Shaggy Dog Comments...
From our Those Who Forget the Lessons of History are Bound to Repeat Them Dept: Shaggy is much younger than British PM Tony Blair, but at least we have a better understanding of war history amidst the tawdry rhetoric politicians lunge for in the wake of the US tragedy. Committing Britain to unqualified support of US war plans during a visit to New York, UK PM Blair said "It was one country and one people that (sic) stood by us at that time [the London blitz by the Nazis] and that country was America and those people were the American people. And as you stood side by side with us, we stand side by side with you".
Now it's fine if, like the Australian PM, the British are keen to join America. But we don't like this shabby rewriting of history. If the US did any standing, it was well away from WWII as Londoners endured the Blitz. America turned down requests to join the war effort. It took them two years - and the bombing of Pearl Harbour - before they were finally dragged into the conflict. 60 years later, we can only thank the Japanese, because it did make a difference in Europe. But it also highlights the fact that American foreign policy has always been and always will be selfish, despite the fact that the US likes to pretend they're the world's police. It's only when things have a dramatic effect on the US that they feel obliged to become involved. Terrorism didn't start on September 11, 2001, and the fact that America did not act decisively until that moment is something they will have to live with for many lifetimes.
There's a lot of rubbish doing the rounds in the wake of the US attack. For the record, that Nostradamus quatrain is garbage - someone made it up, borrowing a little from the original obscure prediction. Another Shaggy keeps being sent is 'Arab footage from 1991' alleging that CNN used images from the Gulf War showing Middle Eastern people rejoicing. Sadly, they did behave that way in 2001. But then they've been on the receiving end of US-backed Israeli attacks for years. It doesn't excuse it, but it's funny how we've ignored the atrocities in the Middle East (on both sides), yet when it happens to America, the whole world is expected to act. It's a sad, tragic double standard that will end in tears for all. One sick and twisted email now doing the rounds purports to be about 'Peace between America and Islam'. It has an attachment wtc.exe, which is a virus like 'Melissa' or 'I love you'. Delete it or you will have no peace.
Far more prescient than Nostradmus was the American poet WH Auden of Four Weddings & a Funeral ("Stop all the clocks...") fame. His poem "September 1, 1939" featured in Tuesdays with Morrie. Set in Manhattan, it's a lament on the Nazi invasion of Poland. But it holds some eerie resonances, including:
'Waves of anger and fear/ Circulate over the bright/ And darkened lands of the earth,/ Obsessing our private lives;/ The unmentionable odour of death/ Offends the September night.'... ''What huge imago made/ A psychopathic god'... 'Those to whom evil is done/ Do evil in return.'... 'Where blind skyscrapers use/ Their full height to proclaim/ The strength of Collective Man,'... 'And the lie of Authority/ Whose buildings grope the sky:/ There is no such thing as the State/ And no one exists alone;/ Hunger allows no choice/ To the citizen or the police;/ We must love one another or die.'
Auden never liked the poem, and would not allow it to be republished during his life. Read this contemplative, mournfully beautiful work in fulll online at www.poets.org/poems/poems.cfm?prmID=1391
Like many working parents, Shaggy's been grappling with the logistics of the school holidays. But we were caught short when our teenage pup revealed that she'll be at home this Friday, because the school is having a 'pupil free day'. Given that the teachers are about to have two weeks of them, we're wondering if we can send our bambini along to school during the break for a 'teacher free day' to solve our childminding problems.
From our Now that Takes the Cake files comes news that ACON and the Winsome hotel are hosting the gay and lesbian community's annual bake off this Friday night. As. a warm up for the North Coast Show later this month, it promises some hot competition in the cake decorating field, with three competition categories - gay/lesbian, HIV and the International Year of Volunteering. Celebrity judges Irena Hatfield, Punita Boardman and Miss Liz Moore are the arbiters of good taste, with comedian Jenny Ford as MC.
The Bake Off is from 6pm at the Winsome, this Friday, September 28. ACON branch manager Kevin Orrell said that as well as being fun, it's also a fundraiser for the local HIV crisis fund, with the cakes auctioned off at the end of the judging. Watch out for any cakes using a recipe passed on from Ballina Council staff.
ACON is also hosting an Outstanding Community Member awards ceremony at 8pm on Friday. Everyone is invited. Any questions, phone 6622 1555.
 Vivienne Duffy (pictured) may be only three years-old, but she is already painting award-winning masterpieces. Last Friday on the ABC's Gardening Australia program, the Eltham resident won the under-7s section of the show's Children's Painting Competition, much to the delight of her mother Liz Gibbs. "Needless to say I saw none of the program after Vivienne's image came on - I was too busy ringing everyone I knew to tell them the good news!" Liz said. "I think I have a gifted child and for that I give credit to God."
Liz also gives credit for her daughter's artistic skills to the parent-run Care-Ring Children's Centre in Goonellabah, which Vivienne has attended since she was 18 months old.
|
