Female Circumcision: a Polite Term For Cutting a Girl's Genitals

I found it shocking that the mutilation of a girl's genitals occurs in such vast swathes of the world, it is a profoundly disturbing left over of ancient, anti-female violence, carried out by men as a device to repress, control and, to a certain extent, destroy femininity.

I will not go into the depraved details of female genital cutting, plenty of information can be found on the practice, needless to say in most cases it involves the removal of the clitoris, to strip the female of an organ that enables sexual pleasure and of course orgasm.

This is no doubt rooted in perverse, phallocentric thinking; to brutally destroy female pleasure in sexual intercourse, to win back sex from the sullied mewling of the feminine. I do wonder who thought up this act of uber-violence, of inter-gender warfare, what it stemmed from. One can guess, we are all familiar with the clumsy, ill-thought out desires of man and the ease at which he turns to violence in order to force his will.

Ancient man can perhaps be forgiven for this base, backward error but what alarms me more is that it is still practised.

Precise figures are hard to come by, a conservative estimate is that some 130 million women are effected around the world, with 3 million girls vulnerable to genital mutilation each and every year; a raft of fresh victims.

Sadly, Africa is the continent most blighted with the evil practice, in a band that stretches east to west across the continent. Imagine if you will this band peaks at its extremities: on the east that gives us Egypt, Somalia et al and on the west hand side we have Mauritania, Mali and Sierra Leone. The band thins but is still present in Chad, Nigeria, Ghana etc.

Nations at the extremities have a figure of over 80% of the female population having experienced genital mutilation, which is bewildering in its scope. Even those in the slimmer sections of this awful band have rates between 20 and 40%. When one thinks the device used to carry out this practice is usually a razor blade or broken glass, with battery acid used to staunch the heavy bleeding, the speed with which this barbaric act must come to an end becomes even clearer.

Letters Home From Vietnam

"The trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised and we shall be changed...Oh, death, where is thy sting, where thy victory? If God be for us, who can be against us?"

Not too long ago I finished reading the utterly excellent "Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam", as part of my continuing education into that particular war and the lives of the soldiers in it.

It is a collection of letters from a US military personnel that documents the war from the inside-out and it is a harrowing, powerful read that can't help but make the reader transfer his or her thoughts to those that currently serve in Iraq and Afghanistan...never mind the other brewing conflicts around the globe.

After each letter, which may be of the most mundane sort, or uplifting, or terrifyingly gripping, or just plain heartbreaking; you then discover the outcome for the author: whether KIA, WIA, MIA or currently working as a deckhand on a tugboat, or a financial manager for Pacific Bell. This acts as the punctuation and I found myself, as the end of each letter approached, rushing to discover what happened to the writer, hoping that, against all the odds they made it. Often they didn't.

The worst are perhaps those written by new fathers to their new children, not yet met, opening up their hearts with love for their not yet seen children, only to discover a piece of shrapnel ended any chance of father meeting son, or daughter meeting father.

The book goes on to be riddled with passages that level you, whether it be the words of Johnny Boy...

"I want to hold my head between my hands and run screaming away from here. I cry too, not much, just when I touch the sore spots. I'm hollow, Mrs Perko. I'm a shell and when I'm scared I rattle. I', no one to tell you about your son. I can't. I'm sorry."

Or the hard-edged rhyming funnies of PFC Thomas F. Smith...

I love my flag, I do, I do

Which floats upon the breeze

I also love my arms and legs

And neck and nose and knees

One little shell might spoil them all

Or give them such a twist

They would be of no use to me

I guess I won't enlist

I love my country, yes, I do

I hope her folks do well

Without our arms and legs and things

I think we'd look like hell

Young men with faces half shot off

Are unfit to be kissed

I've read in books it spoils their looks

I guess I won't enlist

Or the POW that survived some 6 years in captivity, writing fevered letters to his wife and family and making lists of what he would do if he was ever released, to only kill himself 4 months after being set free.

Amongst all the stillborn children, breastless women, old men stumbling in the dust, soldiers looting bodies, cookies from home, burning houses to the ground, pigeon-breasted fantasies, disowned veterans and dead best friends, there is this truth:

We are your sons, America

And you cannot change that

When you awake

We will still be here  

The last word both here and in the book is given to Eleanor Wimbish, in a letter to her son, as she visits that deep, black gash into the earth that is the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial...

