Government Makes You Swear

 

I came across a clip of Billy Connolly the other day giving out his usual stuff.  I was intrigued by his inability to complete a sentence without the word 'fuck' or any of its derivations appearing and reckoned that by omitting these words his act would shorten by about twenty five minutes.  Billy of course comes from a long line of Glasgow comedians who began operating in the pubs around the city.  In those places the act spoke direct to the people and spoke in a way they understood commenting on their daily grind, and grind it was in most cases, and bringing a Glasgow 'black' humour into the audiences lives.  Many lived very rough lives indeed, dockyards, railway engineering, a variety of heavy industry and squalid overcrowded tenements many of which were not removed even in the nineteen sixties.  

Billy no doubt began his career as a comedian as a welder in the shipyards, a Catholic welder at that in shipyards that were strongly protestant in their outlook!  The sectarian divide remaining strong even today in the west of Scotland, not that any were Christian of course but it was a badge to wear so you knew which side you were on.  he progressed to pubs and joined a group called the Humblebums if memory serves me right.  At this point it is normal to yell "You're more Bum than Humble!"  Since then he has been welcomed in ex-pat Scots worldwide, made several TV programmes about art which apart from clips from his act were excellent, done TV in the USA and taken part in several films.  Now he has a couple of nasty diseases which will eventually do away with him.

However it is the needless swearing throughout his act and which appears to be the thing nowadays with all comedians if a laugh is required.  Occasionally it works but constant repeats just take away the need for wit, which may well be why so many make use of it, to cover up their lack of wit.  When Tony Hancock took to the stage at fifteen in front of an audience of soldiers he told lots of crude jokes.  He wanted to be a comedian and was advised to "Cut out the dirt as you will get laughs but that won't make a comedian of you."  He never used it again.  His stand up got him somewhere but once on radio in his own show his talent mixed with excellent writers offered wit so powerful that in those days half the country listened in to the show.  The nation stopped to listen and later watch on TV, it could not happen today and there are none who could pull that audience.  

Crude jokes can be funny, a swear word in the right place gets a laugh but constant repetition just loses an audience.

The other day David Cameron the Prime Minister took time to contact his local Council head to ask why they were cutting back on social services, libraries, old folks, social work and the like.  His idea was that there was plenty of room to make cuts in the 'back room' and made a suggestion or two concerning these.  He was given a telling off in no uncertain manner.  The council leader informed him that as his government was cutting back the cash councils receive cuts had been made, so many cuts that there was no longer any room to cut behind the scene as that had been removed and on his governments insistence more cuts were demanded.  Her letter was shall we say 'full and frank' and it made clear the Prime Ministers lack of comprehension of what was happening in his own county let alone his own country.  It must be said Oxfordshire where he is a member of parliament is one of the richest county councils, just let your imagination turn to those who have little wealth!

This got em thinking about the rich today and those in the past.  Human nature being what it is, grasping, selfish and concerned with the self first, has always made a division in society, the rich get richer, keep in with one another and the divide between them and 'the rest' grows and remains.  Does this always happen?  Indeed not one prime example is the Victorian era when many were rich took positive action to change society and improve the lot not just of their workers but of the world around them in general.  The motive on occasion was a happy workforce is more loyal and works better and for many a religious motivation based on the 'social gospel' that was preached by many during those years.  How can it be some asked themselves once money flowed in their direction that we have so many who have nothing while we have plenty?  Some claimed, as the 'Daily Mail' reader does today, that laziness makes them poor, while others knew better. 

The Victorian population of Britain & Ireland was around twenty five million.  In England around eighteen million lived and it was reckoned about one third of these lived in poverty, that's six million people! Of these the majority had food for the day and work for tomorrow but around a third of those, that's two million, did not have work tomorrow.  That's poverty for you!  Those who did have work spent at least ten hours a day six days a week (Saturday half day beginning to appear in the 1860's) working.  Housing was shoddy, rents high, no work meant no home and for many women working the streets selling themselves at times of economic downturn was the only way to survive. 

There are those today who would turn us back to that.

