What you get

Our lives are a sum total

of the choices we have made

there is no "hope"...only choices

you can see it if you look real close...

look real close

On Human Sexuality

Human sexuality plays such a pivotal role in the ontological development, yet, our culture demands conformity in the expression of this fundamental activity. Sex is not only the naturally-driven mechanism by which the species produces descendents, but is a means through which individual humans dispense with their individual selves, even if only for a brief interval of time, and merge with a fellow creature. Some contend that this is the most authentic from of human communication. Sex, of course, is intimately associated with the body. We are animals, after all. There are those who would dispute even this most patent reality.

Those who approach their sexuality in ways different from norm often become objects of scorn and derision. Of course, any sexual practice that does not consider the other person or that is used as a method of abuse, endangering health or used to enslave is unacceptable. But, why should the society at large be interested in the private acts of consenting adults. Why do those who seek to pleasure themselves and others in ways that do not conform to the “norm” not have the right to exercise their own prerogatives in the way they use their bodies in consort with others. Homosexuals are especially vulnerable to the taunts and moral indictments of those who consider themselves to be exemplars of what is construed as normal. The often unanticipated and unique characteristics of living often defy what is paraded as normalcy. The sex drive, for most of us, demands satisfaction. The route to this satisfaction is open to individual discovery, regardless of any societal prohibitions. A significant portion of the organic brain is wired and dedicated to the fulfillment of this drive. Without it, the human race would have been short-lived and intrinsically boring. How many of those who have trumpeted their moral superiority in regards to sexual behavior have been discovered to behave in ways completely counter to their own proclamations? How many of those who claim the moral high ground in the essentially private matter of human sexuality have been rabid proponents of the use of technological weapons of mass destruction against innocent men, women and children whose only crime was to be born in a country that had become our sworn enemy for whatever reason; how many of those who pass such quick judgment on the behavior of others are advocates of public policies that deny access to adequate health care, food, shelter and basic accommodations for many millions of our fellow citizens. Interestingly enough, these same individuals do not approach such life or death issues with the same fervor that they approach how individuals relate to each other in their own beds. Morality seems to be relegated to the bedroom and to nowhere else: a conveniently narrow and well-defined universe. Within this very same puritanical universe, the world of advertising flourishes with its main emphasis placed on the exploitation of sex and the natural human propensity for and obsession with the use and manipulation of the sexual organs. Although sex is not a necessary component of living, it is as much an integral aspect of existence as eating and breathing and sleeping. There are some people of faith who propose abstinence as a method for getting “closer to God.” This, of course, is a personal decision; the journey of life can take many directions. However, within the internecine bowels of the Catholic Church, there are those leaders who continue to enforce the rule that all members of the Catholic clergy and the armies of the cloth that include nuns and brothers must be celibate. It is intriguing that this regulation is not under scrutiny especially given the horrendous scandal that permeates the church regarding the multitude of child abuse cases that have been brought forward in recent years. These “holy of holies” apparently have a remote or non-existent connection to the real tangible world of human beings. When individuals approach puberty, their sexual organs scream out for attention. There is an undeniable biological imperative that drives us all. It is not merely the need to exercise these important bits of human flesh, but also the need for human contact and intimacy. We are creatures of the body as well as the mind. How this reality escapes the Catholic Church’s hierarchy is a complete mystery to me. I think it would be appropriate to ask an obvious question: “What type of personality would be attracted to a way of life in which celibacy is an integral component? Hovering above this organism called the Catholic Church is the ludicrous idea of papal infallibility. If you believe that the pope of the moment has a direct link to the Creator, then it naturally follows that he would be connected to eternal truths whatever they may be. It is quite amazing that a huge organization like the Catholic Church bases its judgments on such fantastic notions. Human sexuality can not be denied no matter how vociferous the pronouncements to the contrary.

Perspective

Pretend that you know nothing

now imagine everything you thought was true, is a lie

now you are in the proper place [mind set]

now you can see clearly

Belgian Triangle

What is it that flies

and makes no sound?

