And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things of [by] many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse... The Newberry Bible: Mark 9:25-26.
Thus John Mark, as the apostle Peter no doubt conveyed to him (for his gospel, i.e. Mark), relays how in her desperation one sought out the One Who had never lost a case and would never fail anyone...who sought Him in their desperate need...whatever that need might happen to be.
And so this blogpost - however belatedly published, though essentially drafted mentally many Sundays ago now - is simply to record both my absolute disgust with the so-called medical fraternity/ establishment of Aotearoa-New Zealand for their heavy-handed tactics with Joe Williams, M.D., and my solidarity with said self-effacing doctor (and apparently former Prime Minister of 'the Pacific Islands')...in Dr Williams' recent conviction before and by the N.Z. Medical Council and subsequent order to pay a large sum in damages...
I also commend both TV3's (Sunday morning show) 'The Hui' and (a Friday edition of) RNZ National's 5 p.m. Checkpoint Show for giving much exposure to this flagrant incidence of heavy-handedness by the 'experts' towards one who dared to do the right thing by any number of severely-eczema-afflicted patients - primarily if not exclusively (youngish) children - and indeed succeeded, I've little doubt, beyond his wildest imaginations...only to be 'had up' *for transgressing the technical letter of New Zealand's health establishment guidelines in the process...
If anything, my title above, alongside the well-known, similar-ish (though admittedly somewhat different) saying of Jesus quoted...pretty much say it all...(for now)...
But trust me, I'm just getting started...
*Interestingly - and appallingly - Williams' remarkable success with ten-odd severe eczema sufferers apparently made not a dime - an iota - of difference to the orthodox medical fraternity - and that, folks, is surely an indictment of the modern-day Western medical establishment if there ever were one...don't ye think?
TO BE CONTINUED...
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
Monday, November 26, 2018
A Gutsy Lady Gives the Untold Story behind Western Abortion Epidemic: Yes, it inevitably leaves traumatic, irreversible scars upon the women involved
All power to the likes of Barbara Hill, who, a little while back, *appeared on RNZ National's Sunday morning major headline as the conveyor, the purveyor of 'bad' - as in highly unwelcome - news: that abortion principally hurts those it's most championed as helping/defending: i.e. women themselves!
Later the same (and/or sometime the following) day it was mentioned that she, alongside a number of others - women in particular, or so I understand - had published a full-page advertisement in New Zealand newspapers (that particular weekend) declaring this selfsame, rather unsettling fact; one moreover so seldom heard or discussed in the on-again, off-again, on-again publicly-aired debate upon the matter. And so for once the state-run kiwi broadcast media has given due credence to the less popular side of a controversial as issue...and for that fact alone they deserve full credit.
This is all for now, but for those still interested in hearing a different - if equally unpopular - take on the subject, I can only invite them to tune in to my other (original) blogsite...and read therein the November 5th blogpost - 'Pope Francis (Jorge Bergoglio) is Right On: ABORTION is indeed the 'Moral Equivalent' of 'Contract Killing'... - look up 'Nuff Said' etc...
*All morning that (Sun)day...three/four/five/six weeks back - the very first item on each hour's head-line news bulletin was that one...mentioning Barbara Hill as having expressed deep/est concern regarding the long/er-range effects upon those women who had at one time or other - not to mention upon multiple occasions - undergone abortions. And that this salient fact needed to be taken into consideration by the parliamentary select committee tasked with reviewing abortion law...once said item reaches/hits the Government's House business agenda (in the not too distant).
Later the same (and/or sometime the following) day it was mentioned that she, alongside a number of others - women in particular, or so I understand - had published a full-page advertisement in New Zealand newspapers (that particular weekend) declaring this selfsame, rather unsettling fact; one moreover so seldom heard or discussed in the on-again, off-again, on-again publicly-aired debate upon the matter. And so for once the state-run kiwi broadcast media has given due credence to the less popular side of a controversial as issue...and for that fact alone they deserve full credit.
This is all for now, but for those still interested in hearing a different - if equally unpopular - take on the subject, I can only invite them to tune in to my other (original) blogsite...and read therein the November 5th blogpost - 'Pope Francis (Jorge Bergoglio) is Right On: ABORTION is indeed the 'Moral Equivalent' of 'Contract Killing'... - look up 'Nuff Said' etc...
*All morning that (Sun)day...three/four/five/six weeks back - the very first item on each hour's head-line news bulletin was that one...mentioning Barbara Hill as having expressed deep/est concern regarding the long/er-range effects upon those women who had at one time or other - not to mention upon multiple occasions - undergone abortions. And that this salient fact needed to be taken into consideration by the parliamentary select committee tasked with reviewing abortion law...once said item reaches/hits the Government's House business agenda (in the not too distant).
Thursday, November 22, 2018
Simply Playing Politics - Or Impelled by one's 'better angels'? The Long-Anticipated Resignation/Dismissal of United States Attorney-General Jeff Sessions
What will it profit a (wo)man to gain the whole world and lose [one's] own soul? Or what can a (wo)man give in exchange for [one's] soul?
So memorably said the Master those many moons ago. And guess what? The truth don't change, folks. It's the same 'yesterday, today and forever'.
Erstwhile US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions (I believe I blogposted about in some detail some considerable time ago) has now admittedly *'long since' received his marching orders from his own erstwhile 'Commander-in-Chief'...and thus and so, following hard upon the heels of the American midterm elections, was asked to submit/tender his resignation from the post...and forthwith got given an early (if much- and long-expected) 'Christmas present'/Thanksgiving Gift: only he himself was the sacrificial victim.
Sessions, despite his well-canvassed and problematic, racist - though non-KKK - past (far as I'm aware; and no, I'm not splitting straws - there's a helluva difference), is of the honourable old school. Yes, perhaps a tad naive - in offering/tendering his resignation (like a lamb to the slaughter) - and then, rather than being reinstated (which he could hardly have realistically expected, surely), being summarily dismissed, sacked, given the sack, by his Boss-in-Chief.
Yes, the dear fellow committed the cardinal political sin of not reading the tea-leaves...but I'd argue that makes him more of a decent and honourable fellow (as a direct correlation); he perhaps 'expected the best' (and hence a more favourable outcome), in the best tradition of those who ever and always - yes, often gullibly - expect the best of others...who themselves often have no such qualms and scruples.
As so many have argued - of those, moreover, who have long backed Trump taking this measure - after saying he'd recuse himself in the Mueller (sp?) investigation, Sessions oughta have tendered his resignation forthwith...sensing he was serving an extremely obtuse and irascible character...who would only ever be satisfied with 100%, obsequious, butt-licking compliance/acquiescence...on all fronts.
Though I've much more to say (already penned) upon this matter, let me conclude for the time being by citing some typical but I would argue sadly misguided and misdirected commentary upon the subject. To wit, those of well-known and longtime CBN Host, **the 700 Club's one-time (1988) wannabe Republican presidential candidate Pat Robertson, who remarked that...the effective role JS was supposed to play/script and narrative he was meant to follow...was (as follows):
He [i.e. Jeff Sessions] was the one meant to do the blocking and the tackling for his/the team (i.e. to defend his leader/'captain' (and thus also team) from their opponents)...he just didn't do it...he recused himself over some very minor (incident)...
Really? No, that's a wholly partisan take on affairs. An attorney-general (at least of a long-established Westminster-type democracy based upon the good traditions of British common law and the Magna Carta etc) is meant - is solemn-bound, in fact - to defend and uphold his nation's constitution...and an American Constitution upholder like PR ought to know that more than anyone.
*And as so often, it's taken me considerable time to post this, though I wrote it out in freehand pretty well the very day the long-expected announcement was confirmed and declared. Procrastination is a terrible taskmaster whenever we let it tyrannize us...as an unfriendly imp bedevilling our footsteps.
**As shown on the weeknightly Shine TV channel (the very day following this pronouncement).
So memorably said the Master those many moons ago. And guess what? The truth don't change, folks. It's the same 'yesterday, today and forever'.
Erstwhile US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions (I believe I blogposted about in some detail some considerable time ago) has now admittedly *'long since' received his marching orders from his own erstwhile 'Commander-in-Chief'...and thus and so, following hard upon the heels of the American midterm elections, was asked to submit/tender his resignation from the post...and forthwith got given an early (if much- and long-expected) 'Christmas present'/Thanksgiving Gift: only he himself was the sacrificial victim.
Sessions, despite his well-canvassed and problematic, racist - though non-KKK - past (far as I'm aware; and no, I'm not splitting straws - there's a helluva difference), is of the honourable old school. Yes, perhaps a tad naive - in offering/tendering his resignation (like a lamb to the slaughter) - and then, rather than being reinstated (which he could hardly have realistically expected, surely), being summarily dismissed, sacked, given the sack, by his Boss-in-Chief.
Yes, the dear fellow committed the cardinal political sin of not reading the tea-leaves...but I'd argue that makes him more of a decent and honourable fellow (as a direct correlation); he perhaps 'expected the best' (and hence a more favourable outcome), in the best tradition of those who ever and always - yes, often gullibly - expect the best of others...who themselves often have no such qualms and scruples.
As so many have argued - of those, moreover, who have long backed Trump taking this measure - after saying he'd recuse himself in the Mueller (sp?) investigation, Sessions oughta have tendered his resignation forthwith...sensing he was serving an extremely obtuse and irascible character...who would only ever be satisfied with 100%, obsequious, butt-licking compliance/acquiescence...on all fronts.
Though I've much more to say (already penned) upon this matter, let me conclude for the time being by citing some typical but I would argue sadly misguided and misdirected commentary upon the subject. To wit, those of well-known and longtime CBN Host, **the 700 Club's one-time (1988) wannabe Republican presidential candidate Pat Robertson, who remarked that...the effective role JS was supposed to play/script and narrative he was meant to follow...was (as follows):
He [i.e. Jeff Sessions] was the one meant to do the blocking and the tackling for his/the team (i.e. to defend his leader/'captain' (and thus also team) from their opponents)...he just didn't do it...he recused himself over some very minor (incident)...
Really? No, that's a wholly partisan take on affairs. An attorney-general (at least of a long-established Westminster-type democracy based upon the good traditions of British common law and the Magna Carta etc) is meant - is solemn-bound, in fact - to defend and uphold his nation's constitution...and an American Constitution upholder like PR ought to know that more than anyone.
*And as so often, it's taken me considerable time to post this, though I wrote it out in freehand pretty well the very day the long-expected announcement was confirmed and declared. Procrastination is a terrible taskmaster whenever we let it tyrannize us...as an unfriendly imp bedevilling our footsteps.
**As shown on the weeknightly Shine TV channel (the very day following this pronouncement).
Confession of a Political Junkie...Torn Betwixt Many and Various Conflicting Perspectives...On a Fairly Ongoing Basis...
A brief afterthought vis-a-vis the American midterm elections...