Those who considered they ought to do something soon did so.  Titus Salt became famous for his use of 'Alpaca' wool and from his wealth built a new factory with accompanying township in the model village of Saltaire.  His concern over the conditions within Bradford, which while mayor he tried to end, caused him to move outside the town.  His village provided workers with healthy conditions, hospital, school and churches.  When he died and was buried in the Congregational church he built the attendance was numbered at one hundred thousand.  Port Sunlight grew from similar sources, the Cadbury family built Bourneville and other similar villages came to pass elsewhere.  In this and neighbouring towns the Courtauld family built hospitals, provided doctors, schools and housing in places for the workers.  Braintree Museum began as a school built by the Unitarian Courtaulds and later the infants building was added.  The family still operate in the area and a great many buildings bear the name 'Courtauld' somewhere upon it.  Crittalls and other companies also offered as decent conditions as possible in the circumstances, and I am sure a few decent companies exist today.

So I ask why is it that today the wealthy do nothing for those in need?  There is a welfare state that provides and most of us have benefited from this at one time or another yet this government is dedicated to destroying all that has been built up since the war.  The common consensus of what the nation required was ended with Thatcher, the selling off of trains, buses, steel and so much else is now continued by this cabinet who are following the same procedure to kill off the NHS!  Privatisation on rail has failed and still costs the taxpayer huge amounts, Gas & Electric were sold off and cost the nation far more than before, and the end of the NHS will lead to much health deprivation nationwide.  What is more with no opposition bar the SNP in the English parliament nothing can stop this dangerous path.

I realise some spend large amounts on social needs but the impression given is that the rich get richer while the poorer struggle.  Of course it is not like mid Victorian times, few go hungry, however far too many struggle and a majority of those are working people!  While the taste of wealth makes people loath to do without many are having to and are not keen on the experience, others can cope especially with friends and family helping and there are those happy to live of large state handouts. These do not struggle while many working do and this situation ought to be dealt with.  However while George Osborne can sell off the Royal Mail and allow his Best man to make ten million pound profit from selling on his shares the next day I feel people such as those have a requirement to care for those who struggle.  The Victorians led the way, a few continue such aid, it is time those reeling in so many millions they cannot possibly spend them decided to put this cash to good use and benefited the world at home and abroad and not kept their cash in their pockets.  They will answer for this one day.  

Brother Can You Spare a Dime, well, a Pound Coin or two actually?

It was when I was looking up the AdSense site, in the desperate search for wealth, that I began to cogitate on what it is like being skint. Yes skint! Broke, penniless, impoverished and insolvent. (Insolvent does NOT mean I have run out of glue by the way). Now for some of you this is an experience you cannot understand having been born into opulence, wealth and gracious living. Your purse (or his wallet) has always been a bottomless pit with servants aplenty to acquiesce to your every craving, or at least most of them that are allowed. This is not, and never has been my experience. This is where the idea of placing 'Google Ads' and an 'Amazon' widget comes in. My dream was to obtain sufficient funds to buy a refill for my ballpoint, with possibly a potato or two for my tea. Investigation however, reveals a paltry $23 in the account so it looks like a pencil stub will continue to be used for some time, especially as nothing will be paid until $100 worth is reached! Now while I am happy to wait, (Oh yeah!) the overdraft is somewhat less so and again I return to pondering the nature of poverty.

Like Charlie Chaplin in those old films I have discovered that eating old shoe leather does not satisfy the inner man. And as I wander down the street, head bowed in case there is a coin or two lying about, I have a tendency to keep my hand in the pocket where my money used to reside.This constantly reminds me of the paucity of my situation. I miss the slight jingle you sometimes hear when coins clash together in the pocket, and then I find myself dreaming of the old days of pound, shilling and pence! Ah L.S.D. (not that kind) l loved how those big old coins would jingle-jangle as I strolled along, head high and not a care in the world. Young, handsome and rich, what more could a girl want? Actually, now I think about it, they were not slow in letting me know just exactly what they wanted, and who they wanted it from! However I digress, the fact that coins made a lot of noise did not of course indicate a lot of wealth. When decimalisation came in (on the 15th Feb1971) I was probably on £9 a week! This may have seemed a lot at the time, but when we went to that 'disco' (That's 'Club' to younger viewers, and 'dump' to those that remember it) we had to buy the girls a drink. (and one knows how much Edinburgh girls can drink!) Now pints of lager were two shillings and sixpence, the lassies,naturally, wanted 'Brandy & Babycham' at five shillings a go, so a round cost fifteen shillings! As you know there was a mere twenty silver shillings in a pound so we made sure we only bought one round each! Those girls were never grateful enough to make it worth our while either. So much for 'Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker!' Ogden Nash was clearly earning more than £9 a week when he came up with that! Anyway, any chance of success with those lassies would have brought on a recession far too quickly for my liking!

