Shallow and sentimental - we did ONCE know that verbal assault is a very dangerous precursor to violence

Shallow and sentimental  - we did once know that  verbal assault is a very dangerous precursor to violence . We did once know that written incitement to violence was even more dangerous . We did once know that the danger increases because of collective logic agreement ,; because collective faith logic draws more people in and provides quite reasonable people with temptation to participate in bad behavior -to join with others in a chorus - to motivate and keep motivating an action .First  way to tackle such violence is to accept this collective chain and not be distracted by a more sus logic about extremism and madness.in individuals .

While it may please the TV audience, the above two realities and focus makes those who hate us hate us even more - when we react carelessly we show ourselves to be stupid and shallow.  Sometimes the problem is best understood by understanding  the audience reaction first -esp if we are to stop it happening again.

Far from being ahead of the issues , those who forget the basis of western concepts of responsibility and respect for individual turn the response to increasing social disorder into a shallow reactionary game .
The system did not adequately deal with this issue but that's not just media or police - it runs much much deeper.  
We need "all tools " is rubbish ;  we need appropriate tools    Picture chooks running in all directions 
"suite of measures" is OK  BUT its  one of the excuses used by intellectual idiots in charge who don't know which ones work . Idiots who could advocate the idea of monitoring bad people  or just locking them up .Idiots who love making lists and waste our time collecting them .

Even  our best reporters play the game( or lose the opportunity to stand in the TV's silly frame- something they can avoid by doing their proper job of letting other people say silly things) .
And its a very serious game because it lacks the patient logic of the past and insists in imposing itself on some present problem'   ( A shooting of innocent people by a mad gunman )
It can be and is so careless that the cure can be worse that the disease - the tyranny more permanent than the particular problem . Was  the solution  a solution ( the assumption that suddenly because we are so clever, we can deal with human behavior with the stroke of a pen )  They focus only on outcomes and seek  to use western law in a way it its never been used before .   The media machine being so powerful that parliamentarians are presumably afraid to properly debate laws that seem to already have common assent - common sentiment perhaps,  but  not the common sense we need from them
T Dalrymple and others like authors of Telecom 2000 social report have rightly pointed all this out.

ABCTV,  like all the cloned victims of the ideal of popular wisdom/simplicity /stupidity  are again calling for more monitoring of mad men . The Authorities  have advised that Man Haron Monis was NOT  on their watchlist because he "did not have a history of violence ". This shallowness goes to the heart our corporate stupidity on the subject.

We deny violence until it kills;  or comes bloody.  Our society is in denial of the violence inside .( depression students know this but few others do or speak up on it ) There is violence inside us all  but we are no longer dealing with it as our forebears did . We see anger as sin and try to sit on it ( leads to worse things bursting forth ) We do not "be angry" as encouraged  with sin but sin not ourselves .Some even accuse God of sinning by being angry , and therefore put themselves as  righteous by trying not to show anger themselves .  Too clever for their own good .We think we are progressing when our thinking is regressing .

Some faiths deal with Anger;  other faiths seem to only promote it,  or leave it unresolved .  The temptation  to move from anger to verbal to physical is real within us all .The apostle Paul  set the scenes  by repeating the mindset  we need 3 times and in 3 different ways towards the end of  Romans 12. If only our citizens would practice it and learn to know that,  impossible as it may sound,  it actually works.

Thankfully our laws are not so shallow , Verbal abuse is considered as dangerous as physical abuse and is rightly prosecuted the same . A faith system that prescribes violence is going to prompt real violence , Anger not confronted , as with Julian Knights and many" lone wolves " can lead to killing and disrespect for the sentimental superficiality of the audience ( who get shot ) The lone wolf is  a dumb myth --------there are whole hoards of them ready to go and ..... ready to stop .... by listening to them .  Few are listening to them and we need to listen to those in our locality. yes  I know a few 
We should  know all this if we dare think about it ; we have families .