On March 30, 1990, citizens of the city of Brussels spotted a large black triangular craft hovering silently over the city for several minutes. Local police officials arrived on the scene and reported observing the object as it hovered over apartment buildings. One officer reported that the object released a red glowing disk of light from its center which flew down to the ground and darted around several buildings before disappearing. The larger craft eventually departed at high speed.

The Belgian Air Force scrambled F-16s to pursue the craft once it was spotted on ground radar systems. The fighter pilots and radar operators reported that the object would dart ahead at incredible speeds every time they finally had a radar lock on it. One pilot reported the object's speed at over 900 knots. After nine confirmed target locks the object finally vanished from their screens.

Doubt

I'm sure you've had one.
(click above)

paraphrasing Perls . .

"..expecting too much obedience
ends up in spite,"
so how many habits are
in spite of our-selves?

Gandhi: The Movie

A must see

The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania

Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain,
As in revenge, have suck'd up from the sea
Contagious fogs; which falling in the land
Have every pelting river made so proud
That they have overborne their continents:
The ox hath therefore stretch'd his yoke in vain,
The ploughman lost his sweat, and the green corn
Hath rotted ere his youth attain'd a beard;
The fold stands empty in the drowned field,
And crows are fatted with the murrion flock;
The nine men's morris is fill'd up with mud,
And the quaint mazes in the wanton green
For lack of tread are undistinguishable:
The human mortals want their winter here;
No night is now with hymn or carol blest:
Therefore the moon, the governess of floods,
Pale in her anger, washes all the air,
That rheumatic diseases do abound:
And thorough this distemperature we see
The seasons alter: hoary-headed frosts
Far in the fresh lap of the crimson rose,
And on old Hiems' thin and icy crown
An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds
Is, as in mockery, set: the spring, the summer,
The childing autumn, angry winter, change
Their wonted liveries, and the mazed world,
By their increase, now knows not which is which:
And this same progeny of evils comes
From our debate, from our dissension;
We are their parents and original.

(Act 2, Scene 1000)

(Art by, Joseph Noel Paton 1850)

HOW TO TELL A SIKH FROM A TALIBAN, ILLUSTRATED

[NOTE: If anyone is interested, this is post #500 in the Globalove Think Tank!]


Before I start, let me say that in writing about the Taliban, I am not indicting the Muslim community, which has many good, upright adherents, some of whom I am honoured to include among my friends. Please do not construct anything I say about Taliban to apply to the millions of Muslims who are peaceful, constructive and valued citizens of countries all over the world.

Do to a certain shallow, outward physical resemblance to some Muslim extremists, our Sikh community has been under attack since the 9/11 terrorist attacks by those who don't know any better. Now events in Pakistan, where the Taliban has attacked the Sikhs of the SWAT Valley, forcing them out of their homes, make a comparison of the two groups mandatory for anyone who really wants to understand world events. (And to stop picking on innocent Sikhs, as well.)


First, what exactly happened in Pakistan? The government there has effectively turned over control of a region in the north of the country, the SWAT Valley, over to the Taliban. In a region of this valley called Orakzai live - or rather lived - a few Sikh families. These were poor Sikh farmers who had lived in peace with their neighbours for generations, who had chosen to stay in Pakistan when most Sikhs left to move to India in the Partition of 1948. These are people with few material resources who clearly love their homes and simple way of life.




These were destroyed when the Taliban demanded that they pay a tax on non
Muslims, called a Jaziya. I have read that jaziya was originally paid by nonMuslims in lieu of military service. I have also read that it was originally a financial inducement to convert to Islam. Whatever the original purpose, in this instance, it is clearly simple extortion, not unlike "protection money" paid by business owners to organised crime to insure that the Mob will leave their businesses alone.

The amount demanded by the Taliban, was beyond the means of the community and when it was not paid, the houses of the Sikhs were razed and Sikh businesses were occupied. The Sikhs, seeing yet another massacre looming, fled with little more than the clothes on their backs and a few meager possessions.

