A tribute to a fine lady, humanitarian extraordinaire and free-thinking, conciliatory activist all wrapped into one person: Jo Cox, Member of (the British) Parliament

One thing appears dead certain as a result of the horrific, cold-blooded killing of Jo Cox, British M.P. for the constituency of Batley and Spen: the campaign to leave the clutches of the European Union, and therefore symbolically of Europe itself, has not only been *sabotaged, but perhaps irretrievably lost beyond repair. Interestingly, my 'ole (1988) Concise Chambers Dictionary defines 'sabotage' as a/the 'malicious destruction: action taken to prevent the achievement of any aim.' So 'successful' - in terms of its efficacy - it might well prove to (have) be(en). Only 'successful' in completely the opposite way of what the assassin - supposedly - intended. Successful, yes indeed, yes sirree.

And, what's all the worse, Brexit might well have been sunken without a trace, beyond hope of recall by a fellow who would've, indeed at his pre-trial or preliminary court appearance, unmistakably did, fly his colours to just such a political mast. Believing that the means one chooses to use somehow as if magically has the ability to justify whatever noble ends one claims to pursue is a hoary old belief well and truly threadbare and decaying under the weight of the ages, with the wrecks of human history attesting it everywhere on all sides. Thus, in one highly efficacious brutal gesture a man marginally older than myself, a 52-year-old British National Socialist (i.e. neo-Nazi) not only put paid to the earthly life of a passionate and idealistic champion of the underdog both in Britain and overseas, a mother of two beloved kids and loving, devoted husband, and a selfless parliamentary advocate of the downtrodden and needy, he thus effectively put paid to what up to that point was rapidly turning into a potential rout, a possible landslide even, for the exit campaign. A tragedy indeed on many fronts.

Although her assassination appears likely to skew the result of the Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom beginning within hours, and that is a result which I see as not merely a missed opportunity - of a lifetime - for the Brits, the Welsh, the Scots and the Northern Irish, but actually as an unmitigated tragedy of unseen but nevertheless well-portended proportions, one ever needs to keep everything in perspective. As British comedian extraordinaire John Cleese, aka Basil Fawlty - and I agreeably note a Brexiter as well - and his colleagues in that classic film 'The Life of Brian' so memorably intone (at its conclusion), one must ever, "al-ways look on the bri-ght si-de of life, (ditto, ditto, ditto)". Or as our, i.e. Aotearoa-New Zealand's own (Aussie export) John Clarke, aka Fred Dagg, himself put it a few odd decades ago, despite all that seems to go wrong at times (both in our personal lives and in the world at large): "We [really] don't how [just] how lucky we are." Though such a sentiment expressed towards Mr Cox and family would be a cruel, callous comment if ever there were one, and this writer obviously doesn't remotely intend that.

And thus I here devote a few, the following words to simply pay a brief tribute to someone I see, in many respects, as a kindred spirit, if not in terms of all her political i's and t's squaring with my own, but as someone whose essential philosophy of life embodied principles our world sorely needs and can ill-afford to lose. Sadly, if only in her person, it has. Since I'd already intended posting this by now, and yesterday evening planned doing so by this afternoon at the latest, I was amazed  upon hearing overnight that today would've been her 42nd birthday. And so I'll quickly 'pen' my words and move on, elsewhere, to some other Brexit-related thoughts she might well have struggled with perhaps, philosophically I'd prefer to think while hopefully respecting the spirit behind them. (While I most definitely don't intend Mrs Cox in the following thoughts, nevertheless in general one can only hope that those who ever so stridently maintain their 'tolerant' posture towards every-one and all things under the sun themselves are willing to show that selfsame tolerance and understanding when dealing with those who don't happen to see all things eye to eye with them. That, indeed, is the true test of such people's 'tolerance', of whether it's the real, genuine article or merely yet another bit of political jargon, an emotive smokescreen looking to deflect attention from an unpleasant, unanswerable argument they'd simply prefer not to have to deal, contend or grapple with.)

The one and only matter I feel - remotely - 'competent' to comment upon in regards to Jo Cox, the person, and passionate advocate for the world's downtrodden, is this: like Yours Truly - and for those who assume I'm simply belatedly jumping onto the bandwagon, trying to look good and prescient in retrospect by vicariously nailing my colours to the mast of a cause which has finally achieved public acceptance - simply check my early blogposts on the matter, especially upon http://davidedwinisms.blogspot.co.nz/ (or .com/) back in 2012 and 2013; plus email correspondence I then had with New Zealand Green M.P. Kennedy Graham. Sadly ye public has still to rally to the cause, and somehow I doubt it's about to anytime soon. Like myself Ms Cox early on advocated for the plight of Syrians as Syrian refugees started flooding out of Syria, and indeed was apparently likewise extremely critical of the likes of the US of A and others who were effectively leaving them, like lambs to/for the slaughter, to the fate of Bashar al-Assad and his ruthless regime; just as President George Bush Senior shamefully and shamelessly left the Kurds in northern Iraq to the dastardly fate their erstwhile bloody dictator Saddam Hussein shortly thereafter had in store for them.

Some things do indeed change remarkably little down through recent years. Incidentally, if one wanted yet another perfect example of the utter impotence of the United Nations in our present-day world, alongside that great humanitarian and Nobel Peace prize-winner otherwise known as American President Barack Obama, one really need look not one millimetre beyond Syria. So much for 'do nothings' and those who put down inviolable 'red lines' for other nations; they're clearly not worth the tissue, let alone toilet paper, they're scribbled on.

Referring back to my earlier delineation of the actual meaning of sabotage - although defining 'treason' and treachery would provide ample food for thought for another blogpost, surely - let me tie that in with my conclusion, as follows: really, it little matters whether that was his intention, indeed it was arguably the last thing on his mind - short of some elaborate conspiracy secretly masterminded by the Eurocrats and their most die-hard, unyielding sympathizers themselves, which of course ever remains a possibility in most such assassinations but would appear wholly unlikely in this instance - it appears unerringly likely to lead to just such a result. Yet of course we will never know, whether - but for the awful ungraciousness of this one murderous fiend - things might've been different; though I suspect many Eurosceptics including Yours Truly, will ever suspect it did sink the exit campaign, if sink it so transpires it does.

Seemingly/Supposedly A Self-Contradiction in Terms, Yet Supremely Self-Consistent in The Essentials

May I simply restate the words of Scripture - so 'simple' a little child can understand them, yet so profoundly un-'simplistic' they have charmed and ever will charm and astonish the greatest minds throughout time and eternity: in their bearing upon a question of present moment, i.e. the future of Great Britain (England/Wales/Scotland/Northern Ireland) or the United Kingdom - within 'greater' Europe, and especially as part of the European Union, and moreover a future now much speculated upon - and moreover biblically-prophesied - United States of Europe:

"And the fourth kingdom shall be      >     **Whereas you saw the feet and toes,
as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron            partly of potter's clay and partly of iron,
breaks in pieces and shatters every-         yet the kingdom shall be divided; the
thing; and like iron that crushes, that        strength of the iron shall be in it, just as
kingdom will break in pieces and crush    you saw the iron mixed with ceramic
all the others.                                           clay. (Italics all mine.) 

***And as the toes of the feet were  >     ****As you saw iron mixed with ce-
partly of iron and partly of clay, so the       ramic clay, they will mingle with the
kingdom shall be partly strong and             seed of men; but they will not adhere to
partly fragile.                                             one another, just as iron does not mix
                                                                with clay.(Italics all mine.)
[The Book of Daniel, chapter 2: 40-43]

So how do I somehow 'conjure up' Europe from those particular Scriptures, as well as from those shortly to follow? Well, as a matter of fact those prophecies of Daniel - if not those here to follow from its Newer Testament 'sister book' (of major end-time prophecy), i.e. Revelation, though many including Yours Truly see direct and striking parallels between the two (in this and so many other respects) - in their 'latter days' ' application to Europe in all its ramifications, have historically been taken pretty well 'as a given' in thus delineating the continent and its inter-related members. But for now, though I hate to be thus included in this class of 'folk', you'll simply have to do something which one constantly hears politicians asking one: So I ask you - for now - to "simply trust me" that said prophetic delineation here impressively and unmistakably identifies the relevant nations specified as being none other than those of Europe indeed, the whole of Europe, and nothing but Europe. (I'll keep you posted - and in the not too distant.)

