To set the record straight, I do not dislike Americans – I dislike what they do. Many older Brits have an almost tribal memory of the transgressions American troops committed against their country after they came across [...]]]> I suppose it was inevitable that someone would ask this question – even if it was anonymously.

To set the record straight, I do not dislike Americans – I dislike what they do.

Many older Brits have an almost tribal memory of the transgressions American troops committed against their country after they came across to sell their help in WWII. The “over sexed, over paid and over here” description of the American troops became popular as soon as they started to buy the honour of British girls. In a time of deep rationing, it took American troops very little time to realise that they could treat a young British mother as a prostitute – the price being a piece of cheese, bacon or chocolate for her child(ren).

While many hard working men who were not able to go to war were earning the equivalent of $2 a week and their wives were having to cope with ration coupons for essentials, American troops had their own massive and seemingly endless supplies with which to taunt and tempt. This created the initial ill will between a war torn country and these troops who had finally been forced to take  a side.

What really set the seal on the relationship and made it uncomfortable on the “home” front, was the attitude that everything was “up for grabs”. There seemed to be no honour among the troops and no respect for the British. Although my own home town did not suffer massive bombing, home owners who were bombed out soon learned that it was not safe to let Americans join any rescue missions. Anything of value in a bombed building would disappear – especially if it was pocketable. I am told that in many cities the rescue services respectfully declined the help of Americans because they would disappear as soon as they had enough loot and leave the rescue services depleted.

I had always treated some of these stories with a measure of scepticism but having watched the TV series “Band of Brothers”, I have to accept that the stories I heard were true.

The reputation earned by the American troops was cast in stone as soon as Hollywood began their huge propaganda sweep and showed how America won the war almost single handedly. The fact that hundreds of thousands of allied troops and probably as many civilians had been fighting for more than three years was simply swept under the carpet of lies. The resistance movements in Europe were ignored or made to look like circus acts so that the American soldier could step in and resue the day. Only recently have some more honest representations of events been made.

The crowning glory of the American reputation was the way that they stormed into the peace process and added to the crippling defence costs of the British people. The British had to see their own bombed cities and destroyed factories given second place in the queue for reparation. The British actually had to pay to repair Germany before they could repair their own wounds so that America could “rescue” the inventors of the V1, V2 and V3 rockets and spirit them across the Atlantic to develop even more weapons of mass destruction.

I was born in a relatively small town in 1946 (Grimsby) and, as I said, it did not get heavily bombed. Because of the crippling costs of American help and German reparations, I was still playing in bombed houses eleven years after the end of the war – at the same time as most German cities were once again functioning and wealthy.

I do not dislike Americans but I deeply distrust them and resent that 66 years after the end of the war, my country, the sole point of resistance at the time America chose a side, has only recently finished paying for the “help” America sold us.

The mixture of socialising and Christian worship was very refreshing even though my own beliefs are often in conflict with Christianity.

While chatting on the patio after the service, a small cricket (grass hopper) landed [...]]]> I was invited to the Royal British Legion, Coín Branch, Remembrance Service on Friday 11th and really enjoyed the occasion.

The mixture of socialising and Christian worship was very refreshing even though my own beliefs are often in conflict with Christianity.

While chatting on the patio after the service, a small cricket (grass hopper) landed on the table near me and, with great difficulty, I managed to get a picture of it. I couldn’t see through the eye level view finder on my camera and the screen was useless in the bright sunshine.

Thinking about this little creature later, I found myself wondering what sort of an omen some of our ancesters might have seen in its arrival.

Crickets are, by nature, retiring and shy creatures (even if they do create a great din while calling for a mate) so landing in the middle of a gathering of many people could be seen as portentious.

Then it came to me. Crickets are relatively harmless until they find that there is a huge availability of food. At such times they undergo a change and become much more colourful and swarm in their millions – as locusts – devouring all vegetable matter that they can get their teeth into each time they land. They become a curse upon the face of the Earth until they have run out of stuff to eat and die off as rapidly as they arose.

There is another creature on earth that behaves llike this, although it could never be described as retiring and shy.

MAN!

Man adorns himself in colourful uniforms with splashes of colour and goes out upon the Earth to kill other men. Despite the sacrifices of two world wars, man has not learned the futility of killing off his best youth in a senseless quest for conquest that does not seem to succeed any more. In the period since the end of WWII, there seems to have been only one conflict that has resulted in a straight forward victory – the short, Falkland Islands War. All other conflicts have done nothing except cost lives and created markets for the major weapons manufacturers of the world.

War has become a business – a lethal advertisement for WMDs and anti-personel devices. None of the current conflicts have anything to do with democracy, freedom or the over-

Cricket or portent?

throw of tyrany, they are all to do with ensuring the survival of weapons manufacturers and the confiscation of the weaker party’s resources.

Maybe the little cricket was a message that the swarms of combatants is coming to the end of “easy” victims. Maybe it was trying to tell us that a radical move away from the murderous inclinations and lusts of some of our leaders is long overdue. Maybe it was a sign to anybody who cared to read it that mankind is at a tipping point and that his self destructive ways are about to bear fruit.

And there will be nobody to remember the dead!

Since losing my sight I have spent a lot of time listening to films. There is a fascinating conumdrum in that Hollywood seems to have been promoting a great truth and yet the lies from the Administration are more powerful.

The last film I heard (and partially was able to [...]]]> Originally posted to Kooiii

Since losing my sight I have spent a lot of time listening to films.

There is a fascinating conumdrum in that Hollywood seems to have been promoting a great truth and yet the lies from the Administration are more powerful.

The last film I heard (and partially was able to see) is the 2010 film “Fair game”.