In summary:

Lahore: The Taliban has expelled at least 50 Sikh families from the
Orakzai Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) after
they failed to pay 'Jazia'. The Taliban had demanded 12 million rupees ($242,840, GBP 161,271)
as protection money from the Sikhs, who have living in the region from
hundred of years, but they could arrange only 6.7 million rupees.($135,586, GBP 87,355)

Later, it was reported that the extremists occupied houses and shops
of the Sikhs in Qasim Khel and Feroz Khel areas of the Agency and
auctioned their valuables for 0.8 million rupees ( $16,190, GBP 10,750), The Daily Times
reports. Earlier, the Taliban had also demolished houses belonging to
the Sikh community in the region.

The Taliban's Orakzai Agency chief Hakeemullah Mehsud ordered the
demolition of the houses after the Sikhs failed to meet a deadline
fixed for payment.

Having established, I hope, that Sikhs are not Muslim extremists, who then are Sikhs? Briefly, a Sikh is a follower of Sikhi or Sikhism, a panentheistic (look it up!), monotheistic religion that originated in Punjab, in what is now northeastern India and southwestern Pakistan. Rather than summarise the beliefs, which is really beyond the scope of this article, I suggest you go to about.Sikhism and look around. It's interesting and educational.

The religion sprung up and developed at a time when Mughals (Muslims) had imposed a brutal dictatorship on the people of part of what is now called "the Asian subcontinent," that is India and Pakistan. I will now compare some aspects of Taliban and Sikhs.

Since people are generally more visual than verbal, I have included a picture gallery of major differences between the two groups below.

There is a certain superficial physical resemblance. The men of both groups grow beards and wear turbans. The majority of members of both groups are brown. The Taliban, however, are by and large Arabs, with Middle Eastern origins. Although there is a growing number of Sikhs of European and African descent, most Sikhs today are still either Punjabis or descendants of Punjabis.

Taliban discriminate against women in many ways: imposing Muslim dress which completely covers her, denies her education, restricts her movements so she is not allowed to go outside unless accompanied by a male relative. (I wonder what happens to a woman who has no male relatives?)

Sikhi teaches that men and women are equals. In fact, the Sikh Rehat Maryada - the Sikh Code of Conduct - forbids a woman to cover her face.

Here is an example of Sikh music, a sort of hymn called a kirtan. Notice that it has a happy sound and is a joy to hear! Also notice that it is sung by a woman!
.

I cannot give an example of Taliban music, since the Taliban ban music entirely, even to the point of killing songbirds when they controlled Afghanistan.

I cannot give a current example of Sikh government, since the Sikh Empire (1799-1849) governed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh is no longer around. However, two big differences between Sikh rule at that time and Taliban rule now are that capital punishment did not exist in the Sikh Empire, while it is common among the Taliban. And a huge difference, different religions were not only tolerated in the Sikh Empire but were actually respected, while the Taliban not only lack respect or tolerance for other religions, but also condemn all other forms of Islam, their own religion.

But enough of words. I have written enough to tell about the differences, now a few pictures to show the differences.

Note: Should anyone wish to reproduce this post, I will be happy to send you the html to make it easy for you. Just leave your e-mail in a comment or e-mail me at simayanan [at] gmail [dot] com. MHK

Mothers' Day

i smell you in the ocean

and i see you in the sky

i feel you in my heart,

i hear you in my cry

a little girl, 

i thought that everything would last

life was candy lollipops and gumdrops in the sky

lessons came in billions then, followed with a “why?”

a stubbed toe? i thought that i would surely die

a mirror’s glance into my eyes

reveals the part of me that’s you

my heartbeat stops and tears well up

it’s a part of you i wish i knew

as i grew up

i learned to hide my soul

covered tears with bravest smile

in every breath denied the trial

saw an inch and ran the mile

not angry at you anymore

that took too long to say

seven years have passed and yet, 

i miss you every day

twenty-two

but still unsure

i’m tearing down the wall

accepting when i fall

admitting i can’t cure them all

a life without a mother

can tear your heart away

so cherish yours, forever.

and happy mother’s day.

A Lazy Man's Guide

(I'm a lazy, lazy man.......Oberon)

(get a free book)

legal sense

Common Law?

