justin watched the sky turn red, fragments of hollow memories flooded his mind lingering long enough for him to name them and then they faded back towards something else less lucid, more etheric and part of something greater. carefully he pulled out a spanner and made some adjustments to the quantum engine on his time machine. of all the places to end up this place was the most remote. the furthest from where he had come.
above him clouds started to roll in as the sky darkened itself.
invisible angels payed mandolins.
he could see where the displacement had occurred. it was an awkward fix, intricate. he didn’t want to loose his hand or any fingers this time. he needed to compose himself, take a deep breathe and focus his mind but at the moment he was distracted by the terrible roar as the landscape shifted around him, it’s uncertain geology reformatting itself. the last rays of sunlight glinted upon the metallic surface, twin moons rose in the eastern sky, starts shot through making strange patterns, constellations moved rapidly across the howling of time, the whisper of the past, the looming present and the forever now.
justin was protected within the energy field, he could breath and sustain his normal functions for at least until the engine totally failed, after that he would age at a tremendous rate, his body would reach entropy in a matter of seconds until it caught up with the environment and natures flow. he could fix it, he knew he could but he was tired, his eyes strained and he couldn’t focus, couldn’t think clearly. there was an awful ringing in his ears, something irritating, like discordant bells ringing through distortion.
forms and their long shadows moved past the bubble, beings of some kind, maybe human, maybe something beyond humanity. it had been a long journey; he was still travelling and wouldn’t be able to stop until he fixed the q- engine.
after waiting for a while he thought to try again, his hand steaded itself as it plunged into the field, the spanner finding its way with its own certainty. justin was an accomplished mechanic, he had built time machines since he was 17. but there was a zen art to these type of mechanics, it was both physical and mental, the two dimensions linked both influencing the other.
as he made his adjustments he thought back to his first journey back on his mothers farm, how he’d spent two years working on the theoretical aspects and 6 months building the device in the old barn. he’d used scraps from university lab and parts from the old aero industry complex on the outskirts of town. his mother left him alone most of the time but occasionally brought him hot chocolate to drink and cupcakes she had baked, she would never disturb him, just set them down in a tray on his cluttered bench. the smell would eventually attract his attention.
that first time, his first jump, he set the chronograph, 5 years, a small hop into the past, just before his father died. that was the only reason he built the machine in the first place, so that he could see his father again.
and now here he was, so far forwards in time there were no dates on the chronograph.
something must have gone wrong when he set off, some miscalculation, an error in his equations perhaps.
not once did he even contemplate travelling this far forwards.
it’s strange how it work’s, you can travel forwards while thinking back, but the internal time machine of memory also has it’s own built in frailties, it’s discrepancies and weaknesses.
he wished his father was with him, he should have stayed in the past, its charted territory, its well navigated terrain and familiar traits. that’s what he should be doing, but curiosity about the future was also overwhelming, like a strange gravity it had pulled him forwards, and was pulling him faster forwards like a vortex stretched out, times awful arrow moving closer to it’s target.

he watched his father from a distance; he was working at his desk, the same one justin uses now. he was designing something, it looked like some kind of windmill, but it had large solar sails at either end. the sails rotated in opposite directions, it was designed for space travel. justin recalled this was his father’s final project, before the heart attack. he had found him slumped over his work, steam still rising from his tea cup, a half eaten biscuit by its side. that was a terrible moment, the loss, the helplessness, the things left unsaid, all combined into a bottomless hole that he had carried in his solar plexus for many years, until he started to apply himself to the equations and theorize a potential solution.
although people considered time travel a possibility it was common knowledge and accepted in physicist circles that one cannot travel backwards before the invention of the machine itself, lest we have knowledge of travellers from the future. but justin had thought differently, he considered time in terms of fractals, each moment containing all moments, he called this p for potentiality. incorporating p into his calculations it would be possible to travel back further than standard physics deemed plausible.
his will was driven, his mind and heart focused on seeing his father one more time.
and there he was, looking at his dad, looking once more at his dads’ strangely slow animation, his careful consideration as he designed space sails. he could see the concentration upon his dads face, he looked at peace, a feeling justin himself understood can only be found through absorption in ones work.
justin wanted to reach out beyond the field but knew he couldn’t, the laws of time travel were as certain as the laws of gravity. thinking about that moment he felt tears well up in his eyes. fighting them back, he refocused on the quantum engine, the mechanism seemed reset. the anomaly corrected. he looked around as the environment seemed to come to a standstill, the light frozen, the shadows still.
and outside perfection lay waiting. the universe had evolved beyond humanity, beyond life and death. outside lay peace.

hanging out with mum and dad i been kinda feeling strange about them, us and it. was i a good son, probably not, did i make them proud, err possibly not, did i reward them their sufferings, err definitely not. i high tailed it out of london before i could even vote, i hated england, the whole history boiled in my bones, it's empire, it's hypocrisy and it's class structures, it's defeatism. i did like the punk years but now i hear the clash in my supermarket piped through tinny speakers i just feel; depressed. europe called, america, north america and asia, and any thing that reminded me of my past was forgotten, including my parents. instead i think i broke the commandments, not all of them, i've yet to kill someone and i never covert a neighbors wife, in fact i can't even recall the commandments but i do recall rejecting the idea that some invisible being control my behavior and thoughts and destiny.



people ask me about my hostility to radical islam, it's strange that i even have to justify it, i'm hostile to radical judaism, christianity and buddhism as well, equally but it's an aggressive meme with a virulent nature towards other meeker memes. i want the meek to inherit the earth. my son is gay, i am a jew, whatever that means,, i take drugs, listen to a band called the church, enjoy sex, my best friend is a lesbian, i like technology, i'm not very pc, i don't have a problem with what anyone else wants to do as long as they respect my right to do what i want. is that wrong? so bottom line is any religious or political ideology that wants to infringe it's control upon freedom is a problem to me. i don't really like the government, the tax office or the rta either come to think of it.
anyways, it's just my point of view and what do i know, only what i know. it means nothing in cosmic terms. but i'm sure i am a cock and a coward and it pains me that im lodged in someones head irritating them, i never set out to irritate anyone, my blog is basically a canvas where i sit and write strange things that enter my head, some of it weird and descriptive, some stupid and silly, some political and controversial and some esoteric but i acknowledge there's a lot of crap to, it's not meant to be a serious romp through my consciousness, its just my strange expression. i give names to things that remain un named, i look for meaning where meaning is unclear, i make comments on coconuts with ill intent, i find some beauty in the elements and some chaos in humanity, sometimes i find beauty in humanity and chaos in the elements, i'm no saint, i'm no angel, i'm just a fool (not an idiot, but then again..) attempting to take one step forward as i take two steps back. don't pay me no mind, i'm a glitch and somewhere in my program i'm not even really ment to be here. peace.

i think about my fathers frailness, he was a strong independent man, now he requires a walking stick, his hearing is going (mine to) i am constantly explaining and repeating things, he seems happy just to read all day rather than explore the environment, he is interested in angelic communication and appears happy that i have an interest in enochian. he always had a head for mystery and loved that side of his family, one i rejected but found as i got older was making it's presence felt in some way, maybe it's in me genes.

i want to tell my family i love them all but i am enslaved by that strange autistic trait that never allows me to get close to anyone, anyone, it's painfully difficult for me, it's like a terrible curse some one placed upon me, yet it's there in my heart. i'm scared of loosing my dad. it's really killing me.

geert wilders latest speech. ...

Ladies and gentlemen.

It is really great to be here in California. It is very kind of you to give me the opportunity to escape from the wind, cold and rain in my own beautiful country, the Netherlands. I thank the David Horowitz Freedom Center for inviting me.

Ladies and gentlemen, free speech is no longer a given in Europe. What we once considered a natural element of our existence, our birth right, is now something we once again have to battle for. To exercise free speech has become a dangerous activity.

As you may know, I will be prosecuted in the Netherlands, because of my short documentary Fitna and my view concerning what some call ‘a religion of peace’. On top of that, also France and Jordan are considering to prosecute me for my view on Islam and the United Kingdom government did not allow me to enter their country. And the President of Indonesia declared that I will never be allowed to enter Indonesia as long as I live.

So a special thanks to the United States border police for letting me enter this country. It feels good to be allowed entering a country once in a while.

But ladies and gentlemen, before I talk about freedom of speech, I will say a few things about Islam and Sharia law first.

Allow me to give you a brief introduction to Islam, an Islam 101. The first thing everyone needs to know about Islam is the importance of the Koran. As you probably know the Koran calls for submission, hatred, violence, murder, terrorism and war. The Koran calls upon Muslims to kill non-Muslims. The Koran describes Jews as monkeys and pigs. The biggest problem is that the Koran is to be considered as Allah’s personal word, with orders that need to be fulfilled regardless of place or time. That’s the reason why the Koran is not open to discussion or interpretation. It is valid for every Muslim and for all times. Therefore, there is no such thing as moderate Islam. Sure, there are a lot of moderate Muslims, but a moderate Islam does not exist. As the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan once said: “There is no moderate Islam, Islam is Islam”. For once I have to agree with this islamist Turkish Prime Minister.

And let it be clear to anyone: I have no problem with Muslims, my fight is not against any person or group of persons. However, I have enormous problems with the dangerous and violent Islamic ideology.

The second thing everyone needs to know about Islam is the importance of the prophet Muhammad. His behavior is an example to all Muslims and cannot be criticized. Well let me tell you the truth about this so called prophet anyway. Muhammad was a warlord, a conqueror, a pedophile and a mass murderer. Islamic tradition tells us how he married and consumed the young girl Aisha long before she was ten years of age and how he fought in battles, how he murdered his enemies, how he slaughtered the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza. For millions of Muslims the Koran and the life of Muhammad are not ancient history but an inspiration. And if you critisize either the Koran or the Prophet or Islam as such, you better be prepared to face the consequences. You will receive death threats from all over the world and will be taken to court all over the world. Your national flag will be burned and your embassies might be set on fire, your country could face economical boycotts and the political leaders of your own home country will not support you but appease Muslims and Muslim governments, join them in their political correct outrage and label you as a radical or xenophobe. When criticism becomes unpleasant freedom of speech has to take another lane.

