This bloke got SSMF during the Irish referendum.

We at pcbycp are deeply shocked at the way the same sex non-binding non-compulsory referendum has gone. Either way you look at it, the whole thing smells, tastes and feels like a disaster. There’s no two ways about it. We make no bones, and must draw the line in the sand, and say unequivocally, without contradiction, that this whole same sex marriage fiasco has gone on way way too long.

Visible signs of SSMF

For instance just the other day I was waiting to catch the tram and I could see it on the faces in the street, SSMF, ( that’s Same Sex Marriage Fatigue). If you look closely, street lights, electricity poles and even major building structures show signs of SSMF. They’re all drooping. Where once they stood tall and upright, they’ve all got this langorous sense of lassitude. It’s all a bit Dali- esque, and I’m sure next time I look at Flinders Street Station’s famous clocks, they will all have that droopy look. The tram driver, was sullen and ashen faced, he was monosyllabic and gruntish when I greeted him with a courteous ‘G’day’. Same with the ticket inspector, as they filed onto the tram checking all the exists were blocked for would- be fare evaders. I saluted them and clicked my heels and all they could do was offer a curt repy, “show us your ticket please”!. Another clear instance of SSMF.

The police officer who pulled me over for riding my bicycle without a helmet, showed visible signs of SSMF, and according to the latest statistics, the incidence of work related stress in the police Force has gone through the roof. Another sign of SSMF.

Ex Qld premier now Official bank suck-hole with SSMF, and BDS (‘Bankers Droop Syndrome”)

Then, just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, the bloke at the petrol station wouldn’t even look at me as I paid for my petrol. The checkout chick at Coles, ignored my “have a nice day” and the final straw, was when the lollipop man at the school crossing just grunted, when I greeted him in all his hyper-orange finery, “have a nice day”.

The school kids are sullen, the dogs and cats in our neighbourhood wont bark or meow, and the postman when ever he does come by wont even leave the junk mail in the box. He just tosses it out into the garden, almost as if he didn’t care and I wasn’t there.

Her Majesty. Turned alcoholic through SSMF

This must cease, deleiver us from the SSMF that’s ripping the life blood out of our community, and save us for the entropy of ever having to make a decision that’s non binding. And for Christ’s sake, save us from Tony Jones and his non- debates on Lateline. We’ve had enough and don’t want to be distracted from the real issues facing this country.

What real issues you say? Record de- forestation of Queensland, knocking off the Great Barrier Reef, the rise of the kleptocracy, andf the non governance of Turnbull, Shorten, and and all their cronies. And the fact that we are neo feudal, at the high water mark of the neo liberal experiment.

None of the above. Bring back Guy Fawkes.

It was fun. And made sense of politics.

Seriously afflicted SSMF sufferer. Is there a cure? We plead.

Photoshop, it’s everything and yet absolutely nothing.

Dear reader, I was flicking thought the Guardian, and reading an article about squats in inner London. The artcle paid particular reference to the Aylesbury Estate. I remember it well, I took a wrong turn whilst pushing a pram in Elephant and Castle with my young son in it, and found myself in an alternate reality. I’d stepped beyond the tourist bubble.

The article demonstrated what Melboune would be like before too long. That is to become a place of extraordinary contrasts. Between the uber wealthy and the indecribably poor. I gleaned from the images that all these poor bastards, shown in squats, in parks, hanging about in car parks, any piece, any fragment of open space they could find and utilise as “free-space” were happy. They were hanging about, broke, penniless, and bereft, but they had one thing, a sense of community. Under threat from developers, government and opportunitsts. They make these spaces live and breathe, as marginalised “others”, the proverbial cockroaches, and  survive in “improved” urban environments, as an affront to “respectable gentrified society’.

Respectable gentrified society whether it be in Melbourne, London or Mumbai have a way of turning life dead. Ossification is what happens when you establish a monoculture. Searching for a reason I found one. It’s all of us. It’s the same with Trump. It’s what made Hillary unpalatable. Whilst we allow it to happen it rolls on. But there is one element which really irks, Photoshop.

