Where The Spirit Takes Them

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After the dreadful blast in Lincolnshire in which five men lost their lives, we can expect lots of outrage about illegal immigrants, illegal alcohol production, tax evasion, poisonous drinks and much more.

 

One thing that we will not hear anything about is that if you pay twenty quid for a bottle of vodka, about £13.50p of that price is tax. For the manufacture, wholesaling, distribution and retailing of your vodka you have paid £6.50p. That includes all the raw materials, labour, diesel and everybody’s profits. For doing precisely nothing, the government has taken twice as much as the people who were responsible for getting your vodka to you.

 

This is not enough for the anti-drinking lobby. They are lobbying to have minimum prices fixed for booze so that you will have to pay even more for every unit of alcohol that you buy. This is despite the fact that Britain has higher alcohol taxes than most countries.

 

You all know the supposed justification. Excessive drinking is damaging to health and ‘binge’ drinkers are responsible for crime and disorder. Advocates of minimum pricing claim that 3,000 lives each year could be saved if a minimum price of 50 pence per unit were imposed.

 

In my view the people who are trying to tell us how to live our lives are talking complete rubbish as usual. First of all, the people whose lives are substantially shortened by their alcohol consumption are generally very heavy drinkers. This is not a case of going a bit over nanny’s guidelines, but those who consume high alcohol volume drinks for most of their waking time. A significant proportion of these people have actually made a decision to end their lives with the help of alcohol or they suffer from a serious medical condition (not alcoholism, which may be an aspect of personality but it is not a disease) which makes it very difficult or impossible for them to manage their alcohol use. It should be self evident that pricing will have very little effect on these drinkers although it may mean that they are more likely to engage in crime to be able to maintain their alcohol intake.

 

The other effect of excessive taxation of alcohol is that the production or import of untaxed products will increase. This will in turn have several effects. The two most significant ones are that low grade drinks will cause very much more serious health damage than those retailed through reputable outlets and so far as price is significant at all, those who buy the very cheap, untaxed products will be able to drink more. When covert distilling goes wrong, which it is bound to do because of the inadequate skills and materials of those doing it, the health consequences are terrible. Blindness, paralysis and death are outcomes which can occur from a single drinking bout with contaminated products.

 

As we have seen at the industrial unit in Boston, when the state makes it worthwhile to create a black market in distilling there can be other tragic consequences too.

Related articles

• Illegal alcohol clue to death blast (mirror.co.uk)
• Five killed after explosion at suspected illegal vodka factory in Lincolnshire (mirror.co.uk)

Gordon Brown and Afghanistan

 

It is in matters where lives are daily being lost and placed at risk that we need the greatest political clarity about what we are doing and why.

 

The first thing I want to say is that the removal of the Taliban Government in 2001 was an entirely justified action. The Taliban were hosting Al Quaeda and facilitating their campaign of international terror which had culminated at that time in the murder of 3,000 people in the 9/11 attacks.

 

The criminal Taliban government with all of its disgusting oppression of women, ghastly executions and maimings had come about because of repeated international interference by world powers. There was particular responsibility by the USA and Pakistan and the previous involvement of Russia, but many nations also had a hand in it. None of this excuses or justifies the illegitimate Taliban government and its crimes.

 

Al Quaeda is a criminal organisation responsible for mass murder and terrorism. The claims of Bin Laden and his associates for religious justification are of no worth and provide no justification for their crimes. Mafia claims for the moral authority of their ‘family’ values or Somali pirates attempted justifications of ‘policing’ fishing waters in response to loss of livelihood to international fishing are in a similar league to the propaganda of Islamists. Al Quaeda is organised crime like the Mafia or piracy. It is entirely justified to bring these organised criminals to justice and to take measures to destroy their organisations. By the very nature of the threat, these actions have to be international.

 

Dealing with very dangerous crime originating in another country requires military action, but it is very different from a war. As soon as the language of a ‘war on terrorism’ was invoked by George W Bush the necessary action against Al Quaeda and its supporters was misdirected. In his speech today Gordon Brown has shown that he has not yet managed to disentangle the issues in his mind and his government will continue to fail to set clear objectives in Afghanistan which will result in the unnecessary loss of British and Afghan lives for no purpose.