About Islam. Let no one fool you about Islam being just a religion. Sure, it has its God – Allah – a holy book - the Koran -, temples - mosques - and even a here-after. If you murder enough Jews you might even get 72 virgins. But in its essence Islam is a political ideology and a totalitarian ideology. It is a system that lays down detailed rules for society and the life of every man and woman. Islam wants to dictate every aspect of life and society and prohibits individual, political and religious rights and freedoms. Islam is not compatible with our Western civilization or democracy, nor will it ever be, because Islam doesn’t want to coexist, it wants to submit and set the entire agenda. Islam means submission from muslims over non-Muslims - kafirs - like you and me, so there cannot be any mistake about its goal. Islam’s end goal, for all time, is to dominate, to dominate and once again dominate and establish a world ruled by Islam.

That, ladies and gentlemen, that is why Winston Churchill compared the Koran to Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as the famous Italian writer Orianna Fallaci did and why the brave Californian psychiatrist Dr. Wafa Sultan rightfully said about the clash between the West and Islam that it is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between rationality and barbarity.

As you know, the current Islamization of Europe is not an invasion like those we have seen in the past. This time it is not a military invasion with swords, this time we have to deal with a stealth invasion. Nowadays, the armies are replaced by cultural relativism and mass-immigration. It is this dangerous cocktail that is the main cause of the Islamization and is responsible for the introduction of Sharia law in Europe.

As you know, Sharia is Islamic law, effective in barbaric countries such as Saudi-Arabia and Iran. Beheadings, hangings, chopping off hands and feet, stoning to death, lashings, it all happens because Sharia law prescribes it. Now, radical Muslims want to implement Sharia law into our Western societies. And they are very successful in doing so, helped by the Western cultural relativists – the ‘useful idiots’, as former Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin described the unknowingly who helped his cause. In my favorite country Britain, Sharia courts are now officially part of the legal system. Very few people over here are aware of that. They have been empowered to adjudicate on financial disputes, divorces and domestic violence. And there are much more examples of the rising of Sharia in Europe: Halal food is served in many schools and universities, more women every day are forces to wear the burqa or niqaab, Islamic banks are mushrooming and polygamy, female genital mutilation, honor killings and Muslim men who refuse to shake women hands are all part of 2009-Europe.

A few weeks ago a British Muslim leader told of his vision of Britain under Sharia law. According to the British Evening Standard Anjem Choudary wants a pure Islamic state with Sharia law in Britain, ‘the flag of Allah’ flying over Downing Street. Ladies and gentlemen, this would mean the end of our precious liberties even though with Gordon Brown in office one might not easily see the difference.

Sharia means the end of our hard won freedom, for Sharia law denies the equality of men and women and Muslims and non-Muslims, it does not allow Muslims to leave Islam, renegades, apostates must be killed according to Islam as you know. Sharia advocates slavery and does not recognize democracy. As a matter of fact sharia is exactly the opposite of democracy.

Unfortunately, among European Muslims the support for this creeping Sharia law is substantial. Last year the British Center for Social Cohesion released a survey held under British Muslim students. Some outcomes were horrifying: 32 percent said killing in the name of religion can be justified and 40 percent supported the introduction of Sharia law into British law.

But please be aware, also the USA is in the process of Islamization. There are numerous examples. For instance: Muslim cab drivers who refuse to transport passengers possessing alcohol or guide dogs. Muslim students demanding separate housing on campus, and separate hours for Muslim women in gyms and swimming pools. USA journalist who self-censor themselves afraid of being sewed and taken to court.
As I said, these Muslims are aided by present-day ‘useful idiots’. A classic example is the former Dutch Attorney General, Mr. Donner. After Dutch film maker and Islam criticaster Theo van Gogh was murdered by a Jihadist in the streets of Amsterdam, he was of the opinion that blasphemy should no longer be a dead letter, and a few years later he even said the Netherlands should introduce Sharia law if a two third majority would support it.

Fortunately some politicians are not giving in. Former Republican US Congressman Tom Tancredo is one of those heroes. Last year he introduced his counter-Sharia ‘Jihad Prevention Act’. This bill would bar the entry of people who advocate Sharia law. This is exactly what the West needs: Brave leaders who have the courage to do something against the growing Islamization.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have to stop the Islamization of the West. Because if we don’t, we will roll back centuries, it will mean the end of our civilization. If we don’t act now, we will betray our Western values, we will lose our culture, we will lose our democracy and we will lose the dearest of our many liberties: the right to speak our mind.

The biggest disease of Europe today is cultural relativism. The fault concept of political correct liberals that all cultures are equal. Well let me tell you: they are not. Our Western culture based on Christianity, Judaism and humanism is far better than the barbaric Islamic culture.

Let me also tell you that Israel is one of us. The jihad against Israel is a jihad against the entire West. Its not a territorial dispute and the Islamic jihad will not stop after territorial concessions. We all should support Israel, the only democracy in the entire Middle East.

Unfortunately, as I stated in the beginning of my short lecture, free speech already is no longer a given in Europe.

Last February, I tried to visit Britain, a fellow EU country. I was invited to give a speech in the House of Lords. However, upon arrival at Heathrow airport, I was refused entry into the UK, and sent back to the Netherlands. I would have liked to be able to remind the audience of a great man who once spoke in the British House of Commons. In 1982 President Ronald Reagan – former Governor of this great state, California – gave a speech that very few Europeans appreciated. Reagan called upon the West to reject communism and defend freedom. He introduced a new phrase: ‘evil empire’. Reagan’s speech stands out as a clarion call to preserve our liberties. I quote: “If history teaches anything, it teaches self-delusion in the face of unpleasant facts is folly”. What Reagan meant is that you cannot run away from history, you cannot escape the dangers of ideologies that are out to destroy you. Denial is not an option.

Just like the British ban, the decision of the Amsterdam Court of Appeals to prosecute me for Fitna and my views on Islam, is a major blow dealt to freedom of speech in Europe. They are full-fledged attacks on freedom of speech in order to appease Muslims. Both are major victories for Islam and for all who hate freedom of speech.

Whether or not I end up in jail is not the most important issue. I gave up my freedom more than 4 years ago. I am under full-time police protection ever since, because of death threats from Muslims and terrorist groups linked to Al Qaeda. In the last few years, I lived in different safe houses, army barracks and yes, even in prison cells in order to be safe. But it’s not about me, it is not about Geert Wilders. The real question is: Will free speech be put behind bars?

We have to defend freedom of speech. I propose the withdrawal of all hate speech legislation in Europe. I propose a European First Amendment. In Europe we should defend freedom of speech like you Americans do. Recently I showed Fitna in the heart of your great democracy, in the US Senate at the invitation of Senator Kyle, while the European Parliament banned my film twice both in Strasbourg and Brussels. Europe should take America as a model. In Europe, freedom of speech should be extended, instead of restricted.

Besides a European First Amendment, I propose a boycott of the UN Human Rights Council. And not just because the worst violaters of human rights are member of this council. Recently this terrifying Council – even Saudi-Arabia has a seat – adopted a resolution that attempts to kill free speech and the concept of human rights. The resolution on ‘Combating defamation of religions’ does not protect individuals, but shields Islam from criticism. It calls upon UN member states to provide legal protection against defamation of religions. Of course this resolution initiated by the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) is about islam. The true goal of this resolution is to silence people who criticize Islam. Let there be no mistake about it: The UN Human Rights Council is a threat to free speech in the Western world.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is a few minutes to 12. In 2009-Europe, Islam is calling for our destruction and free speech is already on trial. If we go on like this, we are heading for the end of European civilization.

Fortunately, many people think like you and me about freedom and liberty. Millions know that liberty is the most precious of gifts. Freedom loving people have not yet forgotten to whom we owe our liberties. These were not offered to us on a silver platter, but were bitterly fought for. American soldiers fought, bled and died for the freedom of Europe. We owe something to these men and women. Their legacy cannot be squandered and given away. American soldiers did not die for an Islamized Europe. They died for a free Europe.

Ladies and gentlemen, if we want to defend our freedom, if we truly want to withstand the evil forces of Islam, if we want to survive, we need less cowards and more heroes. We need to prevail and therefore we have to elect new leaders, brave leaders. Leaders who will protect our values, our culture, leaders who will defend our freedom, leaders who will stop cultural relativism and mass immigration from Islamic countries, leaders who will defy Islam. Leaders who are fighters like Churchill, Thatcher or Reagan instead of appeasers like Chamberlain and Gordon Brown. We have too many Chamberlains and Browns in world politics today. To many politicians who are giving in and giving up and bargaining our freedom away for political or economical benefit.

But let me end with some good news. The good news is that normal people in Europe like in my own country The Netherlands are increasingly fed up with politicians ignoring our fight for freedom. A growing amount of people want to stop the islamization of our societies. A growing amount of people want to fight for the freedom of speech and want to preserve our precious free societies, rule of law and democracy for our children and their children. The old political elite is losing support. New political parties who fight for freedom are gaining strength in many European countries. Like my own party - the Freedom Party - we started as a new party and took part in the national Dutch elections for the first time two and a half years ago. Then we became the fifth party in our ten party parliament with 9 seats out of the 150-seats our parliament has. But in the polls today we are the number 1 party of the Netherlands with not 9 but 32 parliamentary seats. An enormous increase of support. Many politicians of the old ruling parties in my country almost get a nervous breakdown by the idea that I might be the next Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

There is panic indeed in and between the old ruling political parties who thought they would never be challenged. Who thought that they would always be in power.
Well let me tell you they should be in panic. Because it will only get worse for them. Because we will not stop anymore. Not today, not tomorrow, old times are gone. The public want new politics and new vision and what they will get.

