16 April 1982. Thought for the Week:
"'Doublethink' means the power of holding two contradictory
beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of
them. The Party intellectual knows in which direction his
memories must be altered; he therefore knows that he is playing
tricks with reality; but by the exercise of 'doublethink'
he also satisfies himself that reality is not violated."
George Orwell in "1984". |
JEREMY LEE FROM ALBERTA (Canada)"This week's TIME says that Rumania is also moving into a position of default, similar to Poland, with Czechoslovakia not far behind. The bankers are now anticipating a rash of defaults, precipitated no doubt by the fact that when Poland failed to pay, the U.S.A. picked up the bill. The U.S.A. has been half-heartedly trying to scuttle the trans Siberian gas pipeline for strategic reasons. West Germany's steel industry is currently tied up in Eastern bloc contracts, and 300,000 (three hundred thousand) West German workers are now directly dependent on jobs provided by the Soviet. Trudeau has stepped in and offered the U.S.S.R. a $600 Million loan at 10% interest, specifically for that pipeline. The gas fields in Siberia are being operated by Armand Hammer and Occidental. There is more and more talk now coming through the papers of a money crash, possibly this year. Thus it seems to me conceivable that we may be offered the cashless society concept as a last minute 'out' operated by the I.M.F. and the World Bank...." Mr. Jeremy Lee has completed a two-week campaign in British Columbia, this including addresses to four Rotary Clubs and no less than nineteen radio and television programmes. This was followed by a two-week lecturing programme in Alberta, with heavy literature and journal subscription sales. At the time of going to press, Jeremy Lee was campaigning in Saskatchewan, to be followed by lectures and addresses in Manitoba, Ontaria, and Quebec before his return to Australia. |
WHAT ABOUT AUSTRALIA?"It's a tribute to the ability of politicians to live one day at a time, that Andrew Peacock, having spent the past year trying to overthrow Malcolm Fraser, could say after Thursday's Party meeting that he believed the two could work together in Cabinet." - Michelle Grattan, in The Age (Melbourne), April 10th. What is sickening many Australians is the spectacle of a ruthless grab for power by a handful of Liberal politicians, none of whom are world-beaters with respect to ability. In fact, the mettle of our politicians overall, is plain mediocre. Could it be that the best brains, and most certainly these, combined with integrity, are not attracted to politics, as now performed? We are sick and tired of reading and hearing about the "strategies" of the principals of the recent power play. These ruthlessly ambitious men, hungry for power, do not have any real power anyway. They merely think that they do. The real power of government lies in the expertise of the permanent bureaucracy. What would John Howard know about the mumbo-jumbo of modern economics? A less than inspiring suburban lawyer! How long would Malcolm Fraser last if
he didn't have the successful politician's cunning to "know
and feel" what issues are likely to propel him (for a time
only) onto the stage where "world opinion" would bathe him
in a flattering light? His slavish devotion to the United
Nations; his cultivated "hatred" of Apartheid and the present
South African Administration; his toadying to "Third World"
demagogues, many holding onto their power via the machinegun
and the torture chamber! Anyone who closely reads the history of the Communist Party in any country becomes utterly convinced of at least one fact; viz, that the programme of the Party goes ahead despite the changes in the personnel of the Party. Leonid Brezhnev has referred to Communist Party ideology as the "secret weapon" of Communism. He stated that every piece of Communist ideology is a programme of action. The point we are making is that Western politicians in a sense follow an ideology and a programme of action imposed on them by that Impotent Monster, World Opinion: just as a Communist politician accepts the discipline of Communist ideology (it is really a religion). Our point is that the Peacocks and Frasers and Howards, and all the rest of the sorry crew, wouldn't be where they are if they had not made it loud and clear that they are ready and willing to serve the dictates of "world opinion" as interpreted by the mass media. We have named "world opinion" an impotent monster: it is. Its only power lies in deception. It's bluff can be called; but it takes courage. We believe that Premier Bjelke-Petersen, in Queensland, has done this more than once -and he has so far survived. The time has come when future statesmen (who aren't around at the present time) speak the truth about the major issues in world affairs; and ignore so-called "world Opinion", and expose it for the Chimera that it is; the propaganda of a virtual handful of newspaper editorialists of the West's major newspapers, and the "superstars" of the electronic media, all of who are serving the programme of their largely unknown masters. Sir Philip Lynch, although as ambitious a politician as any, isn't a fighter, and is prepared to rest on his "laurels". He has done very nicely in those years since he left his "profession" of management consultant/business adviser for politics. It is strange how politicians do often speak the truth AFTER they have retired from politics, or when their political careers are close to an end. They don't speak out whilst they are on the ladder! No way. Not if they want to stay on the ladder. In the Sunday Telegraph (Sydney),