In the Guardian article, there’s a vast slab of Southbank, (the one in London) that is being transformed into luxury apartments, another gentrified “ gated “ community. Another urban transformation, a “loss of grain”, as the planners would say. Another “metrocentric enclave”. But its more than that, there’s something much more sinister, and its all revealed in the image.

It’s Farenheit 451 bought to you by Photoshop. It’s not real. This is the beauty of computer generated images. It distills the complexity of the real world into simple logo-ised icons, and they’re incredibly revealing.

Take a look at the picture. It’s full of terribly successful enterprising females, (No Harvey Weinstein’s here). They clutch designer handbags. They agressively wear suglasses that cost a weeks wages. And they’re all incredibly fucking busy. Even when they’re walking. And they have water bottles. If you’re really important you clutch a water bottle. The same you imperiously slurp out of at business management meetings, and framework scoping meetings. And you’re always in between gym gear, pilates gear and some formal casual hybrid. And the only indicator of what stage of dress or formality you’re at is the label. Which proclaims; “Jeez, this tracksut cost me five hundred pounds, and some poor bastard in Bangladesh got pais five pence for it”.

It’s a gated community. It’s a bubble.

This is the Brave New World. We are all depleted. It’s an irony free zone in which each of us is worthless, and yet terribly conscious of our place in the greater scheme of things. Irony, humour, insight, memory and humanity are not measured in metrics or on photo shop.

Humanity risks being deleted.

Let America Be America Again (1937)

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There’s never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? 
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one’s own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I’m the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That’s made America the land it has become.
O, I’m the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home—
For I’m the one who left dark Ireland’s shore,
And Poland’s plain, and England’s grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa’s strand I came
To build a “homeland of the free.”

The free?

Who said the free?  Not me?
Surely not me?  The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we’ve dreamed
And all the songs we’ve sung
And all the hopes we’ve held
And all the flags we’ve hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay—
Except the dream that’s almost dead today.

O, let America be America again—
The land that never has been yet—
And yet must be—the land where every man is free.
The land that’s mine—the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME—
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people’s lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again!

first posted 26 March 2013

All stand!

Last Thursday was an important day on the Yuendumu calendar.

A plane load of bureaucrats arrived to launch a ‘Closing the Gap’-Federal Government initiative: the $1.5 billion Remote Jobs and Communities Program with its inevitable acronym ‘RJCP’.  Free lunch and a barbeque were provided under the ‘Telstra Dome’ like roofed basketball Court.  Invitation posters had been put up (see attachment) inviting the Yuendumu citizenry to an ‘Information and Consultation session’

Do you recall that famous 1970 “Suppose They Gave A War and Nobody Came” poster?

Three locals attended the ‘I&CS’ (must confess- couldn’t resist and made this acronym up myself), all because it fell within their job sphere to do so.

Meanwhile at another Yuendumu Court, 35 criminal cases were being heard.

Whilst these important events were taking place two police vehicles in tandem were prowling the streets of Yuendumu.  They were hunting. They were revenue hunting that is. I did not ask the police how their hunting was going but know they caught at least one person who went to pick up someone at our airstrip and got done $420 for not wearing a seat belt and another $70 for not having his driver’s license on him (that he subsequently found in his pocket- too late!). Total $490, only $10 short of a fine a contractor received for placing a portable toilet on a sacred site near the top-end community of Numbulwar, after gaining an Intervention contract in 2007.

That evening many of us drove to Yuelamu (Mt. Allan) 35 Km east of here on the ‘back-road’. The language spoken at Yuelamu is Anmatyerre; most Yuelamu residents also speak Warlpiri which is as different to their language as Polish is to French. A screening of ‘Coniston’ was held at the Yuelamu Basketball Court which had been opened the previous day.   http://www.pawmedia.com.au/library/coniston-massacre-by-lander-river-band-987

The murder of Fred Brooks in 1928 took place at Yurrkuru 55Km north east of Yuendumu. This triggered the so called Coniston Massacre in which during a series of punitive raids probably more than a hundred Aborigines were indiscriminately killed. A subsequent inquiry found the killing of ‘blacks’ to be ‘justified’. Over the years much has been written and filmed on the Coniston Massacre, but what makes this movie refreshingly different is that the story is told from a Yapa (Aboriginal) perspective.