"Dear Bill: Today is February 13, 1984. I came to this black wall again to see and touch your name and as I do I wonder if anyone ever stops to realize that next to your name, on this black wall, is your mother's heart."

Robert Mugabe Has a New Best Friend!

As the two mentalists meet, allies in being utterly wacky and killing people who dissent, a firm handshake is shared, a handshake seemingly supervised by a Jew. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hides his loathing of the Jew well behind a rictus smile. Mugabe grins inanely, not being too sure what a Jew is.

With the Jew still loitering in the background, soon to be shot, Mugabe and Ahmadinejad double up on the handshake, making it a virtual hand sandwich. However, smiles quickly fade as the clamminess of the anti-Semite's skin upsets the mad old African ballbag, who keeps his "claws of death" (as he named them) in tip-top shape. The alliance of lunacy is in the balance...

  

Embarrassed by his clammy palms and realising the bat-shit crazy old loon is literally slipping from his grasp, Ahmadinejad throws caution to the wind and moves in for the reach around and embraces the mentally unbalanced honky-hater. Smiles all round as Mugabe loves this kind of man on man shit and anyway, the Arab makes him feel tall.

A quick change of suits after the successful (if slightly wet) handshake and full on cuddle, leaves the two dictators in a confident and sartorially smooth mood, so much so, that the two unlikely gays hold hands and prance about an airport where Mugabe has all the whites shipped out of the country and blames everything on the British.

Happy 'The Day a Jew Was Tortured and Killed' Day

Bible Study: Modernity Doesn't get it

I know it has been a rather sporadic series of posts but today marks the final Bible Study post, the others can be found, in order of tracking the history of the Bible, at these places: And in the Beginning..., NewTestament, Humans Are Too Stupid and A Very Confusing Book Indeed.

The current modern Biblical malaise stems from a desire for certainty, as if to combat scientific certainty (which in itself is not totally certain) and to a degree, this has bred the modern, defensive Christian, who feels under siege from science and indeed modernity and has entrenched themselves in the warm comfort of Biblical dogma and apocalyptic visions. No longer is the Bible an act of faith in itself but an act of intellectual submission to a set of beliefs ruled errorless and binding.

This desperation had led to a disgusting distortion of the scriptural tradition, as witnessed in the idea of the Rapture and whereas in the past, the less than humane parts of the Bible were passed over or treated with exegesis, modern faith has actively sought these portions out and has invoked them ahistorically and literally.

Quite simply, the Bible is not there to back up political policy, doctrines or beliefs; it is an activity unto itself and not one to be abused as a mere block quote, to justify some insane position or another. The fundamentalist emphasis on the literal, which is ever restricting and limiting, is a breach with the long tradition of the figurative and the innovative.

It has not all been one way traffic though, modernity, with all of its advancements, has brought about unprecedented violence and tools of destruction, these have coloured interpretations of the Bible, apocalypse became a reality and the violence of modernity has in turn made the Bible more violently interpreted.

Modernity's assumptions about the Bible are, for the most part, horribly incorrect. The slavish conformity and dogma that is much of its current incarnation have little to do with Biblical tradition, the Bible is anti-orthodoxy and was always supposed to be contradictory and conflicting but more importantly it was supposed to be interactive and ever changing.

We have a long way to go to get back to that kind of subtle interpretation...

"People Are Jumping Out The Windows...They're Jumping Out The Windows, I Guess Because, They're Trying to Save Themselves...I Don't Know"

It was eight years ago today...

For some reason this anniversary of the terrible 9/11 attacks is playing a lot on my mind. Last year I was immersed in the world of Zero, a play no doubt inspired by the acts of torture triggered by 9/11, the year before that I was consumed by the archaic process of trying to purchase a home, while in 2006 I was more concerned about Iraq which has besmirched the idea of 9/11 and demeaned it to a mere precursor of war and excessive loss of human life. 2005, I didn't even mention it all, so preoccupied was I with yet another house move and the impending tour of Bouncers.

Before that, I'm ashamed to say, I had always been rather glib about 9/11, even pedantically referring to it as 11/9 and making noises about correct formatting of the date, like a monstrous tit. The reason, as I have inferred above, is that we were not allowed to hold onto 9/11 as a terrible crime against the United States and a device by which we all pulled together as humans against acts of cruel terror.

