Conservative Liberal Democrat Alliance

Ever since the new coalition formed, a balance has been struck in the heart of politics, where the centre ground has been met through a unification of opposites, promising great shifts in the way the political system operates and functions. I for one hope this portends the death of Labour as a political influence in this country and that the "nanny state" set up an unequal socialist order is replaced by a less interfering, anti-bureaucratic system of governance which puts the individual at the heart of society through the sharing of responsibilities and a clear understanding of the consequence of actions.

Peter Venner and the Mavi marmara

My response to the ventnorblog (http://ventnorblog.com/2010/06/06/peter-venner-safely-back-on-the-isle-of-wight-from-gaza-aid-flotilla-podcast/) and the recent return of peace activist Peter Venner from israel following the illegal boarding of the Mavi Marmara (June 2010.) and the murder of 9 Turkish civilians.

Click if you like this comment Bob Obvious says:
Today at 8:30 am (7 hours ago)

Ethnic Cleansing; genocide; war crimes; State Terrorism; and now Piracy. Yet still nothing is done by the so-called international community to stop this outrageous brutal subjugation of the people of Gaza.

israeli supporters should hang their heads in shame for they are also complicit in these illegal acts.

The fact is that Gaza is under siege and its people subject to a form of occupation, rather like the occupation of Northern Ireland by the British government. Except the British have never bombed any Irish cities using phosphorous, or (rarely) intentionally targeted any innocent civilians , or even shut down the borders with the rest of Ireland and the world and placed punitive measures on the N.I. population (resulting in 80% receiving food aid: 40% unemployment: restrictions on movement: and destruction of infrastructure etc) for acts of aggression committed by a minority of individuals who claim to be freedom fighters and yet are viewed as terrorists.

On 30th January 1972, British Paratroopers shot dead 14 Irish protesters and wounded 13 others in an event for which the (acting) British government has been widely condemned and the tribunal it held immediately after the event branded a whitewash. We are still awaiting the results of a 2nd inquiry (the Saville inquiry: established in 1998.) however, I am in no doubt the troopers who committed the acts will be found to have acted with excessive force. And yet if the events of Bloody Sunday were held in comparison with the almost daily clashes between Palestinian youths and I.D.F. operatives then it would appear to be nothing out of the ordinary and would most certainly not be subject to any form of scrutiny or commentary by the israeli government or the wider international community.

The israelis only get away with all these hideous crimes because of the backing it gets from the US government, who receives millions of dollars each year from various zionist lobby groups such as AIPAC; AJC; JINSA; Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations; ZOA (Zionist Organization Of America.) Not to mention the guilty silence of our own government and others around the world.

Nearly 50 UN resolutions since 1948 have held israel to be in breach of several major internationally recognised human rights violations, yet because the value of the dollar is held to be more than that of human life, nothing is done about it.

I salute Peter Venner for all he has done to help the people of Gaza and only wish I could do the same. In fact if you need any help and support Peter please contact me @ obviouslyFAKE2 (YouTube) and I would be only too happy to assist.

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Click if you like this comment No.5 says:
Today at 11:01 am (4 hours ago)

actually no…its nothing like Northern Ireland.

England conquered Ireland (the whole country) 1000 years ago and in the 17th century forced a foerign (nation & religion) on them in the 18th Century, incorporating them into the Great Britain in th 19th Century.

In the 1920 Britain gave back 2/3 of the country as one step in the break up of its empire.

The IRA contested to incorporate the last 3rd into the country of Eire, something the vast majority did not want.

This is nothing at all like the situation in Israel
—————————-

Hammas has as much to answer too as Israel does, no peace will ever happen whilst they continue to missile Innocent people and hide behind civilians.

My total support goes to the innocent civilians of Gaza and Israel who are betrayed by their leaders.

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Click if you like this comment Bob Obvious says:
Today at 2:57 pm (36 minutes ago)

I very much beg to differ with the view that there is no comparison between the occupation of Palestine and Gaza by the israelis and that of the British in Ireland over the past 100 years, except that in more recent years (the past 45) the British government and armed forces have behaved in a relatively humane way when dealing with terrorists, regardless of the fact that innocent citizens of mainland Britain and the Northern Irish provinces were under the threat of being maimed and/or killed at any given moment by either a bomb or a bullet. And many many 100’s actually were.