Today we specialise in small change.The five pence piece is so small it easily falls into any hidden recess and brings joy only when fingers are used to prise the things back into the world. Excuse me while I rummage around a recess or two. I days of yore I found a small coin when removing pews from a church. (legally honest). This was a 'Groat,' a coin worth fourpence, and was circulated in the middle of the nineteenth century. It had lain undisturbed for over a hundred years! Similar to many folk sitting in church pews today I must add. The first thought was the discovery of great treasure, but the condition was such that it was actually worth about six pence today! An elder (a loving, caring, honest man) 'borrowed' it from me and I have not seen it these twenty years! I must say pound coins have also shrunk in similar manner to the value it represents.Today the shape is hard to distinguish from ten pence pieces and old folks, like my friend Mike S, easily confuse them, but not when with me for some reason. As for pound notes, it is possible the Clydesdale Bank in Scotland still issues them but I don't actually know for sure. No one else does these days. I do have a 'Bank of Scotland' five pound note on my wall that has 'Use in case of emergency' written on the front. However the 'emergency' arose long after the note itself was withdrawn from circulation. Typical.

However it is possible for handsome young men like me to cope with poverty, and even in the coldest winters one can thrive. A day spent in the library not only keeps the fingers from developing frostbite but gets one an education also. Many hours can be filled by looking through the shelves at the young ladies on the other side, or at least until that menopausal old bat comes from behind the desk and throws you out. Wandering around supermarkets, and other large shops (not Woolworth's as their going bust brings ones own pauper state to the fore) can keep warmth in during winter, and wandering around the park in summer can be beneficial as the small kids tend to drop sweets quite a lot, (at least if you come up behind them suddenly they do), and lunch is served!

I was chatting to a man next to his 'top of the range' Landrover (£60,000) quite late on, at the far end of the darkened car park, about the nature of poverty and how to deal with it.In the course of our discussion, shorter than I expected I am sorry to say, I indicated that while he had a large five bedroom house, several acres of land for his horses, a wife adorned in expensive fashions, holidays in Guam and Hawaii, and a wallet inside his 'Saville Row' suit stuffed with twenty pound notes, all I had was this meagre carving knife! I showed this to him, I placing it just above his belt so he could see it properly int he poor lighting such places possess), and he was so touched by our discussion that he very kindly 'lent' me the contents of wallet! A very nice gesture I thought, possibly resulting from his kind heart and realisation of my desperation I suppose. He was a nice man, but I was a bit surprised at his speed when leaving the car park.

Of course many are worse of than me, and I survive with the help of such donations, but even in the west folk struggle to survive. In the USA some 37 million are in poverty, and they have jobs! The wealthier a society the more we want, and the more advertisers inform us of things we really do 'need!' The 'credit crunch' will bring home to many what life is really like. For fifty years we have developed a constantly growing economy, with occasional concern for the 'poor starving elsewhere.' Maybe this will shock us into a better comprehension of the value of money? But somehow I doubt it, human nature being what it is.

Redistribution of Wealth

The following came through my spam collector today.

