freedom costs money

January 2004

Just as I was starting to feel a little more happy with my lot here I am wallowing in the fact the apocalypse might be nigh! Yes the work I have put into music is now paying off and yes I have managed to find work that allows be to base the hours in which I earn money around music commitments. These things are immensely satisfying in the short term. If only the long term were not so daunting!

Recently a friend (you may want to call him a comrade in sticking with the Bolshevik Bill theme) forwarded me a link to an article on The Guardian website that states the Pentagon has warned the Bush Administration that climate change is much more of a threat to the stability of the world at large, and indeed the security of US interests both at home and abroad, than terrorism. The same article also describes how Britain could be experiencing a climate similar to Siberia within twenty years.

I had been hoping that we would be making a long overdue switch to the more trendy Mediterranean style of weather that is so popular on the continent. This piece, that was written by Mark Townsend and Paul Harris and actually first appeared in The Observer I think, contends that by 2007 violent storms could well make parts of The Netherlands uninhabitable whilst ‘in California the delta island levees in the Sacramento river area’ will be ‘breached, disrupting the aqueduct system transporting water from north to south.’

Time to open your eyes to the possibilities methinks Mr Bush or are you placing all your faith in Governor Schwarzenegger?! Just because he often demonstrates superhuman powers in the movies this does not mean that he will be able to save us all in real life. Someone should really tell Georgie this and preferably before his bedtime story so that he doesn’t get nightmares and keep all of the White House staff up all night with the sound of his bawling. They’re going to need all the sleep they can get so they are bright and perky. They do have a planet to save after all! Whilst the Bush Administration tries to ‘bury the threat of climate change’ they threaten to bury us all and this is why I am increasingly tempted to pray that the US people do the decent thing and do what they did at the last election, choose someone else other than Bush. Let’s hope that this time the Bush Administration actually realises losing an election means you do not get to form the government.

Of course, there is no reason to think anyone other than Ralph Nader would do anything to help tackle the real problems that humanity faces but sadly Nader being voted in is about as likely as Donald Rumsfeld collaborating with Billy Bragg and Massive Attack to release a version of ‘All You Need Is Love.’ A bad possible scenario is that Nader takes away votes from the Democrats and Bush gets in again, which is partly what happened last time although Bush still needed an effective coup to ‘win’. Still, would things really be any different with the Democrats? Probably not but hell I’d take Ronald McDonald over Bush! Nevertheless, I heard that would be president Kerry’s wife made him sign a prenuptial agreement before they were married and this begs the question, if his own wife does not trust him, will the American people?

WILLIAM GRAY

(Anyone interested in the subject matter discussed in this piece will, in my humble opinion, find they can arrive at a better understanding of the international political system if they read work by Chomsky Pilger and Monbiot, or simply log onto ZNet)