when the future comes a knockin'

we build a home to raise our kids
because that's what we do
but it'll be an empty shell
when the future comes a knockin'

when the future comes a knockin'
when tomorrow's at our door
what today is what we dream of
will tomorrow be no more

the gold and silver that we hord
because we fear what comes
we'll give away for a loaf of bread
when the future comes a knockin'

when the future comes a knockin'
when tomorrow's at our door
what today is worth a fortune
will tomorrow make us poor

the faith we have in government
well it is fading fast
we'll see them as the enemy
when the future comes a knockin'

when the future comes a knockin'
when tomorrow's at our door
what today we all believe in
will be what we all abhor

we walk the streets today in peace
we walk with little fear
but steets will be like battle grounds
when the future comes a knockin'

when the future comes a knockin'
when tomorrow's at our door
where today we greet our neighbour
will be where we're all at war

i write these words in disbelief
that i have come to this
that i look out with fear and grief
'cause i hear the future knockin'

'cause the future is a knockin'
and tomorrow's at our door
if we can not save ourselves from us
what worth is all our lore?


if you liked this you might also like "for our sons and daughters too"

for our sons and daughters too

when all of what we are today
is dim dim distant past
a racial memory mostly myth
known to the shaman caste

i wonder what they'll think of us
when sitting by the fire
and hearing of the things we did
like gods but so much higher

"the great great gods of long ago
they walked upon the moon
they drank the very blood of earth
from death they were immune"

"they did not walk upon the ground
but through the air they flew
and everything there is to know
the ancient gods they knew"

i guess the stories that they tell
the children will devour
they'll dream that they were just like us
and had enormous power

i doubt they could imagine though
the real truth to tell
of how we raped their planet
and we made our lives a hell

they'll never know the polar bear
the tiger or the crane
and countless other creatures
to which we were the bane

they'll also never know the stars
because we stole their chance
because we'd rather party on
and live upon advance

oh what a sad sad species
we "gods" of planet earth
we stupid kings of overshoot
what really are we worth?

just look around at what you see
and ask yourself "where now?"
and if you have an answer
it better tell you how

'cause i can't see a future
that is anything but grim
and even bare survival chances
often seem so slim

i hope that future stories
are told around the fire
that kids enjoy just living
and old folk just retire

i hope we're not the last of us
i really really do
i hope that there's a future
for our sons and daughters too

bad news about our oceans, polar bears are doomed, Polar bears feel the heat as frozen habitat shrinks


more on our future: "Party on Dudes!"




if you are looking for my Druid's Story see "The Keepers"

Fukushima baby

Fukushima baby
glowing in the night
please baby don't say maybe
'cause i love that you're so bright

and if our kids are mutants
well gee maybe that's great
six fingers or two heads might be
a good survival trait

i think that living in Japan
where radiation reigns
is better than to go and live
amidst financial pains

because i tell you baby
as bad is it might be
the rest of this poor planet soon
will see catastrophe

as every place that humans live
by sucking gas and oil
errupts in war and famine as
our planet we despoil

my guess is that they'll never think
to look towards Japan
they'll focus on the last of oil
in Iraq and Iran

and so it will continue 'til
we see the mushroom clouds
then everywhere will be the same
we'll all be wearing shrouds

so let me love you baby and
let's make Ōkuma home
we'll live with all the röntgens
and we never more shall roam

Bernanke Limerick and Rhyme

redacted from comments at http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/08/mers-case-filed-with-supreme-court.html




There once was a world in deep shit
with us in the middle of it
as we sank in the poo
there was Ben Bernank too
but he was quite happy with it





Ben Bernanke
Lost his hankie
how does he blow his nose?
with dollar bills
he prints at will
that's how our predicament grows

Ode to Paul Krugman

this story is about a bloke
who thought he'd save us all
an economic genius
with vision and with gall

he set about to craft a plan
'twas Keynesian and good
we'd all be given ray-guns
and a power-pack and hood

then all of us could roam the land
our faces hid from view
we'd zap each other's businesses
and zap the houses too

we'd zap the cars and aeroplanes,
the buildings short and tall
in fact when we had finished
we'd have found and zapped it all

and then when everything was dust
we'd start again from scratch
we'd build the world all over
a new one without match

and can you just imagine
how big the GDP?
the growth would be enormous
and such prosperity!

the folks in dear old London
well they just could not wait
they've started off already
and i think wow that's great

we really don't need ray-guns
we don't need much at all
so let's all go break windows
(the man? his name was Paul)

'cause our brand name is "Australia"

if you need a tune try this

we've kangaroos and wallabies and emus too in plenty

but they don't greet your flight to Sydney when you make your entry

and why you come to be with us is not for pets i tell ya

the simple reason is because our brand name is "Australia"

chorus:

    our brand name is Australia mate we're proud of that i tell ya
    and if you had an image like ours it would never fail ya
    and everybody everywhere wants everything we've got
    we're flamin' great i tell ya mate in fact we're bloody hot!

refrain:

    prawns on the barbie and sauce on ya pie
    prawns on the barbie and sauce on ya pie

our coastline is a million miles of paradise and beaches

and everywhere the girls in skimpy cossies bare their peaches

but it's not girls i tell ya mate or beer kegs in the trailer

the reason that we're famous is our brand name is "Australia"

(chorus and refrain)

we've immigrants from everywhere who've brought their ways of cooking

and any place that's great to eat at never needs a booking

and every stupid foreign critic soon becomes a failure

and that's because i tell ya mate our brand name is "Australia"

(chorus and refrain)

the Opera House and Harbour Bridge are just two of our treasures
and every where you go to visit showers you with pleasures
but you will have to check it out 'cause we're not gonna mail ya
but that's OK, because of course our brand name is "Australia"

(chorus and refrain)

while all the world is suffering with falling housing prices

and everywhere the people fear political devices

right here within the Lucky Country nothing's gonna fail ya

and that's because as we all know our brand name is "Australia"

(chorus and refrain)

if you liked this you might also like "The Great Australian Poem"

The Great Australian Poem

'twas in a pub on Oxford Street
one torrid summer night
a gathering of poets ended
in a fearful fight

as eloquent and timbered voices
lilted out their verse
a drunken long-haired patron stood
and threw curse after curse

our learned poets persevered
pretending not to hear
and all the while the drunken lout
did curse and swill his beer

