An Educative, Enlightening Study in Contrasts: Indulging in the Ultimate Act of Political Hari-kari... versus a Superbly Noble Demonstration of Decency and Community Good Will (Allied with Some Real Political Nous)

Baffled - beyond belief? Good. All will be revealed in the reasonably foreseeable...

Guessed correctly? I doubt it. Anyhow, for the time being - and yes, I will return to this asap - I'm referring to, in the former instance, Justice Minister Andrew Little's promotion of prisoner voting, and in the latter to the representations of a significant leader in the New Zealand Muslim community and/or *her protestations to a select committee considering the matter that recent efforts/attempts to effectively marginalize gun-owners and thus politicize the Government's gun buy-back scheme were not only counter-productive but actually risked marginalizing and endangering said (Muslim) community even more...

*And they had better listen - and well - to this former Labour Party women's vice-President, I believe.

To Be Continued...

How Right [as in Spot-On Correct] Seem Those Preachers Named Wright, whether former President Obama's [one-time] Pastor Jeremiah Wright...or Pastor Joe Wright of Kansas: vis-a-vis a priceless rare moment of candour, courage and conviction - and clarity - whereby a person in - and moreover of and with - a modicum of spiritual authority dared to call a spade a spade...and then all hell quite literally broke loose...

But first (things first), I'll briefly 'cover off' vis-a-vis a certain *Jeremiah Wright, who was - if you remember - the one-time pastor of a certain American president...-Barack Hussein Obama's however 'no brainer' decision to pretty much 'throw him under a bus' in his all-out effort to become president being a shameful episode in his run-up to election as America's first ever black American President.

Though Obama's decision quite clearly spoke of realpolitik at its most raw and basic level - and any and every political commentator at the time (and before and afterwards) would've doubtless suggested he had no alternative whatsoever if he really seriously wanted to be elected - I still happen to be so old-fashioned as to believe the end still doesn't justify the means, and that what Obama did ultimately spoke to his own lack of true, sterling (let alone godly) character, however unnoticed by the sophisticated set or commentariat of the day...

Besides, to somehow feign that a message (i.e. sermon) in which said pastor lambasted his own nation in no uncertain terms by entreating "God damn America!" (on multiple occasions, as is the wont of **Negro/African American/black preachers in the U S of A over the centuries as they use the simple but useful 'tack' of emphatic repetition to ram a particular point home) - as opposed to the usual "God bless America!" - was one he neither heard nor had had any idea about...

...is simply stretching credibility a little too far by a country mile or several...

Surely if ever there were not only a memorable sermon but moreover one inciting massive controversy both within and without Wright's and Obama's church, that would've been it...

*Without referring to him as he is - or at least was - known, i.e. by the monicker of  'Reverend', having (literally millennia ago) been strictly warned off that sacred space by my Lord and Saviour; such a title being rightly reserved for One and Only One Person...

**Using in this one instance all three - ***civil - terms which have been used over the centuries for the imported darker populace of the United States.

***Because as we all know there have been all manner of demeaning and derogatory terms used - whether in recent times or (doubtless) back in the time of slavery (and after this) - by all sorts of other Americans about their longsuffering black population...including, incidentally, by a particular President well-feted in liberal, 'progressive' circles...

To Be Re-continued...

Count your many blessings - name them one by one... and it will surprise you what the LORD has done: For Thanksgiving Day (A tribute from 'the isles of the sea')

Here's the (tenfold) result of a (deliberate/conscious) brainstorming exercise I engaged in this (Tuesday, November 26th, NZ-time) afternoon - for what it's worth...

Ten things to be/that I can genuinely be grateful for...

#For a God Who declares righteous the ungodly who believe in Him 

...to one not working, but believing upon the God that justifieth the ungodly, - his faith is reckoned for righteousness (Romans 4:5 - as re-rendered (p.132) in William R Sewell's ROMANS Verse by Verse : originally from the Holy Bible: Revised Version)

...to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness (King James Bible)

In other words, for re-creation ordained by God the Father, obtained/purchased by a self-sacrificing, self-denying Substitute and Saviour/Redeemer, the Son of God and Son of Man, and ultimately effected/enacted by God the Holy Spirit

#For a truly unique ('one-of-a-kind'), deeply spiritual (if not particularly religious), counter-cultural,  yet highly dysfunctional (extended) family

#For the gift of life...from a benevolent Creator - and my earthly parents

#For a blessed place (nation/city/suburb and surrounds) to grow up in (God's Own/Godzone; or Aotearoa-New Zealand, as it's perhaps somewhat better known)

#For wisdom (and grace) to become healthy/maintain good health

#For spiritual blessings galore c/o a wonderful LORD - Jehovah Jireh

...including...

#the bounties (depths/realms of hidden treasures) of/in God's very own (sacred) words

#the inestimable Gift of God's Holy Spirit - His own dear Presence within to lead, guide and walk alongside

#The bounties of Nature (aesthetic beauty in skies and clouds, seas/forests/mountains/scenescapes)

#'a friend like Ben'...and his generosity in not only regularly *'ravishing my heart' with stunning pics of the foregoing, but providing me with the means to view them, a laptop (computer), an all-important tool of the trade to allow/enable me to keep on keeping on providing you, my loyal, devoted viewership across and around the globe, with my musings upon this, that, and especially the other...

*I like the phrase - despite its rather questionable background/undertone; and simply employ it here to express my deep appreciation to a kindred soul/spirit who has thus and so brightened my day each and every time I've undertaken to get online (and especially onto and into my blogsites)

Postscript (3 days on):

How about these two extra blessings (i.e. causes for gratitude) for good measure...

#The inestimable blessing of song...about which it is quite literally difficult to know where to begin

#Incredibly enough, in view of the widespread public (and especially mainstream media) opprobrium into which this particular 'breed' has come over recent decades - I hereby pay an honest, heartfelt salute to the TV - and especially radio - evangelists (naturally, of the Christian variety/persuasion) of this world, without whose faithful ministrations my own faith (and Christian walk) might be in *more of a shambles than it/they presently is/are

*Seeming to damn 'em all with faint praise, I now see (re-reading what I've written), but it's not meant in that negative-sounding way, truly!

*"Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock"...that does not visit-seek-heal-feed the flock..."but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them."

**Does this not epitomize the world's great enterprise of geo-religio-political overlordship, or what?!?!?

*Taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Zechariah 11:17;16 (&15); and Ezekiel 34: 1-(4)-10-12-16-18-21-31)

**Or rather and in particular its Central Headquarters and Command Central, though, admittedly, not necessarily at every moment in time throughout history...

To Be Continued...

A Whole Lot Less 'Hui' and a Whole Lot More 'Do-ey' DEMANDED: Talk is Cheap, Folks...and It's Long Past Time...for Meaningful, Tangible Action by/from This World's #1 Peddler of Paedophilia and Protector of Paedophiles (we all know who I'm referring to)

Let me simply add, that the world's largest religious organization - a millennia-spanning geopolitical entity whose tentacles reach throughout the globe - has its work well and truly cut out for it: some serious fronting up to do, some serious questions to face up to, and some major penance and penitence/contrition to - authentically - enter into/undertake/carry out ASAP...

...for her guilt has reached to high heaven...

...and God has remembered her [myriad] crimes...

...and as she has rendered, so it will - one day, very, very soon -
be rendered back to her...

...and, folks, believe you me, her religious facade will then be stripped away, and she will be left naked and desolate, forsaken and on fire...and left awaiting the fierce judgment of God Almighty.

And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.

(The Apocalypse/Book of Revelation: 18: 5/6ff; 17:16; 18:21; but N.B. a multitude of equally applicable Scriptures therein, i.e. 17:1-6/7-8/9-15-18; 18:1-24; and also 19:2;19/20; 20:4; 13:1-10; 12;14;18; and 14:8-12; 15:2;4/5; 16:2;3/4-6/7;10/11/13/19; and 2:12/13/14-20/21/22ff; 6:9-10-11. Altogether 2 & 75 & 12 (plus) = 89-plus (of 404 verses) = pretty nearly 25%(a quarter) of the book!)

So, although as commentators quite reasonably point out, Jesus Christ - the *actual author (not 'Saint John' as so commonly supposed) of Revelation (*as is in fact mentioned right at its actual outset), indeed features **first and foremost throughout the entire final book of the Bible/New Testament (yes, Christ Jesus - not some fancy, fraught happenings, which there verily are! - Himself is the **front and centre of God's final love letter to the human race)...

...yet, next to/alongside Him, the strange sea-beast of Revelation 13:1/2-10 is the major subject (and next in prominence is the final days' ***'time of trouble such as never was'), the 'first beast' (also termed 'the woman' ('whore'/'harlot') 'riding the scarlet-coloured beast'; which is variously 'reported' to have the ****following series of features/characteristics and actions/deeds/life history):

#sitteth on seven mountains (Rev. 17:9)

#sitteth upon many waters (elsewhere depicted as 'peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues' (Rev 17:1;15)

#'that great city - that mighty city!', [one] 'reign[ing] over the kings of the earth' (Rev 18:10 & 17:18 - plus Revelation 14:8; 16:19; 18:16;18;19;21.) See especially Rev 16:19: 'the great city was divided into three parts...great Babylon'.

Hey, who could that possibly be/represent? Jerusalem, or even Dunedin, Aotearoa-New Zealand, I suppose...

In case you're left still wondering, methinks the following (verses in Revelation) might leave you in no doubt whatsoever - and even this is but a mere sampling of verses and passages throughout the literal length and breadth of the Apocalypse that could conceivably be argued apply to this 'great' religio-political entity/power variously named 'the beast', the 'first beast', the 'sea-beast', the '(great) whore'/[scarlet-coloured] woman/'great city Babylon'...and, most emphatically of all -

MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. (sic; Revelation 17:5)

Geographical Location/Situation (and Origin):

'I know...where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is...'; 'I...saw a beast rise up out of the sea...and the dragon gave him...his seat';'the seat of the [first/sea-]beast'; plus Rev 17:1: 'the great whore that sitteth upon [a certain geographical location, clearly defined]; and 17:15; and 18:7.

Type of Organization:

A religio-political power with its (metaphorical) fingers 'in every pie' throughout our world; one with immense authority and - long - exercising considerable (coercive) influence and power over earth's citizens, even to the point of being the object of worship rightly due to God alone. (See Revelation 13:1-4, 8, 12; 14:8; 17:2,3,5,7,10-14,16-18; 18:3;9-10; 19:2.)

