Failed generation

Came across this the other day, if your under the age of 35 you should read it....

http://emach.wordpress.com/2007/05/11/the-baby-boomers-failed/#comment-541

the man talks alot of sense!

While the cat sleeps, the mice shall play.

Am I the only one NOT to be surprised by this latest MPs' Expenses bussiness? I mean when they toted it up on the BBC News, it came to roughly £134k. My reaction was shock, not of how much it was but of how little it was. This is a pittence it really is. The second and more horrifying shock was to watch the reaction of the British public both in the audience of the Question Time and in the interviews on the streets from a widespread of channels such as the BBC or Skynews. I mean, they were genuinely shocked at this happening. I am enraged and yet dispair at the same time. The dumming down of the peoples of the west has reached new levels. Maybe if they watched a little less Pop Idol and a few more newsfeeds, they would have a slight clue as to what is going on in the wider world around them. WAKE UP PEOPLE! This is called politics it effects everyone. including you! these people have been stealing your money for years. They are not to blame, they are only doing what we all would do if we could get away with it. They are doing exactly what you, the public, have allowed them toi get away with. The problem stems from the lethergy of the voters, not from the MP's. These people have not just been stealling your money they have been stealing you rights too and in UK those rights were skant to start off with (less than 2 percent of brits surveyed in 2004 new the difference between a "citizen" and a "subject". As the old saying goes: "The price of freedom is enternal vidulance!"

A return to planet earth.

Forget all the rhetoric burbled by the usual motley crew of western leading politicians regarding the recession, lets look at us here in the real world for moment. I've been thinking alot this week about how the recession his actually affecting us. One interesting twist came up when I decided that I needed to down size my car recently. One of the things that I realised whilst reviewing my money situation was that in order to actually purchase my smaller, older, slower car, I would have to sell the one I've got now. I sat back in my stair and for a moment was completely perplexed by this and it dawned on me that I had never actually had to do this before. I mean don't get me wrong, I'm far from loaded. It's not as if every time I'm bored with the colour 0f my new Bentley I march into my local dealer and demand a red on instead. For the last ten years or so, basically ever since I started driving, I've bought cars at the very limit of what I had available so me at the time. Very often this was around 500 to 1500USD. Except when I bought my last car. Last time in the height of the credit frenzy, I decided for the first time (running counter to everything I believe in), to buy a Suzuki 4x4 on finance from my local dealer. This will be the first and last time this ever happens. Though I have to admit after years and years of frosting up the glass staring into the showrooms, looking at all the toys on display, knowing I would never be able to afford them, it did give me a strange sense of power as the sales person handed me a posh cup wafting with the scent of fine Columbian coffee and I slid back into the comfy leather chair all purposely designed to induce a pseudo sense of omnipotence. It's was intoxicating. It really was, even though I knew fine well the money I was spending wasn't even mine and I'd be paying it back till the end of my days. I savoured the moment, every last drop of it.

So now I've found a little Renault 1 litre that should get me about in a much more modest fashion. Problem is, that instead of just saving for a week or two to buy it and then sticking the other one in the paper or in a prominent place by the road with a sign in the window, I now find myself in a "chain of sales". Just like when buying a house. I can't buy the Renault until a chap that wants to buy my Suzuki sells his to a young student who's getting back to him when HIS buyer pays for the car he's trying to sell...and so on and so forth all the way down the line. The lady I'm buying the Renault off is also waiting for me to buy so she can get her hands on the car she's been after too. To make matters worse so far in the neverending chain, we've have two back-outs and one change of car. It's becoming farcical, it really is. I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that we were all in a giant loop or something. Though, amidst all the complaining there is a flip side to this, after dozens of phone calls to bother the buyer and the seller I've got to know them quite well and the really quite nice people. turns out we have friends in common. We've exchange ideas and I've learnt useful things. Things I probably would never have know otherwise. Like did you know you can make a digital photo frame like the one in the shops out of an old broken laptop? no? neither did I! This would never have happened the old way. Encounters were always awkward things involving alot of mistrust on both side. Very cold and business like. It's a brave new world we find ourselves in and I for one am excited at the possibilities.