In my initial comment I drew upon the analogy of occupation in Northern Ireland and made particular reference to 20th century events because, as you quite rightly pointed out, Northern Ireland had been partitioned in the 1920’s, therefore the troubles have had around 90 years to run their course. In israel and Palestine the conflict has lasted 62years, although before that (when it was part of the British Empire) there was still conflict and acts of terrorism, only then, the acts were committed against serving British personnel.

I wholeheartedly agree with you regarding the treatment of innocents and in truth this was the subtext to my commentary. The blockade is wrong and in my mind illegal, as is the conduct of the israelis when dealing with Palestinian aggression.

As you have mentioned, the British and Irish have had several hundred years to come to terms with occupation in Ireland and even in the early 20th century British rule and control could have been viewed as excessive and harsh. However, that was a condition of the times and a result of draconian laws (such as hanging and criminalising homosexuality) which have been thankfully undone and abandoned. Therefore, a further purpose to my analogy was to give rise to the question of the collective punishment metered out by the israelis on all the people of Gaza and also in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Have the israelis ceased their settlement’s continuous encroachment onto Palestinian land and the resultant dispersal of native Palestinians away from the violence and/or to refugee camps in neighbouring countries like Lebanon? NO.

My commentary may not be completely accurate but I’m damn sure my sense of justice IS. My nation chose to rescind its draconian past and replaced it with humanity and integrity and justice for each one of us good or ill.

When children and women are physically and mentally abused and terrorised then this is wrong in any court of human rights. When one country is allowed to thumb its nose at UN resolutions and continuously break international law, then this is also diabolical and wrong. When violence is met with violence then nothing will be solved because no one will give an inch. State Terrorism is still Terrorism and nobody can deny it.

We are expected to remember the Holocaust, yet also expected to say nothing when acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing are carried out both systematically and under a veil of secrecy and self-evaluation/investigation. The whole stink of hypocrisy fills my nostrils and makes me ill and I can’t help but think that you are fooling yourself when you offer words of support to a criminal nation.

And as a little extra thought for you, don’t forget the fact that a vast amount of money received by groups like the IRA, was collected by NORAID in the USA. This went on for years under the noses of successive US governments because it suited the USA for Britain to be distracted. Just as it suites Iran that the coalition is bogged down and distracted in Afghanistan. israel’s only saving grace is that it’s a rogue nuclear state (just like India and Pakistan) and if it wasn’t for this Iran would probably take a more aggressive stance, other than merely supplying arms and money to organisations like HAMAS.

Just like our Yin-Yang coalition government, the Middle East needs to find the centre ground, although I fear this will never happen when the main protagonists are unable to talk and discuss their differences in a more civilised and understanding way. But hey, the Northern Irish may be able to lead by example so long as they continue to give and take a little and ignore the dogs of war who chose the bullet over ballot and terror over compassion.

FREE GAZA. STOP THE SETTLEMENTS. BOYCOTT israel.

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Click if you like this comment Bob Obvious says:
Today at 3:24 pm (9 minutes ago)

“The IRA contested to incorporate the last 3rd into the country of Eire, something the vast majority did not want.

This is nothing at all like the situation in Israel”

Your quote here (No.5) insists that the vast majority in N.I. did not want reunification and this may be true, yet you seem unaware that in 1948 when the state of israel was established, only 2% of the population was Jewish. Therefore, even on this level the comparisons are starkly similar in texture and design because the vast majority of “innocents” were held to ransom and dictated to by the few through threat of violence and intimidation.

Global Zionism has pulled together many propagandist threads in order to soften israel’s international public image, but their lies will be harder to promote from now on I hope because their actions will eventually reveal the truth and open people’s eyes to the great wrongs they are doing.

Stop kidding yourself no.5, however you dress it up, israel’s reaction has been vastly disproportionate and its past conduct completely counter-productive and negative.

Some intellectual Fuck Up

Lateral thinking gets me NO-WHERE
In a world of infinite possibilities;
Like pissing in the wind
And clutching at straws -
Grabbing at the "What might have beens,"
Whilst stumbling along with what IS.

