I support the ‘Ground Zero Mosque’.

“bringing back the atmosphere of interfaith tolerance and respect that we have longed for since Muslims, Christians and Jews lived together in harmony and prosperity eight hundred years ago.”

- Cordoba Initiative Mission Statement.

America has an odd obsession with freedom. It usually involves freedom for White Christian Americans but no one else. It usually involves labeling any one who isn’t in tune to their massively hypocritical version of freedom, as freedom-haters. This week has been no difference.

You would have thought that with their obsession with free market enterprise and freedom, they would have welcomed the news that a Private firm have bought a plot of land two blocks from the World Trade Centre and plan to build on it. But no, the slightly vacant, miserable excuses for human beings; the American Right Wing is spending its time protesting against the building and suggesting that it pisses on the memory of those who died on 9/11, and that ground zero is a sacred site. They apparently have no problem with the strip bar that exists a stones throw away…… but then most Republican Americans spend their time in places like that, so it’s no surprise. And anyway, Masjid Manhattan, a Mosque in New York, is right next to the site, and has been since the 1970s. But then Fox News hasn’t built up hype around Masjid, so it’s nauseatingly stupid viewers have no reason to protest.

The ignorance is astounding. Their are countless facebook groups dedicated to being against building of what they call the “Ground Zero Mosque”. NO! They state quite viciously. Muslims are all evil radicals intent on killing Americans and raping their children. The Mosque would be their headquarters, at Ground Zero!!!! The only problem is……….. it isn’t a Mosque, and it isn’t at Ground Zero.

It is two blocks away from Ground Zero. I am curring in Australia, two blocks away from the nearest super market. I wouldn’t claim to currently be in the supermarket. It is therefore reasonable to say that the Ground Zero Mosque is not at Ground Zero. So, that leaves the word ‘Mosque’.

It is called the Cordoba Center. It will include a Theatre, a Performing Arts centre, a Basket Ball court, Bookstore, Child care, Prayer space, Restaurant, culinary school and fitness centre. It is already being used as a place of prayer for Muslims, and has been for quite some time. There is nothing that honours the victims of religious intolerance more, than a center dedicated to building relations, and showing that there does not have to be such separation, anger and fear. A symbol of the coming together of Islam and the West, and particularly Islam and America is a stage in contemporary times that we REALLY need to get to, and this Centre is an attempt to provide that link. We should be celebrating it. We should be celebrating that we are trying to move away from the past decade. We no longer want people like Palin and Bush and Cheney making sure fear is the order of the day. Innocent, decent Muslims are no different to innocent, decent Americans.

And yet a large number of Americans believe this to be an insult to them.

It defies logic.
America has sent thousands of troops to their deaths in wars built on the idea that oil revenue is worth far more than human life. They have seen a decade pass in which they were the most hated Nation on the planet, for the entire reign of George Bush. And they have the fucking nerve to suggest that it is a Mosque that pisses on the memory of 9/11 victims? No. Bush and the entire Republican faithful pissed on their memory years ago. One continuous piss, that continues to this day.

Over 300 Muslims died on 9/11. Not only that, but whilst the overweight American Right Wing sits basking in a sea of its own inherent racism, complaining and protesting against anything that isn’t White, Christian, and American; many more Muslims put their lives on the line fighting for America every single day. Mohammad Khaled, during 2006 endured heavy gone fire, fighting for a Country that now considers him insensitive if he wishes to practice his faith anywhere near the location of 9/11, committed by the very same terrorists he has vowed to fight against. Khaled left the U.S Armed Forces in 2006, because he was left stranded in Iraq whilst trying to protect three children from persistent gunfire. There are many more just like him. If I were Khaled, I would find it ridiculously difficult not to spit in the faces of every Right Winged American who puts me into the same category as a bunch of terrorists. Khaled, and others like him are better than that. They are better than Right Winged America. They deserve our respect above the Fox News brigade.

There can be no logical argument against the building. It is ludicrous to even try. It will always end up being a torrent of putrid racist anti-Islamic conjecture based on no logic or fact, and when you start to reason in that way, your argument becomes intensely invalid. The Economist magazine, a magazine I usually wouldn’t pay any attention to because we differ on our economic opinions, quite rightly said:

“Every single argument put forward for blocking this project leans in some way on the misconceived notion that all Muslims, and Islam itself, share the responsibility for, or are tainted by, the atrocities of 9/11.”

It is being built by the Cordoba Initiative. The initiative was set up, purely to help build stronger relations between the West and Islam. God knows, there needs to be some sort of relation healing between the West and Islam after Bush’s reign. However, it only works to help American’s innate fear of anything that isn’t American, grow larger. First it was the Communists. Anyone slightly Left of Reagan is accused of trying to bring Communism to America. And now it is Islam. Anyone who isn’t Christian is apparently attempting to ‘Islamify’ America. Which is ludicrous. When a Catholic Church is built, there is never any suggestion that there exists a Catholic conspiracy to pass all lawmaking of America to the Papacy in Rome. That is because it is ludicrous. But America always needs an enemy to fear, even if that enemy simply doesn’t exist. Today it is Islam. Tomorrow, it could be sweet old ladies.

There must be a distinction between law-abiding individuals who happen to have a personal belief in Islam, and the fundamental nature of Islam itself. Those who follow the fundamental doctrine of Islam, have failed to evolve with time, and have instead become what Christopher Hitchens so rightfully calls it ‘Islamofascist’. It is true, that these people are dangerous and that Islam has a lot of growing up to do. But individual Muslims, are not at fault.

Obama remains weak, and eerily silent. He is clearly worried about upsetting the anti-Islam right winged morons who inhabit his Country, given that this week a poll revealed that 18% of Americans believe Obama is a secret Muslim. Why aren’t Progressives everywhere standing up to these people. Islam is not the blame for the friction between themselves and the West. Fear across America is to blame. It is supplemented by Fox News and its associates in the Republican Party, because without fear and without someone to hate and invent bullshit about, the American Right Wing including Fox and the Republican Party, are nothing. A remnant of a past in which humanity is constantly fearing the ‘other’. An ‘other’ that simply doesn’t exist.

Abe Foxman, of the Anti-Defamation League quite pathetically and hypocritically (you’ll see why in a second) fanned the flames of bigotry with this:

“Ultimately this is not a question of rights, but a question of what is right. In our judgement, building an Islamic centre in the shadow of the World Trade centre will cause some victims more pain – unnecessarily – and that is not right?. If you want to heal us, don’t do it in our cemetery.”

