david griffith - saucepanbach: News

Raining through Easter and a quiet night at the songwriter sessions.

Anzac Day - remembrance of the dead who fought in wars - always moves me deeply. The fact that war is an abomination doesn’t escape me but, nonetheless, soldiers die and many believe it was for a just cause. It’s the old diggers straining to stand up straight who bring the tears forth and, yet, a songwriter I respect sees Anzac Day as an opportunity for a drink and a holiday. I don’t know if that’s all he sees it as, but that was the focus for him.

Kawther Salam writes about Palestine and does so in a powerful way. It’s odd - the short video that she presented of a small child trying to reach his home and being stopped by locked iron gates guarded by Israeli soldiers enraged me more that the phosphorus bombs so casually dropped over the Gaza Strip.

As to why this should be so, I think that it’s the indifferent inhumanity displayed by Israel - not only to the Palestinians but also to their own soldiers who have to deal with the debasing effect of such petty cruelty on their own souls which then inflames my own spirit.

I’ll play again tonight at a local restaurant. My fingers know that I’ve played after a few hours but it’s all a positive experience and as it’s a new experience, it’s also opportunity for growth. It also helps that the last session there was well received...... if my songs don’t resonate then there’s not much point in writing them.

There is an insanity prevailing in the world that goes beyond the greed with which corporations operate.

The Gulf of Mexico ‘remediation’ efforts using dispersants considered too poisonous to use elsewhere and using genetically modified bacteria to eat the sludge which settled across the sea bed have failed - except to temporarily take the problem below the surface.

You have to look below the surface - about everything we’ve been told - to make ‘sense’ of the machinations of ‘the powers that be.’

Greed doesn’t explain the utter disregard for humanity with which corporate governments and the financial system - under which we all labour - continue to operate.

If there were an ‘elite’ in existence then it’s an elite of dubious claim to intelligence.

Of what value is money when the air, water and food are poisoned.

Of what value is a palace when your servants cease to arrive for work because they’re too sick to move.

Evil ceases to exist - by virtue of consuming itself - when the ‘good’ on which it depends is exhausted.

‘Money for nothing’ is the jam with which the so called elite within the financial system have corrupted society. It sets up share markets into which superannuation funds invest so that everyone has a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. It sets up central banks - privately owned - in order to print money out of thin air and charge interest immediately.

It’s all a nonsense and shrugging our collective shoulders wont make it go away.
What to do? Be educated. The blows of fate remain blows but a prepared mind has more chance of enduring through these troubled times than those who blithely believe that our governments have our collective interest at heart.

Not every politician is corrupt but they’ve all bought the official line that the system itself is not to blame and that, somehow, human error and mild incompetence rather than evil intent is the root cause of our discontent.

It’s been a terrific few days of musicality. A quiet Monday night at the songwriters gig at the Gearin Hotel didn’t diminish the quality of what was presented. Both Pennie and Bruno from My Hearts Dezire joined me with piano and guitar which lifted my songs beautifully.

Ferguson brought his Irish instruments and stomp box and conjured great rhythms to go with his wonderful ‘featured’ act and P.J.Scully - our songwriter society president - drove up from Sydney to see what we’re doing, to play and to offer encouragement.

Eliot Reynolds dropped off the ‘just prior to manufacture’ versions of most of the songs on the next cd. I’m well pleased with the creative effort displayed.

I’ll play tomorrow at the Family hotel’s ‘open mike night’ and spend some time in practice for a three hour session of playing my own songs at local restaurant this Saturday. I haven’t tried this before and some trepidation is involved but the management say ‘they like my songs’ so - ‘suck it and see’ is the way to go.

Meanwhile nuclear reactors and the hodge podge of contradictory news reports plus a Steven Fry ‘documentary’ suggesting that the Gulf of Mexico is .... nearly o.k. are both disheartening and a lie. Steven is woefully uneducated and unprepared for his role as an unbiased reporter on this matter and waffles on as though this is a ‘human’ problem with no villains.

The one titbit of information contained that explains much is that - after income tax - royalties from the oil companies are the second highest contributor to the U.S. government coffers.

The fall of an empire is a slow motion train wreck unfolding before us and the equivalent of Darth Vader’s minions are busily reassuring us that ‘she’ll be right, mate.’

How can it be holy to kill when the ten commandments expressly forbids such action. It’s a glaring inconsistency in Islam and while I understand the concept of a just war, to elevate such enterprise to ‘holy’ just invites excess..

