Everyone has good ideas

 Everyone has good ideas ; I wish I could tell my wife that sometimes when she corrects me . But we get on OK cause , while we might need a daily  ( or is hourly)  reminder in each decision we make, we don't let the anger of not being listened to ( I hope you don't feel it as often as  this old grump does ) stop us from communicating in the tough and sparky way that we are meant to.
When "Iron sharpens iron" is mentioned in Psalm 27:17 its implied that  SPARKS WILL FLY . 

The inspiration in this momentary war is that a more productive refined decision will and can often be made if we truly listen.
YES  - Its  worth waiting for the result of the adrenalin rush - we all should be celebrating at the end of the day ( when our anger (or rather our sinful reaction to anger ) , and should be apologised for -- "before the sun goes down" ). Look forward  to the end of the day,and don't let the waste of words hang around for a lifetime . 
Look forward  to the noradrenalin rush  that we can share  together( anger seems to precipitate more anger )  had a good day with good decisions  made . Don't be afraid of anger - its not a sin.  Look at Jesus ! Be angry,  but apologize for the sin ( your condemnation of the person?? or whatever  )

I started to write this today, because unlike the satisfying result that can happen when we fight fair and for the truth and the precision required to make good decisions ( boy its hard to listen though isn't it when YOU and I are such experts ) is the focus 
because 
1. Doug Cameron whose simple approach ( almost Marxist ) to solving  problems normally drives me nuts , said something profound in Parliament this week ( Need for housing) . Marxism doesn't work mate , so get onto something that does . 
2.The ads on TV SBS . We are away of holidays and while we have stimulating days , we like a bit of news . But what silly sales talk and simplistic insurance and betting solutions and inane commentary . We switch it  off -its not helping, even  though it makes out like the litte gods they are  that they are "OH so caring "  One blatantly outrageously simple   ad is giveing $5 a month to stop Pneumonia  and save a child . Children with Pneumonia  are dying from multiple causes and just fixing that one won't deal with the cause of that poor child's situation . 
 Trust you get something other that stupid screen talk today 

 

So what flag will you fly in future ?

If you want some deep inspiration to find a FLAG we can ALL fly , read G K Chesterton's ( Father Brown author- "Flag of the World" ) where he, not only points out what sort of patriots we can ALL be,

BUT ALSO why we should reject the traitors like Pirate Peter Fitzimmons who "use the freedom that life allows to lure people away" from the flags that we CAN unite under. 


As for Australis biggest inspiration in 2022?. Jacinta prices address to
Parliament .
It will go down in history as the greatest call to mystic patariots in the modern era . 

And did our parliament recognise it ?

Just for the record  I am  not against eventually modifying the flag but not Australia day because that would deny the West its history . I am not against using "welcome to country"  but I am against the modern madness of nagging ( making it a heading for every event and meeting in he country)_ 
August 2022. 

Nagging is  just not wise 
Did not anyone tell the members that domestic violence is increased  by nagging . That verbal abuse is rightly prosecutable under law as is physical abuse .

Lets have sustainable ways of working through anger and aggression , listening and  learning.
If Parliament want to do something  about the growing problem of domestic violence  and family stress  they would do well to resist tokens , laws , alcohol purchase and trying to prosecute physical violence without addressing that which often precedes it -- verbal abuse  .That way police and other  officers may get past the door to help. 
   





 I often say in these pages what I hate , but i will be brief because th e  important bits must  come first ,
 
Peter Fitzimmons and others like Malcolm Turnbull ,  Steggals , and   Holmes  a court use their huge financial resources to lecture us about being dinosaurs  and how backwards we are .
I just pray they will realize  where light comes from , who has been leading them into their dimly lit progressive darkness  ,and  pray that they grow up ,repent and relearn  .  
The reality is they are all children and haven't ever faced their own weak thoughts, let alone the dangerously blunt ideas  they insist we hear.   

Avoid cynicism and being a smart arse - it can kill you .

  Good intention is great but knowledge is critical to make sure your passions produce a reward
One good intention that we all have is to find a way to reduce our excessive reliance on fossil fuels . I won't cover that here but one author at the bottom will help you think more deeply more that most people are doing at the moment . 


Yes you too can make progress beyond what most people do  if you ignore the noise from behind you . 

Cynicism can kill you if you fail to be be realistic about yours and others real reason for failure .
You''ll notice i hope that i am not advocating a wild optimism promoted by some who trump reason with visions of real estate glory . 
  