The virtual absence of rancour and animosity could be a lesson to peace makers everywhere.

There is an old ‘joke’, I think originally from the Pacific: “We had the land and the missionaries had the Bible, then they came and now they have the land and we have the Bible”

In the film it was gently stated “Our land is no longer ours, it now belongs to the Pastoralists and the Miners. We never got justice” without anger or blame.

¿Que te ha pasado Justicia? (Justice what has happened to you?)  http://youtu.be/DF8sIGlI7sg

No justice and no Respect….http://youtu.be/cYbs_O_iMfU

Just as I was starting to despair for the fate of Warlpiridom under the sustained assimilationist multipronged attack, along comes this film showcasing Yapa strength and humour. Any society that  can experience deep sorrow yet so heartily laugh at the oppressors and themselves, has a future. I’m not talking the Federal Government’s euphemistic Stronger Futures either.

This dispatch is taken from the posting of 20 June 2012

From the Publishers
In the wake of Kevin Rudd’s non challenge there was a very strong call on NITV Thursday night for the replacement of the Protector of Aborigines, Jenny Macklin, with some-one who might just listen and understand.

Taking care of business. As banking rep Anna gets an office and a computer all to herself. Her soul was sold years ago.

People of Australia take heart. There’s no need to hold a banks Royal Commisson. We can rest assured that Anna Bligh represents the banks cos she’s an individual of the sort of conviction only a politician can be bought for. We feel it is of the utmost importance, to let you know just how things are with foreign investment. There’s a lot of it about, and some people are a bit hot under the collar, (not just Cardinal Pell and his tax free religious cohorts), but even people from the Peoples Republic of China as to where the funds ultimately come from. And you’ve gotta admit, after killing off manufacturing, selling off public assets, and waiting for the services industry to boom it’s not all that promising. Good thing we’ve got ‘Malcolm the Magnificent’ to turn it all around with an ‘Ideas Boom’. And ideas, are burgeoning, though no one in parliament is a ‘Real Australian’, (is that the same as un-australian?) we have a handle on what’s going on, and we learn.

There’s some blue chip investments coming out of Nigeria, and please reader take heed, and listen. It comes for  our Nigerian representative, Dr Evans Egobia. The good  Doctor writes in his own medico legal way, and we know he’s a real doctor, cos it’s full of typos…:

This couple made a killing out of creative capital

From Dr.Evans Egobia

Dear Friend

It is with trust and confidence that I write to make this urgent business proposal to you. I was assigned by two of my colleague to seek for a foreign partner who will assist us in providing a convenient foreign account in any designated bank abroad for the transfer of us$35,500,000.00 pending on our arrival in your country for utilization and disbursement with the owner of the account.

this amount results from a deliberate inflation of the value of a contract awarded by our ministry – the federal ministry of agriculture (fma)to an expatriate company.the contract has been executed and payment made to the original contractor,remaining the over-invoiced amount of us$35.5 million,which we want to transfer the funds out the country in ourfavour for disbursement among ourselves.the transfer of this money can only be possible with the help of a foreigner who will be presented as the beneficiary of the fund.

as government officials, we are not allowed to operate foreign accounts,and this is the reason why we decided to contact you. we have agreed that if you/your company can act as the beneficiary of this fund (us$35,500,000.00 million)25% of the total sum will be for you for providing the account while 5% will be set aside for the expenses incurred during the cost of transfer of the fund into your account while 70% will be reserved for us.

This man had real potential to divine money from water

we hereby solict for your assistance in providing a convenient account number in a designated bank abroad where this fund would be transferred.we intend coming over there on the completion of this transfer to secureour own share of the money.

please note that we have been careful and have made all arrangements towards the success and smooth transfer of the fund to your acccount beforeyou. for security reasons and confidenciality of this transaction, we demand that you should not expose this proposal and the entire transaction to anybody.

we are putting so much trust in you with the hope that you would not betray us. or sit on this money when it is finally transferred into your account.berest assured that this transaction is 100% risk free. if this proposal is acceptable to you,indicate your interest by sending a email to us including your bank name & address,account number,telephone and fax
numbers.

note:our former president olusegun aremu obasanjo collaborated with the former chairman of the economic financial crime commission , mallam nuhun ribadu to stop the junior ranks officers from transferring funds out of the country. he sent different publication to many countries in the world as propaganda to discourage all government officials from transferring funds into an overseas account to avoid and save guides the countries economy.