Because just as the dust was settling, it was a seemingly perfect excuse for Bush and his cohorts to unleash a period of eight hellish years, that have included human rights infringements, the awful mire that is the war in Iraq and the endless process of bringing peace and stability (and of course an acceptable regime to the West) in Afghanistan; at massive loss of civilian and military life...never mind the terrorist attacks around the world inspired by America's approach to the problem.

And now I come to think about it, the number of odious off-shoots is endless: we have the increase in fundamental and violent Islam activists, which in turn has led to a polarisation of the world's religions and the bracketing of Islam as evil, which further exacerbates it's militarisation and has become something of a culture war.

This polarisation has leaked into our politics with retarded 'with us or against us' thinking; black and white solutions to grey problems and a lack of a middle ground where most solutions are offered. All this adds up to a tarnishing of 9/11 as the instigator of this God awful mess, when in reality it is the Bush regime's response to 9/11 that has changed our world for the worse; ably supported of course by a whole raft of idiots on both sides.

I stumbled upon the famous video today of Bush at the Emma E. Booker Elementary School, the moment when he is told: "A second plane has hit the tower, America is under attack" is at one minute in...



I suppose my feelings of sadness at this anniversary have partly been due to a maturing in my attitudes to the events of that day and the volume of powerful 9/11 documentaries that have featured on British television in the last week or so, including the excellent '102 Minutes That Changed America' and '9/11: The Falling Man'...

This post's title is a direct quote of an eyewitness, whose testimony I saw live on television and was so moved by it, I hunted down the audio file as a reminder of the terror and horror of that awful day.

In honour and loving memory of those that lost their lives on that fateful day.

OMG! The White House is Gay!

I understand that the previous eight years of Bush set the bar for even a slightly left-of-centre White House very, very low indeed.

Basically the bar is flat on the ground, perhaps even slightly submerged in the soil...it's a gimmie.

In my links you'll see the official White House blog, I visit every day and check in on what the Obama administration is up to, reading policy and watching videos.

The brief time that Obama has been in charge has already shown sweeping changes, this is a very different administration to the last one but I think that the sheer weight of change is being underestimated. Three things have happened of late that have rejuvenated and re-reminded me of what a changed White House this is; with attitudes that have the power to pervade deep into American society; perhaps even repairing the damage of the last eight years.

27th June: Obama and his wife had an AIDS test in order to encourage all to do so, bearing in mind that one in five Americans with AIDS don't know they have it and to see their leader doing so (not for the first time, he did something similar in 2006 in Kenya) may help to remove some of the stigma and sends a global message. Can you see any previous President doing this?

29th June: the anniversary of Stonewall is celebrated on the White House website, what sea change is this? From an administration that was openly hostile towards the LGBT community to one that marks the anniversary of a seminal event in their civil rights movement.

30th June: President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama host the White House's first LGBT event, with remarks that acknowledge how far America has come but outlines the vast array of work that still needs to be done. Clearly under Obama's watch, Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender people will not be burning in hell...

What a welcome change this is to the hate and horror of Bush.

Then, this morning, my very good friend Wendy turned me on to this great piece of journalism by Johann Hari.

Johann Hari provides context to Stonewall, and how it stands as a pivotal moment in the LGBT movement. He also reminds us that homosexuality is a naturally occurring phenomenon and part of the great tapestry of nature:

...about 2 to 5 per cent of human beings prefer to have sex with their own gender. It occurs at the heart of nature: only last week, Professors Nathan Bailey and Marlene Zuk, of the University of California, concluded in a study: "The variety and ubiquity of same-sex sexual behaviour in animals is impressive – many thousands of instances of same-sex courtship, pair bonding and copulation have been observed in a wide range of species, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, molluscs and nematodes."

His piece reminds us of how far we have come in the West, although acknowledges that gay teenagers are still six times more likely to commit suicide than their straight counterparts. In other parts of the world he flags that India are on the brink of de-criminalising homosexuality and that China had it's first Gay Pride march.

Johann Hari then outs those parts of the globe that are still in the dark ages when it comes to the human rights of LGBT people: the Muslim world and the Caribbean.

The fact that the Muslim world is a bastion of vile homophobia is of little surprise, the book that guides that faith is twisted and turned (sometimes with plenty of assistance from the book itself) so that homosexuality is punished by jailing, torture and death sentences. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad even denies there are any gay people in Iran, but is happy to have them executed in public squares when some crop up.