But now let's fast-forward over half a millennium to Daniel's Newer Testament
counterpart, John, author of the prophetic Book of Revelation. Reading now in
chapter 17: 12-13, 16-17:

*The ten horns which you saw are      >   **These are of one mind, and they
ten kings[i.e. rulers/political leaders]         will give their power and authority to
who have received no king-                     the beast.
dom as yet, but they receive authority
for one hour as kings[i.e.fellow-rulers]
with the beast.(Italics all mine.)

***And the ten horns which you saw  >   ****For God has put it into their hearts
on the beast, these will hate the harlot,       to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind,
make her desolate and naked, eat her       and to give their kingdom to the beast,
flesh and burn her with fire.                       until the words of God are fulfilled.

So yes, the ages-long 'project' to reunite Europe, though deliberately, intentionally thwarted by divine power and purpose alone throughout recent centuries, will - in coming time - temporarily, if ever so very briefly (in the overall scheme of things) 'succeed'. But N.B., this will not really contradict Daniel's age-old prophecy, inasmuch as this exceptionally brief, of 'one hour' biblical duration, is itself part of 'fulfil.[ment]' of 'His purpose'. And thankfully the LORD God ever has the last and final, ultimate word on all matters, and thus in Daniel 2:44 we read the following:

And in the days of these kings the
God of heaven will set up a kingdom
which shall never be destroyed; and the
kingdom shall not be left to other peo-
ple; it shall break in pieces  and consume
all these kingdoms, and it shall stand
forever. (Italics mine.)

So perhaps - assuming the Bremainers win the forthcoming referendum - the cataclysmic end they have forecast for Great Britain if it Brexits will actually come upon them, having remained, anyhow, and despite all their best (or more accurately characterized as worst) efforts; if not hastened by remaining, certainly not curtailed or prevented, occurring on the gradual instalment scheme or process as they continue to slip down the long slippery slope into the status of utterly disempowered sovereignless state dictated to by a faceless elite whose actuating motives, purposes, modus operandi and *modus vivendi are anything but mild, moderate and well-intentioned. (*A word, just discovered, with uncannily apt applicability to the present occasion, meaning, as my trusted 1988 Chambers  Concise Dictionary puts it: not only 'way of life or living', but moreover 'an arrangement or compromise by means of which those who differ may get on together for a time'; yes, indeed, some might well argue that that is precisely what the long-suffering Brits (and Welsh, Scots and Northern Irish) have now been experiencing for a long time anyway!)

No, few expressions of thanks will then be given to their efforts to thwart the natural will of the British people to re-assert their historic, God-given greatness no longer shackled by and to a European project whose own result and end-product - far from preventing the ultimate demise of Western and European civilization as we've known it - can surely only precipitate it headlong in that very direction, by helping to bring one and all - both throughout Europe and elsewhere - under the long-predicted (and some would claim prophesied) One World Government of Earth's very last days.

But if - though my sense of this is sadly increasingly less confident - the United Kingdom breaks off the shackles of their erstwhile bondage to a system and constitution whose only real object is both her temporal and eternal subservience to the prince of this world and his ever-active lackeys, the end will still come - as surely as otherwise - but at least they will not be bound in the same 'bundle to be burned' on That Great Day of the Lord's speedily-coming Second Advent to our world in power and glory - 'in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of...Jesus Christ.' Indeed,

These shall be punished with ever-  
lasting destruction from the presence of
the Lord and from the glory of His
power,
when He comes, in that Day, to be
glorified in His saints and to be admired
among all those who believe...

May we indeed be found individually - if (alas, certainly) not nationally - among those so 'eagerly [a]wait[ing]' Christ's return, when 'He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.'. That is my earnest wish and heartfelt prayer.

The Foolishness of God is wiser than men

Yes, can you credit that Scripture declares - contextually, in connection with the cross of Jesus Christ - that very thing? But, of course, the (subclausal) statement pertains here to the matter of last night's Sunday feature, in which the following is documented: the activity of Australian expatriate, now U.S. resident Ken Ham, well-known creationist (to those who follow such things) presently living in Kentucky, where he and a slew of willing helpers are in the process, nearing completion stage I believe, of constructing a biblically realistic, made-to-specified-dimensions replica of Noah's Ark, complete with graphic and life-sized if inanimate representations of the retinue of animals they believe were present in that day and age and moreover were gathered into, after being apparently supernaturally impelled towards, the ark. (Phew! Long-winded is undeniably my second name.) These selfsame folk were basically held up to unmitigated, down-and-out, no-holds-barred ridicule and derision, essentially for having the sheer temerity, the ignorance bordering upon superstition, even delirium supposedly, of questioning today's most utterly sacred cow: i.e. the 'doctrine' - so religiously is it held to and any slightest (basic) deviation therefrom duly considered an indication of early dementia, of alzheimers or far, far worse - of evolution. One might even term it the 'pure gospel' (though whether it's really good news is entirely another matter) of modern 'enlightened' humanity; finally rid once and for all, so it hopes, imagines and supposes, of any remaining vestige of superstitious antediluvian thinking. (Naturally they pay especially little regard to Charles Darwin's own essential, especially later, thoughts and reflections upon his much-abused theorem, which might suggest they've taken and used it for something wholly unintended but regretfully foreseen and later lamented by him, but that's for another occasion. Except to add that at the very end of my own seventh-form, final year of NZ high school my much liked and esteemed biology teacher, a 'Mr Reid', responding to my own - then non-Christian, I must hasten to add - deep misgivings and inability to really accept the theory of evolution in the final analysis, or when push came to shove, assured me that "it's just a theory" - though you'd hardly imagine so these days!) The program was laced with smears and barely-veiled innuendoes, impugning both the character as well as the intelligence of Mr Ham, though characteristically never getting back to him to get his side of the story. That apparently wasn't really necessary, for as I stated yesterday, if the straw man you build up is sufficiently and negatively enough characterized, your readership - or rather listenership - will implicitly 'catch your drift' as it were, accepting your bait hook, line and even sinker, and before all that long will join in the antics of the mob, whether that results in throwing the rascals/scoundrels to the lions in the amphitheatre or, as with the Master Himself, baying incessantly for His crucifixion...curiously enough - worth a study in human fickleness and the dynamics of the crowd for some restless psychology lab in one of our numerous universities intent upon exploring every last odd and esoteric topic until the cattle beast quite literally comes home - only days after selfsame crowd were hailing Him as Israel's Hero arriving in Jerusalem for His much-anticipated public coronation. Yes, such was the effective hatchet job upon, sorry, I mean description of Mr Ham et al - and wouldn't you know it, they even wheeled out the 'crazy as' - so she was well depicted as at least, in every way, shape and form - Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk in the news a (half?) year or so ago for refusing to sign the dotted line of assent to a same sex marriage in her county office, for which she was summarily assigned to gaol (I've always preferred the American word, perhaps going back to my childhood love affair with the Beagle Boys - but I hasten to add not their especial antics!) The pics of her - especially those at the very end of the piece - focused in upon her rather difficult and seemingly forced and strained grimace of a smile and then smirk to boot, staying with this image till it became highly uncomfortable not only to Ms Davis and her interviewer but undoubtedly to listeners generally. As if to sink the boot in well and truly, to finish things off, thus leaving folks watching in no lingering doubt - if they still had any - that this lady and that man (i.e. Mr Ham), and basically anyone and everyone at all associated with them were loony tunes, pure and simple, derisable in the extreme and fit only for the funny farm. And if that were all it'd obviously have been bad enough. But no, not only were they given the hatchet work, the implicit character assassination - at least in Ken Ham's case - the loony tune prognosis and the obvious implication that they deserved to be consigned, and probably for life, ipso pronto, but throughout the story and exponentially more as it reached its conclusion, Mr Ham anyhow - and by implication all associated with his financially scandalous project (in view of all the needs in the world, it was basically implied, and yes, perhaps that one aspect's worthy of more exploration - but who are they to judge?) - was presented as a very real threat to the future citizens of America. Though Bill Nye, towards the piece's conclusion, basically said that all (?20/40?) million viewers (in the States) would therefore just outright dismiss his way out ideas as pure lunacy, and hence Ken Ham himself as an utter crackpot, there were a couple of occasions throughout that the very right of Mr Ham to even hold, let alone express for public consumption, such way out views were seriously questioned, leading one inevitably to relate the whole setup to another subject of pressing and immediate concern and alarm and some would even claim hysteria. Though I happen not to hold to the view that humanity does not play a very significant role in the ever-escalating hyper-paranoia over what is termed anthropomorphic climate change, those who do include some indubitably, genuinely intelligent people and moreover some whose environmental credentials could hardly be questioned - the renowned and personally beloved David Bellamy for perfect example, who I would submit has more love for this planet and its seemingly innumerable species and ecosystems in his little finger than the great majority of world scientists have put together (no, I do overstate matters, I'm well aware!) So what am I saying, at the end of the day? Not simply that the much-maligned on the aforementioned issues share much in common, but rather that their opponents and critics and detractors show much more of a kinship with a certain early-mid 20th century dictator than they do to the supposedly enlightened and open-minded scientific community they claim to be worthy representatives of. For those who scapegoat their ideological opponents one moment have been historically shown the 'nekminute' - as New Zealand's beloved Pita Sharples might put it - to often descend to calling for their consignment...and sometimes that isn't even considered enough, and ultimately they find themselves in what ordinarily they would regard as some very unusual company, amidst strange bedfellows indeed. Even eventually baying for their enemies' blood.