And we will never stop fighting for freedom. As a matter of fact, the more they threaten us with death threats, fatwas or their legal jihad, the more determined we become to continue.

My message to those who oppose our fight for freedom is as follows.
We will never compromise on freedom.
We will never compromise on liberty.
We will never appease to Islam.
We will never give in, never give up, never submit to totalitarianism again.

Ladies and gentleman we should all make a difference.

Because every individual has a responsibility to make a difference when our freedom is at stake.

And we can make a difference, we have the privilege to live in a democracy, and we should never take that for granted. We are responsible to preserve our freedom and we have to take that responsibility at whatever price it may cost.

For losing our freedom in no alternative.

Freedom is the most precious gift we can and must give to generations to come.
Ladies and gentleman thank you so much for kind attention.

It was a privilege for me to speak to you.
Thank you so much.

The decline of europe is a common thread in my blog, not because i'm out to prove a point or state a case but because i have a history there and i believe that history is subject to patterns just as much as anything else. the issue is that these patterns are cyclic in nature and it takes a certain perception to see some of the more subtle ones until they become more obvious i guess.


Thought police muscle up in Britain
Hal G. P. Colebatch | April 21, 2009

Article from: The Australian
BRITAIN appears to be evolving into the first modern soft totalitarian state. As a sometime teacher of political science and international law, I do not use the term totalitarian loosely.

There are no concentration camps or gulags but there are thought police with unprecedented powers to dictate ways of thinking and sniff out heresy, and there can be harsh punishments for dissent.

Nikolai Bukharin claimed one of the Bolshevik Revolution's principal tasks was "to alter people's actual psychology". Britain is not Bolshevik, but a campaign to alter people's psychology and create a new Homo britannicus is under way without even a fig leaf of disguise.

The Government is pushing ahead with legislation that will criminalise politically incorrect jokes, with a maximum punishment of up to seven years' prison. The House of Lords tried to insert a free-speech amendment, but Justice Secretary Jack Straw knocked it out. It was Straw who previously called for a redefinition of Englishness and suggested the "global baggage of empire" was linked to soccer violence by "racist and xenophobic white males". He claimed the English "propensity for violence" was used to subjugate Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and that the English as a race were "potentially very aggressive".

In the past 10 years I have collected reports of many instances of draconian punishments, including the arrest and criminal prosecution of children, for thought-crimes and offences against political correctness.

Countryside Restoration Trust chairman and columnist Robin Page said at a rally against the Government's anti-hunting laws in Gloucestershire in 2002: "If you are a black vegetarian Muslim asylum-seeking one-legged lesbian lorry driver, I want the same rights as you." Page was arrested, and after four months he received a letter saying no charges would be pressed, but that: "If further evidence comes to our attention whereby your involvement is implicated, we will seek to initiate proceedings." It took him five years to clear his name.

Page was at least an adult. In September 2006, a 14-year-old schoolgirl, Codie Stott, asked a teacher if she could sit with another group to do a science project as all the girls with her spoke only Urdu. The teacher's first response, according to Stott, was to scream at her: "It's racist, you're going to get done by the police!" Upset and terrified, the schoolgirl went outside to calm down. The teacher called the police and a few days later, presumably after officialdom had thought the matter over, she was arrested and taken to a police station, where she was fingerprinted and photographed. According to her mother, she was placed in a bare cell for 3 1/2 hours. She was questioned on suspicion of committing a racial public order offence and then released without charge. The school was said to be investigating what further action to take, not against the teacher, but against Stott. Headmaster Anthony Edkins reportedly said: "An allegation of a serious nature was made concerning a racially motivated remark. We aim to ensure a caring and tolerant attitude towards pupils of all ethnic backgrounds and will not stand for racism in any form."

A 10-year-old child was arrested and brought before a judge, for having allegedly called an 11-year-old boya "Paki" and "bin Laden" during a playground argument at a primary school (the other boy had called him a skunk and a Teletubby). When it reached the court the case had cost taxpayers pound stg. 25,000. The accused was so distressed that he had stopped attending school. The judge, Jonathan Finestein, said: "Have we really got to the stage where we are prosecuting 10-year-old boys because of political correctness? There are major crimes out there and the police don't bother to prosecute. This is nonsense."

Finestein was fiercely attacked by teaching union leaders, as in those witch-hunt trials where any who spoke in defence of an accused or pointed to defects in the prosecution were immediately targeted as witches and candidates for burning.

Hate-crime police investigated Basil Brush, a puppet fox on children's television, who had made a joke about Gypsies. The BBC confessed that Brush had behaved inappropriately and assured police that the episode would be banned.

A bishop was warned by the police for not having done enough to "celebrate diversity", the enforcing of which is now apparently a police function. A Christian home for retired clergy and religious workers lost a grant because it would not reveal to official snoopers how many of the residents were homosexual. That they had never been asked was taken as evidence of homophobia.

Muslim parents who objected to young children being given books advocating same-sex marriage and adoption at one school last year had their wishes respected and the offending material withdrawn. This year, Muslim and Christian parents at another school objecting to the same material have not only had their objections ignored but have been threatened with prosecution if they withdraw their children.

There have been innumerable cases in recent months of people in schools, hospitals and other institutions losing their jobs because of various religious scruples, often, as in the East Germany of yore, not shouted fanatically from the rooftops but betrayed in private conversations and reported to authorities. The crime of one nurse was to offer to pray for a patient, who did not complain but merely mentioned the matter to another nurse. A primary school receptionist, Jennie Cain, whose five-year-old daughter was told off for talking about Jesus in class, faces the sack for seeking support from her church. A private email from her to other members of the church asking for prayers fell into the hands of school authorities.

Permissiveness as well as draconianism can be deployed to destroy socially accepted norms and values. The Royal Navy, for instance, has installed a satanist chapel in a warship to accommodate the proclivities of a satanist crew member. "What would Nelson have said?" is a British newspaper cliche about navy scandals, but in this case seems a legitimate question. Satanist paraphernalia is also supplied to prison inmates who need it.

This campaign seems to come from unelected or quasi-governmental bodies controlling various institutions, which are more or less unanswerable to electors, more than it does directly from the Government, although the Government helps drive it and condones it in a fudged and deniable manner.

Any one of these incidents might be dismissed as an aberration, but taken together - and I have only mentioned a tiny sample; more are reported almost every day - they add up to a pretty clear picture

the usual diatribe of anti jewish anti israel propaganda surfaces once again, islamic apologists spring up everywhere with their distorted truths and lies and blind hate. it's very sad but not surprising, people can tolerate an ideology that categorically is sworn to the sword. that is: is driven to total conversion or dhimmi. watching Armadinajad at durban 2 i wondered why the UN even bothered with the event. mostly arab countries attended a conference on racism and use it to attack one country and one race. all this hosted by the un.
most smart countries didn't attend after the events of the first conference but the europeans went along and ended up walking out half way through. it's unusual because usually the european countries will support the arab ones but i guess limits were crossed and it would have been to obvious to stay. so in a conference discussing racism a racist holds court. these are interesting times.
i've been reading 'a never ending war' by micheal cappi, it's filled with clear and concise information about what is going on and its frighteningly obvious but the amount of misinformation out there obscures the facts and the hatred people have for jews far outweighs the ability to think rationally and clearly. here's an interview with its author. now i don't necessarily think religion is the answer to anything really nor do i see all of western civilization as an answer but it's better than oppressive ones and it's a step towards the right direction just needs tweaking but i do think one should not use double standards when measuring the threat of one over the other.

FP: Michael Cappi, welcome to Frontpage Interview.

Cappi: Thank you it’s a privilege and pleasure to be here.

FP: What inspired you to write this book?

Cappi: After 9/11, the prevalent “political” response from U.S. politicians (the President in particular) was that a small group of Muslim fanatics hijacked Islam; a religion that is claimed to be one of peace and it was this minority that was responsible for the terrorist attack. Being little informed on the subject I accepted that premise. But even then it didn’t seem to ring true in light of the amazingly jubilant and celebratory Islamic response to the carnage and destruction of 9/11. The response was not by a few “fanatics” but by an enormous number of Muslims all around the world. The joy at such horror just seemed to be at odds with the assertion that Islam is a religion of peace.

Over the next few years the impression of Islam being fundamentally peaceful just continued not to match the events of the day and the pronouncements of Islamic leaders. Out of curiosity I began to research the religion and history of Islam. From those investigations I saw emerging a very different picture of the nature of Islam and its history. As I continued my research a problem for me was that there was no one book that covered the history of Islam, the Islamic belief system, Islam’s emergence as a threat to world peace and Islam’s desire to insinuate its culture as the dominant force in the world order. The information existed but across a large number of works. I decided to attempt to write a book that would cover the scope of the problem.

FP: Tell us what you witnessed on 9/11 and how it changed you.

Cappi: I was seven blocks away from the WTC on that horrific day. I missed the first plane’s crash into the building but I witnessed the second. The sound was like nothing you can imagine. A ball of fire and then I think my mind blanked for there was no further sound for a couple of minutes. I was transfixed as was anyone in the area not in immediate danger. After some time people began to jump from the buildings. It was truly a nightmare. The collapse of the first building shook the ground like a major earthquake. The feeling and sound seemed to come form deep in the ground. The chaos that followed was unimaginable. The one exception was the heroic efforts by fire and police personnel to rescue people and bring order.

FP: So what is your understanding of Islam? And who and what is exactly our enemy in this terror war?

