Accountability

I been listening to this song lately. Peace Train. Its sung by a cat. Honest. That's what dad says. Anyhow, this cat asks the question 'Why must we go on hating. Why cant we live in bliss.' And this question is the subject of my blog.

I reckons the answer is simple. As humans, you lot make mistakes, just like us dogs. Us dogs learn by being made accountable. Like when I went in the bin last week, I was locked in the bathroom for an hour (well actually mum let me out after 5 minutes, but she made me promise to never tell anyone). Without accountability nothing works.
If criminals are allowed to steal and kill without being brought to account, well, before long we would have big problems.
Accountability is central to the idea of pursuing a world where 'we stop hating and learn to live in bliss.'

Now, I am 11, and in my life I have seen a few things. But the worst thing I have seen is the terrible killing of a Million Iraqis by two liars.

Not only did that disgusting Bush man drop Barney (His Scottie) on his head on a concrete floor, he also lied straight to the face of the Americans.
He said 'Iraq is bad. They have weapons of mass destruction. Trust me. We need to to go and massacre a million of them to show that we are capable of making expensive weapons that generate huge profits for my friends.' Actually he may not have said the last bit openly, but everyone knows about Halliburton and such. Anyhow, of particular interest to us dogs is what he did next. He found an English Poodle, named him 'Yo Blair' and told him to lie to his Country men along the same lines. So 'Yo Blair' did. But the English weren't quite as dumb as their American cousins and about a Million of them came out to protest the imminent War of terror on Iraq. This I am told was the largest protest in British history. No event fired up more opposition from the British public than the poodle led threat to commit Britain to Bush's war game.

Tony 'Poodle' Blair lied straight to he face of the British electorate who had placed their trust in him. 'Weapons of Mass destruction will rain down on us from Iraq if we don't immediately go and kill a Million of them' is how my friend Max (The Doberman) paraphrased Poodle Blair's speech.
Anyhow. these two thugs told a whole bunch of lies, explained how god told them it was what he wanted and then of they went to kill a Million Iraqis, or, to be more specific, off they sent a bunch of youngsters from disadvantaged backgrounds who form the life blood of any Army needing its cannon fodder kids willing to kill on command for the price of three meals a day. Thousands of those American kids from Buttmunch Nebraska and similar died in Iraq, and hundreds from the UK. All because Bush and Poodle Blair lied their way into starting that atrocity.

And heres my point. People said at the time. Bush is lying. Blair is lying. Blair said 'I am not lying. Trust me. Iraq needs to be bombed. We need to destroy their education system. We need to kill approximately 1 million of their citizens, and most importantly, we need to do whatever my friend in God, George Bush says we must do.' But of course Blair was lying. And Bush said 'Those Al Quida Iraqi guys bombed our Towers and now they threaten the safety of America with their weapons of Mass destruction. Trust me. We need to bomb them and kill around about a Million of them. Its really important. Dick says so. Donald says so too. Who you gonna trust Saddam Hussein or me, Dick and Donald.' But of course Bush was lying.

And so George and Tony, brothers in God, warmongering and lying set off to kill a Million Iraqis. They succeeded. But unfortunately, somehow, people noticed that they committed America and Britain to war based on bald-faced-lies.

If Blair and Bush are not charged with war crimes for lying their way to the execution of a Million people who meant us no harm, but whose relatives now most certainly do, then Blair and Bush will have got away with it. And if they get away with it, then, we live in a world where mass murderers walk amongst us, known to a majority, but somehow remaining unaccountable.

A million people died because two people lied. Betraying their office. Betraying the trust of Hundreds of Millions who voted them in. This is not a small thing that can be overlooked on the ground of diplomatic immunity. It is deliberate premeditated mass murder.

Don't let them get away with it.

Goings on.

It has been ages since my last post - so heres a quick note to say, I am on the case. An update will be posted soon. And thanks to those who wrote requesting it. Sure makes a little black dog feel good.

Meanwhile, all is well on the towpath, I have just been groomed, and the surgery for the grass seed in my left foot was a complete success.

Woof.....Woof.

Barney Hates George

Much excitement on the towpath earlier. Max has a guest from America. He works at the embassy. His name is Oscar. He is a Scottie dog. And he has a brother who lives at the White House. Thats the place where the executive Movie Producer feller who produced the hit about Saddam Hussein lives.

Anyhow, Oscar says his brother, whose name is Barney, hates living there. He says his boss is a retard. He dropped him on his head on a concrete floor.
Barney runs away whenever he sees him coming.
And he has developed a dreadful smokers cough because the retards wife chain smokes.

Barney says its disgusting that he should be subject to this kind of dog cruelty. Especially when in effect he is the Country's first dog.

Us dogs on Riverbank say. SET BARNEY FREE .

The White house should not be above the laws put in place to protect creatures who have no voice of their own.