Just Another 'Crazy' Creationist

If tonight's Sunday show on New Zealand's TV One is anything to go by, as in the US of A it's not only rapidly becoming, or rather has rapidly become, un-politically correct these days to be a Christian - correction, a Bible-believing Christian - but is moreover becoming only too apparent that before all that long anyone failing to sign off upon the much-touted and ever-lauded mantra of 'evolution, first, last and always', will be consigned to the funny farm, as it used to be known. But hey, how much easier to discredit someone's opposing world view when you set up ye proverbial straw man and then immediately get stuck into the work of demolition. It's a thoroughly dishonest approach to journalism, but quite frankly one all too commonplace in Western media these days - especially in what was once so endearingly known as 'God's Own' (i.e. land, to those from elsewhere unfamiliar with such a designation). I can well remember - and being a writer upon my high school newspaper for four of five years, and Editor during my final year, I do consider myself well-qualified to judge what reputable journalism is all about - JUST WHAT the essential qualities of good journalism always have been, presently remain, and arguably ever will be, i.e. objectivity and impartiality and providing a well-balanced approach to said subject-matter, whatever it may well be. And, you guessed it, tonight's show failed on all three counts. But no, it wasn't altogether a great surprise. But as far as critiquing in-depth said show, I really don't know quite where to start, but perhaps will post extra comments tomorrow. Sincerely Yours Another crazy - I mean, spaced-out and then some - Christian

So you're telling me this is 'just a coincidence'? Then you're the one possessing an in-credible (or un-credible) 'faith', not me...

Profuse apologies yet again... . Yes, I know, a belated follow-up to another belated follow-up, why my middle name is Procrastination et al. But anyhow, did you guess WHICH NATION met the previous specifications? Yep, ya guessed correctly: none other than the country whose humanitarian crisis (following that in Iraq, which admittedly is itself seemingly never-ending also) has been dominating, nay hogging Western and international media sources for the preceding half a dozen or so years, Syria. Okay, so how do I get to that conclusion, or rather what is 'the evidence' in the aforementioned (in previous blogposts, that is)'The Bible Code' and 'The Bible Code 2'? Stay tuned for a forthcoming blogpost, and no, I don't expect you'll necessarily be convinced, just as so many millions upon Planet Earth don't presently accept the evidence arguably all too apparent to one and all about the origin and Originator of life here. And yet as the author of the book of Romans states so very simply yet all so clearly: *'...what MAY be known of God is manifest IN them, for God has shown it TO them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, EVEN HIS ETERNAL POWER AND GODHEAD, so that they are without excuse.' (CAPITALIZATIONS all solely mine.) So let's just say I fully realize and accept that many today no longer hold to the inerrancy of Scripture, and so are hardly likely - actually, perhaps therefore they're on the whole MUCH MORE LIKELY, paradoxically and counter-intuitively enough - to be open to the very idea that hidden within those sacred biblical texts are secret codes delineating some very important aspects of historical events, personages and situations, including pertinent times and places, of course. As well, the 'prophecies' and prophetic insights **contained therein have been suggested by the 'author' - that is, of the actual text of the two Bible Code books - Michael Drosnin, to be ***likely to be CONDITIONAL - i.e. wholly dependent upon the response of the human agents concerned/involved to respond appropriately and in a salvation-embracing way - such 'salvation' MD admittedly seeing as purely a temporal concern as opposed to eternal life-endowing. Thus for example where warnings, at times dire, are contained and expressed, those selfsame warnings can be effectively short-circuited as it were if folk respond aright, for that aforementioned God/Creator/Saviour is oh so 'longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance'. However, as the following verse makes abundantly clear, 'the day of the Lord WILL come...'. So having now set the basic/essential framework and parameters of our forthcoming examination of Syria (etc) amidst said Bible codes, I look forward to your joining me again, sooner rather than later, to explore this matter further. *Scripture taken from the New King James Version. (c)1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. **Unlike biblical prophecies themselves,which are well-recognized - by reputable biblical scholars and orthodox Christianity, at least - as being oftentimes highly conditional. ***Believe it or otherwise, MD is a secular Jew and doesn't - at the time he wrote both books, anyhow - profess to believe in a Deity; perhaps agnostic fairly summarizes his spiritual 'status'.

Secret Bible codes 'and all that sort of rubbish'...

Profuse apologies for my belated follow-up, as per usual, and regretfully awfully briefly (for personal reasons: i.e. it's a nasty, freezing cold, gale-southerly swept evening already experiencing initial flooding and apparently due for far worse into the wee small hours; and, winter having - at long last - arrived, and with a real vengeance to boot, am close to coming down with the proverbial)...this blogpost's gonna be a tad unusual, consisting solely of some inter-related questions, based upon the following basic query: if the acclaimed (or otherwise, in the views of some) 'Bible codes' were to specifically delineate a particular nation as the centre of activity and 'issues' as our Planet wraps up its long and rather sordid history, I'm interested to know which ONE nation would be considered THAT nation. Necessarily adding that THIS PARTICULAR LAND is one that will allegedly, supposedly be a hive of warfare and violence, leading inevitably, one might assume, and indeed 'so the story goes' in this case, ultimately to the long-awaited and much-prophesied 'ARMAGEDDON' itself. Any guesses, anyone? I'd be pleased to get some feedback, as the answer is one that might literally sock the living daylights outta ya, and then some...

"O Lord, You induced me, and I was persuaded; You are stronger than I, and have prevailed."

'I am in derision daily; Everyone mocks me. For when I spoke, I cried out; I shouted, "Violence and plunder!" Because the word of the LORD was made to me A reproach and a derision daily. Then I said, "I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name."...But His word was in my heart like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, And I could not.' Scripture taken from the New King James Version*. (c)1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Fasten your metaphorical seatbelts for upcoming blogposts, trust me, you won't want to miss 'em... In my Master's Name, and for His sake (alone) - David

And While We're At It, Let's Not Overlook Leonard Nimoy ('Dr Spock')

What can one say about this childhood 'icon' (perish that ghastly, cliche-ridden idiom), but simply that he was a man of modest pretensions alongside immodest attainments, of which, towering above and beyond all his undoubted acting ones, were his generally overlooked and unacknowledged poetic talents, of which let me just quote one or two examples from a collection in a tome, You & I, I've possessed now for many a year...

Though written as a continually expanding, unveiling succession of ever-crescendoing, generally love-oriented odes to his beloved, I will cite two poems/poetic mini-collections for readers' pondering and reflection, both relating to time and the passing thereof... regretfully without the apt as accompanying photographs...

*I am not immortal

Whatever I put off for later
May never be.

Whoever doesn't know now
That I love them
May never know.

-----------------------------

I have killed time.
            I have squandered it.
                         I have lost days...weeks...
As a man of unlimited wealth
Might drop coins on the street
And never look back.
I know now, that there will be an end,
A limit.

------------------------------------------

But there is time
Valuable and precious time
To walk,
               talk,
                       breathe.
Time to touch,
                        taste,
                                  care.
To warm the child
Who is cold and lonely.
There is time to love
I promise myself...
                             I will. 

--------------------------

Life comes and goes.

Laughter of the past
Rings through empty hallways.


The seasoning is bittersweet.

-----------------------------

Nuff said - indeed!

Admittedly the term/phrase was only and ever attached to your Star Trek buddy, the irascible 'Scotty' - or was that 'Dr Bones'? - but be that as it well may, may you yourself be beamed upwards on that great and fateful Day so soon to come... transformed 'in the twinkling of an eye' as 'this corruptible puts on incorruption and this mortal puts on immortality'...that indeed is my fervent wish and hope...