Your material successes reflect my failures,
Futile attempts evolve into negative impressions;
Low self-esteem borne out by oppression,
Spits in the face of free expression.
I am ALL of what I always NEVER wanted to be:
Living in BAD FAITH.

Man is defined insofar as he acts:
Rudderless vessels set adrift
Find their own compass
In seas of infinite possibility.
Drifting with the currents of popular belief
Till they find their own course.
Action-without-Action
Determines the results;
Born of non-being We Are
Empty creatures full
Of fruitless intellectual efforts.

Because some head exploded (One journey through insanity)

An impoverished Daemon sat, whispering
In a recess of the formative mind.
At first suggestive tendrils spread, slow
With paranoia, hate and dread - And
So the volume and the chaos climbed, till
Shouting obscenities: drowning and scrambling
Cognition most times - It strove to leech
And pervert an existence:
To thrive on fear, then break free,
By committing its' subject to play out suggestions;
Shaking the bars of its cerebral cell,
Chasing ruin through a now unquiet tortured mind,
Which manifest in desperate self-administered cuts;
Or blisters from some stubbed out fags;
Or bursts of violence: Unbalanced and Unjust.

A remorseless contest
In meta-realms of Subconscious
And the Conscious Prime,
Erupted from the core
And the façade fell all to pieces;
No longer troubled whole - but shattered Self,
Void - Devoid of any purpose left to call.
The rot took hold as isolation settled round,
Self-imposed Apartheid splits the rational and the lost.
And so the Daemon gorged and shat
On the imploded remnants in that head;
It fed and fed then choked to death
On one remaining gram of pride -
Barbed with a steeled drive for life -
Silently, patiently waiting deep inside.

For some years the captive wandered on,
In mental purgatory - Feeling Nothing and Caring less:
One of the many concealed dead who walk this world,
Popped full of pills to fix an illusion of existence
And permeate the void inside them:
Masking negativity, whilst suppressing positivity;
Another subject of the zombie state.

Then a psychiatric voodoo priest
Delved deep inside his alchemist chest,
And plucked from a medical book of conjecture
Yet another attempt at psychological salvation;
A tablet of Quetiapine - Etched
With symbols on its front and back:
One more calcium-based promise of hope.
Each day - One swallow flooded the being,
Disrupting each ling'ring fear-flecked shadow
Of the former lurking Daemon.
Cementing each surviving scrap
Of rationale and gentle ways,
Reforming values and distorted ethics,
Till a newly wired, rebuilt subject
Emerged with cautious concepts probing;
Testing out each new found process
As calmed order steadfast descended.

And so a Phoenix from the ashes -
With fewer foibles: Less fucked-up thinking -
Stood unaided, whole and stable,
Each thought its' own - no longer buckled:
Clear in purpose, strong and reasoned;
Bourne from the depths of silent sources.
An offspring of a quiet mind.

Prabhupada

I have just sent the following message to a YouTuber who is the follower of Prabhupada, a disciple of Hare Krishna:

Please don't think I am attacking you or mean you any wrong, I was listening to the Radha Krishna Temple album at home and Googled it, which led me to your YouTube channel. But after a brief visit to a couple of the links, I was left with a few questions I needed to pose to you concerning certain elements of your views. Furthermore, I like to be able to engage in philosophical exchanges as each one assists my comprehension and experience of this life, helping me to relate and empathise with others around the world and make sense of my observations and contemplations on life.

Please could you explain to me why you consider this enlightened man to be a divinity? Surely all that he is, is a human being who has attained a level of existence which allows him to glimpse at a clearer understanding of life above that which is not even contemplated by billions of closed, lost people around the world?

It always troubles me when I encounter beings who allow themselves to be revered as "gods," regardless of whether their intentions are for the good or for other ulterior motives. Jesus Christ; the Dalai lama; Halie Selassie; Sathya Sai Baba; His "holiness" the Pope. etc. etc.

I personally don't accept or believe any form of god exists simply because the concept requires believers to employ blind faith above everything else. Placing their lives and their "fates" in the hands of something which will never physically intervene to make any difference. Each beings' experiences and understanding of life is relative to that specific individual, none of us knows what is inside the head or heart of anyone else. A snail's concept of life is poles apart from from a bird's and the same is true for everything else. None of us can ever truly "know" what it is to be the other.

