NeoCononialism

The tables have been turned. For those, like myself, who are citizens of nations that survived our colonisation by GREAT Britain, it's ironic to see the ridiculous and comical turnaround that has occurred over the last 5 years.

Can't really blame Tony. He had inherited a castrated nation and desperately needed to be leashed to the neocon HE-men of America in order to distract his people from their own desperate straits.

Margaret Thatcher was the much loved and therefore much reelected Prime Minister who knocked the final few nails into the coffin of British world hegemony. She has never recovered and now has to kow-tow quite shamelessly to the likes of GWB.

A globalised economy, the almighty dollar, a resurgent Euro (ever wondered where the vaunted Sterling is hiding?) and the loss of Hongkong (not to mention the Falklands war) had left Britain tottering.

From all the former colonies around the world we watch with somewhat mixed emotions as the new handler slaps his dog into complete, obsequious, submission. A former colony has in turn colonised (or is it neocononised) the once proud owners of an empire on which "the sun never set".

The Magna Carta (of 1215) says "No Freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned, or be disseised of his Freehold, or Liberties, or free Customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or any otherwise destroyed; nor will we pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful Judgment of his Peers, or by the Law of the Land. We will sell to no man, we will not deny or defer to any man either Justice or Right."

But in today's England, the neocononial tsunami that began with the secret "renderings" has washed away all traces of justice and liberty.

Those who came seeking asylum from the terror at their backs are falsely accused and imprisoned as suspected "terrorists". When finally acquitted by the highest courts are nonetheless being forcibly deported to the control of Secret Police in countries that are known for their torturous and murderous treatment of dissidents.


And the tragicomedy continues to play out...

INDI PENDANT

HAPPY 59

!!! INDIA !!!

Biodiversity and taxonomy

Life in all its variety has always fascinated humans. Language and naming go hand in hand. And that's really all there is to taxonomy: the laws of classifying names. There are numerous schemes for classifying the names of living creatures none of which should deter us from our tendency to name the creatures of this world!

The job is far from over for new species are being named daily especially amongst the numerous "lower" forms of life. Recently, a scientist concluded that we know (have named) only 10% of the bacteria. Another recent little tidbit was that we "know" only about 12,000 species of ant but it is supposed that twice this number of species may actually exist!

Taxonomy has become unpopular as a subject of study in recent years. Subjects like cell biology, biochemistry and immunology are where careers in science are to be made. The trend away from taxonomy has been around for over 30 years, many grad students in those days ended up without jobs after spending years of doing intense study on taxonomy.

Sad but true. But, I believe that taxonomy will someday see a revival for it is tied to such a basic human instinct. If we knew why we are so fascinated with names we may understand our selves a lot better. Science started from taxonomy and someday we will rediscover the joy and importance of what makes a species what it is, and the importance of maintaining that identity.

Today's assault comes partly from biotechnology; take a gene from this genome and stick into that one and lets see if we can't 'improve' this form of life, or at least make it more useful - in my opinion very short sighted, and highly dangerous! So, let's get back to respecting life and respecting ourselves a bit.

License To Kill - But Why?

Bloodshed is bad but it's even worse when it is purportedly done for religion and race.The war against the Lebanese is obviously both racial and religious. Lebanon has nothing like a real army. The Hezbollah 'villain' is a shia religious organisation made up of haters of Israel but they happen to be Lebanese and live, vote, and even hold a minority of parliamentary seats in Lebanon. The "Party of God" came into being for self defense sometime after the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

Hamas, on the other hand is a suni religious organisation. It is claimed that Hamas learned how to use suicide bombers from Hezbollah. The Israelis are of course simultaneously continuing their incursions into Palestine (though this is far less reported on than the war in Lebanon).

The world and the media have been surprised by the Israeli inability to quickly destroy Hezbollah. The continuing horrors of civilians being massacred in Lebanon has supposedly put both Blair and Bush in a bit of a tight spot. But, I have my doubts on that reading of the situation. It almost seems that they want such horrors to occur that the world will heave a sigh of relief and not worry too much about the fine print of the resulting ceasefire!

