Amongst the worst news coming out of Burma, surrounding the peoples difficult march towards democracy, is news of the systematic murder of Buddhist monks by the ruling government pigs. The very idea that the Burmese dictatorship is so out of touch with it’s people, their culture and heritage that it can order the attacks on the monks and the destruction of their monasteries is terrifying. How ever this is not a new phenomena. It seems that whenever a despot and his cronies reach a certain level of corruption all depravity may follow. Again the UN involvement in attempts to alleviate the situation is all too little, too late as usual.Is it totally naive to expect the UN to ever get it approximately right and in a timely fashion? So often the UN gives the impression of being weak and indecisive which will always encourage tyrants such as Burma's military leader Than Shwe and the thug of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe.
African diplomats presented a united front to support Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's presence at an upcoming EU-Africa summit despite strong European reservations. Gordon Brown opposed it. An official from the African Union's Peace and Security Committee said "We resort to interference only in extreme cases of violence or genocide."
Zimbabwe army and secret police officers overseeing food aid distribution are denying food to hungry opposition supporters as punishment for not backing President Mugabe and his ruling ZANU PF party. Surely to deny people their right to food is a very extreme form of violence. How extreme does the violence have to be before Mugabe is brought to book for his crimes against his own people? Would it be different if he was also denying the rest of the world access to large reserves of crude oil?
Yesterday, in the UK two fourteen year old males were sentenced to serve a minimum of twelve years for murdering a partially sighted man in the street. They beat and kicked him to death for fun. When told by police that the man had died one of the youngsters said he wasn’t bothered. I’m very bothered.
The murdered man had already given up carrying a white stick because his experience in the streets told him it sent the message to predatory youngsters, such as his killers, that he was vulnerable and unable to defend himself against abuse.
Government must address the rising level of unprovoked violence. Perhaps we need A WAR ON DEPRIVATION of all kinds , the root cause of all kinds of terrorism.
Mean while if young people take any interest in " the news" both good and bad, they will quickly learn that the people who govern us and have influence on the world stage seem to only want to intervene abroad when it is economically advantageous. They will also learn from TV news footage that brutality can be employed in the name of law and order, democracy , national security etc. The list grows every day according to NGO s such as Amnesty International. It would seem the need for democracy in countries that meet intervention criteria is so great that the Iraq war might run and run in spite of announcements about troop withdrawals and peoples disillusionment , on both sides of the Atlantic. Even the people who supported the war from the beginning must realise the so called Alliance can not win the war for hearts and minds in Iraq. How could they ever think they could? Democracy?
If you google “good news” one of your options is a Bible bashers site called Good News, another is SKY NEWS. Below is a list of items as a result of typing the words “good news” on the Sky News search engine.
· 1. Good News For Farmers: EU To Lift Export Ban
Britain will be allowed to export live animals, meat and dairy from this Saturday.
Relevance 95% Last Modified 23/08/07
· 2. Tired Of Rain? Heres Some Good News
It may seem like summer has gone missing so far this year - but there is good news on the horizon.
Relevance 95% Last Modified 31/07/07
· 3. Good News As Reuters Earnings Rise
Media group Reuters revealed higher-than-expected profits for its first half, and said sales were strong.
Relevance 95% Last Modified 27/07/07
· 4. Good News For Tourists As Pound Surges
At last, there is some good news for holiday makers and others travelling abroad to countries using the dollar.
Relevance 95% Last Modified 03/07/07
· 5. Groups Welcome Energy Price Cuts
Consumer groups say they are delighted that British Gas has decided to cut its domestic prices.
Relevance 95% Last Modified 08/02/07
· 6. Good News For Booze Cruises
The Treasury will be breathing a sigh of relief after the EUs top court ruled shoppers must pay domestic duties when having goods delivered from the continent. It...
Relevance 95% Last Modified 23/11/06
· 7. No Nudes Is Good News For Britons
Nudity in public is the greatest modern taboo, according to a survey. Almost two out of five (37%) people placed nakedness at the top of a list of unacceptable public...
Relevance 95% Last Modified 25/10/06
· 8. Good News As Archive Sold
Reuters saw a 4.6% gain in third-quarter revenue, up to £631m from £611m for the same time last year. That was its strongest net sales so far this year.
Sad isn’t it? So come on folks tell us your good news.
Peace
copyright e d g a r b r o u g h t o n 2007
15 comments:
So what's happening for your birthday Rob(October 27th)?