Though (for quite awhile previous, especially as the Brett Kavanaugh saga burst into full flight) I'd been hoping the Republicans in general would give the Democrats a right proper serve or several...upon the actual day itself I found myself rooting for the Democratic Party...at least/especially in the (540-odd) congressional seats at play...if not necessarily in (all the 33/34) various Senate races...
So we're all tribal when it comes to our politics, however much we kid ourselves or even oftentimes really think otherwise...and so we cheer on the hometown team, whom we at heart support, however flawed...
Though (for quite awhile previous, especially as the Brett Kavanaugh saga burst into full flight) I'd been hoping the Republicans in general would give the Democrats a right proper serve or several...upon the actual day itself I found myself rooting for the Democratic Party...at least/especially in the (540-odd) congressional seats at play...if not necessarily in (all the 33/34) various Senate races...
So we're all tribal when it comes to our politics, however much we kid ourselves or even oftentimes really think otherwise...and so we cheer on the hometown team, whom we at heart support, however flawed...
Sunday, November 18, 2018
Far Better to be Thought a Fool and Keep one's Mouth Closed...Than to Open one's Gob and Remove all Doubt: But 'Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'...
No guessin' who *'one' might be referring to here, is there...? No indeed. (Though I'll freely concede Yours Truly has had his own share of 'foot-in-mouth disease' over the years... .) But where does one even begin vis-a-vis the '**greatest president of all time'?!?!?
So the media have now become "the enemy of the people"? Hey, correct me if I'm off-base somewhere, but didn't a former American president ...who as we all well know, was ultimately impeached...use precisely those very words? Just askin'...
But far more serious, and even ***unforgivable (as so many would reasonably suggest)...is having a go at people (i.e. in Paradise, California) undergoing 'God-awful' tragedies, or nations (France) at the very time of the centennial commemorations of the ghastly 'war to end all wars'. Such is not merely without precedent (by a political leader, let alone one 'leading' the world's most powerful nation) it really is quite beyond normal vocabulary (to effectively and appropriately describe)...
But no, Macron - though appearing to possess the sort of real substance, gravitas and statesmanship past leaders of 'the Republic' have had (despite in my view really only being a media showpony) - is completely wrong to suggest the politician in question ought to be able to reveal the type of "common decency people expect" on such occasions...
...for as the beautiful Abigail said of her husband ****Nabal in the long-ago: "...this scoundrel Nabal...as his name is, so is he: Nabal[Fool] is his name, and folly is with him!"
Or as other biblical writers have expressed things at other times and on differing occasions, one prophet asks: "Can a leopard change its spots (or an Ethiopian the colour of his skin)? Then can you who are accustomed to do evil do good... ."
But in this particular instance the particular individual concerned simply cannot bring blood out of a stone. Or as Jesus put things: Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks...an evil man out of the evil treasure of [of his heart] brings forth evil things." For s/he simply cannot do otherwise (whether American President or not).
*As the dear royals love to phrase things (i.e. by freely utilizing that royal 'one')...
**Admitting that 'the Donald' at least has had the modesty to say he's not superior to one Abe Lincoln...
***Though as a Bible-believing Christian and Christ-follower, only 'the sin against the Holy Spirit' is ultimately unable to be forgiven...throughout eternal ages 'to kingdom come'... . Which this lay theologian, at least, takes as being the never-ending hardening of a person's heart (alongside willing closing of that person's mind) to the winsome, winning voice of God through Himself, ie. His Holy Spirit, convicting that person of the reality of sin, righteousness and judgment to come: that sin is real in everyone's experience, that God's very own righteousness through his Son Jesus Christ is alone able to justify us in the sight of God, and that refusing that precious free gift of righteousness (with God's abundance of grace) will lead inevitably to judgment and condemnation for all rejecters thereof...
For God's Only Son Himself experienced the full wages of sin for every man and woman who has ever lived...and so if we fail to realize the awful, God-forsaken death He once for all died on behalf of each of us...and accordingly do not appropriate the merits thereof for our own selves...we will ultimately be left to bear all the shame of our sin ourselves...and the wages of that sin is indeed death...for time and eternity...for the soul that sinneth, it will surely die - forever, and not live on in endless eternal agony as some have so erroneously taught down through the ages...
****Interestingly, preceded some few hundred years earlier by someone with the reverse letters in his Christian name, the patriarch Jacob's employer and father-in-law Laban, himself a fool of a slightly different variety...
So the media have now become "the enemy of the people"? Hey, correct me if I'm off-base somewhere, but didn't a former American president ...who as we all well know, was ultimately impeached...use precisely those very words? Just askin'...
But far more serious, and even ***unforgivable (as so many would reasonably suggest)...is having a go at people (i.e. in Paradise, California) undergoing 'God-awful' tragedies, or nations (France) at the very time of the centennial commemorations of the ghastly 'war to end all wars'. Such is not merely without precedent (by a political leader, let alone one 'leading' the world's most powerful nation) it really is quite beyond normal vocabulary (to effectively and appropriately describe)...
But no, Macron - though appearing to possess the sort of real substance, gravitas and statesmanship past leaders of 'the Republic' have had (despite in my view really only being a media showpony) - is completely wrong to suggest the politician in question ought to be able to reveal the type of "common decency people expect" on such occasions...
...for as the beautiful Abigail said of her husband ****Nabal in the long-ago: "...this scoundrel Nabal...as his name is, so is he: Nabal[Fool] is his name, and folly is with him!"
Or as other biblical writers have expressed things at other times and on differing occasions, one prophet asks: "Can a leopard change its spots (or an Ethiopian the colour of his skin)? Then can you who are accustomed to do evil do good... ."
But in this particular instance the particular individual concerned simply cannot bring blood out of a stone. Or as Jesus put things: Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks...an evil man out of the evil treasure of [of his heart] brings forth evil things." For s/he simply cannot do otherwise (whether American President or not).
*As the dear royals love to phrase things (i.e. by freely utilizing that royal 'one')...
**Admitting that 'the Donald' at least has had the modesty to say he's not superior to one Abe Lincoln...
***Though as a Bible-believing Christian and Christ-follower, only 'the sin against the Holy Spirit' is ultimately unable to be forgiven...throughout eternal ages 'to kingdom come'... . Which this lay theologian, at least, takes as being the never-ending hardening of a person's heart (alongside willing closing of that person's mind) to the winsome, winning voice of God through Himself, ie. His Holy Spirit, convicting that person of the reality of sin, righteousness and judgment to come: that sin is real in everyone's experience, that God's very own righteousness through his Son Jesus Christ is alone able to justify us in the sight of God, and that refusing that precious free gift of righteousness (with God's abundance of grace) will lead inevitably to judgment and condemnation for all rejecters thereof...
For God's Only Son Himself experienced the full wages of sin for every man and woman who has ever lived...and so if we fail to realize the awful, God-forsaken death He once for all died on behalf of each of us...and accordingly do not appropriate the merits thereof for our own selves...we will ultimately be left to bear all the shame of our sin ourselves...and the wages of that sin is indeed death...for time and eternity...for the soul that sinneth, it will surely die - forever, and not live on in endless eternal agony as some have so erroneously taught down through the ages...
****Interestingly, preceded some few hundred years earlier by someone with the reverse letters in his Christian name, the patriarch Jacob's employer and father-in-law Laban, himself a fool of a slightly different variety...
Friday, November 16, 2018
A Brexit's a Brexit No Matter How Botched? Sometimes others' thoughts - however strictly irrelevant to the subject at hand when first penned - really say it all
'By the [relevant] lights, it was a generous and radical proposal...
But I think that I had subconsciously stipulated that [the relevant party] needed to forget the usual considerations of prudent caution and simply agree, just once, to what I wanted...
When I finally quit...no one seemed surprised...
Looking back, it seems that I was seeking a[n]...excellence to which [the relevant party] is no longer sure she aspires...
My feeble attempts to recall her to her duty - as I saw it - betrayed a fathomless disappointment at the collapse of a cherished ideal...
Perhaps it was a vainglorious and impossible dream - certainly one mocked too often by reality...
This is not a story which reflects much credit on its protagonists. On my part, it is a tale of impatience and a rather hubristic yearning for something bolder and braver...
I never entirely lost faith in [the relevant party]...It is because I desire her mission be more successful that I want her to face the truth...
...if [such and such] is simply the best that...can [be] provide[d] at the moment let that be squarely faced so that something better may promptly take its place...
Though the author, the originator of these words would doubtless be shocked, maybe even horrified, to find his original words - as I said at the outset, bearing no explicit, implicit or other conceivable reference or allusion to the matter of the British Brexit - could be used/employed or construed in such a manner to *describe all too graphically this ever-contentious subject...nevertheless their striking pertinence to that all-consuming topic strikes me as utterly dumbfounding and astonishing...and hence, having rather, even entirely inadvertently stumbled upon them early this morning, I simply repeat them here for your due perusal, consideration, examination and evaluation...
'Nuff said...for now.
*That is, to the matter itself and/or various of the major players and protagonists involved...
**From a 31-some year back ***column - Why I Left The Priesthood - by a one-time politically significant persona here in the Antipodes. ***In the August 18, 1987 edition of 'The Bulletin' (to be precise, and to give due credit where credit is due).
But I think that I had subconsciously stipulated that [the relevant party] needed to forget the usual considerations of prudent caution and simply agree, just once, to what I wanted...
When I finally quit...no one seemed surprised...
Looking back, it seems that I was seeking a[n]...excellence to which [the relevant party] is no longer sure she aspires...
My feeble attempts to recall her to her duty - as I saw it - betrayed a fathomless disappointment at the collapse of a cherished ideal...
Perhaps it was a vainglorious and impossible dream - certainly one mocked too often by reality...
This is not a story which reflects much credit on its protagonists. On my part, it is a tale of impatience and a rather hubristic yearning for something bolder and braver...
I never entirely lost faith in [the relevant party]...It is because I desire her mission be more successful that I want her to face the truth...
...if [such and such] is simply the best that...can [be] provide[d] at the moment let that be squarely faced so that something better may promptly take its place...
Though the author, the originator of these words would doubtless be shocked, maybe even horrified, to find his original words - as I said at the outset, bearing no explicit, implicit or other conceivable reference or allusion to the matter of the British Brexit - could be used/employed or construed in such a manner to *describe all too graphically this ever-contentious subject...nevertheless their striking pertinence to that all-consuming topic strikes me as utterly dumbfounding and astonishing...and hence, having rather, even entirely inadvertently stumbled upon them early this morning, I simply repeat them here for your due perusal, consideration, examination and evaluation...
'Nuff said...for now.
*That is, to the matter itself and/or various of the major players and protagonists involved...
**From a 31-some year back ***column - Why I Left The Priesthood - by a one-time politically significant persona here in the Antipodes. ***In the August 18, 1987 edition of 'The Bulletin' (to be precise, and to give due credit where credit is due).