For, it seems that a tacit goal of the present campaign is to win for Israel a neutral zone covering large parts of Palestine and Lebanon. That is to say that Israel wants complete control over swathes of these two countries. The current negotiation really involves who will provide security in these "buffer areas" of Lebanon/Palestine. And that's why I think the 'security council resolution' (itself not even really demanding a ceasefire) never made it out of the security council.

Public outcry from around the world has had no effect on those in a position to stop this war. The stakes are perhaps too high. In any case neither Bush nor Blair are going to be around for very much longer as heads of state. So, they have nothing to lose. The real question is, what do they have to gain?


I see two strong contenders. 1. A diversion from the horrible quagmire that they have been wallowing in in Iraq. 2. An opportunity to get Iran involved in the imbroglio - the first salvo on that front was the lopsided attempt to shut down Iran's nuclear activities. Now, the 'war on terror' gets to carry the baton.

In the meantime Israelis, Palestinians and Lebanese pay the ultimate price.

There was never a hope of 'success' in Iraq for it was always a no-win situation. A strong, democratically elected government there would have to have been shiite and therefore trouble (from a neocon perspective). Under the eye of the world, the chances of setting up another puppet government in Iraq is slender. Don't forget that both the Shah of Iran and Saddam Hussein were puppets set up, trained and funded by U.K.-U.S. as a bulwark against the Soviet Union during the cold war. the main possibility of doing the puppet act and getting away with it only arises if an Iraqi civil war takes place...hmmm

I also wonder to what extent 'filthy lucre' (or "mammon" as the bible also calls it) is involved, for with the predictable rise in oil prices, whether or not the long term goals are achieved, in the short run Bush and his coterie will make a killing

The Perpetrators have nothing to lose; the horrors of war? That's all just a bit of necessary, and therefore unavoidable, collateral damage.

(check out the interview with Seymour Hersh (click on the title) that came out 2 days after I posted this blog)

On Winged Feet

Every night, before hitting the sack, we have the unique pleasure of standing near a Jamaican Cherry tree and watching the fruit bats up close. Fantastic aerial acrobats they wheel and swoop on the abundant sweet fruit that that one small tree provides.

These are of the genus Cynopterus and belong to the family pteropodidae (in Greek literally "winged feet"). We have two species that feed here, the Lesser Short Nosed (C. brachyotis) and the Short Nosed (C. sphinx).

  

Fruit bats include the giants known commonly as flying foxes and they are all endangered. Much misunderstood, they have been branded as farmers' enemies and in India are even classified as vermin - which means that they can be hunted and killed at will. So, all the fruit bats are endangered, not only due to habitat loss but also because of hunting!

In actual fact, orchard owners have nothing to fear from these shy, exquisitely beautiful creatures. When they feed on fruit it is always the overripe fruit that they eat. In fact, without the activity of the fruit bats, pollination and seed dispersal would both be terribly compromised, leading to further loss of forest trees and fruit trees.

By simply planting a few select trees, like the Jamaican Cherry (Muntingia calabura L.).
farmers could encourage the fruit bats and have even fewer problems with fruit damage. Arguably, the droppings of fruit bats are very mineral rich and will serve to fetilize the soil in the orchards, reducing costs and increasing yields for the farmers.


Muntingia itself adds value to any farm as it is a multi-use species producing edible fruit, useful fibre and attractively grained wood besides being fast growing. The tree does well in poor soils - could it be precisely because it is visited by myriads of fruit bats every night?


Please don't encourage the destruction of these beautiful and useful creatures:

AND whenever you do plant a tree, try to keep the no-longer-ubiquitous fruit bat in mind...

For a nice library of pics that shows the diversity and beauty of pteropods check out U Mich's Animal Diversity Website at

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/
accounts/pictures/Pteropodidae.html

The flying series is thanks to Kampang http://www.flickr.com/photos/lonesomecrow/

FREEDOM of SPEECH

Living in India I am shocked at how little the West believes in/understands the simple concept of "freedom of speech".

To take just one recent example, an essayist named Ward Churchill has just been told to quit his teaching post at a university in the U.S. because he published an article on the 9-11 attack on the WTC - saying something to the effect that "America should have been expecting an attack like this to happen given their horrendous activities across the world for the last several decades."

He went even further while trying to place the actions of the 9-11 attackers in the context of language used by Americans during the 1991 Gulf War.