"you call your rubbish poetry
you pissy pointless slime
your stupid wanky poems, well
they do not even rhyme"

then as the reading faltered
(and the poets "piqued their ire")
a member of the audience
stood up and did inquire:

"so if you think their verse is bad
why don't you just get out?
We really don't enjoy the way
you curse and sneer and shout"

"You're just a drunken so-and-so
and these are learned folk
so please oh please get up and go
you loud and boring soak"

"Inebriated? i'll be damned!"
the drunkard waved his glass
"i'll challenge all you brainless yobs
i'll teach you all some class"

the poets grinned behind their hands
and snickered to the crowd
they knew full well this no-name fool
would fail if just allowed

the dais was vacated then
the poets stood near-by
the boozer ordered "fill 'er up
'cause speakin' makes me dry"

he teetered as he passed the bar
to grab his cold VB
and then he stood before the group
and dusted off his knee

and so it was he started
with poems quite well known
by great Australian poets that
we love and call our own

but he had quite a talent
for speaking Aussie verse
his words were crisp his vowels thick
his humour quite perverse

and do you know those poets there
were taken by surprise?
they'd never guessed such eloquence
from one you might despise

and as he finished off each poem
they commented and cheered
they talked of who the author was
and why he was revered

they had some pride in history
and more in what they knew
until the final poem left them
all in quite a stew

they'd never heard it - not one word
they all of them were stumped
the boozer spoke the final line
and then his chest he thumped

"so all you cleva fellahs
never heard that one before?"
and then he finished off his beer
and headed for the door

he left them there all arguing
each claiming that they knew
and soon it came to fighting
as their agitation grew

the conflict soon became too much
- the bouncers pushed them out
then out there on the footpath
one erupted with a shout:

"i say it's Henry Lawson!
unpublished but his best!"
another poet yelled "not so!"
and punched him in the chest

"it's Paterson i tell you!"
he raised a hairy fist
a smaller poet intervened
and grabbed him by the wrist

and as he screamed "it's Ogilvie!"
and clawed his larger foe
a crowd had gathered in the street
who stood and watched the show

and standing there among them with
a smile from ear to ear
unpublished and unknown at all
a Poet without peer

he'd saved a great tradition
passed down from days of old
The Great Australian Poem now
has finally been told

if you liked this you might also like "silly little Julia"


(what IS the Greatest Australian Poem? - check here Yahoo Answers)

feel free to comment - i'll not take offence

p

i surely do love silver

i surely do love silver
i surely do love gold
they'll be as they are trusted now
and since the days of old

they way they feel good in your hand
they way they gleam and shine
there's nothing quite so lovely
there's nothing that's so fine

and trust, that's something few have felt
in printed paper bills,
is what you can't help feeling when
your secret stash gold fills

when all is falling 'round our ears
and markets crash and burn
it's saftey that you cherish most
it's not a "sound return"

and so i'll love my metals
so precious and so fine
i'll hold them 'til i need them
in the coming long decline

'cause these are the true money
that always hold their worth
and if they are a "relic"
well, then so to is the earth


if you liked this you might also like "Flations"

Things are different here

For Mish Shedlock (here and here and here  and here and others)


when things turn to shit in Australia
the Government always steps in
the easiest thing and always the first
is to let lots more migrants come in

you'll know when this starts to happen
'cause there'll be claims "we don't have the skills"
then quota's go up and criteria down
and the media mob are all shills

and on top of that repeating pattern
will be First Home Grants tax free and huge
and all sellers will then up their prices
'cause they know that the buyer's a stooge

if you look out your window in Sydney
no "house for sale" signs will you see
'cause people hold on to illusions
and forever that's likely to be

so Mish though i note that you're clever
and live in a land full of woe
i do doubt the future you posit
(and now i must work so i'll go)



see also - in order of publication - ie oldest first:

      Waging  a Property Price War - an interesting counter to Mish's arguments which he takes largely from Steve Keen
      Updated Credit Accelerators - as good an entry point into Steve Keen's work as any

      Keen's House Price Hit Won't Happen - another attack on Steve Keen's projection

      The US vs Australian Bubble - excellent analysis by macrobusiness.com.au - very quickly becoming the premier Australian financial blog

      Melbourne housing supply goes ballistic - another  macrobusiness.com.au post

      Buyers exit market amid housing squeeze - from the ABC

      Houses looking Good - Macrobusiness.com.au

      Move Up Buyer Fenzy! - ditto

      New home sales rise from the floor - again

      R P Data report

      Melbourne bubble bursts

      more bear, more bull and more bear

      SMH chips in with a bear headline

      SMH: New home sales buoyed by rate cut

      ABC: Construction on shaky ground as slump persists

      MB: HIA says house sales up, unit sales down

      MB: Approvals bounce in number, fall in value

      ABC: Home building approvals soar

      MB: Melbourne rental vacancies skyrocket

      Business Spectator: Housing Bubble Denier Trouble, House price slump unlikely: Hirst

      These two on the same day from same data:

            MB: House prices resume falls

            SMH: House prices may have hit bottom

      Steve Keen surfaces after a long break: House Prices outlook for 2012

      SMH: Record slump in house prices in 2011

      MB: (all on same day)

            ABS: House prices continue to fall

            Hope springs eternal in NAB housing survey

            New home sales slump again

            Kochie and Louis

      SMH: A property crash? Don't bet on it

      MB:
            Comparing the big three house price indexes

            Building disapprovals

      MB: REIWA’s desperate plea to boomers

      MB: Housing stock on market falls
   
      MB: Two speed Rents

      MB: Welcome back Kohler

      MB: A housing bull slows up

      MB: Auction clearance rates

      MB: Home sales rout

      MB: RP Data

      MB: Australian vs Canadian Property

      Mish Shedlock spoofing again: Bloodbath coming up and again Recession hits Aus

      Business Speculator: Housing boom returns but...

      MB: First home buyers retreat...

      MB: House prices rise in Feb...

