A Total Revolution ( an answer for Robert Frost ) - Oscar Williams ( 29/12/00 - 10/10/64)

( Oscar Williams was the pen name of Oscar Kaplan  American anthropologist and poet, here's a comparative piece)

A Total Revolution

I advocate a total revolution.
The trouble with a semi-revolution.
It's likely to be as slow as evolution. 
Who wants  to spend ages in collusion
With Compromise, Complacence and Confusion?
As for the same class coming out on top
That's wholecloth from the propaganda shop;
The old saw says there's loads of room on top.
That's where the poor should really plan to stop.
And speaking of those people called  the 'haves'
Who own the whole cow and must have the calves
(And plant the wounds so they can sell the salves)
They won't be stopped by doing things by halves.
I say that for a permanent solution
There's nothing like  a total revolution!

In comparison  here's Robert Frosts poem, more famous than Oscar I guess, but I know which poem I prefer, Oscar wins head down.

A Semi Revolution  - Robert Frost ( 26/3/1874- 29/1/63)

I advocate a semi-revolution
The trouble with a total revolution
( ask any reputable Rosicrucucian)
Is that it brings the same class up on top.
Executives of skillful execution
Will therefore  plan to go half-way and stop.
Yes, revolutions are the only salves,
But they're one thing that should be done by halves.


By the way Robert a true Rosicrucian  would never openly admit to being one, while a true revolutionary wears a radical  heart on their sleeves, their cause self-evident, ready and willing  to sacrifice themselves for their beliefs.

Your NHS in Tory hands

This is what is happening :-

" That's the standard technique of privatisation : defund , make sure things didn't work , people get angry , you hand it over to private capital. " - Noam Chomsky

As Richard Branson  is awarded a hospital contract, it is obvious that the change from a publicly provided N.H. S is being done piece by piece and the extent of the change is being hidden by keeping the logo.
Over here in West Wales  it seems that Costa Coffee has a new store opening in Glangwili General Hospital , Carmarthen around Feb/March 2016. This leaves a bad taste because the Royal Volunteer Service (WRVS) already provide a  wonderful dedicated first class service. But guess they don't matter as those on high  grant prestigious contracts  that allow and pave the way for the creeping menace of privatisation to leave its  ugly mark.
Hospitals are increasingly understaffed and ill-resourced and unable to respond to the urgent need of patients - even those of emergency patients. It is not the fault of the staff , it is the fault of the Tories, who have driven the N.H.S to breaking point. Waiting times are up, and it is getting increasingly  difficult to see  your G.P  when you want,  combined with ambulance services  being put  under enormous pressure. 
The N.H.S is in crisis because it is continually being undermined by this government through covert privatisation  that carries on the wreckage and destruction that Margaret Thatcher started. The N.H.S on a cliff edge because of underfunding which threatens to push it over,  with  continuing attempts  to make the N.H.S unworkable by making impossible demands on the system and its staff so we have to continue  to fight to save it from  the grips of the privateers, because we owe it our lives. We can not afford to sit back  while it is being chipped further away and falling increasingly into the hands of those who seek to make profit out of our healthcare.
The Torys  keep pledging that the N.H.S is safe in its hands but at least we can now see this  for the lie that is.

This resilient thing called love

( another poem for Jane, my beautiful wonderful partner who  returned home  the other day, after  6 months  stuck in hospital.)

I have experienced it's effectiveness,
as it has carried me,
through seas of melancholy, 
over plaintive depths,
have felt it's touch from afar,
after it called to remind me,
flying across the evening skies,
allowing dreams to persist,
filling thoughts by day and night,
inflaming heart with joy unbound,
a gentle beauty that blows away confusion,
in the swaying grass, under the stars,
withstanding  the tests of time,
lighting paths, for souls to navigate,
beating in unison, dancing in tune,
wrapping tenderness closely with care,
allowing play and kisses to restore,
fluttering musical notes to be released,
sweet explosions of truth,
breathing fiercely in the air,
glowing like a pearl,
this resilient thing called love.

Support the Junior Doctors Strike

The Tories are saying that Junior Doctors are being misled  by the BMA, this is not the case, we are being misled by the Government. Junior Doctors  are intelligent, experienced and reasonable  people who have simply had enough, who spend their lives  interpreting complicated information, who  simply do not want  unsafe  contracts to be put into place. With  a ballot that  saw 98%  supporting strike action, they have  no other choice now than taking action.
It is the Government that keeps attacking the  junior doctors suggestions and proposals,  vilifying and underminding them , smeared by the right wing press in an attempt to break them and the N.H.S. Their new contracts  will force them to work longer and more unsociable hours with a slash in their wages of  up to 30%. The new contract  will also see moves  making junior doctors work overtime for no extra money. The N.H.S  is already on thin ice, stretched to breaking  point, and these new  contracts could force more doctors to leave their career, or see them moving abroad. I truly believe they are worth defending, who  also have a great deal of sympathy from the wider public, knowing that their battle is part of a wider one against the Tories and their policies of austerity.
Personally  if  it was not for the N.H.S my partner would probably be dead. Out today after 6 months of caring support in a N.H.S  hospital. The N.H.S  truly  is a wonderful thing, as is its  workers so needs all the support that is available.
So solidarity and respect to all the junior doctors and all those striking today, no cuts, no privatisation. Remember as long as there are folk left with the faith to fight for the N.H.S it will survive, and who would you  rather trust with your lives,  Junior Doctors or a Tory Government?  Simples  so support the Junior Doctors. They really do deserve it.  Without the N.H.S  we wont be able to bring it back, it will be a return to the dark ages, that the Tories so want us to return to.
Lets hope they  get a fair deal  that help get our N.H.S working again. Serving and protecting us all.