Islams Romeo and Juliet

Max, my German friend on the towpath, who is a large Rottwieler has a romantic heart, entirely at odds with his Germanic breeding.

He shared this fabulous love story with me. About this fellow who had been married 11 times, mostly to women who could help him in his career, and so not really for love, until finally, at the age of 52 he found true love.

After a 3 year engagement, the loving couple married. She was 9 at the time, he was, as I mentioned, 52.

I am a sucker for romantic stories, and so rather than take the cynical view that love across the age barrier between prophets and mere mortals raises issues fundamental to the credibility of Islam, I instead find myself celebrating the great love between the Prophet Muhammad and his child bride Aisha.


Those who feel it appropriate to relate the word pedophile to the goings on in the Prophets (PBUH) bedroom just because of the age difference, are missing the point of Islam.

Woof woof..........

Have you heard my new album of meditation music? Its here: http://www.andrewbrel.com/au.html

Africas Aid problem

Africa’s AID problem.

Its cold on the tow path at the moment. About zero degrees. And so our thoughts turn to warmer climes. Just this morning we were talking about Swaziland. Great weather there. So when we got back from our freezing walk, I googled Swaziland. (Googling is a bit like sniffing pee on the tow path – except you sniff out stories on the internet.)

Anyhow. Heres how Swaziland reinforces the African aid model.

Swaziland is poor. The population is around 1 Million. 70% of them live in dire poverty. Almost 40% have HIV/Aids and this is the highest proportion in the world. Swaziland received around 1 Million in Aid from Britain last year.

If you were the king of this castle, how would you spend your million pounds of British Aid?

Educating youngsters to help mitigate the Aids problem?
Perhaps treating HIV victims with drugs?
Providing work opportunities for the unemployed?

If you considered any of the above, you are not getting it. You are thinking like a westerner, and this I think is the biggest problem Africa has faced in all its years of falling victim to the curse of ‘AID’.

It’s not the African way.

Here’s what you would do if you were King of Swaziland. (Thinking like an African.)

First – marry 11 wives (The younger the better as it lessens the chances of them being HIV+)

Second – buy them each a new BMW – spending almost half a million pounds in this process.

It still leaves you with half a million to spend on something else, and of course King Mswati’s British education (Sherborne) will have made him aware that all he needs to do is ask for more, and it will come. The British public never tire of donating money for African excess if its sold to them by rock and roll quasi politicians, and in this case can be grateful that the fruits of their donations went in such a non violent undertaking, which is off course unusual in the context of African Aid and its final outcome.

And so, unlike the millions who die elsewhere in Africa following our Aid intervention, we can only salute King Mswati for his prescience in preventing this money going in militant endeavors by purchasing motor cars that help increase the happiness of 11 Swazi citizens.

Which leads us to ask:
Which kills more Africans. Aids or Aid?

Any one able to enlighten me can write a reply to this blog.

Woof woof from the frozen Tow path…. Wallace.

The Universal soldier

Here’s another African story from the towpath. You will need to use a little imagination.

Imagine if.........You saw some pictures of starving weepy eyed, fly covered African babies and someone told you to give money to help those starving babies…… You gave what you could and felt good about the help you were giving Africa. Say you even enjoyed the feel-good from buying a ‘feed the world’ record to help starving babies live with full tummies.

Then imagine that African Aid money all piling up and going to a number of African governments. Lets pick a few out of a hat. (On the basis that they represent impoverished African Countries capable of generating the images of Aids ridden starving babies that make for charitable aid). Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia and Chad.

Now lets imagine that empowered by this money the governments of those countries think to themselves ‘Aha. Wouldn’t it be a waste to give this money over to the poor and dying. Wouldn’t it make more sense to use this money to fund an army that can go out and show a profitable return.’

Consider that many of these Countries know that the Congo (Democratic Republic that it is) contains tremendous mineral wealth. Mineral wealth they could not defend if distracted by the presence of foreign militia. Like a hyena scenting in the air the blood of weakening prey, what if these countries sent their armies into the Congo to destabilise whatever government was in place, to win a share of the mineral wealth for themselves.

What if we then did a little research into the Congo's affairs and we then found out that the aid that we had given these Africans had coincided with the deaths of almost 4 Million Congolese (from a population of 60 million) in a 6 year period.

What if this was a true story. Wouldn’t you think the gruesome killing of almost 4 Million people in the last decade would be something you would be aware of?

And if that killing was directly (or otherwise) attributable to your African Aid dollar finding its way into the appropriate government agency would you not wonder if you had been duped in the matter of African Aid?

The wonderful organisation - The International Rescue Committee (http://www.theirc.org/) report that 3.8 Million Congolese have died in the past 8 years, and continue to die at the rate of 1,000 a day. That’s a world trade centre tragedy every 3 days or so.