This article gives you an idea of how i see it: from the immigrants side


      "Our brand name is Australia" a poem written at the same time and with reference to Aussie home prices

note also that my poem is just a poem - my opinion is not that of an economist but rather is representing a common meme in Australia - right or wrong


p

London Bridge is Falling Down ( tPoP remix)

        the S&P is falling down
                   falling down
                   falling down
        the S&P is falling down
                Let's all panic

the EU's lies have been exposed
                   been exposed
                   been exposed
the EU's lies have been exposed
              Let's burn London

    the war on terror is a sham
                      is a sham
                      is a sham
    the war on terror is a sham
           Let's shoot children

the Fed Reserve is full of shit
                   full of shit
                   full of shit
the Fed Reserve is full of shit
              Let's buy Bullion

  the end of oil is coming soon
                    coming soon
                    coming soon

  the end of oil is coming soon

         that's our nightmare

The Market is a Whore

(for Steen Jakobsen)


It is a brave economist
who jumps down from a fence
and stands his ground no matter what
the grip of the suspense

the world is like a fickle girl
we're neurons in her head
and when they all say "go that way"
she'll quickly change her bed

and if you're holding flowers
or dressed to cut a dash
you'll watch your sweetie walk away
and she'll take all your cash

"she'll come back soon i tell you
it's me she wants for sure"
and there you'll wait forever mate
'cause the market is a whore

if you liked this you might like 'cause our brand name is "Australia"

The Ghost of Osama bin Laden

when you need so much oil
the world you will spoil
in your quest for black gold that's been hiding

under Muslims it seems
lies the goal of men's dreams
so no protests will we be abiding

from the countries we rape
there can be no escape
so we'll kill and our hearts we will harden

and we'll blame someone there
who it is we don't care
just as long as his name is Bin Laden



came the fall of two towers
and amidst all the showers
of debris and death and of sadness

cried a voice in our ears
that fed on our tears
and drove the whole country to madness

"we will run him to ground
and we know he'll be found
wherever we claim we can find him

there's a price on his head
we'll not rest 'til he's dead
and our wrath and our justice will bind him"



but the years went on by
and Bin Laden did fly
from the focus of those who would break him

'til one day he was found
in a foreign compound
and the SEALs were sent in there to take him

so he met with his death
and he drew his last breath
in a fight that he had no more heart in

he was shot in the head
'cause we wanted him dead
for a crime that he never took part in



they took him to sea
to bury you see
in a grave where nobody could gather

'cause they feared he would be
as Mohammad (bless he)
in his death to all Muslims a Hammer

A Hammer of God
in death's sandals was shod
by a foe in who's hearts was no pardon

what they did not foresee
from the depths of the sea
rose the ghost of Osama bin Laden



not long after that
the navy SEALs sat
in a chopper that flew over Kabul

but warfare is grim
and you're chances are slim
if you think that you are Captain Marvel

a grenade-rocket flew
and destroyed all the crew
who's death they had all played a part in

as they died without sound
right there on the ground
was the ghost of Osama bin Laden



in a world full of woe
with the US on show
and it's policies all death and plunder

it's not hard to forsee
what the outcome will be
and i'm shocked by the spell that you're under

you can't claim higher ground
that your morals are sound
like the movies your best have all stared in

if you don't change your tune
you'll be visted soon
by the ghost of Osama bin Laden


seen this comic of bin Laden's death?

if you liked this you might also like Various other Posts to do with Oil

Peak People

I've heard about the oil peak - depletion of reserves
and doomers claiming that we're screwed is getting on my nerves
and prices going ever up no matter what the cost
but the real problem seems to be peak-people

The talk of global warming - all the carbon in the air
the scientists are warning - but tax payers do not care
and all the talk on carbon tax has left me feeling lost
so i guess i'm just another stupid sheeple

i've often wondered if the peak of population looms
and our time is bright but short just like a fleeting flower blooms
and maybe there's no going back the tipping point's been crossed
'cause we're all of us the most we'll be - peak people

if it's lonely at the pinnacle of seven billion souls
far lonelier it is to be the last left digging holes
to bury all our kindred dead their tombs might be embossed
with the simple words "here lies the last of people"


if you liked this you might also like "when the future comes a knockin'"


( for more on "Peak People" see

    here: http://www.slf.org.au/calendar/event/6179
    here: http://www.energybulletin.net/node/48677
    here: http://www.321energy.com/editorials/moriarty/moriarty020711.html

and of course:

    Tragedy of the Commons

)

a beast woke me

i woke the other night
it was a beast that woke me
a violent sound
scream and pound
on wall or door

a monster kills my neighbour
so urged my amygdala that i grabbed a bat and went

into the night

a giant policeman saw me
so sorry he said

we have him in the van

a man

today the news is grim again
economies collapse
more deaths more fighting

the future is frightening

we nice and civil sorts

we're dead

soon

happy birthday mum

to you mum happy birthday
and i wish you many more
i hope you have a lovely day
and presents by the score

you've always been there for my need
you've never let me down
and even when things aren't so good
you never wear a frown

they say the ancient sages
taught praise for God above
but you're the only one i've known
to teach me peace and love

to me you are a sage of peace
who harms no living thing
who cherishes all forms of life
that walk or crawl or sing

if more of us were just like you
the world would not be bad
there'd be more understanding
so mum i hope you're glad

for all that you've achieved in life
can not be bought or sold
your children and their children too
and their's are our true gold

and all of us look up to you
and all that you have done
so i can say with all my heart
i'm proud to be your son

Taliban executions

not for the faint hearted: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=dd3_1310954791

there's no question that might be asked that leads to understanding

this is humans believing in a "justice" so absolute that all other law seems by comparison meaningless

i wonder just to what extent we are implicated in this

a butterfly flaps its wings in Washington......




(even more chilling is this: Collateral Murder)

Flations

So what are all these "flations"
that people talk about?
it's plain that there's at least two sides
two sides that scream and shout

"deflation" screams Mish Shedlock
Puplava he says "no!
Inflation is the way of things
i'm rich so i should know"

We're common folk who walk the streets
and spend our hard earned cash
on things we need to live each day
so we should not be rash

Or take a risk on borrowing
when all could turn to shit
oh no we must be careful now
we're hording every bit

So when we hear "inflation" yelled
across the MSM
we're worried that our savings will
be worthless in the end

and when we hear "deflation"
we scratch our heads and think
the falling value of our house
is headed for the sink

don't tell me it's velocity
or credit we can spend
or talk of printing money
that is worthless in the end

the truth is that reality
has crept up from behind
while we were drunk on boundless oil
that anyone could find

as asset prices crash and burn
and milk and bread costs rise
the net effect is just the same
for us it's no surprise

if anything cost all our cash
it's value will decline
and anything we need to live
will climb and climb and climb

so take your stupid "flations"
and shove them where it's dark
the simple truth is that we're fucked
it's simple, true and stark



deflation as we have it now is where the value of everything most people possess goes down - which means the cost of everything you NEED can go up


a good read on why gold prices go up during deflation can be found on Paul Krugman's Blog


if you liked this you might also like "Fred and Bill"

Fred and Bill

first published: 07/13/2011 zerohedge.com

Fred said “Bill i think we’re fucked”
to which Bill asked “why so?”
“well”, Fred began (not in a rush)
“i can’t say that i know

but what i see when i look around
is freakin’ me fuckin’ out”
Bill, thought a bit and then replied
“so what’s this all about?”