 

The Karzai Government is deeply corrupt and its pretensions to democracy have been exposed as completely fraudulent. These are matters which should be of great concern to the Afghan people, but they are none of our business. It is not possible to impose functioning political systems or moral values with armies and weapons.

 

It is not our business to stop Afghan farmers growing poppies. I will not go into the stupidity of British drug laws, but heroin use in this country cannot be controlled by trying to reduce production in Afghanistan. The demand for drugs in Britain is a British issue which can only be addressed in Britain.

 

Afghanistan is a multi ethnic place divided by different language, tribal and religious affiliations. For well over a century it has not been effectively ruled by a single government from the centre and there is no likelihood that it will be in the foreseeable future. Whether this problem is resolved by allowing the country to separate into its regional groupings or to form some sort of federal or con-federal relationship is a matter for the Afghan people to work out without outside interference.

 

The immediate problem is obvious. Invading powers have destroyed the military, policing and infrastructure of the country. With immediate withdrawal of the western powers, Karzai’s corrupt state apparatus would probably fall quickly to insurgents. So what is the solution?

 

The coalition forces should immediately stop all non-military activity such as school and road building or the administration of elections. The Karzai government must be told to establish its legitimacy by creating an administration that has public support. That can only be done by negotiating with the people who hold power and influence throughout the country. Some of the people they will have to talk to will be armed and may have been fighting to remove foreign influence from the country. This is not the same as wishing to attack the USA or Britain or having delusions about setting up a worldwide Islamist caliphate.

 

The coalition military should be taken of the streets and withdrawn to defensible bases pending withdrawal. Training of Afghan police and army should be rapidly phased out. If the Afghan government want training for their state forces (and they most certainly need it) such training should be provided by commercial contractors. There are plenty of private companies in the United States, Britain, Russia and elsewhere which are mainly made up of ex military personnel and they would compete for this business.

 

The pursuit of criminals like Bin Laden, Mullah Omar and their associates must continue as must the destruction of terrorist training camps and elimination of the criminal infrastructure. This does not require mass troops on the ground. It can and should be done by increased intelligence work, special forces operations and precision attacks by missiles and pilotless drones on firmly identified terrorist targets.

 

Brown has dithered on most things as Prime Minister and Britain has been too eager to follow bad leads from America. Now is the time for clarity and decisiveness. Recognise that it is a mistake to try to export democracy or western attitudes to Afghanistan and pull out the ground troops rapidly. Re-state our determination to prevent terrorist murder on British streets by eliminating criminal organisations whether they are based in this country or elsewhere.

Geocide

 

Impiricide and regicide,

when they have set the mass aside,

is ethical and nothing to deride.

 

But patricide and matricide,

where relatives in blood collide,

destroy the human family inside.

 

Fratricide, sororicide,

comprehensive siblicide,

complete domestic homicide,

and kinship’s cast aside.

 

Bereft of adult kith beside,

the way is clear for foeticide.

but failing that, there is infanticide.

 

Alien from all they pride,

humans turn to genocide,

with ovens, bombs and deadly cyanide.

 

Complete and total specicide,

is brought about with pesticide.

No mammal life survives to run and hide.

 

More death comes through insecticide.

By greenhouse gas the world is fried,

and plants are wiped away with herbicide.

 

Fungicide, bactericide

and vicious, virucide,

extinguishing the great divide,

from life to life denied.

 

At last collective suicide,

completes this ghastly Gaiacide,

when all of life has died.

What is Easter

Easter is a pagan festival of various origins. It was associated with the vernal equinox and was a celebration of fertility in the re-birth of plants in spring. The name itself probably comes from Eastre or Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon name of a Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility. Her festival was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox. Traditions associated with the festival survive in the Easter rabbit, a symbol of fertility, and in coloured eggs, originally painted with bright colours to represent the sunlight of spring.For the Greeks the the festival commemorated the return of Persephone, daughter of Demeter, the earth goddess, from the underworld to the light of day. Her return symbolised to the ancient Greeks the resurrection of life in the spring after the desolation of winter. The Phrygians believed that their deity went to sleep at the time of the winter solstice, and they performed ceremonies with music and dancing at the spring equinox to wake him.