This is a no holds barred presentation of the cynical manipulation of corrupt intelligernce in order to allow America to sacrifice hundreds of its best youth and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians on the altar of the vanity of G W Bush.

I have checked into the details provided by the film as far as is possible and can find no valid cotradiction of any of the story.

The CIA agent and her family whose stories are told in the film are still living in Santa Fe and, despite the lies and machinations of the Administration, has managed to re-build the lives that were so systematically destroyed by lies at the highest level.

It is to my great shame that the puppets in Westminster (UK) went along with the fabrication of evidence but at least, once British troops started dying in Iraq, the British people did quickly recognise the lies and tried to inject some spinal fortitude into their government but Blair and his cronies did not know truth from fiction (and still don’t).

Looking at the American prosecution of its war for terror, it seems that the American public prefers to believe that their troops are dying to protect them. They are cheering as troops go to Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and other trouble spots with no idea of why they are going or why they are dying.

This complacency of the American public and their belief that they are in imminent danger from terrorist attacks has allowed the military to become very powerful and made the USA the single most dangerous country in the world.

While oil is the usual catalyst for an American incursion, there are now suspicions that wars are being fought in order to keep the American munitions producers in business.

When is the American public going to wake up to the fact that their country is in financial trouble because of the greed for oil and the dedication of its tax dollars to overt terrorism?

Do they really think the massive deficit is caused by domestic programmes (you know, the ones that are being massively cut)? Do they not realise that supporting three invasions is an expensive proposition and that they have given a blank cheque to those who would destroy the world?

Britain is being dragged along on the skirts of the American war for terror because its government believes that there is something to gain – but when you are being led by brainless trough hogs, what can you expect?

America could have taken the world into a happy and productive era but chose, instead, to use terror against its own citizens so that it could terrorise the rest of the world.

Even the truth has no meaning any more.

That is very sad.

I'm so excited to be here

Although I was not certain that I wanted to fill the vaccuum left [...]]]>

I'm so excited to be here

Although I was not certain that I wanted to fill the vaccuum left by Scamp quite so quickly, I did realise that I would be in danger of spoiling Chap and turning him into a comfort blanket rather than allowing him to continue being his own dog.

Courtesy of Ricky Leach who has been a tower of strength to me over the past few months, I was able to visit the A. I. D. sanctuary today and look at the dogs there. Really, I should never, ever visit such a place because the idea of trying to choose from so many perfect souls is both daunting and distressing since they all deserve a chance to make someone happy

At five years of age, I am sure that Stanley will join Chap in helping to prolong my life so that I do not become the third of Stanley’s pets to die on him. It is so sad that many people who could give an older dog a good home will not do it. They fail to acknowledge the huge benefits of a wysiwyg dog. All virtues and vices are well established so there will be no shocks.

The image at the top of this post shows just how easily Stanley has settled in. Despite all my efforts, I have not been able to capture an image of him, alone, on his feet. The image at the bottom of this post is taken from a series in which we were all playing hide and seek – I managed to get Chap and Stanley in a single frame.

Whether it is a coincidence or not, my wife has recently adopted a small cat – called Stanley.

Stop cheating - where is it?

I was alarmed when she did not eat her evening meal but went straight to bed.

The most dangerous [...]]]> Have you noticed how the internet marketing crowd seem to be all on the same page? It seems that thinking for themselves is now seen (by them) as totally unnecessary.

It beggars belief that simple ideas have become the doctrinal bases for knee-jerk reactions to anything that is in any way challenging.

The most dangerous of all of these doctrines is the Guru infalibility doctrine of having a positive mental attitude.

The juvenile adherence to this doctrine by people who should, in normal circumstances, see right through it, is a foundation that is permeating the real world in a rather frightening manner.

How many of these PMA adherents really understand what PMA is? How many of them realise that it is an idea that was initially seen as a ‘throw away’ marketing ploy but which became the product instead of part of the message. PMA became the fount from which huge cash rewards flowed into the pockets of the gurus promoting it and writing books about it – AND YET, NOT ONE OF THEM COULD POSSIBLY HAVE FORSEEN THE HUGE DAMAGE THAT IT WOULD DO AND CONTINUES TO DO! 

PMA is now the most insidious acid burning away at the creative thought processes of far too many people. If we accept that there is such a thing as a positive mental attitude (and I certainly find it very hard to accept), where is the balance? How can anybody possibly go around all day being ‘positive’? The only way to be what the adherents of PMA say you should be, is to learn the art of self deception to such a degree that you can lie to yourself and BELIEVE YOUR OWN LIES! How sad is that?

Positive thought (as promoted by the gurus) is destructive. This type of positive thought tries to get you to con yourself into thinking that all is well with the world. Tell yourself often enough that all is well and you will believe it. Of course, once you have convinced yourself that all is well, you have no incentive or impulse to improve matters. According to the tenets of PMA, to consider that something can be improved is an impossiblilty because such a consideration is ‘negative’. PMA adherents are totally incapable of reason because reason necessitates a dictomeal view – an up side and a down side, if you wish. If you have denied yourself the ability to appreciate a down side, you have denied yourself the capacity for reason.

To see evidence of the unreasonableness of (far too) many people, simply read a few social site blogs. You will not see discussions or arguments, you will see a rabid pack of PMA acolytes pronouncing on the beauty of the subject while anybody with a slightly different view will be slated as a negative person and will suffer the sight of otherwise sensible people resorting to personal abuse because they have lost all power to refute an uncomfortable position.

There was a time when personal abuse was the final resort of those incapable of reason – it is now the first resort of those who kid themselves that they are positive. They are not positive – they are simply ignorant, but with an ignorance that they have probably worked hard to achieve.