Meddling in earth's affairs by engaging in merchandising/trade traffic via ocean-going vessels - especially in precious metals and woods, fabrics, ivory, herbs and spices, grains, oil and alcoholic beverages, animals especially livestock...'and slaves, and souls of men'! (Revelation 18:11-19)

Persecuting to the death God's own special, faithful people - even waging all-out war against (both) them (and many others). (Revelation 6:9-11; 7:1-3,13-14; 12:6,13-16/17; 13:2,4,7,10,12; 15:2; 16:3,4,5,6,7; 17:6,7,14; 18:24; 19:2; 20:4. Whew!)

Identifying Marks/Details (in addition to all the foregoing):

Bears multiple names and titles of significance. (Revelation 13:1; 17-18; 15:2; 17:3,5; 18:7.)

Has/bears a *****special, unique number...the number of a man...yes, even the infamous 666 of graffiti artists and the like...(Rev. *****13:18; plus 15:2).

Bears a special mark - again the infamous mark of the beast so often bandied about in discussions (even secular and merely speculative) about 'endtime events' (see Revelation 13:16/17; 14:9-11; 15:2; 16:2; 19:20;20:4 - eight references in nine verses).

Is ever associated with - and moreover the unashamed promulgater of -
#idol (and demon) worship and (religious) compromise. (Revelation 2: 14,20-22; 17:2,5; 18:2,3,23.)
#fornication/(spiritual) adultery. Revelation 2: 14,20-22; 14:8; 17:2-5,15-16; 18:3,9,14; 19:2.)
#seducing others (God's own 'servants'the 'children of Israel') into such adultery/idol-worship (Revelation 2: 14,20-22.)
#(spiritual) intoxication/drunkenness (Revelation 14:8,10; 16:19; 17:2,4,5; 18: 3,9,13,14,23.)
#coercing(forcing) others into this (intoxication and fornication) Ibid.
#corrupting the earth thereby Ibid; and 19:2.

Indulges in luxurious living and self-glorification (Revelation 17:4; 18:3,7,9, 12-17,19.)

Is known for its fine music, arts and crafts, and for conducting marriage ceremonies. (Revelation 18: 22-23.)

Speech bears the marks of blasphemy...against God...[H]is name...[H]is tabernacle...heaven [dwellers]...(Revelation 13:1,5,6; 17:3.)

Engages in miracle-working/performing 'signs and wonders'/nation-deceiving 'sorceries' (Revelation 13:13-14; 16:13-14; 18:23.)

Received a 'deadly wound' which was thereafter 'healed', leading to renewed and revamped respect for the same...culminating in a last days worldwide worship. (Revelation 13:3,4,14; 14:9-11.)

*See Revelation 1:1! Surely that ascription could hardly be placed any earlier in the book (to find Revelation's real author)?

**Indeed Jesus the Christ is described a number of times throughout the book as 'the Alpha and the Omega', 'the Beginning and the End', 'the First and the Last' etcetera. (Revelation 1:8,11,17; 22:13.)

***Though not defined in these precise words in Revelation (unlike in the gospels of Matthew and Mark; Mark 13: 14-20 (-24 etc); Matthew 24: 15-20 (-29 etc); although a time/season of great tribulation is referred to (Rev. 7:13/14.)

****Originally cited - or certainly intended to be - in one of my final blogposts, entitled 'Cultural Christianity'(etc) upon my original blogsite - now indefinitely suspended by me (from additional 'entries'): http://nuffsaid:consideryourself-frombothsidesnow.blogspot.co.nz/(or .com/).

Well worth an occasional look - if I do say so myself - with those who still have an appetite for politically incorrect, out of left - and right - field, alternative perspectives upon this wondrous world of ours (and its infinitely-variegated rag-bag of issues and concerns and controversies)...

*****Weirdly enough the two numbers (i.e. 13 and 18) in standard (i.e. non-biblical) numerology - admittedly one of the various and sundry occult 'sciences' so condemned by (especially Older Testament) scriptures - which are more associated with negative circumstances/events/situations than arguably any others...

*****Curiously enough, the very outfit/religio-political entity many such as Yours Truly believe that this number (and indeed all the various and sundry descriptive references vis-a-vis the 'sea-/first-beast' throughout Revelation) refers to...on at least one occasion in one of its numerous publications itself has effectively acknowledged that this '666' - in numerous ways - signifies some of the various names and titles that its titular head has appropriated to itself down through the centuries! And so itself queries whether the same might indeed be the biblical Antichrist (as ******many have so long maintained)!

******Indeed Yours Truly (again) wrote a 21-22-page opinion piece (some six-and-a-half years ago now) in which it is mentioned (early on) that there was veritable unanimity down through the centuries and even millennia by pretty well every going Christian 'concern'/denomination/even religious establishment offshoot and sect imaginable that this selfsame religio-political power was indeed verily the long-foretold Antichrist of the gospels of Matthew and Mark and the Revelation (and indeed Older Testament book of Daniel).

And incredibly that includes those (Christian 'sects') which then as today were amongst the Dissenters and Nonconformists (and other 'heretics'), and which are today but weren't then amongst the bastions of 'new theology' liberalism and adherents of the (highly political) so-called 'social gospel'. Yes, *******on this one point all were basically in complete agreement.

*******So why and when did things ('everything') change? Well, let's just say that the Counter-Reformation - even today - has a whole lot to answer for. 

Cry for all the inn-o-cent ones...born in-to a wor-ld they did-n't de-serve...

Sometimes absolutely everything comes together in such a simply extraordinary way...that one can only deem -  and term - it supernatural...or damn near pretty close to it.

And thus and so this very day has proven. And so, without further ado, and in tribute to the 'innocent ones' - whoever they may have ever been throughout the lengths and breadths of human history and geographical space - let me dedicate this blogpost (which is part three in my current series)...

...taken from the words of that legendary singer-songwriter of yesteryear (and perhaps still today, for all I know) Randy Stonehill...

Stumbling - again, this very day - upon/across another (second) *Children's Holocaust exhibit, this one at Dunedin, Aotearoa-New Zealand's varsity, the University of Otago...and being, as usual/ever,  (understandably and) absolutely transfixed (etcetera)...

...and later this day (as I tuned in to Parliament's general debate, as is my wont when(ever) the opportunity presents itself) hearing the Green Party's spokesperson on womens' and gender issues, M.P. Jan Logie, wax eloquent about this very day of the/each year indeed being the international day of the GLBTQ et al! 'community', i.e. one in which such minorities' 'rights' (and interests) are celebrated...as she movingly related her own background story insofar as it touched upon the way in which she was herself treated especially in her youth...

may I simply re-dedicate this blogpost, incoherent and unfinished as it is...and in view of the series on abuse I'm presently running...

to all the innocent ones...born into a world they don't deserve...

What more can I possibly add...?

*A truly exceptional exhibit, consisting of a series of progressively larger wooden boxes, each one containing numerous buttons, each button representing the life (and extinction thereof, by the SS et al) of Jewish children throughout Nazi-occupied Europe in the 1930s and especially 1940s as they  - with their kith and kin - were herded onto metaphorical cattle trucks and 'shipped' off on rail carriages throughout the then Third Reich onto concentration camps where their lives expired in a medley of incessant gruelling labour, scanty food, awful living conditions and oftentimes the gas chambers...

Thus representing the one-and-a-half million children who lost their lives amongst the 6 million-some Jews, Gypsies, Mentally and Physically Infirm/Disabled, Homosexuals, Socialists and Communists who likewise were exterminated by that diabolical regime...

Disturbingly anti-semitism hasn't only re-reared its ugly, vile head in present-day Europe (especially), but a new survey showed the incredibly - and quite frankly - unbelievably high levels of anti-semitism actually present in many/most such nations of 'modern' Europe - as in amongst the general populace of each country - yes, in our modern and oh so sophisticated and enlightened era to boot.

Though commentators - whence the report originated, anyway - were doubtless extremely loath to make any linkages of this upsurge of anti-semitism over recent years - especially apparent in France (which has likewise seen increased levels of long-established Jews there emigrating to Israel) - to the increased alleged **'Islamicalization' of Europe (as the hordes of refugees, economic and otherwise, have understandably sought to get the hell out of the hellhole which is Syria - ***and, for that matter, neighbouring Iraq (and Afghanistan)); and/or to the associated anti-Israeli sentiment among the same - let alone that of modern-day indigenous European secularists...

I for one have little doubt whatsoever as to the association thereabouts, and, like many in the United Kingdom in particular - especially Great Britain's 'chief rabbi' - am appalled/disgusted etcetera (as I've indeed already - long since - expressed upon other blogposts (especially those pertaining to the ongoing machinations of the UK's never-ending Brexit saga)) vis-a-vis Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (and his invidious, inexcusable and quite frankly unconscionable defense of party MPs and activists whose anti-Jewish sensibilities and the like have long since been put on sordid public display)...

**I realize a 'somewhat' contentious term to employ - let alone concept to raise - but what prithee can one call the numerous ghettoes throughout present-day Europe - admittedly, as much a result of those indigenous Europeans who've not been over the moon about the reconfiguration of their own nations in recent times, especially in view of the major upsurge in the aforementioned anti-semitism all over the continent, and in the numerous incidences of the imposition of sharia law here, there and seemingly everywhere...

No, Mr Corbyn's days may well be numbered. And despite all the characterization of his 'Tory' opponents as xenophobic and Islamophobic etcetera, it's interesting how British Prime Minister Boris Johnson appointed the most - genuinely, and conspicuously - ethnically diverse cabinet awhile ago, yet received scant all acknowledgment much less praise from those usually not remotely backward about coming forward in severely criticizing the (especially U K Conservative Party) status quo
over its neanderthal-ian characteristics and general, seemingly congenital disposition...

***I suppose one could add Yemen and Libya etc to that list...

Let's just add that the virtue-signallers of this great globe are oftentimes the very ones who in their own lives evidence the very worst (since so often exceedingly subtle, less easily detectable or publicly aired) racism/classism etc etc etc...

Nuff Said!

Cardinal Pell a Paedophile? Perhaps...but possibly not. But a Clergyman Complicit in Criminal Conspiracy and Conniving Cover-Up of the same? You betcha!

Part Two: Cardinal George Pell: Paedophile and/or 'Just','Simply' 'Accomplice in the Act'?
Today (Part 2a): Laying all my own cards out on the table: Where am I coming from?