'Humanity's' understanding or concept of "god-head" is more or less the same regardless of which particular religion they follow: An otherworldly extra-dimensional life force which is responsible for and determines the existence of everything else in the universe. A creator or originator with some kind of divine plan or purpose for everything and everyone, who resides in another dimension considered to be a form of "heaven" or "Nirvana," where each of us might go if we have devoted ourselves freely to its prescribed subjection and oppression of the true self.

Maybe Prabhupada is different and the teachings you and he follow do not require acceptance of this form or mode of theology, however, I did read that he is not in agreement with Darwin's theory of evolution, claiming that it could not have occurred through an act of random chance. To which I would ask the question, "Why not?" Why is it not possible, if he himself has found a degree of enlightenment (and through doing so altered and shaped his own existence), for every other living thing which possesses a life force to achieve the same? Obviously this would be relative to the individual life force and subject to a myriad alternative experiential processes, but if each life force, after having negotiated an apparently random event, then retains the experience and conveys it to others within its species during its lifetime, so that they may prepare themselves for a similar occurrence happening to them, then wouldn't that original random event be the impetus for a "change" in the whole species over many generations?

It would not be enough to make claims that, "Maybe the event was not random because it was orchestrated by "God" in order to initiate the alterations and conditions needed for the life forms to continue to propagate and evolve," or, "Through reincarnation, the "Soul" or "Spirit" retains its past life experiences which in turn become the vehicle for change and the impetus for evolution to take place" because that would require the above mentioned act of faith and empirical scientific proof that everything is in fact ordered and predictable, which it is not. Furthermore, if the "Soul" is eternal and it carries its past experiences and knowledge through with it, then wouldn't that preclude the need for any new "souls" to come in to "being" after a set amount of time?

As a philosophical Taoist I can accept that certain "energies" are constant, after all it has been scientifically proven that matter can not be entirely destroyed, because of this I also ascribe to the notion that these "energies" become "re-cycled" or "reused" and "re-formed," however, my senses will not allow for me to accept that whole entities remain intact in the event of death, then proceed to take another "host" and get "re-born." Following "The Way" one becomes enlightened to the notion that our brief existence is the one and only opportunity to embrace the challenges and demands of life, our opportunity to be a living example of spiritual evolution. Through our interaction with others and by the choices we make given our relative circumstances, we alone have the ability to determine our "fate" and the direction of our lives. Whether we are born rich or poor; in England or in India; whatever the random circumstance into which we are born, we alone choose to be who we are.

As for trying to make guesses about whether there really is an afterlife or not, isn't it wiser just to accept and make the most of what we have in the physical world, rather than expending energy on preparing for the "after-life" based on divine conjecture?

I'm sorry if my arguments are clumsy and ill formed, hopefully, if you are willing and able to respond to this message, I will be able to redress this.

I will leave you with a chapter from "Tao Te Ching" which I feel is potentially hypocritical given my ramblings above, however, it may provide you with a little more insight as to why I am intuitively suspicious of organised religion and troubled by human "divinities," it is not specifically directed at anyone in particular,


71

Not-knowing is true knowledge.
Presuming to know is a disease.
First realise that you are sick;
then you can move toward health

The Master is his own physician,
He has healed himself of all knowing.
Thus he is truly whole.

Lao Tzu.

Some thoughts on the demise of Michael Jackson and the subsequent hypocitical popularity explosion

If one were to comment upon the relatively recent emergence of a notoriety obsessed, credit driven, "get rich and famous quick!" mindset infecting vast swathes of the population right across the western world; with fulfilment being measured in the accumulation of wealth and "fame;" and the subliminally imposed, narcissistic aspirations of countless of misled millions resting upon "that one big break" to catapult them to "stardom." Then the overwhelming sense of grief and loss displayed by huge numbers of Michael Jackson "fans" serves to act as an example of how morally blinded and ethically selective people have become in their quest to identify with the cult of celebrity.