Normally I’d respect his view, despite how pathetic it is. However I can’t bring myself to do that, given that Abe Foxman recently seemed more than happy about the proposal to build a ‘Museum of Tolerance’ by an Israeli group in Islamic Mamillah Cemetery in Jerusalem. Oh the hypocrisy.

Supporters of the project include families of those who died in the 9/11 attacks. Donna O’Connor, whose pregnant daughter died on 9/11 said:

“This building will serve as an emblem for the rest of the world that Americans … recognize that the evil acts of a few must never damn the innocent.”

Very wise lady.

Terry Rockefeller whose sister died on 9/11 said:

“This doesn’t insult her at all. This celebrates the city she loved living in. It is what makes America what we are.

Sue Rosenblum whose sister died on 9/11 said:

“What are we teaching if we say you can’t build here? That it’s OK to hate? This is a country based on freedom of religion.”

Daisy Khan, who is working on the project quite rightly said:

“The presence of … mosques like the one planned near Ground Zero, which will be an educational center as well as a place of prayer, is one good way of transcending … ignorance.”

She is correct. The only way to defeat the ignorance of people like the American Right Wing, and Islamic Extremists, is to join the moderates on both sides together. Projects like this, acts to knock down the barriers that the Bush Administration thrived on, and what Sarah Palin continues to need in order to survive politically because without fear and hate the American Right Wing really is nothing.

Cordoba is run by Feisal Abdul Rauf, who spent weeks after 9/11 reaching out to the West and condemning all extremists. He is known for spending his life trying to build bridges between Islamic World and America. He has written countless books, and appealed to the U.S Government to fight Islamic terrorism by changing its foreign policy. He is a good person. The Centre, two blocks away from the site of the World Trade Centre has absolutely nothing to do with extremism or terrorism. The Centre is going to include a restaurant Americans seem unable to distinguish between Islam and terrorism. Yet, they seem perfectly able to distinguish between Christianity and Terrorism.

Army Of God, Christian Patriot Movement and Christian Identity are all terrorist Christian organisations operating around America. I presume I can count on the support of Sarah Palin, and the Fox News worshiping lunatics who are protesting against this Islamic Centre in New York, whenever Christians wish to build a Christian Church, or school, or centre, anywhere near the spot in which an abortion clinic was targeted by Christian terrorists?
1984 – Abortion Clinic in Pensacola, on Christmas Day bombed by Christian fundamentalists who called the attack a gift to Jesus on his birthday.
1993 – Shelley Shannon convicted of shooting Dr George Tiller, and later convicted of bombings and arson against Abortion Clinics. Three more people shot dead by Christian Fundamentalists. Dr David Gunn and Dr George Patterson shot dead by Christian Fundamentalists.
1994 – Two receptionists at Clinics in Massachusetts killed by Christian Fundamentalist. Five others wounded in attack.
1997 – Dr Gandell of New York is badly injured by glass when his home in New York is fired upon by Christian Fundamentalists.
1998 – Bomb in clinic in Alabama kills Security guard Robert Sanderson and blasts one eye out of a nurse named Emily Lyons…… by Christian Fundamentalists. Three people badly injured when acid was poured into the entrance of a Clinic in Miami. Dr. Barnett Slepian shot to death at his home, by Christian Fundamentalist.
2000 – Clinic in New Hampshire set on fire, causes $20,000 worth of damage. Thankfully no one injured.
2001 – Planned Parenthood Clinic in South Dakota set fire to by Christian Fundamentalist. The Clinic also received a letter with white powder in it, with the message “You have been exposed to anthrax. … We are going to kill all of you.”
2005 – Molotov Cocktail thrown at Clinic, everyone managed to escape unharmed. Christian Fundamentalists to blame.
2006 – David McMenemy drives his car into Edgerton Women’s Care Center, which he wrongly believed was performing abortions; he then takes hostages and douses the lobby in gasoline, setting it on fire.
2007 – A huge bomb is placed in a clinic in Austen, Texas. A Bomb disposal team manage to secure it, and no one is injured. Christian Fundamentalist to blame.
Since 1977, Christian Terrorism has claimed seven lives, 17 attempted murders, three kidnappings, 152 assaults, 305 completed or attempted bombings and arsons, 375 invasions, 482 stalking incidents, 380 death threats, 618 bomb threats, 100 acid attacks, and 1,254 acts of vandalism, according to the National Abortion Federation. Where is the outrage? Why aren’t Americans worried about this? Because they’re fickle, hypocritcal, fear mongering imbeciles. That’s why.

Given that Republicans voted down a bill that would provide funding to help 9/11 first responders who now suffer from respiratory health problems and cancer because they are, well, I don’t know why they did it. I presume it’s because they are scum; it is highly rich of them to now pretend they care about 9/11 victims. The entitlement was designed to help those who now have severe health issues because they were quick to respond to help during 9/11. The Republicans say it will kill jobs because it is being paid for by closing a tax loophole for the rich. So, to sum up, being able to avoid tax is far more important than helping those who now suffer from cancer. Why do these people have any say over the way the most powerful country in the World is run? It is so dangerously unnerving.

Perhaps they should honour Ground Zero in real American fashion. Erect a statue of Rupert Murdoch, under a big McDonalds M and then a Temple dedicated to the worship of Ronald Reagan, whilst sacrificing a Latin American person in his honour. The land of the free.

We do not torture (except when we torture)

The despicably teleological former U.S President George Bush once told the American people, “We do not torture“. Now, we know that America under Bush, did torture. Whether you mask the word “torture” behind “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques” or not, torture is torture. It is a step too far. For example, according to an official memo a man named “Abu Kenami“, died whilst in an American detention facility in Iraq.
The memo states:

“on the day he died, Kenami had been punished with ups and downs several times . . . and had his hands flex cuffed behind his back (1285). He was also hooded, with a sandbag placed over [his] head. (1284).Ups and downs are apparently a correctional technique of having a detainee stand up and then sit-down rapidly, always keeping them in constant motion(1284). He was found dead in the morning after having been placed in his bed cuffed and hooded.”

If that had been the description of how an American soldier had died in the hands of a nation such as Iran, wouldn’t the American public be outraged, rather than a useless GOP keeping quiet and playing politics by choosing to shift the spot light onto Pelosi?