The execution of Jesus was reputed to have been on the Jewish festival of Passover, or Pesach, from which is derived Pasch, another name for Easter, so this is the most direct link that Christians draw.

Just like virgin birth, resurrection was taken by the Christians from many preceding religions and traditions. Easter was a fertility celebration long before the Christians took it over Even the name pre-dates Christianity and it was not a bunny that was crucified and Jesus did not lay a chocolate egg.

I would like to say happy equinox, but, of course, the date of easter does not coincide with the equinox (or passover for that matter). The movable date was set by the Council of Nicea, which was convened by the pagan Roman Emperor Constantine, 300 years after Jesus to decide on the date of his death among other things. They could not agree on a fixed date so Jesus has the anniversary of his death on a different date every year.

Earth to Earth…

 

Where is the earth

from which I was born?

Which is the ash

of my birth?

 

How was the dust

from which I was thrust,

given breath and

life and girth?

 

Was it magical mixing

with bell and book,

plus the grace of a god

with a whim?

 

Or the sweaty poking

my mother took,

from my dad who

was drunken and grim?

 

Am I the mystical

gift of grace,

from a merciful lord

beaming down?

 

Or do I fill,

my dead brother’s place?

Just to lighten

my parents frown?

 

When I am cast,

back to the earth,

the ash and the

dust in the ground.

 

Will I be told what

my life was worth?

Or will it just end

in that mound?

Death

 

It’s judgement day

for Tim McVeigh.

For what he’s done

he’ll die today.

 

Another death

will pile upon

all those, already

who have gone.

 

Evil is with

evil dealt.

More died than people

with that bomb.

Capitol Murder

There is a madman from Montana

in the Capitol today.

He has murdered two policemen

and scared debate away.

 

The seat of world democracy,

home of all that’s just and free,

is rattled by the rattle

of a crazy gunman’s spree.

 

High and mighty superpower,

frail in its deepest bower,

frozen by the manic glower,

as freedom’s price is paid.

 

Commentary

 

This was written some time ago, but the shooting in a university in Illinois near Chicago yesterday led me to post it again. It is one of the newsy pieces that I do. Gun use is a bit of a preoccupation of mine. The constitutional right to bear arms has always struck me as a bizarre ‘freedom’. I think that the British constraint on gun ownership is too intrusive on individuals, but to enshrine the ownership of guns into the constitution is odd in the context of the twenty first century.

 

I support written constitutions, but they are set in a particular historic time and that does present problems of how you entrench provisions to protect the constitution at the same time as having the flexibility to adapt to changing needs. The American right to bear arms was in the context of people’s militias and a newly emergent government whose writ did not run uniformly throughout the country.

 

I often have strong rhyme and rhythm in my poems, particularly with this type of subject matter. Although it probably smacks of Victorian melodrama, I think it is a useful way of gaining attention and it gives additional impact to the polemic.

 

I wasn’t sure about the changing rhyme scheme in the last stanza, but each time I come back to it the pace of the first three lines and then the sudden change for the value judgement at the end seems right so I have left it.

Bobbing and Peering

 

The street is lined with pretty girls,

in micro skirts and cheeky curls.

They look at every passing car.

Bobbing and peering.

 

Behind them lurk their pimping men.

Waiting ’til they’ve scored, and then,

seizing all their paltry gains.

Far from endearing.

 

Suited men in lavish cars,

cruise around by seedy bars.

Eying up each girl in turn.

Drooling and leering.

 

He cranes his head in semi dark.

Selecting one before the park.

Clipping kerb as he pulls up.

Rocking the steering.

 

They talk about the business deal.

What she’ll do, and how he’ll feel.

Happily they set the price.

Laughing and cheering.

 

Short journey to a lonely plot.