Leaders PLEASE  help us to think about ANGER again so we are alert but not alarmed ; that we allow open anger and protest knowing that its in free open dialogue and listening ( which  most people are not doing when a terrorist speaks ; which most guardian media priests think would be too much for THEIR audience -( ignoring their obligation to report the facts )not too see - patronising bullshit 

Left left with nothing but Laws

Maxine McKew and others on the drum  tonight symbolize the fanaticism and desperate cul de sac mentality of trying to rule by laws alone . Too much "talk tough" talk with some "bad group" shifts the context ( need for toughness all over ).

Maxine , typical of this generation of deniers (think that OTHER men need more rules, not a saviour ) uses the nice word "protocol " while the chorus of "tough " talk rattles around in their cage; more like some carcass hunting noisy  bird rather than some animal of true threat and substance ( the lion ) on the ground.Our society was built on the idea of a saviour who helps you budget well  , not the stupid Labor  saviour who just carelessly pays the bills.
Thedrum ,while a great show , needs to have more genuine experts on it - otherwise it will be treated as it often treats itself ----carrion speculation over the entrails .
The "Spectators" treatment of the AWB scandal was so simplistic as to be plain scandalous . OK mate if you are going to talk across everyone -get it right and don't be like everyone else -trite ;Agriculture and environment is a ' special case " a bit of diversity in your myopia. Why market the grand simplicities that don't work .Friedman got the noble prize but Galbraith was the real brains behind growth in a difficult climate - the people want the sort of growth that is unsustainable - we in the country avoid it naturally because we have knowledge , not ust talk of sustainability .
  If Scott's?  paper is just another drone preaching " 2legs bad, market good " we clearly don't need to read it .

Its all about me politicians

Can't even focus on the effect of supporting legislation to include gays in the Marriage Act
My point is that the history of the best of western ( Christian ) culture is to make an absolutely minimum number of laws to regulate people's choices - for when children are involved and NEED protection .The russians can see it but we can't.
Penny Wong completely misses THIS critical point . I struggle to understand why thinking people and her own party take her seriously. She doesn't even get close to properly considering the critical need for civil marriage in most cultures and most of history .

To quote her 

" To suggest that marriage should be defined only by reference to children would mean marriages in which someone is infertile would not be allowed.Marriages where the couple did not want to have a family wouldn’t be allowed.Marriages where the couple were too old to have children wouldn’t be allowed".

 To me it all seems to be about "what I want " not about "what the law is for ".
I have listened enough to her before to just " switch off "completely .I will do it again.Our kids deserve better

Heaven help us

Heaven help us when we need the police to tell us whether we are doing the wrong thing. Can we expect the police and the growing nanny state to provide us final verdicts on more and more things? If we ask for it , maybe we will get it ?
The PM's  press agent is said to have not committed " a crime "after a group stormed a private meeting following his advice on a high level public meeting whereabouts on Australia day . Whether the advisor did anything wrong has not been established . Whether Tony Hodges did anything wrong should be the focus , both for his benefit and for limiting this growing reliance on outsiders for evaluating the moral economy.
Our system of justice means the man himself should speak and be heard,  not the police and the political implications of a non trial and a political proclamation of "there is nothing to answer ' Always better to clear the air - it saves the courts being clogged up with crap that could and should have been sorted out earlier.

Two Prime Ministers - 2 parliaments

If nothing else , the situation in Papua New Guinea today  should remind the world that just having the parliamentary process doesn't mean it will work ( both parties in this poor country believe in it ) . That seriously dangerous  myth that Form is content has caused the 1st world to invest heavily in free elections in the 3rd World when any sound engagement with another country MUST face the fact that if the people aren't already sharing and developing their wealth : no amount of ballots will help them achieve that .( How effectively do the leadership represent both rich and poor ?)
(If the press could kill the quickfix myth that drives such stupidity before it gets a life of its own the world would be a different place) . Even progress brings hope so nothing is impossible here .
Greenlabor here in Australia are dumb enough to let our sequestered carbon burn or rot ( Bush fires in the last decade ) rather than face  up to the sound foreign policy fact that schools can be built , and issues of development pushed , with timber  NOW left to rot in eastern Victoria