If you are  a young person reading this,  all hands to you because us oldies won't often reveal the reason for our own inertia and depressing cynicism .
Imagine for a moment your parents when they were your age . They were probably as  enthusiastic as many of you to do good  ; and that's a very good thing!

So what happened? . Maybe they have tried and failed and are trying to cover their tracks by  sweeping the brush over your ambitions and theirs as well .  "Dad please explain - surely it wasn't all the other persons problem ?" Its very hard to trace the origins of ignorance -don't rely on ABC fact checking!
Whatever is really going on.  its always better for you as a young person to face the truth . dig deeper cause the truth can truly set you free 
Us oldies are notorious for generating cynicism  

Take The epidemics of depression and cynicism  at the moment .
You can tell its actual owner depression and a sense of despair because the outside realists and knowledgeable optimists don't care that most people don't know things -- that's normal . That average citizens don't know much is normal .Those of us who lead, lead from the edge. not from the centre  
What's always needed and lacking,  is real leadership .You know some examples of all talk poor leadership ,  I am sure . The false prophets  are mentioned in the research abstract below  

What's really weird is that some oldies think the laggards in their midst are the problem,
No --working knowledge of what to do about the agreed problems in what the problem is . Watch out for bullshit bingo on this . people who know the name of the process are everywhere , but not THOSE of us who study the process and how to follow it so it works --  this is critical requirement often now missing in leaders and their committees of confusion   UTOPIA ABC . 

These self proclaimed progressive  oldies have got themselves into this strange position of actual  powerlessness thinking   -to think that its the old laggards that are preventing change is to think powerlessness in principle .  More often than not progressives need to look back and see what steps they missed . 
Deniers are supposed to be the real demons according to the "democracy really works magic agents ". Sorry.  but not in  the present - someone is making this huge challenge far too simple. Be practical and realistic if you want to really progress ( and not just talk about it -- can be just more bullshit bingo ) 

Those who say ," If only we could get 51% of people to agree to more action on climate change we would actually get more climate change action " are not logical or effective in their logic  yet its todays parliament . I  will leave that one with you .
The same overly simple modus operation of non sequitur for covid applies
, "If only every one would get vaccinated ten time s over we would rid the world on this evil beast" ( anyone who says that is familiar with evil but doesn't recognise it when its that close its up their nose)  .  Sorry but ignorance and projection , rather than any deep truth are operating here .

Sorry but there is clearly something wrong with the reasonability of cynical smart arses who make noise in  the media . This is evident in recent research  by the psychological profession 



Thankfully those who would jail us , or put all deniers on "happy -my logic is best pills", are losing ground because people who think and live closer to the ground make a lot more realistic sense that they as non- scientists ever did. 
Take the trash put out by the ABC's Ruecassle and equally sycophantic presenters . How easy this idiot makes problem solving . 

The challenge's are still there - its just that the media and the wannabes have lost  control of the collective mind 

'How the world really works ' by Vaclav Smil 

Tapping the wonderful inspiration of young minds

 A 10 YO girl , on the hustings with her father on election day in Colac, two days ago said ,when I asked her what she wanted to be, said "A teacher".
Her father was a young farmer, who had an accountancy degree and was now studying to be a doctor .He, like me, was  handing out cards for independants .
His man was Alex Dyson the independent and  he , much better than me, knew that finding good work was  very very  hard for many young people and that my chosen party  (for the day )was full of the far too comfortables.
 I always say ' a pox on all the parties ' but I will choose one of them !



He didn't know ( because we didn't have enough time) that the young's desire for hope in good work ( and change from the comfortable indifference of  too many conservatives) was mine also  ..and my reason for being there.You don't actually have to have a good job , a partner ( i think we need at least one friend ) or lots of money to be happy as children know . What I want them to know is that YOUR attitude ( including repenting ( think I Need to think "sorry" )  about your own errors, arrogance , pushing shoving  and blindness ) is everything .  Even bullies need to see how to make real friends. 
As a public servant aware of the corruption that comes with the comforts of power, regular wages and  high margins,  I was aware that real change is the only way to get away from the cancer of that growth inside the power houses( for a time at least ).   

Any of us who ever had the privilege of keeping the attention of  group of young people know it to be the greatest of privilege's ( cf being in parliament with all those tired minds  would not be fun )  like the best of days and the worst of days ( if you are having trouble with the worst , watch Dickens on BBC)

Humans don't listen well, so why would anyone ever take on the  job of changing people's minds ? 
Any of us who have had parents know what dinosaur's they can seem to be, with their grumpy moods and endless  repeats of their deep cynicism and worry . "You told me that before" they can rightly say !