If Jackson had been an ordinary Joe Bloggs he would most undoubtedly have become a social pariah and more than likely have served time for certain offences. At the least he most probably would have been placed on some sort of register or surveillance order. But no, he was an above standard international multi-millionaire "star" who's foibles have always been passed off as a combination of eccentricity and the result of a difficult, abusive upbringing which left him vulnerable to exploitation by unscrupulous parties both inside and 'outside' the Jackson family. Reasons given, I might add, by thousands of prisoners and sex-offenders in their defence as to why they committed their crimes.

During his more controversial years Jackson was subject to a barrage of character assaults which cost most of his fortune and completely battered his reputation and moral standing. Even Jon Snow (Channel 4 News) admits in one of his blogs that, "the even stranger, even sinister, delight in the menagerie of young children with whom he consorted in his home, undermined my total appreciation of what he achieved." A sensation and opinion which once-upon-a-time reverberated throughout a number of people in Jackson's broad fan base, as it was whipped into a frenzy by almost the entire membership of global media networks.

Jon was most definitely not alone in his uncomfortably felt concerns regarding Jacko's interests. I for one can relate to Jon when he alludes to "strange" and "sinister" apprehensions, which automatically overshadowed any regards, respect or appreciation of Jackson's undoubted talent and gift for entertaining.

What concerns me however, is the observation that now Jacko is dead, people around the world are once more lauding his praises, selectively remembering his "best" bits and jumping on the band wagon to promote his kudos born of "fame."

The only way in which this switch of judgement and morals has been allowed to occur, is through blind public acceptance of an insidious form of ideology which promotes "celebrities" to a "higher order" among "average" human beings. A form of Demi-God status which places them above and outside the regular rules and terms which govern the realms of Terra firma.

Of course there have been numerous "stars" whose careers have ended due to a misdemeanour or two, but only a very small handful who have dodged the moral bullets and returned to their original Stella magnitude. Unfortunately I think Jackson was poised to become one of those 'forgiven' through misplaced concepts of 'truth.'.

According to existentialist theory,

"There is no meaning to be found in the world beyond what meaning we give to it. People actually make decisions based on what has meaning to them rather than what is rational. That there are no values to be found in the world in-itself doesn't mean that there are no values: Each of us usually already has his values before a consideration of their validity is carried through, and it is, after all, upon these values we act. Making "choices" without allowing one's values to confer differing values to the alternatives, is, in fact, choosing not to make a choice - to "flip a coin," as it were, and to leave everything to chance. This is considered to be a refusal to live in the consequence of one's freedom, meaning it quickly becomes a sort of 'bad faith.'"

We encounter experiences every day which support this notion, as people are constantly making judgements based on how they "feel" about something. Their values are frequently challenged and each time they are required to make a decision, they will apply; emotion; personal historical experience; and their appropriated, circumstantially acceptable social morals, ethics, beliefs and values. It is the third of these foundations of decision making which holds most influence over the way people 'choose' to think and behave.

Hypocrisy is borne upon the dark wings of "Bad Faith," in the thousands of freshly inspired "Jacko jokes" doing the rounds; in the way people are so easily programmable and infinitely malleable, and so ready to follow the herd in their complicit acceptance and 'forgiveness' of wrongful deeds; And via the means of the masses to sell out on their values and judgement before the alter of Idolatry delights.

A brief comment on the sad state of British society

I was shooting the breeze with my brother-in-law the other day. Mostly stuff about computers and cars - man's talk my mother calls it, when we just couldn't resist a short social commentary on the subject of "fame" and social aspirations. We both came to the conclusion that people in general have massive gaps in their thinking with regards to what is really important in life, and that all that seems to "mean" anything nowadays is the pursuit of fame and the emulation and adoration of celebrity.

Pretty fucking shallow if you ask me and the BIL.

Lao Tzu has an opinion on this also:

44

Fame or integrity: which is more important?
Money or happiness: which is more valuable?
Success or failure: Which is more destructive?

If you look to others for fulfillment,
you will never be truly fulfilled.
If your happiness depends on money,
you will never be happy with yourself.

Be content with what you have;
rejoice in the way things are.
When you realise there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you.

The way to the world

33

Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength;
Mastering yourself is true power.

If you realise that you have enough,
you are truly rich.
If you stay in the centre
and embrace death with your whole heart,
you will endure forever.

