The View from Here

I feel cast out in an alternative universe. Observing the ants running around on earth. Scrabbling to (or pretending to) fix the unfixable.

Ireland's economic woes being what they are, billions are now being offered by the IMF to inject some more coin into the broken piggy bank.




Is anybody else struck by the irony of the old man begging beside the bankers on their important, oblivious walk through the streets of Dublin?

The US warns Canada that we are facing the same housing bubble burst that they are continuing to deal with. Well, duh. We never knew.

I've been saying for oh, well over a year now, that Sarah Palin will be the next US President. It seems fitting. It seems right somehow. In that appalling, awful, doom-ridden pall of a nightmare that has descended upon the world. A fitting finale to all that has transpired.

And will Barrack Obama go down as one of the most ineffectual presidents ever?

Did anyone else want to barf as the Bushling ran around with his book launch (with 650,000 copies sold in the first few days) and strutted proudly on to talk shows, waving his breach of the Geneva Convention by authorising horrific torture like a flag?

And Stephen Harper, our prime minister, with the assistance of his appointed Senate (a pork barrel reward system that he promised to end to get elected and of course did not) terminated the climate change bill in another strike against democracy (see also proroguing parliament when things got too sticky for him) with another almighty f*** you to this broken planet.

The only good news I see is so very many people both here and elsewhere turning their backs on the whole sorry mess and striking out recreating their daily living from the ground on up.

Like I've said before, we, the downtrodden, are on our own. Self sustainability and off the grid living should be a priority with any thinking person.

We have just witnessed the greatest transfer of wealth from the peons to the wealthiest few in the history of mankind.

But stop all this nonsense. Don't we have the wedding of the decade to look forward to?

Thanks for cheering us all up there, Wills & Kate!

Satire Blares the Truth (again!)

Boy, I just love "The Onion".

This week's edition has a page devoted to George the Decider outlining his farewell thoughts on his successful presidency. I excerpt this:

It's just gonna be so hard packing up my things and heading off into the sunset come January. I wish I could go on forever giving massive and disastrous tax cuts to the wealthy, taking the country from a surplus to a deficit—nearly $500 billion this year, likely to pass $1 trillion next year, fingers crossed—and just generally doing irreparable damage to the very underpinnings of our economy, but, well, I'm afraid the Constitution says I can't. And not even I can overrule the Constitution. Though Lord knows I tried! Initiating blanket wiretaps without warrants, suspending habeas corpus for prisoners in Guantanamo, infiltrating an unknown number of nonviolent civilian antiwar groups without permission… such wonderful memories. I'm going to cherish them forever.

For more see here.

Howling at the Moon

James Henson

I see the leading climate change scientist of our time James Henson wants to put all the major oil companies on trial for their deceptions and manipulations of climate change data resulting in high crimes and misdemeanours against humanity.It appears that we are beyond the tipping point.

Pope Benedict

In another surreal outburst the Pope has decreed that only the pure of heart can receive communion. If one is divorced, one is not pure of heart. If one is a former member of the Youth Nazis in Germany, one is pure of heart.


Celine Dion

More like a screech at the moon to my ears. (Sorry fans out there!) She has won an award for the worst cover of all time - for screaming AC/DC's You Shook Me All Night Long

George W. Bush

In a downhome and folksy move, The Occupant is considering opening a U.S. office in Iran, a sort of a reachout to the youth of the country endeavour. Iran "sticks out too much", he maintains, now that Iraq is all tidied up and cosy. But he wants it made clear, see, it's not a softening of policy. What a relief!

Mayan King Pakal

Researchers are now saying that the previously held belief of a sudden ending to the Mayan civilization is untrue. They believe that it was a series of disasters and catastrophes that ended the dynasty over a period of perhaps two hundred years. Much like what is happening today, I expect.

Dubya's Secret Farewell Party

This was a serious WTF? when I saw and heard this.

This pathetic cretin shows his true colours joking about Brownie and Scooter and Harriet and Cheney and the destruction of the incriminating documents.

It truly beggars disbelief that he could sink so low with not only the blood of the million and climbing Iraqis on his hands but the dead of Katrina as well. Along with outing Valerie Plame, etc. etc.

It was all just a little old joke to him, see. Worth creating a song for.

It gives off a truly gruesome stink, maybe reminiscent of Nazi Germany? Fascist Italy?

And his slavering sycophants, jumping to their feet in applause? Haven't we seen all this before in other fascist regimes? Then why are the majority of us so silent?

And impeachment is "off the table"?

We are all wearing the blue dress now.

Excuse me while I......

The idiotic cult of the cowboy

And the unfortunate victims.

My heart grieves for the devastated families of these talented students and professors.

I read that you have to be the wizened age of 12 before you can legally buy a gun at the corner mom-and-pop gunshop in Virginia. Thank heavens they're not standard issue for toddlers who might not have the fine hand/eye co-ordination to pick off their play-date buddies which could result in a lot of collateral damage.

What on earth is wrong with these cowboys and their right to bear arms?

Like there are still frontiers to crash and injuns to massacre?

The Shrub re-iterates his Through The Looking Glass World by manfully stating every American has the right to bear the assault weapon of their choice but will be charged if they use it to commit a crime.

I step back a bit from these lunatic ravings and can't imagine them issuing even from the mouth of the poorest president of the poorest third world country.

And then I follow the trail of the bullet casings, ah now let me see, all the way to the NRA!! One of the greatest lobbies of all time. Financing what? Oh wild guess here, the Bush campaign!

Silly me.

A Selective Culture of Life????

Bush Renews Call for 'Culture of Life'
AP - Fri, 13 Apr 2007 11:24:04 -0400 (EDT)
By ANN SANNER
President Bush, at the national Catholic prayer breakfast, stressed his opposition to easing restrictions on federally funded embryonic stem cell research, a reference to a bill he's threatened to veto.

"In our day there is a temptation to manipulate life in ways that do not respect the humanity of the person," Bush said Friday. "When that happens, the most vulnerable among us can be valued for their utility to others instead of their own inherent worth."

The Senate on Wednesday voted 63-34 to pass the measure that it hopes will lead to new medical treatments. The vote, however, fell short of a veto-proof margin needed to enact the law over Bush's objections. The House, which passed similar legislation earlier in the year, is expected to adopt the Senate's version in the weeks ahead.

"We must continue to work for a culture of life where the strong protect the weak and where we recognize in every human life the image of our creator," Bush said.

His brief speech also included a call to Congress to pass immigration reform, a prayer for U.S. troops serving abroad and praise for Catholic schools across America. Later Friday, Bush planned to meet with parochial education leaders and parents at the White House.

The prayer breakfast at a Washington hotel attracted religious leaders, members of Congress, Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Samuel Alito and top government officials. After the president spoke, a female heckler shouted "War criminal! War criminal!" It was unclear whether the president heard her.

Bush, a Methodist, noted that this year's prayer breakfast occurred the Friday after Lent.

"You can eat your bacon in good conscience," he joked.

I have difficulty believing that this man can stand up and stay these things barefaced - with the blood of a quarter of a million (250,000) innocent, helpless Iraqi children on his hands. Does he see the image of God in these too? Or are they infidels?