What seems strangest to me is the disparity between the staggering volume of attention that the deaths in the 9/11 Towers incident generated, whilst, until you read it here, you probably didn’t have the vaguest idea that 3.8 Million Congolese (Mostly Women and children) have died horribly and in some proportion to the Aid receipts by those Countries contributing to the death count.

Which makes me wonder – what if media were controlled to such a degree that the power of those controllers of world media to affect the way the average person believes is so complete there is virtually no press speculation as to why 3.8 Million died in the Congo. The worlds worst conflict since 1945 – and not worth a passing mention by the media. Why?

The sixties song by Buffy St Marie 'The Universal Soldier' makes the point that the individual who fails to excercise conscientious and informed thought allowing themselves instead to be manipulated pawns in a system that - through their ignorant contribution - leads to misery and death, is ultimately responsible.

Ms. St Marie sings ‘He's the Universal soldier and he really is to blame’ and I think quite clearly, those mindless donations to African causes driven almost exclusively be ego driven megalomania are karmically in the same drawer of responsibility for the harm that money has led to as the prime culprit in this dreadful exploitation of Africa's misfortune for his personal benefit.

Imagine that there really is a problem in Africa. And then imagine that there really are a number of ways in which an individual could offer help to those already making a meaningful difference.

In my view the Saint Bob - 'Band Aid' style of crisis aid management is clearly harming Africa. Imagine if that Band Aid money went to those governments who spent it on Armies to help kill 3.8 Million Congolese in the name of mineral rights.

And imagine if the powers of media were quite content to not promote the stories of how we allow millions of Africans to die in the name of mineral greed, a process that benefits numerous western companies to a massive extent, choosing instead to create a blind alley. A popular ‘Band Aid’ to create the lip service effect of making people believe the problem is already addressed by those who know. And in the meanwhile, 1,000 Congolese die daily. And just around the corner in the Sudan.......well........it hardly seems worth carrying on for all the difference bringing the subject of the dark continent to the table makes.

Incidentally the governments of Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia and Chad all deployed troops in the Congo by 1998, effectively funneling much of the Congo’s huge mineral wealth (Gold and Diamonds) into their own coffers.

I have no idea which American companies have any interest in both the African governments responsible and the control of Western press, (or indeed how many shares the Bush family and friends hold in these companies) however I will not be surprised when this information comes to light.

Luckily for the hopes of mankind we have the inspired leadership of George Bush to help us address these concerns with the wisdom and insight they deserve, and so the temptation to leave matters in his capable hands seems irresistible. Or does Ms. St Marie paraphrase as ’He’s the Universal idiot and he really is to blame.’

‘Do they know its Christmas?’

Has Bob Geldof no shame. Have the poor of Africa not given him enough Christmas’s already? His last widely reported and highly profitable effort to transfer funding from the wallets of British pop music supporters to the Ethiopian warlords (who clearly enjoyed live aid more than anyone, except perhaps those participants whose careers were built on that stage) worked well for Sir Bob. Providing a multi-million pound fortune, the reputation of a ‘Saint’ and a knighthood.

And that was for what any basic research into the ways of African aid will show, ultimately causing more deaths than it sought to prevent. Certainly it’s difficult to disavow the notion that ‘Live aid’ money, as is symptomatic in the matter of western efforts to aid Africa, killed more hungry babies than it fed. One Million were at risk of starvation in 1985. UN statistics indicate Eleven Million at risk in 2004. Twenty years later its ten times worse for the African dispossessed, although a lot better for Bob and his inner circle.

How much did Live aid contribute to this increase? Whilst the first Live Aid moment could be interpreted as enthusiastic ignorance that coincidentally benefited a few individuals one can but wonder as to the reasoning this time around.

For whatever motives exist in the minds of Sir (saint) Bob and his cynically motivated band of publicity seekers with their perilously limited familiarity with Africa's historical association with Western aid, (beyond their management companies projections for target audience reach and its quantifiable sales effect on their audience perception), he invites the British public – whose tax dollars are already overworked in adding to the 100 000 Iraqi civilian casualties who will not be around at all this Christmas, to contribute further in helping wipe out yet more foreigners less fortunate than ourselves. And all the while remembering that Saint Bob and his mates are our guides to good conscience. At least Tony Blair doesn’t pretend that his version of foreign aid is intended as ‘help.

So when we raise this anthem of Sir Bobs ‘Do they know its Christmas’ to the top of our popular charts and transfer sums of conscience money into so called African Aid, are we in fact contributing to the continuance of Africa’s tragic manipulation by cynical westerners motivated principally by their own profit?

Are we assisting Sir Bob in manufacturing famine in exchange for a Christmas moral feel-good. Bob enjoys another nice African payday while the hungry Africans get the same chance of anything improving in their world as a result of our efforts as on the last occasion our popular culture rallied to the cause.

Or are we just confirming that we are institutionalised in conformity to a point that whatever the popular trend suggests, no matter how nonsensical, we will follow.

The imminent popular success of this song should provide an interesting indicator.