabbing bureaucratic way, scrambling up the ladder of the hierarchy, kicking away the dead you leave behind. No, violence is almost exclusively the domain of those who have been corrupted by giving and receiving orders.
Yet, those bureaucrats who fear the free peasantry, try to transfer their own guilt upon our heads.
There is to be a new law about domestic violence. Why there should be any laws on domestic violence beats me. After all, if one human being attacks another it is a crime. Often, if it an isolated incident, when tempers are inflamed, it can be sorted out, but should the violence be systematic or serious, then the village needs to step in.
These days our violence has been expropriated by the State, and it is the State that acts against the wrongdoer. The State acts in its function as a protection racket.
The new domestic violence law is being brought in to outlaw 'psychological' and 'emotional' abuse. Does that mean that I can have Revoltina arrested for telling me I'm sick, or sneering at me in front of my friends, or for spending all our money on fags and booze?
No, of course not! I am a man, so I am a criminal, not a victim. Revoltina is a victim, not a criminal. According to the Law she is precious, fragile, hopeless and helpless, who has moved from her father's protection to her husband's protection and now is protected by the State. She might sneer at me, but she must love, honour and obey Caesar all her life. Never, ever will she be a grown up. She is just a silly little thing fit for menial work and shopping. Should she forget the morning after pill, the school and the social worker will help her bring up the fruit of her lust.
Yes, from now on, having given up patrolling the streets, Plod will be patrolling your bedroom. He will be watching in case you you are ungallant, he will listen sympathetically if she wants you removed from the marital home. How can such a law possibly be policed? Cameras and sound recorders in every room? It's coming your way soon.
Perhaps I've had a sheltered life, but most of the women I know are strong characters who instinctively know how to dominate creatures larger and more stupid than them, be they horses, dogs or men. As for men, I have met a few peasants who have bought into the bourgeois glorification of violence, but they are a small minority. Most guys just want a pleasant life, a bit of love, some money in their pocket, some children they can be proud of. Maybe they want to achieve, but most of them are not competitive, except for fun. Certainly they do not compete in the back stabbing bureaucratic way, scrambling up the ladder of the hierarchy, kicking away the dead you leave behind. No, violence is almost exclusively the domain of those who have been corrupted by giving and receiving orders.
Yet, those bureaucrats who fear the free peasantry, try to transfer their own guilt upon our heads.
There is to be a new law about domestic violence. Why there should be any laws on domestic violence beats me. After all, if one human being attacks another it is a crime. Often, if it an isolated incident, when tempers are inflamed, it can be sorted out, but should the violence be systematic or serious, then the village needs to step in.
These days our violence has been expropriated by the State, and it is the State that acts against the wrongdoer. The State acts in its function as a protection racket.
The new domestic violence law is being brought in to outlaw 'psychological' and 'emotional' abuse. Does that mean that I can have Revoltina arrested for telling me I'm sick, or sneering at me in front of my friends, or for spending all our money on fags and booze?
No, of course not! I am a man, so I am a criminal, not a victim. Revoltina is a victim, not a criminal. According to the Law she is precious, fragile, hopeless and helpless, who has moved from her father's protection to her husband's protection and now is protected by the State. She might sneer at me, but she must love, honour and obey Caesar all her life. Never, ever will she be a grown up. She is just a silly little thing fit for menial work and shopping. Should she forget the morning after pill, the school and the social worker will help her bring up the fruit of her lust.
Yes, from now on, having given up patrolling the streets, Plod will be patrolling your bedroom. He will be watching in case you you are ungallant, he will listen sympathetically if she wants you removed from the marital home. How can such a law possibly be policed? Cameras and sound recorders in every room? It's coming your way soon.
Monday 24 November 2014
A Flexible Minimum Income
I was reading an interview with Pablo Iglesias, the 'caudillo' of the Spanish political group Podemos, which means We Can, in which he was talking about a minimum and a maximum income set by the State. Apart from the obvious flaws that more State means more bureaucracy, more police, more prisons, the idea was interesting in that Iglesias called for a flexible minimum wage. To the elderly this might suggest a return to Rationing. The minimum wage would vary according to how you were catagorized, and thus how worthy you were considered by the Powerful. Perhaps there would be no need for prison - they could just starve you instead.