Irrespective, may you live on through your princely poetry, of a style scorned these days yet of a calibre above and beyond the vast mass of contemporary 'rhyme'... 

 

See Ya Celia...Another Good 'Un Bites the Dust

A belated blogpost to simply note and mourn the passing of a humungous giantess of a woman, Aotearoa-New Zealand's very own crusading injustice reformer, the indomitable and *doughty  parenting 'guru' Celia Lashlie...

...you were better than we deserved, yet hardly anyone, even in Parliament, noted your passing, much less any noted obituary notice in our local news rag anyhow - -I believe I observed only a tiny note hid in some obscure corner of one edition...but you wouldn't have cared, and you'll have the last laugh as it were, you'll be remembered long after today's celebrities have long since bitten the dust...

Rest in peace, Celia, and may you be one of those heavenly 'surprises' to greet God's Own on That Day...

" 'able; strong; brave'...valiant" (Chambers Concise Dictionary)

Angelic Messenger #2: "Come Out of her, My people"

'And as the religious declension becomes more and more pronounced in those bodies [heretofore] constituting spiritual Babylon, and their growing unlikeness to their Lord becomes more and more evident, the true people of God will at last sever their bonds with [such], realizing they no longer possess the truth.'

That time, I suggest, is not only fast approaching, it is even now upon us; 'right at the very doors', as One has put it. Yes, when worldly legislatures seek to not only rewrite the language, but rework history and historical truth/s in their own image, then I suggest we have reached the stage long prophesied, and the world is ripe for destruction, for God's judgments to be poured out upon it. Or, more precisely, His especial favour and blessing and ultimately presence through His Holy Spirit withdrawn, leaving each and every one of us to the particular future we have individually chosen.

So let's not for a moment even pretend that the Deity's response is that of a petulant parent, reacting ballistically in response to a *rebellious or defiant child, angry, nay infuriated simply because His kid has deigned, has *dared to defy, to cross his parent's will. No, it's altogether different from that.(*Though in saying that I don't for a moment discount the eminent good sense of the likes of the well-respected family life psychologist/radio host of Focus on the Family fame, Dr James Dobson, who prudently makes the point in his classics Dare to Discipline and Discipline while you can: The Strong-Willed Child, that whereas many (inadequate) parents tend to overdo the discipline meted out upon relatively minor, even wholly inadvertent childhood 'misdemeanours' by coming down upon such like the proverbial ton - or tonne - of bricks, when and where the line of demarcation is crossed from simple errors or mistakes to that of rebellion, of open, flagrant defiance of a parent's well-expressed and well-known wishes - so that the child in question is thus openly challenging that parent as to who is in control, who really runs and rules the roost in that particular household - then it is absolutely imperative that the parent/s in question lay down the law in no uncertain terms...though not by employing excessive or inordinate degrees of or inappropriate methods of physical discipline (essentially approaching violence). (Yet like the present Pope I wholly agree that spanking or smacking a kid doesn't remotely fall into such a category, and is even in a very real sense - though the word admittedly seems odd here - 'beautiful' in its way as Francis recently put it!)

It's rather 'simply' a matter of, having, however reluctantly, accepted their implicit rejection of Himself and all that He represents, He - at last - withdraws, leaving them to the choice they have themselves freely, willingly, even (at times) eagerly coveted and pursued. As has been said often enough, grief is the price we pay for love. And, moreover, if you truly love something - or someone - let them go. If they really, truly love you in turn, they will come back; if they don't, they never ever did.

"For why will you die, O Israel? Turn, turn ye from your wicked ways. For I have no pleasure in the death of him who dieth. Turn ye, for why will you die, O Israel?"

The End is - Yet - Nigh (#2): Time Setting, Date Fixing & All That Sort of Thing

(Hoping you'll overlook the time delay in continuing this series - certainly no Freudian or other slip intended! But (just, more than) occasionally, copyright concerns necessarily grab and engross the attention. And as a would-be writer myself, I assure you I can fully relate, but even if I didn't care to, of necessity I need to. So the following - or rather/at least that in subsequent, soon to follow postings - must needs be viewed as employing the standard copyright provisos of 'fair use', due and proper acknowledgment, lack of citing others' creations as in any way my own, and least of all seeking to profit financially out of use of said info. And though I cannot but see myself as ever scrupulously applying the first two criteria, and equally as fastidiously refraining from the latter two, transgressions of such rules are as often, indeed arguably much
more commonly, the result of negligence, forgetfulness and other inadvertent error than they are due to deliberate, intentional plagiarism or other intention to mislead. At least that's been my own experience.)

As mentioned last time around, this whole business of date-setting (for Jesus' Second Coming in particular, and thus 'the end of all things as we know them) is obviously a bit of a worry, to seriously understate matters. Obviously all the more so when(ever) said date comes and goes and the end of the world simply doesn't transpire/fails to materialize (on this earthly plane, anyhow). So yes, date-setting and time-fixing is a decidedly tricky, even somewhat dangerous business, especially in two major respects: the actual interpretation applied/attached to said event specified by the particular date concerned; the fact that marking out the specific time/date of Jesus Christ's physical, literal, visible return to Planet Earth is expressly forbidden by none other than JC Himself in the various gospels. So upon that basis we tend to then encounter the following: said individuals and/or groups - upon getting the[ir] dates patently, unequivocally, indisputably wrong, no doubts about it - instantly/immediately and frantically scrambling for self-justification, seeking to instantly regroup, without any due reflection, reconsideration, or pause. That is, rather than carefully, prayerfully reassessing 'where we got it wrong' in the first place, we find such (patently unreflective sorts) simply re-setting (future) dates ad nauseum, and moreover claiming these actually signify the second coming, rather than look into/investigate alternative scenarios perhaps actually suggested by said 'failure' of prediction/'prophecy'.

So let's apply the aforementioned to the last great 'advent' furore/hullabaloo (i.e. applying to the long-prophesied Second Coming of Jesus the Christ, or the Jewish Messiah's First Coming, or the Muslims' view of JC's Third Coming, interestingly enough a pivotal belief wholeheartedly embraced -and in strikingly similar terminology, if in terms of differing divine 'trajectories' and/or identities - by *all three major monotheistic world religions. As renowned long-time Australian evangelist Geoffrey Youlden reveals in his fascinating series entitled 'Fulfilling Revelation 13' & 'Crisis of the Ages, parts 1 & 2, delivered in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2006.) In particular to the first 'modern-day' cluster of advent end-time fascination/obsession gripping the entire world in the 1830s and 1840s. And let me here uncategorically, unequivocally advance the following hypothesis, one you will - eventually - uncover, I respectfully suggest, if you carefully investigate the full historical record - and not just from the oft-quoted perspective of the opponents, even died-in-the-wool enemies of these 'adventists': those deadly serious in that 'great advent awakening', as one leading historian of the period, Ellen Gould White, has termed it, 'failed' to do what I describe in the second half of the preceding paragraph as the flawed 'technique' of the unreflective; to the absolute contrary, and to their everlasting credit, they literally 'went back to/returned to/revisited the drawing board', as it were, re-examining all aspects of where they'd gone wrong (both in terms of event/s specified and time delineated), and - eventually, after much prayerful, painstaking (but divinely assisted and enlightened) effort - through a thoroughgoing reassessment and re-evaluation of all points in dispute and/or nonfulfilment, came to an understanding which was coherent, self-consistent and harmonious - and also biblically sound.

Noting that these 'adventists' as both their opponents and they themselves described themselves, caught up in what was quite literally a global upsurge, nay avalanche of interest, moreover fascination and even obsession with this matter, are seen by many today as the precursors of a modern-day Christian denomination - namely, the Seventh-Day Adventists (including by said SDAs themselves) - it is, if self-evident, worthy of note: that though from this worldwide groundswell of prophetic interest the SDA Church did indeed eventually spring/come into being, these (then) predecessors/ancestors/spiritual forefathers and mothers were none of them SDAs, nor remotely so - in most important respects, they were rather a spontaneous 'outcalling' of spiritually devout folk from all the major Christian denominations of the day, be they Methodist, Catholic, Baptist, Church of England, Episcopalian etc. And indeed, ultimately a numerically insignificant and distinctly small remnant of these adventists eventually came together in any grouping remotely resembling a modern-day 'church' or denomination. At the time, i.e. in the immediate and short-medium-term aftermath of what was known as 'The Great Disappointment', i.e. Jesus Christ patently failed to show up upon Planet Earth at the expected, anticipated time - or rather failed to do so in the guise expected by His ardent, expectant followers and devotees. But note this fact - once you've carefully corroborated the foregoing, and checked it out for yourself - no, I hardly expect you to simply take my word for it, real cults are indeed made of such stuff - these folk didn't simply 'keep on keeping on' re-setting end-time deadline/dateline scenarios on and on into the wild uncharted future. Nuh-no, they carefully, prayerfully searched and studied and re-examined where they might've gone wrong. Leading to and resulting in a re-formulation of what actually transpired, if anything, at that particular time in (salvific) world history, ultimately leading to a harmonious chain of doctrinal, experiential truth: chiefly, the re-setting of God's Eternal Moral Code in their rightful heavenly setting, metaphorically in their divinely royal diadem of beauty.

