|
|
Rockaway Park NY 11694 * July 4 2013 * in the 42nd year of THE SOCIETY |
|
|
Dr. Charles Frederickson: CHANGING TIMES "We need not deceive ourselves that we can afford today the luxury of altruism and world benefaction. We should cease to talk about such vague and unreal objectives as human rights, the raising of living standards and democratization. The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are hampered by ideological slogans, the better."Whereas the post Cold War era of unrivaled U.S. hegemonic supremacy is over, the E.U., China, Russia, India and Brazil are waiting in the wings to take center stage, featured role-player understudies contesting balance of star power dominance. The sharpest example of engagement and containment is the precarious teeter-tottery influence between Washington and Beijing, strategic adversaries agreeing to disagree over contentious issues such as greenbacks, green peace, Taiwan and Tibet. The most innovative regions, where progressive ideas and new technology products readily take off include pioneers that frequently launch new models and products from Scandinavia (Finland, Sweden, Norway) to East Asia (China, Japan, South Korea). Surfing the wwweb.com is getting faster and cheaper by the day. The internet is no longer rich Generation XS geeks` exclusive overdeveloped world. Nowadays, it`s become woven into the multi-textured fabric of business and everyday life in developing nations playing catch-up and overtake as a crucial driver of their economies. The Arab Spring has shown resistant authorities that social media networks have indeed become powerful catalyst tools to air grievances and organize political protests peacefully. As new information technology breakthroughs evolve, the consequences of exchanging privacy for security should be pondered along with flawed protectionist conspiracy theories, blurring the domains of idealism, nationalism and capitalism. Hopefully, a more morally ethical borderless future world order will come to replace our present economically depressed world of disorderly chaos, one which embraces tolerant multiversity and encourages competitive cooperation rather than cutthroat conquests. May a shared common sense pragmatic worldview lead to give-and-take compromise along with dissonant harmony. "I will never apologize for the United States of America – I don`t care what the facts are."No Holds Bard Dr. Charles Frederickson Geoff Jackson: The Cyprus Debt Crisis: Yet Another Europe First Cyprus – birthplace of foam-born Aphrodite, goddess of love – is in deep stuk. She is due to borrow €10 bn (€1=US $1.30 – so, use your cell-phone) from the EU but the colateral is only just being hammered out. She is going cap-in-hand to the Ruskies, who have been bailing out so far. GDP is forecast to shrink by 8.5% this year and a further 4% next year. Unemployment: rising. Interested? Read on. Cyprus really needs to find €5.5 bn as part of its own bail-out and this is about one-third of the "foam-born" GDP. Moreover, Cyprus needs to put up around €13 bn as "colateral" to fund the €10 bn, she expects nto loan. These are the conditions set by the E(uropean) U(nion) and the I(nternational) M(onetary) F(und). In fact, these are the stipulations of Euroland, the seventeen nations of the EU, which use the Euro, headed, of course, by France and Germany. Where recent debates in the Bundestag (Parliament) nearly scotched the whole affair but Butch Angie (Angela Merkel, the German Bundeskanzler, roughly speaking more a Prime Minister than a President, comes up for re-election in the German multi-party democracy later this year) managed to head it off. She generally wants SAVE, SAVE, SAVE from the money-costing southlands where the people hate her and protest, demonstrate and strike against Austeridad. Meanwhile, David Cameron looks on askance and in disdain down his long, aristocratic nose (well, he is related to Her Majesty, you see, quite the minor royal, aren`t we, Dave?)at the entire affair. Britain is not in the Eurozone but has retained her own pound Sterling (Thank-ee kindly, Sir – put a penny in the old man`s hat) and therefore does not need to pay one cent. And she won`t do, either. This is economic Thatcherism (about which she saw eye to eye with Ronnie), which although the Old Lady has recently and suddenly deceased (RIP, Missus!) is still a dominant part of modern Conservative thinking. The economically strong survive and the economically weak go to the wall. Whether it be firms – small or large or countries, large or small – the same rules apply. The law of the jungle; the King of the Beasts takes all. This is also very much