“oh Bill this damned economy
just doesn’t make much sense
we all work and we pay our way
for little recompense

and every year it just gets worse
the news is always grim
there’s less and less employment
and the profits are so slim

and housing, what a fuckin’ mess
those thieving bankers wrought
has left most underwater
on any house they bought

and all those folks in Europe now
their leaders sold them out
the average workin’ family
there knows not what it’s about

and China, bloody China, look
it’s like a monster fire
a burnin’ all and everything
in a global funeral pyre

and all that carbon in the air
they say we’re gonna cook
and all the oil is runnin’ out
there’s nowhere left to look

and people, Bill the people -
there’s billions of us now
and millions more are born each day
who’ll feed them all and how?

i tell you Bill I’m in despair
i’m almost without hope
the future’s looking so so bad
i don’t know how i’ll cope”

Bill pondered for a while Fred’s words
with heavy heart and mind
he had to cheer his partner up
with gentle words and kind

“Fred, listen man it’s not so grim
there’s so much out there yet
the planets, well we’ll mine them too
and think of what we’ll get

remember Chris Columbus?
he found a brave new land
with oil and gold and silver to
so see and understand

the universe is infinite
it’s ours there just to take
there’s nothing that can stop us
there’s nothing we can’t make

some times are tough and some are good
we do the best we can
we bear the worst, enjoy the best
so lighten up ol’ man”

and Fred, he did, he swallowed it
and heaved a mighty sigh
a smile broke out upon his lips
he waved and said goodbye.

And as his best friend walked away
Bill, cried a bit inside
because you see our Bill he thought
to Fred he’d downright lied

“there’s no bright future for our race
we’re fucked and Fred was right
we’re so so fuckin’ stupid
that in the end we’ll fight

we’ll fight and kill in millions
we’ll drag our neighbors down
we’ll kill and steal and lie and cheat
and in our shit we’ll drown

the rich will party on and on
the poor will starve and die
the middle class will whither
and our mothers they will cry

we’re terminal our species
like beasts we are but worse
and all the beauty we create
adorns our funeral hearse.”

And as ol’ Bill did walk away
into the setting sun
the sound of drunken revelry
had only just begun


if you liked this you might also like "Peak People"

When the Bankers go to Jail

first published: 07/12/2011 at zerohedge.com (in the comments section which, by 2019, had been scrubbed - i guess even zero hedge has to deal with the reality of data size)

2019

2013 just after i wrote it then promptly forgot it



song version (varies)

Dm                                                 C
the Bible tells us not to steal - it’s there in black and white

                                                       Dm     C                Dm
our laws are based upon it too: do not do wrong - do right

      Dm                                                                 C

yet somehow since these laws were writ we've seen the system fail

                                                                            Dm       C       Dm
but things will change for all the best when the bankers go to jail

                G                                                            Dm
when the bankers go to jail my friends, when the bankers go to jail
          G                                                   Dm
we’ll all be dancing in the streets, we'll laugh and sing as well
          G                                          Dm
we’ll finally see justice done, god damn them all to hell
          Bb                                                           Dm       C       Dm
we’ll hear the bells of freedom ring when the bankers go to jail


if things were as they ought to be when any business fails
investors take a haircut amid their tears and wails

but in the twisted system our politicians hail
the working folk pay all the bills and loose their jobs as well

chorus

well it seems the banks keep growing - the banker's pay as well
no matter what they steal from us they never seem to fail

but one day soon we'll take a stand - we workers will prevail
we'll tar and feather all of them and send them all to jail

chorus

---

the original poem

the Bible tells us not to steal
it’s there in black and white
our laws are based upon it too
do not do wrong - do right

but somehow since these laws were writ
we've seen the system fail
but things will change for all the best
when the bankers go to jail

when the bankers go to jail my friends
when the bankers go to jail
we’ll finally see justice done
when the bankers go to jail

when the vampire squid has been deep-fried
in the slime of Bernank’s words
when politicians tell the truth
and not be lying turds

when "austerity" applies to them
and fairness does prevail
we’ll finally see justice done
and the bankers go to jail

when the bankers go to jail ee-hah
when the bankers go to jail
we’ll all be dancing in the streets
when the bankers go to jail

if all was as it ought to be
when any business fails
investors take a haircut
amid their tears and wails

but in our mean kleptocracy
that the MSM does hail
the working class pay all the bills
and no banker goes to jail

when the bankers go to jail dear God
when the bankers go to jail
the haircuts will be number ones
when the bankers go to jail

we’re predators i must admit
it’s human nature too
to seek a better living for
our wives and children too

but animals we’re not you see
it not just fine detail
we keep the law, control ourselves
and the bankers go to jail

yes you bankers go to jail you thieves
all you bankers go to jail
you’ll be some brother’s jail-house bitch
when you bankers go to jail

you may think it’s a silly dream
to think of their demise
they’re oh so very powerful
and every banker lies

but one day soon we’ll overthrow
and have them by the tail
we’ll tar and feather all of them
and send them all to jail

when the bankers go to jail for good
when the bankers go to jail
we’ll hear the bells of freedom ring
when the bankers go to jail


(maw! Dan'l done shot his self a banker wid his gun maw. Maw! I done gotta shoot a banker too maw.

You watch yawself Brad. Dem bankers is nasty nasty things and th' best thung yawl can do is haul off and shoot dem from a goodly distance wid yo shotgun - ya hear me boy?)


if you liked this you might like "for our sons and daughters too".

p

might have had the stars

first published: Jun 26 2011 

energybulletin.net

there is no fat left in the land
we’ve sucked poor Gaia dry
we’ve partied while we raped and burned
what’s left? Who knows? Not i

we’re predators who've preyed ‘til now
on everything we saw
but all that’s left to prey upon
is us. So now it’s war.