Iglesias explained that, for instance, a young man of twenty would not get so much money as a woman responsible for three other people. The idea of this poor burdened woman interested me. There was no man to share her burden, no indication who these three dependents might be. I suspect one might be a sort of sperm donor or entertainer. Here we have, I thought, the new Totalitarian Family under the tutelage of the State.
Stage One - the traditional Christian peasant family - men and women help each other, caring for the young and the old, each with some responsibility, a reliance of mutual support and the free gift of time and money.
Stage Two - the Liberal/Progressive/Jacobin family with a Paterfamilias in direct hierarchical descent from the Nation State. God is replaced by the government, service replaced by domination. The father, who has probably performed military service or been brutalized by school, lords it over his wife and family.
Stage Three - the Totalitarian Family under direct surveillance of the State. No autonomous action is allowed. All personal and social actions are regulated. The paterfamilias is dispensed with, left to cruise gambling and pornography sites, a semi criminal figure, stewing in the shadows of his bedsit. All morals, all finances, are under State control. Men and women are isolated. There is no love, no service, no giving - no life as our ancestors would have understood it - only loneliness, depression and self-pity.
Iglesias explained that, for instance, a young man of twenty would not get so much money as a woman responsible for three other people. The idea of this poor burdened woman interested me. There was no man to share her burden, no indication who these three dependents might be. I suspect one might be a sort of sperm donor or entertainer. Here we have, I thought, the new Totalitarian Family under the tutelage of the State.
Stage One - the traditional Christian peasant family - men and women help each other, caring for the young and the old, each with some responsibility, a reliance of mutual support and the free gift of time and money.
Stage Two - the Liberal/Progressive/Jacobin family with a Paterfamilias in direct hierarchical descent from the Nation State. God is replaced by the government, service replaced by domination. The father, who has probably performed military service or been brutalized by school, lords it over his wife and family.
Stage Three - the Totalitarian Family under direct surveillance of the State. No autonomous action is allowed. All personal and social actions are regulated. The paterfamilias is dispensed with, left to cruise gambling and pornography sites, a semi criminal figure, stewing in the shadows of his bedsit. All morals, all finances, are under State control. Men and women are isolated. There is no love, no service, no giving - no life as our ancestors would have understood it - only loneliness, depression and self-pity.
Sunday 23 November 2014
The Ould Orange Flute
In the County Tyrone near the town of Dungannon,
Where many's a ruction myself had a hand in,
Bob Williamson lived a weaver by trade,
And as all of us thought him a stout Orange Blade,
On the twelfth of July as it yearly did come,
Bob played on the flute to the sound of the drum,
You may talk of your harp, your piano or lute,
But there's nothing could sound like the ould Orange flute.
But this treacherous scoundrel, he took us all in,
For he married a Papish named Bridget McGinn,
Turned Popish himself and forsook the oul' cause
That gave us our freedom, religion and laws,
The boys in the town land made some noise upon it,
And Bob had to fly to the Province of Connaught;
He fled with his wife, and his fixings to boot,
And along with all others the ould orange flute.
At Mass every Sunday to atone for his past deeds,
He said Paters and Aves and counted his glass beads.
Till after some time, at the Priest's own desire,
He went with his ould flute to play in the choir.
He went with his ould flute to play in the Mass,
And the instrument shivered and sighed and said, 'Oh, alas'
As he blew it and fingered it made a strange noise,
For the flute would play only 'The Protestant Boys.'
Bob started and jumped and he got in a splutter,
And he threw his ould flute in the blessed holy water,
For he thought that this charm would bring some other sound,
When he played it again it played 'Croppies lie down,'
And all he could whistle and finger and blow
To play Popish music, he found it no go;
'Kick the Pope' and 'Boyne Water' and such like 'twould sound,
But one Popish squeak in it could not be found.
At the Council of Priests which was held the next day,
They decided to banish the ould flute away,
For they couldn't knock heresy out of its head,
So they bought Bob another to play in its stead,
So the flute was condemned and its fate was pathetic,
It was fastened and burned at the stake as heretic,
As the flames rose around it they heard a strange noise,
'Twas the ould flute still whistling 'The Protestant Boys'.