in line with the American Way of Life: Ya` jes` gotta make a buck, and if ya` cain`t, drop dead. Republicans, thus. Now our David is not obliged to put his hand in his pocket and shall not (Britain has no obligations in this matter whatsoever). Moreover, Dave is going to find himself excedingly short of cash if he does because Rule Brittania is taking on waves with an economic growth prognostication of around + or – one half per cent during 2013. so, then the bottle spins round to point at Angie. Alone among the Europeans, the Germans are booking growth, mainly due to their association with the Economic Tigers of SE Asia, and, besides, they made a whole load o` dough when Europe went Eur-o. But Angie will only pay, if there is SPAREN, SPAREN, SPAREN (Save, Save, Save) and is probably getting sick by now of all these Sick Men of Europe (they`re going down like AIDS victims). First, it was Ireland, then Portugal, then Greece (who has just about milked the the European cow dry of milk, Pace erstwhile butter mountains and milk lakes) and now Cyprus, which has rolled with the Greek domino. Well, Come on, Brothers, Who`s next? Rejoy (PM of Spain) is already holding his hand out and getting it in effect oiled with thirty pieces of silver even if it is not officially being called a `bail-out`. It is a loan – or series thereof – from the European Central Bank. Is Italy going to follow suit? Well, they have have had about 12 months of technocrats and are now back to civilian government once more (with the technocrats standing back and pulling the strings?) And how about France Herself? Well, they are connected to the Iti`s through their purse-strings to the Italian banks. Moreover, M. Hollande`s camel has been eaten in Mali. Now I can`t say I understand this – my feeling for des blagues francaise not being so accute – but I would guess it has something to do with the costs of the whole military operation out there because dropping bombs albeit out of a clear-blue desert sky, where you can see everything below, does cost the odd sou or two and Francoise as well as bombing on the blacks` heads may have been shooting himself in the foot or pied (pronounce delicately where the sound makes `pee`). So, back to Cyprus, last but not least of all the tribes of Israel, a pip-squeak of a little retirement isle, a sort of Florida without a gaiter in sight, Yes, Let`s. It seems that the financial crisis originally assessed at €17.5 bn has now grown to €23 bn and is growing by the minute (the Greeks being somewhat parsimonious with the truth). This is larger than the size of the country`s economy. The whole thing was predictably probably sparked off by the US subprime mortgage crisis in 2007-`8, which led to very negative consequences for the world economy including Cyprus to which recession came in 2009. Predictably, tourism and shipping (also the leading industries in Greece) were effected. The economy shrank by 1.67% (a figure we can always take with a shaker of salt, governments being inclined to put in a thumb to pull out a plum in these matters) and unemployment first began to rise. Property also lost value e.g. 30% off commercial properties. Cyprus, only a small population and a modest economy, was, in fact, living mostly on the extremely large off-shore, banking sector. In other words, taxhaven-wise, people were salting away their dough in Cypriot banks – including quite a few Russian crooks and gangsters – about which more later. With a nominal, minuscule GDP of €19.15 bn (US $24 bn) the banks were responsible for €22 bn of Greek private sector debt with bank deposits of $120 bn (including $60 bn from Russian business operations). Yes, East meets West in Cyprus as it used to in cold, frozen Finland, and in the torrid and arid ever-warm Mediterranean climate lie the money-laundering rooms with all the bankbills pegged out to dry in that fierce Mediterranean summer heat. The Russian oligarch, Dmitry Rybolovlev, owned a cool 10% of the share-holding of the Bank of Cyprus, So, the Russians are loaning the Cypriots money, too. And at very modest rates of interest, when we consider lending on the open-bond market, however. Yields – long-term bonds had risen to above 12% at one point (compare Ireland, where the yields on long-term bonds at 6-7% unleashed a commotion, which ended up with the poor Irish going cap-in-hand to the Central European Bank for a hand-out. Since January 2012, Cyprus has been relying on €2.5 bn (US $3.236 bn) emergency cash from Russia. This loan has an interest rate of 4.5% without a payment until its maturity ends in 4-5 years (or probably about the same as the rate of inflation or less) and there is no penalty if the loan is not paid after that date (so, in theory, the Cypriots could refuse to pay back and say Nyet to the Russian Bear, though, in fact, I doubt if they would so say to Cute`in Scarface). On the 13th March 2012, Moody slashed Cyprus` credit rating to Junk Status (which is, apparently, where David and his Round Table of the Cabinet, see it at), Representatives of the Troika (the European Commission, IMF and the European Central Bank) arrived on the island in July to discuss the situation. To cut a long story short after nearly a year of negotiations or downright horse-trading, the following points were roughly agreed upon :-
