Today has been 'interesting' as Madam Paddy had a small medical problem last night and had to spend the night shut in the bathroom, in her travelling box, with a soil tray. Given that earlier in the evening I had been diagnosed as having Diverticulitis and have been in a little discomfort now for several days, I needed a little sleep as I prepared to face the Gastrologist today...
Madam got first go, with the vet. She accepted our ministrations with reluctance and a slew of bad language, fortunately all in English Cat so the Vet wasn't that offended. Then we whipped Madam home, gave her a treat and the dreaded 'pill' the vet prescribed, and dashed into Wiesbaden for my appointment.
The Gastrologist proved to be very friendly, did a brief examination and discussion and declared that I needed an endoscopic examination but that I first had to get rid of the infection so she could do it without risking further damage. Then I had some blood samples taken - and confess to thinking of the famous Hancock sketch "The Blood Donor" in which he declares, "A pint? That's almost a whole armfu!" I think the irony was lost on the young lady taking the samples from me though...
Now I await the new antibiotics and have to start taking an 'interesting' drink which is supposed to 'flush my system...' Quite.
And all for a bit of a pain in my side... At least Madam Paddy seems to be making a swift recovery!
Tuesday, 19 October 2010
Monday, 18 October 2010
"Multi-Culti" ist Tot!
It's official, the Kanzellerin herself has said so and so have a procession of Federal Ministers in the last day or so. It has failed spectacularly, according to the Federal Government which has done extensive research and uncovered a hopeless mess. The policy has not resulted in better integration or understanding. Instead it has fostered division, resentment, abuse of the system to take advantage of over tolerance of minority 'rights' and deeper division than ever. Immigrants are failing or refusing to integrate or to learn to speak German - something I'm struggling to do, but which many immigrants feel is unnecessary as long as they are allowed to do their own thing and set up isolated "communities" of their own in their host country.
I sincerely hope that the UK takes note of this study and the decision - a brave one in the face of left wing/liberal 'horror' at this revelation that one of their cherished articles of faith is now shown to be a monumental failure and sham. Somehow I doubt that the current coalition will have the same courage, especially in view of their having allowed the Harman driven "Equalities Act" which is divisive, a complainers charter and gives powers to the Civil Service to impose quotas for employing women, ethinic minorities and gays to stand. That Act alone will drive a coach and horses through any pretence of "Equality" as it will be a recipe for the "Multi-Culti" Gauleiters of the Left to continue their dream of a Britain practicing the new Apartheid.
For those who don't know, "Apartheid" was supposed to foster a "Multi-cultural Society" in which each "Cultural and Ethnic Group" could develop at its own pace and follow its own path. It couldn't be made to wrk then, it cannot be made to work now and thank God, the German government has had the guts to say so. What will it take to get the British Political Establishment to acknowledge this? Probably a Civil War, after all they wrote the Constitution for South Africa which provided the framework on which the Apartheid policy was built...
I sincerely hope that the UK takes note of this study and the decision - a brave one in the face of left wing/liberal 'horror' at this revelation that one of their cherished articles of faith is now shown to be a monumental failure and sham. Somehow I doubt that the current coalition will have the same courage, especially in view of their having allowed the Harman driven "Equalities Act" which is divisive, a complainers charter and gives powers to the Civil Service to impose quotas for employing women, ethinic minorities and gays to stand. That Act alone will drive a coach and horses through any pretence of "Equality" as it will be a recipe for the "Multi-Culti" Gauleiters of the Left to continue their dream of a Britain practicing the new Apartheid.
For those who don't know, "Apartheid" was supposed to foster a "Multi-cultural Society" in which each "Cultural and Ethnic Group" could develop at its own pace and follow its own path. It couldn't be made to wrk then, it cannot be made to work now and thank God, the German government has had the guts to say so. What will it take to get the British Political Establishment to acknowledge this? Probably a Civil War, after all they wrote the Constitution for South Africa which provided the framework on which the Apartheid policy was built...
