blue grey

UnreportedWorld - offers a lead to a memorable and enriching evening WEDNESDAY: 4th November. Free screening:- 1800 to 2000 Premier of new documentary - 72 Hours - Film starts PROMPTLY @ 1805 Lebanon's burden of 4 million cluster bombs, planted by Israel at the end of their invasion in 2006.Friends of Lebanon have organised a powerful line up at the prestigious Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House Westminster SW1. This is Parliament: ALLOW 30 mins to clear security. Map here http://www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/faxmap.pdf Directions here http://www.parliament.uk/visiting/directions.cfm Frank Cook MP will chair event. 72 Hours will be screened and Lebanese citizens effected by the catastrophe will be in attendance. It promises to be a memorable evening. Free admission. MORE INFO http://www.friendsoflebanon.org/index.htm So sorry about late notice, I just found out.

Just an update on the situation regarding all those cluster bombs in Southern Lebanon: United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams said that Israel has to provide detailed maps indicating the location of cluster bombs in south Lebanon. He pointed that the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) have requested from Israel to provide such detailed maps more than once. He added that United Nations Security Council resolution 1701 has not been fully implemented. Following a tour of the southern city of Tyre on Friday in which he met with the city's municipal head and members, Williams said the U.N. has continuously worked on cleansing the south of land mines and cluster bombs. "Work must continue, and Israel must provide maps showing the location of such bombs. The U.N. and the UNIFIL have called on Israel more than once to make these maps available," Williams said. He expressed his relief that Lebanon is enjoying calm adding: "there is a lot of work ahead that we have to do, particularly in returning the Ghajjar village and the Shebaa Farms (back to Lebanon)…ending the violation of Lebanese airspace that occurs daily." Naharnet Newsdesk

Yes. I do so hope that he is managing to create work of this particularly fine quality now, despite everything. And here is news of how determined people in Greece stopped a massive arms shipment for the time being. GlobalVoicesOnline

Here's an update on the cluster bomb situation from antiwar.com: "Most of the world’s nations met today in Oslo, Norway to sign a treaty banning the use, stockpile, transfer, and manufacture of cluster munitions. Among those agreeing to the ban were most NATO members, including Britain, France, Germany, and Australia. Conspicuously absent were Russia, China, Israel, India, Pakistan, and the world’s largest manufacturer of such weapons, the United States. " "The US State Department defended the decision, claiming that signing the ban would put US soldiers at risk. The US has been at the center of most recent high profile cluster munitions uses. During the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, the United States littered the Afghan countryside with cluster munitions. Making matters worse, they dropped food aid for the civilian populace in packages the same color and of similar appearance to the bomblets. The Pentagon eventually decided to change the color of the food packages, but the incident proved a major embarrassment for the invasion forces. Afghanistan announced today that it would become a last-minute surprise signatory to the ban." "Perhaps even more noteworthy, the United States rushed a shipment of cluster munitions to Israel during its 2006 invasion of Southern Lebanon, which the Israeli military proceeded to scatter around hundreds of locations in Lebanon in the waning days of the war, in a move they insisted was “self defense.” The bomblets have continued to kill and maim civilians and foreigners dispatched to aid in their clean-up for the past two years. International outrage over this use, perhaps more than any other, was the catalyst for today’s ban. How much value the treaty will have without the weapon’s largest users remains to be seen."

Talking about writing a poem or whatever, I'd been wanting to write something about my two favourite songs, when one of those doomly gloomly moments gave me the perfect opportunity a couple of weeks ago, (bit slow to post things, if ever, been meaning to.) So, here's what I wrote: Just wanted to mention that last Monday was one of those days that went screwy just before lunch, broke up into a thousand tiny pieces accelerating away from me in every direction like bright diamonds raining outwards. Leaving me in the dark. And I felt so alone that it seemed impossible to be doing what I was doing, it seemed impossible to ever speak, ever speak, ever say.. and the floor began to fall away. I didn't want to be on the edge, hadn't expected or planned to be standing there, not this week, not this sunless summer. Don't remember. Do that again. Fight the fog of dissuasion, find spirit support, soul support. Get Mika out from under Sibelius's 5th, Vaughan Williams's Sea Symphony, Yo-Yo Ma playing Ennio Morricone, Nina Simone playing You'll Never Walk Alone on the piano so forcefully. Drop Mika on the spindle, choose track 5 - Relax - and it gets me just below the rib cage, the wave; the spine instantly loosens rhythm from exactly where you're starting from, hurtling towards the edge, alone; except dear Mika has been there too, and evidently spent much time exploring the outer fringes of accepted things.. Discovering the nature of truth, playing with fire indeed, real knowledge often being frightening, relaxation so much helps the process of understanding which takes time, and any other world opens me up to another set of resolutions, almost unconscious, blest by a contrary nature I never could say goodbye to the world I love, and yes in any other world you could tell the difference.