If 1% of the money that has been spent on trying to set up a process of democratization by the West in the last 2 decades  had been spent on education and engagement on the above matters - amazing what is possible .
This problem of accepting mere perception  is not going to go away and its going to cost the west big in instability due to the waste of investment  . If leaders of poor countries do not address inequalities in their own country  and find ways to grow them ( with help of outsiders ) hope inside the country is denied ( the issue here and in many places)  .The  Big man politics of old never worked --but what's the alternative / Why is big man politics now so common and threatening ?
The answer is quite simple - because the philosophy which set up schools and hospitals and basic care for the poorest people in a country has been abandoned . The missionaries had it right and its time for non believers to dig a lot deeper,  before they , like the USA go and spend their future on trying to impose democracy on some poor country ( like Iran ) because "its meant to work "( techniques that have god power? )

I am not suggesting that helping the poor  is simple . Infact Christians and other market advocates still have a long way to go to understand why Islam is more popular in their rural areas ,,, and THEN what they can about it ( my point is that poverty is perpetuated by simplicity stricken philosophies of governance  as much as it is by a scarcity of  resources. The singlemindedness that has made  secondary industry so successful in the West  is far too simplistic to be the main model in relation to earth care issues ).
All intervention must also recognise how things like rural poverty ,and the means to avoid it,  are being ignored by those whose quick fix is the successful models of western development;( majority of people in the West ???)  which simply do not work in the very sensitive but uniquely resilient world of  agriculture and environment.

Too clever for words

Albanese is so out of touch he celebrates the AMOUNT OF LEGISLATION the Feds  have passed this year . Its not parenting and governance - it groping around in the dark . Its the sort of distorted desperation of a parent who comes home after years of disengagement , to set rules on everything.   Worse for our culture, which is built on a specific balance between liberty and law,on set big picture rules that have worked for centuries to ones where   its overload from petty paper warfare , petty crime crap and legal leggings for everyone. Transport us to Tasmania please!

Greenlabor doesn't understand that  if you don't respect the intelligence of the people,  the thinking ones will ignore you .Modern governments should celebrate the condensation of legislation - the downsizing of documents and guidlines and the reinforcement of good olde methods . All sound Public Servants  know that pollies ignore the great value of the olde for their new stuff , making  2 or 3 term parties a danger to themseleves,  a potential laughingstock when they talk of their focus on governance.

Psychologists would say the god people may well have  got a disease called denial  and projection;  The result of having this disease is that you pretend you have power you don't  ( knowledge is power for a start) - let alone the fact that you won't be at all effective because half hearted efforts just waste taxes - big time ; The bigger the problem , the bigger the waste.
Preoccupation with raw power  ignores the fact that the main  effective way to build prevention strategies in the face of risk is to  build self  respect and self understanding by ditching slogans and encouraging specific education based on a respect for freedom  and a minimum  of laws . Many animals do it better than us !

Having just rested from hugging celebrations over how they have modelled the method  to change the atmosphere by "putting a price on one loose part of it " They have started bribing kids to be well behaved at school . The new clothes look good to them,   but those who can stand back can see through them ( Clearly a price on C  is poorly targeted  and will just hurt us and do nothing about Co2 levels)

The gods in charge NOW also think they can tell The States how to manage their water . The MDC can't even define an environmental flow ( its a critical consideration ) , let alone explain it to those it will affect .
 Having discovered the new techno fix of price controls,  the dummies want to offer bribes to get kids to behave well at school when the price controls on water ( imposed by some States ) just made some brokers rich and some farmers broke . Economic pigmys ?
The gods don't dare take off water restrictions lest they lose control of common sense,( as if they have it) ; they don't confess they've already been sleeping while their ignorant and  fearprone collegues  wasted zillions on desal. We are not short of water - but they haven't worked that out yet .
Ask any good teacher ( not pollies ) and they will tell you : Sometime the problems we see with children are  really a problem generated by the parents , or those who think themselves nannies. God only knows the damage we do by thinking we know .
 The nannies will wet themselves if they ever see how little they really see.

When someone threatens you - is their action wrong ?

Doesn't it depend on whose in the chair at the time ?