The fact that the Caribbean is also a hunting ground for LGBT slaughter is perhaps not so surprising, it is a culture infested with the macho and phallocentric and thus is actually quite flimsy and weak, paper thin ideas of strength and masculinity that run rampant in many parts of Africa also (see my piece here on the raping and killing of lesbians in South Africa); so that 'men' (and I use the word very loosely) feel threatened and challenged by lesbians who are not enthralled by the penis and by gay men who are equated as women and thus lesser than man.

Irony is perhaps not the best word for the sexual violence that these gay men have to endure at the hands of the 'straight' men. Is is clear that these 'straight' men, emasculated and impotent due to unemployment, life style choices and a lack of purpose; can only confirm their own stupid existence through sexual terrorism.

It is clear, as Johann Hari points out, that these communities need our support in defining their human rights as LGBT people; just show me where to sign to beat back these vulgar bigots...

Jesse "The Governing Body" Ventura Kicks Dick Cheney's Ass

Ex-pro wrestler, Navy SEAL and one time Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura may seem an unlikely source for withering insight and powerful political commentary...but he is.

Watch below as he wrecks havoc on the terribly flawed Cheney logic on torture and gets the Bush administration in a headlock for good measure.

Finishing move? I'm thinking Jesse gives Dick Cheney the old overhead gutwrench backbreaker rack.

You dig?

Dick Cheney Hearts Torture, Torture Hearts Him Back

You've got to laugh, otherwise you'd cry your eyes out until your heart was empty.

President Obama has put the fear of God up the CIA after releasing all the Bush torture memos, even though he made it clear there was an amnesty on such terrible acts, he felt compelled to go visit the CIA and make them feel better for being a bunch of torturing twats; blindly following directives by bad lawyers and, of course, Dick fucking Cheney. The fact that one prisoner alone was water boarded some 266 times is bad enough but Dick Cheney, surprise surprise, wades in like a fat, cancerous whale with horns into blood stained waters.

The aim of this horrific wading was to appear on Fox News (they must be so proud) and demand the release of the all the wonderful success stories of torture and water boarding.

Read that bit again.

Torture works folks, it never has in the past and every security source discredits it as a useful means of acquiring quality and timely strategic information but heck, that Dick Cheney knows his torture onions, I mean, think of his poor fucking wife and what she's had to go through. Cheney doesn't even show any signs of remorse, he even goes as far as to describe torture as enormously valuable, which is a term you might use to refer to your friendly dog keeping you company through your recuperation after your fourth heart attack but not the repeated simulated drowning of prisoners.

In fact, I got the title of this post wrong, Cheney has no fucking heart left.

I feel bad for Obama, he inherited such a terrible legacy, like a glorious, surging attacking midfielder running onto an awful, 50/50 ambulance pass; that if he pulls out of will make him look weak and if he takes it on, he'll end with a career ending cruciate ligament injury.

What would you do?

Last Post About Bush I Swear (Unless He Dies)

Here is Bush in some of those gosh darnit number-type things and all those folks...

Number of news stories from 1998 to Election Day 2000 containing “George W. Bush” and “aura of inevitability”: 206

Amount for which Bush successfully sued Enterprise Rent-A-Car in 1999: $2,500

Year in which a political candidate first sued Palm Beach County over problems with hanging chads: 1984

Total amount the Bush campaign paid Enron and Halliburton for use of corporate jets during the 2000 recount: $15,400

Percentage of Bush’s first 189 appointees who also served in his father’s administration: 42

Minimum number of Bush appointees who have regulated industries they used to represent as lobbyists: 98

Years before becoming energy secretary that Spencer Abraham cosponsored a bill to abolish the Department of Energy: 2

Number of Chevron oil tankers named after Condoleezza Rice, at the time she became foreign policy adviser: 1

Date on which the GAO sued Dick Cheney to force the release of documents related to current U.S. energy policy: 2/22/02

Number of other officials the GAO has sued over access to federal records: 0

Months before September 11, 2001, that Cheney’s Energy Task Force investigated Iraq’s oil resources: 6

Hours after the 9/11 attacks that an Alaska congressman speculated they may have been committed by “eco-terrorists”: 9

Date on which the first contract for a book about September 11 was signed: 9/13/01

Number of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and North African men detained in the U.S. in the eight weeks after 9/11: 1,182

Number of them ever charged with a terrorism-related crime: 0

Number charged with an immigration violation: 762

Days since the federal government first placed the nation under an “elevated terror alert” that the level has been relaxed: 0