The End Is - Yet - Nigh (#1: Time Setting, Date Fixing & All That Sort of Thing

For the easily bored and/or those with a short attention span, I guarantee you - no ifs, buts or maybes - this second posting will bore you to smithereens. But certain ground rules need establishing, and establishing at the very get-go, so here's the[my] game plan folks...and if ya don't like or approve of it, you know - exactly - what to do, okay? Understood? Perfectly. I hope/wish! So here goes.

This initial instalment - in my first mini-series vis-a-vis end-time predictions/prophecies and all that kind of thing - will address and focus upon (supposed) time setting and date fixing in relation to certain events' actual fulfilment or otherwise, using an obvious, perfectly understandable starting-point, i.e. the very recent concern/interest/obsession with the end of all things as we know it, otherwise referred to as an earthly *cataclysm/catastrophe/Apocalypse/Armageddon taking place upon December the 21st, 2012. We will do so utilizing two rather intriguing, and now no doubt popularly and understandably debunked, resources: A & E Television Networks' two History (Channel's) dvd sets: Nostradamus: 2012 and Nostradamus Effect.
(*Likewise leaving for the present, if you will, a precise definition of any let alone all of said terms, which naturally we will get to in due course.) Okay? You're with me? Good.

While previous end-time dates (and the like) will be of general, i.e. more than passing interest, two ('groups' of) periods will especially concentrate my (and thus hopefully also your) attention: ' 'December 21st, 2012' and those time periods 'nearabouts' and/or closely associated with it, which for me embraces the entire decade plus extending right back to 1999/2000/2001, such have been the foreseen or actual significance of said years numerically/in world impact, whether potential or actual; and the previous period of great prophetic interest and even frenzy, i.e. the 1830s and 1840s. Yep, you're entitled to question, dispute, even get upset with what might appear to you a pure arbitrary determination upon my part, and that's your perfect right. But that's the plan, folks, and all the whys and wherefores thereof I promise, I assure you will be laid out and expounded upon in due course. Patience herein is an essential prerequisite, and not one unspecified in some of the serious literature therabouts if you'll, say, check out Revelation 14: 12. But no, we won't be only visiting the Christian Scriptures, as important, even pivotal as these are in our entire examination.

So get on the life raft, if you'd rather not be left behind, this Planet's best (and worst) moments are just ahead. And who'd want to miss these, much less be unprepared to meet them confidently when they arrive?

No End(ing) For This World Just Yet...

"In thy mouth it will be as sweet as honey, but it will make thy belly bitter." "Behold, thou must prophesy again before many peoples, nations, tongues and kings."

They say if you repeat a lie often enough, eventually everyone will come to believe it. Another has put it thusly: You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time. But you can't fool all of the people all of the time. Or so the 'ole theory goes. And perhaps 'they're' right. But put a sneer in your voice, a mocking grin upon your cheeks, an expression of utter incredulity in your eyes - and you can surely convince, nay dissuade, anyone of anything. As modern psychology as well as millennia of human history has patently shown.

To apply all the foregoing to a matter of recent moment, note, even (apparently, or rather supposedly, well-deserved) notoreity: 'the end of the world': as of December the 21st, 2012. 9-10 days ago now, depending upon one's hemispheric situation. Only it didn't - that is, end; upon that date. We're still - 'all' - here: upon Planet Earth; in case you haven't noticed. But I'm sure you have. If you were paying (any) attention - which I'm sure you were - even if only out of the corner of your eye; lest anyone else happen to notice; and mock you all the way to Timbuktu. And beyond.

No, of course - unlike Australia's Prime Minister, Julia Gillard - you "simply didn't believe it"; for even a split second. No, really. But - all laughing aside - and well aware that, in heart, if not in actual (physical) fact, I've already lost 80-some per cent of my (non-paying) audience - but were they ever really listening anyhow? - let us go on to examine some of the assumptions underlying those almost inevitable, rather instantaneous, gut-level reactions to such an emotively-charged topic. Especially in terms of what the true meaning could possibly (have) be(en) of some of those so-called prophecies of 'the end of all things as we know it'. 'Things' about which some were so decidedly convinced and which were - apparently - all too conspicuous by their evident, and abject, failure to materialize; in any remote way - whatsoever. That is and will be the task of coming editorial 'pieces'.

So hang on to your seatbelts, folks, you're in for the ride of your life. As we take not ye typical, media-driven and popular culture-cherished, surface, superficial look at a subject that is much more wide-ranging, deep and extensive than many assume, imagine or anticipate. In the process traversing matters, that if they - ultimately - fail to grab hold of, and hold hard and fast, your full, undivided attention, you'll have simply failed to listen properly. 'Nuff said. As our topic goes well beyond the easy-to-ridicule, all too derisible one of date-setting followed by subsequent fast and furious reconfiguring.

"Oh yes," as the Peter Jacksonesque interpretation of J R R Tolkien's Smeagol-Gollum creation might say;
"Oh yes...you'll see...yes, you'll see."

     

Do We Really 'Have What It Takes' To Find 'The Truth'?

Realistically, however, the default setting for most of us arguably being the quickest and easiest way to come up with an answer, any answer, to life's often perplexing problems and dilemmas, the alternative simply being too daunting - in sheer physical effort required, let alone emotional energy necessitated - it's unlikely many will ever take such a route. No, 'the road less travelled' seems likely to remain so, into the foreseeable future, and 'the unstudied life [that's] not worth living' will do for now, thank you very much. "And please don't disturb me with all your pretentious high-falutin' idealism - life's too short." Peace, comfort, safety and security are all I really need...
                                                                                                   But don't you realize that that way lies "destruction...and you will not escape..."

What Does It Take...To Find "The Truth"? Part 2

And if not, are we honest enough to admit, openly - 'to one and all' - that the time, energy and sheer effort necessary, moreover the self-denial and sacrifice required, are all "just a bit much" for our (particular, personal) liking and inclination, and therefore we will stop short of the object of our quest, being content to come away with either a 'half-pie' answer or really no real solution to our quandary at all? Thus staying, to use the oft-cited cliche, permanently ensconced 'within our [personal] comfort zone', though kidding ourselves that we're really made of sterner stuff. And so remaining not really qualified, much less entitled, to share our 'two cents with' and/or download our ignorance upon one and all. As 'we', in our information-saturated - but wisdom-starved - 'everyone's an expert' (upon anything and everything), extremely opinionated society, have, I would contend - admittedly probably uncontroversially - tended to make somewhat of an art form of.

Again, as Mr Shakespeare is said to have said, that - indeed - is the question. An additional few millennia prior, the - reputably - 'wisest man who ever lived' put it in another, perhaps even better way. Though applying to the 'Book of Books', the 'Good Book', the Holy Bible, King Solomon, author of 'three thousand proverbs and one thousand and five songs' and immortalized in contemporary society care of the mines Walt Disney credits him with possessing, enjoins the reader/s of his 'Book of Proverbs' as follows: 
         
                                My son, if you receive my
                                    words,
                                And treasure my commands
                                    within you,
                               So that you incline your ear to
                                   wisdom,
                               And apply your heart to
                                   understanding;
                               Yes, if you cry out for
                                   discernment,
                               And lift up your voice for 
                                   understanding,
                              If you seek her as silver,
                              And search for her as for
                                  hidden  treasures;  
                              Then you will understand...
                                  ---------------
                              And find.....knowledge...*
                              (Proverbs 2: 1-5)
(*Borrowed with gratitude from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright 1982, by Thomas Nelson, Inc.)