No idea mate .... but I hope some thing nice happens ...... thanks for asking
Peace
My good news is I'll see you guys in Edinburgh and it will be my birthday. 53 and rockin - yeah !
Seriously though the Tory death duties tax thing has gone down hansomely on the council estate I live on.(LOL)
Scotty
x
Big 60 then rob, hope it goes well.
Good news EBB touring and recording again.
Bad news, finally found out that my club is being f****d up by an idiot billionaire.
News required, when are we going to get the release of the No vibrations album? Only been waiting since April.
Larry
Good news.Local food for local people seems a good idea.Here in the shires we have a local food centre development giving an outlet for local food producers in the surrounding area.The local organic shop sources as much local produce as possible...and in the nearby city of Hereford, Cafe Green provides affordable organic food for all.Yum!Back home I'm revamping my allotment!We all need a connection with the land on which we live and breathe and have our being.Indeed didn't you sing about that once....?Blessings,Ade.
My good news is my local authority have been trying to move i.e. close a refugee centre for Muslims from Iran and others. After a long campaign by local people it is staying open. GOOD thing is it was the local people campaigning to keep it open.
peace
Joshua
So ..... not much good news from you lot then? Great about the food and the refugee centre though.
The No Vibrations album was ... an Eclectic / EMI project. When Eclectic went bust the the thing was red carded. But the very elusive ex Eclectic executive Smoke Powell ( He is Smoke of Blabber n Smoke. Blabber is his missus in crime. Smoke Powell hasn't taken the opportunity to be as evasive as Blabber but that is because she isn't quite as elusive ) has joined up with Cherry Red Records and it looks like the project might play again, with them and EMI. Whether we will ever get to speak to or even see them again is any ones guess. There might be others more desiring of their disappearing than us. Mean while an intermediary in our small group of collaborators tricked Smoke into answering his phone so the deal seems back on ... perhaps. Good eh ?
Peace
Well, I managed to re-install Windows 2000 without losing any of my e-mails, so I guess that counts as good news (had 3 years of 'puting' without a prob). My Victoria Plums were delicious this year (my Cat's buried underneath). My boy got 3 commendations for his Electricians exams. Oh, and you can now get Parma Violets the size of Love Hearts.
What a wonderful world we live in.
Right, now back to the crap half of creation (term used humourously) - Mugabe will probably die in office, the self interest of governments will remain cynically at the top of their agenda, places like Saudi will remain a safe haven for African despots to retire to, and the future will be dark until the politicians take their shades off. In the west we are just too comfortable. The shit will finally hit the fan and the bastards will still be in control (or their children - well groomed). Still darlings, we'll always have Tibet.
Meanwhile, I guess some Christians might be thinking Armaggedon may come sooner rather than later.
On that (hopefully demonic) rant I'll leave by saying Great Blogette this week Rob, certainly made my brain boil. I shall make every effort to look out for good news, even if I'm injured in the process!?
luvnpeace
ramblinmad x
Blogette! what a great word! its certainly been the most difficult topic for me so far ,ive pondered all week wether to mention my good news (is it worthy enough, should it be earth shattering?) well sod it, it is to me so here goes.. i won £5.00 on the lottery(a share) , ive had no mail for a week(no bills), and i managed a whole nights sleep on wed with out having to get up for a piss!
so there it is !
cheers
tony
I also struggled to look at what the good news was. Then last night with nothing better to do I watched the "Pride of Britain Awards" on TV. It was the usual mix of people who had acheived positivity in difficult circumstances and people who had been very brave.
The very last award was to Sir Magdi Yacoub. He is a fantastic surgeon who, it is estimated, has saved over 20,000 people's lives and has pioneered the development of cardiac surgery for over 40 years. As one of the 20,000 I already adored him but to hear his humble response really made me feel that he is a truly special man. Interestingly he was made to retire 5 years ago when he was 65 as NHS have a mandatory retirement age but is now working in parts of Africa and Asia helping to develop better health services there as well as continuing research.
Amazing how I can relate to so many of the issues here.
So pleased for Tony - not his lottery win but his nights sleep. I'm 53 but I've got a four year old and the major thing we have in common is that we both have to get up in the night for a piss!
My other, younger, half is expecting again in December but we had a scare last week when told the baby had developed excess fluid around the heart - this week's good news is that the problem has resolved itself and all is now well.(This is slightly understated, we went through hell but the NHS were absolutely fantastic.Thank you Worthing Hospital and the Fetal Cardiac Unit at St. Thomas's in Westminster).