Minimum number of calls the FBI received in fall 2001 from Utah residents claiming to have seen Osama bin Laden: 20

Number of box cutters taken from U.S. airline passengers since January 2002: 105,075

Percentage of Americans in 2006 who believed that U.S. Muslims should have to carry special I.D.: 39

Chances an American in 2002 believed the government should regulate comedy routines that make light of terrorism: 2 in 5

Rank of Mom, Dad, and Rudolph Giuliani among those whom 2002 college graduates said they most wished to emulate: 1, 2, 3

Number of members of the rock band Anthrax who said they hoarded Cipro so as to avoid an “ironic death”: 1

Estimated total calories members of Congress burned giving Bush’s 2002 State of the Union standing ovations: 22,000

Percentage of the amendments in the Bill of Rights that are violated by the USA PATRIOT Act, according to the ACLU: 50

Minimum number of laws that Bush signing statements have exempted his administration from following: 1,069

Estimated number of U.S. intelligence reports on Iraq that were based on information from a single defector: 100

Number of times the defector had ever been interviewed by U.S. intelligence agents: 0

Date on which Bush said of Osama bin Laden, “I truly am not that concerned about him”: 3/13/02

Days after the U.S. invaded Iraq that Sony trademarked “Shock & Awe” for video games: 1

Days later that the company gave up the trademark, citing “regrettable bad judgment”: 25

Number of books by Henry Kissinger found in Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz’s mansion: 2

Number by then–New York Times reporter Judith Miller: 1

Factor by which an Iraqi in 2006 was more likely to die than in the last year of the Saddam regime: 3.6

Factor by which the cause of death was more likely to be violence: 120

Chance that an Iraqi has fled his or her home since the beginning of the war: 1 in 6

Portion of Baghdad residents in 2007 who had a family member or friend wounded or killed since 2003: 3/4

Percentage of U.S. veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who have filed for disability with the VA: 35

Chance that an Iraq war veteran who has served two or more tours now has post-traumatic stress disorder: 1 in 4

Number of all U.S. war veterans who have been denied Veterans Administration health care since 2003: 452,677

Number of eligibility restrictions for admission into the Army that have been loosened since 2003: 9

Percentage change from 2004 to 2007 in the number of Army recruits admitted despite having been charged with a felony: +295

Date on which the White House announced it had stopped looking for WMDs in Iraq: 1/12/05

Years since his acquittal that O. J. Simpson has said he is still looking for his wife’s “real killers”: 13

Minimum number of close-up photographs of Bush’s hands owned by his current chief of staff, Josh Bolten: 4

Number of vehicles in the motorcade that transports Bush to his regular bike ride in Maryland: 6

Estimated total miles he has ridden his bike as president: 5,400

Portion of his presidency he has spent at or en route to vacation spots: 1/3

Minimum number of times that Frederick Douglass was beaten in what is now Donald Rumsfeld’s vacation home: 25

Estimated number of juveniles whom the United States has detained as enemy combatants since 2002: 2,500

Minimum number of detainees who were tortured to death in U.S. custody: 8

Minimum number of extraordinary renditions that the United States has made since 2006: 200

Date on which USA Today added Guantánamo to its weather map: 1/3/05

Number of incidents of torture on prime-time network TV shows from 2002 to 2007: 897

Number on shows during the previous seven years: 110

Percentage change since 2000 in U.S. emigration to Canada: +79

Number of the thirty-eight Iraq war veterans who have run for Congress who were Democrats: 21

Percentage of Republicans in 2005 who said they would vote for Bush over George Washington: 62

Seconds it took a Maryland consultant in 2004 to pick a Diebold voting machine’s lock and remove its memory card: 10

Number of states John Kerry would have won in 2004 if votes by poor Americans were the only ones counted: 40

Number if votes by rich Americans were the only ones counted: 4

Portion of all U.S. income gains during the Bush Administration that have gone to the top 1 percent of earners: 3/4

Increase since 2000 in the number of Americans living at less than half the federal poverty level: 3,500,000

Percentage change since 2001 in the average amount U.S. workers spend on out-of-pocket medical expenses: +172

Estimated percentage by which Social Security benefits would have declined if Bush’s privatization plan had passed: –15

Percentage change since 2002 in the number of U.S. teens using illegal drugs: –9

Percentage change in the number of adults in their fifties doing so: +121

Number of times FDA officials met with consumer and patient groups as they revised drug-review policy in 2006: 5