The strong will prey upon the weak
the young upon the old
to keep the middle class alive
our children will be sold

descent to bloody anarchy
will shred our civil skin
the truth of what we really are
is just now sinking in

we’re all so nice and proper
when Gaia foots the bill
but now the piper must be paid
the calls are loud and shrill:

“we have to kill the bankers
the politicians too
the CEOs and billionaires
kill them and all their crew

and all with aspirations
to grow and grow and grow
we’d better knock that on the head
and put their heads on show”

and when we're scrabbling in the dirt
for anything to eat
and almost everyone is dead
including the elite

we’ll be what we were in the days
before our “reason” dawned
before we dreamed that we were gods
before our greed was spawned

we’ll fade and die a species
that might have had the stars
but lacked some fundamental thing
we used up in our cars

just hold this child

originally published: Running On Empty

we sit and huddle we hide and wait
it's cold outside and getting late
we whisper just to know we're here
our sleep is troubled and full of fear

we hold our breath at every sound
we're too too scared to look around
we curse our curses of children dying
and steel our hearts to their mother's crying

and every day that ends like this
we bless in whispers to our children kissed
tomorrow maybe then they'll die
tonight they're here don't let them cry

and sleep just sleep don't think of of food
don't think of pigeon or sparrow stewed
just wait for light, just hold this child
just hold this child, just hold this child

Blair and Bush and Big John Howard

Dug up from 2006


DO NOT PROCEED IF YOU ARE YOUNG OR OF TENDER EARS

I USE VERY RUDE WORDS




































Blair and Bush and Big John Howard
Sophist, crook and little coward
Sick in mind and word and deed
slaves of fear and fame and greed

Kings they are in their own sight
but kings who never lead a fight
all they know is how to lie
and how to let poor people die

many thousands have they killed
and many coffers have they filled
these men of rank these men of means
these men who've killed so many dreams

they led us to Iraq and war
with lies they led us, lies and more
they sanctioned children to their death
they curry hate with every breath

and soon, who knows, Iran maybe
through secret friends the Israeli
or open warfare waged with nukes
and covered up by lying spooks

and all to keep the dollar strong
and oil flowing right or wrong
the fiat dollar doomed to hell
and oil doomed to peak as well

and housing bubbles due to burst
but that's not all and not the worst
the population's doomed to fall
and climate change will kill us all

and in the midst of all this shit
our lying leaders do their bit
at home they laugh and joke and play
their victims, many, die each day

but do they care? no not one bit
these scumbag leaders full of shit
these men who kill and just with words
these men are cunts these men are turds

Blair and Bush and Big John Howard
Sophist, crook and little coward
killers, thieves, and fucking liars
it's time they wore Soweto tyres



of course, these lowest forms of life still defend their actions

AUTHORNAME. Howard defends decision to invade Iraq. ABC. 2013-04-09. URL:http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-09/howard-defends-decision-to-invade-iraq/4619500. Accessed: 2013-04-09. (Archived by WebCite^® at http://www.webcitation.org/6FklOoMdd)


if you liked this you might also like "The Ghost of Osama bin Laden"

Greenspan speech

Nov 2005

I read a speech by Greenspan
old Allan at his best
he's told us not to worry
about the Peak Oil test

There's lot's and lot's of energy
in forms we hardly guess
there's gas and shale and methane
i'm lost i must confess

he's said that market forces
will rally to the call
the price of energy will rise
but our use of it will fall

i scratch my head when reading him
he's quite a clever man
with arbitrage and other words
i'll never understand

but what i know and know for sure
and what anybody knows
is oil seems pretty special
enough to make us foes

we're right behind old Bush and clan
who seem to think it's big
so big they think it worth some lives
a few more graves to dig

i guess they're only Arabs
and other Muslim folk
i guess they don't amount to much
and their faith is just a joke

for we i think have Jesus
who guides us from above
and tells us who to kill or not
and who to give the shove

so how come Allan Greenspan
you don't address George Bush?
how come you don't jump up and down
and shake your Jewish tush?

Tell George there's heaps of energy
so much we need not kill
we need not steal or lie and cheat
to get and have our fill?

I heard that Jews are shining lights
a chosen race by God
so Allan how come you don't fight
this Rabid Christian dog?

It's time to reign these monsters in
to save your brother's blood
to stop the way they rob and steal
all in the name of God

Go Allan man i beg you
go take their ball away
convince us all there's so so much
we all can sing and play

there's no big problem looming
there's energy galore
there's oil and gas for years and years
and after that there's more

and i'll sit here and scratch my head
because it's all so big
and read your words with relish
and never give a fig

for if you say it's all just fine
a happy man i'll be
i'll go about my daily life
and know that i am free

i'm free to live on others lives
because old George believes
that killing is OK for oil
and no we are not thieves

And if confused i seem to you
well gee go read your speech
it seems that there's no reason
and it's all lies they preach

It's you or Bush that lies i think
and he's a Christian man
so he can't be who's lying
or do you think he can?

And if he's lying Allan
because your words are true
then why oh why don't you stand up
and do what you should do?

Tell Bush and Co and all the world
there's heaps of energy
and there's no need to kill or steal
and make them all to see

that you are full of confidence
about the coming peak
it's just a market re-adjust
and prices will be weak

and maybe then old George and co
will stop their killing spree
and everyone can just relax
and let the Muslims be

and maybe then in years to come
when everybody's cool
we might address the Israel thing
or am i just a fool?

Peak Oil for the Beginner

This was originally published in TU MAI on October 04

I’m a regular Kiwi bloke. Old generation though so I’m a bit set in my ways and find a lot of the new high-tech world a bit daunting at times. I do have a computer though. It seems without email and Google you’re nobody. Even my old mum spends her time ‘on line’ trading for old movies or swapping whakapapa research with people all over the world. Anyway, I got to using my computer and the internet to read about all sorts of amazing things, I had been so proud of my Encyclopaedia Britannica too. Poor thing sits lonely and unused now. Looks great though on my bookshelf.

About five years ago I started reading about oil. I don’t know how I got there, I think I must have been reading some political blurb or some such and something I read got me thinking and asking questions. So I started to search. I started to read. I read for about three months and then I started to buy books. I kept reading. It’s been 5 years now and I am still reading and my bookmarks are like the index volume of my encyclopaedia and my bookshelves are full of books about oil and the politics of oil. I am still reading, still learning. And I am frightened. I am not frightened for me — I am an old fart and shuffling off this mortal coil would be a blessing on the world I am sure. I am frightened for my children and I am frightened for their children and I am frightened for my rellys and friends.