These two have a handle on how economies work.

apparently, so that other government officials will not benefits from these( oil windfalls venture) where he has been a culprit alone with his aides.more details about this transaction will be given to you as soon as we receive your positive respond.

note that the particular nature of your company’s business is irrelevant to this transaction. if this transaction interests you, your urgent response will be appreciated.

yours faithfully,

Dr.Evans Egobia

‘Nice People” who prefer “Paradise Paper”

Dear reader, in these vexed times, it’s nice to know there are people out there in cyberspace who are willing to help you. Indeed with the release of the ‘Paradise Papers’ we now know that “Nice” people know how to invest their earnings securely. And with the right advice can avoid the silly, degrading obligation of having to pay tax. And thus alleviate themselves from  the odious responsibility of thinking themselves as part of a community.

This delightful old lady always chooses “Paradise”

We are exceedingly glad that “right minded” people can then make the ethical choice of which charity they can set up and what tax incentives and government grants they can secure as they spend their discretionary funds. And it’s encouraging to know as the Spring Racing Carnival is in full flurry, there’s a lot to be made by taking an informed punt. Particularly when  you know that you’re the only horse in the field. And that ‘Spinner’ will most assuredly come in, so to speak.

Therefore it is with some enthusiasm we publish this letter from a sincere and thoughtful individual who hails from Nigeria. Intent upon improving the world thorugh that rare human spirit of alturism. We implore the general public, “if only there could be more like this’, what a wonderrful world it would be. The full transcript is as follows: (We apologise for any grammatical errors. The truth is they write like that in Nigeria)

From: “Mrs.Marina Williams”<info@vnn.vn>
Date: 31 October 2017 at 2:05:59 pm AEDT
Subject: Re: The truth about your funds.
Reply-To: <rubendaniel@lycos.com>

Some families won’t accept anything other than ” Paradise”. And it’s a free country!!

Hello Dear,

A nice Nigerian man will help you with your investments.

I am Mrs.Marina Williams, I am one of those people that took part in receiving Inheritance funds and Lottery funds from European banks even from many lottery organization ,Atm card and Compensation funds etc few month’s ago and they refused to pay me which i though i had been scammed due to the no avail, responds from the Agent i have been working with, I had paid different fees while in the United States trying to get my funds from those banks, ATM CARD And Compensation and lottery organization but all to no avail. Which is why i Mrs.Marina Williams decided to travel to West Africa Nigeria for the claiming of my funds with all my compensation documents, and I was directed by the IMF Director to contact the reconciliatory Barrister Frank Daniel, who is also an attorney, A USA citizen and a member of the UNITED NATIONS & IMF COMPENSATION AWARD COMMITTEE currently working with IMF in the WEST AFRICA NIGERIA and I contacted him and he explained everything to me. He said who ever is contacting us through emails
Presently I have received my compensation payment of $20 million dollars. Barrister Frank Daniel showed me the full information of those that are yet to receive their Inheritance, Lottery payment and I saw your email address as one of the beneficiaries who is to receive the payment worth of $5 million dollars which is why I decided to send you a mail for you to stop dealing with those people claiming to be in charge of your funds, they are not with your fund, they are only making money out of you.

I will personally advise you to contact Barrister Frank Daniel he will assist you as he is a very religious man with the fear of God.
i know it will hard for you to believe me but the has to be said and i am a living testimony, i will really advice you to contact him because he will really assist you in this transaction for your funds to be transferred to your account.

With safe investments you can run the country and win a horse race all at the same time.

Compensation Award Office.

Name: Barrister Frank Daniel
Email: imf_officemail@lycos.com

New Zealand P.M says “capitalism is broken”. Ruled ineligible for the Melbourne Cup.