So what brings me to my own summation of the saga that is the criminal indictment and subsequent prosecution and imprisonment of Cardinal George Pell? A pertinent question, especially as I've never met the man, and, even during the *two-and-a-half plus years I spent in Oz (ever so briefly in 1988/1989; and straddling parts of 1990, 1991, 1998 and 1999), I'd never ever heard of him (best to my recollection) - whether as a cardinal or simply a bishop (etc). And thus I'd 'merely' (what can generally only be considered somewhat to highly subjective) media accounts/reports/analyses/ commentary to go by. Yes indeed.

Well, let's lay all my cards out on the table to begin with, and so a number of personal disclaimers are doubtless in order. For starters, I've never ever been sexually abused **as such.

*Two-and-two-thirds' years in toto (when including a holiday prior to moving there), pretty much the same period all up as I spent sojourning in the land of my parents from mid-1992 through mid-1995.

**Which I well realize is qualified in such a way as to perhaps raise more questions than it answers. Suffice to say that in one's childhood things can occur which, while not strictly categorizable as ***/****abuse as such, can hardly really be termed consensual (given one's age and personal maturity), and which, at the same time, are arguably ultimately detrimental to one, leaving a lasting impression in more ways than one and thereby/otherwise majorly impacting one's life journey in more ways than one can readily recount - or, quite frankly, would ever wish to.

Let's just add that parental inattention and effective neglect has more to answer for in this life and world than many realize - and are far from trivial shortcomings when all is said and done...

All that having been well and truly said/placed upon the record, in this case a genuine as apology was offered/tendered (at least once or twice, and maybe even three times all up - and over a number of years, best I can recall); and done completely unprompted/'off the bat'/without any reminder thereof or arm-twisting on my part. And indeed I was not only completely taken aback and blown away (by the person's honesty thereabouts, and moreover courage to confess however much 'after the fact'), but by the individual's preparedness to take complete responsibility/culpability, not pleading any extenuating circumstances thereabouts or excuses whatsoever...

***Physical abuse is a different matter altogether. Indeed I suffered thus (on several identical occasions as to the surrounding events) and in a particularly cruel, even sadistic manner...as, admittedly, most of my other siblings have themselves spoken of experiencing from said individual (though, far as I'm aware, anyway, never once in a sexually abusive fashion). But without scarring let alone lasting (physical) damage, as indeed I did sustain (upon my upper left thigh) - and still show the long scar thereabouts - as per ye average youngster's (especially boy's) multitude of physical scars occurring from ye normal rough-and-tumble play...but without the regular allotment of broken bones.

Though in another completely different instance, another family member's physicality could well have led to major, long-term injury of a most serious kind...and, gratefully, that was also something about which I later heard (occasionally prompted by Yours Truly) genuine contrition thereabouts...

 Though even then I hardly suffered in the ways (and not remotely to the extent) many doubtless do.

****But as for psychological abuse, well let's just say that's another matter entirely, and I did indeed suffer thus and from a number/variety of authority figures who verily abused that authority over me by so doing, but - hopefully/seemingly, at least in the long run - not irremediably or irreparably...

Guilty OF [the specific, particular] sin [alleged]? No, or Not Necessarily. But, nevertheless, Guilty AS sin? It would appear, Absolutely: The Other (More Sordid) Side of the Human 'Experience' (as it pertains to Cardinal George Pell, former Australian Roman Catholic Archbishop & one-time Vatican #3)

Before beginning, a few explanations are in order. First of all, this particular blogpost (and an accompanying, more or less 'stream of consciousness' one vis-a-vis the future of the longstanding Roman Catholic practice of (public) confession (to a priest) - i.e. 'the confessional' as it's better known), was initially written (out) way back yonder, on the 21st of August to be precise...only not posted (for various reasons, chiefly other priorities/lack of sufficient time to do it proper justice).

Being an important topic, and one moreover which I wanted to do sufficient justice to, procrastination evidently got the better of me (as it has with other, equally serious matters such as 'Black Lives Matter', Global Warming/Climate Change, the Me Too Movement, 'Making a Man an Offender for a word', Cultural Christianity, the present state and status of the Vatican/papacy vis-a-vis global geopolitics, (western) mainstream media double-standards over so-called fake news - and in relation to the treatment accorded Islam on the one hand and Christianity on the other (especially vis-a-vis so-called 'hate speech'), and thus political partisanship in general (again, principally as witnessed in 'western' nations), those current 'cream of the crop' (especially western world-wide) issues atop the apex of the cultural warfare pyramid, abortion and euthanasia (and other, related, life-and-death matters of public policy) vis-a-vis the (rapidly diminishing) right of folk (especially health professionals) to take a stand and stance of conscientious objection to, the *GLBT 'community' and its increasingly strident public presence (alongside the equally insistent demands for safe spaces in public fora juxtaposed with how important the once dearly-enshrined value of freedom of speech still is)) - yes folk, my work is evidently well and truly cut out for me, I well appreciate; but just to remind regular readers that, no, I haven't forgotten my (long-declared) intention to tackle these thorny topics.

So where do I begin? Just here...in regards to my 'good fortune' - or rather providential 'luck' /blessedness - in having a chance encounter (the day I started posting this) in a local (downtown) supermarket with a fellow 'very much in the know' about institutional abuse (in a religious setting); coincidentally at the very time (and in the very week) I'd been preparing to at long last get around to posting my long-gestated blogpost/s on Cardinal Pell (and the RCC Confessional).

Since I daresay it would serve no real purpose except (to stoke) a misguided and self-serving sense of self-importance - and anyhow it's **/**quite inappropriate to do so without asking/getting that person's approval in so doing - I've no intention of name-dropping unless and except insofar as said gentleman at some time gives me permission to mention his name and/or insists I do so...

Suffice to say my chance encounter has thrown a mini spanner in the works, as - upon reviewing said (long-shelved blogpost) draft upon arrival home Friday - I discovered it was somewhat more favourable towards the ***'good' cardinal than I'd expected (or recollected)...And though I will ever and always continue to pursue this blogsite - as its longstanding motto declares - 'with fear of and favour towards none', whilst 'bestowing bouquets and brickbats', I feel I owe it to said gentleman to make it abundantly clear why I hold the ****particular view I evidently do...

*Or is it now GLBTQI et al...? (Though last I heard there's now a plethora of such sub-categories.)

**And so I felt I owed it to my (aforementioned) sometime acquaintance to respect his confidence (though we've hardly discussed anything in any great depth, really only upon a fairly basic level).

**Yes, not all (would-be, wannabe) journalists (including those, like myself, of a strictly freelance variety) can be said to operate in an amoral atmosphere without respect of common decency and the like - despite persistent public perceptions to the contrary.

***Using that (quote, unquote) term 'good' strictly in its colloquial sense (and because it has a certain resonance) - but most definitely not because I feel it in any way aptly depicts the said clergyman.

****That being stated, I recall that my own views were/have been somewhat complex, coloured as much by what I perceived as being somewhat of a personal witchhunt latterly conducted against Cardinal Pell - irrespective of the particular facts in the matter, and with a *****predetermined agenda at play... However, having qualified myself thusly, I say that only in respect of the specific crime of which he has been recently convicted and sentenced to imprisonment...

*****For, as has become increasingly apparent to myself and numerous fellow believers over recent times - irrespective of our views about systemic abuse in state and religious institutional settings over many years and decades, and even centuries - there are those with a predetermined agenda towards, even a personal (and frankly, barely-disguised) vendetta against, pretty much anyone and everyone professing a Judaeo-Christian faith/belief system (along with their associated church); and I say that as someone who - like such greats as President Abraham Lincoln (and Aotearoa-New Zealand's own  Janet Frame) - has had very little time for 'organized religion' as such...

But, lest my (aforementioned) comments (as in the two immediately preceding paragraphs) be somehow or other misinterpreted/misconstrued/misunderstood, I say the foregoing  ******most definitely not in relation to Pell's longstanding, overarching, powerful position of being the go-to person for anyone and everyone within the Roman Catholic Church in Australia - and especially the states of Victoria and/or New South Wales as the case may be - vis-a-vis those seeking exposure of paedophile priests and their being brought to account for their *******'aberrant behaviour'...  

******For, though this will be elaborated in Part Two (and possibly Three) of this blog series, Pell would appear to be as donkey deep in the longstanding global paedophile priest cover-ups that have (in, initially, the North American instance, and, latterly, that of France) thus far been so thoroughly and graphically exposed in all their shameless shamefulness by two international film festival movies, firstly 'Spotlight' set in Boston, Massachusetts, and more recently 'By the Grace of God', set in France...

*******Deliberately, intentionally understated by me here - as ever - to emphasize my point.

******* (&***) Well aware - in both these (rather disparate) instances - that this is (admittedly, just one of!) the very 'foible'(s) (again, deliberately understated for natural emphasis) for/about which the ********'venerable' Prince (i.e.Andrew!) has been so unceremoniously lambasted over recent times ...though in his case, it would indeed seem to reflect his personal 'character', or lack thereof ...

...yet let me state once again that - deliberate, intentional - understatement is not a sin; indeed, ye average journo engages in the same without batting an eye - and moreover without incurring 'pushback' - pretty well all the time...

********Hey, there I go again - pretty well automatically, involuntarily...-so maybe I too have an endemic case of foot-in-mouth disease...

All Things Bright and Beautiful, All Creatures [fauna - and flora!] Great and Small, All Things Wise and Wonderful, The LORD God Made Them All

And that includes, as my aforementioned hymn rephrase expresses it, not only the living, moving fauna, but the 'flora' that equally grace our increasingly fraught planet...

...be they native (indigenous) or introduced (exotic) species...

This - one of *three all-time personal favourite hymn 'numbers' by the 19th century composer Cecil Frances Alexander - expresses best as I can my **own long-gestated and articulated and indeed openly, actively-expressed views thereabouts...

...about the ***seeming ****double-standards and 'high-minded' indifference of those - some of whom in my own long-standing acquaintance, even friendship - articulating the culling of any plant (or indeed animal) which is not indigenous to a particular area...

Obviously my own land, Aotearoa-New Zealand - otherwise (in years gone by, anyhow) known as 'God's Own' and/or "Godzone' - has suffered immensely (as has been increasingly realized over recent times) from the introduction - generally entirely inadvertent and/or accidental, but nevertheless - of (what have effectively become) pest species...