Societies* suggest morality,
Governments impose law.
The law makes us buy insurance,
invest (pay) in disasters that may never happen,
and work to assure that the chances are less.
When we* are made desperate for time
morality suffers and ironically the most
desperate symptoms are both extremes
of the economic scale.
Those that lost the most money had the most,
this makes them defensive for how they got it,
even more, when obviously complicit for the problem.
Is government complicity finally being admitted from within?
Could these be the new revolutionaries that overthrow the
monarch money with three branches of credit so that
information and service stop creating debt?
Only industry is an indulgence (and deserves taxation.)

paradoxymorons

. . more of us should cringe when someone says, "Human Nature"
. . humans are proving they don't deserve nature to work for them. .

Natural Law

Truth.........is the offspring

of silence and unbroken meditation

...Sir Isaac Newton...

Silent Appreciation

And as the bugs and frogs do whistle in the night
And as the Sea is crashing suggestively upon the shore
And as the sounds of cars have left us
And even wild dogs lie down to sleep
A gentle breeze disturbs the silence
And tears creep down upon my cheeks

Blasphemer

All great truths...

begin as blasphemies

...George Bernard Shaw...

Angels & Demons

One and the same?

The USA needs a President like this to fight the Barbarians

after a careful study of history this is the conclusion that i have reached.

in this ongoing war only that power which is more ruthless will survive.

a Roman historian said beware of freeing people who have not known freedom !


Agha

Asshole

What's the difference between

an asshole, and a real asshole?

The asshole knows he's an asshole...

...the real asshole has no idea.

Anon-a-mouse

Life is hard......

it's even harder if you're stupid

...Anonymous...

Big Fish

There's a million fish in the sea...

where there once were billions...

90% of the big fish in the ocean

have been caught and consumed...

thanks to overfishing, bluefin tuna

have been driven to just 3% of its 1960

abundance.................a decline of 97%

fish

is it possible for a fish too drink so deep that it could empty the seas and flood the deserts with its piss?
to say i was scared by its size and shape is to say the first man was simple.
in it self that statement is stupid. a gross over simplification of the bald facts. i was very scared. shit scared but then again who wouldn't be?
a fish with jaws the size of manhattan and the arse the size of manilla would frighten even Bishamon. and trust me, he doesn't scare that easy.
the sun rose red on the scattered isles and the winds howled their protest at the coming winter and the tiny fishing boats bobbed up and down upon the swelling tide like corks in a fat mans bath.

the fish was spiteful too. and that was another factor to consider. a huge fish with an attitude. would you fuck about with something like that? something big 'n ugly 'n mean as spit? well would you?

well unfortunately for the people of Kwangpo they had no choice. the gods had gone. no one believed in them any more let alone worshiped them and so they had left their pantheon and had retired to the warm coast of florida as fake second hand car sales people. they lived snug little lives in their retirement condos and no one bothered them overly.

but this fish was another deal entirerly. it was big trouble spelt with a capital B.

the top guys in the good old US of A got out their big guns and their big bombs and aimed them at the sky in a display of might and muscle but the truth was not even their much vaunted power could even begin to phase this mother fucker. something had to be done. something quick. question was what?

when something this big and bad is heading your way firing what amounts to pellets at its impervious hide will only provoke it more.

the wise beards sat down and scratched their heads and shoved their hands deep into their pockets only to find loose change and their scrotums to scratch.

you see these are the facts as i see 'em.
us humans run the world in the way we see fit. we pay lots of fake compliments to a host of bogus gods but in reality we couldn't give a rats arse about god. we don't, if you want the honest truth, much care for ourselves and we gaily go along fucking up this and fucking up that because who the hell is going to stop us?

the answer to that of course is the fish.

but the one thing a gargantuan fish needs is plenty of food and when it has consumed all the atlantic has to offer and then done the same to every other ocean and sea and river, what then?

again, mankind got lucky but one day, one day our luck will run out and when it does who are we going to blame?

a fucking fish?