Torture does not combat terrorism, in fact, it pretty much does the opposite. It encourages negative feeling toward America to sweep the Planet. In the same way that destroying a Middle Eastern Country, displacing millions of people, creating thousands of orphans and killing thousands more, whilst shouting “Mission Complete” does not endear an entire destroyed culture to your cause. Combating Terrorism, by using Terrorism, will never work. Bypassing international laws and human rights laws, will never keep a country safe.
It does not matter how many times Dick Cheney insists that torture has helped to keep America safe, because as it turns out, the worst terror attack in American history took place on his watch, along with the deaths of thousands of troops. His tactics didn’t save American lives, it ended American lives. Dick Cheney is not Jack Bauer.

It’s quite obvious that these techniques amount to torture. For those who suggest that it isn’t torture, then hopefully I can count on your support when I try to suggest it be used in schools to deal with uncontrollable children? What if these techniques were used against American soldiers? I’m guessing the American Right would be insisting how terrible it is. But these people are Arabs, and so whether or not they’re terrorist, is usually beyond the point, they’re Arab, and so they’re not Christian! Or American! (See: BritishRepublican)

Philip Zelikow, advisor to Condoleeza Rice, sent a memo to his boss setting out his objections to the legal backing for torture “Enhanced interrogation techniques” way back in 2002. The use of these techniques is quite clearly cruel and unusual, which exists as a bullet in the brain of the Eigth Amendment of the U.S Constitution (Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted). Zelikow tried to point this out to the Secretary of State, having himself studied Constitutional Law. The memos he claims, were rounded up and destroyed by the Bush administration who were at the time trying to inflate the importance of strict interrogation techniques against high valued prisoners such as Abu Zubaydah, who happens to have been waterboarded 83 times without any further information being extracted from him. They did not want Zelikow’s memo gaining too much support or influencing the minds of too many people.

Retired United States Army Colonel and former chief of staff to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell Lawrence Wilkerson, who was in charge of reviewing the information and evidence for War, in preparation of Colin Powell’s speech to the U.N in 2003, was not told the evidence was obtained via interrogation. Wilkerson has since stated that the use of torture for intelligence “was not aimed at preempting another terrorist attack on the U.S. but discovering a smoking gun linking Iraq and al Qaeda“. Suddenly, what Pelosi knew and when she knew it, seems irrelevant.

U.S. Army psychiatrist, Maj. Charles Burney, investigators in 2006, that interrogators at Guantanamo were under pressure to produce a link between Al Qaeda and Iraq. Burney is quoted as saying “While we were there a large part of the time we were focused on trying to establish a link between al Qaida and Iraq and we were not successful in establishing a link between al Qaida and Iraq,” Burney told staff of the Army Inspector General. “The more frustrated people got in not being able to establish that link . . . there was more and more pressure to resort to measures that might produce more immediate results.” And yet the GOP want to focus on what Pelosi might have been told?

Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi could very well be lying (as could the CIA) to some extent, as to how informed she was over the Bush Administration’s use of torture. Last month she claimed that in a 2002 briefing with intelligence experts, whilst she was the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, that she had not been informed of waterboarding, stating “In that or any other briefing…we were not, and I repeat, were not told that waterboarding or any of these other enhanced interrogation techniques were used”. However this month, a report from the Director of National Intelligence’s office, appears to suggest otherwise. The same 2002 meeting was described as a “Briefing on EITs including use of EITs on Abu Zubaydah, background on authorities, and a description of particular EITs that had been employed.” Clearly contradicting Pelosi.
The Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, DemocratBob Graham was among many other leading Democrats to be briefed on Waterboarding and various other techniques, according to ABC. President Obama was right to release the memos, and he was right to refer to Enhanced Interrogation Techniques as torture. Regardless of the political problems it may cause the Democrats, they only have themselves to blame. Obama was right.

And so whilst it seems obvious that the Democrats in Congress who appear to be taking he moral high ground, are actually nothing more than pawns in the Bush Administrations ruthless oil game, it should detract from the fact that the three who actually plotted and authorised such criminal and anti-Constitutional acts of barbarism and terrorism, Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, are just being left to live a happy quiet life, whilst their crimes and the cover ups taking place behind close door, go largely unpunished. The suggestion appears to be that the Bush Administration effectively legalised torture, to gain “confessions” and “evidence” linking Iraq to Al Qaeda and 9/11, in preparation for war. And so if it becomes clear that war was waged, lives were lost, countries destroyed, and billions of dollars wasted, on the basis of dodgy evidence obtained via torture, then Republicans should really back off Pelosi (The Democrats answer to Sarah Palin?), because she’s going to be the least of their worries if all out investigation is to take place. It’s a little odd that the GOP appears to be attacking the morality of Pelosi for what she knew….. about what they were doing. They appear to be more concerned about whether a Democrat was briefed on torture, rather than who actually ordered torture, effectively pissing on the Geneva Convention.

Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner (whose tan is just wonderful!), stated that Pelosi should either provide evidence that the CIA had lied to her over use of waterboarding, or apologise to the CIA for accusing them of lying. Firstly, as if we’re all under an illusion that the CIA has never lied to the World. Of course they have. Secondly, If that’s what Boehner wants, then I want Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and Rove to publicly apologise for a war based on lies, four thousands U.S deaths, thousands of Iraqi deaths, and a destroyed economy.
Boehner also claimed stated this weekend that “Lying to the Congress of the United States is a crime“. Clearly lying to the American people, leading to thousands of deaths, isn’t. Otherwise the claims made by George Bush, that “We do not torture” and the claim that “The Iraqi regime . . . possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons. It is seeking nuclear weapons. We know that the regime has produced thousands of tons of chemical agents, including mustard gas, sarin nerve gas, VX nerve gas.” or the claim to the UN in 2002 that “Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons.” would have been punished, long ago.

Nothing short of a full, de-ontological investigation into the actions of the Bush Administration over the past eight years, the decisions and intelligence gained leading up to the war, who ordered the use of torture, who knew and did not object to the use of torture, and whether or not the Geneva Convention and/or Constitutional Law was broken, will do.