Yes, of course it is. I didn't mean to trespass, just to share something I know to be important at this moment in history. You, the young ones, are the light of the future, that's why I came here. Old bats are allowed to put their heads round the door I think, especially if we have cakes, and don't put our feet up. Going away to hide and drink some good French coffee. Peace.x

Here's that link again, in case anyone missed it, pass it on: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=oLoBckWl-dg Thank you. That's my daughter reading a book of waves and her little girl is the winged kitten jumping for joy, and I painted the picture to celebrate the abiding thought that another woman, far away, had baked for my daughter a plate of cakes and brought them to her when she was doing her homework. I missed her so much. She was in the land of trulli, the little round houses like chess pieces in the background, a beautiful feature of Puglia in southern Italy. Now she is close by again, and has a young man baking her cakes. As for absolute power corrupting, doesn't it just! Perhaps if we all point and stare and look and understand we can stop bullies of all kinds in their tracks. This is one of those moments I think.

Well I'm posting this message here because it feels like the right place to put it, I think you will understand why. I came across this on youtube and I think everyone needs to know about it and its important to pass it on: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=oLoBckWl-dg I always listen to Relax and Any Other World when I'm having trouble with the world. Its our beautiful world and I love it. It belongs to all of us and I think we're happy to share it with each other. Trust and friendship, respect and high expectations of each other. Those are our strongest weapons against all kinds of wrong.

I am so frightened just now that I've been listening to Relax and Any Other World, so as to get my breath, often helps with sense of proportion, singing in wordless harmony to Any Other World in particular. But it hasn't quite worked yet because I have to find the answer quickly to start a project that's very urgent, but I won't tell you about it, because there isn't time.. I need to know how to get permission to use Any Other World as the soundtrack for a slide show, or can someone ask for me, have to work, have to work its the layers of meaning, the way their tectonic plates slip together supporting understanding cushioning shock

I looked someone in the eye and fell in.

It works fine by the looks of it, just close the next window after you've voted. I'm asking for Relax, Any Other World and Grace Kelly. Wish I'd said Happy Ending too, it's so cathartic.

Thanks for that link, a lovely performance.

Exuberance is in serious trouble, look at what happened at this high school graduation, and wonder why Mika isn't being played on the radio. 7 Arrested for Cheering at Graduation :eek: Page Ivey ROCK HILL, S.C. (June 10 2008) - When school officials in Rock Hill, South Carolina, tell graduation ceremony crowds to hold their applause until the end, they mean it -- Police arrested seven people after they were accused of loud cheering during the ceremonies. Six people at Fort Mill High School's graduation were charged Saturday and a seventh at the graduation for York Comprehensive High School was charged Friday with disorderly conduct, authorities said. Police said the seven yelled after students' names were called. "I just thought they were going to escort me out," Jonathan Orr told The Herald of Rock Hill. "I had no idea they were going to put and cuffs on me and take me to jail." Orr, 21, spent two hours in jail after he was arrested when he yelled for his cousin at York's commencement at the Winthrop University Coliseum. Rock Hill police began patrolling commencements several years ago at the request of school districts who complained of increasing disruption. Those attending graduations are told they can be prosecuted for bad behavior and letters are sent home with students, said Rock Hill police spokesman Lt. Jerry Waldrop. All the cases, except for one that includes a resisting arrest charge, will be handled in city court and are punishable by a maximum of 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. Orr said he thinks people should be allowed to cheer. "For some people, it might be the only member of their family to graduate high school, and it was like a funeral in there," Orr said. William Massey, 19, was arrested but said he plans to fight the charge. He said he simply "clapped and gave a little whoop" when his fiancee's name was called. Massey said there were warnings before the ceremony but none that said he could be arrested. He said not everyone who cheered was arrested. "There's a lot more people that did it than six or seven," said Massey, who graduated from Fort Mill last year. Fort Mill Principal Dee Christopher says school officials don't ask that offenders be arrested but that he plans to keep a police presence at future graduation ceremonies. "We think it's important for every graduate's name to be heard and for every person in the arena to be able to see that student cross the stage. ... That's why we have disruptive guests removed," he said. Last year in Galesburg, Illinois, five students were denied diplomas from the city's lone public high school after enthusiastic friends or family members cheered for them during commencement. Students could get their diplomas after completing eight hours of public service for the school district. School defends tasering 16-yr-old student for hesitancy to show I.D. Imagine all that, and no Mika to help keep the spirits up.