Number of times they met with industry representatives: 113

Amount the Justice Department spent in 2001 installing curtains to cover two seminude statues of Justice: $8,650

Number of Republican officials who have been investigated by the Justice Department since 2001: 196

Number of Democratic officials who have been: 890

Number of White House officials in 2006 and 2007 authorized to discuss pending criminal cases with the DOJ: 711

Number of Clinton officials ever authorized to do so: 4

Years since a White House official as senior as I. Lewis Libby had been indicted while in office: 130

Number of U.S. cities and towns that have passed resolutions calling for the impeachment of President Bush: 92

Percentage change since 2001 in U.S. government spending on paper shredding: +466

Percentage of EPA scientists who say they have experienced political interference with their work since 2002: 60

Change since 2001 in the percentage of Americans who believe humans are causing climate change: –4

Number of total additions made to the U.S. endangered-species list under Bush: 61

Average number made yearly under Clinton: 65

Minimum number of pheasant hunts Dick Cheney has gone on since he shot a hunting companion in 2006: 5

Days after Hurricane Katrina hit that Cheney’s office ordered an electric company to restore power to two oil pipelines: 1

Days after the hurricane that the White House authorized sending federal troops into New Orleans: 4

Portion of the $3.3 billion in federal Hurricane Katrina relief spent by Mississippi that has benefited poor residents: 1/4

Percentage change in the number of Louisiana and Mississippi newborns named Katrina in the year after the storm: +153

Rank of Nevaeh, “heaven” spelled backward, among the fastest growing names given to American newborns since 2000: 1

Months, beginning in 2001, that the federal government’s online condom fact sheet disappeared from its website : 17

Minimum amount that religious groups received in congressional earmarks from 2003 to 2006: $209,000,000

Amount such groups received during the previous fourteen years: $107,000,000

Percentage change from 2003 to 2007 in the amount of money invested in U.S. faith-based mutual funds: +88

Average annualized percentage return during that time in the Christian and Muslim funds, respectively: +11, +15

Number of feet the Ground Zero pit has been built up since the site was fully cleared in 2002: 30

Number of 980-foot-plus “Super Tall” towers built in the Arab world in the seven years since 9/11: 4

Year by which the third and final phase of the 2003 “road map” to a Palestinian state was to have been reached: 2005

Estimated number of the twenty-five provisions of the first phase that have yet to be completed: 12

Number of times in 2007 that U.S. media called General David Petraeus “King David”: 14

Percentage change during the first ten months of the Iraq war “surge” in the number of Iraqis detained in U.S.-run prisons: +63

Percentage change in the number of Iraqis aged nine to seventeen detained: +285

Ratio of the entire U.S. federal budget in 1957, adjusted for inflation, to the amount spent so far on the Iraq war: 1:1

Estimated amount Bush-era policies will cost the U.S. in new debt and accrued obligations: $10,350,000,000,000 (see page 31)

Percentage change in U.S. discretionary spending during Bush’s presidency: +31

Percentage change during Reagan’s and Clinton’s, respectively: +16, +0.3

Ratio in 1999 of the number of U.S. federal employees to the number of private employees on government contracts: 15:6

Ratio in 2006: 14:15

Total value of U.S. government contracts in 2000 that were awarded without competitive bidding: $73,000,000,000

Total in 2007: $146,000,000,000

Number of the five directors of the No Child Left Behind reading program with financial ties to a curriculum they developed: 4

Amount by which the federal government has underfunded its estimated cost to implement NCLB: $71,000,000,000

Minimum number of copies sold, since it was released in 2006, of Flipping Houses for Dummies: 45,000

Chance that the buyer of a U.S. home in 2006 now has “negative equity,” i.e., the debt on the home exceeds its value: 1 in 5

Estimated value of Henry Paulson’s Goldman Sachs stock when he became Treasury Secretary and sold it: $575,000,000

Estimated value of that stock today: $238,000,000

Salary in 2006 of the White House’s newly created Director for Lessons Learned: $106,641

Minimum number of Bush-related books published since 2001: 606

Number of words in the first sentence of Bill Clinton’s memoir and in that of George W. Bush’s, respectively: 49, 5

Minimum number of nicknames Bush has given to associates during his presidency: 75

Number of associates with the last name Jackson he has dubbed “Action Jackson”: 2

Number of press conferences at which Bush has referred to a question as a “trick”: 14

Number of times he has declared an event or outcome not to be “acceptable”: 149

Rank of Bush among U.S. presidents with the highest disapproval rating: 1

Average percentage of Americans who approved of the job Bush was doing during his second term: 37

Percentage of Russians today who approve of the direction their country took under Stalin: 37

China has Right Idea About What to do With Lying, Failed Business Men

China is to execute two people and sentence another to life imprisonment over the poisoned baby milk scandal, which is perhaps a method the British government should utilise with all the chief execs, board members and senior staff in the banking sector; which seems to be a bottomless pit for tax payers money. Surely that would focus hearts and minds on the task at hand and make sure no one fucked up ever again.