A Great 'Ole Journalistic Trooper Bites the Dust: The Likes of Brian Priestley Definitely Won't Pass this/our way again...
Let my words about this wordsmith be brief and to the point. As someone who occasionally viewed this *'curmudgeonly but prescient' thinker/commentator (in various TV media contexts) in decades long past, he was worth his (gold bullion) weight in (newspaper) column inches and rows and pages...
Bemoaning the *"lack of intelligent discussion" he feared and fully expected as future technology started to claw its way into Westerners' and others' lives in the mid-to-late-eighties, he likewise realized that *"someone somewhere is looking for an intelligent view of things...
look for it!"
A (in this case, exceedingly wise) cynic...he remained at heart an optimist...ever hoping for better things...
*Credit for the above quotations - gleaned from some scholarly work of Mr Priestley - to those on the Thursday, November 15th 'edition' of the (generally Jim Mora-led) RNZ National Pre-Panel...who moreover informed me that he'd died just the previous week...at the great old age of 92. (Odd that this media junkie heard nary a reference to that fact...till said Panel, that is... .)
Bemoaning the *"lack of intelligent discussion" he feared and fully expected as future technology started to claw its way into Westerners' and others' lives in the mid-to-late-eighties, he likewise realized that *"someone somewhere is looking for an intelligent view of things...
look for it!"
A (in this case, exceedingly wise) cynic...he remained at heart an optimist...ever hoping for better things...
*Credit for the above quotations - gleaned from some scholarly work of Mr Priestley - to those on the Thursday, November 15th 'edition' of the (generally Jim Mora-led) RNZ National Pre-Panel...who moreover informed me that he'd died just the previous week...at the great old age of 92. (Odd that this media junkie heard nary a reference to that fact...till said Panel, that is... .)
A Belated Pike River Re-Entry? Better late than never, folks, I suppose...
So is it simply Government(al) grandstanding - as readily suggested by *many another glib talkback host? Yes, spending the present (New Zealand) Government largesse as if it's going out of fashion - e.g. throwing $36 odd million at this, and **$2-3 billion on that - isn't tantamount to real wisdom, is it...
All the foregoing is correct as - 'for sure' (as an 'ole Aussie buddy might have put it) - but guess what, folks? It's an old-fashioned concept, I well realize, but keeping your political word, sticking to your election promises and pledges and commitments...is the sort of tradition-keeping - 'old-school politics' as it were - that most of us, I'd respectfully suggest (to many and another talkback hosts in particular), would readily welcome a return to...however generally forlorn such a prospect might well be 'in the real world', more's the pity...
*But anyone who knows me - and talkback hosts/programmes - knows there's talkback hosts and talkback hosts...i.e. they differ one from another as ye proverbial chalk and cheese... So to 'blanketly' dismiss any and all such is akin to saying, as so many once (anyhow) did: "I don't watch TV...it's all [rubbish] etc." (Which to my mind, anyhow, is the mark of a superficial sort of person. For technology is most assuredly good or bad entirely depending upon the use or abuse made of it. And there are surely usages falling into either of the above two broad-brush categories... .)
**And yes, the election pledge ***follow-through of splurging without due sense upon a first free year at varsity (and other tertiary institutions) is just such a dumb thing, folks...and the Government, were it really on its toes, would readily 'fess up to a ***rash and extremely unwise promise, and ***speedily resile from it...ipso pronto...
***Yes, I'm - well - aware I've just managed to completely contradict myself...but life is complex, isn't it... . Yes, some promises need to be kept - as the psalmist commended the one 'who swears to his own hurt and does not change'. But most would tend to agree that a good and effective government doesn't have that 'luxury', needing to carefully account for each and every dollar of taxpayers' monies.
All the foregoing is correct as - 'for sure' (as an 'ole Aussie buddy might have put it) - but guess what, folks? It's an old-fashioned concept, I well realize, but keeping your political word, sticking to your election promises and pledges and commitments...is the sort of tradition-keeping - 'old-school politics' as it were - that most of us, I'd respectfully suggest (to many and another talkback hosts in particular), would readily welcome a return to...however generally forlorn such a prospect might well be 'in the real world', more's the pity...
*But anyone who knows me - and talkback hosts/programmes - knows there's talkback hosts and talkback hosts...i.e. they differ one from another as ye proverbial chalk and cheese... So to 'blanketly' dismiss any and all such is akin to saying, as so many once (anyhow) did: "I don't watch TV...it's all [rubbish] etc." (Which to my mind, anyhow, is the mark of a superficial sort of person. For technology is most assuredly good or bad entirely depending upon the use or abuse made of it. And there are surely usages falling into either of the above two broad-brush categories... .)
**And yes, the election pledge ***follow-through of splurging without due sense upon a first free year at varsity (and other tertiary institutions) is just such a dumb thing, folks...and the Government, were it really on its toes, would readily 'fess up to a ***rash and extremely unwise promise, and ***speedily resile from it...ipso pronto...
***Yes, I'm - well - aware I've just managed to completely contradict myself...but life is complex, isn't it... . Yes, some promises need to be kept - as the psalmist commended the one 'who swears to his own hurt and does not change'. But most would tend to agree that a good and effective government doesn't have that 'luxury', needing to carefully account for each and every dollar of taxpayers' monies.
Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Stan the man Lee has died: "Au Revoir" to Marveldom's creator-in-chief...
Marvel's editor, creator and *co-creator of such great comic titles as...
The Avengers...Daredevil...Ironman...The Defenders...Doctor Strange...Thor...Captain America.
As well as...Spiderman...Fantastic Four...The Incredible Hulk...Silver Surfer...
These were the titles **we especially traded in. exchanged and ordered from distant shores...c/o Montreal, Canadian Robert Crestohl (sp?) in particular...but others that we sporadically purchased included Conan the Barbarian...Marvel-Two-in-One...Marvel Tales...The ManThing...Tales of Suspense...Ghost-Rider...X-Men...
*Apparently an issue in later years as lawsuits were filed and contested over various creative copyright issues (if my understanding is correct).
**I.e myself and a sibling of mine...whose titles were the latter (four), mine the former (seven).
The Avengers...Daredevil...Ironman...The Defenders...Doctor Strange...Thor...Captain America.
As well as...Spiderman...Fantastic Four...The Incredible Hulk...Silver Surfer...
These were the titles **we especially traded in. exchanged and ordered from distant shores...c/o Montreal, Canadian Robert Crestohl (sp?) in particular...but others that we sporadically purchased included Conan the Barbarian...Marvel-Two-in-One...Marvel Tales...The ManThing...Tales of Suspense...Ghost-Rider...X-Men...
*Apparently an issue in later years as lawsuits were filed and contested over various creative copyright issues (if my understanding is correct).
**I.e myself and a sibling of mine...whose titles were the latter (four), mine the former (seven).
Monday, November 12, 2018
Hey, They've Reconsidered, Reassessed, and Relented: Government Makes Welcome Backdown On Scope of Institutional Abuse Inquiry: So Let's Give 'Em A Bouquet Not a Brickbat...or so I initially thought!
Yes, it's always best - with the benefit of hindsight - to get things right the first time around...yet as we all - ought to - know, that's not always the way things turn out 'in the real world'. No indeed. And so I reckon it's indeed 'better (to be) late than never' (about most things), rather than incessantly criticize folk, including governments, because they - for whatever reason (legitimate or otherwise) - seem to do things wrong 'from the get go' (as some like to put it).
Yes, speaking as someone who wrote a staunch (or several) blogpost/s quite awhile ago on this very matter, and moreover urging/pleading for just such a re-focus, I'm glad they're - however belatedly - now doing so...though I'm hardly conceited enough to - remotely- suppose it could have anything at all to do with my own 'agitations' thereupon. In all realism they've doubtless neither heard of *my blogsite nor would have a whole lot of use for it if they did (on a whole host of scores and levels!)
So 'good on the Government' for relenting, for reconsidering the scope, the ambit of their developing inquiry into institutional sexual et al abuse (of kids in care), now of course including children who were in the care of private - such as church-run - institutions as well as those solely in state care. As somebody involved with Oranga Tamariki (on RNZ National's 5 p.m. Checkpoint Programme with Lisa Owen this eve) aptly summed it up: "Do it once and do it right."
Yes, however long it takes...whether one year or four years... . As Jacinda Ardern might put it:"Let's do it, folks!"
*Though I did also 'make (impassioned) representations' about the equally sorry (and to my way of thinking, quite shameful) jettisoning of what was the **Stand Children's Roxburgh Service (for traumatized, ***PTSD kids) around the same time...and, moreover, emailed a copy thereof to the two relevant ministers involved (in said decision).
**Or whatever it's fandangled ****nomenclature actually was!
***Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
****Just trying to be smart myself, 'nomenclature' of course refers to names, more precisely 'a system of names: terminology: a list of names: mode of naming' (according to my ever trusty Chambers Concise Dictionary (Cambridge, 1988).
All-too-necessary Postscript:
As per usual (or rather lately, it would seem), I've spoken way too soon. Apparently, at least according to certain interested groups and individuals, many folk subjected to abuse (who fall between the cracks as it were, neither fitting perfectly into state-run outfits and/or faith-based ones), look likely/set to continue to be ignored (by said enquiry).
Moreover - and perhaps even more significantly - vis-a-vis the Government's proposed changes to its commission of inquiry into historic sexual (and other institutional) abuse, it's only, note well, only, been extended to include abuse alleged at faith-based institutions (in addition to that alleged in state-run institutions). As Minister of Children (personally overseeing said commission, alongside Prime Minister Ardern) Tracey Martin herself freely conceded the other night, other groups will not be considered.
But surely religious-based abuse and state-based abuse do not constitute all abuse that's occurred? Of course not, not by a very long stretch of the imagination...or even faculties of everyday reason...
They're sporting outfits as well, just for starters...(though it's presently escaped my recollection the list of other assorted groups mentioned by questioning media at the special news conference the other day, institutions that not only could've, but arguably should've been included in the commission's ambit or remit).
For Minister Martin to effectively shrug that huge discrepancy off rather all too conveniently into the too hard basket as if it would all have been simply too difficult by half is frankly not good enough. For said inquiry is supposed to be extensive and comprehensive, and omitting any significant class of sufferers simply downplays and sidelines and otherwise devalues those people and their life-altering experiences of trauma. Indeed it raises more questions than it attempts to answer... .
For if a certain type of individual - i.e. an inmate/ward of the state and/or a religious institution - is more important and significant in terms of the duty of care of the state towards them, then what are we really saying (to them and to our community-at-large)? I mean, really?
No-no, folks, as I said earlier - quoting someone involved in selfsame discussion - we need to 'do it once and do it right'! Nuff said!
