John S Wilkins in Oz talking about his son who has an Aspergers diagnosis:
"[H]e has been bullied persistently by students and teachers and gangs because of this difference. Once, because he had seen it on TV that you had a right to defend yourself, he showed a pocket knife, sheathed, to some bullies physically attacking him at school, for which he was suspended and the bullies merely chastised. Actual violence was condoned by that school, while an attempt to stop it, however misguided, was punished. This is the lot of the Aspie."
So the debate is why did Adam Lanza, a young man who may have had Aspergers, and who lived in the USA with a mother who, like many Americans, was so alienated, paranoid and screwed up with fear of other people and about what they might do to her, that she felt it necessary to surround herself with a massive arsenal of weapons, why would the poor lad up and kill her and a bunch of other people?
This latest case in a long, nauseating catalogue reminds me of Ed Gein and his mother Augusta, where he has gone down in history for his bizarre and ghoulish crimes. According to Wikipedia:
"Augusta despised her husband, but the marriage persisted because of the family's religious belief against divorce. Augusta Gein operated a small grocery store and eventually purchased a farm on the outskirts of the small town of Plainfield, Wisconsin ..."
"Augusta Gein moved to this location to prevent outsiders from influencing her sons. Edward Gein left the premises only to go to school. Besides school, he spent most of his time doing chores on the farm. Augusta Gein, a fervent Lutheran, preached to her boys the innate immorality of the world, the evil of drinking, and the belief that all women (herself excluded) were prostitutes and instruments of the devil. She reserved time every afternoon to read to them from the Bible, usually selecting graphic verses from the Old Testament dealing with death, murder, and divine retribution."
"A shy, effeminate boy, the younger Gein became a target for bullies. Classmates and teachers recalled off-putting mannerisms, such as seemingly random laughter, as if he were laughing at his own personal jokes. To make matters worse, his mother punished him whenever he tried to make friends ..."
"Gein tried to make his mother happy, but she was rarely pleased with her boys; she often abused them, believing that they were destined to become failures like their father. During their teens and throughout their early adulthood, the boys remained detached from people outside of their farmstead, and so had only each other for company."
With an upbringing like this why would anyone be surprised at what some brainwashed and tortured individuals may turn to?
As for Lanza, my feeling, as someone who lives in the UK where pretty much the only guns around are those in the hands of criminals, and who is familiar with Aspergers, is that the Lanza case appears very much a mental health issue.
First of all the mother seems to have fallen under the grip of a cult; namely the Preppers, who are preaching Doomsday millennialism and fear on a grand scale. Secondly, the son seems very much the victim of his mother’s delusional state, one which, if he was an Aspie he would be especially vulnerable to.
I really like John's OP though, especially as he is one of the few to correct this false impression about Aspies somehow having no empathy.
If anything, it is the USA’s love affair with the gun which is a symptom of their widespread mental ill health. In mainland Europe there are many countries where guns are widely held by the public, but they do not constantly misuse them in the way USAmericans do.
As for tkieler’s idea about bundling up all the non-neurotypical youngsters together and putting them under surveillance what a shameful notion. It reminds me of the Apartheid era pencil test where if your hair was a bit too curly you were suddenly classified as “coloured” and exiled from your family.
If the USA doesn’t wise up and learn some compassion - and deal with their religious nutters - they will keep on tearing themselves apart.
Video - why the deranged US population are unlikely to accept having their toys taken away from them.
Friday, 21 December 2012
Sunday, 2 December 2012
Little Boxes & Big Fat Wallets
A plea from Stravaiger John:
"There are hundreds of thousands of properties, residential, commercial etc. standing empty across Britain.
Would it not make more sense to take over and renovate these before building anything else?
People in real need of a home could be given a government loan if they were prepared to take over a property and do it up themselves, as could community groups and social housing associations.
This would surely be a better solution than having speculative developers wrecking the countryside."
No John, that would be too much like common sense, which as we all know is something only common people have.
Respectable HNWIs (High Net Worth Individuals, to those who matter) don't use common sense, common decency, or anything else common to think with, they use their wallets because that's all that matters, going forward.
A commenter responds, "Yes ... As the law stands an owner can leave their property empty for ever as long as they maintain it! I know cos we have one around here that has been empty for 15 years and I wrote to the council and they said there was nothing they could do unless it was derelict!"
But is this true? I don't reckon it is.
So, sorry to say I think the council may be lying ... haha ... surely not?!?