...everything from rats to possums, stoats and ferrets - and wild boar, as well as thar, deer, wallabies...
(though let's not, let's indeed never ever forget those most intolerable of insects, the common housefly and the German wasp!)...

...and likewise, among its 'innumerable' 'invasive' plant species, everything from gorse and broom through to a plethora of weeds, over to all manner of exotic tree species...

*Those other two hymns being 'There Is a Green Hill Far Away' and 'Once in Royal David's City'.

**As evidenced - if such evidence were sought/desired/required - in submissions (and accompanying 'literature' thereabouts) still held in my hoarded possession from years/decades gone by...wherein I made personal representation/s to the particular individual/s concerned and/or entities (including local council etcetera) involved as to my own strong disagreement/opposition...to various removal of trees, notable and distinguished...even if (generally) not native varieties...

...including over the (highly) controversial 'culling' of a wonderful 'stand' of Douglas Firs up in Dunedin's blessed Ross Creek area back around 2000-2002 or so...

***For who am I to judge anyone else's inner motives and motivations, however much I happen to oppose the[ir] particular actions in any specific instance...

****Yes, you'd be correct to surmise that I'm writing now in regards to the present staunch protests up in Auckland over the imminent culling of a large stand of exotic - but prized - trees there... 

Were you there - do you remember...some of the all-important dates in human history (of the unforgettable 20th Century in particular)?

...though the memory thereof appears rapidly ebbing/fading away among today's supposedly oh so enlightened/sophisticated/knowledge soaked and saturated/information overloaded 'generation'...

What sort of events/happenings, you understandably/rightly question?

Oh, those that so many of us still to this very day recall precisely where we were when we got wind of their occurrence...

Such all-important 'stuff' as, f'r'instance...

*the assassination of 'JFK', America's (then) youngest ever President, one who briefly inspired an entire generation and era...

*that of his own brother, and also wannabe president, Robert Kennedy, likewise an inspiration to so many (there and overseas)

*the assassination of Martin Luther King, and his one-time ideologically divergent (but later converted to King's own nonviolent disobedience ethic), fellow African American Malcolm X

*the lunar landings...of the Americans, with Neil Armstrong's classic "One small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind" announcement/declaration

*the fall of the Eastern Bloc, akin to a series of dominoes, crescendoing from 9 years (in Poland) to nine months to nine weeks to nine days to nine hours (in the various instances), culminating in the demise/breakup etcetera of the USSR/Soviet Union upon the birthday of Yours Truly in 1990/1991

*the premature/deliberate?/premeditated?/well-planned? death of the Princess of Wales, Lady Diana Spencer, on August 31, 1997

*'9/11'

*the election of America's first ever black president

*the election of Donald J Trump as US President

Yes, as the old 'Negro spiritual' goes, were you there...

when [all these things] took place/occurred,

were you there...?

'Government shall make no laws regarding the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof'...But even eminently sane law cannot account for, much less make allowance for, the rule of the insane, a day and age when the (oughta be inmates) have the lock and key to the asylum

If ever a perfect illustration of utter lunacy, of the sheer, unadulterated application of the strict letter of the law with no due, sensible reference to its heart and spirit - and indeed actual, original, bleedingly obvious intent and purpose - were desired/required/sought for...

...one could do far worse than look to the case of the Seattle (Washington State) coach, Joe Kennedy, fired recently for engaging in a group/team prayer at the commencement of a game there...

Without entering into a discussion of the efficacy of such prayer - except to say (and thereby leave readers in no doubt whatsoever) that this punter, anyhow, like any reputable preacher I've ever happened to hear preach thereupon, considers such prayer to be the sort of (utterly trivial request) that the Deity does not deign to dignify with a (positive - or, for that matter, negative) response...

...with the possible exception of those - extremely few and far between - instances whereby much greater issues are 'in play'(no pun intended) and/or personal destinies are at stake, etcetera...

That being said - yes, as advised above, my 'briefest' discussion thereabouts! - said scenario, by no means the *sole, solitary instance thereof in (especially) the U S of A of recent times...

...leaves most of us either scratching our heads or pulling our (remaining, upper) hair out...and/or in utter **conniptions at how daft our present crop of 'up-and-coming' Western 'leadership' would appear to be proving... 

Hey, back up a moment, you're thinking, in just what does the crime of said individual consist?

I'm glad you asked. Let me sum it up - to the best of my understanding - as best I can...

Joe Kennedy, coach of some sports-team, I believe (American) football (or baseball?) - you can see I'm no sportsperson, much less one of the multitudes of vicarious acolytes thereof - being dismissed from his job...

...for having the sheer effrontery, the arrogance and the gall - the sheer, unadulterated nerve! - to...
guess what, folks? Kneel down with arms outstretched in blessing upon his team...

and...pray!

Yes, you heard it - first - here, folks, and yes, you heard me aright, (assorted) sirs and madam(e)s...-yep, he actually had the ************ to pray!

No, I for once am left almost speechless...but not wordless (as is obvious)...

*Just as the case - I personally was, however inadvertently, alerted/'privy' to - of a piece of (not necessarily 'prime') real estate no longer in public hands in the great city of San Diego (California) ...because it was considered - doubtless by the American Centre for Civil Liberties - a transgression of the aforementioned amendment to the United States Constitution, to have - guess what? -a cross! - displayed publicly up/on public land...

**Apologies if no such word exists, I've heard it mentioned a few times over the years and was even almost dead certain it did indeed truly exist (though my ever trusty Chambers Concise Dictionary advises otherwise)...

Andrew Little Shedding Crocodile Tears Over Upcoming Referenda - especially Euthanasia: If he is really, truly concerned about 'misinformation' (and fake news) thereabouts, he and the Government ought to have done the decent - open, honest and transparent - thing, and called it (the latter) Just What it is: a referendum on termination of life and assisted suicide

Even the ever liberal as Dutch (in the Netherlands) have not been/were not as - patently - disingenuous in so (mis)naming their own referendum on the same, apparently, but (en)titled it just what it indeed was, i.e. a referendum on termination of life and assisting suicide.  

So let's be done with this renewed attempt to stack the deck in favour of the *Government's - and more specifically Justice Minister Andrew Little's own - preferred option/s thereabouts, dressing it up in garments of fancy, highminded, self-conscious superiority, as in self-evident truth, in contrast to his/their ideological opponents' supposed status as/of Ignominious Ignoramuses Incorporated...

And as for the likelihood of such arguments advanced in such highly contested, controversial and contentious as referenda engendering strong emotions -'arguments' which may well be somewhat difficult for the ***misnamed 'snowflake generation' so obsessed with their perceived need for ****'safe spaces' in every conceivable nook and cranny of the public space to stomach let alone face and confront? Well, get real Mr Little, life-and-death matters have ever engendered just such passion ...

...and ever will, as long as those proposing/advancing/discussing and debating them remain human...

Or are you (and yours) envisaging (however subconsciously) a brave new world of robotic beings, as seems fast approaching and is increasingly being presented us from pretty well every direction these days?

So just who is really effectively screwing the scrum, obscuring the real issue/s, creating a cute diversionary smokescreen, fudging the facts and disseminating fake news, Minister Little?

*Generally-speaking, and certainly the case insofar as both the (recently revisited) abortion (and legalization of marijuana) issues are concerned, though there have ever and always been Labour members of Parliament - interestingly, the vast majority of whom over many years (on such contentious 'moral'/social issues) being their Maori and Pacific Island (Pasifika) MPs - who have bucked the general trend (of social liberalism) and voted, on what were traditionally considered and been (non-party whipped) 'conscience' issues, **against liberalization.

**Be the issue this latest one on euthanasia, abortion, prostitution, civil unions, same sex marriage, smacking etcetera...

***In (my own) deference to the snowflake, every one of which is beautiful and unique (and not mass-produced).

****For a fascinating and revealing insight into, I stumbled across an interview with a Dennis Prager the other day on Shine TV's '700 Club' evening news vis-a-vis his best-selling 'No Safe Spaces' (cinematic) production. 

Slip, Slip, Slippin' Away...the Chances of scuppering Brexit, stymieing Boris and saving one's own (political) Bacon: As First (Successful) Proposal to Secure Commons' Assent Passes (Handily) Minutes Ago, Parliamentary Machinations Move into High Gear...

Afterthought:
Little did I realize, when 'arriving at' my (subconsciously-suggested) blogpost title - which title ought rather to have been, I suppose, *'Slip Slidin' Away', from the one-time hit...

that said title (whether mine or the original basis) could hardly be more apt vis-a-vis the entire long- and-drawn-out (to the nth degree) saga of Brexit...

For as the songster's **refrain points out, ***/****the nearer my destination the more I'm slip, sliding away...

*By one of, if not my favourite (secular) singer/s Paul Simon (as it transpired), though unbeknownst to me when this song sprang to mind/while writing this blogpost...

**The actual lyrics, as in (those within a) refrain/chorus, evidently being pretty well the selfsame thing, though a case seems makeable for a refrain actually constituting a subset of a chorus (technically-speaking), according to my Chambers Concise Dictionary, representing 'a line or phrase recurring, esp. at the end of a stanza'.

***Best I can recall the words, that is. ****But in point of fact the words should be/are: You know the nearer your destination the more you're slip slidin' away.

Hey, even again today, following the unprecedented - and really quite sizable - victory secured for the newfangled Brexit deal, that is *****precisely what we're seeing in Westminster's unhallowed halls...

*****And how about the following - taken similarly from this selfsame Paul Simon song, verse four in fact:

God only knows
God makes [H]is plan
The information's unavailable
To the mortal man.

Nuff Said!

Britain's Brexit But a Bare Breath Away...But Will the Professed Lovers of Democracy Actually Allow it?

That, my dear Watson, remains the only pertinent question...when all is finally said and done...

Yes, will the supposed, so-called 'democrats' (liberal, Scottish, *Ulster, Labour et al - they really do come in all shapes and sizes, flavours and complexions), in the final analysis, actually allow it?

But I'm sad to burst your bubble, to shatter your illusions and naivete, folks, the simple answer is:
not on your nelly! They're - pretty well, one and all - 'democrats' with a small 'd' (or more aptly 'c': clayton's democrats, supporting a clayton's democracy, i.e. the democracy you get when you ain't really getting a democracy)...

Welcome to 21st Century tribal politics, UK-style, people...and get set for - much - more from where this came from; I'm sorry to inform you, their joy-ride is just beginning...and boy, is it ever...

