The Spice Cupboard

There is something delightfully evocative about opening the door to my spice cupboard. Moroccan bazaars, Indian spice merchants, Malay Hawker stalls and the street sellers of Thailand are some of the images that captivate my mind. The intoxicating perfume of places far yonder invade my nostrils and fill me with warmth and comfort. 

Sumac, nutmeg, cinnamon, star anise, cumin and cardamom. Basil and sage, orange essence and rose water invoke memories of past travels. And, hopefully travels of the future. 

Who would have thought you could get all of that by merely opening a cupboard door? 

So on with my Roasted Pumpkin & Caviar d' Aubergine, which is the reason I opened it. A delight of herb baked butternut pumpkin with puréed aubergine. Persian feta, cream and sweet toasted pepita seeds. I enjoyed this recently at Briars Inn, in Bowral. I'm attempting to replicate the dish. I hope mine is as good.

Calories don't count on Monday. True. 

Chocolate Ice Cream Sings

Something different today. I received this from my brother. It was prefaced by this simple statement. For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

One day I had lunch with some friends. Jim , a short, balding golfer type about 80 years old, came along with them---all in all, a pleasant bunch. When the menus were presented, we ordered salads, sandwiches, and soups, except for Jim who said, "Ice Cream, please. Two scoops, chocolate.

I wasn't sure my ears heard right, and the others were aghast. "Along with heated apple pie," Jim added, completely unabashed.We tried to act quite nonchalant, as if people did this all the time. But when our orders were brought out, I didn't enjoy mine.I couldn't take my eyes off Jim as his pie a-la-mode went down. The other guys couldn't believe it. They ate their lunches silently and grinned.

The next time I went out to eat, I called and invited Jim. I lunched on white meat tuna. He ordered a parfait. I smiled. He asked if he amused me. I answered, "Yes, you do, but also you confuse me.

How come you order rich desserts, while I feel I must be sensible? He laughed and said "I'm tasting all that is Possible.

I try to eat the food I need, and do the things I should. But life's so short, my friend, I hate missing out on something good. This year I realized how old I was. (He grinned) I haven't been this old before. So, before I die, I've got to try those things that for years I had ignored. I haven't smelled all the flowers yet. There are too many trout streams I haven't fished. There's more fudge sundaes to wolf down and kites to be flown overhead.

There are too many golf courses I haven't played. I've not laughed at all the jokes. I've missed a lot of sporting events and potato chips and cokes. I want to wade again in water and feel ocean spray on my face. I want to sit in a country church once more and thank God for His grace.

I want peanut butter every day spread on my morning toast. I want un-timed long distance calls to the folks I love the most.I haven't cried at all the movies yet, or walked in the morning rain. I need to feel wind on my face. I want to be in love again.So, if I choose to have dessert, instead of having dinner, then should I die before night fall, I'd say I died a winner, because I missed out on nothing. I filled my heart's desire. I had that final chocolate mousse before my life expired.."

With that, I called the waitress over. "I've changed my mind, " I said. "I want what he is having, only add some more whipped cream!" 

This is my gift to you - We need an annual Friends Day! If you get this twice, then you have more than one friend. Live well, love much & laugh often - Be happy.

SHARE THIS WITH YOUR FRIENDS including me if I'm lucky enough to be counted among them.

Be mindful that happiness isn't based on possessions, power, or prestige, but on relationships with people we like and respect. Remember that while money talks, CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM SINGS!

So my dear friends, don't forget the Chocolate Ice Cream and let's make everyday Friends Day. Life is too short to have regrets.

Media and Politicians Lies

I watched a video today titled How the Media Needs to Respond to Trump Now, by Keith Olbermann GQ. The link is below.

Please don’t let the reference to Trump put you off watching it. Trump isn’t the reason why I posted it. I posted it because Keith talks about the media. How the media should respond. After watching it, I think that it is how the media should respond to all politicians lies.

In our own country (Australia) our politicians lie to us all the time. The worst offender of the lot is none other than Labor Leader, Bill Shorten. Yet, even the media who is traditionally thought of as conservative like the Australian and Daily Telegraph rarely ever highlight it.