While we're at it, perhaps Peter Hain and Jack Straw should be held accountable in the most final, cruel and unusual way? What the hell, can we execute burglaries and robberies at knife point as well please? I'm sure abstract notions can be shot in the head or given lethal injection if we all try hard enough.

I joke of course, I find capital punishment repellent and am reminded of another reason we shouldn't have given the Olympics to China.

On a lighter note, I read with some amusement today that after the slightly bundled oath taken by Obama at the inauguration, he retook it out of an "abundance of caution" which is, in itself, a delightful turn of phrase...as is Chief Justice Roberts' coda: "Congratulations, again."

An interesting footnote is that two other Presidents have retaken their oaths out of an abundance of caution, Calvin Coolidge and Chester Arthur. Let's hope Obama does far better than either of those two...

Zero is Over: Tom is Dead, Long Live Tom

Last night was the last night of Zero.

A three month adventure is now over, audiences have been moved/angered/inspired, wonderful friends have been made and at last, this grand journey comes to an end.

For now, I don't feel too glum, although just before the show yesterday I was hit with an immense wave of sadness at it all being over. It's not about being out of work again, because as an actor that is quite simply the way of life, it's about the people, the story, telling a story that was about something, something that profoundly matters.

I'll miss it terribly.

To my fellow actors: brothers and sisters one and all, my love, respect and admiration and a genuine hope our paths cross again.

To Chris O'Connell: writer and inspiration; if you ever need anyone to give mind, heart, body and soul to your words again, then make sure you look me up.

And to Tom: you're a nob but I love you brother death.

Isn't it...

"People Know They do This...But What They do"

As I lay on the stage at the end of Zero, dead, having been shot in the head, I always listen to the words that Stephen Hudson (the actor playing Alex) says.

But last night one of the lines he spoke really hit me, perhaps for the first time and it makes the title of this particular blog post:

"People know they do this...but what they do"

The character is referring to the acts of torture carried out by the various governments in the play and I can't help but reflect that this is the state of terrible complicite that we all exist in, both in the UK, US and various other nations around the world that utilise torture.

We know what goes on, we are not naive but we, in a sense, give it our approval because we think that it is required, some how, as a tool to defend us or that the people being tortured are in some way deserving of it.

And yet, in reality, we only have the faintest grasp of what it means to torture, what acts are carried out in our name and the full implications of these acts; on our humanity, our reason and our historical standing.

And I hope, through Zero, people watching the play will take some time, no matter how small, to make a reflection of their own on what has been done in our name.

Zero in London Town

Been so busy taking the piss out of Austria and W, I've not blogged on Zero being in London town.

Someone who has blogged on it and loved it, was Clarissa over at I Love The Smoke, so grateful for her support and kind words, go read them if you've time, she's certainly bought into the spirit of the play.

Someone who didn't buy into it, was a certain Mr. Dominic Martin. He reviewed the show on behalf The Stage, the review is okay and Damian gets a lovely mention which is well deserved for a grand performance but anyone who uses "sheer intensity" as a pejorative and thinks that the first scene of our play is used to establish character and plot when it's intention is the opposite, is clearly drunk. Or mad. Or both.

The Times however, has at least understood the play in their review here, which is a fair summation I think, if not a bit stingy with the stars and includes the great phrase (with regards to my character Tom): "ten times bereaved by the terrorist attacks" and it also mentions my good performance.

YAY!

More reviews should be out next week and as much as I hate giving one person's opinion too much weight, they can really make life easier in London town when you're trying to sell tickets.

We're also receiving support and audience members from various agencies and charities that work with the victims of torture, Redress is just one of those agencies and it certainly helps but average reviews into perspective.

On a lighter note, Tim turned me on to the lovely video below, which I'll leave you with...

"Along with something to do and someone to love, having hope is one of life's essentials..."