Today on my way to lunch I passed a homeless guy with a sign that read "Vote Obama, I need the money." I laughed. Once in the restaurant my server had on a "Obama 08" tie, again I laughed as he had given away his political preference -- just imagine the coincidence. When the bill came I decided not to tip the server and explained to him that I was exploring the Obama redistribution of wealth concept. He stood there in disbelief while I told him that I was going to redistribute his tip to someone who I deemed more in need--the homeless guy outside. The server angrily stormed from my sight. I went outside, gave the homeless guy $10 and told him to thank the server inside as I've decided he could use the money more. The homeless guy was grateful. At the end of my rather unscientific redistribution experiment I realized the homeless guy was grateful for the money he did not earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he did earn even though the actual recipient deserved money more. I guess redistribution of wealth is an easier thing to swallow in concept than in practical application.

Now for me this sums up American politics. It misses out so much just to get a point across, and you can decide what the point is for yourself! It does not say why the homeless guy was homeless. Was it his fault? Is he just a lazy bum or someone who life treated badly? Is he injured or sick, or made redundant when it was not his fault? We are not told.

Neither are we told that in many American diners the staff are badly paid, if paid is the word, and live on the tips, hence the smiling service. This is not good service from someone who cares, just desperation for the cash whether they deserve it or not!

So many Yanks are full of the myth of America and talk of 'liberty' or the 'American dream,' and sometimes I wonder if their feet ever touch the ground. Now we have all met good Americans, and some post comments here - and if not are thinking comments at this moment which may be better off posted elsewhere! America has much to give to the world, yet their love of money destroys them, for in the end that is what the 'dream' comes down to. Freedom to do your own thing and get rich, this equals happiness! Wrong! This leads to the rich getting richer, the poor being downtrodden and those climbing high climbing over anyone who gets in the way. That does not bring any happiness because when they get to the top there is nothing there!

The redistribution of wealth has been suggested before. Under Reagan Catholic bishops wanted more given to Americas poor and were branded as 'Communistic and un-American! The desire for democracy as opposed to monarchical rule ends with monarchical rule by those with the money and connections to get to the top. The voting system being manipulated by some to keep things this way. Maybe this time it will be different, but will anything really change?

Redistribution of wealth is not 'socialist' not 'communist,' it does not give to those who do not try, nor does it take from those who work for it, instead it cares! Those who love mammon do not care, for others or themselves, they are enslaved by greed and that is idolatry. The desire to have and keep it all destroys all who go after it, while those who seek their needs and share find life! Jesus never commented on wealth sharing, although the poor are with us always, but he did tell us to care. Paul spoke of the 'Love of money' being the 'root of all evil,' and still we pursue this! If America wants to be successful it needs to share its wealth with itself and the world. Then the likes of 9/11 would never happen, Yanks would never be told to 'Go home' ever again, and the world, and America, would be a happier place.

Free Rice

Yes indeed I am offering you the chance to participate in this also. I realise many others will have brought this to your attention and I hate to be left out! So here it is. Find out just how your vocabulary fares, it will be better than you think. Mind you, this has clearly been developed by an American, some of the words make no sense whatsoever to anyone born in the real world!
However anything that is fun and educational, that gets a grip of you and helps feed those who need it cannot be bad I say.

The Free Rice FAQ's says this:-

If FreeRice has the rice to give, why not give it all away right now?

FreeRice is not sitting on a pile of rice―you are earning it 10 grains at a time. Here is how it works. When you play the game, advertisements appear on the bottom of your screen. The money generated by these advertisements is then used to buy the rice. So by playing, you generate the money that pays for the rice donated to hungry people.

Who distributes the donated rice?

The rice is distributed by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). The World Food Program is the world’s largest food aid agency, working with over 1,000 other organizations in over 75 countries. In addition to providing food, the World Food Program helps hungry people to become self-reliant so that they escape hunger for good. Wherever possible, the World Food Program buys food locally to support local farmers and the local economy. We encourage you to visit the United Nations World Food Program to learn more about their successful approach to ending hunger.

Will the rice I donate make a difference?

The rice you donate makes a huge difference to the person who receives it. About 25,000 people die each day from hunger or hunger-related causes, most of them children. To a mother or father watching a loved child die in their arms from hunger, the rice you donate is more precious than anything in the world.

So, have fun, educate yourself, and feed the world at the same time.
Click here now! http://www.freerice.com