*Although, whatever one might think of them or however one might happen to regard them, strictly speaking the 'DUP' (i.e. Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland) is in a completely, an altogether different situation from the rest of these, having some really rather problematic issues to work through and come to a satisfactory conclusion over, I'll readily grant...

Back Up A Little, Dude: What About All the Arguments for Bremaining? I'm Glad you asked...

Yes, I'll freely concede, there are at least a few pro-Bremain arguments which seem eminently plausible, even somewhat reasonable...

...yet in the final analysis - in my (un)esteemed view - there's only really one, when it all comes down to it...

And N.B. moreover, it's only just been advanced - far as this geographically way removed kiwi punter, and even media reportage (both here and on the omnipresent, omniscient BBC) is concerned -
by none other than, would you believe it...

...Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Yes, you heard me correct: the British politician of recent times in whom I've been most disappointed has nevertheless put his finger upon a concern that all folk of the (economic) Left anyhow doubtless share in common: the possibility that a Brexiting, supposedly 'friendless' and *thus newly Trump-friendly United Kingdom, will, to curry favour with a person **adept at the art of making deals, do whatever it takes to clinch/cinch that.

Yes, a Trumpesque free trade deal - providing Brexit, in some shape or form, is ultimately enacted - is now well and truly on the cards, for all manner of reasons, thus leading inevitably - it'd be awfully hard to argue (provided Trump himself remains in office) - to such a deal (and hence a Brexit) allowing for deeply diminished, woefully watered down environmental standards and/or workers' rights/labour laws...'stuff' that America has, under presidents as diverse and spread out as Abe Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, his cousin FDR and latterly LBJ - and even, truth be told, 'Tricky Dick' Nixon himself - upheld and/or championed or progressed...

In other words, all the stuff for which the once great nation of America was once so justly famous; things long since jettisoned as the market deregulations under 1980s' Reaganomics got well underway, especially under the likes of President Reagan's Treasury Secretary David Stockman and Economist Milton Friedman et al...-though Indiana Senator/Congressman (and one-time presidential hopeful, at least Bob Dole's running mate in 1996) ****David Kemp was in another class altogether.

Yes, there it is, in black and white: the one and only true dinkum argument I can come up with - that gives one a decent reason to pause and take in one's breath...before consenting holus-bolus to Brexit going full steam ahead, no ifs, buts or maybes considered...

This, I humbly and oh so respectfully submit, is the only real downside to any Brexit - and sadly, under a Johnson/Conservative Party Government, a really scary and even fairly feasible prospect even...but otherwise there are very few really good anti-Brexit arguments in my own humble opinion.

And yet, 'in the final analysis', there's also one - and only one - 'rejoinder' that I feel deals ably with this genuinely held misgiving and cause for due concern. It's the selfsame one that none other than JFK himself so ably laid down as a gauntlet-style challenge to critics of his own seemingly rash rush to judgment and even precipitous placement of the world upon not only a (major world) war footing - and that clearly of the most devastating variety, a nuclear one - with the then Soviet Union in those two *****almost back-to-back global crises, the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Though some see his declaration that it would be "better [to be] dead than red (i.e. communist, or, more precisely, under communist subjugation, and therefore forced/coerced to be 'communist')" as the height, or rather depth, of utter folly, taking humanity to the verge of potential all-out nuclear war and thus the very real risk of Armageddon - and only in retrospect/with the benefit of hindsight quite acceptable, seeing as it never actually came to pass and thus the justified fear/dread/terror of humankind was effectively averted/quelled/quashed - ******let's shelve that question for the present.

My reason for citing the aforementioned? My own paraphrase for present purposes, my 'takeaway' to apply to the current scenario is this: there are some things in life more important than life itself.

No, I don't consider Brexit as such to be so all-important, so earth-shattering in its ramifications...

...except in what it signifies, which, as I see it anyhow, is this: the privilege and indeed right of every sovereign people upon this planet to ultimately govern their own affairs - free from the meddling interference of officious folk in white coats sitting in distant offices and stewing up all manner of schemes and things to keep them ever and always under their proverbial thumb...

...in other words, in perpetual obligation to and subservience under them, come what may...
The sort of stuff we're 'all' now so glad that the nations throughout Africa have *****broken free of...

*Seeing as the USA under President Trump is busily jockeying not only for favour with Prime Minister Boris Johnson but moreover for a special free trade deal with the UK - something obviously far more in the United Kingdom's interests than America's.

**It was a real piece of serendipity chancing to pick up (at our local, ongoing public library booksale) a copy of Dim Wit: The funniest, stupidest things ever said just around (a couple months prior to) American Presidential Election 2016. With photoshopped cover pics of two people, including (then London Mayor) Boris Johnson, it comprised amongst its innumerable treasures the following quote - perfectly summing up the entire Brexit situation - with which most readers would be sure to concur; from none other than 'the Deal-Maker', ***Donald J Trump himself:

Deals work best when each side gets something it wants from the other.

Sure, as clear as daylight and obvious as the proverbial. But it says it all, doesn't it? What else could one possibly, conceivably add?

***To balance things up (politically 'partisanwise'), however, Dim Wits also includes the following entry: 'I misspoke.  Hillary Clinton, on claiming that she was under sniper fire in Bosnia.'

****As I detail in a belated obituary to him posted on Nuff Said a couple years back.

*****Coinciding pretty closely with the permanent move of my own parents from the US to God's Own.

******Though, suffice to say, readers would be relieved to know that this selfsame aforementioned perspective is actually my own, and here 'articulated' without reference to anyone else's I've ever come across...-no, I'm as far as they come from being a precipitate warmonger as you're likely to find.

*******Though sadly many if not the vast majority have long since entered into a ********type of slavery/ subjugation even worse than ye ole *********colonialism aka the Brits/Dutch/Portuguese/ French/Spanish (et al).

********From my general knowledge of life on the continent from the 1980s on; but also prior to this (in the first few decades post-independence throughout Africa), especially as carefully and thoughtfully chronicled in Brother Andrew's (and Charles Paul Conn's) Battle for Africa.

*********A topical matter at present in view of the 250th anniversary 'celebrations'-commemorations- 'commiserations'! - of good ole Captain James Cook's arrival upon our hallowed shores. And note well my own discussion thereof (still to be fully posted) but scribbled out (as is my wont) way back when (i.e several months ago) vis-a-vis the situation re-appertaining in Zimbabwe at present (and elsewhere throughout that ever fraught African continent) in view of the seemingly never-ending 'dissing' of the British in regards to their colonial enterprise of previous centuries...

To Be Continued Once Again...

Boris' own Brexit Deal Goes Down to Defeat like all its Predecessors...at the Hands of the (Self-righteous) 'Champions of Democracy' -not! Whilst Ms May's Say-so in the Matter is Right on the Money (and the side of the true democrats)

And even seasoned political commentators/pundits are now envisaging the likelihood it'll go through...

88 days into office, and, as Prime Minister Johnson suggests, still going all-out for a no further delay Brexit...though not necessarily (or even likely) a 'no deal' one anymore...

Whilst the grounds surrounding 10 Downing Street swarm daily (and especially upon their relatively rare Saturday Commons' sitting overnight) with ardent, determined, passionate if arguably (occasionally) extremely misguided protestors (on the *Bremain side, that is!) Those whose idea of democracy is evidently one in which it's either their own chosen way or the highway, never mind, even **'bugger the people'.

But interestingly upon this rather 'deja vu' occasion it was none other than the ever eminently dignified and respectable Teresa May, (now ordinary) M.P., who rose most powerfully to the occasion and delivered the sternest rebuke to the aforementioned, in the person of their parliamentary standard-bearers...

For as the former British (herself constantly 'Brexit thwarted') Prime Minister has summed up in a pretty neat little nutshell (and herein my own doubtless poor paraphrase thereof): Is it in fact the case that [the assembled] U K parliamentarians really had no intention whatsoever of following through upon, of delivering on the outcome that people would indicate they wanted at the 2016 referendum?

Her words carried a gravitas and stern solemnity which seemed to not only beautifully sum up the situation in its entirety, but to point out the ***realpolitik at play since the start, whilst exposing to public gaze (and doubtless well-befitting opprobrium) the kinds of sordid, self-serving motivations - and moreover double-dealing/duplicity - ever lurking in the dark and dirty corners of political life.

To Be Continued (upon retrieving said classic speech (quote) and sufficient shuteye)...

*Which isn't to deny that no-one on the opposing (i.e.pro-Brexit) side may not be altogether unhinged as well... -yes, please forgive the quadruple negative in this case, but though I've studiously tried every which way to rework that into some semblance of sentence sanity, I just can't do it, folks...

**I.e. those who were in the majority in the June 23rd (2016) referendum; but of course not the (suggested majority of) people in the polls pretty well ever since said referendum whose revamped views (if only barely so, almost to the percentage point reversing the result upon that fateful day) are much more palatable and acceptable to their particular political tastes and sensibilities; delivering a(n) (suggested) outcome - were there indeed to be a second referendum - which, wonder of wonders, just so happens to coincide with their own (anti-Brexit) prejudices. Funny that, eh!

***'practical politics based on the realities and necessities of life, rather than moral or ethical ideas' (according to my ever trusty 'ole Chambers Concise Dictionary (Cambridge, 1988).

The Brexit Stands Upon a Knife-Edge...as European Union leaders/negotiators frustrate the nay-sayers no end by negotiating an eminently feasible new deal for the United Kingdom's orderly exit from the EU...

And though it (generally) ill-betides/beho(o)ves one to make predictions about historical events, I for one am hoping and praying (and moreover */**fasting, as I did prior to the June 23rd referendum itself) that this - something that such biblical scholars as the eminent Herbert Armstrong in his time have long since suggested, even ***/****'prophesied' would one day occur, *****does indeed occur, according to the omniscient will and purposes of God...

*Well aware (both in writing (much of) this, and especially thereafter) how very pretentious it might very well seem, I've (clearly) chosen to do so anyway, for the accompanying/interspersed reasons...

**Which spiritual practice, although Jesus admonished believers ******to do and keep secret, I believe upon this occasion *******necessitates some sort of mention. Not that I have any sort of high-falutin' notion that my doing so is likely to somehow 'pull God's arm' and change His mind thereabouts, but because as the respected (deceased) author and preacher/evangelist (and prayer warrior) Derek Prince so well outlines in one of his various book(let)s upon the same - Changing History through Prayer and Fasting - believers are occasionally privileged, indeed even strongly admonished, to engage and ally themselves with their Divine Head in helping see His omniscient ********purposes established upon this earth...