Left leaning - Yes.

Controversial - Yes.

But does that mean that a person should be blacklisted and hounded out of a teaching job, not allowed to participate in public speaking and called a terrorist? Of course, calling someone a terrorist in the West now is the equivalent of saying that this person does not have and does not deserve any human rights; certainly not the right to free speech!.

A sorry few voices have been raised in protest. One is "The Sounds of Bigots"
By RICHARD OXMAN and can be read at http://www.counterpunch.org. And one awaits the details on the "plagiarism" charge that has been bandied about regarding the essayist.

On the whole, my impression is that free speech in America is tolerated if it is fascist in nature (e.g. Coulter) but free speech takes on a different definition for proponents of civil liberties and justice.


How Utterly Sad

Religious Disinterest

As a youth I used to think that everyone was interested in religion. I mean this very generally - all around my friends, classmates, acquaintances had to be involved in some religious activity at least once a week.
Hindu's would do pooja,
Muslims would pray facing Mecca, and visit the mosque,
Christians would go to church
and in the villages,
people would consult the spiritist/healer/soothsayer.



It took a while for me to realise that these activities had little (if anything) to do with how people behaved towards one another.

It took very much longer for me to admit to myself that how i practiced "religion" did not help me to become a 'better sort of person'.

In fact my denial of this fact continued for a number of years.



I had to come back to India, where our billion people and mountainous problems of daily life finally brought home to me the fact that what I had thought to be true religion was in fact nothing but.

My friend's father helped to crystalise this truth for me very simply when one day he casually remarked that "the great religions are supposed to be pointing us towards God. But all they do is to grab a hold of us and point us towards religion".


If my religion can't make me a more loving person then it is pointless. Perhaps the fault lies not with religion but with my failure to become a more loving person regardless...

Seashore Mangrove Forests

Recently took a small group of ecotourists to the mangrove forest at Pichavarram on the East Coast of India. This is my first visit after the Tsunami. I had taken a group there in early December of 2005 and we had planned on being back there for that Christmas - guess one could call that a close one!
Anyhow, this mangrove forest, though not large, is an absolute gem. Some years ago an overambitious idiot researcher had tunnelled out a whole bunch of canals through the forest, probably destroying a good 15% of the original mangrove.

Still the mangrove is reclaiming it's territory and it was heartening to see that the Tsunami also had not wiped it out.

There are around fifty boatmen who make a livelihood carting ecotourists around the mangrove. Each of them is amazing. They have no 'formal education' but know each species of plant, the birds and all the marine life by heart. I have been amazed to hear them give the scientific names, uses, medicinal properties...of these creatures that are unique to the mangrove.



We float through dark tunnels of mangrove, silent except for the gentle swish of the paddle, dappled sunlight speckles the water. The red and black mangroves form dense jungles and the narrowly arched boating tunnels are lined with veritable sculptures of cobwebs. The lone heron contemplates the rich marine life visible only to her eye...

There is a lovely beach on the other side of the mangrove. It was disheartening to see that a large commercial prawn fishery had been quietly set up on one of the nearby islands and even sadder to see the chunks of blasted coral that litter the beach - a sure indication that the corral reefs are being blasted with dynamite for commercial purposes.




Still, I am heartened to see that this present generation of our youth are more conscious of the value of nature and the need to preserve and protect our fast vanishing wilderness. I believe that they are our only hope, for my generation has miserably failed...





Our world is losing 7% to 10% of its mangroves each year. Let us all pray that today's young people will do better!

MONEY or MEDICINE

Oxford Health Plans told hundreds of doctors and thousands of its subscribers that it would no longer pay for medical care at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, and gave them a month to make new arrangements.