It isn’t good enough to simply say politicians lie. In the world of the fast paced news cycle it’s all about getting the story out. Keith Olbermann highlights why; money, the almighty dollar. The media needs to (in fact MUST) point out the lie but then present the facts. In doing that hopefully three things are achieved.

Politicians start to become more responsible. They can’t hide behind untruths and what is blatant and in many cases habitual lying.

The public becomes better informed.

The media starts doing their blasted job. Stop the headline chasing and start to present the truth; fact and data. Report on the lie but back it up with the truth.   

The ones most responsible for this should be publicly funded media. If they can't present us with the truth who can we rely on? Then we have the media machines; those driven by advertising dollars. Far too many journalists hide behind their 'unnamed source' justification. Whomever 'unnamed source' is, he or she is now the news feed for the world. That has to stop.

Until the media starts behaving as we expect them to, we should stop reading MSM. We should definitely stop watching TV media and above all stop promoting them. Hit them in the back pocket where it hurts. Money talks for them and we can make it sing for us. As for our publicly funded media? We support the party who insists on the media we fund telling the truth even if it is critical of them.

How The Media Needs to Respond

Hitting the media though their back pocket will be a lot more effective than complaining about them on social media. Or posting negative comments about journalists in response to their columns.

Edward Murrow once said, "A nation of sheep with beget a government of wolves." One of the major corner stones of democracy is a free press. One that tells us the truth even when we don't want to hear it. We need their help to keep with wolves under control. They need to start doing their job.

I'm Not Prone To Alarmism, But

Think about this for a minute.

"A psychopathic media magnate or politician can have a damaging impact on the minds and lives of hundreds of millions of people. They may in the long run be more dangerous & destructive to society than low-achieving violent psychopaths." ~ Gao and Raine

Quote from Will Blacks superb book Psychopathic Cultures and Toxic Empires. If you haven't read it, I can recommend it. It opened my eyes.   

So what happens when you mix the two? Like Trump & the odious exBreitbart CEO and now Trump chief advisor and bizarrely Security Council Member, Steve Bannon? I believe we have cause for concern. This is why.

Think about the practice of branding any major news site that publishes personal or performance valuations about a leader as fake. Even facts are branded fake if they are unflattering. Yes, fake news is out there. I don't deny that. A lot of fake news comes from independent sites, many only recently launched. Don’t kid yourself only the so called left do it. All groups do. But how dangerous and I dare say naive to label every column that is critical (or unkind) as fake? That’s idiocy. But, if you play the fake card often enough, it sticks. We witness that today. Even when the story is true, the cries of FAKE from the adoring throng resound.

In recent days fake news has been labelled alternative news. There is no such thing as alternative news. There is truth, untruth and opinions. I felt compelled to challenge someone last week over a claim of fake news. A research company looked into click words and hashtags posted on Twitter. The key tags and click words being bigot, racist, dishonesty etc.  What they found overwhelmingly was, that Donald Trump attracted more bigot, racist hashtag responses than anyone. Clinton scored the highest on dishonesty. This was published in the Australian. Out came the fake news chanters. Everyone conveniently ignored the Clinton dishonest tag. So I assume from that, it was only the Trump data that was fake, in the minds of some. No one mentioned Clinton. As I pointed out in my comments to the column, it’s research data. Given the chatter that Trump evokes it’s easy to conceive he rates highly on bigot and, racist tags. Because Trump supporters wouldn't accept the output that labelled their man a bigot and racist they tried to delegitimise the story as fake. It's ludicrous behaviour.

People on mass have now lost trust in the media. In certain circumstances there is some justification. What we are seeing from Trump and co is different.  They are running a deliberate strategy to totally undermine the press. Why do people do that? It's to make sure they are not closely scrutinised. When media trust is destroyed, readers don't believe anything. Truth will simply be labelled rubbish. Fake. There is enough evidence in our history to prove this works.

Along with the fake news strategy people are told there is only person to be trusted. The one those awful media people are trying to hold to account. We are constantly bombarded with messages telling us the media just lies, lies, lies. They are so mean. But, don’t worry we have a saviour. He’ll take care of us. It will be beautiful. He promises. He never lies.

Someone actually said to me yesterday. “Donald Trump is the most honest politician I know. He never lies.” The person who said it, I've always considered intelligent and discerning. When I presented him with a string of examples he rubbished the source as dishonest, fake. It was a facts site with links. So, I presented him with a similar set of examples where the same source highlighted Obamas lies. Of course that was ignored. This is how things work now.