***Understanding that insofar as he accurately predicted what would ultimately take place he was only echoing and seconding providential circumstances in the divine ordering of events...

****As outlined in a wonderful little book entitled America and Britain in Bible Prophecy.

*****But certainly not for the sheer sake of its occurring, but because - to be as succinct as possible - I believe it is not the will of God for the United Kingdom to be a part of the rapidly-coming United States of Europe, headed by the biblical Antichrist of the Last Days of human history; for no other reason that whichsoever nations ultimately form a part of 'his' jurisdiction will, let's simply say, not be in an especially enviable situation...

******And certainly there is no spiritual 'kudos' or glory in so doing, as if such an act could possibly add even an iota of merit to one's own standing before God, or give some reason for boasting in His presence...

*******If for no other reason - certainly not any personal credit (much less glory); it'd doubtless rather earn me sheer ignominy and many peoples' undying contempt! - than to place this on the record as it were (for future reference) to the power of 'importunate' prayer (and fasting)...

...not that I'm somehow claiming that my personal prayers et al secured any such visible result; but what I genuinely do believe is that - as I realized myself on Saturday whilst absorbed in this matter - insofar as I'd made (an admittedly minor as in the overall scheme of things) personal sacrifice thereabouts (on various such occasions over especially recent months, in fact), God would honour that...

...using my own prayers et al to help move British Christians concerned about what was happening in their own midst to earnest, prevailing prayer themselves thereabouts...thus 'prompting'/stirring them to pray for God's own resolution of this seemingly interminable, intractable dilemma/situation to occur...

...assisted (and 'prayerfully' motivated) - if however feebly - by my own (admittedly minorly) sacrificial efforts on their behalf... 

********When they're dead certain that they indeed know and understand what those selfsame purposes are (which of course may not ever and always be so very evident!)

Postscript (after first parliamentary win for Brexit, early morning, October 23rd, NZ time):

It's truly an answer to personal prayer while atop Moeraki through Saturday that the pivotal votes securing this first legislative success for Brexit were from 19-odd Labour Party MPs...- probably twice as many as I'd dared to hope for...

Doubtless by-and-large from the places backing Brexit, almost invariably Labour strongholds (I'd assume) especially in Britain's midwest/northern industrial heartland...and probably the southwest - and Wales, also a strongly pro-Brexit 'area'... 

For whom (such highly sought after Labour MPs) I'd specifically prayed that certain (strategic(ally placed)) *'Tory' MPs with a gift of/for cross-party relations might somehow successfully prevail upon them (in the nicest of ways, you understand!) to 'cross the floor' thereupon...

*Generally disliking this generally pejorative term, but for the sake of brevity - not that that has ever been a very real consideration of mine...

In the Final Analysis, Honesty Is the Most Important Thing: Reflections Upon America's Democratic Presidential Contest - in light of a letter to the editor that not only went unpublished, but even lacked the most basic courtesy of a simple acknowledgement

Honesty seems to be the hardest word, for everyone is so untrue.

However much the Hollywood and associated set - and avantgarde, 'alternative' types - *diss him, I've ever had - much more than - a soft spot for Billy Joel (the writer of those memorable words in his similarly titled song 'Honesty').

*Far as I can work out, simply because he wasn't into the drug scene like so many, and so - I can only assume - his 'integrity' in that crucial respect was a standing rebuke, even a threat (of sorts) to those who felt such was simply a sign of sophistication. I reckon it's probably the selfsame folk who found (former American President) Bill Clinton's various 'indiscretions' so 'funny ha-ha'...

...whether his swearing black and blue he'd tried marijuana on one occasion but never actually inhaled, or his ingenious - but ultimately wholly unavailing - efforts to dance upon the proverbial head of a pin to avoid taking personal responsibility for his inability to control his baser urges, lusts and other sexual proclivities; whilst using sheer pedantic technicalities - doubtless well befitting a **constitutional lawyer - to likewise get around the impeachment (***process) for allegedly perjuring himself he experienced back in 1998.

**A position I believe Barak Hussein Obama also held prior to his own presidential tenure.

***Because Clinton was of course only 'impeached' by the House (of Representatives), and ****not the (then Democratic Party-controlled) Senate, and so his impeachment was insufficient to see him removed from office. As most would be well aware, the tables (as in respective majorities of Republicans vis-a-vis Democrats and vica-versa) are reversed at present, and so President Trump could well end up in the same sort of position, e.g, being formally impeached by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives while being effectively 'exonerated' thereabouts by the Senate.
And therefore - like Clinton - not ultimately forced to resign from office.

****I admire the likes of Joe Lieberman, the former long-serving Democratic congressman (or senator) from Connecticut who served as Al Gore's running mate back in Presidential Election 2000, because unlike his Democratic colleagues - and like the Republicans by-and-large during Richard Nixon's own (presidential) last days - he was prepared to eschew partisan party allegiance to stand on the side of the American Constitution...

...and against a President, even though from his own side of politics, who ever played fast and loose with the truth...perhaps not so unlike his wife who is on the record as having "misspoken" not only vis-a-vis being "shot at by a sniper in [Yugoslavia]" but being named after New Zealand's own favourite son Sir Edmund Hillary, who of course climbed Everest five or so years after Hillary was born...

Epilogue: Next Time (I return to this topic, hopefully a few days) - the letter in question...and accompanying that (or in a subsequent installment), just why it might be that that well-written 'commentary' went unpublished...

A Cowardly World Turns the Other Way: How All the Global 'Good Actors' have Shamefully Abandoned the Kurdish people in their Hour of Greatest Need

To Be Continued (pretty well) 'forthwith'...

Well, almost ten-and-a-half hours on...

They say a friend is someone who comes in when all the world has gone out...

So how can the Kurds/Kurdish people (of Syria,*in this instance) possibly feel after being so basely betrayed by their biggest (**human) benefactor, left as veritable '***lambs for the slaughter' for the Turkish forces to mercilessly 'pick off' and 'take out'? It goes without saying, and simply beggars belief...

But if America and Trump are the *****bad guys, pray tell me where are all the good guys? They're effectively all missing in inaction...except the usual good samaritans, as in the likes of UNICEF, the Red Cross/Crescent, World Vision, etcetera etcetera etcetera...

And so, yes, all power to the likes of South Carolina's Lindsey Graham in advancing tough *********new sanctions regimes against the Turkish Government (and doubtless principally its despotic leadership) - whilst letting Trump know in no uncertain terms he's skating upon increasingly thin and evaporating ice - but are we to take it that the rest of the world shares no guilt or responsibility in letting events unfold as they have?

Yes, yet again the ever sanctimonious and talkfest United Nations has condemned itself by its effective silence and inaction...but then, what would one expect from that particular outfit...?

*But as anyone following things (in the Middle East) well knows, the present scenario has been playing out - in various and sundry permutations - for some considerable time now, although ****once again, in the most flagrant and blatant breach of good faith, stands the good ole U S of A...

**For were it not for a Divine One, they'd surely long since have quite literally bitten the dust.

***A common metaphor these days, but taken in this case from the scriptural base from which it doubtless originated, i.e. Psalm 44:22 (requoted in Romans 8:36, amidst the victory pantheon).

****Can anyone alive at the time possibly forget how President George Herbert Bush, at/after the conclusion of the first Iraq War - Operation Desert Storm - articulated a fancy piece of 'apologetics' (not) in explaining how it was illegal for another nation (like the United States) to get rid of (as in assassinate) Saddam Hussein, and thus attempted to justify leaving the Iraqi Kurds to be gassed?

*****Sure, Turkey and its despot, Erdogan, are the chief culprits, but they'd hardly have moved a finger had not the United States of America ******inexplicably withdrawn its military protection at the worst possible moment...

******Yes, as I conceded in my first (prefatory) piece prior to this present 'triad' of blogposts, entitled 'Global Cop No Longer? (etc)', exiting America's decades-long and seemingly endless succession of Middle East military 'adventures' is far from a bad thing...but it's *******all in/about the way it's been done/engineered and the timing thereof, and the particular allies effectively abandoned to a death sentence as an immediate and utterly avoidable consequence thereof...

*******Indeed, it's apparently far worse than that, as it grows more and more apparent everyday that President Trump did so in the most duplicitous, double-dealing fashion imaginable...and for the ********most sordid of motivations...

********To wit, his ongoing business interests in Turkey; and to top it all off (as I said in one of my preceding two blogposts), without hardly a breath in-between Trump forthwith proceeded to reassign the no longer necessary/now unnecessary troop deployment to a neighbouring conflict in which the USA has also been engaged, to wit militarily assisting an equally despotic regime (i.e. Saudi Arabia) in its own equally problematic campaign of - yes, once again - the effective ethnic cleansing of Yemen's Hutti people...

*********Indeed, 'overnight' (NZ time) the U S Congress voted 356 or so to around 60 to impose a first raft of sanctions against Turkey...

America's Modern-Day Pilate tries - in vain - to wash his hands of the noble Kurds, his/their erstwhile most loyal of (Middle East) allies...and in the process gives Unmistakable Evidence of his utter unfitness for any position of leadership, much less that of the world's most powerful political office...-but pray tell me, where are *all the others coming in to fill the vacuum? Indeed, Nowhere to be Seen!

Part Two:

Rarely is a political decision as obviously fraught with such a combo of unenviable characteristics. Indeed it would be rather hard for anyone to argue that President Trump's latest 'move' - to precipitately remove all remaining U S troops from Syria asap - is not one of those decisions, and does not contain pretty well all the elements of such seriously questionable decision-making, i.e.

