It bothers me when I see certain people laying a wreath
at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in that these wreath- layers
made damn certain that, in their various times, they would never be
the recipient of such an honor.
Islander.

“Once a jolly swagman sat beside the billabong,
Under the shade of a coolibah tree,
And he sang as he sat and waited by the billabong
You’ll come a waltzing maltilda with me

Waltzing matilda, waltzing matilda
You’ll come a waltzing matilda with me
and he sang as he sat and waited by the billabong
You’ll come a waltzing matilda with me.

Down came a jumbuck to drink beside the billabong
Up jumped the swagman and seized him with glee
And he sang as he tucked jumbuck in his tuckerbag
You’ll come a waltzing matilda with me

Waltzing matilda, waltzing matilda
You’ll come a waltzing matilda with me
And he sang as he sat and waited by the billabong
You’ll come a waltzing matilda with me.

Down came the stockman, riding on his thoroughbred,
Down came the troopers, one, two, three.
“Where’s the jolly jumbuck you’ve got in your tuckerbag?
You’ll come a waltzing matilda with me”

Waltzing matilda, waltzing matilda
You’ll come a waltzing matilda with me
And he sang as he sat and waited by the billabong
You’ll come a waltzing matilda with me.

Up jumped the swagman and plunged into the billabong,
“You’ll never catch me alive,” cried he
And his ghost may be heard as you ride beside the billabong,
You’ll come a waltzing matilda with me.” Banjo Paterson.
Islander.

“Nobody had the energy to bury the dead. Gravediggers were to weak

to hack holes in the frozen ground. When someone died, the corpse

was wrapped in a sheet and taken on a child’s sled to the gates

of the cemetery. Army engineers, summoned from the front,

dynamited pits for mass burials. And sometimes the authorities

discovered that the bodies had pieces of flesh carved from them.

This is the one aspect of the siege not described in Soviet histories

or memoirs. But there were numerous reports from Russian sources

indicating that hunger finally drove some Leningraders to cannibalism.

According to the reports, it was practiced on the dead at first.

Then there were cases of murder for food by starvation-crazed people.

Finally, there were reports of human flesh being sold. Soldiers, the

best fed people in the city, reportedly were killed on their way home

from the front. They started going about armed and in groups.

One rumor had it that children were beginning to disappear, and

parents kept their youngsters off the streets. Other stories spread

that gangs of well-fed cannibals roamed the city; the stories added

terror to all the other anxieties. Anyone who looked healthy was

under suspicion–as were the little meat cakes that could still

be bought for enormous prices in the black market.”

 

“Nobody knows how many people perished that winter in Leningrad.

The official total is 264,ooo. But this figure was laid down during the

Stalinist years, when Leningrad’s sufferings were minimized.

Most Western scholars believe that the number of deaths from

starvation during the entire siege exceeded one million, and that

several hundred thousand more were killed by bombs, shells or gunfire.

By contrast, the United States and Britain together suffered fewer

than 800,00 deaths during all of World War II.”

Excerpts from “Russia Besieged   WWII.” Author Nicholas Bethell,

Publishers, Time-Life Books Inc.

The population of Leningrad at that time was around 3 million.

Islander.

“Our people were ignorant of the most essential economic questions,

an ignorance which was the product of interests  which always wanted

to keep the people uneducated. Why was it so? Because only in the absence

of political and economic consciousness could the government do  the

things it did here, maintain the demagogy which always existed here

and invent all the lies it used here to explain something so essential

to the life of the people as economy is.”

Fidel Castro.

Spoken on September 17th. 1959, it is as relevant a thought today

in this country as it was then on that day in Cuba.

Islander.

 

Has anyone noticed that everyone is out of step, but Johnny?

Let’s take the seven continents.

There’s at least one country out- of- step with Johnny on the

North American Continent, and as you head South there are

countries  on the Isthmus which join with many countries

on the South American Continent in being out- of- step with Johnny.

If you go East you find many countries on the African and European

Continents out- of- step with Johnny. If you go West, Australia,

a country and a Continent, is sometimes  in- step, sometimes out

and farther West before you reach the Asian Continent there is a

country called The Philippines, clearly out- of- step and rightfully so

in my opinion, that joins more than one country on the Asian Continent

in being out- of- step with Johnny.

As for Antarctica, the facts are inconclusive but it has been observed

that the Penguins kinda walk like  Johnny, ha,ha!

Islander.

I like analogies, who doesn’t, I like to make analogies,
who does not? Here’s one comes to mind.
“Sisyphus, son of Aeolus and king of Corinth who,
for his avarice and treachery, was condemned in the
underworld to roll a huge rock uphill which, upon
reaching the top, always rolled to the bottom.” Websters.
Then you have the military-industrial complex, who have
been rolling stones up and down Afghanistan’s mountains
for what is it, how many years?.
However, unlike Sisyphus, these war-meisters do not feel
condemned for their avarice and trickery, rather they
laugh all the way to their respective banks or generalships.
We are the condemned, I who write this, and you who read it.
Islander.

Did Americans give a rats ass when their government sent over fifty

thousand young Americans to their death in Vietnam, and for what

I might ask?, are you kidding.

Do Americans give a rats ass that their government has sent over five

thousand young Americans and still counting to their death in Iraq

and Afghanistan?, give me a break.

Will Americans  give a rats ass when their government declares war

on Iran or Russia?, of course not.

Did Americans in the Keystone pipeline area give a rats ass over the

oil spill  in the Gulf of Mexico that devastated the Gulf  states?,

get out of here.

Will Americans in the Gulf region give a rats ass when the Keystone

pipeline deal goes through?, and it will, nah.

Did Americans give a rats ass when Walmart put thousands of small

retailers out of business, thereby destroying much of the middle class

and affecting millions  of workers making a decent living, not to

mention their families while one family makes billions?, that’s a joke.

Do Americans give a rats ass that both federal and state governments

continue to destroy unions, thereby sending more and more

to the poorhouse?, it is to laugh.

Do Americans give a rats ass that federal and state governments

are abrogating their civil liberties as I write, duh, what did you say?

Do Americans give a rats ass  that thousands of young Americans are

incarcerated for many years for petty crimes? ho- hum.

Do Americans give a rats ass that their government has gone amok

and is running roughshod over the rest of the world? I think not.

Strikes me that Americans don’t give a shit about anything, but let

me tell you something, I think one day they will wake up from this

clueless stupor to find that there are people in the world that

do give a shit.

Islander

P.S. Wrote the above about two-three years ago, just getting around

to publishing it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are you asking the cop on the beat, are you asking the man on the street

or for that matter are you asking me or anyone that might read this

to discuss the Constitution of the United States?

I dare say you are asking too much.

Islander

Has the thought ever occurred to you that whatever you do

and I mean do, the ant at your feet

could not care less? You know, an ant!!

Islander

“He who scrawls on shithouse walls,

rolls his shit in little balls,

and they that read these lines of wit,

eat these little balls of shit.”

Author unknown, but like Kilroy he certainly got around.

I’m quite fond of analogy and the above quote

reminds me that many politicians speak nothing

but shit, and too many of us who listen to it

fucking eat it up.

Islander