In the Bloghouse

This blog has a definite enemy.
She's watching The Bill now.

To me watching The Bill is a thorough waste of life energy.
To her, this blog is.

I suppose I was away all weekend up to no good. And I do spend a lot of time on the net.
But she's not very good at coming up with alternative uses of time.
I can't just sit there and watch TV- I hate TV. It's a one way medium providing you with a limited range of thought.

She doesn't like going out much either.

And I know what you're thinking, but you can't do that all evening every evening.

This blog is in the bloghouse, as far as she is concerned.
To rescue it I'm going to have to make it up to her somehow, which means I presume, sitting watching drivel for an hour or so.

Pity me.

Won't even be able to drag out the book I'm reading.
Kant- don't ask- fault of another blogger.

How can people just sit there and watch that thing all night?
People live like that, you know.

The Sexual Overtones of the Far Right.

Ok, just to let you know before I start, I'm eating an Easter egg now.

You probably already know that the Far Right are something of a bugbear of mine. I mean in a sense, I do think the concept is a bit of a catchall. I don't actually think there was as much uniting Mussolini's Fascism and Hitler's National Socialism, apart from common foreign policy aims, as people often think. There's quite a lot in Mussolini's Italy that wasn't all bad. Furthermore, if I'm honest had it been 1936 I would have been more inclined to Franco, without the retrospective judgement of history to influence me.

But the Nazis, well they're a different proposition.
It's hard to see a lot of love in their message.

It is true that not all who were attracted by their creed were evil, but it is true that a lot of their early recruits were not- well adjusted.

Nowadays, there is certainly an underground connection between Heavy Metal/ Satanism/Nazism. It is as if the misfits of the world want to embrace the values despised by the world which labels them misfits, to proclaim themselves as 'evil', because they are denied the joys of this world.
No girl, no friends, no job? Because I'm crap? No, it's because I'm EVIIIIL.
This of course is what modern Neo-Nazism is about of course. Being everything that they don't want you to be, because hell, you can't be what they want you to be anyway. It's about sexual repression and social inadequecy.

But wasn't the original?

Isn't the rise of Nazism the result of a nation which had been kicked out of the powers club, humiliated, bankrupted, a nation which deep down felt itself a failure? A nation coming to terms with the collapse of tight lipped Prussian militarism and trying yet failing to be comfortable with the sexual liberation of twenties Berlin- then the most swinging city of it's day?

Was there not something collectively unhappy about a nation which was happy to be rescued by an army of leather wearing Brownshirts?

Is there not inherent in all this Nazi stuff right from the begining, a deep Psychosexual Sado-Masochistic element, which played out till the final days in the bunker?

Listen to 'We don't need this Fascist Groove Thang' (Heaven 17, 1980). I think they tap in to something.

It's a great thing people can come out of the closet now. It should mean Neo-Nazism dies out.

A Very Shallow Easter.

Bank Holiday Monday.
What did we all get from the last four days?

For me, a huge sense of guilt at failing to make Mass Easter Sunday due to going to bed at 8 AM.
Watching The Passion of Christ for the fifth time is, unfortunately, the closest I got this weekend to emoting with the greatest thing that ever happened.

I've certainly got to thinking that I need some balance to a certain degree. These last four days have been ridiculously hedonistic. If I were to describe them fully, I would shock some of you, so I won't.
But I have been reflecting and it's time that some of my interests were pruned back to moderation.
Now I'm going to be stuck all year with the guilt of not making Easter Sunday Mass.
It's true that I enjoyed myself very much this weekend, but I'm starting to see the warning signs as regards some of my recreational hobbies. You can love some things more than is good for you.
I also know that the joys I had this weekend do not compare to the sense of well being I usually derive from the Easter period. Shallow, earthly pleasure, compared to the true joy of contemplating Christ's sacrifice.

Also, I have yet to eat an Easter egg. There is one sitting on my desk at work, but otherwise, not had one yet. I might buy a couple tomorrow. They'll be reduced then.

Marx- What he REALLY said.

It has been said- and it is probably true that even most Marxists have not read Das Kapital.
I think it's probably true.

The simple fact most people think it's a political work proves that.
It's not.
It's a two pronged work. Volume One is pure Economic Theory. Volume Two is mainly Observation, Volume Three is Political.

It first gives you Marx's anaylsis of how Capitalism works , it's strengths, weaknesses and where he thinks it will lead.
Then it shows you the downside of the system.

Then it provides an alternative to replace Capitalism when the collapse he predicts in Volume One, actually happens.

The Twentieth Century has seen the results of people trying to acheive the ideal of Volume Three before the collapse of Volume One has happened.