I heard functionaries discussing this at a "Neighbourhood Partnership" meeting once, talking about all the slippery tricks that property owners use to avoid facing up to their responsibilities. Presumably the legislation - like a lot these days - was inadequately drafted, either by accident, or call me pessimistic, borne out of long experience, by design.
This is what one useful website has to say on the matter:
"Empty Dwelling Management Orders (EDMOs) were introduced by the Housing Act 2004 and the powers subsequently made available to local authorities two years later.
A substantial body of technical information exists on how they are supposed to work, but to date very little practical help based on the experience of those who have actually used EDMOs has been available. We hope this guidance goes some way to filling that gap.
Drawing on the practical experience of empty property officers across the country, we have attempted to distil the most useful and important advice available. The guide includes a flow chart, a step-by-step guide to the process, top tips, pitfalls to avoid, detailed advice notes on each stage, and a set of model documents to use and adapt to your own circumstances."
I agree with both Stravaiger John and his commenter, there are hundreds of thousands of buildings out there that could be brought into use, or better used, given the political will, but I fear that that is what is lacking. With the plutocratic, kleptokratic crony government that we are groaning under now it makes far more profit for them just to hand their mates among the big feudal landowners (yes, they're still alive and kicking - especially in Devon) and the big housebuilding consortia some nice fat contracts.
There's also the issue of VAT which, despite long complaint by us "little people", is still extorted on refurbishment materials and work, but not payable on new build.
"There are hundreds of thousands of properties, residential, commercial etc. standing empty across Britain.
Would it not make more sense to take over and renovate these before building anything else?
People in real need of a home could be given a government loan if they were prepared to take over a property and do it up themselves, as could community groups and social housing associations.
This would surely be a better solution than having speculative developers wrecking the countryside."
No John, that would be too much like common sense, which as we all know is something only common people have.
Respectable HNWIs (High Net Worth Individuals, to those who matter) don't use common sense, common decency, or anything else common to think with, they use their wallets because that's all that matters, going forward.
A commenter responds, "Yes ... As the law stands an owner can leave their property empty for ever as long as they maintain it! I know cos we have one around here that has been empty for 15 years and I wrote to the council and they said there was nothing they could do unless it was derelict!"
But is this true? I don't reckon it is.
So, sorry to say I think the council may be lying ... haha ... surely not?!?
I heard functionaries discussing this at a "Neighbourhood Partnership" meeting once, talking about all the slippery tricks that property owners use to avoid facing up to their responsibilities. Presumably the legislation - like a lot these days - was inadequately drafted, either by accident, or call me pessimistic, borne out of long experience, by design.
This is what one useful website has to say on the matter:
"Empty Dwelling Management Orders (EDMOs) were introduced by the Housing Act 2004 and the powers subsequently made available to local authorities two years later.
A substantial body of technical information exists on how they are supposed to work, but to date very little practical help based on the experience of those who have actually used EDMOs has been available. We hope this guidance goes some way to filling that gap.
Drawing on the practical experience of empty property officers across the country, we have attempted to distil the most useful and important advice available. The guide includes a flow chart, a step-by-step guide to the process, top tips, pitfalls to avoid, detailed advice notes on each stage, and a set of model documents to use and adapt to your own circumstances."
I agree with both Stravaiger John and his commenter, there are hundreds of thousands of buildings out there that could be brought into use, or better used, given the political will, but I fear that that is what is lacking. With the plutocratic, kleptokratic crony government that we are groaning under now it makes far more profit for them just to hand their mates among the big feudal landowners (yes, they're still alive and kicking - especially in Devon) and the big housebuilding consortia some nice fat contracts.
There's also the issue of VAT which, despite long complaint by us "little people", is still extorted on refurbishment materials and work, but not payable on new build.
Monday, 26 November 2012
And, for My Next Prediction …
To be honest, I don't think you needed to be a genius to work out that the ludicrously unsustainable debt bubble built up during the Noughties would lead to major, major problems, but for those who did foresee the brown stuff hitting the fan Ann Pettifor must surely be a bit of a heroine; an economist bravely swimming against the tide and getting the truth spoken on public platforms inaccessible to the rest of us. Despite the (inevitable) dismissals and ridicule visited on those with unwelcome news she insisted on administering the warning - many times in fact. Here for example:
Wednesday 17 May 2006
“There are many among the world's financial elites aware of the danger of housing and stockmarket "bubbles" financed by borrowing; of debt "imbalances"; of the potential of a crash and prolonged crisis … This is a terrifying lose-lose game. We are in it, because of the reckless abuse by the private finance sector of the powers granted them through deregulation and liberalisation.”