#sickening shamefulness in unusual unison with sheer shamelessness

#treasonous treatment of those deserving quite the reverse, worthy of the uttermost loyalty and support

#short-sighted, short term-oriented 'action' with deeply disturbing long-range repercussions

#effective acquiescence in the ethnic cleansing of a people who have already suffered far more than **their share of systemic, systematic suffering at the hands of genocidal madmen

#and, moreover, then as now effectively aided and abetted by a nation whose solemnly proffered word and commitment has been regularly violated and impeached

#whilst the particular 'actor' involved simultaneously, immediately moves to bolster military support to its reprehensible Saudi ally, itself engaged - again, alongside the selfsame United States - in perpetrating war crimes upon and against a relatively helpless little nation and one of its ethnicities in particular

#while being exposed as all bluff and bluster in threatening virtual Armaggeddon against the Turks should they go ahead and commit the very thing it is presently going all out to undertake

*now belatedly - as the storm of international outrage and indignation grows apace - offering piecemeal, belated, halfhearted and wholly inadequate measures (sanctions etc) to seek to somehow ameliorate the same

#whilst having the unbelievable nerve and 'credulousness' to then claim it hadn't effectively given the 'green light' to Turkey to go ahead with exactly the sort of military adventure they've been in all too eager haste to undertake

#as well as having the sheer gall to suggest that their belated and tame gesture of reimposing stricter sanctions upon Turkey could somehow help the Kurds in defending themselves from their aggression

Sheer stupidity - senselessness - surrealism - shamefulness - shamelessness - treason/treachery - collusion with evil - callousness, cruelty - aiding and abetting evil, and that of the most reprehensible variety, effective ethnic cleansing/genocide...

these are just a sample of the sorts of things Trump has implicated himself in with this injudicious act of sabotage and of stabbing America's most valiant and courageous Middle Eastern ally in the back... 

For the very person who has made his global debut and cut his political teeth in accusing foreign (Middle-Eastern) nationals of bringing terrorism to America's shores...

...to thereby effectively enable a multitude of Sissii Internationale captives to holus-bolus go free... and even enable them - as he himself has openly admitted - to thereby return to and terrorize Europe

...is utterly beyond words - or even contemplation...

Move aside 'Dubya' -and indeed his much-ignored Dad, President George Bush Senior- Donald is busily vying to join you as a war criminal of the very first - I mean, worst - order...

...and may he reap precisely what he is now busily sowing...but sadly, so will his/our world!

*Such as, just for starters, the likes of the (usually loquacious) United Nations, the **European Union etcetera etcetera etcetera

**Though admittedly apparently ***"all 27" members thereof have unsparingly condemned Turkey's aggression...

***Except, of course, newbie European nation Turkey, although the BBC report I heard did indeed specify all the 27 members thereof...

Donald J Trump Plumbs A New, Almost Unfathomable Low...Below Which It Would Indeed Be Hard To Go......

Sometimes like the rest - if not necessarily the best - 'of us', one impulsively reacts/responds to some newscast/'breaking news' (item) in a way that initially seems 'right'/to gel with one's gut feelings, but which upon further, even reasonably quick reflection, seems not to do real, true justice to the matter at hand. The story continuing to (virtually, singlehandedly) head most world headlines is just such.

And so, though I'll desist from withdrawing my blogpost upon October 8th - in view of my conviction that it does serve to make a salient and rather important point, vis-a-vis the long-demanded withdrawal of American troops from their seeming never-ending engagement and entanglement in foreign 'adventures', particularly of the Middle Eastern variety - can I at least *'add' to that now by giving voice to my, if not sheer disbelief over (in view of the particular 'actor' involved), at the very least my sense of utter disgust and indignation (would not be too strong a term) over President Trump's apparent decision to jettison America's and the free world's staunchest, most loyal and noble Middle Eastern allies (in the global war against Sissii Internationale) as so much unwanted baggage, in the process effectively breaking a solemn covenant with the same...whilst doing so despite only days previously promising virtual Armaggeddon upon Turkey did they dare to intervene in Syria (against the Kurds) and then - but a day or two later - offering additional active military power and assistance to a nearby despotic regime presently engaged - with America's shameful help (though that despite strong and consistent congressional - including, admirably, general Republican Party - opposition) - in itself committing war atrocities upon the little nation of Yemen...while thereby evidently keeping alive his own sordid (in the circumstances) business interests in - yes, you guessed it - the nation of Turkey...

Hey, the length of the foregoing breathless sentence/paragraph perhaps is perfectly understandable in the (seemingly hopeless) attempt to react in any proportionate way or manner to what is presently unfolding in the Middle East...under the auspices of America's 'foreign policy' to boot...

Nuff said for now...

Part Two (to come very soon):

Where I will restate - and pad out/expand upon the above - yet withal in more succinct, bullet-point fashion; to leave no-one reading in no doubt whatsoever as to just why the aforementioned proves beyond any argument whatsoever Trump's absolute unfitness: to hold the office he currently resides in; to wield the authority and power its possession carries in its train; to thus maintain the global jurisdiction which he does nevertheless happen to ipso facto possess...

...for if any single act proved Donald Trump's utter unfitness to remain in the position he does, this would undoubtedly be that act...

...and it's by no means overstating the case to declare that - far from, as CNN's '700 Club' weeknight news programme with **one-time Republican Party presidential hopeful Pat Robertson put things the other night, this one [gross error/mistake/misstep] being akin to the ***'little folly' the great King Solomon lamented in one otherwise accustomed to 'wisdom and honour' - this latest, abjectly contemptible and hideous, awful, treasonous, base, and above all inhuman and inhumane decision effectively and conclusively 'seals the sum'...

...as a rather 'fitting' if exceedingly perverse 'proof' of all the accumulated 'stuff' with which Donald Trump has heretofore been associated, as to why he ought not to ****remain in the position he does...

*As in round out, supplement, fill out in greater, more precise detail...

*In 1988.

***In his own Older Testament book of Ecclesiastes as a matter of fact, 10:1 to be precise.

****Which isn't to say he ought ever to have assumed that office in the first place. Whilst not getting caught up in the seemingly never-ending relitigation of the Muller Inquiry and associated allegations/ accusations about Trump's supposed usurpation of the 2016 Presidential Election - suffice to say that I, much like such respected commentators thereupon as Glenn Greenwald(sp?) and Noam Chomsky, don't happen to believe the case is really all that conclusive - that doesn't mean I likewise consider  there to be no minimum standards or threshold for anyone assuming the most powerful position in the world...which, without elaborating any further, let's just say I assume you can 'catch my drift'... 

Je Suis Jude aus Deutschland

...und die Kurde aus Syrien (und Turkei)...und Irak, Persien etcetera...

Global Events Send a Shiver down the Spine...of anyone paying proper attention, anyhow...

A(n) admittedly) poorly-coordinated trio of attacks overnight (NZ time) upon Jewish Germans/German Jews cannot but evoke painful and hauntingly disturbing emotions amongst the successors of that once terrorized population...and upon the holiest day in the Jewish calendar to boot: Yom Kippur.

What can one possibly say/add, except this: "Je Suis [all Jewish Germans]"...

So you're telling me - and all the rest of us - that a billion dollar beneficiary blowout 'bests' simple, respectful reportage of an incident eerily reminiscent of 1930s' Nazi Germany?

You (Newstalk ZB) must be, seeing as the latter received stuff-all coverage upon your early morning 'Mike Hosking' show today - in either news bulletins or in-between backgrounders and on-the-ground coverage/interviews...whereas the former headed both hourly bulletins and all the rest...

Shame upon you, supposedly Aotearoa-New Zealand's 'foremost' listened to radio broadcaster...

But what did sheer popularity ever count for, anyway - and indeed as the outworking of Hitler's diabolical schemes in Germany will ever stand as a perpetual testament to (the danger thereof)?

Vis-a-vis Mike Hosking's (and National Party's) Latest Beneficiary-Bashing Episode:

No, I'm hardly surprised, nor especially outraged/aggrieved...though I've every (conceivable) reason to be...

For, sure, beneficiaries may well be being 'regularly' overpaid...and more than ever even of recent times, giving you people the benefit of the doubt...

But that's just the one side of the equation, as

the more honest and up-front one inevitably is with the likes of WINZ, the more one is subjected to petty penny-pinching pettifoggery...

...and, more's to the point, how about all the supposed 'entitlements' beneficiaries (such as Yours Truly, incidentally) are not told about - that meet their own particular situation to the letter - till it's way too late...and 'of course' there's never any back-dating with that particular governmental outfit...

Global Cop No Longer? America At Last Exiting its Middle East Entanglements - & Under a 'Stale, Pale, Male' President to Boot! -But At What Ultimate Cost...?

Though the one-time strongly isolationist tendency within America has only again latterly found a championing voice under the unlikely Administration of Donald J Trump, and a 'Republican' President to boot, it's a problematic conundrum now facing the *Yanks, presenting no easy answers or readymade solution, that's for sure...

...although as folk will have heard, if Turkey's dictatorial strongman Erdogan proceeds to take it to the (Syrian) Kurds, he'll quickly receive a short, sharp response from you know who...

But who would have thought or imagined it'd be 'the Donald' who'd - and not before time - decide to summarily remove American troops from their decades-old, seeming never-ending engagement in the ever-fraught, war-torn and misery-ravaged Middle East?

Yes, who'd have thought...it wouldn't be one of the United States' budding radical, 'progressive' Democratic contenders...but a 'reactionary' such as President Trump?

Yes, who'd have thought?

But if it's at the cost/expense of the lives of Kurdish freedom fighters valiantly holding the Islamist fascists at bay throughout that problematic region...

...then it's a step too far...or rather, rashly, even recklessly premature...

All power to the Kurds: let's support 'em while we can...-the alternative, folks, is too scary to contemplate...truly, seriously... 

*Used entirely tongue-in-cheek, not to give a subtle dig at 'em...

Greta Thunberg, Climate Activist Extraordinaire...But Where, Prithee Tell me, Will it All End...?

For as One said so aptly millennia ago, "if they do these/such things in a green tree, what will they do in a dry [tree]?"

Which, 'transliterated' best I know how, i.e. into modern lingo/settings, could be re-rendered thusly:
if, in an [i.e. our contemporary] era of relative freedom of expression and thought and 'tolerance'...such seeming mass hysteria - however well-intentioned - can be so readily stirred/ whipped up...then what will be done in the name of 'enlightenment'/the environment/'humanity' when all this [God-given] liberty and tolerance is summarily stripped away in a time of unprecedented crisis...when those 'unpalatable', discordant elements of dissonance and [yes, even] dissidence...will - much like the early Christians in Nero's Rome - be accused of being themselves the cause and instigator of the succession of natural disasters, wars and other assorted world-wracking problems
that will before long turn this present, relatively peaceful and benign world upside down as the globe hurtles inexorably towards its long-awaited and long-prophesied rendezvous with its eternal destiny?