Dear reader, we were going to devote this week to some really hard hitting trenchant pieces. (that’s stuff you write in a trench at Gallipoli) These pieces were to put the lid on the perplexing issues that face us in this era of crises. In one fell swoop we were going to lift the lid on inequality, racism and the disparity between the have’s and have nots. We were about to deliver a series of breathtakingly analytical pieces on why the body politic aint working. Why capitalism is broken. And why there’s a kiddy somewhere who hasn’t got an I-pad.

Without reality television we know that out society is doomed. Without the ongoing stimulus of Adani, to make us wealthier we are doomed. Without housing estates stretching as far as the eye can see as testament to our wealth as a nation, we know we’re doomed.

We thought we’d devote some really serious thinking to these issues. And, above all, as this vast panoply of goverance, is rent, ripped and torn asunder upon the merciless, mendacity of the market, we were going to take one step further, beyond the realm of human understanding, and say something really profound. It’s an epoch we’re in. And we don’t flinch from making an epoch making statement. For that is our purpose at pcbycp. Not to flinch. Not one little bit.

“Inequality” scratched.

But a horse race has stopped the nation.

In a nation-sized horse race, it proves our worth as a civilised people.

The following is a trasnscript from the race-call.

Only now, in the afterglow of this truly significant event can we now describe the race in detail.

‘Inequity’ was scratched a day before the big event. ‘Compassion’ and ‘Tolerance’ were both late scratchings, and that only left after the sudden withdrawal of ‘Intelligence’, ‘Foresight’, ‘Historical Fact’ and ‘Environment’ only eight horses left in the field.

And it was a close race, almost too tight to call.

After a bunched start, ‘Bigotry’, was level pegging with ‘Xenephobia’, the two vied for the lead into the first 1000 metres. “Naked Greed’, closely followed by ‘Real Estate’ and ‘Un- Australian’, were making a real challenge. “Xenephobia” came in a late rally at the 1200 metre mark and looked set to take the lead. Stretching out on the final turn “Aboriginal Australia”, went lame and had to be put down, whilst ‘Incarceration’ and ‘Kleptocracy’ came for nowhere to mount a real challenge. It was neck and neck, the crowd on the edge of their seats, unable to contain their excitement as ‘Naked Greed’, ‘Klepotcracy’ and ‘Xenephobia’ made a last sprint for home. And then just as it seemed ‘Xenephobia’ would race forward a little over three lengths in front, “Anzackery’ made a late challenge, and was about to stride first across the winning post when from out of nowhere, ‘Minerals and Energy’ made a dash and came across the line to win the 156th Melbourne Cup.

“Maggotted”, another late scratching.

As a postscript, ‘Renewables’, Public Imagination” and “Gay Marriage’, failed to catch the frontrunners and retired from the track.

We are thrilled to report that after the stewards made their report it was decalred a dead heat. “Minerals and Energy” equal first with ‘Anzackery’ and ‘Xenephobia’, the winners of the Melbourne Cup. It’s a race that stopped the nation, and ensures that in spite of what’s said , this is a nation of heavy lifters. Each winner carried up to fifteen lumps of real coal in their saddle bags. Proof of the power of Minerals and Energy in leading Australia.

And Minerals and Energy as a short priced favourite, it was a happy day for the punters.

Buenas,

 Around 1978 the Warlpiri owned Yuendumu Mining Co (YMC) formed a joint venture with Afmeco, the Australian subsidiary of a French company, to search for Uranium in the Ngalia Basin. YMC had applied for a number of exploration licences, but had no resources to explore these tenements in its own right. Afmeco during negotiations, in order to prove its bona fides in relation to “natives”, showed us some very lovely glossy photos of Africans collecting samples and carrying out other exploration field tasks. Around the same time we had a visit from a very charming French speaking young lady from Cote d’Ivoire (a friend of Yuendumu School’s linguist Napaljarri Laughren who had done her “field work” in the Ivory Coast during her studies).