But it all depends upon: firstly, recognizing both one's present (state of - relative) ignorance and one's great, even infinite need (for wisdom/truth etc); secondly, being willing to acknowledge and go to the only true, ultimate source of help - the 'Fount of all truth'; thirdly, approaching Said One in the right, acceptable way and manner; and fourthly, as has already been stated, being willing to expend the requisite time and energy, 'brawn and brain', i.e. truly loving the LORD 'with all one's heart, soul, strength and mind', i.e. enough to perseveringly and painstakingly seek His answers to whatever one's particular quandary may happen to be. Though I've - significantly and substantially - truncated verse five, without altering any of the words included, much less added in any others, the selfsame principle applied here to purely 'spiritual matters' I believe applies to anything or any pursuit worthwhile in life. To again (marginally) re-work, in this instance what Jesus Himself said, in two successive parables upon the one occasion: 

                 -----------------------------------------
                 [Truth] is like treasure hidden in
                  a field, which a man found and
                  hid; and for joy over it he goes
                  and sells all that he has and
                  buys that field.

Or,             -------------------------------
                  ---------like a merchant seek-
                  ing beautiful pearls,
                        who, when he had found
                   one pearl of great price, went
                  and sold all that he had and
                  bought it.**(Ibid.)
                  (Matthew 13: 44-46)
                             
***(Though the verses directly above refer to 'the kingdom of heaven', while the preceding passage specifies the worth of and hence the effort deserving the quest for 'the fear of [i.e. respect, reverence and awe pertaining to) the LORD' and 'the knowledge of God', both 'Wisdom', and, more pertinently here, 'Truth', whether personified or in the abstract, are 'objects' likewise extolled throughout especially the Older Testament 'Books of Wisdom', and so are relatively synonymous terms for the original wording and moreover the purposes of this discussion.)

Thus we see clearly the preciousness of and value inherent in 'the truth', and hence the tenacity, diligence and determination befitting, indeed warranted in expending upon, its pursuit.

Final  'Twist in the Tale' Wrap up (Conclusion) in Next Posting   

What Does It Take...To Find "The Truth"? That Is The Question - if you're not just kidding yourself

"What is truth?" is a question once put to the Man Who, shortly thereafter, split all known 'His-Story' in two by His unique and untimely and supremely untidy (on all sorts of levels) voluntarily-accepted murder. By a questioner, the infamous Pontius Pilate, who, in his impatience in awaiting the answer, thus arguably evidenced either his insincerity, or - at the bare minimum - his lack of deep, heart-burning desire to really know. Displaying qualities which would have enabled him to fit pretty well, "thank you very much", into today's time- and sound-bitten, 'rush, rush, rush', Western society. For surely one ought to first determine how much one actually desires to obtain the object of such a quest before embarking upon such an undertaking. To wit, is there the genuine desire to really know - come Satan's own domain or
some very deep water - irrespective of what that might do to one's pet theories, preconceptions, prejudices and biases? For, if we're deadly honest with ourselves, who would deny 'we all' have oodles of these, and so do we really possess the requisite patience, nay long suffering, to 'simply' suspend judgment until we uncover all the facts and arrive at a cogent, coherent, self-consistent and satisfactory answer? That, to quote the bard - in an admittedly altogether different context, but he had a way with words and expressions, eh - is the question. And moreover are we honestly willing and prepared to undertake the effort, to expend the energy and make the time - 'put in the hard yakka', that is - required to get below superficial, surface, seeming 'realities' to uncover the real, actual facts in the particular matter?

TO BE CONTINUED manana

Carfuffle Can't Conceal Character Cracks or "Another Saturday Night And We Ain't Got No Assets"

"Another Saturday night and I (make that we) ain't got no-body" (make that assets), or more precisely (perhaps): "we're losing our assets". Granted, certainly not what Cat Stevens, now Yusuf Islam, had in mind when he wrote his song, but maybe a good translation of his sentiments into modern-day New Zealand political life vis-a-vis yet another television lead story last Saturday evening on state asset sales.
Judging by recurrent headline stories on both TV1 and TV3 of recent weeks and months, the various protests being regularly staged across New Zealand's major centres over the Government's partially privatized state assets programme now seem a good or adequate enough way to introduce an otherwise lacklustre Saturday evening of news programming. I.e. to effectively deal with or rather to what is known in the business as a 'no news day'. And once more we are given the impression that vast multitudes, at least in our four - sorry Hamilton, I mean four of our - largest cities - Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland (not necessarily in that order) - were, in a state of high dudgeon, 'out on the street' on Saturday the 14th, vehemently, vigorously and, most importantly, vociferously protesting the Government's intentions, nay, well-formulated plans, to partially privatize some state assets; most notably or at least 'first off of the (starting) blocks' being Mighty River Power, now itself embroiled in the fast-developing and unravelling, politically fraught fiasco being played out at the Waitangi Tribunal over Maori water 'rights'.

Now at the outset let me get a few things clear. Neither in recent times
nor in fact any time since my first precocious childhood interest in politics can anyone justly accuse me of spoiling my copybook by ticking (or at one time crossing) the National column on the ballot box. Yet correct me if you will, but didn't they - not all that long ago in fact - contest and moreover convincingly win an election upon that very issue - i.e. where, 'incontrovertibly', the proposed privatization of some state-owned assets was 'right out there' before the public, indeed arguably at the very top of the agenda. Where the (then) main opposition party, Labour, campaigned energetically and forcefully - let's give former leader Phil Goff all due credit - again, upon that selfsame issue, and where Labour received its worst ever result - and National virtually - if not in fact - its best ever. Reminiscent for me of the similar mandate-questioning gall of some strident U.S. Republicans vis-a-vis President Obama's 'nerve' in 'ramming through' the centrepiece of his 2008 presidential bid, healthcare reform, 'against the wishes' of the American people. Folk willing to crawl over broken glass to seek to constitutionally invalidate his proposals. Give me - but especially Obama, and the credulity of Americans - a break. Believe that and you know the rest. (And again, I'm not here arguing for or against that particular proposition, only for Obama's justification in pursuing it to some sort of 'successful' conclusion or resolution, though whether it wasn't entirely emasculated in the process is another matter altogether.)

Or am I somehow missing or forgetting something?; since said events happened within cooee of New Zealand hosting the 2011 Rugby World Cup. But no, since I can also never - remotely - be accused of being a rugby buff (to use a neutral term and thus be nice to adherents of New Zealand's one-time national religion), and so I wasn't (temporarily) sozzled out of my brain - which would be a rather awkward 'accomplishment' anyhow for a lifetime wowser - that line of reasoning might not take us far either. Though I had had more than serious thoughts about, and made equally earnest endeavours over, 'getting away from it all', from all the empty, shallow, self-serving razzmatazz
of New Zealand's 'big (8 weeks) out'. Though, admittedly, by Cup's end, like many, even most fellow kiwis I imagine, I found myself lured into watching our two showdown matches where New Zealand (first) comfortably, but bloodily and bruisedly, bested arch-enemy Australia and then - just barely mind you - managed to hold off our other long-time national foe, France. Now, I don't 'do' (i.e. take) any other drugs either, last time I got checked out (just a couple months back actually) I 'heard' that my hearing's as good as someone half my age, and every time - over the years and decades - I get checked out I've been invariably told my heart (and other vital stats) are in excellent working order. So however paranoiac and even hypochondriacal I sometimes may well be, and eccentric and even zany I may at times appear, I am not a partaker of mind-altering and otherwise numbing substances (other than computer radiation), so hallucination would seem unlikely. So again, tell me, are my recollections just plain faulty, or did I miss something somewhere along the way, such as the aforementioned election campaign  fiercely contested if only over that very issue of partially privatized state-owned assets?

In signing off, I realize (and quite understand) some folk are a little upset with our P.M., but - in all candour - I for one can't bring myself to regard John Key's determination to press on with his Government's partial privatization programme to be - even remotely tantamount to - a hanging, sorry, I mean a guillotining offence; not for a moment missing the irony of the protesters doing so upon Bastille Day. Not to get into how utterly offensive and plainly over-the-top the beheading of an image of our P.M. is in and of itself, quite apart from coming as it does at the end of a decade in which such gruesome acts were routinely carried out by Middle Eastern Islamist terrorists. Especially when one could well argue he fought and democratically obtained the right to pursue that very project now under so much contention. Though a case could perhaps be made that the protester/s who - in my initially faulty recollection - 'burned his effigy' - actually represented the un-and indeed fiercely anti-democratic nature and attitude of the (supposedly 'liberty, equality and fraternity'-loving) French Revolutionaries themselves, folk whose modern-day successors were aptly epitomized and personified in the French Government functionaries whose fingerprints were all over the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior 25-odd years ago now.