In all my reading I have had to get my head around things I never knew before — I have had to learn about economics, history, sociology and above all the politics of power. I have to admit to a bit of education — I have a degree in science (straight A’s too) and I have most of a degree in surveying which helped get me work in the coal industry for a few years — mostly spent playing cards at the ‘crib’ — some off-cut hole in the ground where we miners had our lunch and smoko, (though of course you can’t smoke in a coal mine). I know a bit about the energy business from the ground down so to speak.

I am frightened because I have a good grasp of what is coming. I can’t tell you the future, I don’t have crystal ball skills (hmm, must Google that), but I can imagine what might eventuate. And what might eventuate, what seems most likely to eventuate, is catastrophe. Utter, total catastrophe. Our world, our wonderful world, of low cost airfares, fantastic quality goods, superb cars, marvellous communications and boundless supermarket shelves is all built on oil or its partner in all ways — gas. All of our food, every single morsel you eat is dependent, heavily dependent, on oil and gas. The world is as we know it only because of oil and gas.

In 1956 a man named Marion King Hubbert (not to be confused with our own Dick Hubbard or Scientology’s L. Ron Hubbard) predicted that the USA would ‘peak’ in oil production about 1970 — that was 14 years before the event. He was right, but for more than 14 years he was ridiculed and demonised by other oil people, economists, journalists and politicians. So what’s this ‘peak’? It is a tad technical but it is basically like this — when you have used half of something (like oil) from that point onwards you can only get less. You might have read in the Listener last year (March) an article by an Otago University professor of Geology Richard Sibson titled ‘Falling Off Hubbert’s Peak’. You might browse your local bookstore and spot The End of Oil by Paul Roberts. You might hearken to those who claim that the war in Iraq is all about oil. You might have been following the financial news of late and noticed the link between share market indexes and the price of oil.

Really, to not see how important oil has become to our way of life you just have to be blind. Think about it. Everything in your house, even the entire house, has got to be where it is because it was hauled there with oil. Many many of the things in the house are made of oil — all your plastics, much of your clothing, your paint, all your high-tech gear — is either made of oil or was built with something made of oil or was enabled by the power of oil. All of your food, all of it, even if you are a vegan, even if you only buy GE-free, organics it is only available to you because of oil. Even you gardeners who grow your own can only do so because of oil. All of your fertilisers and herbicides, all of our farming, all of our agricultural commodities, everything, is only as it is because of oil and gas.

And it is going to run out. Not tomorrow and not instantaneously but it will run out. As it starts to run out oil will become more and more expensive. Nations will fight over it. There will be war and famine. The huge populations of the North will seek escape from the increasingly impossible situation there and those who have the money will flee seeking any place that they and their kids might survive. They will flee here. It’s already started. Go ask your local solar energy retailer who they are getting most of their business from and you will find it is rich Americans setting up fortresses on Kiwi farming blocks that they have bought for a song. More and more, as we stay in the dark, those who fear what is coming will seek out this place hoping that salvation from the worst might be found here. What are you going to do about it? What are we going to do about it? We do not have much time — maybe 5 years. In that time you have to establish yourself so well that when the crunch comes you can hope for survival — for you and your kids.

The Lord’s Prayer

2004

On request by Robert Atack


Our Oilmen, who art in Washington
Hallowed be thy Names.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done,
In Iraq as it is in Washington.

Give us this day our daily gas.
And forgive us our lying ways,
As we ignore those who protest against us.
And lead us not into depletion,
But deliver us from shortage.
For ours is the kingdom,
and the power,
and the glory,
for ever and ever.

Amen

Napalm 21 (Psalm 21)

2004

On request by Robert Atack


George Bush is my oil man – I shall not want
He makes me down to lie
In Oil lands rich; He leadeth me
And those that speak out shall die.

My tank he doth restore again;
And me to drive doth make
and for the God of commercial gain
The world’s last oil he’ll take

Yea, though I drive for miles and miles
Yet I will fear no ill
For George will find the gas I need
My SUV he’ll fill

My gas tank he hast furnished
despite our Arab foes
My life he dost with oil anoint
And my tank overflows

Goodness and mercy all my life
Shall surely follow me;
And in the white house forevermore
His dwelling place shall be.

All My Life I’ve Waited

2004

On request by Robert Atack


Well all my life I’ve waited and waited patiently
for an honest politician or two or three maybe
someone to spur my faith in men and women who might lead
some bright and honest leader not consumed by power and greed

I’ve waited nearly 50 years and watched you all go by
from left and right and center I’ve seen you have a try
I’ve heard you all, your ways and means, I’ve even followed polls
I’ve sometimes even had a vote and joined electoral rolls

but mostly I’ve grown sick and tired of waiting for my vote
there’s never seemed to be a point and so this poem I wrote
it’s written to you leaders, you lot who seek to lead
who take our hard earned money and let the country bleed

you think you have a mandate to choose the way we go
you even think you have the right to judge what we should know
you all assume you’re smarter and know the ins and outs
the ropes of legislation - cause we’re all dumb-ass louts

and so with little more at all than just ideals and whim
we’re very soon committed - and all must sink or swim
you’re led around by snout and ear by lobbyists with cash
and wined and dined like royalty and dressed to cut a dash

you stand in pomp and circumstance delivering address
while all your social policy becomes a stinking mess
I’ve met so many leaders and members prom-in-ent
and listened to them speak their case, considered their intent

but not a one, not ever, has piqued my confidence
nor even ever made me think that they are ought but dense
how many of you have a clue as much as even me?
I know that I am better schooled than you will ever be

and yet you think to lead us, to be our heart and soul
but none of you have any clue what should be now our goal
the peak in productivity of oil and gas has come
and very soon a world of shit is what it will become

I used to think the Greens maybe would lead us through the mess
but no, Jeanette Fitzsimmons even seems to not care less
for other things important are playing on her mind
and winning seats in parliament is all her work you’ll find

and that’s the crux, the problem of our democracy
it’s geared to periods too short or so it seems to me
before you’ve had a chance to forge some hope that we might win
again the time as come to vote and change the shit we’re in

but that is all you ever do you leaders at the top
and I forever wonder when this mess will ever stop
I watch my kids and grandkids grow and all the time I think
that maybe they will perish soon in all your mess and stink