Begs the question - why is killing forbidden? Perhaps because it’s all too easy to kill when injustice becomes too much to bear. So can killing be justified? Yes - within the confines and limited understanding of mankind, there are copious times and reasons to kill but none of them can justify the word holy.

Holy implies Divine blessing yet the commandment forbidding killing refuses compromise........ it’s absolute and absolutely clear and perhaps it’s ‘writ’ so clear to indicate that not only is each life precious to whatever God may be, but to also indicate that those who kill will have to justify their action to that same God. This, in itself, would cause one to hesitate whereas a ‘holy’ war gives no such limitation.

Of course, this is all nonsense to the religious dogmatic and is laughable to those who ‘understand’ that talk of God is rubbish because there is no Divine.

To make my own position clear..... I have no proof to lay on the table and don’t care if I lead my life as if there were a ‘God’ but end up feeding the worms and ‘that’s it’...... I’m not looking for a heaven and don’t give a stuff about hell. I don’t need a carrot or a stick to know what’s ‘right’.

We put meaning into our lives by virtue of our actions and our words. Our beliefs cannot help but shape our lives and an agnostic or an atheist is no different to one inspired by the breath of the Divine...... none can prove a belief.

Knowledge is of a different order.

A man sails the seven seas and knows that experience. He can tell his story in many wonderful and beguiling ways and those who listen may well be moved to believe his story but that’s all it is and all it can ever be... a belief ... not knowledge. You have to sail the seven seas to ‘know’ that truth.

This is bubbling away at the back of my mind because I have little time for the popes, priests, rabbis and Imams who blithely send off their followers to die for a holy cause when the very core of their belief system embraces the ten commandments.... which includes ‘Thou shall not kill.’

I’ve spent a difficult shift at the Group Home dealing with both shit and vomit so this is probably an appropriate subject to write about.

I love God and if God did not exist, I’d still love God.

I include a message forwarded to me by my aunt which resonates with me and, hopefully, with you:

TWO FRIENDS WERE WALKING
THROUGH THE DESERT .
DURING SOME POINT OF THE
JOURNEY, THEY HAD AN
ARGUMENT; AND ONE FRIEND
SLAPPED THE OTHER ONE
IN THE FACE

THE ONE WHO GOT SLAPPED
WAS HURT, BUT WITHOUT
SAYING ANYTHING,
WROTE IN THE SAND ,

TODAY MY BEST FRIEND
SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE .

THEY KEPT ON WALKING,
UNTIL THEY FOUND AN OASIS,
WHERE THEY DECIDED
TO TAKE A SWIM
THE ONE WHO HAD BEEN
SLAPPED GOT STUCK IN THE
MIRE AND STARTED DROWNING,
BUT THE FRIEND SAVED HIM.

AFTER HE RECOVERED FROM
THE NEAR DROWNING,
HE WROTE
ON A STONE:

'TODAY MY BEST FRIEND
SAVED MY LIFE'

THE FRIEND WHO HAD SLAPPED
AND SAVED HIS BEST FRIEND
ASKED HIM, 'AFTER I HURT YOU,
YOU WROTE IN THE SAND AND NOW,
YOU WRITE ON A STONE, WHY?'

THE FRIEND REPLIED
'WHEN SOMEONE HURTS US
WE SHOULD WRITE IT DOWN
IN SAND, WHERE WINDS OF
FORGIVENESS CAN ERASE IT AWAY.

BUT, WHEN SOMEONE DOES SOMETHING GOOD FOR US,
WE MUST ENGRAVE IT IN STONE
WHERE NO WIND
CAN EVER ERASE IT'

LEARN TO WRITE
YOUR HURTS IN
THE SAND AND TO
CARVE YOUR
BENEFITS IN STONE.

THEY SAY IT TAKES A
MINUTE TO FIND A SPECIAL
PERSON,

AN HOUR TO
APPRECIATE THEM,
A DAY
TO LOVE THEM,

BUT THEN ,
AN ENTIRE LIFE TO FORGET THEM. SEND THIS TO THE PEOPLE YOU'LL NEVER FORGET.
I JUST DID..


TAKE THE TIME TO LIVE!

DO NOT VALUE THE THINGS
YOU HAVE IN YOUR LIFE, BUT VALUE
WHO YOU HAVE KNOWN IN YOUR LIFE!
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.


There’s a song in this which I hope will manifest.

Freedom is one of those magic words which gets waved like a flag by those who desire a break from tyranny.