Somehow methinks such intense passion could well be justified in response to and outrage towards the Syrian Government and vis-a-vis the criminal inaction thereupon of the international community and its do-nothing, speak a good speech - to paraphrase a former American president, to 'speak harshly and carry a wet bus ticket' - 'representative' body the United Nations. Yes, anger and indignation over such unbelievably barbaric and horrific, appalling brutality 'playing out' daily throughout Syria (over recent months) could and would be in order, yes, worthy of well and truly getting oneself into a lather over even.

And yes, I repeat, I do think selling off state-owned assets, however piecemeal a process brings that about, is a very dumb idea. I just don't think it's on the same page as, or tantamount to, the end of the world - quite.

WEATHER or (more aptly) NOT! (An Afterthought)

My major present-day beef with such weather reportage remains somewhat different, however.This is neither that Dunedin's being unfairly picked on - as some would, at times, rather justifiably allege (including myself, at least vis-a-vis the nightly minimums, which are often much warmer than forecast and indeed often themselves constitute the following day's maximum). Nor that folk here in Dunedin are somehow colluding in some kind of clever con job with the national weathercasters - posting daily maximum temperatures consistently a couple degrees better (i.e. warmer) than is the actual case. Both of these I certainly would argue are problematic, and I do wonder at times, if actual conspirators are not involved, exactly what is conspiring to present things in such - the one minute unfavourable, the very next favourable - a light. Thankfully, it is also undoubtedly not my lifetime task to uncover those reasons either - which might be a little difficult anyway; one might suspect!

So the (long-awaited) issue is this: the long-established (custom of) positing the coming night's - and following day's - minimum and maximum as significant weather markers, and somehow intrinsically meaningful, is implicitly misleading. How so? Because said predicted maximum, for instance, may be achieved - just by the veritable skin of its teeth, if that - and then last for a mere 5-10 minutes (or possibly half an hour - if we're particularly lucky), while the real, ambient day's temperature may actually hover 2-3 degrees lower - again, if we're lucky, in these here parts - throughout the great bulk of the day.

And naturally likewise with the daily minimum. As explained previously - in Dunedin anyway, and especially of late during an exceptionally mild July - following a freezing June - following a wonderful April - subsequent to a rather miserable February (and early March) - preceded by a splendid two-week run-up to New Years Day, 2011 -

anyhow, as I was saying, it actually often gets nowhere near as cold as forecast/predicted/prophesied. So a small suggestion: ditch it folks - while you're ahead. Okay?

THE END

WEATHER - or (more aptly) NOT! (Part 3): A Needed Disclaimer (The Other Side of the Story)

Well, a confession - of sorts - to make, to clear up something. Subsequent to Dunedin's 'upgraded' temperature readings coming about a half-dozen (or 3) years ago now, our nightly tv temp (for the city's maximum for that day) is oftentimes, even usually, quite on the overtly and overly positive side of the meteorological ledger...that is, for what the vast majority of Dunedinites actually experience on a regular day-to-day basis. Yes indeed, I kid you not. How do I know this?

Many reasons - but primarily two. The first is, I'll concede, purely anecdotal, but in spite of which based upon literally years of - daily and nightly - observations in rather coolish, shady and therefore suitably accurate spots. And moreover in a suburb, Belleknowes - French for "beautiful hill" apparently, and it most assuredly is - and/or in a part over the past decade plus bordering both Mornington and Bradford - to fellow weather buffs one of Dunedin's warmest (suburbs) by night, and typically cool, indeed one of its coldest, by day. The critical point is that Belleknowes' ongoing, long-term temps have been unusually close - perhaps the nearest of any other city suburb - to the daytime and night-time temperatures long-established as constituting the city's average long-term minimums and maximums by the city's long-time Musselburgh Pumping Station. But the second reason is far less subjective.

Corroborated by good long-term acquaintance and much-more-than-mere-amateur weather buff Murray White, long-time resident of Halfway Bush - one of Dunedin's highest inhabited hill suburbs and generally 'above the snowline' (associated in telecasts on Dunedin's infrequent snow days with the infamous, often closed Three Mile Hill), Murray's tended to very much agree with me (indeed, often going much further) - or more aptly, in consideration of his expertise, myself with him - that since the switch to automated equipment yonks back now, itself coinciding with the whole global warming bandwagon, about which, again, he has far stronger and better argued views than me, the accuracy of said (nightly, on-screen) Dunedin readings has drastically declined. My own view, perhaps shared by Mr White, is that this has chiefly occurred in order to satisfy the sensibilities of Dunedin folk, in particular to placate the (well-intentioned if somewhat misguided) ongoing criticisms levelled at 'the (weather) powers that be' by certain vociferous, partisan and suitably patriotic, 'parochial' locals - people who, not without some general level of justification, believe "those folks up north" have it in for us southern dwellers.

But as Murray and I would contend - being ever of the fastidious melancholic temperament that we are - it's all about accuracy, stupid! And certainly in any other field of scientific endeavour one would hope for and indeed generally expect that the custodians of the various stats involved would tend not to conduct themselves in a footloose and fancy-free way with the truth. However arguably this is becoming increasingly questionable across an entire range of such disciplines in recent times, but don't you get me - and probably also Murray - started on that! Anyhow, unlike many, including Yours Truly, Mr White's weather commentary holds this distinct advantage: he's been one of the very few with proper meteorological equipment properly installed and read fastidiously through not only the years, but I believe at least 3-4 decades off-and-on (since he's moved back and forth from Hawkes Bay many years ago.) So perhaps he's entitled to commentate upon such matters - you be the judge. (And myself, well, at least such disclaimers and caveats establish me as not just 'ye typical southern whinger', but rather as someone with surely a smidgen, yea even a smattering, of knowledge, yes even expertise - of sorts - upon such eminently vital matters. And surely that counts for something - you'd hope.)

                                   END of PART 3



 

WEATHER - OR (more aptly) NOT! (DUNEDIN: it's (apparently) not "all right" (down) here (PART 2)

The moral of my tale? You need to stay up the night to - really, properly - enjoy the very real highlights of Dunedin weather, as the maximum might come first, the minimum duly arrive in its own good time: i.e. much later. Applying good 'ole counter-intuitive southern logic in other words. To usefully adapt an ad company's pet refrain,"Don't leave home (i.e. New Zealand) till you've seen the country": when in "these here parts", i.e. Dunedin, don't prematurely judge the allegedly inclement weather until you've truly given it a fair go - by experiencing all (and every hour) of it you possibly can. If you 'sleep it off' you might actually do so in fact to the chilling of your bones and the further impugning of your city's already unduly-maligned reputation. It really ain't as bad as you've been told - or you've told yourself. And though forgoing the restorative benefits of a well-earned bit of shut-eye is clearly too high a sum to fork out (just) to uncover that truth for you(rself)  and yours, occasionally utilizing those (in some cases) frequent nightly 'up-risings' for a superior purpose - such as observing and noting the nightly heat-waves our fair city is not infrequently subject to - is all that is required. And, trust me, you'll be handsomely rewarded for so doing - and then some.

Of course there are also more mundane, practical considerations which may come into play, such as saving oneself an otherwise whopping, humungous winter power bill, as well as maintaining an ever-ready wardrobe of clean, dry clothes. How so? In the latter scenario by getting 'em out super early, preferably prior to sunset, and certainly not waiting till sunrise. In the former instance 'simply' by adjusting one's lifestyle to make best, maximal use of the natural heating available for one's home and especially well-used rooms.

But I hear you countering by raising the following types of objections, each one in itself seemingly plausible.
"Is it really such a big deal?" "Honestly! Surely there are weightier matters to get one's pantyhose - or longjohns - in a right lather over; to get one's sizeable molars or dentures stuck firmly into?" Does it really matter how your hometown is portrayed, night after night, weatherwise, on the nation's tv screens? And if they're inaccurate to a fault, what real difference - to our everyday lives - does it actually make anyway?
Will it turn potential tourists away? Sink Dunedin's economy? Implode its population, sending them scattering helter-skelter, here, there and everywhere, like so many ten-pin bowling skittles? And even if it does play a not insignificant role in such an unlikely, far-fetched, 'doomsday' scenario, well, what then? Who - in the final analysis - really gives a toss anyhow? Like really?

I'll leave you to decide that question for yourself, with this (bit of) food for thought: such may well seem perfectly useless, meaningless tidbits of statistical information - on their own. Except for this undeniable fact: people conduct their lives, engaging in all manner of important if routine daily and/or weekly activities - outings, (decisions upon) modes of travel and dress, clotheswashing and drying routines - purely upon the basis of such mundane sorts of considerations, not to mention make much more important life decisions, such as where to be based, work, establish oneself, bring up one's family, etcetera.