Tao Te Ching: Violence

When I was 19, I first came across Tao Te Ching and it’s teachings. I didn’t read it as a guide to my own life, simply as a work of literature; a beautiful work of literature. At around this time, I read the Old Testament and a part of the Koran. As works of art go, the Old Testament and the Koran, are genius. Fantastic stories that transcend time. It amazed me that I was reading words that have been read by great scholars and kings for generations. What the Bible and the Koran didn’t do, was provide me with answers. Nor did they act as a moral guide. I consider them to be war manuals, intolerant hate filled nonsense that may have applied to a time long past, but has no room in society today.

Tao Te Ching is different. It fits my liberal way of thinking, whilst also providing a beautiful moral guide that has more relevance today than it ever has before. I cannot possibly live by it’s guide, because i’m far too materialistic and Western, engrossed in Capitalism and things that do not matter, to be able to forget it all and live a Taoist lifestyle, but as ethical systems go, Taoism is mine. One of the passages I come to read over and over, is the passage on violence.

“Whoever relies on the Tao in governing men
doesn’t try to force issues
or defeat enemies by force of arms.
For every force there is a counterforce.
Violence, even well intentioned,
always rebounds upon oneself.”
- Tao Te Ching

I’ve always been aware of street gangs around the City that I live. I never associated with anyone in them, because it seemed their lives were meaningless and irreconcilable with my philosophy on life. Whenever i’d hear stories about fights that my friends had got into, i’d think “why?” …… “He called me a cunt, so I smacked him!“…… well i’m sure that did the trick! I’m sure he doesn’t think you’re a cunt any more!…….. and more often than not, it backfired, and they’d end up getting the living shit kicked out of them. Violence for me, was for weak minded, insecure idiots. It did nothing for me, and I hate associating with people who live like that. “I’m going to knock him ooout!”….. shut up you moron.
The term “governing men” to me, refers to anyone in any group considered the leader. I always felt great respect for those who could fight with their minds and their words.

Violence used always comes back to haunt those who use it. America use force across the globe to further their business empire. Be it Shell or Exxon in the oil fields of Iraq, or Coca Cola draining the water supplies of the third world for financial gain; eventually people start getting a little bit annoyed, and half the planet starts to plot revenge in the most sinister and deadly of ways. And then, terrorism strikes Western cities, the most evil of men think they can use violence to stop violence against the lands they were born. And so America uses violence to try to stop the violence that tried to stop the violence used against them, and a vicious, unbreakable circle is born. It doesn’t work. It never worked. It didn’t work in Iraq, it wont work with Iran.

Similarly, my fellow left wingers appear to be unable to fathom that although Israel in both Lebanon and now in Gaza have committed acts of what can only be described as genocide…….. Palestinians have also caused despicable suffering and heartache in Israel. Road side bombs or in 2004, Hamas launched a rocket that fell within feet from a school in Sderot, killing a four year old child and an Israeli man. Also in 2004, a female suicide bomber killed four and wounded twenty at the Erez Crossing in Gaza in which Hamas claimed responsibility. The list goes on. Where were the protesters when Hamas were wreaking chaos across the World? Is the death of one or two innocents, not worth talking about?

Violence makes the World more unsafe; violence breeds violence; violence breeds ignorance.
Suddenly Americans are seen as evil Imperialists hell bent on killing anyone who stands in their way of an unrivalled business empire. Muslims are considered inherently violent, wishing death upon anyone who says a bad word against their Prophet. It’s as if different species of human have been man made. It is forgotten that a Muslim came from nothing, much like an American came from nothing. The Pakistani came from nothing. The white Brit came from nothing. We’re all the same. We’re all human. It doesn’t matter if we chose to walk around naked, or covered in Muslim attire, we’re all from the same void.
The Muslim in Iraq is just trying to protect his home against that foreign invasion force whom he didn’t invite; the American man is just trying to make money to feed his family. Neither can be blamed for the circumstances in which he or she is born. And so it isn’t difficult to come to the conclusion that one man’s terrorist, is another man’s freedom fighter. One man’s hero, is another man’s villain. The World is built on contradiction, and whilst we’re all from the same place, we’re all so very different. Those differences should always be respected.

“
His enemies are not demons,
but human beings like himself.
He doesn’t wish them personal harm.
Nor does he rejoice in victory.
How could he rejoice in victory
and delight in the slaughter of men?

He enters a battle gravely,
with sorrow and with great compassion,
as if he were attending a funeral.“
- Tao Te Ching

A new World

Here’s to Warren Buffet, the Richest man on the Planet, who once said, when asked about the inequalities of the tax system….
“It’s class warfare, my class is winning, but they shouldn’t be.“

The World has entered a new chapter, full of blank pages. What used to be market truth, has become greedy nonsense. The noise made by the laissez faire wealth jamboree embraced by the rich as “true freedom” is slowly dying down. There are still those who insist that tax hikes and Social transfers kill productivity (despite that fact that Sweden spends around 30% of it’s GDP on Social projects compared to 13% in the USA – and the growth rate of GDP per person in Sweden was as high through the mid-2000s as that of the USA – according to Jonas Pontusson) and insist on screaming about how big Government is part of the problem rather than the driving force behind emancipation, civil rights and other aspects of life that the market has literally no control over. Between 1948 and 1970 social spending shot through the roof – Medicaid, the war on poverty, added investment in schools etc. In fact, it rose from 16.5% to 27.5% and with that, GDP and Productivity grew more than any other time (even during Reagan’s years…. although he cut income tax and shifted the burden to payroll tax like an increase in Social Security and Medicare taxes), the next time huge advances in productivity appeared, was in 1996….. after the Clinton tax increases. Big government isn’t the problem at all. Selfishness is the problem. Lack of compassion is the problem.

Big government in the USA, extended social security to ten million more workers during President Eisenhower’s term. It spread to farmers, teachers and dentists among others. Under Eisenhower, the government financed the National highways system. Before that, under Truman, the government passed the G.I Bill of Rights, to provide aid to War veterans for homes and college. It benefited 8 million returning Soldiers, who now went to college and had their mortgages guaranteed; and America benefited economically over the next sixty five years. Anti-polio vaccines, National Institutes of Health and it’s Research and Development, National Defence Education Act, the Internet with it’s origins in the Defence Department, Medicare, integrated school system, Civil rights, and food Administration – none of that is the result of a wondrous market system. Government provides the framework for a market to run successfully; Government works to cope with the change in the mentality of the people and nothing Obama does, is going to kill the superiority of the American market system. Even Churchill, the most famous Tory in British History, supported a strong Welfare system, having remarked years before his eventually primacy “It seems clumsy to let people starve…” he then went on to support the Beveridge report on much needed Welfare action.