© Peter Kuper

In 2004 Oxford agreed to a new contract that increased the rates it paid the hospital, then continued to pay the old rates for more than a year after MediSys and Oxford negotiated new contracts to set the rates the insurer would pay to two MediSys hospitals, Flushing Hospital Medical Center and Jamaica.
Oxford drafted the contracts, and MediSys signed them and returned them to Oxford. But after a few months, MediSys realized that Oxford was still paying the old, lower rates, and it complained to the insurer.
At that point, Oxford raised a new and unexpected subject: the anesthesiologists at Flushing Hospital. The anesthesiology group does not have an agreement with Oxford to be part of its network of doctors. When Oxford members have surgery at Flushing, the anesthesiologists bill the insurance company for their full fees, not the lower rates Oxford would negotiate with in-network doctorsOxford responded by asking the hospitals to pressure the Flushing anesthesiologists to join Oxford's network. MediSys rebuffed that request, saying it was up to the anesthesia group to make its own insurance arrangements.
When repeated protests produced nothing, Jamaica officials raised the possibility this year of canceling the contract, but Oxford talked them out of it.
Then, doctors and patients received letters from Oxford informing them that as of May 2, Jamaica would no longer be an Oxford provider. Doctors who had admitting privileges at other hospitals were told that they would have to take their patients elsewhere. Doctors who had privileges only at Jamaica were told that they would no longer be paid to treat Oxford members, and their patients were told to find new doctors.
“These are mostly elderly people who have heart disease and diabetes and arthritis, people who see a lot of different specialists, and they were panicked," "And all of a sudden, they're told they can't go to all those docs at Jamaica”. They scrambled to make arrangements at other hospitals. Doctors said they were inundated by calls from patients requesting their medical records so they could change doctors.
Many were like the woman in her 60's with chronic hepatitis C, "She came in one day hysterically crying, completely distraught, saying she got this letter from Oxford that I could no longer be her doctor," Dr. Basello said. "Later, she missed appointments because she didn't think she could keep coming to me”.
Jamaica and the state say, Oxford has not made any retroactive payments and because of the lag in billing, they do not know yet whether Oxford is paying the new rates.
Calls to Oxford were referred to its parent company, UnitedHealth Group, which bought Oxford in 2004. Jamaica officials noted that the Oxford moves they object to happened after the July 2004 takeover by UnitedHealth, one of the nation's largest and most profitable health insurers.
Excerpts; read the whole artcle at : http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/30/nyregion/30jamaica.html and special thanks to Peter Kuper for the artwork

The NEW "Chimpy" Troupe in D.C.

America’s sense of humour is making a comeback, and in honour of that one of our local (Indian) zoos, which hosts a bunch of chimps, has nicknamed the three leaders : George, Dick and Rummy !

But seriously this is such an insult to the real chimps. Endangered in the wild due to habitat loss and hunting, with far too many in captivity and used for anything from food and medical research to house pets, the chimpanzee is fast following the bonobo’s road to extinction.

Hardly loveable creatures, adult chimps can be very dangerous and have been known to prey on human infants too if given a chance. Perhaps that’s why the alpha male in that zoo has been dubbed Rummy!

Chimps are also capable of deep thought and of course are very intelligent. I would request my American friends to find a new nickname for your own current alpha male – chimpy is just not acceptable to chimp lovers! Perhaps “maximus” alone will do?

The fellow blogggers that set this off are:
huffingtonpost.com: I-know-a-secret-that-george_b_doesn't and http://tribes.tribe.net/chimpy (Chimpy McFlightsuit)

And for more on REAL CHIMPS, check out these links:
NatGeo article
www.discoverchimpanzees.org
and especially this one for more on Jane Goodall’s work:
www.janegoodall.org

I Wonder

I wonder whether man has fundamentally changed over the last couple of decades? Recent incidents like the abandonment of a living fellow climber near the peak of Mt. Everest, the emerging story on the Haditha tragedy, not to mention the shooting of a pregnant Iraqi woman really make me wonder.

Is it humankind, that is becoming less kind or is it nurture - a change in culture - that is making us more selfish and harder of heart?

Tragedy, war, stress, none of these are new to human experience. Or, could it be that the past was just as bad but that I tend to romanticize it?

I don't know.
I just don't know.


But, I do wonder...

Do Poetry

Does it have to rhyme? No, all it has to do is to connect - and hopefuly, let the reader feel and think something of what the poet was experiencing. That was the gist of what I learned about poetry while wading thru a few courses in literature that I took more out of curiosity than anything else.


That was all of 30 years ago! The lifelong love of poetry that resulted started largely because of the enthusiasm and commitment of my teachers, and has never left...