He pays, and strips her on the spot.

She rapidly begins the job.

Bucking and rearing.

 

It’s over, in a sudden flash.

He’s angry at his waste of cash,

and grabs her by the throat.

Cringing and fearing.

 

Blind with rage, he grabs his knife.

He screams that she wil lose her life,

and lunges viciously.

Cutting and searing.

 

In pain and choking, dripping blood,

he kicks her out onto the mud,

then drives away as she cries out.

Fading from hearing.

 

She’s found and then identified.

A few regret that she has died.

They come to say their last farewell.

Sadly revering.

 

The punter has his day in court,

regretting only that he’s caught.

Claims he’s blameless, not his fault.

Lying and sneering.

 

The judge who sends him down for life,

expresses sadness for his wife.

As crowds outside, bay for his blood.

Taunting and jeering.

 

The girls are still along the street,

standing at their usual beat.

Working as they always did.

Bobbing and peering.

Adolfo Constanzo and Voodoo Sacrifice Cult

 

At least 24 deaths were caused by Constanzo and his group. Voodoo is a fusion of ancient African religious beliefs and the religions brought by colonialism. It occurs in the Caribbean and Constanzo got his beliefs through his Cuban American family.

Constanzo, a Cuban-American bisexual cult leader ran a drug smuggling ring in Matamoros, Mexico. He and Sara Aldrete, his cult-priestess partner, were very successful in the drug trade because of their habit of ritually sacrificing their competition. Through sacrifice, Constanzo preached, they would be invisible to their enemies.

They decided that they needed to kill a gringo. They abducted Mark Kilroy, a college student on spring break, and killed him in their border ranch called Santa Elena. There his body was dismembered and his heart, genitals and spine were used to make a magic stew. The disappearance of Kilroy triggered an all out police search around the border. Authorities were alerted of the weird rituals practiced in Rancho Santa Elena. As the digging in the ranch began a large number of dismembered bodies started appearing and several members of the cult were arrested.

By the time the bodies in Matamoros were found Constanzo and Aldrete were hiding in an apartment in Mexico City. Police discovered their hideaway and surrounded the apartment. After a brief exchange of gunfire Constanzo ordered another cult member to kill him and his boyfriend. When police stormed into the apartment they found the embracing couple machine-gunned to death inside a closet. Sara Aldrete is now in jail in Mexico.

On the face of it, this voodoo cult may seem to be little more than a cover for the drug dealing, but this was much more than a commercial operation. We can see here all the characteristics of a charismatic, authoritarian leader achieving complete dominance over his followers by religious promises and threats. Whether it is Manson, Koresh, Jones or Constanzo the characteristics are the same. Joining a cult means losing your identity and sometimes your life.

Three Times a Virgin

 

Immaculately conceived.

A seven grand nose,

anti gravity boobs,

and an arse as pert

as J lo’s.

 

She played the field

and loved to yield

to a big wad,

or hot hunk.

 

Fickle, she rejected

those, who lacked

what she expected.

Until her it was,

neglected and alone.

 

Soon she’s back in clover

with a startling new makeover

and bee sting lips all pouting,

up and down.

 

She played the field

as she was wont

until booze and coke

snorts ravaged.

 

When botox lost the battle

she drooped into a puddle,

and screwed her hat onto

her raddled brow.

 

With suitors scarce and doubting,

the next place for investing,

was a plastic knee and

new virginity.

 

Her tits again said ‘Hi men!’

She had a brand new hymen,

but no old rod could

break through

this tight, new flesh.

 

The wizened chaps who fancied

a jump so rough and rancid,

were too soft

to force the barrier aside.

 

Intact and so despondent,

she haunts

the care home day room,

with a wandering eye

and wink to draw you in.

 

The residents are singing

until quiet comes among them

as our triple virgin draws

her final breath.

 

By a surgeon’s skill prodigious,

she returned in death, unopened

after life re-run through wear,

but no last tear.

 

No more hymns are playing,

the lonely final laying, is

a hearse and sealed up box,

of tails tolled.