I appear to have digressed. Back to Sweden for a second. As suggested earlier, Sweden spends around 30% of it’s GDP on Social products. Significantly higher than the USA (Whose Conservatives seem to believe any public spending, is a big evil). Not only that, but Sweden is listed as sixth in the Human Development Index whereas the USA, is a measly fifteenth. For all the attacks on Europe I hear from Conservative Americans, when it comes to the Human Development Index, ten European countries rank above the USA. This of course, is without mentioning that Sweden ranks top of the Economist Democracy Index whilst the USA ranks at 17th, below thirteen European Nations. All this from a Nation that has been run by Social Democrats from 1994 to 2007. Much closer to Socialists than President Obama could ever be. Don’t seem to be doing too badly for themselves. Big Government is not the problem. Small government is not the problem. Inefficient government whether large or small, is the problem.

A study by Sven Steinmo met up with a Swedish Volvo Executive, who was asked…
“Why don’t you leave (Sweden)? Certainly, you would pay a lot lower taxes and probably also have a higher salary in the U.S.”
His response……..
“Yes, of course, I would have a lot more money in my pocket. But I would also almost never get home before 7 o’clock and I certainly would not have the vacations everyone has a right to here… and you know what else, I would have to spend a lot more money on insurance, college for my kids, and travel back home to my family. In the end, I’m not really sure I would be any better off.“

That way of thinking, is the way those of us who do not have a deep fetish for money, and who do not have a deep resentment for those less fortunate think. Unfortunately, the Thatcher years over here in England provided us with a new breed of young Conservatives who take the opposite view, coupled with the Republicans in America who profess to be strongly “Pro-life” unless that life needs urgent healthcare and can’t afford it; the Swedish state of mind was slowly losing ground since the Thatcher/Reagan days. Now however, it’s finding itself again.

For decades we’ve been told that the Government cannot afford the extra million pounds to give our public servants, like the Police force, the pay rise they were promised. Or that we could only afford to pay our fire fighters an extra 11% pay, to protect us from burning to death. Or that the coal mines needed closing because they weren’t profitable, meaning thousands of people lost their jobs and weren’t retrained; whilst the UK now imports more coal than we have in years. Cuts to the NHS, because it was “wasteful spending” and produced a “dependency culture” emerged. We were all told that smaller government is better. We were all told that we didn’t have the money to pay the firemen, the NHS, the police, to fund better public education and make sure the poverty rate fell rapidly. For years we’ve been told that buying your house is the best investment you’ll ever make. When did a house cease being a home and become a money making venture?

But then, all of a sudden, we have £400bn to bail out the rich. Not only do they take that £400bn of public money, the bosses take six figure pensions whilst their employees lose their jobs and face losing their houses, the same houses that Conservatives get touchy about saving with tax payers money. I cannot help but echo John Stewart’s sentiments to the Conservative brigade who have no problem funding an illegal war, who have no problem funding the plight of the rich, who have no problem with corporate tax loopholes but who have severe issues with helping those less fortunate – “fuck you“.

Here’s to Warren Buffett, the richest man on the planet, who once said when asked about inequality in society…….
“If you’re in the luckiest 1 per cent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 per cent.“

Attack of the Republican Bloggers

It would appear that Republican bloggers on WordPress fell asleep in 2001, and woke up on January 20th 2009. It is as if the second President Obama was sworn into Office, the bitter wing of the Republican bloggers started making up as much nonsense as they could to discredit a legacy that had barely even begun. We’re less than three days in and Republican bloggers everywhere are vilifying Obama, questioning his life, his sincerity, with just plain nonsense. The British media has picked up on it too. It’s incredible, the wrath of Right Wing America.

As the inauguration procession moved down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the White House on Tuesday, Fox News reporters kept saying “This is really slow” and “slowest motorcade we’ve ever seen” and “he should be speeding this up“. There is no pleasing Republicans. They are bitter, and they will find any little detail to attack Obama on. Is it because he’s Black? Possibly for a few a black President is a difficult concept to understand, but I think it’s because he’s a Democrat. George W Bush is by far the worst President America has ever been graced with. An entire Planet could not wait to see the back of him. It is merely a few disillusioned Republicans who still cling to the idea that this war hungry, fear mongering, destroyer of the economy was actually quite impressive. These people, are never going to accept that a Republican might not be that good.

Bastardnation for example has run a story in which he states that Barack Obama was sworn in for a second time, without the press there, and so not the full transparency he promised. However, the swearing in photos were released the same day. Bastardnation knew it happened, the day it happened, in fact, about a minute after it happened. It’s hardly the best kept secret since Roswell. It was fully transparent. It clearly had no malice attached too it. If we did not now know about it, then that would qualify as a cover up and not fully transparent. Of course the entire press corps should have been allowed it, merely a rookie mistake. You Republicans have allowed Bush to get away with genocide over the past eight years, a picture of Obama should be the least of your concerns.
Clutching at straws already.

Firstjohnfourfive subtly suggests that Obama is unqualified to be President. Under what circumstances, it’s unclear. Suggesting of course, that simply, the Republicans don’t like him. That’s all. That’s the reason he’s unqualified. No Democrat would be qualified to run for President, under the Republican supporters. If it were true that Obama was somehow unqualified that raises a few bigger questions…
1) Why didn’t the actual Republican Party raise this issue, investigate it fully, and come to a conclusion themselves, rather than hoping that a couple of bitter bloggers might watch a Fox News report and come up with their own insane conclusions.
2) Does America seriously not look into the qualifications of it’s public servants before they take office? Even my local corner shop asks to see my qualifications, and verifies them. If Obama is not qualified, serious questions need to be asked about the background of candidates.