Sunday, 17 October 2010
Faithful future...
I sometimes wonder if the Roman Catholic Church, with its moving back into it's medieval enclave and rolling back of the detente that Vatican 2 allowed, has actually thought this through. It cannot have escaped the notice of those in the pews that the last fifteen or so years of John Paul II's reign saw the unchecked rise into key posts of the most hardline organisations and their spokesmen. Benedict XVI was, without doubt, something of an eminence grise behind the Papal throne and while I do not agree with the hysterical lobby in the UK who seek to make him personally responsible for the abuse of children, I do take leave to doubt that his reign will either advance Christian unity or be good for his own Church.
One thing that has always troubled me about the Roman claim to exclusive validity of spiritual authority and exclusive possession of the 'true' Gospel is what this says about the faith of those who share the same creed, the same Bible and the same faith - except the bit about the Pope being the legitimate successor of St Peter and having the 'authority' given to Peter by Christ. It is simply this - their position to exclusive faith implies that anyone not within their Church wastes their time praying or worshipping. If Rome alone has the spiritual authority, then anyone else's prayers are pointless, since they will not be heard in heaven and no matter how good a life any non-Roman leads, they have no hope at all of Salvation.
To me, that is patently false. It is a complete misrepresentation of the Gospel and, interestingly, is founded not in the Gospels, though they constantly quote passages to support this claim, but in the medieval power struggles for control of the Church. Rome's claims were rejected outright by the Orthodox Church in the 10th Century after they first emerged in the 8th Century. Almost all the writings that are now quoted to support the claim of succession were written between the 8th and the 11th Centuries and are patently efforts to justify the Bishop of Rome's claims. Close examination of the list of Pope's reveals some interesting anomalies, not least the fact that at least one of them was a follower of the Arian Heresy (Modern Shia Islam is founded on this heresy) and others of the 3rd and 4th Century are equally dubious.
As I said at the outset, I have no reason to wish to see the Roman Catholic Church continue to be under attack from secularists, humanists and atheists, because it damages all of Christianity. I do hope and pray though, that Rome can be brought to the realisation that a retreat into the medieval practices and enclaves is not going to serve any Christian well and it certainly will not aid the spread or the teaching to the Gospel.
One thing that has always troubled me about the Roman claim to exclusive validity of spiritual authority and exclusive possession of the 'true' Gospel is what this says about the faith of those who share the same creed, the same Bible and the same faith - except the bit about the Pope being the legitimate successor of St Peter and having the 'authority' given to Peter by Christ. It is simply this - their position to exclusive faith implies that anyone not within their Church wastes their time praying or worshipping. If Rome alone has the spiritual authority, then anyone else's prayers are pointless, since they will not be heard in heaven and no matter how good a life any non-Roman leads, they have no hope at all of Salvation.
To me, that is patently false. It is a complete misrepresentation of the Gospel and, interestingly, is founded not in the Gospels, though they constantly quote passages to support this claim, but in the medieval power struggles for control of the Church. Rome's claims were rejected outright by the Orthodox Church in the 10th Century after they first emerged in the 8th Century. Almost all the writings that are now quoted to support the claim of succession were written between the 8th and the 11th Centuries and are patently efforts to justify the Bishop of Rome's claims. Close examination of the list of Pope's reveals some interesting anomalies, not least the fact that at least one of them was a follower of the Arian Heresy (Modern Shia Islam is founded on this heresy) and others of the 3rd and 4th Century are equally dubious.
As I said at the outset, I have no reason to wish to see the Roman Catholic Church continue to be under attack from secularists, humanists and atheists, because it damages all of Christianity. I do hope and pray though, that Rome can be brought to the realisation that a retreat into the medieval practices and enclaves is not going to serve any Christian well and it certainly will not aid the spread or the teaching to the Gospel.