The middle east is bubbling with such desire and I can’t help but question everything.

Long ago I realised that - paradoxically - there is no freedom without limitation. The complete freedom to ‘do as thou will’ comes at the expense of those who stand in the way and so this freedom comes at a cost and that cost is a tyranny in itself and, thus, no freedom at all.

Freedom of thought is always ours to explore. Freedom of speech is risky even within a democracy as it exposes those who express it to those who would oppose it. Freedom of movement is relatively easy although that is also restricted to those who can afford such luxury.

So freedom from tyranny is actually what most of us desire. From the smallest unit of society where brutality can reign within a family, to the freedom from martial law which exists in so many societies.

The greatest tyranny is the system itself and, by that, I mean the underlying financial system set up by the ‘powers that be.’

It’s one of the elephants in the room - the system of central banks which control every aspect of the money supply and which system few politicians ever question.

Why would any country give their sovereign right to print their own money to a private group when such action cannot be to the benefit of the population....... but this is the way it is and few countries have fought against this with success.

Libya prints its own money. Gaddafi may be a bit on the crazy side but his population enjoy a good standard of living and are not beholden to the International Monetary Fund and other such organisations set up by the ‘powers that be’ in order to keep absolute control of individual societies.

The ‘rebels’ in Libya set up a central bank within weeks of this conflict starting. Why? Who benefits?

Freedom from bullshit is the most difficult of freedoms to achieve.

I loved the Chronicles of Narnia when I was a child and now that they’ve been made into films I’m overjoyed at the faithful rendition of C.S.Lewis’s books.

C.S. Lewis also wrote the Screwtape Letters and a series of science fiction books, all of which, impressed me greatly and all of which bring forth the concept of the Divine in a most wonderful manner.

If you haven’t had the rare pleasure of immersing yourself in another aspect of reality then I recommend this for all your children, including yourself.

In this aspect of reality, a cold wind blows but will not blow forever.

The temperature plummets and winter winds bite through Autumn leaving it bare and shivering. Early daffodil shoots appear months before they’re due and shows me nature making use of prevailing conditions notwithstanding what man may think correct and proper.

Good times bubble up within our local music scene. Spent some hours searching out my own songs in order to have something to play at a nearby restaurant. I don’t know how it is for other songwriters but I forget my songs if I don’t play them. Probably no different for a writer of poetry. It’s the creative act of writing the song which matters to me rather than the continuing performance which is a different thing entirely.

Perhaps the restaurant will ‘work’, perhaps not but either way it’s a stretch for me, an adventure, and I’ll take the opportunity regardless of the outcome. It has the added benefit of forcing me to re-visit and learn again many songs which I’ll also take to the open mike and songwriter nights.

Military operations continue around the world and all in the name of peace and freedom. A brave new world is what the new world order threatens and the new boss is no different to the old.

Got called moronic for my ‘lack of understanding’ about the Jewish concept of ‘chosen’ so I’m on the right track in that regard...... ah..... religious dogma dressed up in piety is still dogma, rigid and nothing to do with the Divine.

Reminds me of a trip to an ashram where I was instinctively repulsed by the body language of a well dressed swami....... our wonderful teacher observed - in a talk later that day - that ‘clothes do not a swami make’ and I immediately felt comforted by the knowledge that there is such a thing as spiritual discernment while making no claim to such a gift myself.

Bleary eyed sun appears through the cloud and disappears under the blanket for another day. Soft rain commences on cue and Autumn is here.

Very good at the Family Hotel’s ‘open mike’ night with new performers filling the blackboard. I don’t always know what I’m going to play which results in a wave of anxiety as I search through my mind for the lyrics. It went well due to the musicality of those who are happy to jump up and play with me. I felt alive albeit briefly.

My life isn’t interesting. A great deal of ‘not much’ interspersed with a little bit of ‘wow’. I know I’m not alone in feeling slightly disconnected which doesn’t particularly help but does remind me that life is a journey rather than an entertainment.

As an official grumpy old man, I’ve tilted my disgust at Kentucky Fried Chicken whose advertisements continually disguise outright lying as being ‘clever’ if it allows you to enjoy one of their meals.

Community standards rely on the greater proportion of society acting in accord with honesty. The fact that corporations behave with a psychopathic disregard for ethics doesn’t mean that I have to shrug my shoulders and let it pass.

Complained to the Advertising Standards Board and will continue to do so.

Off to the studio, today, to see what Eliot’s magic has achieved with my songs. Goody goody.