I stole that quote from A C Grayling and an article of his in The Independent about President-elect Barack Obama and the optimism he embodies. And I couldn't agree more. Unfortunately, much of what I read in the blogosphere is quite frankly, a pile of horse shit; as right-wing bloggers lose (unlike McCain) without dignity and seem to think that socialism, Sharia law and the end of Israel are all coming at once.

The left-wing side of things is little better, with a whole raft of people who've spent the last 8 years moaning incessantly about things, suddenly having to cheer the fuck up and failing quite badly. It took about 24 hours after Obama's election for the miserable nay-sayers to start laying into the President-elect and guessing how bad it's going to be and to be honest, I'm glad these people are as far away from the political process as possible, I find liberal overreach as unappealing as a conservative one.

One of the many reasons that Obama's phenomenal achievement is worth celebrating, is that it brings an end to one of Ronald Reagan's worst tactics (utilised by the Bush dynasty and McCain): that appeal to the fears of the white Southerner, playing on the working class American to vote against their economical self-interest, by exploiting issues such as abortion, gun control and gay marriage.

What disgusts me most, is that the wealthy and highly intelligent men who ran these campaigns didn't give a shit about those issues but they knew that they could exploit the 10% of the electorate that did. Distract the idiots with morality, fag bashing, godless liberals and wetbacks and watch them lap it up, as those in power laugh all the way to the bank.

I also remain hopeful and positive because I believe Obama will renounce torture, extradition, extra-judicial imprisonment and abduction; the Geneva Convention will once again have value in America. As former President Jimmy Carter articulated:

"My country will never again torture a prisoner. My country will never again attack another country unless our security is directly threatened. My country will respect the rule of law and dignity of every human person as the foundation of our foreign policy."

Amen to that brother.

We live in hope.

RIP: The Global Economy, Burn in Fucking Hell

Civilisation is crumbling.

The world of money and numbers is falling apart and being propped up by good old fashioned tax payer funds, we are now in a time of socialised banking and the Americans (who have a weird fear of all things socialist) must be tossing and turning in their GOD BLESS AMERICA beds.

What passes for mass-culture is full of sequels, derivative nonsense and reality obsessed televisual vomitings.

And a black man looks favourite to be the third most powerful man in the world.

Welcome to the end.

Poles Apart: The Video Trailer

In all the Zero hubbub, I quite forgot that next year brings Poles Apart, which promises to be another brilliant theatrical experience.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then please read my previous posts on it here and here.

Read them? Good, now move on...

I was reminded of my post-Zero existence while we were performing at the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal, because it is a venue I will be returning to with Poles Apart, so while I'm arsing about making people laugh about immigration, the ghosts of torture and Tom will be knocking about.

Not one to sit on his arse, my fellow Poles Apart player, a certain Mr. Mark Whiteley, has knocked together a grand trailer of the aforementioned show. Watch it and be amazed...


Poles Apart from Hard Graft Theatre on Vimeo.

Zero: Images 2

As promised, more pictures from Zero as I'm now back from York and at home briefly before hitting Kendal (the home of mint cake) and Oxford.

York was intimate to say the least, audience on top of us which in a way is cool but in another way is not so great because the intensity of the show means that as they are so close, it could be a little bit like being in the storm, rather than watching it.

Another note: after each show we give the performance a score out of ten and what is fascinating is that very rarely do all 5 actors and our company stage manager agree on the scores on the doors.

One man's 9 is another man's 6.

Or so it seems.

Zero: Images

Thought I'd provide some pictures of Zero for all ya'll who won't get to see it, more to follow once I upload them.

Last night was the first night on the road, in my hometown of Nottingham and we're here for another few days before going up to York. Nice to be here and looked after by the human shaped legend that is the Kirky, hopefully we'll be consuming sherry so we can make ourselves into the future.

I'll keep you posted on that one...

Zero: End of the Beginning

And so the beginning of Zero, here at Warwick Arts Centre, draws to a close tonight and we have had a great opening week, full houses, excellent reviews and positive feedback from our audiences means we have gotten off to a great start (aside from my fucking back).

So it is time to say farewell to Coventry and the start of life on the road, which next week means a return to my hometown of Nottingham (Lakeside Arts Centre) and then a few nights in the beautiful city of York (York Theatre Royal).

So this means linking up with the legend that is Kirky, seeing some old friends and relatives back in my manor and then enjoying some cakes up in York.

Bring it on!