Cappi: If anyone takes the time to read the Qur’an the answer to your question is simple and very obvious. For accuracy purposes I read three versions. They all agree in principle. The Qur’an is nothing like the Bible or New Testament. In no way and certainly not in substance or intent is it similar. By the way any belief system can be perverted to nefarious ends but if the system itself is fundamentally benign or moral any perversion of its philosophical premises can be righted. However, when the belief system itself is corrupt or evil no good can come from it. The Qur’an is just such a belief system: it is a “blueprint for war” and for the subjugation of the non-believer. To the extent it deals with any aspect of morality it is similar to the Judeo-Christian ethic but only if this ethic is not in conflict with the goals of Islam’s spread and world conquest.

The Qur’an is filled with endless directives compelling Muslims to convert, conquer or kill non-believers and to conquer the non-Islamic world. Further Islam dictates that the Qur’an must be accepted and followed literally. Apostasy is heresy and punishable by death. It is this belief system that throughout history has caused Muslims to endlessly embark on conquest. In 1400 years of history the only time the West has been at “peace” with Islam was from the end of the Ottoman Empire early in the 20th Century through the end of World War ll. The reason for Islam’s dormancy during this brief period was the overwhelming superiority of the West technologically and economically along with the impoverished and largely uneducated Islamic world. The difference made it impossible for Islam to confront the West in any way. The vast quantity of money flowing into the Middle East from the sale of oil after WWII has allowed Islam to buy what it needs to once again begin its quest. The modern jihad was born.

The oil money has funded the terrorists, the construction of endless mosques and madrassas- Islamic religious schools - throughout the West. Both school and mosque almost all preach the most extreme form of Islam – Wahhabism. Our “friends” the Saudis fund most of these activities.

Perhaps that was a long-winded way of saying that Islam itself is the enemy, not a number of terrorist groups. Terrorism is one of Islam’s tools but it is the religion of Islam that is at war with us. One might ask how can a religion be at war with countries? The brief answer lies in the fact that there is no separation of church and state in Islam. The law of Islam is Shari’ and it is derived from the Qur’an and Haddiths. Every Muslim country in the world is governed by Shari’a. (Turkey is an exception but even it does not violate Shari’a and in fact is suffering an internal struggle to adopt overthrow its secular laws in favor of Shari’a.)

The central theme found throughout the Qur’an and embodied in Shari’a is a concept of a very definite world order. There can exist, according to Islam only two states in the world: dar al Islam - the realm of Islam and dar al harb - the realm of war. If you are not part of Islam you are at war with Islam. The war can take any form, be it terrorism, subversion or economics.

Through Shari’a the religion of Islam and the state of Islam are one. For a Muslim there is no conflict in this regard. The absolute essential theme of every action of every Islamic nation and practicing Muslim is the establishment of Shari’a in every country in the world just as Mohammed commanded through the Qur’an. This has been a driving force for 1400 years.

We just don’t understand it or want to believe it.

Having said we are at war with Islam leaves a Western mind very unsettled. The statement smacks of bigotry or Islamophobia or intolerance at the least. And it is exactly this that is one of Islam’s best weapons against the Western cultures. We cannot deal with the thought of a religion as a mechanism for conquest, we cannot deal with the thought that there are citizens within the West that would, if they could, overthrow our way of life and institute a 7th Century mind set and form of government – remember the Taliban that is the ultimate Islamic goal on a worldwide scale. Because we cannot accept these things intellectually we only win some battles against terrorists but we are losing the broader war.

The premise of being at war with a religion flies in the face of everything we as a tolerant people have been taught and believe in our hearts. Although the premise is sad, the reality is what it is. The facts are what they are regardless of how unpleasant they may be. The challenge to the West is to be able to fight this war while protecting the individual Muslim that is not part of the insane literalism of Islam. And there are many frightened Muslims not part of this endless war. They are afraid to step forth for the consequences are often death. Even in Western countries killings of apostates is not uncommon.

FP: How has the West aided Islam’s expansion?

Cappi: The single biggest thing that we do to aid Islam’s expansion is to avoid the reality of the danger. I call it the “ostrich syndrome”. I think readers will understand the imagery of that term clearly enough. We refuse to name or even see the problem.

Horrific event after event throughout Europe and the Middle East and even America should be screaming out about the danger we face as a culture. Yet we seem to ignore it or think it is nothing more than exaggerated claims and ranting by bigoted people or lunatic right-wingers, etc. Of course none of this changes the ever-increasing obviousness of the problem and threat to Western culture.

In Europe there has been more than 20 years of nearly open immigration emanating from countries whose cultures are as different from Western values as one can find. In small numbers this would not be a problem but in the numbers of immigrants that have inundated Europe it has become a disaster. Just now the Europeans are waking to the precarious nature of the problem they have created for themselves.

Even in the face of endless atrocities executed by terrorists in the name of Islam and the endless crimes against individuals, e.g., women, homosexuals and infidels the West refuses to examine the root cause of the problem. We offer endless excuses for actions and behavior that when measured by any rational/moral standard would be deemed evil. Yet we seemingly cannot name the cause.

Another aspect of our suicidal tendency with respect to Islam is the never-ending peace process. We have had 40 years of peace talks in the Middle East. One would think that after all that talking about peace the M.E. would be the most peaceful place on earth. How can you hold talks with a people who do not recognize your right to exist? This point is quite literal in the context of Israel and implicit in the context of the West vies-a-vie the Islamic jihad, Islamic actions and Qur’anic dictates and pronouncements. We want to believe every positive word of nonsense the Islamic terror countries and groups espouse. We grasp for any straw that will save us from facing the truth of the problem. It is all so reminiscent of Europe and Hitler in the 30s. The same psychological model seems to be operative - the “ostrich syndrome.” However the lion always has his meal.

FP: Why is the West so naïve about Islam and also the dangers we face?

Cappi: I think there are two major reasons. The first is a continuation of the previous statement I made, i.e., we are not so naive but perhaps more fearful of action. If one recognizes a problem then logic would dictate that one must work to solve the problem. We implicitly act on the premise that action is not desirable, it is difficult, it may be unpleasant so better to obfuscate the issue and perhaps it will go away or someone else will deal with it. It is much easier to believe what our leaders say: Islam is a religion of peace.

For the truly naïve there are the rationalizations galore to allow them to ignore the nature of the problem. The enemy are only a small group of fanatics, there is no need for examining a problem that is really of Bush’s doing, give them a Palestine and all will be well, etc, etc. Of course none of this has worked nor can it work. In 1400 years no country bordering an Islamic state has been able to live in peace with the Islamic state. It is always the same: Islamic infiltration, subversion, conquest or conversion of the non-Islamic population to Islam or submission on their part. By the way Islam in Arabic means submission it does not mean peace.

The second reason for our feigned naiveté or ignorance to the Islamic threat and one that helps to enforce the above “fear of action” is a cancer that is eating away at Western culture. Multiculturalism and political correctness have essentially disarmed our society. These two sides of the same coin have made it nearly unacceptable to be critical of a culture or the practices of a culture. The doctrine holds that all minority cultures must enjoy equal status with the majority, and that any attempt to impose the majority culture over those of minorities is by definition racist. But what if the culture in question is fundamentally inimical to the mainstream culture? What if its implicit intent is to undermine and destroy the indigenous culture? What if the challenging culture “demands” accommodations never before granted to any other group within the country? There is only avoidance or obfuscation in response to these points.

The majority of politicians, diplomats, universities and the media all espouse that all cultures are equal and of equal merit. Of course these sources very rarely have as their objective the support of Islamic expansion, nonetheless that is exactly the result of their policies and philosophy.

All of the beliefs and activities of these groups are governed by their near religious acceptance of multiculturalism and its watchdog political correctness. These two constructs bear the greatest responsibility for the on going sacrifice of the best interests of America specifically, and Western culture broadly, to Islamic expansion and concessions to Islamic populations. And when a dissenter raises a voice of objection the political correctness machinery goes into high gear discrediting and smearing the objector. It is easier to do that then answer the issues he raises.

It is impossible to fight a battle that you cannot name. And that is one of Islam’s greatest weapons in its inexorable movement into western culture and countries.

FP: What role have the media and the political Left been playing?

Cappi: On the philosophical plane the universities have preached multiculturalism and political correctness for several decades. During this period the “dogma” has reached the point of dominance in academia. It is rare to find a university that “allows” dissension from this orthodoxy without the dissenter being labeled many unpleasant names and being booed and discredited BEFORE even making his objections. Look at the reaction to the “Islamo-fascism Awareness Week” on campuses. Protests, name-calling, disrupting speakers all while in the same timeframe Ahmadinejad is given a comparatively polite welcome to speak at Columbia University.

It is true that the President of Columbia denounced Ahmadinejad but still Ahmadinejad’s speech did not garner the same level of noise and protests that the aforementioned speakers received. (As an aside can you imagine inviting Hitler to speak at an American University after hostilities existed between our countries? Not an exaggeration. Since the hostage crisis of1979 Iran has continually acted to counter any role for the U.S. in the Middle East peace process and has diligently worked to undermine the U.S. through support and funding for al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah in Lebanon before, during and after the Israeli war with Lebanon. Keep in mind that it was Iran that unleashed Hezbollah against Israel in the first place in the 2006 war. Furthermore Iran has been proven to be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. service men in Iraq while being the primary instigator of the “insurgency” in Iraq. And we invite Iran’s President to speak at an American University? What can I say? To my mind it is as close to treason as you can get without being a traitor.

Sorry for the digression. Back to the point I wanted to make.