Mika is genuinely and deliciously subversive. I don't suppose he's likely to be welcome over there just now, things being so strange these days. I have several friends there who are very worried indeed, having absurd difficulties. An indication of how careful we all need to be in valuing freedom of speech: Freedom of Speech and H.R. 1955 pt. 1

This essay so resonates with Any Other World, sure many here will appreciate it: This sordid American drama, the one I am calling a Dark Age, will in all likelihood not be completed until well into this century or the next, with a slew of increasingly nasty episodes along the way. Everyone here in the hotel lounge will say goodbye to this world long before America says the Big Goodbye. Until then, we are left to play out the game day by day. That being the case, we should elect to play it out with the best among us, the ones on humanity's side, that hidden and unheralded aristocracy -- those quiet lamp lighters making their way through the deepening dusk of American civilization. E. M. Forster described them as, "Not an aristocracy of power, but an aristocracy of the sensitive, considerate and the plucky. Its members are to be found in all nations and classes and through the ages, and they know each other when they meet. ... Authority, seeing their value, tries to net them and to utilize them. ... But they slip through the net and are gone; when the door is shut they are no longer in the room; Their temple is the Holiness of the Heart's Imagination, and their kingdom, though they never possess it, is the wide open world." In this they are deathless. Like periwinkles. Joe Bageant, The Audacity of Depression

The song most likely to make me cry is Any Other World, galvanising tears.

Giu, you describe the effects of Over My Shoulder so well. I love its purity too, and contemplative pace, soaring above the edge, inhabiting alienation like a vantage point, a route to transcendence.

When I nipped in here to see if my babbling had been expunged and found your kind reply it was so cheering. Mildly intoxicated with the sense of camaraderie I had a quick look at the lollipop thread which led to a brief meditation upon the nature of wolves and some worthwhile research. Thank you.

Curious, and agreeing at the time that rot was better in the context, I followed the link to the video, unable to hear the words as my speakers don't work. So watched the wolves and the little girl in silence, whilst considering the phrase "too much candy gonna ride your soul". This seemed to push the interpretation of the wolves in a tougher direction, since it implies something that continues using, without destroying, the soul (indestructible as all our spirits are I trust). And I couldn't help wondering about the girls I'd heard about in the UK, being groomed by pimps, innocently charmed and enticed by degrees into dreadful situations in new internal sex trafficking networks. How are things for them I wondered, is the realisation of this new trade in British schoolchildren being alleviated by the law. I'd heard nothing new for weeks, so did a little research at once. Came up with this : CROP Coalition for the Removal of Pimping a voluntary organisation working to end the sexual exploitation of children and young people by pimps and traffickers. Sexual Exploitation As stated on the home page CROP is dedicated to combatting sexual exploitation in all its forms. In particular it looks at the role of pimps and traffickers (most commonly older men) in controlling and exploiting victims (usually young girls). Our research shows that there is a recognisable sequence of phases in grooming girls for exploitation. Initial contact is often made in public places such as at school, in shopping malls, entertainment arcades, cinemas, bus or train stations, but may also be through the internet. Even if the initial contact is of her own age, the girl may be passed on to an older ‘friend’ who flatters her with gifts, attractive outings and extravagant promises. She is gradually inveigled into truanting from school, becoming secretive, returning home late and spending increasingly shorter times with her family as well as being introduced to alcohol and drugs. In the second phase of grooming and exploitation, the friendly association turns into an exchange of favours. Sexual responses are sought as a means to pay back the money spent on cigarettes, drinks, drugs, lifts in cars and mobile phones. As exploitation increases so she is alienated from her family and other support systems such as friends and teachers. She may comply with the perpetrator’s demands out of fear for her own and her family’s safety. In the third phase, the pimp completely controls the girl’s life. As far as possible he severs her relationships with her family and any other friends or support systems. Threats are made about her own and her family’s safety if she does not comply with the wishes of the pimp. It is very difficult for the girl to break out of this situation of control and dependence, especially as she may by then be addicted to drugs. And the following quote is from 'Tackling Human Trafficking - Consultation for Proposals for a UK Action Plan' CROP's parent support work brought to light the movement of young people from and across towns and cities within the country for purposes of sexual exploitation by criminal perpetrators. It is important to recognise that means and methods used for purposes of grooming and trafficking by organised criminal pimping networks within the country are similar to those at the international level and that these activities at the domestic and international level equally serve to meet demands of the domestic sex markets. As one parent puts it, "We talk of international trafficking. We are not saying that we should not do anything about that. But look here, they are passing these children from gang to gang just like they are doing with girls brought from abroad. That's what is happening." CROP is concerned that internal trafficking of children, young people and women within the UK and other Western countries, operates through targeting and grooming and is accompanied by extreme abuse and violence; and yet is not regarded by society in the same way as international trafficking which evokes necessary public outrage. Girls targeted by criminal pimps are sent to different parts of the country which is why they go missing from home. CROP has become aware of gangs and individual pimps from Yorkshire sending girls to many towns and cities in the Yorkshire region and around the country where they know of demand - e.g. to Newcastle, Birmingham, Manchester and London. Developing a national overview and acknowledging the scale of the problem of trafficking at the domestic level would lead to the development of an action plan aimed at prevention and prosecution at all levels. As it currently stands the law is failing to protect girls from this flourishing new form of an old trade, and really lets them down completely when their need is most acute, as you will see if you look into it further. Yes indeed, the dark side of Mika's music does hit the spot.