The people on the hustings at the weekend thankfully didn't know that I was the man pictured directly above,  so we had lots of interesting , if brief interactions over our passions ( with hustlers its a great place to discuss things when not too many people pass through  ) and genuine   thank yous from passersby   for suggestions about what options there were on the long  Senate paper . Most,  of course don't want or need your advice,  but are wonderfully polite and pleasant. A few do because the senate paper is so long and the local independants don't normally stand out. 

Believe it or not , I remain a happily  paid up member of the dinosaur club because conservation  ( yes I normally vote conservative )  is clearly the leader;  the soundest ecological world view; That's what collects up the surplus of the good times,  so we have something to eat in the bad times.
As that great parable says the son ( the prodigal son ) thinks he knows a better way until he sees the city lights, experiences the waste and unsustainability, and if he is repentant ,  matures in understanding of how the superficial view  starves the soul of real food. 
It's always good too to greet fellow farmers /local producers in the sunshine , knowing that while the city may have the numbers,  we have a deep unspoken agreement  about what actually works in the ecology of real life and we will survive and actually thrive the rebellion prone children's attempt to  raise merry hell with the family fortunes  or worse,  play pretend god in the universe . 

What a privilege it was to spend a few hours with someone who knew from  his own experience on the farm  all the essentials and with his daughter could lead our district in the future in ways that were sustainable .
What an even greater inspiration it was to see that that family was building the competencies ( despite struggling to find proper paid work like most young people our day ) so that both father and daughter would have something deep and sustainable  to offer to the assembly of self preoccupied minds that will sit in front of them and make their life hell, from time to time.      

Birth Control

Overpopulation is an ongoing threat to all ecosystems,  just as an ash cloud is a real and present threat to the earth's temperature. But don't think the solution is all down to getting down to the right numbers .
That sort of problem solving approach is not worthy of your mind;  or of the science of resilience in practice .


Nature has many ways of resisting overpopulation, but they are often slow and even very harsh. We therefore can and should interfere and do better than Nature itself will do on it's own.
 We can and should do better because we can  intervene  with wisdom and care - it used to be called husbandry .
Many smart arses of history want to take the easy road and get rid of  people, but not here. And we can't , like God can't , stop people having fun and choosing to have families - at least not here 

So what are our options ? 
We should be actively thinking about how to build resilience into our world  because our understanding of it  means we can prevent , if we want to, overpopulation -  but only where it's really a threat ( see different colors) .
As we are all those called to husbandry ( both mind and practice)  of the ecosystems of which we are part,  we have many practical choices to deal with this risk.  Overpopulation is an ongoing threat to all ecosystems just as an ash cloud is a real and present threat to the earth's temperature , but it's one thing we can plan to avoid. 

This forum is not big enough to explore all the options, but I insist you resist the blanket use of one ;The pill. To say that imposed birth control using the pill is the only and most effective way is to worship technology and not science ; crude machinery and not ecology in practice;
It could take us back to the days of the quick fix and dilettantism of the eugenic societies . ( Such meetings may not be formally labelled now but they do meet and make decisions  that  are  not canvassing all the scientific options  and in some cases take away the personal freedoms the West has taken for granted for eons )
The pill and sterilization  should be considered as good gifts to us in the dilemma, but the integration  and understanding of all options must come first ; respect for freedom of choice must come first  , This last one requirement is one of the hardest to retain yet we already have the obscenity of interjectors not educating individuals to make their own choices here-- laws of "disease" control have been imposed in Victoria in 2021.

If you think human beings have no other choices,  please look at the incomplete list of options at the end of this note . See why blanket lower number solutions  (BLNS)  will not work ( and therefore be WRONG ) add your own. 

Our generation of leaders ,  I would suggest,  are often prone to acting immorally by overstating the risk and danger  and threat ,.That has meant in recent years that the only legimized actions are not those that make sense in each ecosystem ( the right and respectful way ) but those that simply focus on targets and numbers .  If the new control marxists got their way again , it would still fail ; short term gain ,long term pain.Their picture is not big enough ; make sure yours is !  
BLNS union movement is  a profoundly simple and stupid way to try to solve problems  Precision in decision is  the ONLY way to make our work, work with nature; Competent engagement not subservience 
 
Resilience resists such a shallow minded practice, but does not ignore numbers . Like the proper use of the law,  its there to provide a mirror ,curb and ruler to real dangers around the corner ; the absolute need to slow down or stop doing something . There is a point where elasticity gives way, but before that don't "kick against the pricks" or complain of the pain if you ignore the signals .   


