Seasons Greetings

There is too much doom and gloom on this blog. Over the last few years I have blogged on some awful stuff. Some things were hard to believe, some were clearly rubbish, and some we didn't want to believe, despite the evidential links that showed us these things were true.

Together, we have learned much. About royalty, about law, about rights, benefits and priveleges. About how only we can give up those rights, and about how we can make sure we know when we hang on to our rights (always) and when to swap them for benefits (never), and about how we should interact with agents of the state. I have shared with you the various letters and notices received from police, courts, debt collection agencies and others. I do not yet have a convincing victory to report because these events are still in flux. Win, lose or draw I promise to tell you the truthful outcome.

There has been some weird shit. Some of it space-agey, and some of it spiritual. Some of it I have believed, and some I have put to one side for now, because either I don't understand it, or because I am not ready for it.

We have discussed the end of the euro, the end of the EU, and the end of the world. We never found complete and universal agreement on any or all of these subjects, and that is right fine by me. We are not Borg. We (here) are allowed to disagree. We (here) are allowed to think.

In the semi-serious clip below, George Carlin reminds us of the things we have in common. It's the funny shit, but it does unite us. One of my problems is finding that one thing that unites more than it divides. The August riots, for instance, were triggered by the cops shooting dead an unarmed man. What followed morphed from a genuine demonstration about injustice into full scale unlawfulness, and showed us just what feral people can do when they suspend all morals. We saw some nasty stuff unfold and we should remember those events if only to protect ourselves from the violent if the situation comes about again.

The UKuncut folks: whilst I was sort of happy about a large group of people protesting, I couldn't help feeling that their reasoning was bizarre. Screaming for less government interference and demanding more in benefits from them seem to me to be diametrically opposed, but what do I know?

The Occupy Wall Street people: the overwheming image I retained from their protests around the world against Big Corporations was marred by the incessant use of Blackberries, iPhones, and the t-shirts and sweatshirts bearing logos that simply advertised Big Corporations. Clusters of people standing around berating big business while clutching their mochachocoskinnylattewithvanilla had me rolling on the floor. The protestors themselves could not see their own hypocrisy, their own reliability on the very corporations they were protesting against. Again, this was bizarre.

Take 7 or 8 minutes for yourself and listen to wise old George, delivering a serious message with humour.



What will 2012 bring us? Who knows. According to some, the brown stuff will hit the twirly thing at the end of January. The euro is in peril, and along with it, the EU. At the end of the year, at 11 am on the 21st December, to be precise, the game changes. According to those who studied the Mayans their "long count" 5,126 year calendar ends at that time on that date*. Armageddon or a new consciousness? We will have to wait and see.

*Or does it? Some say that it is today! (Thanks to TSL for the link). If we get to midnight and the world hasn't ended, do let me know if your mind is a little more.....open than usual.

Like yours, my year has had its ups and its downs. But we find ourselves doing the only thing we can do: we carry on. We accept the things we cannot change and we concentrate on the things we can change.

I want to wish you all a happy and safe Christmas and my very best wishes for 2012. Whatever comes our way, we will deal with. Together.

Thank you to my 174 Faithful blog followers, to my 784 Twitterati followers, to the 410,000 of you that have visited and read this odd stuff that I write about, but mostly, I want to thank the thousands of commenters who felt compelled enough to scribble a few words in the white space available underneath every single blogpost. Not all are supporters, but their contributions can sometimes be just as valuable. All I ever asked was that you avoid the nasty stuff, the personal insults, but you can bring serious questions any time you like. I won't always have the answers but I will do my best.

Christmas is a time when families and friends gather. If you have neither of those, please imagine that you are in the mess here at Ranty Barracks with me and my family. We can share our food and a few bevvies, we can think back on 2011 and we can look forward to 2012. Together.

Slainte!

CR.