Yes, speaking as someone who wrote a staunch (or several) blogpost/s quite awhile ago on this very matter, and moreover urging/pleading for just such a re-focus, I'm glad they're - however belatedly - now doing so...though I'm hardly conceited enough to - remotely- suppose it could have anything at all to do with my own 'agitations' thereupon. In all realism they've doubtless neither heard of *my blogsite nor would have a whole lot of use for it if they did (on a whole host of scores and levels!)
So 'good on the Government' for relenting, for reconsidering the scope, the ambit of their developing inquiry into institutional sexual et al abuse (of kids in care), now of course including children who were in the care of private - such as church-run - institutions as well as those solely in state care. As somebody involved with Oranga Tamariki (on RNZ National's 5 p.m. Checkpoint Programme with Lisa Owen this eve) aptly summed it up: "Do it once and do it right."
Yes, however long it takes...whether one year or four years... . As Jacinda Ardern might put it:"Let's do it, folks!"
*Though I did also 'make (impassioned) representations' about the equally sorry (and to my way of thinking, quite shameful) jettisoning of what was the **Stand Children's Roxburgh Service (for traumatized, ***PTSD kids) around the same time...and, moreover, emailed a copy thereof to the two relevant ministers involved (in said decision).
**Or whatever it's fandangled ****nomenclature actually was!
***Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
****Just trying to be smart myself, 'nomenclature' of course refers to names, more precisely 'a system of names: terminology: a list of names: mode of naming' (according to my ever trusty Chambers Concise Dictionary (Cambridge, 1988).
All-too-necessary Postscript:
As per usual (or rather lately, it would seem), I've spoken way too soon. Apparently, at least according to certain interested groups and individuals, many folk subjected to abuse (who fall between the cracks as it were, neither fitting perfectly into state-run outfits and/or faith-based ones), look likely/set to continue to be ignored (by said enquiry).
Moreover - and perhaps even more significantly - vis-a-vis the Government's proposed changes to its commission of inquiry into historic sexual (and other institutional) abuse, it's only, note well, only, been extended to include abuse alleged at faith-based institutions (in addition to that alleged in state-run institutions). As Minister of Children (personally overseeing said commission, alongside Prime Minister Ardern) Tracey Martin herself freely conceded the other night, other groups will not be considered.
But surely religious-based abuse and state-based abuse do not constitute all abuse that's occurred? Of course not, not by a very long stretch of the imagination...or even faculties of everyday reason...
They're sporting outfits as well, just for starters...(though it's presently escaped my recollection the list of other assorted groups mentioned by questioning media at the special news conference the other day, institutions that not only could've, but arguably should've been included in the commission's ambit or remit).
For Minister Martin to effectively shrug that huge discrepancy off rather all too conveniently into the too hard basket as if it would all have been simply too difficult by half is frankly not good enough. For said inquiry is supposed to be extensive and comprehensive, and omitting any significant class of sufferers simply downplays and sidelines and otherwise devalues those people and their life-altering experiences of trauma. Indeed it raises more questions than it attempts to answer... .
For if a certain type of individual - i.e. an inmate/ward of the state and/or a religious institution - is more important and significant in terms of the duty of care of the state towards them, then what are we really saying (to them and to our community-at-large)? I mean, really?
No-no, folks, as I said earlier - quoting someone involved in selfsame discussion - we need to 'do it once and do it right'! Nuff said!
Sunday, November 11, 2018
Better to Have Quit While You Were Ahead: The Once-in-a-lifetime Opportunity that Germany's soon-to-depart leader has let slip through her hands
Yes, the position much-coveted by New Zealand's former Prime Minister, Helen Clark - the Secretaryship of the United Nations - could've, I contend would've - easily fallen into the grasp of Angela Merkel awhile ago had she then seen and seized her opportunity (while she had it).
Ms Clark didn't lose the contest because she was a woman, or even because she didn't happen to hail from one of the former Eastern Bloc nations, though it was mentioned early on that that was an important consideration for whoever was ultimately s/elected. Yet despite that, as we soon enough heard, the former Portuguese PM was appointed; or another 'pale, stale and male' individual, as some folk these days might uncharitably characterize him...
Nevertheless, someone hailing from a *one-time Eastern European nation, of the female gender, and a (relatively) long-serving, **popular and well-respected - nationally, European-wide and globally - leader of Angela Merkel's ilk would've won hands down; it wouldn't even have been a real contest, I reckon... .
As someone once famously said, taking a river (or suchlike) at full, flood-tide, will inevitably sweep one on to victory...whereas that moment, unrecognized and unrealized, will vanish, never to return.
Speaking as one well familiar with such (personal) stuff ups, you understand!
*For those unaware - as I long was - Chancellor Merkel grew up in what was then Eastern Germany.
**Though she certainly covers all these (three) bases, I'm not suggesting my own support for her (or her policies, especially her (Government's) million-person refugee resettlement program, which has landed her in so much political hot water, and even led to her premature exiting the political scene); I'm simply noting that Ms Merkel personally has garnered much acclaim both at home and abroad.
Ms Clark didn't lose the contest because she was a woman, or even because she didn't happen to hail from one of the former Eastern Bloc nations, though it was mentioned early on that that was an important consideration for whoever was ultimately s/elected. Yet despite that, as we soon enough heard, the former Portuguese PM was appointed; or another 'pale, stale and male' individual, as some folk these days might uncharitably characterize him...
Nevertheless, someone hailing from a *one-time Eastern European nation, of the female gender, and a (relatively) long-serving, **popular and well-respected - nationally, European-wide and globally - leader of Angela Merkel's ilk would've won hands down; it wouldn't even have been a real contest, I reckon... .
As someone once famously said, taking a river (or suchlike) at full, flood-tide, will inevitably sweep one on to victory...whereas that moment, unrecognized and unrealized, will vanish, never to return.
Speaking as one well familiar with such (personal) stuff ups, you understand!
*For those unaware - as I long was - Chancellor Merkel grew up in what was then Eastern Germany.
**Though she certainly covers all these (three) bases, I'm not suggesting my own support for her (or her policies, especially her (Government's) million-person refugee resettlement program, which has landed her in so much political hot water, and even led to her premature exiting the political scene); I'm simply noting that Ms Merkel personally has garnered much acclaim both at home and abroad.
Armistice Day...Today's Centennial 'Celebrations'
So what's to celebrate? Wasn't this supposedly 'the war to end all wars'? However, ever since, the war that has been dubbed 'a great big family argument' has seemingly but been the precursor to an endless succession of fiercer and bloodier and infinitely more gruesome wars, conducted, meanwhile, with a greater and greater degree of sophistication and military prowess...
Yep, that's 'progress' for you!
Yep, that's 'progress' for you!
This Guy Ain't No Typical, Time-serving Political Prat: Minister of Housing (and Transport) Phil Twyford
Much in the news these days, as the Labour-led Government's housing and transport reforms gather pace, is the hugely underrated Phil Twyford... . Bagged incessantly by 'the Hosk' et al (and media generally), and given short shrift by the Opposition (i.e. National Party), personally (as a frequent follower of 'the House' - and politics, NZ Inc., more generally) I beg to differ: hey, I like this guy!
Out of the (*parliamentary) blocks in a veritable canter, the man answers whatever questions are put to him in a forthright, straightforward manner, without all the usual obfuscation and b/s deflecting so many - on both aisles of the floor (of the House) - have perfected to a seeming art form. And, what's more, he does so with suitable gusto and passion - yes, as if he actually believes what he is saying!
No wilting lily, no shrinking violet, this one; no, anything but! As for the 'substance' of the man, i.e. his actual, feet-on-the-ground, follow through or performance as a minister, I'm not qualified to judge. However, from a layman's perspective, and despite all the endless ridiculing, demeaning and otherwise assorted 'pillorying' of the 'Honourable member' - including regularly-reiterated claims that the changes he's instituting are by and large meaningless re-bureaucratization - I again respectfully choose to differ.
Perhaps, as already alluded to, it's the style of the fellow I most enjoy/appreciate, but isn't it refreshing to see a politician not only knowledgeable about his portfolio but up to speed with all its nuances, subtleties and intricate complexities, who's, more's the point, willing to go in - all guns blazing - and actually effect some real change?; change that's relevant to the lives of the average Joe and Jane Bloggs out there 'in the real world', as politicians never forget reminding us about.
To get 'down and dirty' thereabouts, and to do something to make a substantial difference (in peoples' everyday lives). Something which his recently-progressing residential tenancies changes are sure to effect. All power to such politicians...who aren't just there to present us a pretty face.
*During the regular 'Question Time' at the start of each day's broadcast parliamentary proceedings.
Out of the (*parliamentary) blocks in a veritable canter, the man answers whatever questions are put to him in a forthright, straightforward manner, without all the usual obfuscation and b/s deflecting so many - on both aisles of the floor (of the House) - have perfected to a seeming art form. And, what's more, he does so with suitable gusto and passion - yes, as if he actually believes what he is saying!
No wilting lily, no shrinking violet, this one; no, anything but! As for the 'substance' of the man, i.e. his actual, feet-on-the-ground, follow through or performance as a minister, I'm not qualified to judge. However, from a layman's perspective, and despite all the endless ridiculing, demeaning and otherwise assorted 'pillorying' of the 'Honourable member' - including regularly-reiterated claims that the changes he's instituting are by and large meaningless re-bureaucratization - I again respectfully choose to differ.
Perhaps, as already alluded to, it's the style of the fellow I most enjoy/appreciate, but isn't it refreshing to see a politician not only knowledgeable about his portfolio but up to speed with all its nuances, subtleties and intricate complexities, who's, more's the point, willing to go in - all guns blazing - and actually effect some real change?; change that's relevant to the lives of the average Joe and Jane Bloggs out there 'in the real world', as politicians never forget reminding us about.
To get 'down and dirty' thereabouts, and to do something to make a substantial difference (in peoples' everyday lives). Something which his recently-progressing residential tenancies changes are sure to effect. All power to such politicians...who aren't just there to present us a pretty face.
*During the regular 'Question Time' at the start of each day's broadcast parliamentary proceedings.
Friday, November 9, 2018
Postscript Vis-a-vis Aasiya Noreen (Asia Bibi): Wishing her and all hers Angelic Protection and All Godspeed
Well, as events have moved on and the days have passed, we see how things're now transpiring in Pakistan...-and folks, it ain't a particularly pretty picture; but at least it's not judgment unmixed with mercy...thus far, anyhow...
But shame on Pakistan's new Prime Minister, one-time international cricket star/Pakistani captain Imran Khan...for responding to mob pressure (the three-some days of sitdown strikes and street protests throughout the land) and thus achieving an effective 'lose-lose' result for all concerned...
To (attempt to) compel Aasiya Noreen and family to remain in the country whilst an horrific death threat from/by ten million odd of her/their fellow citizenry hangs over her/their head/s like the fabled Sword of Damocles...is a very cruel thing indeed...