Clearly not , but postmodern  principles are watering down our capacity to deal with each other , anger and failure to listen and act responsibly response -like ( I play awe-fully deaf when i get in my chair at night)

The new age pharissees

We know as a culture when we are moving backwards..... when lawmen behave fanatically ,Geoffrey Robertson and the NSW govt 

The temptations of temporary power

Been great to hear the independents speak freely about concerns in their areas . But how far should they push for change when we believe in taking much advice and voting TOGETHER for change .Any change in the consititution is after all completely dependent on consensus,  and that clearly is in question with unpublished agreements made with at least 2independants.
 As the prominent libertarian Shaw acknowledged , the great danger of great evil is still made in the name of the best intention . The admirable intention to recognise injustice to the original inhabitants is not,  in our tradition , to  allow their descendants to make further claims on us . Not permanent property claims anyway.   Opportunity and temporary custody to lease ,  are the "rights", if there are any  . Can we give away what's not ours. can 2 or 3 people offer what is not theirs to give ? ( Leviticus 25:23.)

The temptations of Raw Power

Been greatly enjoying reading Dreams of my Father by Barack Obama. His forefathers weren't alone in seeking power in the predictable ,superficial  pedantry of mere and more raw power.  Good on them though , for trying to make the system work and to Obama for reminding us that the groaning will continue - however well we work together!
I just pray a new generation of young people will , instead of hitting their heads against some big brick walls that never move,   discover some less obvious ways to tap into what really works .

Celebrate - The Australian Parliament gets it right about rights

Well done team !!!!! In a move destined to not please the worryers and the pedants , "the progressives" and all those still stuck in some old school of mere description.
The Aussies have this April led the way in the West  by going beyond the superficial appeal of a bill of rights to see its silly sentiment.

Instead of concentrating on crime , the focus of the courts would have been on categorizing it.
Without hearing the solid substance of the sin , the courts would stuff up soundly sentencing it .
Again well done

Celebrating coercion - signs of failure

Minister Robinson( today) thinks he's doing a great job - growing the compliance sectors of planning departments. 40 new jobs in Melbourne alone. He can't see it, but this preoccupation is a sign of degradation; degradation of what was once the jewel and crown of government - its ability to plan ; to lead : a lead focused on giving freedom and liberty to the people.(Not that our generation have lokked more than skin deep into this whole question) More here
Thinking people of all persuasions do well to read a bit of A.N.Whiteheads work. His wide rangeing critique of the inadequate intellectual world of those who talk science, but practice voodoo antipates by nearly a century ago , the current stumbling blocks to successful planning.
. Take the misplaced concreteness evident in the policy frameworks of modern planning documents . Clearly most of those writing it went to the School of Mere Description and would be happy to indulge in brilliant feats of explaining away Victorian style 2009
Rather than giving the applicant advice, they give him a headache!

A few people had a good laugh and cry today when one prominent Victorian Public servant said she couldn't make a decision because "the policy framework was not in place ". More here ( the Victorian Planning System 2009) Whatever she meant , she said it all !

Be a more effective listener

By knowing whose talking; i mean really ! . We all need a caution, when filled with that excitement we get when we feel that urge to point the finger; to remind us of why we don't want the world to be filled with talk about everyone elses faults; To remind us that , what we think is happening, may not be actually what is happening.
When we think we know what motivates another- it may just be an echo ;a projection ; an idea from the off shoulder noisemaker?
The Western tradition is to " not listen" (and therefore not speak / accuse )until there is 2 or more witnesses. Good to keep quiet - model the noise breakers !
Essential that those who claim to be Liberal and promote its great cause amongst us , not only understand it - but practice it -Mr Turnbull !
Be a more effective listener .....and then you will be a more effective mounted warrior!

The Great Depression 2009

This note is to ask a question and suggest that "the heavy weight of political and other correctness is killing us" .
Example 1 The era of "doing what we like ( Valuesystem = there is no such thing as the wrong thing) has been followed by an era of political correctness(valuesystem = "whatever you think is the wrong thing is right? " -

The result: A value system that stops just about everyone speaking openly? - Why?
We feel we might say the wrong thing.
Mistaken value systems are the depression pills of the modern west. depressingly real nonsense. Give us a break would you

Seperating the sheep from the goats ??