To the edge of the abiss.

On Sunday I started typing up the following blog........

"Is it not ironic that a country that has spent years pointing the finger east and screaming in hysteria "BOOoogie MAN! at Russia and surrounding countries is now infact slipping into the very same fascist, totalitiarean, pseudo democratic state as it once, and still to some extent, feared. I doubt Banksy, who I hear, travels quite alot around the world, could/would have quite some much fun in Russia as he clearly enjoys in the UK."

But yesterday I hear announced by Harriet Harman that "..the government currently has no plans to collect all emails in the UK" this is clearly a U-turn from 12 months ago. Could this be britain pulling back from the edge? or is the EU steering from behind the scenes? or is this yet just more spin? ...........we'll wait and see!....

The new budget

50% super-rich tax. This signifies a lurch back the to left and a rallying cry to the party faithfull. Brown's move attempts to draw a line in the sand over the issue of the wealth gap (which btw has INCREASED since Labour came into power, not decreased). He's attempting to retain as many voters as possible by emphasising what Labour originally stood for and to divert attention away from the utter failings of this current government. "No more muddling around in the confusing middle ground, we're thoroughbred lefties now".

As I read some of the comments posted to some popular bloggers, I notice again and again arguments against the 50% tax, based in the extremely misguided idea that we live in an absolute meritocracy...one such comment reads: I only earn around 20k per annum, but i think it's an unfair tax system we have, just because the better educated have high paying jobs they are being taxed at 50%. They should be rewarded for their hard work and not penalised. They have studied and worked hard to be where they are and should be in a position to reap the rewards of their hard work. Instead they will be paying a higher tax to support the country's unemployed.
If we really did live in a pure meritocracy how could any right minded person have a problem with rewarding people for their hard work. But we don't. People living off the hard work of others is rife in society. Just look at landlords or stockbrokers, hardly back-breaking work, is it? And yet we're supposed to believe these people deserve every penny. Dream on!

The worst thing is though, that Brown has only done this now, at the fag end of a labour government. Even then, only because it suits him out of self-preservation not out of a sense of duty to the working classes. This is a political trap. The Tories have stated they want 45% for the super-rich and that they promised not to cut taxes but by putting it up to 50%, the Tories will be forced to cut taxes. This budget should be of no surprise to anyone. The goverment has lavishly spent more and more money year on years, arrogantly assuming that there would be growth next year. And now they find themselves out of money so they are looking around in desperation to put the squeeze on anyone they think might have some and if they can score political points at the same time all the better.

"desperate to get pregnant"...................

I sit here in the car, having just listened to an interview between Hanna Murry(DJ) and a lady peddling a book on still births on REM FM or as they are known now "TRE FM". This lady held no hesitation in informing the listeners of the miriad of delights that were to be had from the miracle of birth. Why, in this world of abundent infomation, regarding the damage overpopulation is having on the earth, do we have people who not only still hold these views but are allowed to get in front of a microphone at a radio station.

In dec. 2007 the CIA in issued a report to the then Commander-in-chief that Climate change will in the next few years pose a very real threat to America's national security. With the recent change in administration it is almost certain that this information has been taken on board at the White house. With a change of leadership in the UK and therefore, hopefully a subsequent change in approach to the environment, there emerges the very real possiblility that a rolling snowball effect will gain momentum. If we accept as a point of logic, that nature, be it: fields, forests, lakes or whatever, is a critical part of sustaining life in one's own country, then logic follows that someone threating that is theatening your country. Ergo: person broadcasting pro-propulation propaganda equals threat to the nation.

An introduction.....

Well..this is may first blog ...ever! ...still learning! No-one's reading at this point but maybe in the future hopefully I've gained a little momentum and some people and come back reading through the old postings.

Here's a quick break down of what you might be reading from me in the future:
My blogs are aimed at shedding new light on things happening in and around Eastern Europe and Central Aisa. Top of my list are issues relating to environment, housing and land rights, Untruths from biased media outlets & animal rights.

Primarily aimed at the West, I welcome comments from all corners of the globe.