Yes, what will come to pass then, when 'every principle of the [centuries old and once well-respected American] Constitution is revoked', a long-prophesied era wherein 'in a threefold union with modern spiritualism [i.e Revelation's dragon], American Protestantism [the false prophet] will
stretch its hands across the abyss to grasp the hands of the papacy [the sea-beast power]...

...a time when 'every principle of religious liberty upon which [the] nation [of America] was established will be [repudiated]...

Yes, and all in the name of 'caring about [the future of] the planet', of 'preventing global catastrophe'.

Beware what you wish for, folks, for it may one day be granted...

...but what will you do then, when all the elements are upended and in turmoil, and all that matters is escaping the impending judgment of the Rejected One Whose every overture of grace and mercy - in the person of His own delegated servants - has been spurned and spat upon...

...until He arouses to take His peoples' part and return the reprisals of their vengeful foes upon their own heads...in His long-awaited and much feared 'Day of wrath'...after which He - ultimately, a full millennia on - rise[s] up...[and is] angry...that He may do His work, His strange [awesome] work, and bring to pass His act, His strange [unusual] act...

Modern Gerrymandering - Talk About Seeking to Stack the Deck in one's own Favour! (Vis-a-vis the NZ Greens' Proposals to not only Lower the Voting-Age to Allow Crims to Vote, but 16-Year-Olds (I mean - 'Youngs')

Unprecedented Judicial Judgment Against British Government('s Proroguing of Parliament) - Imminent Impeachment Proceedings Against Trump Administration...and all the rest, especially throughout the Middle East (Iran, Israel and Saudi Arabia), let alone the United Nations Climate Change Conference and Greta Thunberg's Riveting Address): We're living in Interesting Times, Folks...and, Quite Seriously, That's Just 'the Beginning of Troubles', Things're Only Starting to Warm Up...Bigtime!

And When You See the Abomination of [Which Causes] Desolation Standing in the Holy Place/Where it Ought Not, Let the Reader Understand/Whoever Reads, Let him Understand...[and act forthwith]: Abortion et al Double-Standards: The Right - NOT - to be a Conscientious Objector in 'enlightened' post-modern society...

To Be Continued...in the reasonably foreseeable...

Monday, September 23rd eve:
(Unapologetically written in a rather higgledy-piggledy, back-to-front order; as is my invariable wont.) In unapologetic defence of a nonconformist doctor from maverick Cork, Ireland. In regards to how the 'rights' of a vocal minority are effectively trampling upon those of the person with genuine conscientious scruples - especially those serving in the healthcare profession.

Eight months and three (i.e. 243) days on...from when I penned the following (on January 20th), after a BBC Radio interview between (then) 'O.S.' host/compere *'Lula' (no, Nuala, apparently) McGovern and a certain Irish doctor ("Brandon'), from the little ole town of Cork...

...my incentive to finally get it into blogsville simply being that I spent the better part of Thursday evening last making my own personal individual submission to the New Zealand Government's Select Committee on the proposed, and already post-first reading-stage, Government-sponsored abortion bill to - among numerous other things/objects - take this morally contentious conundrum out of the Crimes Act...

Yes, we're - well and truly, long since - living in the era of the ethical double-standard, the time when it's considered utterly intolerable to be a part of the so-called, supposedly 'pale, stale, male' set...and yet those who thus preach so fervently and incessantly, long and loud...for 'tolerance' and against the allegedly super-'intolerant'...rarely if ever extend the same level of tolerance to those whose views they are so patently intolerant of...

Yes, when(ever) the **'omniscient', 'omnipotent', 'omnipresent' state stands where it ought not (i.e. in the secret place of the human conscience), there's only one word for it, one thing to say: beware!

*The name, however, which I always hear whenever I 'hear' her name mentioned thereupon; though these days it sounds like she's moved to and is the new host of the BBC's 'Sportsworld' instead...

**Hey, that sounds eerily reminiscent of  a certain Eric Blair - infinitely better known as George Orwell, the author of two epochal tomes of the 20th Century, 1984 and Animal Farm.

To Be Continued...again (but shuteye beckons!)

Tuesday, September 24th:

*As/After the Irish Parliament *recently enacted enabling legislation following the overwhelming victory for the 'Yes' campaign (supporting the legalization of abortion generally) in Ireland's earlier (and *also very recent) referendum on the subject/matter only a little earlier last year...

...the matter of the GP (general practitioner) or physician/doctor at the very coalface of the issue has been brought into more stark relief...i.e. the necessity for a(ny) woman seeking an abortion **going forward is of course/naturally enough, as in any number of Western jurisdictions (including New Zealand), dependent upon her getting approval/'sign-off' by said doctor/s...

*Again, written as this was way back in January this year.

**Much as I detest, absolutely loathe this much-vaunted 'modernism', it does seem useful here...

To Be Continued...

While the Oriental Octopus Extends Its Tentacles Ever Wider and More Insidiously...The Much-Maligned 'Colonialist' British Empire Looks Ever More Benign and Positively Beneficent

Following a rather harrowing full hour's worth of footage and accompanying on-the-ground commentary on TV1's 'Sunday' 'current affairs'/human interest/tabloid show 10 days ago...upon the ongoing and ever more ratcheted-up protests and police response in the grand little city-state of Hong Kong, the following are some long-gestated thoughts of mine prior to this in-depth show and scribbled furiously while and after watching it...

Though a backer of the *essential object/s of the ***Hong Kong people, I've grown increasingly concerned - if not positively worried and anxious - about the inevitable and seemingly imminent outcome of this entire sorry saga...

As increasingly aggro, even violent, protestors take it to the authorities there, China is meanwhile edging closer and closer, preparing for imminent invasion to effectively quell said agitation once and for all - or so it would appear to outsiders televiewing their buildup close to the Chinese border.

From my own close and hopefully duly careful 'observations', it appears that the preeminently highly principled protestors are pushing their luck a bit far with the Chinese authorities, and it is only a matter of time till said powers that be 'double down' and crack down, relentlessly punishing all opposition to their iron-clad rule. And - for what it's worth, possibly not all that much, admittedly - it seems to me that the local Beijing-appointed leadership, aka Governor Carrie Lam, has bent over backwards and compromised to the nth degree, beyond the path of duty even, to accommodate the just concerns of Hong Kongers.

Yes, the Beijing-appointed rulers have compromised, capitulated - and majorly, of late - but it's just never enough...nothing will seem to assuage or placate the protestors...many of whom - however small in actual number - seem to have adopted a wrecking ball mentality of 'smash and destroy' and cause mayhem and destruction...

But protest leaders such as the re-imprisoned Jeremy Wong (I believe) would counter, and with good reason I'll concede, that it is all a farce, a monumental exercise in international public relations spin...a colossal attempt to pull the wool over the gaze of the onlooking global community.

Nonetheless, whichever way one cuts it, folk in that once deeply-esteemed 'land' are evidently living on increasingly borrowed time...

To Be Continued...: So what of Hong Kong's colonialist masters, i.e. the Brits...?
Hold onto your seats, folks, my 'verdict' on that much-maligned 'experiment' in 'nationcraft' may well surprise, even astound you, but I reckon it's looking more and more accurate each and every day...

Postscript:

Meanwhile the Devious Dragon is insidiously extending its ever more far-reaching tentacles further and further afield...especially into its own 'backyard', the various territories - ****large and small - of Oceania's idyllic Pacific Islands...

And thus and so BBC's World Radio yesterday morning reported that the Solomon Islands have decided to forego their previous Taiwanese aid in deference and lieu to Mainland China, i.e. the Peoples' Republic thereof...

...and though the news item then referred to a half dozen or so other, generally even tinier, Taiwanese-supported isles - possibly better termed islets - the basic upshot or 'download' thereof was simply this: though these little jurisdictions might well continue for the present to keep relying upon Taiwan's aid, it's probably just a matter of time...until Beijing eventually displaces/replaces them.

*The basic goals of the movement as stated by its **'leaders' are essentially threefold: complete and utter scrapping/revocation/abolition of the deportation to China bill; freedom of conscience and expression; and an independent civil service/judiciary. Really just 'stuff' readily taken for granted throughout the West, of which Hong Kong was indeed a small but significant part till that fateful day in 1997 when Great Britain began the long process of ceding back control to China.

**But yes, it is, as has oft been stated - as in Orwell's classic 1984 - a 'leaderless' movement...

***For surely a 1.7 million-member march in a population of just 7.5 million-odd - 25% plus! - well represents Hong Kong, though of course it no longer retains that long-cherished - and well-deserved - nation-state status.

****By which I certainly do include the venerable nations of Australasia, i.e. Aotearoa-New Zealand and its 'West Island' *****'cousin', the ******land of Oz...

*****Though even that familial monicker is increasingly suspect, as the Aussies continue their nasty and self-serving, even immoral (if not also essentially illegal) anti-kiwi approach in so many areas of their national life...

******Interestingly only yesterday I heard (c/o Mike Hosking's Newstalk ZB Morning Show) about the (Chinese) Government politician Gladys Liu, who has been facing much political heat of late vis-a-vis her own links to Chinese Government organizations both prior to and since becoming an Australian M.P. ...However, and despite the well-sustained (Opposition Labor Party) calls upon her to "Please explain" the apparently well-established reality of her (multi-faceted) connection to Chinese Communist Party Central Headquarters and its *******'international outreach', she retains political office for now.

Though the clear inference of these allegations - as indeed might well be the case concerning those thus far only tentatively proposed vis-a-vis two Chinese-originating New Zealand members of Parliament, i.e. Labour's Raymond Huo and National's Jian Yang - seems to suggest a fairly high likelihood of their truth, yet with Liu having not only come from Hong Kong but apparently having recently spoken out in support of the demonstrators and/or in opposition to the police crackdown thereupon, for the time being she appears to have placated growing political (and public) concern.

Though ********Scomo's attack on her 'attackers' as effectively 'channelling' the old bogeyman of the 'red peril' here is hardly worthy of comment, especially as the Australian Labor Party's longstanding Chinese M.P. Pansy Wong is in the vanguard of this allegedly xenophobic clarion call for accountability.

*******My euphemism for China's covert attempts especially here in God's Own and Oz to insinuate itself into our national, political affairs...via members of Parliament (in NZ anyhow, on both sides of the aisle) whose essential, unchanging, even undying allegiance is allegedly to the People's Republic.

********The acronym and popularly-known nickname for Aussie Prime Minister Scott Morrison, just as 'berda' was Yours Truly's own varsity 'identikit'.