TJ - the South Sea Island princess whose Skid Row radio program I sometimes get invited to - is a film-maker and has used my song ‘Medicine Woman’ over the final credits of her latest work. Hooray - I’ll look forward to seeing her work.

Also got sounded out last night about playing at a local restaurant which could be good all round although I don’t know whether playing only my songs will be enough.

That’s about all the ‘wow’ for now.

Oh yes .... the odd times in which I mention superior and inferior only ever refer to the superior or inferior portion of myself....... the ongoing work related to character developement.

Four notes and a bend have kept me well occupied for the last few days.

A beautiful Autumn day in which we’ve had no summer but rain and perhaps two weeks fine at best. Tree ferns stretch and yawn through the mist.

The house was built the same year in which I was born. It shows the same stresses and needs similar renovation - as do I . But four notes and a bend give me a wonder, a joy.

An invitation from Eliot to join him on stage and play some lead behind a Tom Waits song was unexpected and an utterly new experience. Still getting familiar with the five boxes of patterns which make up my lesson.

‘Do I know the song?’ say I from the floor. ‘B minor.’ says Eliot and I take the rare pleasure of being ‘a musician.’ rather than a singer/songwriter.

I know - or sort of know - the patterns which don’t produce discord but playing them well is in the future but also trickling through the present.

I’ve passed sixty and had a far better birthday than I could have envisioned.

Love is the ultimate nourishment and I had the good fortune to be surrounded by it.

Back at work which is no problem. Busy time ahead and can’t make the songwriter night at the Gearins but will make the Family on Wednesday and it strikes me that although I have sod all material wealth and thus can’t contemplate a ‘trip to Wales’ just now, I’m fine with that.

I’m lucky to be relatively content within my limitations. A sage - in a book - and I took consolation, decades ago and with the almost complete certainty of not being within that wave of humanity who bought at the right time .... and so on..... he said words to the effect that the superior man need not step outside his door to know what is far and what is distant.

Sounded good to me and the blues backing track plays D, A G, D, A Bm , A, G

Dennis Smith won - and rightly so - the semi final of the song contest which I entered a few weeks ago. I came last on the night which doesn’t sound like much to trumpet about but such is the nature of contests. As I drove back up the mountains I was in two minds about going to the Family Hotel for their open mike night and I’m glad that I made the effort.

Over time and notwithstanding that I’m not very sociable, I’ve made musical and personal connections to the extent that I had Belinda playing flute, John on keyboards and Peter on lead guitar - all of which made me sound pretty good or so the audience reaction would indicate.

Point is that making music isn’t about contests, fame and fortune but about connecting with others which brings me back to Dennis Smith.

An ‘ordinary’ name and, by his own admission, not brilliantly confident or technically wonderful but he connected with me on a heart-felt level and I was very happy to tell him so....... and was delighted for him that he won on the night.

I’m happy to carry on being a fairly unknown part of the local music scene and remind myself that this way of operating has been the only way in which music has been made for all of time bar the last few generations.

Looking forward to Monday when the Gearin Hotel’s sound system should be repaired and the songwriter night will recommence.

With all the natural and man-made tragedies occurring, our valiant leaders decide that Libya needs rescuing.

Why Libya? Why not Zimbabwe? Doesn’t matter about the complete ruin of Zimbabwe - there’s no national interest for the West involved. Libya has oil and any destabilisation of the Arab world serves a Zionist purpose.

I get sick and angry hearing Kevin Rudd, here in Australia but prancing about on the world stage, pontificate about what is ‘right and decent’ while bringing yet more death and destruction to countries far from here.

A pox on all their houses.

Leave Afghanistan to their tribal ways. Get out of Iraq. Dismantle Israel and get rid of the so called Federal Reserve.

The rain continues to pour down and, as I glance out of the window I see a caterpillar which has made its way to the end of a tree fern frond. It’s a precarious and isolated position and I can’t help but wonder quite why it’s there and where it expects to go....... but that just states what appears to be the situation.

Eliot - bless his soul - continues to transform my songs within his role as producer and I still have work to finish at the Group Home where all our clients have Individual Plans with ‘achievable’ goals.

As above - so below and if that’s really true then I’m a ‘rough as guts’ but sincere guardian angel and hold to my faith in Divine Purpose.

...... and still more rain. Feels like about twelve days of sun since early November but the birds don't seem to mind it so why should I grumble.

Songs in the studio are going well and the songwriter/open mike nights are a bright spot within the week.