I s'pose that's all, folks - except to add: what - all the foregoing - also means, or at the least strongly seems to indicate, is a rather uncanny, if I do say so myself, ability - admittedly based solely upon frequent, regular and anecdotal observations over a number of years, even decades - for Yours Truly to exercise a rather eerily accurate predictive ability vis-a-vis the ongoing weather of the city of my upbringing. A 'knack', if you will - or won't! -  characterized by somewhat closer-to-reality forecasts of upcoming local weather attractions than are those of the supposed experts with all of their fancy, much-vaunted, hi-tech, state-of-the-art, 21st Century equipment.

So "eat your heart out, Ken Ring" - I'm nipping at your (southernmost) heels!

                                   END of PART TWO

WEATHER - OR (more aptly) NOT! (DUNEDIN: it's (apparently) not "all right" (down) here)

                          (Two-and-a-half weeks on, due to technical incompetence.)


To truncate an otherwise long-winded account and somewhat tedious spiel - a tendency "Yours Truly" is quite renowned for - let's summarize the situation thusly: in her unflappable, suave,
nonchalant manner, "our" long-time and ever well-versed 'weathercaster' Karen - arguably unrivalled in both on-screen longevity and personal popularity alongside only Jim Hickey - 'announced' that the 'sunshine (or rather Scottish) capital (that is, Edinburgh) of the South' (i.e. Dunedin) - or not(!) - would apparently plummet to an overnight minimum of 6 degrees (Celsius), and then ascend to a rather respectable high of 14 degrees on Saturday. A pleasant prospect indeed - especially (as it shortly thereafter proved) when juxtaposed with the heavy chill that descended upon the city (and environs) that very (Saturday) evening, and then hung around a good one-and-a-half to two weeks thereafter.

Now Friday, June the 22nd'd been 'okay', let's say another (alongside Tuesday and Wednesday the 19th and 20th - coincidentally family birthdays) less cool, even somewhat mildish day, also hitting not just 9 degrees, but even breaking into double digits and reaching 10 eventually, and that even at our consistently cool residence set in the coldest, most shaded and southwesterly-inclined section of our street. Anyhow, just after Karen's weather preview, scurrying back out onto our back porch, it'd meanwhile climbed to 11-and-a-half degrees, and then, by around 8 p.m., it had warmed further, stabilizing around it seemed an eminently 'fair enough' 13 degrees. In other words we were - already - well on our way to 'tomorrow's target' (maximum) - and, what's more, with literally heaps of time still to go. And actually, since our place is consistently a couple degrees below the official TV1 & TV3 temperature site maximums, well, that's basically as good as that (predicted max) anyway. So 'good stuff' Dunedin: thus far so good anyway. 

Now I've "never made no personal claims" to prophetic status - either in eternal, spiritual, 'other-worldly' matters or in much more temporal, everyday, this-worldly affairs. Yet nevertheless I had, as I often have done, already given my Mum my own 'gloss' upon the following day's weather forecast. This I did upon hearing "our" Karen run through the following 24-hour's local weather events with her - and that of her fellow weather presenters' - characteristic uncategorical assurance that it would transpire 'just as we had been told'. And indeed so it did - not. Or at least in the usual way presumed; and that by an urban kilometre.

Anyhow, with, let's say, a rather hefty four-and-three-quarters decades (of which around three-and-three-quarters had been spent in Dunedin, or 3 entire decades if we ignore life up to around 10 years of age) under my sleeve, and knowing full well that Dunedin weather is just a tad different from our fellow main centres; (in all sorts of ways, and no, not just in terms of essential ambient chill); I said - approximately - the following to my ever-attentive, long-suffering Mum - well-versed in, if not entirely worshipful of, my long-established local weather prowess. That our faithful, ever welcome nor-westers - almost invariably congenial in contradistinction to their notorious Canterbury counterparts - having already kicked in that evening, the mercury would rise before it eventually fell. Or in regular laymens' and womens' terms, those predicted, prophesied 6 degree minimum and 14 degree maximum temps would indeed be reached, if not actually exceeded, but not at all in the way people - whether partisan locals or armchair critics from elsewhere - might expect. No sirree - or ma'am. Rather, as I'd told Mum upon hearing the next 24-hour's forecast, it would doubtless reach 14 degrees - or thereabouts - overnight, or - at the latest - either in the wee hours of the following morning or reasonably shortly after sunrise, and then, with the arrival of the ever-dreaded south-westerly (mid-morning, midday or sometime no doubt during Saturday afternoon), plummet rather quickly and eventually drop to 6 degrees or so. And so it indeed once again transpired, give or take both an hour or two and two to four degrees. Well, I'll freely admit that upon this one occasion the warmth hung around much longer than usual, indeed until early-mid afternoon in fact. (C'mon now - no-one's perfect.)

In brief it transpired thus. Upon arising at 12.15 a.m. it was still a mildish 13 degrees, and then the next occasion, at 2.55 a.m. - or so - I felt I'd entered Paradise upon Earth: the wind was gusting away and the merc had reached a balmy 15 degrees! (Mind you this is barely beyond mid-winter's day and in 'the Deep South' to boot.) Incidentally, while sojourning in 'the Twin Cities' of my Mother's native Minnesota, U.S.A., during Christmastime 1994, the locals (and myself also) were amazed and quite pleasantly taken aback when the temperature reached 50 fahrenheit, or 10 degrees Celsius, upon Christmas Day. Probably close to an all-time record for America's mini-Scandinavia.

It was still 14-15 when I finally got up at 5.30 a.m. - eventually dropping back to 12.5 awhile later - but upon leaving the house for the morning at 9.30 it was back up to 14 degrees. Arriving home around 12.45 p.m. it had reached 15.5, though I imagine it could well have gotten to, and even surpassed, 16 at our place through the late morning, if not also over the following couple of hours, when I absentmindedly forgot to check the temperature - duh! (Perhaps not though, as Mum informed me that whenever, on the admittedly rare occasions, she'd checked it late morning it'd been 'only' 14-14.5 degrees.) As you can already surmise the sub-tropical conditions didn't, and indeed couldn't, last forever, and thus and so it proved. By 3.30-4.00 it'd tapered off to 13-13.5, and then the ever-so-stealthily approaching, gathering storm clouds finally unleashed their merciless fury around 4.30, in lashes of squally rain, and suddenly our mini-summer oasis was done and dusted, and the temperature, already down to 12-12.5, quickly dropped to 10 degrees, and by 5.30 to 8-8.5. By the way the tv weather moguls graced us with a reading of 18 degrees, close to if not at the top (of the day's NZ high) and certainly I believe way above Christchurch.

                                                        END of Part One

Why Must They Always Disagree?

Has it ever occurred to you - while gazing at the players upon the stage of the body politic - to ask yourself the question: why must they always disagree?

Maybe your level of political involvement has never extended to tuning in to parliamentary radio or t.v. and eventually turning off in disgust, concluding that the whole lot of them were worse than kindergarten children.

But perhaps you've also wondered at times, why, when someone of one party comes up with what is undoubtedly a perfectly reasonable, sensible idea - yes, it does sometimes happen - his/her opposite number inevitably (you could yawn, it's so utterly predictable) instantly rubbishes the very idea, as if the one proposing it must be a complete idiot?

Not being cynical enough to believe they are simply jealous of their opponents and envious of their ideas, wishing that they had been the ones to come up with what they (actually) realize are some jolly good ideas, one has to conclude they are simply actresses and actors playing to a predetermined script.

What other conclusion is possible when even the very best - and sometimes, believe it or not, quite innovative and perceptive ideas - are barely off the press when they are instantaneously consigned by a political opponent to the proverbial garbage bin?

Does it not - ever - occur to such folk that to occasionally greet an opponent's idea(s) with praise or a positive comment or two, instead of the usual predictable disdain, could actually work to their political advantage, revealing not only good judgment and a generous disposition but the radical idea that not all politicians are utterly self-serving?

And so not only dumbfound voters - totally unacquainted with such refreshing honesty, candour and goodwill - but even make them more inclined to vote for such a person, who has not only the wisdom to know a good idea when s/he sees it but moreover the courage and graciousness to admit the fact before both opponents and the sceptical public-at-large. 

To seriously suppose, however, that courage, intellectual honesty and generosity of spirit could grace the modern political debate is perhaps just a little much to hope for.

As the old saying goes, dreams are free.