The First Amendment US parliament.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The First Amendment restricts the government, not the people. Should be more of it!
Every boundary has its good side eh Pity too many think the FA means " seperation of Church and State = "the church should stay out of politics" - how ignorant and lacking in perpective!?

2 beautiful boundaries

A minister parked his car in a no-parking zone in a large city because he was short of time and couldn't find a space with a meter.
Then he put a note under the windshield wiper that read: "I have circled the block 10 times. If I don't park here, I'll miss my appointment."Forgive us our trespasses."

When he returned, he found a citation from a police officer along with this note. "I've circled this block for 10 years. If I don't give you a ticket, I'll lose my job. "Lead us not into temptation."

Enshrining-- the new theology for wannabes ?

You don't expect Non christians to pick up when a Judeo Christian imperative is being undermined, but when progressive Christians want to sign up to "the evangelical climate initiative ", they allow the secularists to pull the carpet from under them theologically;-we should be concerned over what those blokes are still standing on!

Instead of looking to where we in the west came from, and noting the critical erosion of empowerment going on all around them , too many Christians are busily check listing some other idol's novel theologies and their tangible, but very trite trinkets --the action agenda items --

So Patronising is Ok after all?
"Noone ELSE needs to understand the problem (the tree of knowledge)except us; we are going to solve the problem for everyone -said the angel of light - a beautifully kind act -enshrined forever. OR convinced about what is right in their own minds they do it - with the best of intention - not even a bernard shaw mandate let alone a christian one ! "We have always wanted to do this --and its best for the children ". Surely , the very authors of this hypocritical stuff tore down the opportunity for faith by their children by calling Judeo Christian too "patronising "

Christianity offers a enshrined process for redemption, but enshrined solutions for each man's greed ,obsfuscation and impact is quite another matter.

FREEDOM and RESPONSIBILITY
After all, God created and gives man great freedom, even if other men would willingly take it away from them.
The very raft of western security and effective action is moving slowly away from those who once owned it - without so much as mumor of concern for the drowning public and the once empowered . All it takes for evil to prosper , it seems , if for the children to ignore the wisdom of the ages and believe in some new half baked version - that doesn't work and builds big castles with weak walls . The evolved ,moving with the times, edition .

Maybe the church should remove " Fear not ",from the Angels chorus to the shepherds? After all, its clearly not in Gore's or Flannery's chorus. Maybe, the progessives may be thinking ? just maybe, "a bit of fear would be good for Christianity" too --a sort of "necessary for motivation" type theology?" Nature gives it mandate to fear so why shouldn't we ? Heretics!!!!

WORKING IN and WORKING OUT
Where are the church historians and theologians who say "theology is what we are good at" --not this messing around in technological fixes - some "common agreement" ( church history tells us we best weigh up very clearly the reasons for pontificating on political questions; a clear scriptural mandate or interpretation is required . The political mandate historically for all Christians is often accepted personally ( worked out ) if not known clearly as "worked in" to wider church matters ).

Many christians might be surprised to know that while stewardship is an accepted scriptural brief, the dominant operating fad of the moment is an unbalanced post modern adaption and blinkered view of the historically accepted worked out one. Are the progressives really showing respect for those who show themselves approved here ?

WORKING OUT FEAR
I reject those who call for discipleship, but do not accept the disciplines of the mind. The obligation for all chritians is work to work out in fear and trembling -not to put fear and trembling before the work !
For example, all those , like Joseph who operate under the mandate of Romans 13 . All the minds over the Club of Rome couldn't get the end of oil right, so why is some hastily constituted group ( cf the "attending continually" word used in romans 13:6) going to be so much more responsible about the end of the cool man?
Quoting scientists is not enough - the media and the partisans do that all the time !The right sort of fear mentioned here is the idea that " we don't know everything!" Let's not quote scientists or scripture, but let them both speak for themselves - now that would be more biblical !!