Saturday, 16 October 2010
Chile's exercise in Faith
I cannot help but wonder at the effect of faith on the way in which the trapped miners coped with being incarcerated for almost three months below ground. Or the effect of knowing that their wives, sweethearts and friends on the surface were praying for their safe return. There can be no doubt that it affected to determination of those operating the massive drill which sank the rescue shaft. Nor can there be any doubt that the entire Chilean population joined in the call to pray.
A post by the Gorse Fox got me wondering, especially now that we have seen the rescued miners and heard fro their own accounts, that they had no doubt they were being "watched over" and would be saved, as to how our leading secularists and anti-faith celebrities would have responded or coped.
I somehow feel that packing something like thirty-three people with the mental attitudes of Richard Dawkins or the mental make-up and religious views of Stephen Fry, Polly Toynbee or any of the other articulate anti-Christian and anti-faith lobbyists currently publishing adverts saying things like "There is probably no God ...", would produce a very different response. I don't think any of these people would be able to deal with the uncertainty and the threat of imminent death. Of course, you could rightly point out, that none of these people would be down a mine anyway, and you'd be right. But you may also be certain that they are only able to exercise their supposed "intellectual freedom" and pursue their totally narcissistic lifestyles because there are people like the Chilean miners who do hold to faith and who are willing to work in these dangerous conditions to generate the wealth the likes of Dawkins, Fry and others enjoy.
No doubt Dawkins et al would tell you they have no connection with the miners, but they'd be wrong. The investments that pay Professor Dawkins generous annual stipend and fund his research is intricately bound up in commercial investments, some of them definitely linked to mining somewhere. Stephen Fry earns his living 'entertaining' and thus, is dependent on the wealth of others who can afford to go to the theatre, and they earn their money in ... Likewise the lady author who started the campaign of adverts on busses and in the Underground and Ms Toynbee's family wealth is founded on slavery, sweated labour and some pretty dodgy 'business' dating back to the 18th Century.
I have no doubt at all that the prayers, Masses and faith of the Chilean miners, their families and friends and even of their fellow countrymen has had an effect upon their survival and the health they are displaying now they are safe. I cannot escape the feeling that a bunch of faithless atheists placed in the same position and without the outpouring of faith and prayer, would not have done half as well and would, as of now, by in 'Counselling' and 'recovering from Traumatic Stress Disorder.' It cannot be a coincidence that the explosion of the need for 'stress counselling' and treatments for 'Traumatic Stress Disorder' has accompanied the determined assault on Christian Faith and the constant mantra from the Humanist Society that there is no God but man ...
A post by the Gorse Fox got me wondering, especially now that we have seen the rescued miners and heard fro their own accounts, that they had no doubt they were being "watched over" and would be saved, as to how our leading secularists and anti-faith celebrities would have responded or coped.
I somehow feel that packing something like thirty-three people with the mental attitudes of Richard Dawkins or the mental make-up and religious views of Stephen Fry, Polly Toynbee or any of the other articulate anti-Christian and anti-faith lobbyists currently publishing adverts saying things like "There is probably no God ...", would produce a very different response. I don't think any of these people would be able to deal with the uncertainty and the threat of imminent death. Of course, you could rightly point out, that none of these people would be down a mine anyway, and you'd be right. But you may also be certain that they are only able to exercise their supposed "intellectual freedom" and pursue their totally narcissistic lifestyles because there are people like the Chilean miners who do hold to faith and who are willing to work in these dangerous conditions to generate the wealth the likes of Dawkins, Fry and others enjoy.
No doubt Dawkins et al would tell you they have no connection with the miners, but they'd be wrong. The investments that pay Professor Dawkins generous annual stipend and fund his research is intricately bound up in commercial investments, some of them definitely linked to mining somewhere. Stephen Fry earns his living 'entertaining' and thus, is dependent on the wealth of others who can afford to go to the theatre, and they earn their money in ... Likewise the lady author who started the campaign of adverts on busses and in the Underground and Ms Toynbee's family wealth is founded on slavery, sweated labour and some pretty dodgy 'business' dating back to the 18th Century.