Notwithstanding the gloom, it has been drily noted that, at least, I do get to sing my songs which is, perhaps, better than having nothing to sing about.

Watching a songbird in the garden, the other day, as it found the seed that I'd left out. It immediately called to its neighbours in other gardens, in order to share the good fortune..... what a delight.

The general worldwide news is grim and although the causes are often man-made, there isn't much that I can do, as an individual, except persevere in what is 'good', constructive and useful.

My songs might resonate locally but make no impact against the Lady Gaga's of this world. This is fine by me as I find people who are happy to play with me within our local community.

I'm happy to join the millions of artists of all descriptions for whom success - materially - has proved a mirage..... and as I've lived longer than much of humanity, it's quite cool to be able to just keep going with only a modicum of depression now and again.

Hooray for what nourishes..... and if the storm blows me away, I was never going to be here for a 'long' time or necessarily, a 'good' time.

Cheers, one and all.

Autumn comes right on cue, here in the mountains, and the temperature drops as the mist rolls in.

Mist, in the mountains is often low lying cloud but either way it’s wet.

A friend is offered a job with the Carbon Trust and already has doubts about the point of it all.

Western science sees the universe as electrically neutral and the sun as having little influence over weather conditions here on Earth.

Absurd is a word that springs to mind and while there’s no doubt that the wholesale rape of the earth has effect upon global weather conditions, it’s also true that the activity of our nearest star - the sun - has profound and immediate effect upon us all.

The Carbon Trust appears to be yet another way in which to make money, via taxation, without the polluters having to do anything to change their behaviour except buy carbon credits....... much the same as our myopic view regarding tobacco. Why not just ban the wholesale manufacture of the damned stuff and allow addicts such as myself to grow a few plants for personal consumption.

Too much vested interest?

Piers Corbyn is the ‘weather man’ who consistently gets it right - both short term and long term - 85% of the time. This is a damn sight better than the met office yet his assumption that the sun and the moon are the primary causes of weather is still not accepted .... well .... farmers buy his forecast .... and they are in a position to know what works.

So the Carbon Trust is based upon an incomplete factual basis.

Dan Nocera, an M.I.T. professor has some good news which would alter our whole dynamic if his cheap water cracking technology is workable. Out goes the need for oil and coal and in comes individual power sources for the whole of mankind.

Here’s a link:

http://www.forbiddenknowledgetv.com/videos/alternative-energy/dan-nocera-the-futureis-really-not-that-bad.html
This would put my friend out of a job but as she comes out of the high finance field - utterly useless to society - she won’t mind.

More good creative fun in the studio with the added delight of having Eliot play a lead break which I can only sing.

Life is a funny thing ..... working with one of our guys within the Group Home in which I’m employed and I end up writing copious notes on the strategies that he has used on me in order to reach his desired goal....... I’m the one who is supposed to be using strategies on him!

There’s something profound about this but it’s just at the edge of my mental vision.

Took awhile to place this song - 'you're so good for me' - as a free download and, eventually, I put it up at

http://www.ilike.com/artist/SaucePan+Bach
this site DID allow me to download the song......hmm....BUT it doesn't allow me to PLAY the damn thing within the ilike site!

God, computers are a pain.

More time today working with Eliot Reynolds at soundcave studios and very happy with the way things are progressing.

Leaping a fence and twisting on my elbow wasn't a good idea.

Nerves are still tingling three months later....swollen nerve says the doctor.

My neighbour comments on how still the early mornings have been.

It’s the last weekend of a summer which hasn’t been here as yet.

A beautiful day and the orb spiders - encouraged by the long wet - are constantly busy building exquisite webs.

The Magnolia is sending out the odd late flowers and the Canna lilies, resplendent in orange, yellows and reds, stand higher than a man.

Floods, fires and revolution are not present in this part of the world - not today anyway.....butterflies and brilliant coloured birds are more common.

There is only so much focus I can afford to give to the underlying worldwide conditions. For balance sake, I draw a quieter breath.

Spending time recording and then listening gives me the lyrics of these recent songs almost as a mantra in my heart and head.

It’s a very pleasant spot in which to take a break.

I’ll give a few treeferns a haircut and go to work.

....... with the bells and whistles applied.

It's both invigorating and intense to record.

Today we've re-done some of the acoustic songs but done them in another key.

I'll put them up when I get them.

Although I've put these on site as free downloads, I don't know that it will work for you as the embedded flash player only appears to download - as opposed to stream - if you've bought the premium model.