Individual Ecosystem  Options   
I have used this world map of actual fertility rates ( 2.1 is the replacement rate)  to illustrate some of the individual challenges..  But of course they apply right down to households and their survival day to day .Don't be  a dumb shit and solve the world's problems by insisting on right number technology . 
 
1. Population  will drop naturally if alternatives to subsistence agriculture ( esp in savannah ) continue to be supported. This is most important . India ,for example,  could go blue sooner than we think . 
2. Nations without a pop problem can help those with a problem of adjustment ( Over 10 % of the workers in Australia are on overseas visas. Europe  also benefits greatly from migration  
3. The growing % of older people means that a certain greater growth amongst younger people is necessary  for communities to thrive . ( problem right across the world????)
4 , There remains amongst some  city people an unjustified fear that all industrial agriculture is damaging the earth.( like a religion and called so -misanthropy )    This unfair fear can only be effectively dealt with by having the oversight that has been denied in recent times. That is 
applied eco scientists on the ground are still needed to help ensure unacceptable risks to future generations are NOT taken ( called planning and there are none of us left )  - In a huge step backwards, successive Australian governments have used the resources once dedicated to governance to support that population to provide largely uncontrolled expenditure on token targets in the cities. 

5 , There are growing numbers of people who reject industrial agriculture and modern interference. In their ignorance and panic ,they are calling  for  a return to a much riskier and harsher form of slavery called subsistence farming . It must be the job of all earth citizens to reject this and find a way to readopt the former ( 4),,,, It works.

6 , Western countries , if they continue to fail to link people into productive work, will fail to build the trade and creatives industries  that can help release people from "5 "to a more stable economic system . 

7  Western economies, if they continue to carelessly cultivate dependency and resist accountability may well continue to encourage women to have more children than their ecosystem can support . Such threats are likely to make a really big impact on the welfare of our children and their work and study opportunities in the future.  

8 Civilizations can fail first from things other that the citizens sense of the inadequate space they occupy.
Tyrants, using the fears of the people ,  have justified great evil on the nonsense that they need more resources  than they have .Think about Japan both now, historically and during their hysterical period. 
You will do good if you are a thorough realist about the myths cultivated in people's minds . 

9  Is it not hypocrisy for the rich ( green and blue ) to tell the poor to do without- to have less children  when the prospect of new forms of employment other than subsistence agriculture can and should be supported in both eco surplus ( another topic f
or another day) and numbers of young people .   

Its all too hard isn't it ? Taking God seriuously

 Tolstoy in Anna Karenina  makes the point a lot of us make about taking God seriously .
paraphrasing
" I don't see why i should take on all that baggage from the past and seek to know God who is never seen  My gripe when the hero (he) gets married is I have more against God than for him , I can feel grief for people I have hurt , but how can I feel anything for someone i never see ."

Saint Paul recognizes the argument as a real one and one that is interpreted by many as a reason to ignore God in Romans .
"If God  forgives,, what is there to stop us sinning and just handing out forgiveness. Who is God to make claims on us nnyway? Why doesn't he do more for the peasants as i am trying to do ?   So many of the people who say they trust God are not only no better but nuttier and more thick about questions of life that me  "

Tolstoy is not persuaded from his/our  normal preoccupation with our own logic ( he says trying to be rational doesn't work )  because all the above is true.
Tolstoy is persuaded like Dostoevsky and millions before us,  that there is more to a real ,deeper and happier life than our ability to rationalize our way through it . Just seeking  happiness ( even in others as he shows in the book  ) doesn't work,  so forget it . 

The book shows it dangerous and destructive to waste our time on the many false and messy mix  of virtues vices and pleasures . There has to be a way of sorting ones priorities that works and that isn't just ,as the maid says " what ever makes you happy " at the time .  . 

What persuades Tolstoy  to take on the peasants view of history and faith in " the mysterious God" is the reality that unless you truly repent and accept that God's way is the best way for you ( and that crazy and incomplete family of which you were destined to be part of )
you, like Anna Karenina can miss the way .That's a tragic end and reality of a frustrated self focused logic that doesn't work . Once you see Anna as she is,  you see something to avoid at all costs . 