Too many people

Overpopulation...

is a serious threat to world peace

(Birth control is a global imperative)

I've Got The Right to be Free

over your head, hopefully not

"Well, if human existence is the opportunity of good, then anything that contributes to this opportunity is good as well"

(Click Title)

Imaginary Creatures

...there are more things

in heaven and earth Horatio

than are dreamt of in your philosophy

...Hamlet...

EYE COLOUR - A FAMILY STORY

Isn't that a creepy picture? Gives me the willies every time I look at it.

I was reading through my personal blog, sometimes - 2, reading random old posts, when I came across this one. It made me laugh, so I thought to share it with you who haven't read it before.

Just a very short explanation about the people mentioned. Mani was my first husband and Sandeep was our son. Both were killed in the antiSikh Pogrom in Delhi in November, 1984. Simon is my second husband.

Here is the post:

Eyes come in all sorts of colours from the lightest blue to the blackest black. Most eyes are some shade of blue or some shade of brown. Not all, though. Elizabeth Taylor is famous for her violet eyes.

My eyes are strange. I have no idea what colour to call them because they are a combination of blue, green, grey, gold, amber and brown. If they were just green and brown, they would be hazel, but they have far too much blue for that. Near the iris is a mosaic of brown, gold and amber flecks. Farther out, green melts into blue which then becomes grey at the whites of the eyes. Actually, they look rather like relief maps. For practicality, when I need to list eye colour on a form, I always wear green, since that makes them look green and makes things easier for me.

But this post is not about my eyes; it's about Mani's. We all know Indians - either variety actually, but I'm talking about the ones from India - have brown eyes in varieties from light brown to very dark brown.. Except, of course, Aishwarya Rai, who is famous for her green eyes.

Mani had clear steel grey eyes, as did his mother, as did our son Mandeep. His mother was from Kashmir, and this is not all that rare in Kashmiris, although it is not the norm.

Our story takes place when Mani was to get his first driver's license. He had passed the written test - 100%, I'm sure, after all, he was Mani - and he had passed the driving test - no one scores 100% on that, but I wouldn't bet against him. He had filled out all his papers and was waiting while the DMV bureaucratic lady checked them over. Of course, he was very happy and excited.

All was well until she said, 'Mr. Singh, your eyes are brown.'

He answered, politely, 'No, ma'am, my eyes are grey.'

She repeated, 'Mr. Singh, your eyes are brown.'

He repeated, 'No, ma'am, my eyes are grey. I really do have grey eyes.'

'Don't lie to me, young man, if you want to get your driver's license. Singhs have brown eyes.'

'This Singh has grey eyes. I'm right here. Why don't you just look?'

'Young man, I can tell when someone is toying with me. Please, just change the colour here on the form.'

'Ma'am, please just look at my eyes.' By this time he was annoyed, but he really wanted to get his license.

'I don't need to look at your eyes! Now quit arguing and I'll change the form for you.'

'NO!!!!!! I DO HAVE GREY EYES!!!!'

And every eye in the place was on him.

The startled clerk looked up and saw those big, GREY eyes, opened wide and staring at her.

In a very small, but startled voice, 'My God! You DO have grey eyes!'

Of course, he got the licence , clearly stating he was Singh and he had grey eyes.

I suppose in these days of self-conscious diversity and political correctness, this could not happen. Too bad. We'd be missing a great family story, which was always fun to dramatise! Of course, Mani always played the clerk and it was best when a giggling Sandeep played Mani, although my Dad did a good job, too.

This last picture I put in for three reasons.

It shows that what 'everybody knows' can be dead wrong

I like the picture and it DOES concern eyes

The young lady is a Kikuyu, the same as Simon's father.

--
WHY TRY TO FIT IN WHEN YOU WERE BORN TO STAND OUT?

Premonition

Look at it

don't think

just look at it


Salvador Dali-1936
Soft Construction with Boiled Beans
(Premonition of Civil War)

administrative costs

Health and education should not be debt producing concepts,
in the Service Era of the Information Age. . .

Get Busy

He not busy being born is busy dying

...Bob Dylan...