Anyway - I haven't.

cheers

A day in the recording studio with six songs in hand.

Doesn’t happen often.

Two aims in mind.

Good to have the basic song - pretty much as I’ve written it - because this IS what I sound like unvarnished.

Also good to get these songs produced ‘professionally.’

For that purpose, I’ve got no illusions about my musical competence and am very happy to have creative guitarists to help out.

I’ve now had a week to listen to the acoustic cuts and, today, went back in for a second day in which Eliot tweaked a few notes and added the odd handclap..

I’ll leave the embedded player, within this site, to play automatically for a week or so...... it can be irritating, I know.... but you can always turn the volume down a bit.

So these are the musically creative efforts of the last few years as I play them at our local hotel and with the spaces for other instruments to join in..... a flute sounds good.... so does a mandolin.

Anyway - here they are, if you’re interested, and the ‘radio ready’ produced versions will follow when they’re..........ready.

I used to enjoy going to the Sydney Domain, decades ago, and listening to the speakers standing on their wooden crates - their soap boxes.

From the completely mad to the very funny and intelligent, it was an innocent way in which to spend a few hours in the fresh air.

Common sense has always been in short supply and being clever is now viewed with suspicion. Common sense - being based on an obvious logic - is undermined when values cease to be held in common. Clever is now more associated with dealing with situations in a legalistic rather than an ethical way. There should be no discrepancy but there it is.

I’m getting off my soapbox. Getting my news from a huge variety of sources has left me with a different mind-set from that which I held ten years ago. Many of those sources are ‘voices in the wilderness’ and the ability for the internet to keep such disparate voices humming through the wires brings me to this.

Change is occurring on a mass scale. At such times, people will ‘get away with whatever they can.’ One of our respected - or infamous - bankers made exactly that point recently...... and he wasn’t talking about change, he was talking about life itself.

What made me do a ‘double take’ was that no-one at that press conference seemed to think this worthy of further clarification.

There are always difficulties for those who operate ethically. It is like fighting with one hand tied behind the back. For me, the guidance narrows down to ‘carry on being true to that self which will behave ethically and in accord with ‘Do unto others as you’d have done to yourself.’ .... that’s assuming that I’m not some sadomasochistic, hate filled person.

Funny how such simple statements as ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ can still give rise to such questions as ‘ .... er ... um ..... no offence, God ..... but what if I don’t love or even feel a vague liking for who I am?’

'Can't you pretend?' comes a response.

My sisters speak with clarity. When my dad was dying and all of us were needed to care for him, I voiced my unease and said ‘ I don’t know how well I’m going to cope with this....... I don’t know if I like him let alone love him.’

Her response was immediate. ‘Oh ..... don’t do it out of love.... do it out of compassion.’

An internal shift occurred and I laughed ... partly out of relief and partly because she demonstrated both common sense and cleverness....and, somehow, it was also funny.

This did make a difference which then allowed me to both help and be enriched by the experience.

As change is, paradoxically, the only constant, I’m happy to have a framework within which duty and responsibility are an obvious guide to my actions. Everything else - including developing whatever musical gift that I have - will follow naturally.

That will continue whatever the state of the Empire.

See .... that’s why I’m getting off this soapbox.

The temperature has dropped twenty degrees and the garden struggles to recover from the intense heat of the previous week.

Off to work where I’m in the throes of developing the next annual Individual Plan for the guy for whom I’m the key worker.

A more cheerful and enthusiastic human being you could not hope to find. To my mind he’s worth a thousand of the ‘elite’ but, as I write this, the internal voice reminds me that we’re equally precious in the sight of God and that’s exactly how it should be.

Bloody soapboxes!

‘Cognitive dissidence’ .... what a good phrase....... must look it up .... oh yes when internal reality conflicts with external reality.

The floods are still working their way through an area bigger than many countries. The cyclone strips bare leaf from tree and any creature which survives is going to find food hard to find.

Rebuilding the infrastructure over such a vast area boggles the mind.
Rebuilding tens of thousands of homes means much misery for months or years.

Odd responses. Because bananas are affected, there are already moves to start importing them from the Philippines. Not welcomed by the banana growers because of the real risk of imported new plant diseases.

Why wouldn’t you - as a government - resist such a move and tell the population that catastrophe has struck and that, ‘that’s the way it is.’ ‘Yes - we have no bananas ....no bananas for awhile.’