Sunday 28 January 2007
"Tottering on the brink: The inherent instability of the giant Ponzi schemes underwriting the world economy means financial meltdown is a huge threat."
And how right she was then.
Now with the appointment of former Goldman Sachs banker Mark Carney to govern the Bank of England she's at it again with the dire predictions:
Monday 26 November 2012
“So be very afraid. Business-as-usual will prevail. And nothing will be done to constrain the City, and therefore to prevent the next collapse of the financial system.” Check out what she has to say at The Guardian, or her blog here.
Back in November 2010 I observed that Wikipedia was calling it "The Financial Crisis of 2007 to present", but they have now separated the crisis into two discrete pages called "Financial Crisis of 2007 - 2008" and "2007 - 2012 global economic crisis". But soon we'll be into 2013, then 2014 and so on.
What will it morph into next?
Wednesday 17 May 2006
“There are many among the world's financial elites aware of the danger of housing and stockmarket "bubbles" financed by borrowing; of debt "imbalances"; of the potential of a crash and prolonged crisis … This is a terrifying lose-lose game. We are in it, because of the reckless abuse by the private finance sector of the powers granted them through deregulation and liberalisation.”
Sunday 28 January 2007
"Tottering on the brink: The inherent instability of the giant Ponzi schemes underwriting the world economy means financial meltdown is a huge threat."
And how right she was then.
Now with the appointment of former Goldman Sachs banker Mark Carney to govern the Bank of England she's at it again with the dire predictions:
Monday 26 November 2012
“So be very afraid. Business-as-usual will prevail. And nothing will be done to constrain the City, and therefore to prevent the next collapse of the financial system.” Check out what she has to say at The Guardian, or her blog here.
Back in November 2010 I observed that Wikipedia was calling it "The Financial Crisis of 2007 to present", but they have now separated the crisis into two discrete pages called "Financial Crisis of 2007 - 2008" and "2007 - 2012 global economic crisis". But soon we'll be into 2013, then 2014 and so on.
What will it morph into next?
Saturday, 24 November 2012
Thursday, 13 September 2012
Evangelical Black Ops
Don’t tell me this drivel cost $5 million. Every single thing about this piece of crap - and its originator - is dodgy, and it has resulted in the deaths of several people already, with no doubt more to follow, including in Benghazi, the first serving US Ambassador to die in office since Arnold Raphel, in Pakistan, 1988. Curiously enough, Raphel was “killed along with Pakistani President Zia ul-Haq and Brigadier General Herbert M. Wassom when their plane mysteriously crashed shortly after takeoff from Bahawalpur.”
So in Libya the inevitable bloody chickens are coming home to roost on yet another episode of insane US ideological adventurism stirring trouble in Arab countries and attempting to enforce their political system on others. Will it make them think again on their involvement in helping Islamists (once again, their purported enemies) in Syria? I doubt it, the Yanks really are that dumb!
So in Libya the inevitable bloody chickens are coming home to roost on yet another episode of insane US ideological adventurism stirring trouble in Arab countries and attempting to enforce their political system on others. Will it make them think again on their involvement in helping Islamists (once again, their purported enemies) in Syria? I doubt it, the Yanks really are that dumb!
Sunday, 1 July 2012
Nice Guns, Nice Blood
Even the Daily Mail can’t resist taking the piss out of SOFEX 2012, comparing the beards, dark glasses and oversized military peaks on prominent display to Sacha Baron Cohen’s Dictator film. I still feel let down though, as these guys just aren’t putting up enough bling. More gold braid and tinsel please gents, you look like de-feathered cockerels compared to the glorious Ruritanians of past ages.
And, as a nice counterpoint, Femail continues its breathless reportage on the spectacular air balloon rise of the Middleton family now that Sis is assimilated into The Firm. Let all that be some consolation even if, as a mere brood mare, Kate will forever have to face being relegated to an inferior position at events, behind the likes of Beatrice & Eugenie, who as ‘blood princesses’ - ie real princesses, not yer poncy middle class nouveaux - must, naturally, be shewn all reverence due to their royal blood as it trickles down from Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne. Yes folks, this really does matter!
And, as a nice counterpoint, Femail continues its breathless reportage on the spectacular air balloon rise of the Middleton family now that Sis is assimilated into The Firm. Let all that be some consolation even if, as a mere brood mare, Kate will forever have to face being relegated to an inferior position at events, behind the likes of Beatrice & Eugenie, who as ‘blood princesses’ - ie real princesses, not yer poncy middle class nouveaux - must, naturally, be shewn all reverence due to their royal blood as it trickles down from Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne. Yes folks, this really does matter!