I called the academic belief system of multiculturalism and PC an “orthodoxy” because that is exactly how it operates, i.e., at a near religious fervor. Adherents are part of the fold and dissenters are denounced. After years of this philosophy permeating our universities they have graduated large numbers of “true believers” into the field of journalism. The majority of these so-called journalists are more interested in their agenda and presenting news through that lens or selecting stories that support their position. The mainstream media is unabashedly left wing or if you prefer “liberal” and antagonistic to any ideas or actions that are contrary to their belief system. In this context America is always wrong and the enemy is granted endless excuses and rationalizations for its actions. We seem to never be able to do right.

In today’s politically correct world it is heresy to say what I am about to say. Western culture is the greatest culture that has ever existed. It is superior to every other culture and especially to Islamic culture. The West in general, and the U.S specifically, has created a society of productivity where every individual can strive to reach his or her greatest potential. There is no higher morality for to achieve real potential requires the realization of the very best within us as human beings. Western culture is a culture that has yielded the greatest outpouring of scientific and technological progress yielding the greatest good for the greatest number of people ever in all of the history of civilization. Islam has produced the suicide bomber. So don’t tell me that cultures are equal. Islam is stuck in the 7th Century with a belief system as barbaric and anti life as ever cursed this planet while we are striving for the best within man, all men.

For the sake of our descendants and for all of mankind let us hope that it is Western culture that survives this struggle. We can only be defeated form within.


FP: Thank you Michael Cappi. You have accomplished a comprehensive and courageous work.

I guess all I would add is that there are many Muslims who are not knowledgeable about, or interested in, or have any intent of pursuing, the supremacist and violent teachings of their religion. There are Muslim reformers like Thomas Haidon, Khalim Massoud and Hasan Mahmud who are bravely working on an Islam that nullifies the extremist ingredients of their religion. So we mustn’t forget that there is a difference between Muslims and Islam. And millions of Muslims throughout the world have been and are the victims of those Muslims who follow Islam’s violent teachings (political Islam). And so we must reach out to them and act in their defense and also must remember that many of them are just as intent as we are on defeating the political Islam that takes on an earthly incarnation.

A reformation of Islam is of course a very huge task, and it might be impracticable and unworkable. But that does not mean that we confuse Muslims who are our friends to be our enemies and that we not to stand in solidarity with them against what we all oppose: the notion and concept of Islamic supremacism, the subjugation of unbelievers, etc.

Having said that, thank you for your impressive book and for the truths that you have dared to speak and pinpoint. Your work is a powerful contribution to the scholarship on this subject.


Cappi: Thank you.

i found this quite by chance, it seems to reflect these crazy times of left wing fascism. i hate freaking political correctness, it's another word for newspeak. the un has much to answer for as it's horrific agenda marches forwards embraced by those who are unable to tolerate diversity, free speech and thought.

Thought police muscle up in Britain

Hal G. P. Colebatch | April 21, 2009

Article from: The Australian
BRITAIN appears to be evolving into the first modern soft totalitarian state. As a sometime teacher of political science and international law, I do not use the term totalitarian loosely.

There are no concentration camps or gulags but there are thought police with unprecedented powers to dictate ways of thinking and sniff out heresy, and there can be harsh punishments for dissent.

Nikolai Bukharin claimed one of the Bolshevik Revolution's principal tasks was "to alter people's actual psychology". Britain is not Bolshevik, but a campaign to alter people's psychology and create a new Homo britannicus is under way without even a fig leaf of disguise.

The Government is pushing ahead with legislation that will criminalise politically incorrect jokes, with a maximum punishment of up to seven years' prison. The House of Lords tried to insert a free-speech amendment, but Justice Secretary Jack Straw knocked it out. It was Straw who previously called for a redefinition of Englishness and suggested the "global baggage of empire" was linked to soccer violence by "racist and xenophobic white males". He claimed the English "propensity for violence" was used to subjugate Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and that the English as a race were "potentially very aggressive".

In the past 10 years I have collected reports of many instances of draconian punishments, including the arrest and criminal prosecution of children, for thought-crimes and offences against political correctness.

Countryside Restoration Trust chairman and columnist Robin Page said at a rally against the Government's anti-hunting laws in Gloucestershire in 2002: "If you are a black vegetarian Muslim asylum-seeking one-legged lesbian lorry driver, I want the same rights as you." Page was arrested, and after four months he received a letter saying no charges would be pressed, but that: "If further evidence comes to our attention whereby your involvement is implicated, we will seek to initiate proceedings." It took him five years to clear his name.

Page was at least an adult. In September 2006, a 14-year-old schoolgirl, Codie Stott, asked a teacher if she could sit with another group to do a science project as all the girls with her spoke only Urdu. The teacher's first response, according to Stott, was to scream at her: "It's racist, you're going to get done by the police!" Upset and terrified, the schoolgirl went outside to calm down. The teacher called the police and a few days later, presumably after officialdom had thought the matter over, she was arrested and taken to a police station, where she was fingerprinted and photographed. According to her mother, she was placed in a bare cell for 3 1/2 hours. She was questioned on suspicion of committing a racial public order offence and then released without charge. The school was said to be investigating what further action to take, not against the teacher, but against Stott. Headmaster Anthony Edkins reportedly said: "An allegation of a serious nature was made concerning a racially motivated remark. We aim to ensure a caring and tolerant attitude towards pupils of all ethnic backgrounds and will not stand for racism in any form."

A 10-year-old child was arrested and brought before a judge, for having allegedly called an 11-year-old boya "Paki" and "bin Laden" during a playground argument at a primary school (the other boy had called him a skunk and a Teletubby). When it reached the court the case had cost taxpayers pound stg. 25,000. The accused was so distressed that he had stopped attending school. The judge, Jonathan Finestein, said: "Have we really got to the stage where we are prosecuting 10-year-old boys because of political correctness? There are major crimes out there and the police don't bother to prosecute. This is nonsense."

Finestein was fiercely attacked by teaching union leaders, as in those witch-hunt trials where any who spoke in defence of an accused or pointed to defects in the prosecution were immediately targeted as witches and candidates for burning.

Hate-crime police investigated Basil Brush, a puppet fox on children's television, who had made a joke about Gypsies. The BBC confessed that Brush had behaved inappropriately and assured police that the episode would be banned.

A bishop was warned by the police for not having done enough to "celebrate diversity", the enforcing of which is now apparently a police function. A Christian home for retired clergy and religious workers lost a grant because it would not reveal to official snoopers how many of the residents were homosexual. That they had never been asked was taken as evidence of homophobia.

Muslim parents who objected to young children being given books advocating same-sex marriage and adoption at one school last year had their wishes respected and the offending material withdrawn. This year, Muslim and Christian parents at another school objecting to the same material have not only had their objections ignored but have been threatened with prosecution if they withdraw their children.

There have been innumerable cases in recent months of people in schools, hospitals and other institutions losing their jobs because of various religious scruples, often, as in the East Germany of yore, not shouted fanatically from the rooftops but betrayed in private conversations and reported to authorities. The crime of one nurse was to offer to pray for a patient, who did not complain but merely mentioned the matter to another nurse. A primary school receptionist, Jennie Cain, whose five-year-old daughter was told off for talking about Jesus in class, faces the sack for seeking support from her church. A private email from her to other members of the church asking for prayers fell into the hands of school authorities.

Permissiveness as well as draconianism can be deployed to destroy socially accepted norms and values. The Royal Navy, for instance, has installed a satanist chapel in a warship to accommodate the proclivities of a satanist crew member. "What would Nelson have said?" is a British newspaper cliche about navy scandals, but in this case seems a legitimate question. Satanist paraphernalia is also supplied to prison inmates who need it.

This campaign seems to come from unelected or quasi-governmental bodies controlling various institutions, which are more or less unanswerable to electors, more than it does directly from the Government, although the Government helps drive it and condones it in a fudged and deniable manner.

Any one of these incidents might be dismissed as an aberration, but taken together - and I have only mentioned a tiny sample; more are reported almost every day - they add up to a pretty clear picture.

Hal G. P. Colebatch's Blair's Britain was chosen as a book of the year by The Spectator in 1999.

Trusted voice waits in the wings
Paul Sheehan
Writing a column is a constant battle between writing about what is important and what is diverting. The tension between the two is obvious, no more so than this week, when I want to write about tax (important), but have been distracted by a frumpy, unemployed, middle-aged virgin (diverting). What reconciles the chasm between the two, between tax policy and Susan Boyle (the frumpy, unemployed, middle-aged virgin) is the phenomenon known as the wisdom of crowds.

The wisdom of crowds has been supremely evident during the past week since 4000 people in a concert hall in Glasgow began shifting in their seats as a frumpy, jowly, middle-aged woman stalked onto the stage and told the judges her dream was to be a professional singer and her role model was Elaine Paige. A ripple of discomfort and incredulity ran through the auditorium, and the judging panel, as the woman, Susan Boyle, nominated her song, I Dream A Dream from Les Miserables.

Earlier, Ms Boyle had been shown on the big screen eating a sandwich backstage, and telling judges she was unemployed, lived alone with her cat, Pebbles, had never been married, in fact, had never been kissed.

She sang in a church choir in a village of West Lothian, near Edinburgh, where she has lived alone in her childhood home since the death of her 91-year-old mother two years ago.

As she was about to sing there was collective hush as if 4000 people were about to watch a slow-motion social train wreck. By the time Ms Boyle had finished her song, the judges had been rendered irrelevant .

The audience was on its feet for a cheering, standing ovation. The rest is internet history. On YouTube, various videos featuring the performance have been viewed more than 34 million times around the world. It's gone global.

I recommend any reader with access to the internet, who has not seen these videos, to visit YouTube, search "Susan Boyle", and click on the video with the largest number of viewers (the wisdom of crowds) because that is the one which shows the whole saga, from backstage sandwich to stunned judges. It will make your day.
It is also the latest example of the great and daily upswelling of democracy made possible by the communications revolution which has obliterated the old limitations between those who direct and those who are directed, between those who inform and those who are informed. The will of the people is finding more expression in multiplicities of new ways.