The heatwave in the Blue Mountains is mirrored upon the plains below. At the back of this garden, the tree-ferns, transplanted five months ago, had the best start due to three months of rain but are now frazzled by the heat.

Bushfire is the ever present danger here notwithstanding the rains.

Next week includes a rare day of intense ‘fun’ as I spend time in Elliot’s SongCave Studio. Yippee.

I’ve immersed myself in a torrent of information recently, ranging from subjects such as the Gulf of Mexico disaster, HAARP, 9/11, and the whole shebang of conspiracy. Not conspiracy theory - conspiracy reality.

Underlying it all is the conviction, born of experience, that we’re not alone - either in a spiritual sense or a human sense - and that there are more dimensions to both life and to current affairs than I’m aware of.

The word ‘sheeple’ makes me wince. Invariably used with at least mild exasperation, it diminishes those who are perceived to be ‘not in the know.’ That’s most of the world.

“Sheeple are dumb and our political leaders are all compromised.”

Really?

Perhaps it takes a disaster to make people focus and we’ve had a few in Australia including a massive cyclone bearing down on Northern Queensland as I write.

I’ve seen no evidence that our political leaders here are not doing the best that they can...... and yes, I know that the security systems operating within our rail network are the product of an Israeli company but - hey - the goyim are dumb and probably took the best offer with no further thought.

As a people, Australians have and are continuing to want to help those less fortunate...... most of humanity would feel the same.

What I have recognised is that - without knowledge of the factual absurdity/criminality of a Central Bank system by which ‘money’ is printed and loaned out by a private consortium rather than by the government itself - you have little reason to question the prevailing realities of jobs, family and the ‘pursuit of happiness.’

As much of our population is intelligent enough to have an opinion about Iraq and Afghanistan - many see no reason for us to be there - then you’d have to wonder whether our political leaders HAVE somehow dismissed the ‘printing of money’ as ‘just the way things are’ and put such thoughts into the basket which carries ‘you can’t change the system’ as its basis.

Trouble is - this IS the foundation upon which we uneasily rest.

Many problems.

Problem is that if you’re up to your neck in alligators, it’s hard to remember that you came to drain the swamp.

‘Leave the swamp alone then!’ he muttered to himself as he went off to work in the garden.

‘Not good enough.’ came the response.

‘Aren’t you part of the problem until you become part of the solution?’

Thanks to the Vatic Project and all the other alternative news sources for their valuable work.

Do you remember Bobby Fischer? The chess master.

An interview about his life plays on the background radio and the interviewer asks the biographer about Fischer’s anti-Semitic commentary. He couches his question as though this were a manifestation of mental disease.

I don’t know how virulent Fischer’s views were and the reason that I pricked up my ears is because there is so much hatred directed at ‘The Jews.’ and most of it makes no distinction between one variety of Judaism or another.

This distinction was made clear to me via a comment, on the web, from a ‘Jew in America’ who says that the Talmud is Satanic but the Torah is holy. It was the Talmud that Christ railed against. The Torah is the Old Testament. This is not a book with a message of love but it does have the ten commandments as its foundation.

There is a distinction between Jews of the Torah and those of the Talmud. The first is likely to see Israel as a false state - not brought into existence by God but by man. In other words, Israel has no divine right to exist in its present form.

The Talmud - being the book that makes a mockery of the ten commandments - is used to prop up the Zionist political agenda.

I couldn’t understand why Sunni and Shia Muslims kill each other with a total disregard for ‘Thou shall not kill.’

I discover that it has to do with lines of succession from the Prophet and I still don’t understand.

Surely it was the Prophet who was important and only important because of the message not his family connections.

There is no succession needed if the message is absorbed.

There’s a lot that I don’t ‘get’. It took me years to understand that the conflict in Ireland had nothing to do with Catholic versus Protestant. It was political - pure and simple...... well..... not pure and hardly simple. The variety of Christian faith was an accident of geography and independence from Britain was the aim.

Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill...... had enough yet?

Oops - no-one left alive. That’ll teach them!

This is a link regarding the Gulf of Mexico

http://phoenixrisingfromthegulf.wordpress.com/2011/01/30/sos-may-explain-five-serious-unanswered-gulf-oil-spill-questions-we-do-not-know/
This is to Vatic .... a great website

http://vaticproject.blogspot.com/
Finally .... who is Michael Chertoff?....from brasscheck TV.

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/983.html

The murky world of international politics is full of ‘Yes buts.’

‘Popular’ revolutions. Popular with whom? America? The game of ‘who gains’ is full of second guesses due to the meddling of super powers over long periods of time.