CNN Blogs wasted ten minutes of my life, telling me that Obama didn’t wear his jacket on his first day in the Oval Office. They claim that it was a Bush and Regan policy that out of respect for the office of President, the jacket is to be worn by anyone in the room. Fine. That was Bush and Regan. It’s a shame Bush policy stopped at jacket wearing and didn’t extend as far as lying to the World before entering an unjustifiable war, or destroying the economy. I’m unaware of why not wearing a jacket is disrespectful, yet lying to the public leading to a mass of American soldiers dying miserably in an unjust war, is perfectly respectable? As ever, Republican logic is beyond my understanding.
Comments from Republicans grace the blog, such as…
“That is the most powerful room in the world. It is a place to be respected, not hang out in. Consider it symbolic, but it was a constant reminder of the size of the task it is to lead the greatest nation on earth. Bush and Reagan got it right!!!“
- I just love the idea that Obama is merely ‘hanging out’. If Bush got it right, then i’d hate to see the state of the planet when someone gets it wrong. It’s just a jacket! It might have been hot in there. Who cares? He could be wearing a tshirt with Sarah Palin looking out of her Alaskan home and waving to Putin over in Russia… She can see him, you know!!!…. he could wear a shirt that says… “I just looooove the gays!!” It wouldn’t matter, as long as he gets the job done correctly!! I could not give a shit what my leader choses to wear, as long as he runs the Country better than Bush could ever have done. I cannot imagine Republican nonsense is going to steep lower than this one.

The mass of Republican anti-Obama bloggers will never have a positive thing to say of Obama. They will always shoot him down. They will never admit that he may have made the right move. They will continue to stick up for the deeply flawed legacy of George Bush and they will refuse to accept that Sarah Palin, was a nightmare choice for Vice President. In the eyes of the deeply Republican, Obama can never do anything right.

And then of course there are those who keep complaining that Obama isn’t a fan of torture. As if it’s perfectly feasible for America to stamp it’s moral fist across the World, whilst at the same time, administering electric shocks, burning, forcing prisoners to be naked and pose for sexually explicit photos, covering their eyes and pretending to execute them, lack of food and water, without actually determining whether these detainees have committed any kind of crime or not. British man “Asif Iqbal” was held at Guantanamo, told that he could be killed and no one would know who did it, forcibly injected with drugs, sleep deprived, and subjected to sexual humiliation. A guard, on arrival, told Iqbal … “you killed my family in the Twin Towers, now it’s pay back time…” purely because Iqbal in Muslim. He was found to be completely innocent of all charges. If that’s the attitude of right wing America, isn’t it right, by their logic, that those families of the victims of dead Iraqis have the right to “pay back” America? Flawed logic by a flawed Right Wing ideology, which then wonders why the World absolutely despises them.

It must please the Democrats to know that they’ve managed to annoy Republicans for no good reason other than being Democrats. It must please Democrats even more to know that the entire World, supports them.

Defeat is a bitter pill to swallow clearly.

We’re all American now

Am I going mad?
Or am I one of the few sane people left in the Western World?

I sat watching George Bush deliver another speech of bullshit and propaganda in which he metaphorically masturbated Tony Blair. Blair was awarded The Presidential Medal of Freedom for his success in fighting terrorism. I’d assume this refers to the biggest disaster in war history, perhaps worse than Vietnam: Iraq. Currently this doesn’t surprise me. We seem to have become a World dedicated to rewarding failure. When asked why Goldman Sachs’ top guys will still be getting a bonus this year, The Independent was told “you have to pay big money to get the best guys“… such are ‘the best guys’ whose company is guilty of corruption, incompetence and partly responsible for the destruction of the entire free market. And those are the best guys? I’d hate to see the worst guys. Do they just sit in a room throwing faeces at a wall?

At one point, when referring to Blair, Bush used the phrase “Helped to free millions of people in Iraq”. If we must use that dreadful lie, we must also use “Has helped murder 600,000 innocent Iraqi people including many children, along with thousands on our own troops, whose family still don’t know what cause their sons, husbands, brothers, uncles died for.”

It was one of those horribly cringeworthy speeches, that only George Bush appears to deem appropriate. I’m neither casting a negative nor positive judgement on Blair as a Prime Minister. In fact, I quite liked him when it comes to domestic issues, but based on his foreign policy and his ‘special’ friendship with the World’s most villainous Terrorist Bush, his legacy will always be judged in a horribly even if somewhat unfairly negative light.

Bush thanked Blair for his public support for ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty’. Whenever those phrases are used so frequently, I wonder to myself what they mean, what they stand for exactly. Is it that in one breath we support Democracy, and then denounce it the moment a political party that does not like us, wins an election? Is it condemning homosexuality? Is it making flag buring a crime? Is it support for the regimes of dictators like Pinochet, because he’s agreeing to let your companies exploit his people? Is it seeking nuclear proliferation across the globe, yet hypocritically having the largest stock pile of nuclear arms on the planet? Is freedom experienced by the innocent men being held at Guantanamo without representation? Is freedom the love of warantless wiretapping? Experts (according to ‘The Economist’) have said that under the Bush administration, classified documentation has rised from 8.1 million in 2001 to 14.2 million in 2005 and that it is now much more difficult to obtain documents under the freedom of information act than ever before. Is this the Freedom the Bush administration so happily boasts about? Ex-felons (according to the Economist again, one in thirty seven adults in America has spent time behind bars) in some States, are banned from voting.

Bush went on to applaud Blair’s attitude to spreading Democracy across the globe. That Democracy goes hand in hand with freedom. He must be speaking of the failure to export Democracy to countries that just don’t want it, but killing enough people whilst trying? Or perhaps it’s the continued support for Governments like the Eqyption Government, whose President ‘Mumbarak’ has been in power for 28 years? Is it condemning Hamas and cutting off Aid because Hamas’ goal is to destroy Israel, yet standing side by side with Israel when their goal since birth has been to clear it’s region of all Islamic influence? Is it condemning Iran for testing missiles, yet ignoring Israel when they (according to U.S Intelligence – as much as an oxymoron as that is- Officials) “conducted an exercise that simulated a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities”? Or was it the support for the murderous regime of Batista in Cuba, yet (and unsurprisingly) hypocritically condemning every breath Castro takes. Right winged murderous dictators GOOD? Left wing, whether murderous or not, BAD? Freedom is only freedom when it suits American economic interests. Democracy is only democracy when the out come means that McDonalds can poison as many local water supplies as it can get it’s hands on.

Blair should not have been given this medal. He was awarded it in 2003 but has only agreed to collect it this year. Can you imagine the out cry it would cause among the families of dead soldiers who to this day do not understand why their children have died in a war zone, who have been given no reason or explanation, that the man who sent them to their deaths, is being rewarded for doing so? It’s a horrible consequence of a horrible period of history controlled by those who profit from War.

In a loose way, and perhaps this is where Bush feels so strongly about rewarding Blair for his help in achieving, we’re all American now.