Starman :- for David Bowie ( 8/1/47 -10/1/16) R.I.P

Friend called round,yesterday to give me copy of Mr Bowies new work, , Blackstar, got to listen to it  twice last night before heading to bed.Thought it was amazing, actually was blown away.
 This morning got a text to say that David had passed away. He was a true inspiration, that I'm sure must have influenced my earlier black liner days, any way words kind of fail me,  but here's some anyway, a  cut up, for David Bowie. R.I.P beautiful light. Remember no one is perfect.

Starman

Restless spirit
soars  back into the future
there's an arc this early morn
a rainbow in mournful flight
each blade of grass glistening
jewelled lights glowing
starman sails the seas
views the land
to abandon weary world
a sky of heartbeat butterflies
frozen sighs
fragile
singing tonques
sleepy world whispering
dancing lights twisting
through ultra violet
to become electricity in thunderbolts
marks of eternity
eyes dance again with earnest mischief
blazing meteor  carried on the game of chance
noiser than a candle flame
encloses us with a sense of mystery.

Palestinian teenager chooses prison over Israeli community service.

A Palestinian teenage Bassem Abdullah Siam aged 15 has handed himself into Jerusalem police on Wednesday to serve a 100 day prison sentence rather than carry  out  community service working for the occupation. 
The work is described as designed " to break the will of young men and boys" according to the Wadi Hilweh Information Centre.
Bassem was originally arrested on 15 March last year on his way to school, after allegedly throwing stones at Israeli soldiers.
A kid with guts, like many Palestinians nourishes the idea of living in freedom, dignity and a just peace.

Authority

( old unfinished poem just touched up, thanks Mr T.C)

Authority likes to shake its head,
Find ways to stop us from doin what we want,
Reasons to prevent us from enjoying life to the full,
Creates legislation to dissuade us from being free,
Turns us into puppets that they can move at will.
Authority enjoys making rules, 
That leave us tumbling about in confusion,
Acts as a catalyst that fuses unrest in rebellious minds,
A turbulence in every turning page of history,
An imprisoner of disobedient thought,
But cannot deny you without being wrong,
Unable to stop setting sun, a moving sea, paths of defiance.
But remember we are all authorities in our own right,
We can tell ourselves what we want to do,
And when we don't want to,
To be laws upon ourselves,
Be your own authority,
Cultivating different paths.
That always, always questions. 

Britain isn't eating

Ian Duncan Smith is said to be furious about this billboard campaign from the 'Church action against poverty' charity which suggests people are using food banks as a direct result of his benefit cuts. The fact is Tory policies cause poverty and trying to divert us from this wont mitigate this truth. The Government and Ian Duncan Smith would prefer it if we do not hear about it's victims, the effect that  their policies have on ordinary people across this land. As benefit sanctions continue to bite, the growing use of food banks show no sign of abating  as we enter 2016, even though Ian and his chums keep saying there is no link with their welfare reforms or  their rotten austerity ridden policies. It is a real scandal that Britain is still experiencing hunger in the Twenty First Century, but that's life under Tory's for you. 
Let's make him more furious by sharing this image as wide as possible.

Link to campaign :-

http://www.church-poverty.org.uk/news/britainisnteating

People of the world we are in safe hands.

Saudi Arabia, Head of UN Human Rights Council executing political opponents. So far having killed 47 ,157 put to death last year.  David Cameron's new chums on the world's stage. A barbaric country which the UK should not be trading with.
Mass executions ok, if it serves  our interests,  he possibly ignores the injustice, because he likes to cosy up to an oil rich nation .

Another top executioner and human rights violator ironically is a fierce critic of Saudi executions, which happens to be Iran.

Relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran are at an all time low after  the execution of renowned  Shiite cleric named Nimr- Bagr- al - Nimr.

Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran are locked in a bitter rivalry, whilst supporting the opposite sides in the  wars in Syria and Yemen.

Both these " champions " of human rights are also claiming to be leading the fight against terrorism in the Middle East.

People of the world - we are in safe hands. 

Postscript :-

 4/1/06 

The street in  in Tehran, in which the Saudi Arabian Embassy is situated  is now called after the cleric mentioned earlier. This is the tit -for-  tat world we live in.

Wheels of time

( I don't really celebrate the new year, just another day merging into another, but it does give me time to pause for reflection, in a gazing at the bottom of a glass kinda way. So happy/new year/ blwyddyn newydd da, hope the year ahead brings  much hope and promise, I give thanks to my friends in what has been a difficult year, for their support, you know who you are. Continue to be awesome. Best wishes, heddwch/peace.
Here's a poem. Oh dear!

Time is precious, waste it wisely,
as it flashes by in moments,
testing faith and patience,
this resiliant necessity, unavoidable essence,
waits for no one, moves in constant rearrangement.

Time costs nothing,
lets the world reveal itself,
rattling with kaleidoscopes of change,
acting as a catalyst for transformation.

Time carries us in all directions,
giving and taking in equal measure,
allowing tomorrow to call,
the past to fade gently away.

Without hesitation or pause,
time sets course and destination,
as thoughts fly freely,
enables us to find what we need,
good health, friends and companionship,
peace and hope for all mankind.

Relentlessly engulfing,
the wheels of time keep turning,
allows dreams to restore,
for love that exists in hearts,
to last a whole life long.

After the storms have gone,
allows the sun to shine again,
to chase away the darkness,
can move what we see,
in simple acts of believing,
has the capability to heal.

Time moves fast,
though the hands of the clock seem slow,
awaiting now for springs return,
for life's renewal, 
new buds and leaves to grow.

In my imagination, 
past, present and future is stored,
sewn together in unity,
poems arrive, take journeys on clouds,
wait for injustices, to unravel,
for time, to take away  discontent,
to drown me in seas of hope and love.