Blessings are conditional. However we think of them, and wherever we think they originate, blessings are gifts – special graces – which we can accept and discard. That is in our gift. We have the right of refusal. Blessed with love, we cannot take our lovers and loved ones for granted. We cannot take without giving in return. The gift of love is not a certificate of ownership. Likewise, the blessing and gift of life is conditional. Its continuation and renewal always and everywhere depend on our generous acceptance of the gift and our loving care for the blessing.
What Sort of Person Does That?
There are perfectly good reasons we do not tolerate the killing of animals for fun. There are good reasons we do not put up with needless animal cruelty – ordinarily. But above a certain wealth threshold the rules change. Rich people can do things for “unique” pleasure that are forbidden to the rest of us, and the state – in the pocket of the rich and ruled by the rich – makes blood sports perfectly legal – for the rich. People like Larysa and Jason sicken me. They are disgusting. But they are only symptoms of the real problem; a country that allows them to do these horrible things.
Burns Night: Neeps and Tatties
A long time before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, before the abolition of slavery and serfdom, Scots were proud to say that We’re a’ Jock Tamson’s Bairns.
The US Invasion of the Republic of Lakotah
In 1868 the US government signed the Treaty of Laramie, formally recognising the independence of Lakotah. This treaty has never been rescinded, just routinely ignored by the United States in its drive to annihilate the Native American, or First Peoples, population.
Power Politics of Fossils and Renewables
Super-power states think differently about the purpose of energy. It is for this reason that the oil producing states of the Middle East remain primary locations of international strategic interest, and why so many of these countries have been reduced to rubble in the past four decades.
Scotland’s Tories Would Frack us to a Crisp
The real problem is that Nicola Sturgeon’s government have blocked the Tories from making more money at the cost of Scotland’s health and environment. Fossil fuels have never really benefited Scotland.
Fracking in Scotland
Banning such practices, legally speaking, sits in the grey area between what has been devolved to the Scottish government and what is under the jurisdiction of Westminster. It is likely that a Scottish ban will be overturned by the Westminster government, effectively also removing the moratorium, and making way for fracking in Scotland.
That Awkward Moment When… Naomi Klein
This is exactly the problem with this level of national hypocrisy; on the one hand there is the need to flatter the stars, even when those stars are the epitome of everything this neoliberal state both fears and loathes – giants like Naomi Klein and Noam Chomsky, then on the other there is this cringe-worthy attempt to silence and stifle the replication of their big ideas.
Random Public Journal 