As part of showing Awa around, I called into Afmeco’s exploration camp. I did not see much point of saying anything about it at the time, but the discomfort and unfriendly vibes of the French geologists towards Awa caught me off guard and unpleasantly surprised me. From my mother I learned and/or inherited a predisposition to see the best in people. Usually I’m not unpleasantly surprised and disappointed. Macy Gray – Beauty In The World [Lyrics] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1QHlUwkEYI  …. And dance with me…

So much for the very lovely glossy photographs!

During the 1970’s & 1980’s the CSIRO planted central Australian acacia trees (predominantly kanalarampi- Acacia Coleii ) at Maradi in Niger. The late Napaljarri Ross, Nangala Fleming and Nangala Baarda from Yuendumu accompanied the CSIRO on a “cultural exchange” visit to Niger. Their eyes had been opened to a whole other world. I got to hear about how enterprising the Niger people were despite Niger being the poorest country in Africa, their joie de vivre, their generosity, their charm. How the nomadic Fulani would move their animals through Hausa land with the latter’s freely given permission when this did not interfere with Hausa agricultural endeavours. How the Tuareg from the north were tolerated if not accepted. How the Christian minority and Muslim majority coexisted in peace.

This idyllic image was first shattered in my mind when the Paris to Dakar rally required participants’ vehicles being flown across a section regarded as “too dangerous”. This “too dangerous” section having now expanded so that the Paris to Dakar rally is in need of a name change.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSr8KHKJO7M

And the late Ali Farka Toure- not quite Niger, but hey, music transcends borders….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4-uq8cTF7o

When four Special Forces US soldiers were recently killed in an ambush in Niger (near the Mali border) a big media storm suddenly descended upon us. Has Donald Trump been insensitive to Sergeant La David Johnson’s widow? Lots of tweets, much discussion. I felt no need to pay attention to this discussion. I already knew that Donald Trump is a bombastic, insensitive, egocentric, rude, unpleasant man with a weird hair-doo. The Ugly American personified.

Of greater immediacy to me, was the question “What are US Military personnel doing in Niger?”

A friend who spent some time in that part of the world suggested “perhaps they’re fighting Boko Haram”

One shouldn’t joke about that despicable bunch Boko Haram who are infamous for the kidnapping of a couple of hundred school girls in Nigeria.

But I can’t help thinking there is something ironic in the similarity in name with Procol Harum who are famous for their hit song ‘A whiter shade of pale’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb3iPP-tHdA

Procol Harum: formed in London in 1967 “It’s the name of a cat, a Siamese cat. It’s the pedigree name, and it belonged to a friend of ours, just somebody that we used to hang out with when we were forming the band”

If only Boko Haram had been named after a pedigree cat belonging to somebody that they used to hang out with. I’m sure the name derives from something far more sinister.

So googling some more I learn that there are around 800 U.S. military personnel in Niger, and their main base of operation is Agadez. They are building a drone base. The Agadez region produces 7.5% of the world’s uranium. Those Africans collecting samples in the very lovely glossy photographs weren’t wasting their time. There are two operating uranium mines in Niger, one is operated by the successors to Afmeco’s parent company, the other one is Chinese controlled. I was surprised by the French geologists attitude to Awa. Why am I not surprised by the coincidence of uranium deposits and a US military presence? (not to mention ISIL, and the Chinese).

A propos uranium: Timbuk-2 the main Tuareg city isn’t very far from Niger. Timbuk-3 are a one hit duo- The future’s so bright I gotta wear shades   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qrriKcwvlY

In 2005 Niger suffered a famine. It is said 800,000 children died. IMF imposed austerity measures are believed to have been a contributing factor- food was available but people with no money couldn’t buy it. According to the source article I read, Niger is the second poorest country in the world. You’d imagine a country with 7.5% of the world’s uranium production could do better than that. Imagine,

You may say I’m a dreamer….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVg2EJvvlF8

Chau,

Franklin

PS-

The Day The Music Died – Don McLean on Buddy Holly’s crash https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmyGZ64J9yg
Too often lately we are living through days when the music died.
Vale Antoine Dominique “Fats” Domino Jr. (February 26, 1928 – October 24, 2017) – sad.