April 11th is reported just such a statement from Sir Philip
Lynch: "Politicians ought to be more intent on forming policies
that are right for the country as distinct from policies which
advance their own self interest." |
WHERE DOES THE MONEY COME FROM?We have not observed any of the gaggle of economists remark upon the sudden blossoming into existence of what will amount to BILLIONS of dollars in Britain for the defence of the Falkland Islands. We have been reading, since the close of the Second World War, of "poor old Britain" and her interminable economic plight. Now, overnight, the British Treasury has created all the money that may be necessary for the Falklands operation! Where does the money come from? No money for housing, no money for the 10% unemployed; no money for this; no money for that. We do not single out Britain. What about Argentina? We read that a bankrupt regime is seeking a "diversion" for the masses, and historically, there is nothing like a war to unify a nation (danger always makes strange bedfellows). Our point is that "bankrupt Argentina" has, overnight, found its millions of dollars to stay in the Falklands that they have grabbed from Britain. Where does the money come from? It's there, and it has always been there; but insidious propaganda has deceived men and women for centuries, as it still deceives them. For centuries men and women have been encouraged into the belief that money is a mysterious commodity; almost sacred - as it is worshipped in what are virtual temples (enormous bank buildings), especially constructed to overawe the mob. That it is nothing of the sort - is knowledge, which is only painfully slowly becoming understood by the man in the street. Until this true knowledge is as well known and understood, as say, the knowledge that the earth is a sphere, there appears small hope that the hypnotically deceitful power of money can be broken. "Money" is the monetisation of real credit, this latter being what is capable of being done, performed, by a person, number of persons, or a nation. The real credit of a nation lies in its capacity (an intangible) to deliver goods and services as, when and where required. It has nothing to do with gold, silver, or any other metal. Gold is a comparatively useless metal; its uses confined generally to ornamentation, and the filling of teeth. What Britain and Argentina have recently done is just to monetise their real credit into financial credits by which the "goods and services" (planes, aircraft carriers, tanks, etc.) are being "delivered, as, when and where are necessary". The horrific fallacy is that all this financial credit under the present rules of the game, comes into existence as a financial debt, bearing an interest burden, and is paid for by successive generations by way of taxation and inflation. We are not hearing our economists shouting "wildly inflationary" at the moment. Millions of "debt" dollars can be, and
are, written off with the stroke of a pen. Meanwhile, unfortunate
girls with a baby to support exist on a pittance pension,
and old people, who have made their contribution, over a lifetime,
to their country, similarly are kept alive on a pittance pension.
Is there any hope for Mankind? Yes, there is: but the human
being is the slowest learner on earth, it seems, in spite
of wonderful technology. |
BRIEF COMMENTSWe read in The Weekend Australian April 10-11th that one hospital patient in four (25%) is hospitalised because of "misuse" of prescribed medicines. "Misused" is a nice turn of euphemism: it presupposes that 25% of doctors' patients are rather stupid, as they are poisoning themselves by disregarding printed and/or verbal instructions. Even if this were true (which it isn't) - surely by this time our doctors would have thought up some more reliable method of instructing patiently in the self administration of medicines. The fact of the matter is that many, if indeed not most, of the hospitalised patients are where they are because of faulty prescribing by doctors, or patient reaction, or allergy to prescribed drugs. It is well known that doctors generally over prescribe, particularly with antibiotics. Perhaps the doctors can't be blamed for this: it is a fact that many patients want to take their pills and potions; and that there is a belief that "the doctor is no good" if he/she doesn't prescribe plenty of medicine. The problem can be traced, like so many "problems" afflicting our society, back to "money". Letter From Combined Electors' Associations |