So without any resistance, the new/old heresy of Enshrinement steams on ahead as the new saviour for the wannabe powerfuls -leaving "good old empowerment as "old hat" and discarded in its wake. The new idea is seen by the secular theology innovators as "A way of making long term effective behavioural change" . They seem to think such impositions on our children , provided they are done with best of intention ( and "thats all that matters"- isn't it? )are OK .Whose the patriach now ?"It hasn't been tried yet " or at least we haven't tried it, so,... it will be news winning stuff for a while , at least .
Enshrinement talk is a "innovative idea " but it just won't work long term . Just another quick fiz patchup job on the road to serfdom.

Secularists and those who insist that men's behaviour is rational are clearly getting nervous . Their worldframe is not tough enough to get people to " think about and change the way they live " ( a phrase used to describe the need for carbon emission legislation enshrinement this week in the english parliament ) .This presumably helps explain their acceptance of fear ( "its a natural thing and natural is good", so lets manufacture some? heretical science and philosophy , but it goes unchallenged!!

TECHNOCOLOUR YAWNS
Surprise surpise .This desperate mismatch of metaphors just simply won't work . Borrowing from the sacred is not brilliant innovation but indolent disrespect for the enshrined docrines of paradigm control; In the real world, precision matters and only sound logic ( including paradigm control) works well . Study to show you know what you what you are talking about ! Motivating men is not for novices and fanatics!

STAND BACK and OBSERVE the behaviour, and the arguments
Crys for "Enshrinement" often say more about the powerlessness and desperation of the wannabees than they do about the causes "righteousness" . "I have discovered the truth and i will insist on new generations accepting it whether they like it ,think it , or not".
Clearly, it is a piece of blatant hypocrisy to talk about the sacredness of reason and its role in a modern secular society - and then make it so our children cannot make choices, or even think for themselves.
So what are our theologians saying about that !

Even if the final cause was sound , the method of getting there is both mistaken and wrong. Forcing the issue just simply doesn't work because the real world doesn't work that way. ---Unfortunately for the secular materialist, ideas and freedom are still rights everyone who is here, or ever comes here , is entitled to.
---Unfortunately for the monists , real logic insists you can't mix metaphors ( secular and religious) without risking the creation of lunatic soups and technocolour yawns .
According to the Gospel, men must choose the good and "the way out", because they will never accept and follow the truth and the way out , till they own it themselves.

The good that we would

Where is the post modernists theory of action when you really need it ?
gifts, grants, incentives, market forces, private consultants , landcare,self regulation , audits, education or more regulation .
Both political parties are in a mental mess over what works.( look at the waste of words and taxes in environment and health care management) eg They savage the subject of stewardship ( all looks ok- on the surface! ) and mess with my area of expertise and experience of 33yrs.

This waste from the hackers need not be . Our forefathers had a framework and the new innovators in politics ignore it at their peril ( for the Australian way of life)- NOW wasting money on trickets , tokens and the tangible targets of horses going wild and doors being busted .
Time they took stock, kept the logic clear , and stopped so much careless experimenting .

The government are making huge mistakes by lecturing us about good and bad behaviour

Thinking people, in the face of patronising nonsense (good ideas roughly implemented) ,can be predicted to rebel.
Clearly our current leaders don't understand the efficiencies of modern democracies - nip the problem in the bud --not in the courtroom.

HALLOWED HALLS OF HAILESBURY
From ABCTV "As many of us know,

the badge of "old Christian school" is no guarantee against complacency,heresy, and blinkered bullheadedness in some matters of principle.
THE RISK of INNOCULATION
The risk, for those who attend church schools , as the facts of the story at Haileybury testify, is not indoctrination in the great free choice and personal performance traditions of mere christianity, but innoculation against them.
The risk is single focus, cloning and indoctrination in the blinkered streaming channels of high performance market model worship."

As Dostoyevsky might have added, "If there is no God , the idols take over in every corner of the world ". History witnesses well to that risk , Mr Mcintyre.
The battle is out there in the mind as Grahame Morris pointed out -- but who is on HIS tram .
No need to darken the doors of a building called church, or identify too closely with institutions stuck in their seats. How dumb and superficial is that!
Just close your eyes and reflect -remember that some where in your mind as Bob Dylan said " you gotta serve somebody " there in the mind . No options ?

"Every good rationalist needs to keep in mind the boundaries of his own worldview" Mate