As a result of these actions, the Cyprus banking sector has been downsized from 8.5% of GDP to 3.5% of GDP. This extra financial burden is expected to bring on a Greek-style kind of crisis. Exact figures on sums to be loaned have yet to be filled in. So, that was it as far as the financial crisis on the Isle of the Birth of Venus, celebrated again and again by Renaissance painters such as Donatello. A small island in the sun, where the well-heeled from GB go as their last Resting Place before moving into the Happy Hunting Grounds. A happy place of pink-gins and sundowners. Lest any should doubt that I may have flooped too much out, let him bear in mind that I have raised just a corner of the curtain to the Perfumed Garden. Where the pasha`s of the Orient paff their hookah`s – as at the time of the Ottoman Turks, who took the island from the Venetians, around the time of the noble Moor, Othello, and where East has met West in the committee rooms to hammer out solutions and nothing-saying declarations to the peuble at large. (More ruled against than ruling, Methinks.) Always remember, the politicians rule the roost. They have the whip hand. Ultimately, they control the Army and Security. Even the President. All-Hail the Commander-in-Chief. You jump, Boy, whan the politician cracks his whip. But we journalist curs are allowed to bay back at our masters. Freedom-of-speech is part of the free-for-all of the political era. First established in the eighteenth century by gross cartoons of the Prince Regent, who over-ate and overspent, it has lasted – though in a changed form, to today in the Mohammed cartoons (scurrilous, vapid and in the worst Danish taste). So, there you have it. Cyprus. First of a small series of articles to be written about the Florida of the British middle-classes. Geoff Jackson |
Dr. Charles Frederickson: PRISON WITHOUT WALLS: IN PRISON WITH PRISM PRISM is a clandestine mass electronic surveillance metadata mining system operated by the United States National Security Agency (NSA) since 2007. A slide obtained from a true patriot exposing a top secret Power Point presentation describes how PRISM collects data directly from the servers of tech giants, costing American taxpayers at least $20 billion annually, not to mention the reputed loss of global credibility and mutual trust factor. This is one of many examples of how politics trumps security, ignoring the law when it is inconvenient. Apple, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft and Yahoo! are reportedly now pushing for more flexible openness on the government`s national security requests, seeking more transparency of secret data gathering. Disclosures that the NSA had access to all Americans` communications, faxes, phone calls and their computer communications and is eavesdropping domestically without court-approved warrants have been met with a loud silent thud by the in-denial powers that be. The overreaches of the NSA, IRS, CIA, EPA and other agencies should have been nipped in the bud long ago. We need legislation to ensure our wronged 4th amendment rights, making third-party records with phone companies, internet, credit cards, computers, etc. PRIVATE! Echelon is yet another even scarier project raising major Orwellian cover-up concerns about privacy and security that affects every citizen on our dysfunctional planet, hi-lighting the breakdown of the system of checkes and balances and separation of powers. Brave fair-minded whistle-blowers have forced us to reflect seriously about uncivil wrongs such as wire-tapping, along with, the in-development future of the presently unruly cyber-world. Our mutual goal must be sustainable cyber-peace with transparency and reform. ~ No Holds Bard Dr. Charles Frederickson Bangkok Charles Frederickson: MOVERS AND SHAKERS MAKE A DIFFERENCE! Putting enigmatic giant jigsaw together No knowing whole picture panorama Key misplaced pieces forever lost Blank spatial voids filled in Righting what might`ve been wrongs Could`ve