Even sadder, when I told Nangala Fats Domino had died, our musical teenage granddaughter said “Who’s he?” …. ain’t that a shame?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbfMlk1PwGU

But then not many of my generation listen to Schubert (“Who’s he?”)

Richard Tauber. Schubert Serenade “Leise flehen meine Lieder ” 1934

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xuw3-JFgkZE

Leise flehen meine Lieder Durch die Nacht zu dir;
Gently (lightly, barely touching) my songs beseech you
Through the night to you;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLQp1ZjSDYI –Lloraré- los Chalchaleros…

…Cuando la muerte me lleve, por sus caminos de sombra,
El viento me ha de traer esta zamba que te nombra….Lloraré (3x)

When death takes me on her shadowy paths,
the wind will bring me this zamba called ‘I shall cry’ (3x)

Joyous celebration in the ancient biblical land of the bible.

Old Australians who like dressing up, celebrate the heroic part their forebears played in making the Middle East eternally un-peaceful

Thousands of Australians, (and one or two New Zealanders) from all over the world congregated for the famous re-enactment of the light horse charge at Beersheeba. On hand to congratulate them the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull stood firm and said words to the effect of; ‘On this site, just one hundred years ago, the Australian army aided by the British High Command and the soon to be glorious allies, broke asunder the evil rule of the Ottomans, and plunged, thanks to the Sykes Piquot agreement, the Middle East into a warring, festering bloody shambles which oozes pain and human sufering to this day’.

The ambassador to Turkey John E Turk was on hand to offer his congratulations, and thanked Mr Turnbull for delivering the Middle East from stability and good governance for hundreds of years.

John E, (Abdul to his mates) beamed and mounted the rostrum… “Indeed Mr Turnbull this is a red letter day. You and you alone allowed us, the Turks to be thoroughly beaten, and it is a wonder how your rule and the wisdom of your allies has so thoroughtly fucked up any notion of stability in the Middle East ever- after. We thought you were bonkers at Gallipoli but at Beersheeba you proved once and for all that as Australians you’d volunteer for the most foolhardy expedition to countries you hardly even know, for the capacity to, as we describe in Trukey, (Uglub, al Muckleck) “ Bumlick” your colonialist masters. The fact that you continue to do so, is a wonder to us, and testament to your docile, subservient acquiesence to the most obscure international folly. Indeed your deep seated insecurity must be very profound indeed. A pity that our forebears were unable to record it as a narrative in our very popular ‘One Thousand and One Nights’. It may rival the fable of Abu Hassan breaking wind…no wonder you eschew wind power for coal’.

Older Australians who like dressing up rejoice that 20000 young Australians recently declared redundant will be retrained as arse wipers

The epic battle of Beersheeba celebrated as a romantic Heidelberg era type painterly thing

The Israeli Prime Minister was on hand to share the rostrum and thanked the twenty thousand old men and women who liked dressing up in Anzac era uniforms. He said, “Even by your example, like us, you draw great inspiration from footnotes in history, and you elevate the banal to a level of heroicism, that rivals Homer. We’re glad to be given another defense contract from Australia, and can guarantee, as the forty thousand horsemen who liberated the Middle East from the yoke of stability and good governance. We shall re- equip your forty thousand ex Holden workers, the virtual Palestinians of the manufacturing era, and train them as bum wipers in residential aged care facilities.

Young Australians celebrate the battle of “Beer-Sheila” in which great sacrifice was made by a noble few.

And thus, in the spirt of Anzac, a new Anzac will emerge, not bum lickers, but something much more elevated that proves your credentials as the clever country. That’s it. We have a word for it in Hebrew, (Uglub, al Muckleck) which means “ Arse Wiper”, and thus equiped you will stand proud amongst the cohorts of the new economy. A three pillar economy. An Australia that holds sacrifice for the nobility of Real Estate, mining and arse wiping. And judging by your treatment of the aboriginies, akin to our contempt to the slave Palestinians whilst we bathe in a quaint sense of nostalgia. A nostalgia that is religious in its sense of righteousness as an affirmation of your core national value system.