Losing things in general, that rings the bells. One of the several wide areas of life this song bestirs - 3 years ago I was on my way to Ireland with the ashes of my ex-husband. Flying. Totally lost it in Stanstead Airport. Terrible journey. Left suitcase in other end of carriage, didn't remember where till on the plane. Thought it had been stolen, told police I wasn't mad. Of course I am really. Fell apart in the lift, holding the ashes in my arms, so heavy, started shouting, couldn't bear to lose anything else. Bad situation just kept getting worse the way it does. You end up so much more alone at times like that, everyone looks away and pretends they can't see you or hear you. It's truly alienating. You just keep on going, there's nothing else to do, just carry on, finish the journey. Stand at the airport alone at the other end. Other travellers gone. They're late. You're still clasping his ashes like a child to your breast. Or a heavy jar of sweets, the shape of it. Homelessness is truly alienating too. Times like that, they pass, you can laugh at them, but you never forget. They're engraved in your psyche like brands. Experiences accumulate, when another upsetting thing happens the whole lot rushes at you. You can duck and dive, or waltz with it all, or leap out of the way, beware, be brave, be true. The edge is there, and beyond it - a landing place you do not notice you have reached until you walk away. Crying now, just in free flow, sorry chaps but there you are. Just another bit of condescension hit me on the shoulder, came from a friend. And stones from boys. Family member told me he's going to Ramallah to teach the piano to children there. Heard on the http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/ BBC yesterday description of soldiers arriving suddenly outside a cafe in Ramallah and pulling out a young man. They said he was a terrorist and shot him in the legs. Then they shot him in the stomach, then the head. Early twenties. Like our boy. What haunts is description of the sound of the men crying after the soldiers had gone. The men in the street and the boys, holding on to each other and crying and crying, traumatised with an accumulation of terrible shocks. Probably shouldn't mention such things here. Sorry. Forgive me. I can't help it. People avoid me because I suddenly start blurting things out, ranting, it's all madness apparently. These great rushes of powerful impressions of life here and there, stepping between the lies that litter the shore, suddenly the words come tumbling. Doesn't it make up for all that silence, standing in the kitchen, chopping onions, stirring pots, looking into the roses, watching the clouds that come and go, falling off the horizon at a velocity to please the senses mightily. Don't dare to say what I really think for fear of the consequences. Not name, not marvel at the indifference Got the shivers and the shakes, that's the way when certain thoughts come close, some. Must go but first can I crack this and bbl=urt a thought that might portray for a moment there the variety of doors to choose from to pass through a moment, thinking a thought, beginning spinning a new litany for the day. Opening the heart to the unknown thought, the new thoughts seeking homes, wending their bright way through the attending aeons, seeking minds to greet them, hearts to recognise their worth and grant them leave to dwell in the garden of being. The garden of being alive here, now, in this strange light which might prove beautiful.

Thank you. Relax - a masterpiece. Raffa, just look at what life has thrown at her yet she's fully engaged with the whole living living living The trouble usually just comes down to some bastards doing their thing. There are so many of them about, so many bastards doing their thing one way or another blasting their imperfect visions across our horizons say goodbye play the part of a lonely lonely heart say goodbye to the world you thought you lived in.

Lucky it was just the one... could have been very disturbing.

This is what I painted.

Yesterday in Dublin a conference hoping to outlaw cluster bombs began, and goes on for eleven days. The main users and stockpilers won't be there. Britain is one of the countries lobbying for the exclusion of some cluster bombs from the ban. Lebanon's War with Cluster Bombs

Yes, these two songs have had an inspiring influence on me, and Raffa's story is embedded in them. It is so poignant, and she so philosophical. I had a good friend once who said the voice is the real window to the soul. Her presence knitted into the songs has helped me to assimilate some difficult matters in my imagination, and to express a range of ideas that I would have thought impossible once. The edifice of our minds, the weave of familiar thoughts.