I don’t believe.....period.

So much froth and bubble as the world erupts and false flags are waved with furious enthusiasm.

Heaven help us if oil and power are still the motivating forces behind the scenes.

In 2005 the American Congress passed a bill exempting oil and gas companies from environmental regulations in respect to the ‘safe drinking water’ act and the ‘clean air’ act.

Why would a country do that within its own borders?

America can now proudly boast AND demonstrate water from a domestic household tap which burns..... I kid you not.

David Rockefeller makes no bones about it. The world would be better off being controlled by the elite power brokers and bankers of this world.... a new world order.

As most of us rightly feel that we can run our own affairs on both a personal and societal level, this is a poisoned chalice which will only be accepted if ‘things get worse.’

If you’ve got the money then you can orchestrate whatever you wish.... or so the story goes......as things get worse.

My Paradise is relative. Household bills and mortgage need to be paid and - like many - I’m a few pay cheques away from disaster. This is a meagre Paradise for most but millions at the bottom of their caste systems would consider themselves fortunate to just have clean water and a roof over their head. The luxury of free speech within a fairly kindly society ...... just a dream.

What can you do but hold to your principles and continue on.

Most of those around me are unaware and uninterested in the fact that the printing of money is in private rather than sovereign hands.

Until that fraud is eliminated nothing can really change regardless of revolution.

The rains cease and the garden is lush. Reds, orange and yellow Canna lilies, higher than a man, burst upwards.

The parrots and the sulphur crested cockatoos have gorged on the fruit trees which, in turn, have produced slightly water-logged fruit so no great loss for this particular year.... I’ll use nets next year.

Butterflies in profusion along with mosquitoes and all manner of insect life introduce themselves as I work.

I come back from my ‘day job’ in the Group Home where my concerns are pretty much irrelevant to my clients and I watch a ten minute video of a twelve year old child castigate ‘the powers that be’ at the Earth Summit.

This is the link ..... you might have to copy and paste this link for it to work.

http://www.forbiddenknowledgetv.com/videos/end-of-the-world/the-12-yr-old-who-rocked-theearth-summit.html
I write maybe two songs a year........ it doesn’t take up a lot of my life but each creation is a ‘new life’ which I love with the echo of that love you have for your child.

It’s hard to know whether or not the song will connect with others or suffer a quieter fate but they’re loved equally at their birth.

It’s been my fate to spend most of my life without a partner. Just stating a fact that some of you will both share and understand the ramifications inherent.

To be blessed with family - both immediate and extended - allows for a life with immediate meaning and responsibility.

I’m picking my words with care and with the appreciation that I live in Paradise compared with most of humanity over all of time.

I have the luxury of thought, of education, of pondering - and probably pontificating about all manner of ‘things’

Things like .... ‘Thou shall not kill.’

You can’t be serious can you God? What if someone threatens my family? I’m sorry but I’ll kill them first....... all the other commandments I can try or pretend that I , more or less, keep but THAT one..... don’t you - sorry YOU - know that there are some REALLY EVIL bastards out there?

So that’s my dilemma and should be the dilemma of every Muslim, Christian and - sigh - ‘fair dinkum’ Jew.

The Talmudic followers of Judaism have written a whole book about how to get around that problem so I won’t include them as ‘fair dinkum’.

Waiting for their Messiah to bring them back to the ‘Holy Land.’ has been neatly sidestepped by the fact that they ARE - tenuously - occupying Palestine.......so we don’t need to worry about that.

Yes - we do.

‘Fair dinkum’ Jews - of the Torah - are as horrified by events unfolding as the rest of the thinking world.

So, this line of thought comes from being both encouraged and vilified for my insightful and deranged ravings.

O.K. I would kill to save those dear to me but how can I dress that up at ‘holy’ when it’s forbidden?

I can’t and so - if I kill - it becomes a political act rather than a religious act. Point being that it ain’t justified by those Commandments and thus I have to live with that....... and that should make warfare a very sober matter. Each life precious and don’t forget it.

Who would I need to kill if I were a Palestinian and saw no hope for a future?

Surely, it’s the leaders and those who control - by fraud- the wealth of nations who need be looked at rather than the poor sod, on the ground, who just happened to get in the way.

The recent song that I’m very happy about is ‘You’re so good for me.’ which is drawn from the experiences of those I love rather than my own rather quiet love life.

My friend at work endorsed it highly so that’s a good note on which to end.