Well, here's what I got out of Marx.

I don't agree with the political proposal of Volume Three.

But I do think the failure of that political ideal obscures us to the fact that the other two volumes are pure reason.

I believe his economic analysis of the system is reality and his prognosis is obvious.

I post this partly for Mr Higham, who may feel I answered his gloomy statement of the current situation rather vaguely, so I'll clarify.

Apply this analyis to your points and everything fits in.

Capitalism needs economic growth to survive, that surplus of consumers over producers.
It is what drove the colonisation of Africa, it is the false motor that drives consumer debt, as the market economy turns and eats itself.

So I don't want Marx's answer.

But his working is correct and the world is ready to kick the rotten door down.
And that's why they are protecting themselves, those who pay us against those who think they own what the banks really do.

The theory is right, the solution isn't.

And I'll leave you with that till next Monday.

Feelng Bad about Selfish Interests.

I had a phone call today from a friend.
Basically, she wanted to borrow a fair amount of money to pay a deposit for a house to rent. Well to be fair, she didn't ask. I ended up offering. I suppose I have kind of a soft spot for her, and I think she knows it.
Unfortunately or not, this is what I can't work out, she took me up on the offer.
She text me letter to say she'd cried over it.

Problem is those nagging doubts.

I'm sure she would make every effort to pay back as soon as she could.
The money is doing a better thing giving her a hand now than making me an accomplice to usury.
But it's slightly more than, worst case scenario, I'd feel comfortable writing off.
I'd rarely bet that much money.

But the equation still says to me, in principle I should really just lend her the money. If it's lost, it went to a good cause. If I get it back that will show you a good judge of character.
So surely, I can't lose by lending it, in the higher scheme of things?

So why do I feel the nasty pull of avarice, trying to tie up my purse strings?

A Situation I might actually Campaign in

I have already suggested that there is a good chance we may end up with the charming Charles Clarke as PM, should Gordon Brown become unacceptable for Scottish reasons.
Now it seems, that a Clarke bandwagon is gaining ground.

What a thought.
There are more than a few useless people in this government, probably higher than is average, but this is one Labour 'heavyweight' about whom I cannot think of anything positive to say.

I can't stand the man.

I'm sure most of us have our own reasons for disliking this garden gnome who's lost his hat, but mine is simple.
He's a humourless Philistine.
This is the man who said basically, that University education was 'unsuited' to todays job requirements. In some cases true, but when he singled out medieval history as an area that was overstudied, I lost my rag a bit.

If there is no place in our society for the study of knowledge, what are bothering to train people to work FOR?
Is the period which saw the rise of most modern European nation-states, the period which saw the development of most of the modern cultural identities, the period which saw the birth of modrn literature, the roots of modern empirical science, the development of the Christian West to become the force of globalisation worth less than 'Media studies'?
Apparently.

Well, Clarke has not failed yet in confirming my already low opinion of him with everything he did later at the home office. But I have loathed him since his ugly gargoyle head grunted these ill-thought ideas all those years ago.

If he DOES become our PM, I am volunteering my services to the Norwich South Lib Dems for the next election. That would be the best place to carry the fight.
With the majority he has, there's a good chance to put him out. It's about 7% or so, I think.
Sitting PM loses seat?
Anyone else care to join me?

British politics will be a much better place when he's gone.

A Poor Mass Attender.

Palm Sunday today. The red vestments are out, Holy Week has begun.
My mass attendance has been poor during Lent. I hadn't been for two Sundays in a row before Today. What is worse, I am away over Easter and will likely miss Mass on Good Friday due to inability to find a Catholic Church. Sunday should be alright.
It's a shame because I think Easter is what it's all about. It is the highlight of the religous year, what the rest of it is all about.
Not Christmas. Anyone can be born, dieing to redeem mankind and rising again, that's less common.

I'm not going to get all evangelical here, that's not my style. This is MY religion, probably not yours. I do however always feel myself somehow with a clean slate again when I take mass. I'm not a good Catholic, but I'm probably a devout one.

Watching the Gospel reading being done- and it's a long one, going from the Last Supper through to the Crucifiction, one cannot help but be drawn in, whatever was actually on your mind when you came in. It doesn't occupy much of my thoughts for much of my life, but when it does it always hits me, possibly the greatest act of Love anyone ever did.

I can't repent in advance for the serious sin I am going to commit by missing Good Friday, but I already feels the pangs of remorse.

But then Christ would probably remind me of the prodigal son.

I have always found that parable to speak volumes to me. It tells us the motivation behind Christ in what he did and why there will always be hope for all of us- when we realise that.