I have been wondering about the will of the people aged 35 and under, generations X, Y and presumably Z. I've been thinking about them a great deal, because I believe we may be witnessing one of the greatest acts of generational selfishness in our history, where one generation, the baby boomers, inflicts higher debt and taxes on the following generations to make its own life more comfortable.

The man who will impose decades of debt and higher taxes on the young is the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, who is taking us into uncharted territory. What he promised in the pursuit of power and what he is doing in the exercise of power bear only a passing resemblance. Rudd may turn out to be a great prime minister. I hope so. Because we will all be better off if the bets he is making turn out to be winners. But his bets are large and they are many. And it is not all about the global financial freeze he suddenly inherited.

After just 17 months in power, Rudd has committed Australia to more spending, in real terms, than even Gough Whitlam's three tumultuous years as prime minister. It took 11 years for the last government to pay off a $96 billion federal debt and build a $20 million budget surplus. It took Rudd 16 months to spend the surplus and return Australia to levels of debt and deficit comparable to those Labor had created when it lost office 13 years ago. Rudd's response to the global financial freeze has been a policy U-turn that is grandiose in scale.

The latest grand plan, a $43 billion broadband network, may produce a world class communications platform, but it can never produce an adequate commercial return on investment. It will also destroy tens of billions in the market value of Telstra. By my count, there are at least a dozen projects involving at least $1 billion in unproductive spending. The proposed federal budget deficits will have to be paid for by higher borrowing and higher taxes. Government spending is rising much faster than the rate of inflation or gross national product growth.
The most telling comment I heard last week came from Peter Costello, when I called to ask if he was going to stay and fight the next election. He described the level and the manner of government spending as "scarifying". That tells me, short of a public announcement, he will renominate for his seat when nominations are called in a month or two.

This is significant. Rudd is politically unassailable, and will win the next election, because he is still fresh and the Leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Turnbull, is flatlining in the opinion polls. But after the next election, after generations X, Y and Z have begun to realise the magnitude of the debt and taxes Rudd is leaving them, the electorate will at least want the option of a federal fire extinguisher. It cannot be Turnbull (merchant banker) or Joe Hockey (buffoon). It can be the federal treasurer who built the $90 billion firewall that has protected Australia from worse harm. Peter Costello: in case of emergency, break glass.

night drive to martins, cross the bridge at midnight, we sit up and talk about girls, hes waiting on one and im waiting for one, it's good to see him having a serious relationship, i really hope it works out for them, she's a great girl and i liked her from the moment i met her.
up at 5 to the airport, two brothers waiting for their folks. it's been 9 years since i have seen them, martin flies back regularly but im kinda loathe to, england is not really a place i feel comfortable in, it's just to miserable and brings back awful memories of being bullied at school, margret thatcher and winters of discontent. i left the place as soon as i could.
seeing mum and dad walk around the corner was quite strange, my father whom i am very close to looked not unlike clint eastwood did in his latest movie, only not as action enabled, he was frail. time age and life was carving it's marks upon him. we hugged, it was a great hug, something i don't do to a lot of people but like to do to people i care about.
he said i was fat but looked healthy.
i said he looked like clint eastwood.
we drove back to their apartment, i took a long way around through the cities suburbs. they had been delayed a few hours so we didn't get back till midday. we had a some noodles together and laughed about a few things then i had to leave.
my dad asked if i had any movies dvds i could bring over.
i said, 'what do you like?'
dad says, 'got any clint eastwood?'

later in the afternoon im thinking this may be the last time i see my dad, this trip. it's a strange thought, i'm not ready for it.
it's fucking tough being a father and now its hard being a son.
i know despite all i have experienced in life so far it's going to hit me hard.

Antipodes of the Mind: Charting the Phenomenology of the Ayahuasca Experience by Dr. Benny Shanon, Oxford University Press, 2002
This is one of many book reviews from amazon describing the idea benny shannon puts forth in this book. I think given my own experiences with ayahuscia it's obvious to me what was occurring with my ancestors. to deny it is foolish. but find out for yourself...

INTRODUCTION
What happens when a worldly Israeli cognitive psychologist goes to the Amazon Basin where he ingests the famed psychotropic concoction Ayahuasca (the `vine of the dead') again and again and again? Our intrepid philosophical psychologist is no longer a sprightly youth, maddened for adventure. He is instead an accomplished theoretician with widely published articles (several in this journal) and a noted book (*The Representational and the Presentational*, 1993) that speak the from the perspective of cognitive (or phenomenological, for Shanon) psychology against the reductive tendency to view the mind's activities as created by the the brain's activities. Even before his Amazonian quest, he placed himself in the Gibsonian camp seeing the mind as dynamic intermediary between organism and environment and active participant in both. What did happen is this extraordinary book, a scientific analysis of his own visions and the education of both Shanon's views and, perhaps, his soul.

Benny Shanon's accomplishment in this unique and carefully written treatise is nonpareil. In his landmark attempt to chart and classify the experiences that follow ingesting the Amazonian brew, Ayahuasca (always capitalized by Shanon), he demonstrates a will to observe and explain as relentless as carbon steel, but his seeing and experiencing also require him to be as flexible as tungsten when he must shape his interpretations within experiences that have all but overthrown the pretense of objective observation. Indeed, as he becomes `educated' through his journeys with this brewed plant compound, apparently beginning his own shamanic initiation, his will, his very self must capitulate to experiences beyond words. Later, back at his desk, Shanon will use his notes and memory to go discover the order of things. This breakthrough study will achieve the respect and renown it deserves, but it is currently causing a stir in certain circles and amongst the openminded international intelligentsia.

Shanon has written a slow-rising classic that should stay aloft for the duration of our era, not just as cognitive psychology or even as another narrative of the psychedelic experience, but as the revelation of the boundless potentials within the human journey itself. Since its release, it appears to have received universal praise from other critics and readers. However, word has not filtered out into the hungry minds of the general public or surely *Antipodes*(1) would be on a bestseller list. Either its subject matter - pharmaceutically induced altered states of consciousness - is still considered too politically threatening or Benny Shanon needs to hit the talk show circuit. His book enters deep waters yet never loses its way. It may be a challenge for some to wade through his classifications but in doing so may find their thinking clarified. Shanon's writing is clear as a mountain brook. He wastes no words for grand effect but always goes straight and true for the point of the topic he had begun. This makes for a very satisfying read, which is helped immensely by the greater story lurking within it to do with one man's awakening from the sleep from self consciousness. *Antipodes* is neither obscure nor excessive, so it might make a good selection for a book-of-the-month for educated readers. Oprah, are you listening?

Nothing exactly like this has ever been written before(2), beautifully rendered and incisively analysed yet finally superseding its own analytic. The reader joins a dedicated scientist on a journey that most would consider well beyond the possibility of scientific data gathering, except in terms of chemistry or anthropology. This journey is a phenomenological analysis, Shanon's close observation his own experience. He wastes no pages speculating on what the neural correlates of his visionary experiences might be, not even taking much time to explain the active ingredients of the `brew' or how it changes the brain. Within this work (but not always within his own experience), the phenomenological-analytical approach seldom wavers. Such an approach still requires a certain distance, so when the object of study is his own earthshaking visions or emotional tsunamis rising up to lay bare every suppressed anxiety, guilt, or self delusion - not even to mention the digestive trauma often encountered(3), one finds oneself in mute admiration for this stalwart scholar who steadily perseveres, refusing to be swept away from his purpose. He admits to making wrong choices in his early Ayahuasca journeys, lingering at banquet or resisting the lure of jaguar metamorphosis when he should have continued his quest, but he learns and begins again. As new worlds open before him, sometimes terrifying, he never retreats in a desperate attempt to turn the experience off. But he also learns when to surrender. Song pours from him amongst strangers, but he knew he must allow the joy to have voice. Though only briefly alluded to, it seems his perseverance and purity of purpose allowed him to finally transcend the limits of knowledge altogether by surrendering his cognition and his very self in a metanoia beyond the realm of words, memory, or interpretation. Needless to say, this experience is not described.

It is in this sense that *Antipodes* may find itself attacked (or ignored) from two opposed positions at once. Most hard science does not consider phenomenology a respectable undertaking since one's subjective experiences can neither be observed by anyone else nor shown to produce repeatable effects. One attempting to draw up analytical structures for drug-induced visions is likely to be dismissed out of hand as delusional, taking hallucinations for reality(4). On the other hand, true believers - religious followers, mystic esotericists, New Agers - will be annoyed for though Shanon puts the stamp of `reality' upon his altered-state journeys, he continues to be skeptical about the existence of supernatural deities behind the metaphysical curtain. In his captivating Prologue he states: `For years I characterized myself as a "devout atheist". When I left South America I was no longer one' (p. 9), but he later explains that his `theism' is more related to a Spinozan pantheism grounded in creative dynamics than to anybody's pantheon or hierarchy of static divinities. He also rejects as unlikely the many reports of enhanced psi powers during the Ayahuasca intoxication (noting that increased perceptual sensitivity and interpersonal attunement can explain the `mind reading' he has experienced and heard reported). He remains open, however, expressing the wish that reports like that involving the remote viewing of an actual European city by an Amazonian native who had neither seen pictures nor heard stories of such a place should be objectively investigated.