The path to freedom from oppression begins in your own mind - once you are free from your own ideas and have forgotten all knowledge learned - then you are on the way to becoming truly free.

Seek enlightenment through action-without-action - When nothing is done, then nothing is left undone.

Your greatest treasures are Simplicity, patience and compassion. With these you can conquer the world.

Peace to you and yours.

Stay Safe.

MP's "Expenses"

In light of the recent revelations regarding U.K. MP's expenses and allowances, exposing the extent of corruption and greed within this so-called "Democracy" of our once great island nation, I have decided to transcribe 10 chapters from the Tao Te Ching to reveal how the ancient Tao Masters viewed the role of the ruling classes; describing best practice and ascribing the roles of benevolent guidance and selfless endeavours to leaders, when engaged in the governance of others.

Unfortunately, over the past 30 years, the ethos of materialism and personal gain has rippled through the entire nation in one guise or another and slowly but surely engaged itself in breaking down the social structures, altruistic consciousness and familial cohesion of the British Isles. The "I want it - I'm gonna take it," attitude of our present day "leaders" is simply a reflection, or product, of a global capitalist political agenda, which aims to put the interests of the wealthy, influential individual before that of the nation, and of society in general. The sick joke is that: the rest of society is also wrapped up in, and have bought into, this illusion as well.

It doesn't even make a difference if the governing political party is Labour or Conservative (even Liberal) because as we've seen in the newspapers and t.v. news, they're mostly all on the 'take' and are even trying to defend their amoral behaviour with insulting claims that "everything was within the rules," therefore it was all fair game and by the book. It doesn't make a difference to the politicians if the majority of people in this country have to struggle to keep afloat (and that's just with 1 house/abode) to furnish and keep up with the rent or mortgage on. Just so long as them and "their mates" are raking it in at the taxpayer's expense, that's all that seems to matter to these people..

These anti-heroes (anti-role models) will promise anything to get into power, and usually do through the use of semantic subversions and promises of more cash in the "individual's" pockets in the form of tax cuts. None of them are willing to admit they have acted immorally or in self-interest; none of them will ever admit they are WRONG. One day all this may be a distant uncomfortable fact of history, a noted mistake which helped to shape a truly democratic future, however, I sadly feel, due to human nature, that the situation will never change so long as kudos is measured in terms of wealth and fame over personal integrity and the common good.

17

When the Master governs, the people
are hardly aware that he exists.
Next best is a leader who is loved.
Next, one who is feared.
The worst is one who is despised.

If you don't trust the people,
you make them untrustworthy.

The Master doesn't talk, he acts.
When his work is done,
the people say, "Amazing:
we did it, all by ourselves!"


30

Whoever relies on the Tao in governing men
doesn't try to force issues
or defeat enemies by force of arms.
For every force there is a counterforce,
violence, even well intentioned,
always rebounds upon oneself.

The Master does his job
and then stops.
He understands that the universe
is forever out of control,
and that trying to dominate events
goes against the current of the Tao.
Because he believes in himself,
he doesn't try to convince others.
Because he is content with himself,
he doesn't need other's approval.
Because he accepts himself,
the whole world accepts him.


46

When a country is in harmony with the Tao,
the people breed oxen and make ploughs.
When a country goes counter to the Tao,
Weapons are stockpiled outside the city.

There is no greater illusion than fear,
no greater wrong than preparing to defend yourself,
no greater misfortune than having an enemy.

Whoever can see through all fear
will always be safe.


53

The great way is easy,
yet people prefer the side paths.
Be aware when things are out of balance.
Stay centred within the Tao.

When rich speculators prosper
while farmers lose their land;
when government officials spend money
on weapons instead of cures;
when the upper class is extravagant and irresponsible
while the poor have nowhere to turn -
all this is robbery and chaos.
It is not in keeping with the Tao.


57

If you want to be a great leader,
you must learn to follow the Tao.
Stop trying to control.
Let go of fixed plans and concepts,
and the world will govern itself.

The more prohibitions you have,
the less virtuous people will be.
The more weapons you have,
the less secure people will be.
The more subsidies you have,
the less self-reliant people will be.