Speaking of dodgy hearts, an
in-law of mine used to work for Yacoub and worshipped him as a man, a surgeon and a boss.High praise.
My veg were good this year too. You can't get more local than your own back yard, and it's very theraputic, especially for a tree hugging veggie like meself.
And just like Rob - I too have a birthday every year ! So coincidences all round.
Happy Birthday Rob, hoping to see No Vibes out soon, no more Smoke screens !
THE ROOT CAUSE.
Deprivation? It depends what kind of deprivation you are talking about. The root of all violence and criminal behaviour comes from how we were brought up at home. Show me any world leader who has started a war and I will show you a child who was sexually abused.
Hitler (who also went on to become an abuser himself) , Hussein (spelling?), Bush (clearly becoming a christian to cure his alcohol addiction hasn't worked for him - he bacame an alcoholic for a very good reason), to name but a few.
Unfortunately it's still regarded as a taboo subject and the main reaction is heads in the sand.
Start tackling incest and the sexual abuse of children and we may undo all wrongs in the world. But it has it's origins in traditions that are thousands of years old, a great deal of which are rooted in organised religion. Religion is so tightly woven into society that even those who are not religious partake in one way or another.
This is going to take at least six generations to eradicate - that is, if people open their minds to it in the first place.
More later.
S'cuse InI, but had to come back to give opinion on last poster (Anonymous 'ThE ROOT CAUSE').
Hi TRC
Whist I agree that our childhood is the foundation stone for the rest of our lives, I would quote an old friend (with whom I worked for some years in childcare) - "We all have choices". Equally, to your statement regarding the childhood abuse of those that start wars, some of those children that have/are/will be abused, have and will turn out to be wonderful caring people. The sort of people who will help to stop wars.
It's also worth noting that not all abusers have themselves been abused.
I agree with you to a point regards religion, particularly when thinking of the ammount of blood on the alters of many of the organised religions, but equally there have been people of good heart working away within them down the centuries (mostly got tortured to death of course!)
I thinkl that what breeds bad people is much more complex than the childhood sex abuse of some of them, there are so many other circumstances to factor in.
One good thing (to keep on Post!) we can now talk openly about anything we want to, whereas, in even the recent past such subject matter would have been frowned upon. Also, the family home is no longer regarded as a santuary beyond the law.
Small steps.
Peas
ramblinmad x
Good post ramblinmad. Except for a couple of things - firstly, there is NO SUCH THING as a child abuser who has not been abused. Ask anybody in SIA (survivors of incest anonymous), ask anybody from Survivors Swindon or Pheonix Survivors, or as a survivor of incest myself, ask me! It is simply impossible. The only possible scenario would be someone who has either forgotten or repressed their abuse (very common)or someone who won't tell or admit it. Remember, abuse happens in secret, and as victims we are told not to tell. I didn't know it had happened to me until I was 37. Some people never remember because it is too painful and forgetting/repressing is what a childs psyche does to protect themself. Some because it may have happened at a time when they were pre-verbal and cannot relate to it on a conscious level at all. All victims suffer from post traumatic stress disorder which, depending on the nature of the abuse, who the perpetrator was, when it happened, their position in the family etc, will display itself in many ways including criminal behaviour, numbing with drink, drugs, sex, work or anything which can become compulsive, depression, self harm, etc. Sexually abusing children is an extreme from of compulsive behaviour, (think of gambling or drinking taken to an extreme). Whilst I commend you for your work in childcare it is an uninformed opinion like that which unwittingly contributes to the many myths about child sexual abuse and I cannot stress enough how untrue it is. It is in fact dangerous.
Secondly it is very unfair of you to suggest that the last post intimated that all abused people abuse, it was particularly offensive to any survivor who has gone on to sucessful recovery. ALL PEOPLE WHO ABUSE HAVE BEEN ABUSED THEMSELVES, BUT NOT ALL VICTIMS OF CHILD ABUSE GO ON TO ABUSE.
Hi Anonymous (RTC)
My apologies if you read my words regards 'all abused people' as being directed at you or your 1st post. I made the statement for all, as I am aware that there are a lot of misconceptions regarding child abuse, even among the well read/educated.
Just to let you know that I take what you say very seriously, even if I don't agree with everthing (the subject matter), and invite you to continue discussing this or anything else inc EBBness, over at the EBB Yahoo group http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/edgarbroughtonband/ where you will be most welcomed. Thus we should get the hell out of Robs blog as he's already onto the next one.
Tattybye
ramblinmad x
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