It doesn’t end there. The calls to close down the free MSM press grow by the day. I see this on social media. The comments section of MSM is full of these demands.

A journalist from the BBC asked Trump an uncomfortable (for him) question during his press conference with British PM May last week. It was a relevant and important question. The question was respectfully asked. Trump squirmed. Dozens and dozens of people then hit a British News Service calling for the White House to ban the BBC. People demanded the reporter be fired. They demanded the BBC be closed. I find that seriously scary behaviour as I value freedom of speech and a free press. These are some of the values our forebears fought for. They fought for us to have that right. Some even sacrificed their lives in battle. It appears it was for nothing. As we are so willing to give it away. Please don't come back with the BS that's what Trump is fighting for. No he isn't. If he was, he wouldn't be trying to close down anyone who disagrees with him.

If you were reading the above, without being appraised of the circumstances it reads like the outline for a cheap political novel based in the third world. But sadly, it isn't. This is happening now. In the free world.

Even Hitler said. “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough it will be believed.” He was right.

I understand there is a ground swell demanding revolution. Thankfully there is also a groundswell saying, not like this. As I'm not a fool, I also accept something needs to change. But, there are some very sinister tactics at play. I just hope people wise up soon. Because what we end up with, might just result in us being much worse of.  I fear this will be the case. I am not prone to alarmism. But, I readily admit my alarm metre has hit the red zone.

As a conservative I will always stand up for truth, our rights and our freedom. Our right to question and critique those in power is a fundamental right. Steve Bannon, sits at the right-hand of the so called leader of the free world Bannon told the media to keep their mouth shut. Spoken like a true 'Alt-Right Psychopath'. He even labelled them the opposition party. The only countries I see trying to silence the press are Turkey, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, China and now the US. That bothers me. Regardless of who people support politically, it should bother everyone.

We should be reminded of the words of Theodore Roosevelt when he said.

“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”

To my mind, anyone advocating for change and who seeks to do so at the cost of our liberty and our freedom to question, to judge and to criticise them, is not seeking change for us. Instead they are seeking to relegate us to the level servitude.  

“Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me.”  ~  George Orwell, 1984

We live in troubling times. For the first time in my life, I am very, very worried for our collective future. What true centralist conservative can stand by in silence and watch this happen. I for one can't.

The Importance of First Principles; Human Dignity & Free Will

"Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will." ~  Jawaharlal Nehru

Much has been said about Meryl Streep's Golden Globe address. There are people who agree with her. There are those who are opposed. Suffice to say many of the opposition comments are spiteful and cruel. 

Despite the fact she has been dismissed as a leftie by many, as a conservative, I thought her address was brilliant. Voicing that earlier today attracted the usual shaming attempts. They failed. 

The point she made about a powerful and privileged person belittling a disabled man is 100% correct. It has nothing to do with politics per se. It was a comment on the lack of leadership integrity. 

Her key message was. When you do that you give others permission to behave in the same fashion. I have blogged about that on a number of occasions with respect to the President-elect. His personal and graceless attacks on others are legendary. The fact that he fails to recognise the message it sends, I believe highlights a deep flaw in his make-up.

If we care about salvaging and protecting our freedom and our humanity, we need to go back to first principles. The most important of those principles are human dignity and free will. We need to revisit those things that make us who we are. Hopefully responsible, caring and free-willed people. 

A large part of free will is our right to form our opinions. And, to voice those opinions politely and constructively. To do so without being judged, belittled, slandered or ridiculed. But sadly, we are losing this battle and it's time to take it back. 

Some will say that is exactly what Donald Trump is doing. Voicing his opinions. Exercising his free will. The missing element is voicing his opinions responsibly and constructively. He fails to do that time and again. That is not the sign of a good leader. As a leadership coach I'd be fired on the spot if I encouraged my young charges to behave like that. 

You can voice opinions extremely effectively without getting personal or indeed lowering yourself petty sniping. The iron fist in a velvet glove will win more battles. 

I hope someone can find a way to help Trump modify his communication. Ditch the nasty stuff. We need him to be successful and to be a POSITIVE role-model for others to follow.