Che: The Hero

“Che was the most complete human being of our age.”
Jean-Paul Sartre

Every generation needs a hero. Every generation needs that one person who stands out above the rest as a symbol of resistance. Someone, that the little man can relate to. Every generation needs someone so different, so willing to fight for the people who cannot fight alone for themselves, the forgotton people, the used and abused people, the exploited people. We all need someone to show us that we’ve all become a little too obsessed with the disturbingly life-consuming chase for individual wealth, that we’re forgetting our duty to humanity as a whole. Especially to those less fortunate. There is nothing any one can tell me, to convince me that allowing people to die every day of extreme hunger, whilst others across the World buy their third or fourth house, a yaht, and a new holiday home in Cyprus, can be justified in any way whatsoever.

It’s strangely satisfying to know that such a man, such a great man, is hated by the majority of Conservatives, Capitalists, and American Imperialists. It’s a two finger salute that generation after generation will read The Motorcycle Diaries, and wear the iconic Che tshirts, with their red Che posters, as a reminder that people are more important than money, whilst no one will ever wear a tshirt with Margaret Thatcher’s face, or Ronald Regan’s face, i’d be surprised if anyone names their child “George” again, after the past eight years. Whenever American Imperialists insist on describing someone other than every Republican currently running their country as “communist” or “insurgent” my instant reaction is “ah so what they mean is, people who don’t want to become just another American state”.

There are many right winged blogs that shout “terrorist” at the very mention of Che Guevara, and yet they have very little problem with the abuses of America, of Britain, of all Western nations, who continue to manipulate the word “freedom” in the most grotesque, and evil of ways. Che was no terrorist.
“Here’s a list of people he had killed!!!” – Let’s set up a list of those killed by American imperialism over the past fifty years shall we? Che killed, because he had to, if he didn’t kill, he’d have been killed, That’s what war does. None of those killed, were innocent. That’s a fact. And yet, more innocent people have died as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan than non-innocents. Who’s the terrorist now?

He taught me to think — he taught me the most beautiful thing which is to be human.
“Urbano”, former Cuban rebel fighter

The same people who cannot help but critise every thing Che Guevara stood for, or his methods, his fight, are the people who bitterly claim Obama to be an evil anti-christ and Socialist. These people are boring now. We’ve heard their shit for twenty five years. Their free market masturbation, that has lead to the World financial crises perhaps ever. We’re bored of it.

“Che’s life is an inspiration for every human being who loves freedom. We will always honor his memory.”
Nelson Mandela

“He killed people! He’s nothing but a terrorist!!” – He killed those who would have killed him given the chance. We don’t live in that World. We can never know what it’s like to live in a country under a corrupt government that happens to be supported by the Americans, who systematically execute anyone who disagrees with them. We don’t know what it’s like to live in a World where you should just give in to Capitalism, whilst you watch people dying of starvation all around you…. whilst the ignorant Capitalist Conservatives hail your nation as “free”. In a World where you kill or be killed, Che was no terrorist, he was a freedom fighter, a doctor, a teacher, a poet, a writer, a revolutionary. And let’s face it, he could never kill as many innocent people as Britain and America has since 2003 (over 600,000 now I believe). If the Right Wing are happy to ignore their politicians horribly destroying lives across the World, purely for profit, then they cannot complain when the Left Wing start to react with violence against their opressors.

The CIA throughout Latin America during the 1940s and 1950s financed corrupt regimes like those of Pinochet, or Batista, or Videla setting up “death squads” to kill off any resistance. Anyone who stands up against such a dangerous machine, anyone who fights that machine, fighting fire with fire, willing to endure the struggle, is a true hero.

It usually works like this…

America and Britain support a corrupt Capitalist government. Purely for money making opportunities.

That corrupt government (for example Cuban under Batista, or Chile under Pinochet) causes untold suffering and poverty.

The left wing is all but wiped out.

Someone from the oppressed nation steps forward and says “enough is enough” and fights back, sticking up for the less fortunate.

America refer to that person as a terrorist.

America go to war somewhere….. kill thousands….. anyone who fights back, is a terrorist.

If you say “woah woah woah, this isn’t right!!!” you’re “unamerican” or maybe you’re a terrorist too!!!

Mark Falcoft in his book on Che, had this to say…
“What has made Guevara a cultural icon is not his example for poor countries, but his capacity to provoke empathy among the spoiled youth of the affluent West.”
I think this sums up the legend of Che Guevara perfectly. You look at Che, you find out what he stood for, and you’re introduced to a world where the rich man will do the most evil of things to increase his wealth whilst the poor man lingers on the edge of the mountain, supported by no man, and you cannot help but feel deep empathy. You start to think , Thank the heavens for good men, men who wont just roll over and be fucked by American imperialism. Thank the heavens for people like Che Guevara.

A London New Year…

A couple of friends (Blain and Michael) of mine, along with my very beautiful girlfriend Stacy and I, took a last minute train down to London on New Years Eve, planning to stay in my Student Flat down there. Seeing the New Year arrive in that very unique London town fashion.

Our day can be summed up as follows……

Camden bars at 8pm, some incredibly cockney guy and his Amy Winehouse lookalike sister, tried to sell us drugs for the next couple of hours. And ended up saying “alwite, give us ya namber, and i’ll call you at midnight, the password is pineapple, you say anyfin’ else n i’m ‘angin up”.

Down to the Thames for midnight. Absolutely incredible firework display. Street party that went on for the next few hours. Everyone having a fantastic time.

Watching some Turkish men dancing when a circle forms around them on the north bank of the Thames opposite the London Eye, suddenly, Michael joins in. Filmed and about to be uploaded onto Facebook.

Got to the front of the accommodation i’m staying in, and five workers were trying to hold the door shut on a crazed drunk guy singing whilst trying to fight his way in. My friend burst out laughing. We went around to the side doors, and were met by the manager of the building who yelled at my friend for laughing “That man could hurt himself!!! I bet this has really made your night!!! You’re stood laughing at him! It’s disgusting, you should be ashamed!”……… I don’t want to live in a World where a drunken man who can barely stand needs five people in a panic trying to keep him out, isn’t funny to watch.

Got in at 4am, me, stacy, two friends, in my flat in London.

Fell asleep at 5am

Fire alarm went off at 6am.

Fell asleep around 6:30am

For some odd reason, we were up by 11am.

Camden at 1pm.
Michael randomly decides to get his arm tatooed in Camden.

