Eden

I once went to visit The Eden Project in Cornwall.
I asked the poor unfortunate entrance attendant if he knew where Eden really was.
He said, "I'm not sure. But I know there's a town called Eden in the USA....."
I interrupted him and said "Eden is in Iraq. And we've been bombing it for 15 years."
Poor man.

This reminds me of the time when I went to the United Nations building in New York and at the end the guide asked us if we had any questions. I put my hand up and said "Yeah. I have a question. Which country has vetoed the most United Nations resolutions?" He said, "I don't know..." I said "Well. It's the USA. By far."

Labour Theory of Value?

Some incomplete ramblings.

“Labour Theory of Value”:

"The proposition that goods have their value by virtue of the labour, or labour power, that has gone into producing them."

?

(Part of) my questioning of this theory (if I understand it correctly) is (ridiculously) simple:

Ultimately the (exchange) value of an item – the only value an item can have in conventional economics is surely exchange value? – is simply what someone pays someone else – who happens to “possess” it  – (and “Property is theft” anyway) - for it.

(Property MUST be theft - because LOGICALLY NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO POSSESS ANYTHING.)

In terms of exchange value, exchange value is simply arbitrary because someone could give the object to someone else for nothing even if they could charge and be paid 10 million pounds for the same object.

Therefore the exchange value of an object is arbitrary.

Someone could refuse to BUY or SELL anything at ANY TIME.

.....

Please tell me what you think of this.....

There are other kinds of VALUE other than exchange value....

En revanche, low wages in the plundered world = massive profits for bussiness + cheap and plentiful (and unneeded) goods for the plundering world.





To be continued.....

I repeat

I repeat:

At the present time I am a "UK subject" and not a "British citizen".

Listening to BBC

I am listening to an English minister saying that The Falklands/Malvinas is an issue of self-determination.
id est - the Falklands population has the right to self-determination.

Firstly, since when has the English Empire ever enshrined, defended and enacted consistenly the principle of self-determination? It even seems to seek to deny self-determination to England herself.

Secondly, this is to my mind the same as saying that if the people of Calais voted to return to being a possession of England, then this should happen.

Thirdly, supposing for speculation's sake, that the Falkland islanders opted for independence from both England and Argentina, would the UK government, and for that matter the Argentine government, accept this?

Logical?

This may sound really strange but every time I hear something along the lines of: "Lincoln Cathedral needs 10 million pounds to survive", my thought process is as follows:

They need that money to pay someone to repair the Cathedral. Agreed.

Someone like a construction company or something like that. Agreed?

Following my logic? Tell me any flaws in my logic please.

Right. So the construction company are probably quite rich.

So I do think - and please forgive me for this nai:ve simplicity - couldn't the building firm repair Lincoln Cathedral er... for free.. for nothing?

I know this is heresy in the religion of economics but there you go.

You may say "Well the construction company need the money to buy the bricks to repair Lincoln Cathedral."
Fair enough.

But can't they get at least some bricks for free, gratis. It's Lincoln Cathedral FFS for goodness sake!

:)

Discuss.

And another thing was - why should it actually matter if the "economy" - whatever that is - doesn't "grow"?

Does it matter?

-----

I secretly suspect economics is a load of bollocks - and I am thinking of working this out a bit more......

Christmas Approaches

"Every December I announce to my family that I shan't be celebrating Christmas this year as I have turned Jewish. In case they demand evidence, I even have my foreskin chopped off. I keep it in a bag of peas in the freezer and get it sewn back on in January. It's a horrific and agonising ordeal to go through every year, but it's preferable to spending Christmas with my extended family. Particularly my brother-in-law Reg, who is an utter cunt.

Fulton Suzuki, Yeovil."

from Viz.

"Terrorism"

I am listening to a Radio 4 "Start the Week" debate on "terrorism".
These are some points about "terrorism" in my view:-

- in a sense, there is no such thing as "terrorism" - there is only war.....
  In other words so-called "terrorism" cannot be distinct or distinguished from "war", unless possibly we are talking about a specific tactic.
- there is state terrorism and non-state terrorism and state terrorism is historically far worse.
- .......