Therefore, the Master says:
I let go of the law,
and the people become honest.
I let go of economics,
and the people become prosperous.
I let go of religion,
and the people become serene.
I let go of all desire for the common good,
and the good becomes as common as grass.


58

If a country is governed with tolerance,
the people are comfortable and honest.
If a country is governed with repression,
the people are depressed and crafty.

When the will to power is in charge,
the higher the ideals, the lower the results.
Try to make people happy,
and you lay the groundwork for misery.
Try to make people moral,
and you lay the groundwork for vice.

Thus the Master is content
to serve as an example
and not to impose her will.
She is pointed, but doesn't pierce.
Straightforward, but supple.
Radiant, but easy on the eyes.


59

For governing a country well
there is nothing better than moderation.

The mark of a moderate man
is freedom from his own ideas.
Tolerant like the sky,
all-pervading like sunlight,
firm like a mountain,
supple like a tree in the wind,
he has no destination in view
and makes use of anything
life happens to bring his way.

Nothing is impossible for him.
Because he has let go,
he can care for the people's welfare
as a mother cares for her child.


60

Governing a large country
is like frying a small fish.
You spoil it with too much poking.

Centre your country in the Tao
and evill will have no power.
Not that it isn't there,
but you will be able to step out of its way.

Give evil nothing to oppose
and it will disappear by itself.


61

When a country obtains great power,
it becomes like the sea;
all streams run downward into it.
The more powerful it grows,
the greater the need for humility.
Humility means trusting the Tao,
thus never needing to be defensive.

A great nation is like a great man:
When he makes a mistake, he realises it.
Having realised it, he admits it.
Having admitted it, he corrects it.
He considers those who point out his faults
as his most benevolent teachers.
He thinks of his enemy
as the shadow that he himself casts.

If a nation is centred in the Tao,
if it nourishes its own people
and doesn't meddle in the affairs of others,
it will be a light to all the nations in the world.


75

When taxes are too high,
people go hungry.
When the government is too intrusive,
people lose their spirit.

Act for the people's benefit.
Trust them; leave them alone.


Lao Tzu (circa 5-4 B.C.)

A Speculative YouTube Message

I received the following speculative message from an Israeli artist, who appears very skilful at advertising his channel and his work. However, he doesn't appear to have viewed my channel prior to sending me the message. Either that or he is anti-Zionist, or just not concerned with the Palestinian situation on either side of the conflict.

hi

you probably think to yourself this is just another guy trying to advertise his videos , well i won't lie , i am advertising well ... it's just that i'm an artist (painter / musician) and i'm pretty good at what i do ... as an artist i want to share my art with the world.

i have soooooooooo much to give ( the videos you'll see on my page are only the beginning )... and you would have never got to my channel any other way
so please check this out if you have a minute ... (this is a painting video of mine)
you might even get surprised ... and please consider subscribing if you feel you'd like to see my future work take care and have a great day sorry for taking a bit of your time.

This was my response:

When you next send out speculative messages, I think it would be best if you actually took a look at the channels of the people you are posting to. I joined YouTube as a response to the documentary "Occupation 101" (a mainly Jewish collaboration) which describes the historical background (and present day situation - Pre 2008/09) of the conflict between the Zionists and the Palestinians in Israel. Hence, my reasons for making the video "Hassan I Sabbah - Hawkwind."

I believe that humanistic pursuits such as art, music, theatre etc. should transcend all earthly boundaries, however, the insidious, pervasive nature of politics ensures that no art form is free of it, hence, I feel that we must always remain true to our confirmed beliefs and not compromise our position through association with individuals who are complicit in acts contrary to our own moral or ethical codes.

Thus, even though I enjoyed your work and commend you for your talent, I will not be subscribing to your videos, or adding you to my friend's list on the grounds that you are more than likely a supporter of the Zionist movement, or complicit in some way that is detrimental to the plight of the Palestinian people.

Thank YOU for YOUR time. I hope you take a while to look at MY channel and some of MY videos, in order to gain an insight as to why I have responded to YOU so. I have attached my latest video to give you a flavour of what I am about.

Peace to You and Yours.

Stay Safe.

obviouslyFAKE.


I will await the outcome of this situation and cut and paste any responses or further contact.