Writing poetry is another kettle of fish altogether. I have, on occasion, attempted the impossible and fortunately have not foisted my productions on any other than those nearest and dearest - who will (have to?) put up with anything!

Still, for those so tempted, please don't get taken in by flattery. Follow the link embedded in the title and do have a good laugh. All of David Taub's early submissions (on this theme) can be found at : http://windpub.com/literary.scams/wergle.htm and they will really crack you up.

I was pleased to discover that one of my mentors was still teaching literature / poetry and what was even more surprising was that he still remembers me - I think I took all of two full courses from this remarkable teacher and I was not an English major in the first place and certainly not one of those "memorably brilliant" students - now that is dedication!

A very big Thank You, Dr. Jon Kamholtz.

Poetic Rockin’

Rogers and Hammerstein gave us unforgettable musicals and along the way also wrote some powerful poetry. The connection between poetry and music is very strong. After all both are inherently metrical, speaking directly to the heart and soul.

Here’s a sample of one very well known, and one less remembered song from "Carousel".

If I Loved You

If I loved you,
Time and again I would try to say
All I'd want you to know.
If I loved you,
Words wouldn't come in an easy way
Round in circles I'd go!
Longin' to tell you,
But afraid and shy,

I'd let my golden chances pass me by!
Soon you'd leave me,Off you would go in the mist of day,
Never, never to know how I loved you...If I loved you.


You’ll Never Walk Alone

When you walk through a storm
Keep your chin up high
And don't be afraid of the dark.
At the end of the storm
Is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark.

Walk on through the wind,
Walk on through the rain,
Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown.

Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone,
You'll never walk alone.


The Beatles were great and the Lennon/McCartney team shouldered most of the burden of composing.
They too wrote some powerful poetry.

From Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

A girl with kaleidoscope eyes.
Cellophane flowers of yellow and green,
Towering over your head.
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes,
And she’s gone.Lucy in the sky with diamonds,
Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain
Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies,
Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers,
That grow so incredibly high.
Lennon and McCartney were always inspired but occasionally Harrison contributed a little gem.


Here comes the sun,
Here comes the sun
And I say
It’s alright…

Those of us that are old enough, will recall that there was a close friendship between George Harrison and Eric Clapton; “While My Guitar gently Weeps” was a direct collaboration but otherwise too their lives and music intertwined and produced a lot of sometimes painful yet always magical music.

Do you remember Cream, Led Zeppeliin, The Who and Woodstock in those crazy days when rock was it? Probably, for many, today what still resonates even more than the nostalgia are the sad tales of those that crashed and burned along the way, Jimi Hendrix, Keith Moon, Pete Ham, John Bonham... Many of the leading artists of that age who did survive will fall into the “near miss” category since they seem to have just barely outlived their superstardom. Some (a very few) even managed to retain their superstar status like Clapton, McCartney, Paul Anderson and Roger Waters. And yet, what really remains (and it always will) are the lyrics.


Like “Layla” and “Bell Bottom Blues”, one of the great songs that sprang from the Clapton – Harrison friendship was:

It’s late in the evening. She’s wondering what clothes to wear.
She puts on her makeup and brushes her long blond hair
And then she asks me
“Do I look alright?”
And I say
“Yes, you look wonderful tonight.”

We go to a party
And everyone turns to see
This beautiful lady
That’s walking around with me
And then she asks me
“Do you feel alright?”
And I say
“Yes I feel wonderful tonight.”


I feel wonderful
Because I see
The love lighting in your eyes
And the wonder of it all
Is that you just don’t realize,
How much I love you
It’s time to go home now and
I‘ve got an aching head.
So I give her the car keys
And she helps me to bed
And then I tell her
As I turn out the light
“You are wonderful tonight
Oh my darling,
You were wonderful tonight.”

And just a reminder of one of the many who burned a bit too bright:




"Purple haze all in my eyes,

uhh Don’t know if it’s day or night

You got me blowin’, blowin’ my mind



Is it tomorrow, or just the end of time? "


Can't fit much in on Dylan or Simon & Garfunkel here, not to mention CSNY -all good poets in their own right. Instead we can talk about poetic folk rockin somewhere down the road...

Here's a typical "hard" playlist from my heyday!