That P.M. Khan is not willing - doesn't have enough moral fibre in his bones...as would an Indira Gandhi (or a Golda Meir, *for that matter) - to stand up and 'call their bluff' (though sadly the vast majority are doubtless not kidding, but are deadly in earnest, or rather in deadly earnest or purpose), yes, even at the risk of his own life (yes, some things really do matter more than one's very life even), is a sad commentary on the present-day moral vacuum in positions of leadership worldwide ...and especially in staunchly Islamic lands (like Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, the Middle East ...just for starters...).
And no, I don't blame Aasiya's (ultimately successful) lawyer for fleeing the country...and I hope (BBC etc) reports (today) are true that she - and her family - have managed to now as well...-and good on that Government minister who's vowed to defend her and her people if they do remain in the land...though I'd suggest he too (and numerous others involved, such as the relevant judges) depart ipso pronto as well...for their very lives may well depend upon it...
*Yes, there were female leaders of a previous generation (or several), and they were ones - much like Margaret Thatcher (whatever one thought of her policies or personality) - who had a certain steel in their bones...and who knew the meaning of decisiveness and had true, deep convictions...**even if they almost cost them their lives...or, in Gandhi's case, did see her (and her son Rajiv, down the track) lose her life ultimately for that sterling character/those inimitable moral qualities...
**But arguably the roll call of history is ***almost endless when it comes to great people, especially political and religious leaders, prophets and true saints...cut down - usually in their very prime - by the assassin's pistol/bullet...for those lacking the force of good argument ever and always resort - in the final analysis - to a weapon that will thereafter forever seek to silence their fiercest and ablest critics/foes. But they forget or fail to realize that these moral giants 'being dead, yet speak'...
...into subsequent, succeeding generations, often for time and memorial...
***A 'Beginner's List/Roll of Honour would have to include Socrates...Indira Gandhi...Mahatma Gandhi...Martin Luther King...Malcolm X (as a transformed individual)...Robert Kennedy...'JFK'...
...and a historical roll-call of saints and martyrs and witnesses for Jesus innumerable...towering head and shoulders above all others being Jesus the Christ, the Co-Creator and Saviour of the World.
But shame on Pakistan's new Prime Minister, one-time international cricket star/Pakistani captain Imran Khan...for responding to mob pressure (the three-some days of sitdown strikes and street protests throughout the land) and thus achieving an effective 'lose-lose' result for all concerned...
To (attempt to) compel Aasiya Noreen and family to remain in the country whilst an horrific death threat from/by ten million odd of her/their fellow citizenry hangs over her/their head/s like the fabled Sword of Damocles...is a very cruel thing indeed...
That P.M. Khan is not willing - doesn't have enough moral fibre in his bones...as would an Indira Gandhi (or a Golda Meir, *for that matter) - to stand up and 'call their bluff' (though sadly the vast majority are doubtless not kidding, but are deadly in earnest, or rather in deadly earnest or purpose), yes, even at the risk of his own life (yes, some things really do matter more than one's very life even), is a sad commentary on the present-day moral vacuum in positions of leadership worldwide ...and especially in staunchly Islamic lands (like Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, the Middle East ...just for starters...).
And no, I don't blame Aasiya's (ultimately successful) lawyer for fleeing the country...and I hope (BBC etc) reports (today) are true that she - and her family - have managed to now as well...-and good on that Government minister who's vowed to defend her and her people if they do remain in the land...though I'd suggest he too (and numerous others involved, such as the relevant judges) depart ipso pronto as well...for their very lives may well depend upon it...
*Yes, there were female leaders of a previous generation (or several), and they were ones - much like Margaret Thatcher (whatever one thought of her policies or personality) - who had a certain steel in their bones...and who knew the meaning of decisiveness and had true, deep convictions...**even if they almost cost them their lives...or, in Gandhi's case, did see her (and her son Rajiv, down the track) lose her life ultimately for that sterling character/those inimitable moral qualities...
**But arguably the roll call of history is ***almost endless when it comes to great people, especially political and religious leaders, prophets and true saints...cut down - usually in their very prime - by the assassin's pistol/bullet...for those lacking the force of good argument ever and always resort - in the final analysis - to a weapon that will thereafter forever seek to silence their fiercest and ablest critics/foes. But they forget or fail to realize that these moral giants 'being dead, yet speak'...
...into subsequent, succeeding generations, often for time and memorial...
***A 'Beginner's List/Roll of Honour would have to include Socrates...Indira Gandhi...Mahatma Gandhi...Martin Luther King...Malcolm X (as a transformed individual)...Robert Kennedy...'JFK'...
...and a historical roll-call of saints and martyrs and witnesses for Jesus innumerable...towering head and shoulders above all others being Jesus the Christ, the Co-Creator and Saviour of the World.
It's About (i.e. long past) Time: Canadian Apology to WW11 Jewish Refugees at least Better Late than Never
And their fellow Western nations (such as New Zealand, and I *believe Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America) should forthwith follow suit...and do the selfsame...ipso pronto!
*First 'discovered' a couple decades past at a Children's Holocaust Memorial (at what was then the Early Settlers Museum) in my hometown of Dunedin, New Zealand. I.e. at said exhibit (with numerous photographs of such children refused entry to our 'civilized' countries, I believe the kids' photos were) I learnt for the first time in my life that we Westerners were not as lily white in our own oft-celebrated response/approach to the Nazis and their dastardly deeds in Europe as has been so often assumed. No indeed!
And quite frankly, such a standing record of our refusal to permit the immigration of people subjected to such unimaginable (if now well-chronicled) horrors simply beggars belief...of any half-humane soul, anyhow...irrespective of the likelihood that at that time (throughout the nineteen-thirties, that is)
many if not the great, overwhelming majority of 'us' had little idea of just how dreadfully Jews throughout Europe were being treated...for our abject ignorance was absolutely no real excuse.
For 'we' could have known/found out just what was occurring...but chose instead to bury our heads in ye proverbial sand. Shame on us...and credit to the Canadians - for at least acknowledging 'we' did wrong. As Jesus Himself so aptly put matters, whatsoever [we] didn't do to one of the least of these, [we] did not do to [i.e. for] Him. That was/is the verdict of the Master Himself...and He made/ makes no mistakes...whatsoever!
*First 'discovered' a couple decades past at a Children's Holocaust Memorial (at what was then the Early Settlers Museum) in my hometown of Dunedin, New Zealand. I.e. at said exhibit (with numerous photographs of such children refused entry to our 'civilized' countries, I believe the kids' photos were) I learnt for the first time in my life that we Westerners were not as lily white in our own oft-celebrated response/approach to the Nazis and their dastardly deeds in Europe as has been so often assumed. No indeed!
And quite frankly, such a standing record of our refusal to permit the immigration of people subjected to such unimaginable (if now well-chronicled) horrors simply beggars belief...of any half-humane soul, anyhow...irrespective of the likelihood that at that time (throughout the nineteen-thirties, that is)
many if not the great, overwhelming majority of 'us' had little idea of just how dreadfully Jews throughout Europe were being treated...for our abject ignorance was absolutely no real excuse.
For 'we' could have known/found out just what was occurring...but chose instead to bury our heads in ye proverbial sand. Shame on us...and credit to the Canadians - for at least acknowledging 'we' did wrong. As Jesus Himself so aptly put matters, whatsoever [we] didn't do to one of the least of these, [we] did not do to [i.e. for] Him. That was/is the verdict of the Master Himself...and He made/ makes no mistakes...whatsoever!
Thursday, November 8, 2018
So Why Did the Midterm U S Elections Transpire Quite the Way they Ultimately Did?
Again, putting on my well-worn hat as an *amateur psephologist - i.e. one who is involved (in a scholarly fashion, naturally enough) in the **'sociological and statistical study of election results and trends' - let me give a logical follow-up to yesterdays' blogpost: that is, to my own assessment/ 'prognostications' vis-a-vis yesterday's results: i.e. that newly-energized (political) bases/ constituencies were likely to lead to sizeable victories - in traditional strongholds - for both sides (of America's essential two-party political divide).
The Democrats in Colorado "winning a clean sweep...outperforming their wildest imaginings", according to regular RNZ National Washington correspondent Simon Marks specifically fulfilled one small part of my predictions, as did the absolute trouncing (in the House of Representatives only, mind you!) that Trump (and his agenda) effectively received in returning-to-the-fold ***Pennsylvania, and especially Virginia. Even, surprisingly enough, Trumpian West Virginia was far from a cinch in the Republicans' fold. Although neighbouring Ohio seemed to buck that trend, reaffirming its longtime status as the bastion of traditional Americanism.
So why did things transpire quite like they did yesterday - bearing in mind the lines of waiting voters were so long 'out West' that vote counting was extended in various places (well past the usual, NZ time, voting 'cutoff')? Just a couple words/reasons/explanations, folks...
Trump...Trump...Trump - and threatened healthcare 'entitlements' (for the Democrat upsurge).
The Kavanaugh Effect...plus south-of-the-border illegal immigration (for the Republicans).
Essentially the U S Senate went the one way (in a strongly pro-Republican direction - in the circumstances), whereas the House of Representatives set strongly in the ******'opposite' direction.
And why should that be? I really need not spell it out, it should be glaringly obvious as to anyone who ain't been living in ye proverbial cave over recent days and weeks and months; i.e. the Senate alone considers/authorizes/ultimately approves Supreme Court judicial nominations...and so, let's just say, the idea of 'guilty till proven innocent' simply (and perfectly understandably) doesn't - and of course shouldn't - go down well with anyone brought up upon the fundamental, time-honoured tenet of being innocent till proven guilty...and hence the reaction that ultimately set in bigtime for those who - naturally - felt that this fundamental principle of Western law (based upon the British common law from the time of the Magna Carta on) was not being adhered to - indeed, was essentially being jettisoned in no uncertain terms - in the well-canvassed Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings.
And, on the other hand, people tend to like their new, Obama-era healthcare 'entitlements'. And, yes, there's that 'little matter' of the current occupant of the Oval Office...as if you hadn't heard...
*I did after all attain a minor in Political Studies/Science (in 2005), after returning as a mature student following a sixteen-year hiatus from varsity study; although my English major, I would argue, was as much if not even more political in its ideologically-constrained and saturated content. And having carefully followed American politics since my middle childhood (while Nixon, Watergate and Kissinger were household names), and eventually standing myself as an independent in 2008, I do reckon I've some basis of credibility for that about which I speak (and so readily pontificate!)
**Chambers Concise Dictionary (Cambridge, 1988).
***Obviously President Trump's belated and unfortunate visit (to provide solace et al after the recent Jewish synagogue massacre) almost immediately pre-election hardly helped matters one whit!
****Those four essential reasons (bar Trump and *****'the Kavanaugh Effect') could've been easily gleaned from follow-up polling data breakdowns (as so superbly displayed in the live ABC TV coverage), shown here (in NZ) upon Freeview's 'channel 13' (channel 10 at our place).