I beg you now to stand up tall and start to make a change
to fight for true democracy that seems to you so strange
democracy is not at all a case of win and rule
democracy means citizens - a massive voting pool

where every single law you make is argued by us all
not argued just between you dolts then forced upon us all
come greens and Limbaugh lovers come independents too
come lefties too I beg you there’s much for you to do

start looking out beyond just now and educate us all
and seek to make this country one where we can all stand tall
try looking now at Sweden where they all know what comes
and guide us with a loving heart and please stop being bums

the future will be horrible we educated know
and now we want our leaders too to know the way to go
try speaking out more bravely, try speaking out at all
try giving up your party goals and save us from the fall

for Olduvai is coming (go google that and read)
the peak of oil will cause a crash so bad that we will need
a nation geared to live it through a people bold and brave
and so my good and noble readers here I end my rave

Tribute to Robert Atack - Oilcrash.com

2004

First Published: Oilcrash.com

Our hero sought to save us all
but we refused to hear
he worked and slaved to teach us
with rising dread and fear

“you must perceive” he cried and cried
but all we did was jeer:
“there’s plenty left” was our reply
our leaders gave a sneer:

“extremist people just like you
don’t understand the game
it’s market forces we obey
and shifting votes and blame”

“just understand the price will rise
and magic will ensue
the market it will save us
not idiots like you”

and so our hero hung his head
and wrung his hands with pain
his heart was torn with fear and dread
at all our children’s pain

for he looked ever onward
towards the coming fall
with grim anticipation
with what could kill us all

and though he thought to give it up
his calling and his quest
he summoned up his mighty will
and dug deep for his best

and so the years unfolded
and soon the Peak had come
but we all smiled and laughed aloud
’cause we knew what he’d done

he’d saved us from our ignorance
he’d fought our lazy ways
he’d banged our heads with words of truth
cause he’s the one who stays

we thank you dearly Robert
we understand it now
we know that we are worthless yobs
but you love us anyhow

Fill Up Your Attic With Brand New Shoes

2004

first published: Oilcrash.com

Fill up your attic with brand new shoes
a pair a week until the oil-crash news
pick sizes and styles that will sell and last
because when there’s no cars shoes wear out fast

Don’t tell a soul (I intend no pun)
you can’t defend against a grim mans gun
pack some for you - you’ll need some too
and maybe some tacks and maybe some glue

and all the things that strugglers need
some axes and shovels and long-life seeds
and fishing tackle and guns and bows
and books on things that nobody knows

and needles and thread and lots of wool
and keep it up ’til your attic is full
tell no-one at all not even your kin
just store it and wait for the fun to begin

and maybe those shoes will be worth more than gold
and worth more than diamonds whenever they’re sold
and with care and with skill your attic will be
a bank for your future, just try it and see


if you liked this you might also like I can still remember the time before the crash

I Can Still Remember the Time Before the Crash

2004

originally published: oilcrash.com

I can still remember the time before the crash
when we all drove around in cars and I had lots of cash
and anything I wanted, I’d just go out and buy
I’d even drive a mile or two - just to buy a pie

but then the oil wars started and everything collapsed
the supermarket shelves were stripped before a month elapsed
and people all turned really grim and gained a hungry look
we’d steal from anyone at all we’d kill for things to cook

and everywhere disease and grief and bodies left to rot
while gangs of grim and brutal men would kill and steal and plot
and people fled the cities and countless numbers died
and everything was so so bad not even mothers cried

our house was one of many then, a normal family home
but it was stripped and burnt for fuel when we had left to roam
and I remember mum and dad, my little sister too
but they were killed and eaten back sometime in ‘22

and now I know I’m dying, I’ve left no living heirs
nobody is alive to know there’s not a soul who cares
there’s only me so damned hungry I’m gnawing at the trees
there’s no-one left to kill and eat oh God please help me please

and as I stagger on and on through burnt and plundered homes
I see the the signs of rage and ruin and countless human bones
I hear the starving pack of dogs that follow close behind
and I am now so close to death I hardly even mind

I fall and screaming dogs begin to rip and shred my life
my mind drifts back to days of oil and to my kids and wife
oh life was so so simple then and life was so so good
but all we had we wasted, we never understood


if you liked this you might also like for our sons and daughters too

pack my things and go

Song - 2002


city life has really got me down
i walk the streets with a long long frown
it's all the same when i look around
aint no happiness to be found
i guess i'll pick myself up and go
back to the mountains all covered in snow
(back to the snow covered mountains that i used to know)

i met a city girl, she was nice to me
sophisticated and so pretty
she introduced me to the big city
but things are not the way they used to be
i guess i'll pick myself up and go
back to the (quiet) mountains all covered in snow
(back to the snow covered mountains that i used to know)

i find the city pace a bit too much
seems to me that i don't have the touch
don't seem to handle all the rage and rush
i  really can not understand the fuss
i guess i'll pick myself up and go
back to the (beautiful) mountains all covered in snow
(back to the snow covered mountains that i used to know)

I know it's me and not the city folk
but really sometimes i feel like a joke
just want to play guitar and drink and smoke
i think it's maybe i'm a country bloke
i miss the mountains and i miss the snow
so i'll just pack my things and get up and go

hiding in the dark

song 2002

i'm your secret you keep me hidden in the dark
hidden lover but of your life i have no part

we have a secret code we use when you want me to be there
"roses pizza" baby means i'm standing on your stair

i'm nobody baby anybody knows about
so when the doorbell rings you have tell me to get out

i don't know just how long i can handle being someone
nobody knows about or realises that i'm so in  love with you
i'll do what you want me to
even if it means i'm hiding in the dark


we can't walk together hand in hand along the city street
we don't know who might see us or who we just might meet

we can't sit together in a fitzroy restaurant
we can't kiss and hug in public even if it's what we want

i'm your lover baby and i'm so in love with you
i'm your hidden lover baby please tell me you are true

when i lie alone at night thinking only that i want to be with you
please baby tell me what to do
to stop me crying while i lie here in the dark

Bazil

This is the story of Bazil. As stories go it is not a great story like the stories you read about in the paper. Nor is it a famous story like the story of the life of Laurence of Arabia. It may make you smile in places and it might make you laugh. But in the end you might think that it was more than just a story about Bazil - and you would be right.