would`ve should`ve but didn`t Live beyond confined narrow limits Expanded horizons envisioning borderless world If it`s meant to be It`s up to only me Do more than caring – help Courageously believe practice forgive forget Always seek new challenging opportunities To do more better best There`s only doing not trying Needy love interchangeably loving need Those one-of-a-kind gentle world shakers Make genuinely unique innovative contributions Can do will do positive Attitudes emotionally disturb complaisant universe We`re all going to die So ensure your timeless legacy Pragmatic optimism honorable kindly compassion Begetting improbable essentially impossible dreams TINY GIANT STEPS WHAT can one person do To improve Status Quo Vadis Somehow making genuinely significant impact Without looking back rewinding past Enabling others we must first Transform ourselves shed scaly glisten Grown out of shrunken snakeskin Non-venomous version of old self Life recoiling from fire we Just do it almost fearlessly Heir-conditioned that flames singe flesh Walking barefoot across smoldering coals Destiny choice not chance reliant Taking control of own Fate Moment-to-moment daring to take risks Ignoring distorted anti-clockwise time warp Solo voice attuned to nature Protecting endangered species eco-environment safeguards Counterpoint harmonically interdependent rhythm contour Unfinished symphony awaiting upbeat coda WHY Just because we care About out beloved offspring`s future Ensuring hopeful legacy left behind On borrowed interest loans un-repaid ~ No Holds Bard Charles Frederickson Michael Ceraolo: THE OLYMPIAD Modern Olympian Ode #12 (1968): Dick Fosbury How to become an eponym: take a maneuver that hasn't been widely used or used with much success, transplant it to the greatest stage and perform with gold-medal success And not only become an eponym but an inadvertent revolutionary, watching all jumpers join the revolution within a few years' time and push the record well beyond what the old methods were able to attain Modern Olympian Ode #13 (1916, 1940, 1944): ( ) Berlin London Tokyo No records set No difficulties overcome No dreams achieved No dreams denied Just the ghosts of the three Olympiads that fell victim to the madness that created tens of millions of additional ghosts Ray Gallucci: CHECKS AND BALANCES BALANCING ACT They said, To balance the office,? Ex-managers we`ll import. They`veno particular purpose, So with our goals they`ll comport. They just drop in out of nowhere As off the ladder they fall. And like some toddlers daycare, It seems we`re always on call. So if you wanted promotion, Your path up ladder`s been blocked. For in this corner of ocean, We`re now with whales overstocked. - - - When managers get defrocked, It`s us who are overstocked With those who no more can do What once educated to. For after they`ve smoked the leaves No longer can they retrieve What skills maybe once possessed To function among the rest. But still, like a dinosaur They stomp around as before Just getting into our way While we earn their overpay. POWER OUTAGE Nuclear power`s taken a hit Worse than Chernobyl. Chomping the bit Are its opponents, their hopes revived ? Once and for all technology dies!? Earthquakes will happen, tsunamis will too. Against such catastrophes, what should we do? Seismically harden? How far do we go? Build giant seawalls? How high`s too low? What if the earthquake`s ten miles at sea? Will a tsunami provide time to flee? Deaths by the thousands, none to return Who would be left for death rays to burn? Must we defend against what cannot? And since we can`t, must cede what we got? Shut them all down, bring curse to an end? On sun and wind (and coal) we`ll depend? |
Justin Graham: BIRDS OF A FEATHER NEVER A BIRD CRY SORROW Birds may be within limits of reasoned thought. A man will unriddle a dream. A man won`t admit he wished to have wings. A man may sing with intention of self promotion. A bird will sing of new mourning sun. Birds may be within limits of reasoned thought. One never saw a bird build a grave for its dead. A man will feel sorrow for the ones he lost. A man will unriddle a dream. A man will judge everyone but himself. A bird is oblivious to its shadow. A man won`t admit he wished to have wings. HIGH FEATHER BENEATH YOU Infamy you sealed; words blotted with iron pen. My life, may it pass, Our parting to grave. Lay me face-down; tread not on this heart. THE MISSING DIARIES OF A LADY FAIR There is a park bench upon which she rests. This fair lady... When the wind hastens, in tandem with candid words, the pages turn themselves. It is effortless. The soft cover branded new as