*****More on this to come (in a brief follow-up blogpost, itself majorly related to one I've been posting upon my other blogsite over recent days)...
******If one accepts the 'common wisdom' that the American Republican Party and their Democratic party counterparts are really all that ideologically opposed...in a real sense.
The Democrats in Colorado "winning a clean sweep...outperforming their wildest imaginings", according to regular RNZ National Washington correspondent Simon Marks specifically fulfilled one small part of my predictions, as did the absolute trouncing (in the House of Representatives only, mind you!) that Trump (and his agenda) effectively received in returning-to-the-fold ***Pennsylvania, and especially Virginia. Even, surprisingly enough, Trumpian West Virginia was far from a cinch in the Republicans' fold. Although neighbouring Ohio seemed to buck that trend, reaffirming its longtime status as the bastion of traditional Americanism.
So why did things transpire quite like they did yesterday - bearing in mind the lines of waiting voters were so long 'out West' that vote counting was extended in various places (well past the usual, NZ time, voting 'cutoff')? Just a couple words/reasons/explanations, folks...
Trump...Trump...Trump - and threatened healthcare 'entitlements' (for the Democrat upsurge).
The Kavanaugh Effect...plus south-of-the-border illegal immigration (for the Republicans).
Essentially the U S Senate went the one way (in a strongly pro-Republican direction - in the circumstances), whereas the House of Representatives set strongly in the ******'opposite' direction.
And why should that be? I really need not spell it out, it should be glaringly obvious as to anyone who ain't been living in ye proverbial cave over recent days and weeks and months; i.e. the Senate alone considers/authorizes/ultimately approves Supreme Court judicial nominations...and so, let's just say, the idea of 'guilty till proven innocent' simply (and perfectly understandably) doesn't - and of course shouldn't - go down well with anyone brought up upon the fundamental, time-honoured tenet of being innocent till proven guilty...and hence the reaction that ultimately set in bigtime for those who - naturally - felt that this fundamental principle of Western law (based upon the British common law from the time of the Magna Carta on) was not being adhered to - indeed, was essentially being jettisoned in no uncertain terms - in the well-canvassed Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings.
And, on the other hand, people tend to like their new, Obama-era healthcare 'entitlements'. And, yes, there's that 'little matter' of the current occupant of the Oval Office...as if you hadn't heard...
*I did after all attain a minor in Political Studies/Science (in 2005), after returning as a mature student following a sixteen-year hiatus from varsity study; although my English major, I would argue, was as much if not even more political in its ideologically-constrained and saturated content. And having carefully followed American politics since my middle childhood (while Nixon, Watergate and Kissinger were household names), and eventually standing myself as an independent in 2008, I do reckon I've some basis of credibility for that about which I speak (and so readily pontificate!)
**Chambers Concise Dictionary (Cambridge, 1988).
***Obviously President Trump's belated and unfortunate visit (to provide solace et al after the recent Jewish synagogue massacre) almost immediately pre-election hardly helped matters one whit!
****Those four essential reasons (bar Trump and *****'the Kavanaugh Effect') could've been easily gleaned from follow-up polling data breakdowns (as so superbly displayed in the live ABC TV coverage), shown here (in NZ) upon Freeview's 'channel 13' (channel 10 at our place).
*****More on this to come (in a brief follow-up blogpost, itself majorly related to one I've been posting upon my other blogsite over recent days)...
******If one accepts the 'common wisdom' that the American Republican Party and their Democratic party counterparts are really all that ideologically opposed...in a real sense.
A Republican 'Kemp' who's dragged that once highly-esteemed Republican Party name into and through the proverbial mud...and dug a deeply-laden trench therein
Just to elucidate very briefly upon a much-watched contest in the Deep South (Georgia), whose result now seems all but certain, yet has nevertheless been left up in the air by a candidate's refusal to concede on election night...
Though Stacey Abrams - on the surface, to all appearances - appears to bear all the hallmarks of what we've all come to know through our own fraught life-experiences as 'a sore loser', appearances as we all well know can at times be awfully deceiving. And, clearly, having bothered to say that, I'm strongly intimating that this is one of those times...
And most assuredly it is. For if there was EVER what has traditionally been known as a
'conflict of interest' in a candidacy, THIS IS IT...with spades. Reflecting, if on a far less significant scale, the now ever-infamous then Floridian Secretary of State Kathleen Harris from Florida's equally-infamous and all-determining 2000 presidential election contest/counting/result, Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp's effective meddling with the ballot - to wit the illegal, state-sanctioned striking off as invalid many thousands of potential votes...before they were even counted (through traditional southern disenfranchisement tactics of black American voters)...-
...means that he should have been - so should now be (a little late in the piece, obviously) automatically disqualified from the contest...or, having now been (effectively) all but elected, should be impeached (i.e. removed from his position) and forced, without further ado, to account for his illegal conduct, irrespective of whether he then is allowed to contest an additional run-off vote (as the Abrams' campaign is calling for). But I see it as unlikely a run-off election has already been triggered, as Stacey Abrams is apparently asserting, since that would surely only be necessitated by Kemp achieving less than half the votes, and he clearly has thus far managed a whole lot more than that...
*I refer of course to Jack Kemp, a Republican politician quite simply without peer in recent United States history, who died nine years ago and will be well-nigh impossible to ever replace.
Though Stacey Abrams - on the surface, to all appearances - appears to bear all the hallmarks of what we've all come to know through our own fraught life-experiences as 'a sore loser', appearances as we all well know can at times be awfully deceiving. And, clearly, having bothered to say that, I'm strongly intimating that this is one of those times...
And most assuredly it is. For if there was EVER what has traditionally been known as a
'conflict of interest' in a candidacy, THIS IS IT...with spades. Reflecting, if on a far less significant scale, the now ever-infamous then Floridian Secretary of State Kathleen Harris from Florida's equally-infamous and all-determining 2000 presidential election contest/counting/result, Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp's effective meddling with the ballot - to wit the illegal, state-sanctioned striking off as invalid many thousands of potential votes...before they were even counted (through traditional southern disenfranchisement tactics of black American voters)...-
...means that he should have been - so should now be (a little late in the piece, obviously) automatically disqualified from the contest...or, having now been (effectively) all but elected, should be impeached (i.e. removed from his position) and forced, without further ado, to account for his illegal conduct, irrespective of whether he then is allowed to contest an additional run-off vote (as the Abrams' campaign is calling for). But I see it as unlikely a run-off election has already been triggered, as Stacey Abrams is apparently asserting, since that would surely only be necessitated by Kemp achieving less than half the votes, and he clearly has thus far managed a whole lot more than that...
*I refer of course to Jack Kemp, a Republican politician quite simply without peer in recent United States history, who died nine years ago and will be well-nigh impossible to ever replace.
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
My Own Prognostications - for what they're worth...or ain't! (Vis-a-vis the All-Important (2018) Midterm American (Congressional) Elections, that is.)
No, they're not...as you could be forgiven for assuming (ff my just-posted, intricately-titled but contentless blogpost) - zilch. But, seeing as I want to get back to Freeview Channel '13' (channel 10 upon our TV), i.e. live A.B.C. election coverage, and have been extremely conflicted up to now...going back and forth (so as not to miss too much, or anything truly significant in the TV coverage)...my predictions (as a once-budding psephologist - from my Political Science/Studies days at varsity) are - to be extremely succinct - as follows...
Following next TV break!
Though I'll freely admit, at least this morning-ish, I fully expected the Dems to clean up in the House (of Representatives), while the Republicans did much better than expected in the Senate, even to attaining a wide margin (e.g. 55-60 senators or so)...
this one thing I've fully expected/supposed/imagined would occur...and indeed, thus far it has - with spades: that the Democratic Party - *just like their Republican Party counterparts - would/will (each/both) do extremely well...much better than predicted...in their geographical strongholds/bases.
And thus and so I'm anticipating the Republicans to sweep the Bible Belt and/or the Deep South, the blue-collar, working-class Reagan Democratic territories, and the 'old-fashioned', traditional Republican Midwest. While the Democrats ****sweep their northeastern, industrial heartland and the Great Lakes/Northern Midwest, and do especially well in the West (plus mountain states, e.g. the likes of urbane **Colorado)...
Vis-a-vis Gubernatorial (Governor) Races: Quite aside from political predictions as such, I hope the extreme racist innuendoes and the like being hauled out in the dying days of the midterms in Republican campaign ads (in *****Georgia, and maybe Florida) are simply appalling/awful/ ghastly. And so I'm hoping they backfire - bigtime - though noting the much-under-reported closet racism of many (especially southern) Americans I'm not so sure on that score...esp. in ******Georgia's close race between the potential first female black American Governor, Stacey Abrams, and incumbent, Secretary of State - and election-rigger extraordinaire (take a bow, Kathleen what'shername from Presidential Election 2000) Kemp...sorry, his first name presently eludes me...
*As one wag (i.e. political commentator/pundit) put it earlier this afternoon (NZ-time), it's essentially turned into/become "a battle between demography and geography" - "the Republicans have a hold [on the latter], the Democrats [on the former]".
**And, guess what, Colorado's so far going 'according to script', as is Pennsylvania and ***New Jersey. (****The Democrats are presently on a roll, and now look set to achieve their House win.)
***Though for NJ to re-elect the scandal-ridden Menendez says something...though exit polls show the same voters gave him a 27% approval rating for having high ethics!
*****Though it's now looking bad/extremely problematic for Democratic hopeful Gillem's chances.
******Hoping former President (and Georgia Governor) Jimmy Carter will live to see the election of Georgia's first black, and first female black Governor to boot!
Following next TV break!
Though I'll freely admit, at least this morning-ish, I fully expected the Dems to clean up in the House (of Representatives), while the Republicans did much better than expected in the Senate, even to attaining a wide margin (e.g. 55-60 senators or so)...
this one thing I've fully expected/supposed/imagined would occur...and indeed, thus far it has - with spades: that the Democratic Party - *just like their Republican Party counterparts - would/will (each/both) do extremely well...much better than predicted...in their geographical strongholds/bases.
And thus and so I'm anticipating the Republicans to sweep the Bible Belt and/or the Deep South, the blue-collar, working-class Reagan Democratic territories, and the 'old-fashioned', traditional Republican Midwest. While the Democrats ****sweep their northeastern, industrial heartland and the Great Lakes/Northern Midwest, and do especially well in the West (plus mountain states, e.g. the likes of urbane **Colorado)...
Vis-a-vis Gubernatorial (Governor) Races: Quite aside from political predictions as such, I hope the extreme racist innuendoes and the like being hauled out in the dying days of the midterms in Republican campaign ads (in *****Georgia, and maybe Florida) are simply appalling/awful/ ghastly. And so I'm hoping they backfire - bigtime - though noting the much-under-reported closet racism of many (especially southern) Americans I'm not so sure on that score...esp. in ******Georgia's close race between the potential first female black American Governor, Stacey Abrams, and incumbent, Secretary of State - and election-rigger extraordinaire (take a bow, Kathleen what'shername from Presidential Election 2000) Kemp...sorry, his first name presently eludes me...