CONTRA LA VERDAD NO HAY FUERZA

CONTRA LA VERDAD NO HAY FUERZA
-----
The truth never dies.
-----
This may sound mystical and Platonic, but I mean it in a specific philosophical sense.
The truth has no concrete existence. And yet it never dies.....
........

"The world is all that is the case."......

Boris the tyrant?

I think Boris fancies himself as a Greek tyrant ruling a Greek city-state.
I watched a documentary about him and it said that he had done so much Classics at "Public" School and Oxford (both the same thing really) that he started to idolise Pericles.
The man is bonkers.
If only he thought he was a kind of philosopher-king. He probably does.

Mind you Plato's political philosophy is obviously quite dodgy really.

---------

A good tactic for a Boris baiter would be to ceaselessly quote Pericles at him:

"Having knowledge but lacking the power to express it clearly is no better than never having any ideas at all."

Or

"Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it."

......

Roger Scruton on beauty

I watched Roger Scruton's programme on beauty and art, and I liked it.
There were things in it I agreed with and I enjoyed the programme.
I liked what he said about architecture.
I think he was pleasantly balanced in what he said.
The idea of art as a way of redemption is wonderful.

Media Buzzwords

"Globalisation" and "Credit Crunch" are two examples of media buzzwords or buzzphrases, that we all hear and use. We seem to use them because we have heard them without necessarily knowing what they mean.
They have been assimilated from the media into intellectual culture.
But what do they mean?


"British Muslim" is also a media buzzphrase.
The government as well seem very keen on it.
Firstly, "British" is meaningless.
Secondly, it would sound very odd indeed to talk of a "British Christian".
I would feel very intimidated were I to meet someone called a "British Christian".
Thankfully, I am highly unlikely to come across someone calling themselves this.

Charter for Compassion

http://charterforcompassion.org/

Amazing TV

Just watched and then re-watched "A History of Scotland" - the episode on the 17th century.
Absolutely amazing piece of TV.

A few things stand out for me:
Christianity was an origin of democracy. Christianity was an origin of nationalism as well.
Protestants were anti-monarchy.
Monarchs were autocrats like Popes.
And Protestants were persecuted and massacred in Scotland.
.......

Another thing that stood out was when the narrator said
"And so began the "Rule of the Saints"....."
Which was immediately followed by ferocious scenes of violence and mutilation....
"Saints" indeed....
"Tantum religio potuit suadare malorum."
Very sad really....

Does it not ever cross your mind to ask why?

Does it not ever once cross your mind to ask WHY people were trying to blow up English soldiers with IEDs?
Why they went to so much trouble?
Why time and time again they tried to blow them up?
Are they just religious nuts? Is that it?

The truth of English history must be recognised.

In a way The Guardian (of all people) re-writes English history in its entertaining pamphlets about the English monarchy.
Charles I was legally and justifiably executed as a tyrant.
The English monarchy was abolished and rescinded.
A Commonwealth or Republic was established in England.
Hence strictly speaking there was no "interregnum".
This is the truth of English history - a truth that must be told and accepted by the English people.

It is furthermore true that Republican sentiment in England was strong in this period and at other periods.
There was a significant Republican sentiment in England at the time of the "Restoration" in 1660.
The "Restoration" was illegal on the terms of events and was a coup d'e'tat.


I furthermore believe it was tragedy for England given what it had gone through.
A re-writing and a burying of history has gone on, comparable to the "Orwellian" techniques supposedly only characteristic of 20th century totalitarianism.

22nd November 2009

Some people seem to resent people who don't have paid work.

Not only do people who do paid work look down on those who don't have paid work, they seem to RESENT those that don't have paid work.

They are taught to think like this by years of brutal bullshit.

My message to them is : THINK!

Who is the person who is being brainwashed?

They may reply: "The world works by the wages system. It can't work any other way."