Others will argue, and have done so, that immersion in the vision quest involves the suspension of the judgmental, cognitive faculty. Shanon seems to have learned the right steps to his dance between reception and cognition. When the moment presents itself, he allows the imagery or ambiance to take over; but when he returns he makes note of all that can circumscribed. Such imagistic encouragement is similar to Spinoza's intuitive mode of knowing, as Shanon notes (p. 205), but he also stands by the need for subsequent careful analysis in the same way elucidated by Whitehead (1978): `The true method of discovery is like the flight of an aeroplane. It starts from the ground of particular observation; it makes a flight in the thin air of imaginative generalization; and it again lands for renewed observation rendered acute by rational interpretation' (p. 5). Whether this `rational interpretation' infects that which is so interpreted, thus standing on the primary ontological ground beyond that of visionary experience remains an open question, to be asked again below.

In what follows, I will attempt the briefest of summaries though such is an injustice to this groundbreaking psychological cartography of what is terra incognita to most of us. I will then share my perplexities and a personal response, before concluding.

SUMMARY
As a reader, I was hooked immediately by the dramatic Prologue as well as the few selected illustrations, all details from the artwork Planos by Brazilian `shaman-turned-artist' Céu. Each detail is a picture unto itself - a `frame of reference' - yet `the big picture' reveals them all as aspects of a greater dynamic spiralling out from or in towards a core of light that no doubt `passeth all understanding'. The plates seemed to be metaphor for *The Antipodes of the Mind*, frame of reference within frames of reference, each part structured by the whole, while the whole is changed by the activity of the parts.

In the Prologue, Shanon tells the story of his first encounters with the Ayahuasca brew and the questions that brought him to begin his mammoth research project. In his first experience of any consequence he had visions that included jaguars and snakes. He learned later that this was commonplace for Ayahuasca drinkers and his professional curiosity as a cognitive psychologist was roused: `Snakes and jaguars seem to be just too specific to define cognitive universals' (p. 7). But he also underwent horrible visions of human cruelty throughout history, including what must have been especially wrenching, the Jewish Holocaust. But rather than back away or fall into bitter cynicism, he countered it with contemplation of the beauty that humans had brought into the world: `However evil and petty human beings are, I thought, they are also the creators of some of the most beautiful things that exist in the universe. With culture and art, as well as with religion and spirituality, humankind can be redeemed' (p. 5). The anguish or fear evoked by unexpected and shocking presentations of evil must be the gate that has turned away many other first time drinkers from further pursuing this course. Through his faith in life and the human journey, Shanon himself emerged beyond the gates in a centre of serenity within which it seemed the world and himself was born anew: `It seemed this was the first day of creation' (p. 6).

After these first world-changing experiences with the Santo Daime Church (daime=Ayahuasca), he was thrown into a period of critical self-analysis. He knew he had to further study this vine and its power, but how? It seems he first had to accept who he already was, an accomplished cognitive psychologist; he confirmed this identity by ending his self-analysis and beginning his journey to other realities found through Ayahuasca and then a long critical, objective, and categorical analysis of the Ayahuasca experience. This book is the fruit of his labours. It is clear, however, that he had also personal motivations to discover a way to confront the human dilemma of good and evil, as well as facing (or `being faced by') the everpresent questions of a spiritual nature.

Shanon set the time aside, returned to the Amazon, underwent prescribed purifications, and became a dedicated student of the School of Ayahuasca, a mystes into its mysteries. He knew from the first he would never `graduate' as the result of a handful of Ayahuasca sessions, so he took his work seriously indeed. He travelled to gatherings among the three churches (two Christian inspired, one an offshoot of the Umbanda movement) in Brazil that use Ayahuasca as their sacrament and participated in their organized sessions. He sat with Amazonian tribespeople under the jungle canopy, often with the guidance of a ayahuasquero, the `specialist of the sacred', a shaman. Later, as he began to master his visions, he journeyed with few others among accomplished shaman-healers. He shared the brew with experienced users in urban settings, and, when he felt ready, flew solo. At the time of publication, he had gone on over 130 Ayahuasca journeys, though the `core corpus' of his phenomenological research work is his first 67 sessions. Each session was summarized at its conclusion. Beyond that, he read everything he could find on the brew, from early reports of missionaries or explorers to current extended scientific analyses. None combined scholarly analysis with extended personal experience. Finally, he set out in good cognitive psychological fashion and interviewed others who had just concluded their own sessions or anyone in general who also had extensive experience with the brew: `My estimate is that, all told, the data discussed here are based on about 2,500 Ayahuasca sessions' (p. 410).

Then Shanon got back to his desk to reveal the structure of the world (perhaps that should be `worlds'). The bulk of the book consists of prolonged exegeses, enumeration and elaboration of steps, systems and subsystems, categories of subcategories within supercategories, and lists of effects and affects. His point of departure is the phenomenology of his `core corpus'. I will not summarize here his structural program, central to his topic as he deems it to be. Strange to say, I rarely found this approach tedious. For one thing, as noted above, the objects of his classifications are confrontations and participation with other realities, so there is a veritable tale of wonders interwoven within the data. Running through the exposition like an unruly stream upon well-manicured fields is the underlying narrative of the paradigmatic hero's journey into meaning. Furthermore, Shanon's mind, as expressed in his writing, is so refreshingly clear and organized that one feels perfectly secure in boarding his `aeroplane' to survey mysteries of terror and delight well beyond most of our experience or comprehension. It may be, however, that Shanon needed this comprehensive organization as a grounding for his more ultimate revelations. Perhaps it was necessary for him `systematically to chart the various phenomena that Ayahuasca may induce and *to establish order in them*' (p. 48, my italics), so he could at least recall the pathway back toward the Source, the `still point of the turning world'.

Shanon learns there are stages of advancement into these mysteries: The novitiate begins passively watching wonders unfold as on a screen, but with experience and courage, learns to enter the vision and explore its reality from within. Then there comes a stage where a certain degree of control over the unfolding reality is possible, though such `control' is always partial and participatory - Shanon often uses the metaphor of playing an instrument or being played as such: `Thus, I say that the Ayahuasca experience is like music played on an instrument which is the soul and that this music is a perfect mirroring of one's entire being' (p. 380). Indeed, the final stage seems to involve gaining the power to engage many worlds (or realities) simultaneously, but also the power to act in this world in ways never previously attained or attempted, such as the expressive arts or guidance and healing. The `grades' of the School of Ayahuasca are summarized thus:

`First there was an exposition. ...the second course was discipline. ... The third course of my schooling was primarily concerned with healing and disease. ... The grades that followed focused on the sacred and involved powerful spiritual experiences. Then I had a long period-coupled with my partaking of Ayahuasca with traditional Amazonian healers-that focused on shamanism. ... The subsequent course ... focused on a variety of more specific issues' (pp. 302-3).

To get this far, the novitiate or mystes has endured many trials and temptations, yet s/he must be bold enough to know when to surrender to the reality that presents itself and wise enough to know when to actively alter it. One must have overcome the narcissistic limitations of one's fears while not inflating vanity over one's piloting control or expanding knowledge. Such hubris, as myths have taught us, may lead to the pride that goes before a fall.

Shanon found the pure heart and `empty centre' to be accepted amongst the healers of the Amazon rain forest. He mentions that now he feels his role has become more performative than explorative as guide, hierophant, and something of an ayahuasquero himself. In terms of powers, Benny Shanon emerges as `Benny Shaman' (though I doubt he would admit this or appreciate the wordplay). In terms of wisdom, he states his conviction that the most expressive gesture of ontological truth is found simply in songs of praise for all creation, in the 'Hallelujah' of his ancestors. As to the ontological question of what exactly is being so praised, Shanon avers it is not anything at all but the joy of the eternal dynamic process - neither God as an entity (or any other form of the supernatural), nor is it humanity or nature, as such. Creation is what the name implies, an ongoing unfolding of the infinitely potent creative core of all things, including ourselves.

Obviously, such `knowledge' cannot be attained either through phenomenological or analytic reduction. It is everpresent beyond the edge of the `known world', that is, beyond the conscious mind `Wherefrom words turn back,/Together with the mind not having attained...' (*Tattirïya Upanishad* 2.9). It is at this point that Shanon the scientist must give up on science and even knowledge in any usual sense and admit that such direct communion exceeds communication: `Yet, there were occasions that it was clear to me that I had to make a choice-if I really wished to undergo the experience presenting itself to me, I would have to forgo my future recollection of it and give up any thought of ever talking about it' (p. 355). Furthermore, even the path to the edge of this unspeakable awakening is one not of ordered signposts and structured roads but of intuitive knowledge, well beyond categorical reasoning. After all his phenomenological analysis, Shanon at last confesses that

`very poignantly, I realized how limited the scientific approach is. It was evident to me that [in] pursuing this stance, there are realms of knowledge that can never be attained. I further comprehended that there are levels of knowledge that demand one to let go and relinquish all critical, distanced analysis. ... In this respect, despite all its limitations in terms of sociological power and cultural permanence, the indigenous stance has the upper hand' (p. 356).

PERPLEXITIES
I continue to be perplexed about several things hinted at in this tome but not fully explained and I outline them here. These mainly result from my own application of traditional reasoning to that which eludes it or from Shanon's expressed reticence to reveal more personal detail or delve into metaphysics. My perplexities are mainly to do with the world of light and truth revealed to the author and apparently to other experienced Ayahuasca drinkers. Either the dark side is less real or it plays a smaller role than I had imagined.

Unlike with LSD, there are said to be no `bad trips' with Ayahuasca. Shanon admits he interviewed no one who drank the turbid brew but once, which would surely be the result if anyone `freaked out' or was just turned off by the whole experience. The nausea, gastritis, and vomiting, emphasized in other first person accounts, may be enough to cause one to avoid the substance next time, but actual `mind-blowing' has not been reported, to my knowledge. Shanon makes it clear that when faced with a personal crisis under the intoxication one must soldier on, dealing with fear and related negative emotions in as grounded and unperturbed manner as possible. Still, crises occur: `Quite commonly,' he states matter-of-factly, `people feel that they are about to die' (p. 57). Elsewhere he notes that a mental breakdown is real possibility. Yet not in Antipodes or anything else I have read to do with Ayahuasca experiences is such a breakdown recorded. Is it bad-trip free?