*As one wag (i.e. political commentator/pundit) put it earlier this afternoon (NZ-time), it's essentially turned into/become "a battle between demography and geography" - "the Republicans have a hold [on the latter], the Democrats [on the former]".
**And, guess what, Colorado's so far going 'according to script', as is Pennsylvania and ***New Jersey. (****The Democrats are presently on a roll, and now look set to achieve their House win.)
***Though for NJ to re-elect the scandal-ridden Menendez says something...though exit polls show the same voters gave him a 27% approval rating for having high ethics!
*****Though it's now looking bad/extremely problematic for Democratic hopeful Gillem's chances.
******Hoping former President (and Georgia Governor) Jimmy Carter will live to see the election of Georgia's first black, and first female black Governor to boot!
Monday, November 5, 2018
In Tribute of Three 'Thoroughgoingly' Unique American Muslims...who have each left their nation and our world a richer (and hopefully better) place
Hearing just the other day that it was the 40th/45th/50th? anniversary of the famous boxing match between Muhammad ('fight like a butterfly and sting like a bee') Ali and Joe Freeman (I believe it was)...and hearing once again that memorable, unforgettable refrain (above, and 'catch me if you can!'), it occurred to me that it was time to note the fact that the land of my (immediate) forbears (and their own previous forbears, and so on and on...back to Sweden and Denmark in particular)... especially in this day and age of anti-Muslim broadsides and diatribe from so many...
...(has) included three notable Muslim figures/personalities over recent times/decades...to wit:
*the aforementioned Muhammad Ali
*Martin Luther King's contemporary (and 'co-assassinatee') **Malcolm X
#Louis Farakhan (sp?)# -an awful, dreadful, near unforgivable mistake, folks: please forgive me - no, not the spelling, but the individual concerned...it should've been ***Al Sharpton/Franklin...
For sadly, as I've just discovered today (November the 9th) LF is a spouter/promoter of some of the most vile, anti-Jewish rhetoric and diatribes I've yet encountered (throughout an awfully sheltered existence/lifetime, apparently)...and if you have any quibbles thereabouts, one brief (five minute at most) viewing of a Fox News video (YouTube?) link with a (presumably Jewish) academic named Al(l)an Dershowitz of Birmingham, Michigan, will quickly disabuse/disillusion you...bigtime!
**For his eventual reconciliation with not only Martin Luther King, but moreover MLK's staunch, unswerving, nonviolent approach to civil disobedience. And because I to this day have immense sympathy with/empathy for - to the best of my ability, anyhow - black Americans (both in the era of Jim Crow, and up to, into and through the Civil Rights Era) subject to inhuman treatment at the hands of their countrymen and expected (by some, anyhow) to sit back all meek and mild and just take it.
***Apologies one and all for all my confusion of Al Sharpton and Al Franken (let alone Louis Farakhan!)...let's just say (for now)...that these three distinctly different men perhaps share a few similarities (of sorts), but for the purposes of this opinion piece that's really neither here nor there. Suffice to say/add that Al Sharpton as per his 1995 million man march on Washington D.C. (while head honcho of Nation of Islam)...had more than a few redeeming features...at least in my own view.
Malcolm X's much more militant approach is surely at least understandable to anyone with a human heart...for who of us would willingly just sit idly by and watch our beloved kindred treated to degradation and death and do diddly squat to stop it and/or get back at the perpetrators? Who...I mean, really?
To Be Continued (having been inadvertently, involuntarily detoured to this blogsite tonight when I had something infinitely more important and meaningful to post upon my other, much less used and frequented blogsite). If the 'issue' of the sanctity of life 'appeals' to your sensibilities,, you might appreciate following me there quite shortly...i.e. to
*http://nuffsaid:consideryourself-frombothsidesnow.blogspot.co.nz/ (or .com/).
Nuff Said!
...(has) included three notable Muslim figures/personalities over recent times/decades...to wit:
*the aforementioned Muhammad Ali
*Martin Luther King's contemporary (and 'co-assassinatee') **Malcolm X
#Louis Farakhan (sp?)# -an awful, dreadful, near unforgivable mistake, folks: please forgive me - no, not the spelling, but the individual concerned...it should've been ***Al Sharpton/Franklin...
For sadly, as I've just discovered today (November the 9th) LF is a spouter/promoter of some of the most vile, anti-Jewish rhetoric and diatribes I've yet encountered (throughout an awfully sheltered existence/lifetime, apparently)...and if you have any quibbles thereabouts, one brief (five minute at most) viewing of a Fox News video (YouTube?) link with a (presumably Jewish) academic named Al(l)an Dershowitz of Birmingham, Michigan, will quickly disabuse/disillusion you...bigtime!
**For his eventual reconciliation with not only Martin Luther King, but moreover MLK's staunch, unswerving, nonviolent approach to civil disobedience. And because I to this day have immense sympathy with/empathy for - to the best of my ability, anyhow - black Americans (both in the era of Jim Crow, and up to, into and through the Civil Rights Era) subject to inhuman treatment at the hands of their countrymen and expected (by some, anyhow) to sit back all meek and mild and just take it.
***Apologies one and all for all my confusion of Al Sharpton and Al Franken (let alone Louis Farakhan!)...let's just say (for now)...that these three distinctly different men perhaps share a few similarities (of sorts), but for the purposes of this opinion piece that's really neither here nor there. Suffice to say/add that Al Sharpton as per his 1995 million man march on Washington D.C. (while head honcho of Nation of Islam)...had more than a few redeeming features...at least in my own view.
Malcolm X's much more militant approach is surely at least understandable to anyone with a human heart...for who of us would willingly just sit idly by and watch our beloved kindred treated to degradation and death and do diddly squat to stop it and/or get back at the perpetrators? Who...I mean, really?
To Be Continued (having been inadvertently, involuntarily detoured to this blogsite tonight when I had something infinitely more important and meaningful to post upon my other, much less used and frequented blogsite). If the 'issue' of the sanctity of life 'appeals' to your sensibilities,, you might appreciate following me there quite shortly...i.e. to
*http://nuffsaid:consideryourself-frombothsidesnow.blogspot.co.nz/ (or .com/).
Nuff Said!
Thursday, November 1, 2018
The Wheels of Justice Grind Very Slowly...But They are Exceedingly Fine: Hurrah - Congratulations & Celebrations - for 'Asia Bibi'(Aasiya Noreen)
'Justice delayed is not justice denied.' Or, as the Good Book put it thousands of years ago:
Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. (Ecclesiastes 8:11: *The Holy Bible, NKJV.)
**But in this instance the evil work was not that alleged against Aasiya Noreen (known now more commonly - for Western pronunciation sensibilities, presumably - as Asia Bibi), but rather that of her inhuman (and inhumane) accusers - whether initially (as with her fellow workers in a Pakistani field of falsa berries who levelled at her the charge of blasphemy against the Islamic prophet, Muhammed) or subsequently (right up to the present-day of (hopefully) ultimate - earthly, anyhow - freedom), to wit the vast swathes of Pakistanis who've mobilized over the past nine years and especially this very day of great victory for Aasiya Noreen...to protest - isn't it simply incredible, and incredibly awful and unbelievable - to protest that long-prayed-for deliverance? And far worse than just that besides!
***But this day (of victory and deliverance) belongs to Aasiya, her family, her supporters and her just judges...and to those many and varied folk (individuals and groups/organizations) who've stuck up for her and with her (and her family) through thick and thin, for all this sad nine long years...
The sheer injustice of what Aasiya has faced and endured need not be reiterated here, suffice to say: she's been through the mill, and above and beyond what most frail mortals will ever have to endure. And evidently with little or no justification whatsoever - beyond that of a grudge-maintaining 'friend'.
So plaudits and bouquets, all credit and glory...be given:
#Firstly, to the prayer-hearing and answering God of all the earth, Who has never yet forsaken His people, His very own, least of all in their time/s of greatest need. As 'the father of the faith', the godly Abraham himself expressed matters many thousands of years ago: *'Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?' (Genesis 18:25.) Yet human history (His-Story) is simply littered with human beings apparently abandoned to rack and ruin...seemingly forsaken by both God and man...even left on more than one occasion to die, neglected and alone and apparently friendless, hopeless and helpless...to death and imprisonment. ****Who never were delivered from their own lonely prison cells or torture.
#Secondly, to the people of God themselves...especially Aasiya's fellow Pakistani Christ-followers. To those in Pakistan who fasted and prayed (for however long) in the run-up to Aasiya's acquittal today/yesterday. As well as providing her (and her husband, mother and family of five children) with such prayerful - and lots of other, practical - support throughout this protracted ordeal. As well as to numerous global Christian organizations (to be noted shortly), and moreover their many members and moral (prayerful) supporters. And also to Ooberfuse, a United Kingdom-based Christian popband, who, in collaboration with the British Pakistani Christian Association, wrote a song back in the day entitled 'Free Asia Bibi'.
#Thirdly, to the three judges who have just handed down what to their fellow countrymen and women is a shocking and disturbing, unbelievable judgement (of leniency and mercy...and most galling of all: innocence!). They've taken an incalculable gamble - yes, at the very risk of their own lives (and that of their families and relatives) - and may well yet to have to pay the supreme price. But *****they have done the right thing without letting sordid considerations of policy and pragmatism contaminate their motives and actions. Yes, though doubtless none of them are (Christian) believers, I feel Jesus' penetrating words apply equally much to them: *"For whoever desires to save his [earthly] life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it." (Luke 9: 24)
#To all those who stood by Aasiya through thick and thin, namely/chiefly:
@her lawyer/s (over the nine years).
@her family.
@the French journalist Anne-Isabelle Tollet, who helped Aasiya produce a memoir: Blasphemy: A Memoir: Sentenced to Death over a Cup of Water.
@*******two Pakistani politicians in particular, who deserve special mention: the one-time Governor of the Punjab, Salmaan Taseer; and the one-time Minorities Minister, Shahbaz Bhatti.
@Italy, France and Spain for offering official sanction to Assiya Noreen and her family post-release.
@for the various human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
@for the global network of Christian aid organizations who have done what(ever) they could to help secure Aasiya's release and support through this traumatic time: Voice of the Martyrs; Open Doors; Aid to the Church in Need; and International Christian Concern (in particular). And the American Center for Law and Justice (which has evidently lobbied on behalf of/in association with the US Government (upon Aasiya's behalf)).
And last - though at this stage mightily significant: recently-elected Prime Minister Imran Khan: whose personal singling out of this case will not go unnoticed...by anyone in Pakistan ('stuff the rest of the world'); i.e. though aware of the need to ensure Pakistan remains - more correctly, regains - some degree of international credibility in this area, he will be only too well aware that there are masses of his citizenry who are not only upset at this verdict, but are literally ropable thereabouts!