My reply is "Not only could it easily work another way, it probably will HAVE TO work another way."

Extrapolate

Somebody asked me for some tips on how to learn Italian.
I said, "Well one thing is, I think it is often very like French. So if you know some French that helps. For example: bonjour is French, buongiorno is Italian; manger is French, mangiare is Italian. Well you can extrapolate some things from that really."
They said "What does extrapolate mean?"

Irony?

So the European Union is to be run by a Belgian.
Belgium was a country that Europeans spent millions of lives fighting to save.
..........

Bought ze DVD of Bru:no

Ich have bort ze DVD of Bru:no. It is so gutt! I had vergessen how gutt it is!
Very funny und excellent extra scenes!

They shouldn't even pass quality control

The Conservatives are so incompetent and insubstantial that they shouldn't even be on the ballot.
They shouldn't even pass "quality control."

England still exists!

What an irony!

By colonising others, England has nearly ended its own existence!

But common sense will win out.

One or the other?

Some people say: nationalism is inevitable.

I say: anarchism is inevitable.

It is certainly more in accordance with reality.

Does it have to be one or the other?

Revelation

The revelation that Belle De Jour is who she is provokes a few reactions.

Firstly, the books and the telly series from them are awful and boring. They have little to contribute to the debate about prostitution or anything at all. That may sound harsh but there you go.
My book, "Bell End de Jour - Intimate Diary of a London Punter" is far more interesting and it hasn't even been written yet.

Secondly, why should someone researching knowledge have to do that to fund their studies?

Thirdly, only an idiot would pay 300 pounds an hour for sex, and only a greedy and vain woman would charge that much.

Fourthly, why the hypocrisy?  The media is abuzz with this story and yet prostitution is effectively illegal in the UK - truly disgusting. Legalising it would literally save lives.

Fifthly, the salaciousness behind this media buzz is sickening. Why not discuss the whole issue? No - we just want titilation - no thought.

....


Personally the main reason I have visited prostitutes in the past is simply that women have rejected me all my life.
.........

I have listened to the Radio 4 Moral Maze on this topic.
I think fundamentally that no consensual sexual act should be a crime.
Therefore there is nothing wrong with prostitution per se.
There is not necessarily a great deal of difference between some forms of non-paid for sex and paid-for sex.
There are of course other things to be said than this.

..........

A good woman

I am re-watching Anne Widdecombe's documentary on the Reformation.
Wonderful.
She is a good woman.

The only measure of whether the Pope is the "Anti-christ" as the Revd. Dr. Ian Paisley says in this film, is whether he and his Church behave in a way that is truly Christian.

I would like to wholeheartedly endorse many things about the Reformation and about Protestantism.

One of the reasons I adhere to Catholicism is The Nicene Creed.
......

Anglicanism for example - in its present form - is fundamentally and obviously opposed to and at odds with the Nicene Creed and hence in this sense is incompatible with Christianity and is not in this sense Christian in its present form.
That is a fact.
Harsh it may be, but it is undeniably true.

Justified Contempt

If you hate the French so much then why is the motto of the monarchy, and, by extension, the motto of your so-called "country" in French?

All I ask is that you SORT YOURSELVES OUT!

Zut Alors!

The opposition to NewLabourTheUSDemocratPartyofEngland was, is and always will be to its left.

So the English chose a party to its right in any analysis - NewToriesTheUSRepublicanPartyofEngland.

Typical English illogicality.

Time for another one?

1640 - English Revolution.

Time for another one?

Please Let's Have A Climate Deal!

Please let's have a climate deal and save the world!

How?

How can unemployment = those claiming unemployment benefit?
Not the same thing.

World Exclusive: I Once Had A Paid Job

The world will reel in shock at the revelation that I once had a paid job.
I can't deny it. It is true.
The truth is leaking out: I was a "medical records clerk" at Whipps Cross Hospital in Leytonstone East London for about 5 months in 1990-1991.
So miracles do happen.
I see this as my kind of Non-Military National Service.
I think this job is done by computers now.