I have no doubt at all that the prayers, Masses and faith of the Chilean miners, their families and friends and even of their fellow countrymen has had an effect upon their survival and the health they are displaying now they are safe. I cannot escape the feeling that a bunch of faithless atheists placed in the same position and without the outpouring of faith and prayer, would not have done half as well and would, as of now, by in 'Counselling' and 'recovering from Traumatic Stress Disorder.' It cannot be a coincidence that the explosion of the need for 'stress counselling' and treatments for 'Traumatic Stress Disorder' has accompanied the determined assault on Christian Faith and the constant mantra from the Humanist Society that there is no God but man ...
Friday, 15 October 2010
Autumn rolling in...
The temperatures are definitely falling now and today it is cold - under 10*C and damp, with mist a light rain. So much for the weather forecast...
That said, this is a nice time of the year, lots of amazing colours in the forests, Red Squirels collecting nuts and goodies to store up, birds building nests and, as Mausi has pointed out, the geese and the storks migrating south. The Siberian Swan population moves south at this season as well, though not as far as the geese, just to the relative warmth of a European winter...
Madam Paddy has expanded and built up a thick undercoat of furand is scoping out the warm spots in the house where she can stay out of the drafts - there aren't many, but she's making sure - and keep comfortable between meal breaks, snack attacks and toilet visits...
I begin to suspect a cold winter ahead.
That said, this is a nice time of the year, lots of amazing colours in the forests, Red Squirels collecting nuts and goodies to store up, birds building nests and, as Mausi has pointed out, the geese and the storks migrating south. The Siberian Swan population moves south at this season as well, though not as far as the geese, just to the relative warmth of a European winter...
Madam Paddy has expanded and built up a thick undercoat of furand is scoping out the warm spots in the house where she can stay out of the drafts - there aren't many, but she's making sure - and keep comfortable between meal breaks, snack attacks and toilet visits...
I begin to suspect a cold winter ahead.
Wednesday, 13 October 2010
Language lessons...
Are taking up quite a bit of my day at present, probably not helped by trying to figure out what the Exercises actually want me to do! Still, progress, though slow, is being made...
Speaking of languages, I'm going through the Galley Proofs for a new book, Their Lordships Request and finding that the little gremlin built into Word for Mac or Microslosh Word has been a busy little beastie. It removes spaces between words and at the end of sentences on a completely random basis when you transfer a Word for Mac file (Office for Mac 2008) to a Word equivalent on a PC. It is random and so, when the publisher inserted my Word files into a Word Pagemaker program - guess what. Now I have to comb the whole document and mark up all the little gaps that have gone missing...
Oh what fun it is to be struggling to learn a new language and to have to deal with a difference in "computer languages" which messes up the format in such a subtle manner.
Speaking of languages, I'm going through the Galley Proofs for a new book, Their Lordships Request and finding that the little gremlin built into Word for Mac or Microslosh Word has been a busy little beastie. It removes spaces between words and at the end of sentences on a completely random basis when you transfer a Word for Mac file (Office for Mac 2008) to a Word equivalent on a PC. It is random and so, when the publisher inserted my Word files into a Word Pagemaker program - guess what. Now I have to comb the whole document and mark up all the little gaps that have gone missing...
Oh what fun it is to be struggling to learn a new language and to have to deal with a difference in "computer languages" which messes up the format in such a subtle manner.
Monday, 11 October 2010
Zahnartztag....
That's Dentist Day to the rest of us. Me, to the dentist for some dental checking and cleaning up. Urgh, I'd rather go fight a fire in an oil refinery.
Mind you, the dentist is nice, wants to sell me some more caps for what's left of my teeth and certainly knows what he's doing. So now all I have to do is psyche myself up for the visit at 10.30....
Mind you, the dentist is nice, wants to sell me some more caps for what's left of my teeth and certainly knows what he's doing. So now all I have to do is psyche myself up for the visit at 10.30....
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