she remembers it. The back is tarnished. Uncertain, she is able to see the the précis. The surface is but faded so, that it wears off as ashen dust to her fingertips. A critic of these words placed before her. Never knowing, but to think that she does – skimming the pages – this wanting to know such an epilogue of desire. She wondered from time to time, and long ago. If she could turn back the pages, only but a few chapters, she could understand this digest. Ingest and consume where it might lead. But in the order of what happenings may come, she knows the only way to discover, was to move on and keep turning the pages. They only lesson to be learned from it was not to understand this, but to accept whatever may come, through infatuation or tribulation. Words written of spirit, or words through the shadows, it is all but clear to her now. There is a park bench upon which she rests. This fair lady* * * was about to walk inside, but attraction closed the door. With the mark folded, she tucks back the edge as wings nearby. The dawn of new morning is nothing short of beauty. As certain as a patent lies bold, she remembers how to write again. © Justin Graham. All Rights Reserved Noel Doyle: Keltic Themes Higher Education My introduction to the college scene Began with the school`s Admissions Dean! Viewing my transcript, he pointedly professed: `Less than distinguished!` True, I confessed! The resident friar than straightened his cowl, Looked at me squarely, relaxing his scowl: `Tradesman father! Loving mom in support! Accepted, young man! The ball`s in your court.? Well I got to class, but what to expect? When the prof? read the roster, could subtlely detect Those in attendance had much akin With Old Sod names like Kelly and Flynn. `Mr. Doyle, your folks---from an Irish clan`? `Absolutely, Father, County Cavan.` `And Mr. Doyle, Roman Catholic too?` `Why yes, Father, that`s also quite true.` `Mr. Doyle, please tell me Repub? you ain`t.` `Father, in our house Roosevelt is a saint.` `Then let me say you`ll pass this class, Just study hard----and go to mass` Four years later, got my degree. Graduated Cum Laude! Yep, that was me! And just to show cream does rise to the top?. Top grad was `stein`---and he was no `Harp.` ed: Your verse reminds me of dear old Mr Raymond Kelly who passed me in shop because he thought I was Irish. He flunked poor Ginzberg who was no worse than I. Do you have any idea what it was like for Ginzberg working away at a lathe in a hot downtown Brooklyn summer. Molly This story`s inception began to unfold When the 20th Century was just five years old. Long before thoughts of Y-2-K Molly emerged on a warm Virgo day. First-born colleen in an Irish clan That left the land of the Black and Tan, Father a teacher with a Gaelic gift, Mother a beauty whose smile gave lift. Siblings did follow, two passed too soon. In the cry of a baby, sometimes a sad tune. But the music that lasted were notes of mirth For a melodious ear was Molly`s from birth. The ensuing years brought interests galore--- Gardening, painting, antiquing, much more. Flea markets! Broadway! Frankie Carl on the keys! Holiday parties! More hors d`oeuvres if you please! Geoff Jackson: Insha’allah In the Arms of the Lord Over them sugar-candy mountains In the blue of the heather Where the bees gather summer-sweet honey That’s heaven, boy And it’s a-waiting for me I’m goanna snuggle nicely into heaven Just snooze away one afternoon When the sun is balmy An afterdinner sleep, like And amid all them bees And them birds a-soaring in that beautiful, Blue, heaven sky I’m a-goin’ a-die, boy Just a old man ith an embolism Or cancer (All them secondaries, see boy) Or somepun And I shall go to a better life A-tootin ma trumpet In the arms of the Lord Boy! Terry Scott Niebeling: Tender Thought (Self-sufficient Shorty) She asked me if I ever got writer’s block… I thought about it… Yeah… I thought, but only when I’m in love; I can’t seem to get out of bed… *** All that stuff in the past, I can’t rewind that. Think as it passes, and then relax, its as good as trash at this juncture, in relation to my head. I was gathering dust and rust with lust, so I traded in. And found something underrated. I found something that was there with patience: Greatness. Ray Gallucci: SAME OLD SAME OLD Another year is over With all its ups and downs. And be we drunk or sober The new one comes around. With much anticipation We greet it as a friend. But comes the old frustration By January`s end. It matters not how often Of Auld Lang Syne we sing. From cradle to the coffin, The same old each year brings. |
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||