Thursday, 28 June 2012
Quiet Sell-out to Islamists by USA en Route to Christian Theocracy
Proxy War
Far from the West standing back, the likelihood is that the Western interests are in fact behind the whole so called "Arab Spring" flummery in the first place.
Think about it. Is it just sheer coincidence that, having already got rid of Iraq's secular Baath Party the West has thrown in vast sums of money to help Islamists in Libya to overthrow the secular government of Qadafi as well as cheerleading the overthrow of Egypt's secular President Mubarak, in favour of, it now turns out, a new Islamist leader. All the while ignoring vicious crackdowns against protesters when perpetrated by Sunni autocrats and allies of the West.
Across the Middle East the West very much appears, on the quiet, to be foolishly taking sides; backing Bush's old Sunni cronies in Saudi Arabia against Iran, the Shia and Secular forces. The Middle East will easily see through this for the cowardly and underhand manoevring that it is, and, far from appeasing our enemies as our silver-spoon-fed leaders no doubt fondly believe, Islamists will also have no difficulty in smelling the stench of weakness from a wounded animal, such as our senile democracies have become.
On this analysis the future looks very bleak for anyone who doesn't like the idea of being ruled by Theocrats ... whether Islamic ... or Christian ...
Saudis to pay Syrian Guerrilla Forces
'The eastern Libyan rebellion began with a “Day of Rage” on February 17. The “Day of Rage” was called by an organization named the National Conference for the Libyan Opposition (NCLO). The choice of the date was not arbitrary. According to the English edition of the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, the date was chosen to commemorate “the 17 February 2006 uprisings in the city of Benghazi where protests against the Danish cartoons of the prophet Muhammad were transformed into mass demonstrations against Gaddafi and his regime, resulting in the death of dozens of protestors and the injury of many more.” ' PJM
CNN
Global Muslim Brotherhood Report
But all studiously ignored on the likes of Wikipedia, here.
Theocrats Hand in Hand
Reminiscent of the 19th century Scramble for Africa - what a lovely carve-up our Betters seem to think they can pull off now. Is that the deal? "We'll help you Islamists gain control over the Middle East if you'll pretty pretty please just leave us in peace to establish good Christian rule over America and Europe ... oh, and pleeeease don't cut off our oil ..." I can just imagine Western plutocrats snivelling as they bow and scrape for all they're worth in Riyadh.
Far from the West standing back, the likelihood is that the Western interests are in fact behind the whole so called "Arab Spring" flummery in the first place.
Think about it. Is it just sheer coincidence that, having already got rid of Iraq's secular Baath Party the West has thrown in vast sums of money to help Islamists in Libya to overthrow the secular government of Qadafi as well as cheerleading the overthrow of Egypt's secular President Mubarak, in favour of, it now turns out, a new Islamist leader. All the while ignoring vicious crackdowns against protesters when perpetrated by Sunni autocrats and allies of the West.
Across the Middle East the West very much appears, on the quiet, to be foolishly taking sides; backing Bush's old Sunni cronies in Saudi Arabia against Iran, the Shia and Secular forces. The Middle East will easily see through this for the cowardly and underhand manoevring that it is, and, far from appeasing our enemies as our silver-spoon-fed leaders no doubt fondly believe, Islamists will also have no difficulty in smelling the stench of weakness from a wounded animal, such as our senile democracies have become.
On this analysis the future looks very bleak for anyone who doesn't like the idea of being ruled by Theocrats ... whether Islamic ... or Christian ...
Saudis to pay Syrian Guerrilla Forces
'The eastern Libyan rebellion began with a “Day of Rage” on February 17. The “Day of Rage” was called by an organization named the National Conference for the Libyan Opposition (NCLO). The choice of the date was not arbitrary. According to the English edition of the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, the date was chosen to commemorate “the 17 February 2006 uprisings in the city of Benghazi where protests against the Danish cartoons of the prophet Muhammad were transformed into mass demonstrations against Gaddafi and his regime, resulting in the death of dozens of protestors and the injury of many more.” ' PJM
CNN
Global Muslim Brotherhood Report
But all studiously ignored on the likes of Wikipedia, here.
Theocrats Hand in Hand
Reminiscent of the 19th century Scramble for Africa - what a lovely carve-up our Betters seem to think they can pull off now. Is that the deal? "We'll help you Islamists gain control over the Middle East if you'll pretty pretty please just leave us in peace to establish good Christian rule over America and Europe ... oh, and pleeeease don't cut off our oil ..." I can just imagine Western plutocrats snivelling as they bow and scrape for all they're worth in Riyadh.
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