All the players in his story have obsessions , but only some obsessions are truly worthy and work for good.  God is not clearly against pleasure but can show us how to find pleasure with and within the pain .
Avoiding pain is not what will help you live . In Fact,  we have to accept some surgery
Matthew 18 describes both the wonder of living like a child BUT also doing our own painful surgery  like an ADULT because its all good being and doing that is good for YOU.

A hard way is best but as Tolstoy says -  who can walk that way without God by your side ?    

If you can't really change the world - should you even try ?

 If you can't  really change the world  eg "save the planet" - should you even try ?

The answer is Yes absolutely .
Did you get that ?- Yes absolutely 

So why shouldn't we all join  WWFN and Green alliances to save the planet ? No  certainly not just yet --see suggestion at the end 

Summary 

Those who spend their surplus energy on campaigns to influence both perception and action by governments need to take stock of how sustainable changes in society and resource use actually happens . You can't force people to be good or spend all our taxes on incentives , but as Australian of the year Dylan Alcott  says, we can influence perception and therefore set a vision for better action by seeing opportunities, many of which , in politics  and the popular political mind are simply not seen before they happen . 

So  best to forget the obvious causes ?  yes , especially the causes (usually quickfix ) implied in fixing the problem . 
Solving problems practically and effectively requires the sort of precision and precision of vision that only good students can provide . 

The most effective way is the issue ....   and not one that's well perceived at the moment
The most effective way is for you and I to do  what we can,  where we can , That's infact the history of the West at its best .Study and show yourself effective . The best kind of STEM career  Study Teaches Effective Method . 

Some background 
When God created the world it was a mess  and when he let man do his own thing it got even worse.  So those who think they can save the planet ought to study the Creator ( We only need to read the first 3 chapters of Genesis to get the gist of it ) It goes from there .
The question for you the reader is ---You wannabe the overreach agent and waste your energy? You wanna play God when even God calls the situation almost hopeless . Read the Hebrew words used to describe God's caring actions before you dismiss its way of responding to crisis.

The key point is God didn't give up on trying to fix things and neither should we . 
 Sometimes it seems that things only go from bad to worse, we all get discouraged and from time to time at least think it must be easier just to think of ourselves. Plenty do 


Again there is that choice - can we if we can't perceive a way forward how will we suatin our energy  fo change when getting there is much harder than we think.   

The thing is Dylan Alcott is right - its about perception  .  

So you still want to risk ineffectiveness ,waste despair and final cynicism? ( You will Still  need a view of man that doesn't inevitably lead to  that !) 

The mistake many post Christians make is they think that perception van be translated to [popular  political action, 
This myth and heresy  this takes some thinking through  but if we were to stand at 2050 ( just as we might have in 1946) and look back we will see the huge wasted effort of Western governments nd marginal political movements to move people that haven't and won't  actually move people and perceptions .  We could start a list here and you could help by responding . 

But let s not go there now - its depressing . Lets go to the window of the cave and look for the positive signs and you should be able to find some in your local area  Here are some in mine and is we students on the ground that made productive progress here   

See Ellul was right -- its not act global think local but still think local and act local   . 

Thinking Globally 
And now ,  while we are aware that over clearing overgrazing and profligate use of our fossil fuel resources still threatens to undermine even the cost carefully constructed economy 

It takes a lot of faith to even believe men are worth the trouble ,Maybe that cynicism is  the perception element that is now being eroded . Its true of us the duel  On one hand  we are greedy self centered  and indifferent and even blind to some of the bigger and wider issues .
What are we effectively doing even now on Australia day 2022  to address the issue that good things only come out of persistent study ? Maybe even Dylan is aiming into the air with the airy fairies by presuming to change perception . Read JB Peterson 



 Join a political group or just start your own ?
( That's a big question  -maybe some of us could join a group   
My point here is to make sure YOU are more effective where you are ---- that's how YOU can change the world ,.   As Dylan  comments below and the testimony of many disabled through history would stat -  ALL humans face the enormous risk of DISTRACTION 
--We only have a limited time here on earth to change the world - don't be distracted by other people and their perceptions and imperative causes
, IT NOT currently popular causes and more importantly your or other poor current perception  of what can be dome to make the world a better place .

The job for you and me is discovery 

"The biggest thing is that for every one thing you can’t do, there are 10,000 others you can. For every one idiot to give you a hard time, there are 10,000 others worth your time."^{[2]  Dylan Alcott}