Bazil came into our lives when we lived in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. In those days we were young and we had a young son named Aaron though we all called him Chester after Chester Burnett - a famous blues singer who's picture had hung above the crib and then the bed that Chester slept in for some years.

Margaret and I were invited to pick from the litter of a fox terrier that belonged to one of our friends. The litter was a funny mixture as can sometimes occur with dogs for there had seemingly been more than one sire. One of these was known to have been Shadow - a giant of a dog and pure-bred German Shepherd.

I can see your mind wondering how such a union might have been accomplished - and we certainly thought up a few hilarious solutions ourselves - most of which placed Sloan (the bitch) on various pieces of furniture during the act.

Anyway, I was very lucky to be first to choose for Bazil was the obvious choice - he was absolutely darling. He looked exactly like a small furry fox. When I sat at the door of the garden shed where they were whelped, he immediately came to me and i picked him up and smiled. This was the one. There was no question.

Bazil was returned to the litter so that he could be weaned at six weeks. Not long after we picked him up (with many a sigh of loss by the owner who was now aware of the uniqueness of this pup). Bazil became one of the family and Chester was elated for every boy wants and needs a dog to love.

There are so many stories i could tell you about Bazil. We were living out of a bus and travelling a lot when he was a young dog - he went everywhere with us.

In Sydney, during peak rush hour shopping we could leave him at the door of a department store and tell him to stay - and we could come back hours later and he'd still be there - he would wait and if anyone tried to pick him up he would evade them. He was a cool dog.

Once we stopped at a beach and parked for a bit before moving on. Nobody noticed he was not with us when we took off and it was late and i drove for hours before realizing he was gone.

We did not see him for a long time - many weeks until eventually someone found us through the university i had gone too.

I took a train way out of Sydney to somewhere out of Hornsby. I had to walk for miles afterwards. When i got to the house where he was and walked through the door he jumped clean off the ground higher than my head and danced around my shoulders like a crazy bird yelping as if to say "i missed you so much, i'm soo happy to see you".

The people were sad too because they were hoping that he would be happier with them because well gee, he was just a special special being.

I took him back on the train in my duffle bag because it was not allowed to have a dog on the train.

Another time we were in the mountains - we took a run along a track that ran parallel to those awesome cliffs you might have seen if you've ever been to Katoomba - hundreds of feet of sheer faces. Really amazing day. We came to a place where we had to get across a gap maybe a hundred feet deep and a few feet wide - and on the other side the ground was at least 6 feet higher than that we were standing on.

There was a small but sturdy tree there that i leapt across and grabbed. Then, holding on to the tree with one hand i swung back and whipped Margaret and Chester up beside me. Leaving Basil whimpering with worry behind on the rock.

I leaned down and crooked my arm and said "Bazil you just have to jump and let me catch you and i showed him my arm and yelled "come on Bazil".

He inched up to the edge of the cliff, looked down, took a sudden few steps back and looked up at me with a look on his face that was unmistakably the dog equivalent of "are you completely crazy? Do you honestly expect me to jump over THAT?

In a very level voice i explained to him: "Bazil, there's no other way for you to get over here - you just have to jump and trust me."

He looked at me and his face fell - it was if he was saying "bummer". He inched up to the cliff edge again and looked down. He looked up at me again with a huge "please don't make me do it".

I said "Bazil. You can do it mate. You are the best dog anyone ever had. You can do anything. Now JUMP!"

Margaret and Chester called too. "You can do it Bazil - come on boy."

And he jumped. Right into the air in reach of my arm - right over that hundred foot drop.

I dropped him down beside us and he just went berserk with excitement as if to say "see, see what i done! Aren't i just the most amazingly brave dog in the world yippy!" And we were all over him with admiration too.

What a dog. What a being. He was so much like a person. So very much it was awesome.


if you liked this story you might also like "Creature" 

the cat and the sailor

Once upon a time a sailor came home from many long years at sea. he had a knarled beard and wore the scars of many close encounters. when he took up again in his old home, strange yet quietly comfortable, nestled in a sheltered cove by the sea, he discovered that a cat lived there with it's three kittens and there was an old tom too to be seen on days when he was not cataworling with the neighbouring toms, sleeping in the sun on the roof of the laundry.

The sailor was familiar with cats for there had always been one or two aboard ship. There had been a cat on his last ship who would not be tamed though he had spent many contemplative moments stroking her in the sun at the tiller.

But this cat was different for the sailor felt immediate affinity for her though she was shy to the touch and would always bound away at the moment he tried to stroke her. Nor would she let herself be caught in a room alone with him.

So they lived on for some years, the Sailor working at sails and tackle and the cat moving in and out of his life. And they learned to talk to each other. Sometimes across the old rock wall at the back of the house, sometimes in the little flower garden in the courtyard. He would talk as he'd always talked, from the heart as innocent as he was when he was a child. And she would talk to him.

Once when the sailor was deep in thought he saw the cat before him and she was waving her paw in the air. It caught his attention and for a moment he was sure the cat was actually waving to him. He saw as he cleared his thoughts that a small  butterfly was dancing tentatively before her and she was playfully pawing at it. He had not seen the butterfly at first.

Still from that day to this he called her his little wave.

A wild wind was blowing from the south one day when the sailor realised he had not seen the cat for some time. It was cold and though he left the door invitingly open to a room with a hot fire and the smell of cooking food, the cat did not venture to the door. He and the cat had in two years not shared a room but this was the wildest night he had ever known in this part of the world.

He refrained from calling to her for he felt a bit silly sometimes to think that he had become so attached to the cat. It was after all just a cat and had obviously lived here quite succesfully without him. Why need he worry?

But he did. It grew on his mind for hours and into a day and the weather grew more rough. He started looking about the house but though it be rock strong, there were not many places even for a cat to hide. He searched the roof and the old fireplace in the laundry. He looked in the small boat shed and under his upturned boat.

He looked everywhere. And then he called. At first it was quiet and self conscious "kitty" "kitty" but the was no answering wew. He became desperate for the weather was now so rough that he feared for her life.

He went back to his warm fireplace to recover from the cold numbness that he felt, and as he warmed his hands standing before the fire, contemplating where else he could look, he saw her calm and safe, snuggled in one of his old sea jackets and his heart leapt.

She was home.