Where many's a ruction myself had a hand in,
Bob Williamson lived a weaver by trade,
And as all of us thought him a stout Orange Blade,
On the twelfth of July as it yearly did come,
Bob played on the flute to the sound of the drum,
You may talk of your harp, your piano or lute,
But there's nothing could sound like the ould Orange flute.
But this treacherous scoundrel, he took us all in,
For he married a Papish named Bridget McGinn,
Turned Popish himself and forsook the oul' cause
That gave us our freedom, religion and laws,
The boys in the town land made some noise upon it,
And Bob had to fly to the Province of Connaught;
He fled with his wife, and his fixings to boot,
And along with all others the ould orange flute.
At Mass every Sunday to atone for his past deeds,
He said Paters and Aves and counted his glass beads.
Till after some time, at the Priest's own desire,
He went with his ould flute to play in the choir.
He went with his ould flute to play in the Mass,
And the instrument shivered and sighed and said, 'Oh, alas'
As he blew it and fingered it made a strange noise,
For the flute would play only 'The Protestant Boys.'
Bob started and jumped and he got in a splutter,
And he threw his ould flute in the blessed holy water,
For he thought that this charm would bring some other sound,
When he played it again it played 'Croppies lie down,'
And all he could whistle and finger and blow
To play Popish music, he found it no go;
'Kick the Pope' and 'Boyne Water' and such like 'twould sound,
But one Popish squeak in it could not be found.
At the Council of Priests which was held the next day,
They decided to banish the ould flute away,
For they couldn't knock heresy out of its head,
So they bought Bob another to play in its stead,
So the flute was condemned and its fate was pathetic,
It was fastened and burned at the stake as heretic,
As the flames rose around it they heard a strange noise,
'Twas the ould flute still whistling 'The Protestant Boys'.
Saturday 22 November 2014
A Verse On Sunday
John 1.15
'John bare witness of him and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spoke, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.'
John the Baptist was clearly a well known local prophet, whilst Jesus was still little known. When it was time for his ministry, Jesus was proclaimed by John the Baptist.
What was so important about the baptism administered by John?
Before we can receive forgiveness we need to repent. Before we can see our Redeemer we need to acknowledge our slavery to sin.
When talking to non Christians, behind all the guff of fairy tales and misconceptions is an unwillingness to admit fault, to acknowledge servitude to sin. They like to think they are 'good', or at least more good than bad. Even Christians often refuse to admit their inherent bent towards sin, and seem to think they start with a clean slate and just made a few wrong choices. Yet this smugness about one's own virtue means that when things go wrong, then the only ones to blame are the Other. Down this road lies dictatorship, torture, death camps - the principalities of this world.
Before we can know Our Lord as our Saviour we need to repent of our sin. John the Baptist was washing away the sins of his followers in preparation for the coming of the Lamb of God, and the Kingdom of Heaven, when a free people, free from sin and superstition, united in love, not domination, revering God, receiving his unending love, would receive grace after grace, and live fully, eternally, in God's presence.
'John bare witness of him and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spoke, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.'
John the Baptist was clearly a well known local prophet, whilst Jesus was still little known. When it was time for his ministry, Jesus was proclaimed by John the Baptist.
What was so important about the baptism administered by John?
Before we can receive forgiveness we need to repent. Before we can see our Redeemer we need to acknowledge our slavery to sin.
When talking to non Christians, behind all the guff of fairy tales and misconceptions is an unwillingness to admit fault, to acknowledge servitude to sin. They like to think they are 'good', or at least more good than bad. Even Christians often refuse to admit their inherent bent towards sin, and seem to think they start with a clean slate and just made a few wrong choices. Yet this smugness about one's own virtue means that when things go wrong, then the only ones to blame are the Other. Down this road lies dictatorship, torture, death camps - the principalities of this world.
Before we can know Our Lord as our Saviour we need to repent of our sin. John the Baptist was washing away the sins of his followers in preparation for the coming of the Lamb of God, and the Kingdom of Heaven, when a free people, free from sin and superstition, united in love, not domination, revering God, receiving his unending love, would receive grace after grace, and live fully, eternally, in God's presence.
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