And that, push come to shove, they will not ignore the role - however oblique to our eyes - he has thus played in seeking to 'exonerate' the decision the judges have arrived at...when looking - over coming hours, days, weeks and months - for some suitable scapegoat thereabouts.
Can you believe, in 'our oh-so-sophisticated and progressive, evolved modern world' no less, that some ten million Pakistanis have been reported in one survey as saying 'they would be willing to personally kill [Aasiyi] out of either religious conviction or for the reward' - the reference being to a Muslim cleric's 500,000 Pakistani rupee (US $5,000) award/reward...? May God help Pakistan - for only He can...
In conclusion, I could hardly go beyond the following oh so appropriate thoughts...heard whilst I was 'penning' these very words:
"You may not live to see the justice, but it will {assuredly] come...and the great temptation is to doubt." (Chuck Swindoll preaching upon the biblical Book of Esther this very day/afternoon!)
'In His time...in His time...God makes everything beautiful in its time'. (A song he then quoted, itself based upon the wisdom of King Solomon as expressed in the Book of Ecclesiastes.)
*(All specifically-quoted) Scripture taken from the New King James Version. (c) 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
**Due acknowledgment ...without which this article would not have even been possible...here to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ('Asia Bibi blasphemy case') Accessed today, November 1, 2018. C/o https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia_Bibi_blasphemy_case.
***Credit here to Gandalf (aka Ian McKellen) of Lord of the Rings (filmic) fame for this phrase (the initial (nine) words anyway); or rather, to film screen writers/adapters Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh (in particular), and yes, (Sir) Peter Jackson (and various others) as well...
****Among W/whom were none other than the illustrious pillars of God's New Testament revelation - firstly John the Baptist, and then, barely two-to-three years on, Jesus the Christ himself. And moreover an entire book of the Bible, Job - about which I've been scribbling and scrawling profuse, and, to my own mind, profound, notes, for the past 22-/23-some years (plus), for 'a lay-person's guide to', for your info - is devoted to a full-scale examination and investigation thereof (i.e. this thorny and fraught subject area of suffering, especially the unjust variety). So 'Christians' preaching a 'prosperity gospel' of endless blessing and favour and prosperity and deliverance - in this earthly life, that is - are grounded not in good ole-fashioned biblical theology but in mere wishful thinking. And such simply won't cut the mustard any more, if ever it did.
*****Especially to Judge/Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, who went public (as no doubt is inevitable and proper procedure in any national (or even local) jurisdiction), revealing that Aasiya's two female co-workers/accusers "had no regard for the truth" and had actually manufactured a "concoction incarnate" (in [alleging Aasiya had] supposedly blasphem[ed] Muhammad/******'the Prophet'). In fact, he argued that Aasiya herself had been the recipient of blasphemy, as "[the] insulting [of] the appellate's [i.e. Asia Bibi's] religion by her Muslim co-workers was no less blasphemous" (i.e. than that alleged against her).
Khosa sat to judge the case alongside Justice Mazhar Alam, and the three-judge bench was presided over by CJP Mian Saqab Nisar.
******My words (as in, not Judge Khosa's).
*******Ultimately both assassinated as a direct result of their courageous advocacy on Aasiya's behalf, and - at least on Taseer's part - his befriending of and providing of succour to her.
Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. (Ecclesiastes 8:11: *The Holy Bible, NKJV.)
**But in this instance the evil work was not that alleged against Aasiya Noreen (known now more commonly - for Western pronunciation sensibilities, presumably - as Asia Bibi), but rather that of her inhuman (and inhumane) accusers - whether initially (as with her fellow workers in a Pakistani field of falsa berries who levelled at her the charge of blasphemy against the Islamic prophet, Muhammed) or subsequently (right up to the present-day of (hopefully) ultimate - earthly, anyhow - freedom), to wit the vast swathes of Pakistanis who've mobilized over the past nine years and especially this very day of great victory for Aasiya Noreen...to protest - isn't it simply incredible, and incredibly awful and unbelievable - to protest that long-prayed-for deliverance? And far worse than just that besides!
***But this day (of victory and deliverance) belongs to Aasiya, her family, her supporters and her just judges...and to those many and varied folk (individuals and groups/organizations) who've stuck up for her and with her (and her family) through thick and thin, for all this sad nine long years...
The sheer injustice of what Aasiya has faced and endured need not be reiterated here, suffice to say: she's been through the mill, and above and beyond what most frail mortals will ever have to endure. And evidently with little or no justification whatsoever - beyond that of a grudge-maintaining 'friend'.
So plaudits and bouquets, all credit and glory...be given:
#Firstly, to the prayer-hearing and answering God of all the earth, Who has never yet forsaken His people, His very own, least of all in their time/s of greatest need. As 'the father of the faith', the godly Abraham himself expressed matters many thousands of years ago: *'Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?' (Genesis 18:25.) Yet human history (His-Story) is simply littered with human beings apparently abandoned to rack and ruin...seemingly forsaken by both God and man...even left on more than one occasion to die, neglected and alone and apparently friendless, hopeless and helpless...to death and imprisonment. ****Who never were delivered from their own lonely prison cells or torture.
#Secondly, to the people of God themselves...especially Aasiya's fellow Pakistani Christ-followers. To those in Pakistan who fasted and prayed (for however long) in the run-up to Aasiya's acquittal today/yesterday. As well as providing her (and her husband, mother and family of five children) with such prayerful - and lots of other, practical - support throughout this protracted ordeal. As well as to numerous global Christian organizations (to be noted shortly), and moreover their many members and moral (prayerful) supporters. And also to Ooberfuse, a United Kingdom-based Christian popband, who, in collaboration with the British Pakistani Christian Association, wrote a song back in the day entitled 'Free Asia Bibi'.
#Thirdly, to the three judges who have just handed down what to their fellow countrymen and women is a shocking and disturbing, unbelievable judgement (of leniency and mercy...and most galling of all: innocence!). They've taken an incalculable gamble - yes, at the very risk of their own lives (and that of their families and relatives) - and may well yet to have to pay the supreme price. But *****they have done the right thing without letting sordid considerations of policy and pragmatism contaminate their motives and actions. Yes, though doubtless none of them are (Christian) believers, I feel Jesus' penetrating words apply equally much to them: *"For whoever desires to save his [earthly] life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it." (Luke 9: 24)
#To all those who stood by Aasiya through thick and thin, namely/chiefly:
@her lawyer/s (over the nine years).
@her family.
@the French journalist Anne-Isabelle Tollet, who helped Aasiya produce a memoir: Blasphemy: A Memoir: Sentenced to Death over a Cup of Water.
@*******two Pakistani politicians in particular, who deserve special mention: the one-time Governor of the Punjab, Salmaan Taseer; and the one-time Minorities Minister, Shahbaz Bhatti.
@Italy, France and Spain for offering official sanction to Assiya Noreen and her family post-release.
@for the various human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
@for the global network of Christian aid organizations who have done what(ever) they could to help secure Aasiya's release and support through this traumatic time: Voice of the Martyrs; Open Doors; Aid to the Church in Need; and International Christian Concern (in particular). And the American Center for Law and Justice (which has evidently lobbied on behalf of/in association with the US Government (upon Aasiya's behalf)).
And last - though at this stage mightily significant: recently-elected Prime Minister Imran Khan: whose personal singling out of this case will not go unnoticed...by anyone in Pakistan ('stuff the rest of the world'); i.e. though aware of the need to ensure Pakistan remains - more correctly, regains - some degree of international credibility in this area, he will be only too well aware that there are masses of his citizenry who are not only upset at this verdict, but are literally ropable thereabouts!
And that, push come to shove, they will not ignore the role - however oblique to our eyes - he has thus played in seeking to 'exonerate' the decision the judges have arrived at...when looking - over coming hours, days, weeks and months - for some suitable scapegoat thereabouts.
Can you believe, in 'our oh-so-sophisticated and progressive, evolved modern world' no less, that some ten million Pakistanis have been reported in one survey as saying 'they would be willing to personally kill [Aasiyi] out of either religious conviction or for the reward' - the reference being to a Muslim cleric's 500,000 Pakistani rupee (US $5,000) award/reward...? May God help Pakistan - for only He can...
In conclusion, I could hardly go beyond the following oh so appropriate thoughts...heard whilst I was 'penning' these very words:
"You may not live to see the justice, but it will {assuredly] come...and the great temptation is to doubt." (Chuck Swindoll preaching upon the biblical Book of Esther this very day/afternoon!)
'In His time...in His time...God makes everything beautiful in its time'. (A song he then quoted, itself based upon the wisdom of King Solomon as expressed in the Book of Ecclesiastes.)
*(All specifically-quoted) Scripture taken from the New King James Version. (c) 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
**Due acknowledgment ...without which this article would not have even been possible...here to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ('Asia Bibi blasphemy case') Accessed today, November 1, 2018. C/o https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia_Bibi_blasphemy_case.
***Credit here to Gandalf (aka Ian McKellen) of Lord of the Rings (filmic) fame for this phrase (the initial (nine) words anyway); or rather, to film screen writers/adapters Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh (in particular), and yes, (Sir) Peter Jackson (and various others) as well...
****Among W/whom were none other than the illustrious pillars of God's New Testament revelation - firstly John the Baptist, and then, barely two-to-three years on, Jesus the Christ himself. And moreover an entire book of the Bible, Job - about which I've been scribbling and scrawling profuse, and, to my own mind, profound, notes, for the past 22-/23-some years (plus), for 'a lay-person's guide to', for your info - is devoted to a full-scale examination and investigation thereof (i.e. this thorny and fraught subject area of suffering, especially the unjust variety). So 'Christians' preaching a 'prosperity gospel' of endless blessing and favour and prosperity and deliverance - in this earthly life, that is - are grounded not in good ole-fashioned biblical theology but in mere wishful thinking. And such simply won't cut the mustard any more, if ever it did.
*****Especially to Judge/Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, who went public (as no doubt is inevitable and proper procedure in any national (or even local) jurisdiction), revealing that Aasiya's two female co-workers/accusers "had no regard for the truth" and had actually manufactured a "concoction incarnate" (in [alleging Aasiya had] supposedly blasphem[ed] Muhammad/******'the Prophet'). In fact, he argued that Aasiya herself had been the recipient of blasphemy, as "[the] insulting [of] the appellate's [i.e. Asia Bibi's] religion by her Muslim co-workers was no less blasphemous" (i.e. than that alleged against her).
Khosa sat to judge the case alongside Justice Mazhar Alam, and the three-judge bench was presided over by CJP Mian Saqab Nisar.
******My words (as in, not Judge Khosa's).
*******Ultimately both assassinated as a direct result of their courageous advocacy on Aasiya's behalf, and - at least on Taseer's part - his befriending of and providing of succour to her.
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