Walk around London for the next three hours.

Meet an American chick, who seems incredibly friendly, and soon to be very very rich. Make sure we get her facebook name.

Train home at 5:45.

Fell asleep at 8pm.

Woke up about about 12:30pm.

Writing this blog.

Here’s some photos for you…

Let’s all have sex!

To be a Libertine is to be seen as blemish on an unforgiving morally absolute society. Debauchery isn’t wise, if your aim in life is to be accepted. You forever find yourself having to explain your sinful ways to others, whilst their damning eyes, condemn every last word that leaves your devilish mouth.

The sexually promiscuous generation are aching to break the chains of bigoted religious morals.

It seems lately that sexual promiscuity is the norm. But widely condemned. Even by those who fuck everything that moves. A libertine is not engulfed by the need to please an all powerful master that may or may not exist. A Libertine knows no social boundary, and does not care when contemporaries scorn at their very existence. A Libertine, by definition is free. The only restriction on their freedom is their ever more fickle conscience.

I have a fickle conscience.

A fickle conscience is the very essence of the self confessed Libertine. Ami Perrin, argued in the middle of the 16th Century that the current state of Geneva and it’s religious policy of making everyone within the Calvinist realm, succumb to it’s terms, uniformaly and without complaint, was misleading and an attack on freedom. That people should break away and as long as they weren’t hurting anyone, should live as they wish. In this, Perrin can be described as a Libertine.

Today, Libertines have very little to fear except the wrath of the God-loving few, who insist that pre-marital sex is morally wrong, let alone sleeping with a different person each night of the week.

I differ from these God-loving few. If for example, I were to tell a Christian my sexual conquest record, they would frown disapprovingly, and possibly even try to rescue me. It seems they would have us believe that God hates those who like to have sex, but he just loves those who despise homosexuals and preach segregation. Surely that in itself, that attack on freedom, freedom that doesn’t hurt anyone else, is morally wrong? Not beautiful licentious debauchery?

You often hear “oh, all these teenagers having sex with random people, it’s just not right”…. why isn’t it? There’s no one harmed in it, so what’s the issue? What isn’t right, is all these teenagers stabbing each other to death, or stealing, or threatening innocent people, what isn’t right is their utter destruction of the English language. A few teenagers getting laid every Friday night is way down my list of “what’s wrong”.

Sex, for me, is merely a hobby. There to be enjoyed whenever and with whoever I want. My fickle conscience provides me with one extra road block. It tells me that we’re all humans, regardless of our religious belief, our sexuality, and our skin colour, and so there must be no malice in the wonderful World of promiscuity. And so my conclusion, is that as long as both people are consenting, and both people treat each other with respect, then what is the problem? It’s not hurting anyone. It’s enjoying yourself. It has absolutely nothing to do with a God, or his followers, who I chose to sleep with. I certainly don’t feel guilty about my sex life. Nor do I regret any of them, even turning Laura into a lesbian.
Sex is my opiate. I use it to relax. Some people drink, some people smoke, some people read works of fiction like the Bible, I have sex. Sex is my drug. It’s a get away from the World, a place where I can forget any problems I may have. In this, sex is like meditation for me. My salacious eyes are a part of my very essence.

Why does God hate me for who I am? Why do I have to suppress who I am, to please him? Fuck him. I’m me. I quite like me. I don’t want to change.

I often hear people say “the best contraception, is not having sex”…. oh how very witty of you. Geniuses. It’s like saying “The best way to cook a steak, is to cook a steak”. Don’t blame sexual promiscuity of a raise of teenage pregnancies. Blame ignorance. Blame parents too ashamed to talk to their kids.

I’m spoken for. I have a beautiful girlfriend. We’ve been together over two and a half years. And in that time, I can honestly say, my sexual antics have been limited to me and her. I have never cheated. This is where the fickle conscience comes back into play. If I were to cheat, it would have a negative affect, it would upset my lovely girlfriend, and so the balance is tipped in the wrong direction, someone has been hurt by my actions, and so it ceases to be the act of a Libertine, and becomes the act of a cunt. (No pun intended).

If it helps a marriage, for it to be open, then I’m all for it. If that’s what works for a particular marriage, then why should it be considered unnatural? Why should any sexual act be considered unnatural if both adults are consenting? Surely, if both want and enjoy it, then it’s at the top of the “What is natural” scale. If two men want to have sex, if they both enjoy sex with each other, then why is that unnatural? if two women want to have sex, then it’s fine (and even more so, if they film it and send it to my email address). No one has to right to tell anyone else what is and isn’t natural for them. Surely it’s disastrously unnatural if you’re gay, but have to pretend to be straight in order to appease the hate filled bigots in society?

The natural vs unnatural debate can turn back around and really knock the “no sex before marriage!” posse for ten. I’d suggest, quite controversially maybe, that human beings are not supposed to have just one sexual partner. By sewing together the emotional bond of love, with sex, it suddenly means we’re supposed to save ourselves for that one special person. When actually, the two needn’t be entwined at all. Humanity, like the animal World, is sexually promiscuous. We don’t want to just stick with one partner, if it were deemed socially acceptable, we’d all be fucking each other like sex starved inmates at an all male prison. We just fear the wrath of society.

I lost my virginity when I was 15. I don’t regret it. The sex itself was shit. But it opened up a new World for me. Like with anything, the only way you improve is with a huge amount of practice, and when I split with my ex, I got that huge amount of practice, and I certainly enjoyed every last second of it. It would be wrong to say “Oh I wish I hadn’t, my innocence….lost forever.” Sexually, I have no regrets. In fact, I loved it.

Where’s the Christian American pro-life attitude when it comes to guns? Weapons designed, to end life? Or when it comes to bombing the life out of other nations? Where’s the pro-life attitude when it comes to ending World wide poverty? Get your fucking priorities sorted.

To sum up, sexual liberation is the act of breaking free from the chains placed on us by Religion and Society. And as long as it causes no harm to yourself, the other person/people involved, or anyone indirectly affected by the intercourse, then no one has the right to claim it to be unnatural or immoral, because it isn’t. Even if you want to sleep with another person, every night of the week, and don’t even know their names. Who cares? Why is that a problem? Who’s it harming? Questions like this, can never be answered thoroughly and without social or religious bias by those who condemn promiscuity.

Now i’ve got that formality out of the way, does anyone want a shag?