Along these same lines, my all-too-human binary thinking gets skewed in Shanon's brief discussion of the ontological status of good and evil. On the same page he reports that `Ayahuasca leads people to the conclusion that the world contains both good and evil, that the two are intertwined, and that the ultimate reality is beyond good and evil', but that, `Finally, there are visions in which one feels one is encountering the Supreme Good' (p. 174). I realize I'm probably not getting the mystical paradox here, but elsewhere it's said that Ayahuasca has a cosmic sense of humor (not always benign), that it lies or hides as much as it reveals. Is the Supreme Light without shadow, or what?

I wonder also about the dark side of the initiatory process, especially shamanic initiation. In the pattern of the ritual death-rebirth cycle, there must be a dark night of the soul before the dawn of revelation. Shamanic lore especially emphasizes the almost universal experience of death and dismemberment(5) - apparently the death of the everyday self - before the shaman returns, being one with death yet remaining alive. Shanon modestly and perhaps wisely downplays the significance, but he acted as shamanic healer and guide for others and was accepted at least among one ayahuasquero guild. The fact of this exceptional book's existence is enough to convince me of Shanon's shamanic metamorphosis. No ordinary insight could have carried it through to the end. What I want to know is what sort of ritual or visionary death did our author have to endure? Or did he achieve his dawn without a dusk? Admittedly, he states such an autobiographical confessional was not his purpose here and may have to await a future literary venture.

And one wonders about the whole question of the existence or creation of orderly categories from the data resulting from his phenomenological and statistical analysis. What sort of lists, tables, categories, and structures are being brought forth here, and why? On the one hand he notes commonalities in his visions and those of many others as well as intriguing parallel reactions to these visions, especially amongst the Ayahuasca cognoscenti. As noted, it was in fact these inexplicable similarities that set him on his quest in the first place, professionally speaking at least. Does he then think his structural analyses is revealing the universal latticework of creation, or at least of the Ayahuasca experience? Or is he himself creating such a latticework to place over the chaos of creation? Neither, it seems, or both. Shanon is well aware of the ambiguities of his project and how boundaries in the realms of visionary experience seem to shift or even, with a wink and smile, disappear altogether. In a universe in which the only constant is creative dynamism itself, it is impossible to distinguish between that which one discovers and that which one projects. He states that `there is no clear-cut differentiation between interpretation and creation. ... In essence, all is interpretive, all is creative' (p. 351). If it is so that all phenomena are simultaneously the product of interpretation and creation then - aside from the author's need, personal or professional, `to establish order in them' (p. 48) - it feels like such cartographic detail is mapped onto shifting tides that will change with the phases of the moon.

This is a slippery metaphysics with which we are left. Shanon lays his detailed phenomenological analysis upon the creative essence with some ambiguity, it seems to me, like placing the picnic blanket on the lake. If our acts participate in the unfolding of reality then categories, maps, structures, laws of science, and what have you achieve their substance over millennia of cultural or even transcultural `use', which results in the reality of habitual consensus. They are as real as anything else that seems to just be there, in one place, here and now. Does this leave his categories and structures and patterns with a ground on which to stand? Probably - at least temporarily. In fact, his studies prove beyond much question that certain visionary and experiential patterns reoccur across cultures and in times far apart.

Several times Shanon asserts that his purpose is not to explore ontological questions, but he takes enough steps in that direction that the reader understands that when Shanon finally states that `the view put forth here is that the Ayahuasca experience is one of generation and creation' (p. 383), he is tantalizingly close to claiming this for our usual experience too.

He even briefly discusses the source of these patterns of creation, which brings me to my last perplexity, the uncertainty over the terms `creativity' and `imagination'. Early on, Shanon assures us that `Ayahuasca visions [exhibit] a beauty that is beyond imagination' (p. 17)', referring to our usual notion of the imagination as a post-language faculty activated by the self from other images already stored in memory. In speculating on the source of such beauty, he denies that such creative imagining comes either from a `world of forms', already `out there' in their own ultimate reality or from psychology, that is, the unconscious `in here'. So, in his interpretation, neither Platonic ideas nor Jungian archetypes will do.

To account for the reality of Ayahuasca experiences (and by implication, all experience), he posits a creational reality in which our own creativity participates but which ultimately exceeds our personhood or existence. So, `the notions of "human creativity" or "power of imagination" turn out to be much more fantastic then they are usually thought to be" (p. 396). Yes, indeed, but the originality of this position is where perplexity arises. In the first place, isn't this the core of the Romantics' apotheosis of the transpersonal imagination? Creativity as the core can also be found in some form in both Bergson and Whitehead.

In the second place, I think Shanon is too dismissive of Jung's concept of the collective unconscious by reducing it to residing `in here', but this may be mistaken assumption based on Jung's misuse of Freud's original term, the unconscious. In his later years, Jung wrote a good deal about the *objective psyche*, meaning that the collective or transpersonal unconscious is the very world with which we engage and which is our source. Shanon refers approvingly several times to the somewhat similar notion of the *anima mundi* (`world-soul') as source of the real, both subjective and objective. Then again, as a result of his experiences of communion he would likely disagree that the world or world-soul should be understood as `unconscious' (even if Jung meant `unconscious from the perspective of our self-contained conscious').

The Jung-inspired archetypal psychologist James Hillman (1975) brings us to the point where Jung meets Shanon when he proclaims that every perception, cognition, or memory is fantasy-laden and not possible without such imaginative elaboration. Fantasies, in this sense, are not individual: `The revelation of fantasies exposes the divine, which implies that our fantasies are alien because they are not ours' (p. 184). This may add some flesh to the ontological skeletal frame of Shanon's `generation and creation' pantheism, though he adds the last note that in the `dance' of creator and created it is impossible to tell who is leading.

Allow me to reemphasize that my above `perplexities' are not in the way of criticism. These are questions I would love to sit and discuss with the author; no doubt the inadequacy of my understanding would soon be made plain. I should even apologize for critiquing the few hints of ultimate matters which he deigned to mention, for he himself admits they have not yet been fully thought through. However, feeling perplexed by Shanon's extraordinary encounters and the great work of his phenomenological analysis, I couldn't help but wonder, `What does it all mean?' Perhaps in his next book Shanon will explore an answer to that question.

PERSONAL REACTION
After reading Antipodes with great pleasure and new discovery each time over several careful readings, I retain two reactions that are probably mine alone. One is that I am now sure I will never seek an opportunity to drink the brew of the `vine of the dead'. Put simply, I doubt that I have the strength of character it took for Shanon to advance from audience member to conductor of the orchestra. In part, my reticence arises from my tendency to wander off and become thoroughly lost in the aforementioned psychedelic era, sidetrack to sidetracks. It is my understanding - faith, if you will - that cognition, rationality, and analysis are themselves particular cultural fantasies. When one give intuition primacy, one tends to wander as way leads on to way. Shanon could absorb his incredible experiences and then later at his desk, `establish order in them'. In fact, to the extent that it is possible, he has done just that. However, I fear I would become an Ayahuasca drifter, lost in other realities, but with no wish to return and nothing in order at all.

The second reaction was not one I had expected. *The Antipodes of the Mind* gave me, first dimly then with increasing illumination, *hope*, suffusing me generously with that unfamiliar but uplifting emotion. By reminding me, `There is more here than meets the eye and you know it!', a flood channel of forgotten memories opened and I was able to recall the moments I had found myself elsewhen or elsewhere (and not always as the result of substance ingestion). In the need to `get real' as I grew older, I had simply suppressed such experiences of wonder and awe because they were not `useful'. I had pushed aside visions or encounters that threw into doubt the solid finality of day-to-day reality so I could join the grim march through the lifespan toward dusty death. I'm no fatalist, but I felt as though this book fell into my hands at just the right time. It is not just poetic license but a fact of consciousness-limited awareness that we walk about in worlds unrealized. So I wish to end this book review with appreciation rather than criticism: Thanks, Benny. You've done wonders. Hallelujah to you and your important book.

NOTES
1. There is no singular form of `antipodes'. From my 1938 Funk 'n Wagnalls *New Standard Dictionary*: `antipodes, n. sing. & pl. 1. A place or region on the opposite side of the earth; also, any two places or regions so opposed; as, australia is the antipodes (or at the antipodes) of England. 2. Those who live on the diametrically opposite sides of the earth; as, our antipodes sleep while we wake; the two nations are antipodes.'

2. The only comparable work I know of may be John Horgan's (2003) recent study. Former senior writer at *Scientific American* and noted science writer, Horgan takes a similarly skeptical show-me approach, even to his own ayahuasca experience. In Horgan's Amazon.com review, he puts *Antipodes* on a par with classics on the further reaches of conscious experience by such as William James and Aldous Huxley. He errs, however, when he states that, after his journeys, Shanon remained an atheist, except in the most narrow definition of the term.

3. Shanon downplays the extreme digestive tract disturbances that have been widely reported, occasionally resulting in projectile vomiting. With experience, Shanon found he could avoid bringing forth such unpleasantness by bringing forth spontaneous song instead!

4. Benny cogently argues that such visions are more `other realities' than fictional hallucinations (also see Shanon, 2003).

5. `The shaman learns to know death in the course of his initiation, when he goes for the first time into the underworld and is tortured by spirits and demons,' declares Mircea Eliade (1990, undated entry 1952). Such universality (all universality for that matter!) remains highly controversial in academic circles.

6. It would be most intriguing for Shanon write a phenomenological cartography after experimentation on LSD trips. Knowing the differences and similarities would tell us much about the status of visions. Do they arise from specific drug, personal idiosyncrasy, or have they a transpersonal status?