bard on the run

Cross Country as Preparation

2012-01-30T00:08:00.001-08:00

The idea behind this bit of exercise was to continue with the preparation for the forthcoming mountain and trail-running season and at the same time assess my current level of fitness.

In the first photo, taken prior to my event, I am holding my thumbs which is the Austrian version of crossing one's fingers. The temperature is -3C and there is an easterly breeze.

Most of the photos below are from the race immediately prior to mine; but the courses of all the races, I think there were four runs over various distances, cover basically the same ground.

In my race we had to run 9 laps to complete the race distance of 9.35 kms.

holding my thumbs

the leaders

firm track underfoot . . .

some sharp bends

the long straight

race control hut and spectators

checking the results

receiving my prizes!

Result

1. G Kerschbaumer (Austria Int. Orienteering Team) 32m 54s

32. G Willams (Clayton Harriers) 2M60 47m 52s

As a veteran runner, all too rapidly approaching 65, I was pleased with my time in such elite company.

Over the fields and into the woods

2012-01-25T05:29:00.000-08:00

You are not alone in the woods

The first major event of Vienna's 2012 running season, the Wien Energie Halbmarathon, is now being prominently advertised. I took the photo of a race advertisement posted near the start of today's training run. I will definitely not be running in the half marathon sponsored by the local electric company race because the route is bound to be 100% tarmac and I'm a 100% off-road trail runner. I figure my running legs will last much longer if I treat them with some respect. As my good friend JS often says: Tarmac is for tyres. And, of course, he's 100% right. Nevertheless the poster shows that spring will soon be on the way and it makes me feel good.

Now join me on a typical training run. I'll be going quite fast. Yesterday was a regeneration day. The day before yesterday was 45 mins of hill reps.

Spring is on the way!

Map showing Hameau area

A bright day and good trails

Frost in the shadows

Approaching the hills

The first climb

Snow on the tops

The next valley - Weidlingbach

Climbing again

Clouds looming - time to head back

The maps, such as the one in the third photo down, can be found all over Vienna. If you stick to the red routes you will meet other runners. They are probably useful routes for timing oneself and checking progress for those so inclined.

My favoured method is to base training runs around recommended routes, touching them now and again, but quickly veering off into the wilderness. I like to share the spirit of the nature with the animals.

One of the pleasurable highlights of today's run was the sight of a robin enjoying himself in the sunshine, playing in a pool of melting ice aside my path.

Short Run on Long Path

2012-01-22T05:59:00.000-08:00

The Via Slavorum passes through the Vienna Woods. The starting point is in Krakau, Poland and the final destination is in Rome, Italy. All roads lead to Rome as they say. The path also passes through the Czech Republic, Austria and Slovenia. I often run short sections of the path. Yesterday it was icy underfoot. The bottom photograph shows a typical section of the trail in Cobenzl about 2 miles before the Hermannskogel checkpoint (red box).

Via Slavorum sign

Checkpoint. Box contains inkpad and stamp.

Playing in the snow

2012-01-17T05:46:00.001-08:00

Today's run in the fresh snow was always going to be tough so I was pleased to get round one of my 15 km circuits in something like 2 hrs 30 mins; about an hour longer than normal. I carried a small rucksack and wore a pair of skiing socks under my running pants.

The Salomon winter trail shoes which I wore have the advantage of being waterproof but they always feel much heavier and clumpier than my usual NB or Saucony. I was happy to finish with dry feet.

a thrush

an open-air classroom

a Vienna Woods boundary sign

a path up the Hameau Hill

a summit shelter

a local park

The Soleweg Trail

2012-01-09T03:12:00.000-08:00

Höllengebirge mountains viewed from the Soleweg

The Soleweg Trail is a 42 kms (26 miles) path which begins in the valley of the River Traun at Ebensee in Austria's Salzkammergut or Lake District.

The path follows the route of an ancient pipeline which was originally constructed from hollowed-out tree trunks and was used to wash salt down from the salt mines in the mountains at Hallstatt to the boats waiting at Ebensee to transport it further.

The white gold, as it was called, was obviously a precious commodity in the days before refrigeration. The photographs show the first half of the Soleweg - Ebensee to Bad Ischl - and some of the signposts I saw along the way.

There are some diversions in place and these should be heeded. Sections of the path may be closed after inclement weather due to falling trees or rocks. The area is subject to avalanches.

Bright and early but in the wrong place!

2012-01-08T03:33:00.000-08:00

A park in Vienna

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. This morning I went to the venue of the 5km cross country run but there was nobody there and there was no course marked out. Perhaps the event has been cancelled, I thought. Eventually I spotted a man with a dog. Had he seen any runners? Had he seen any race organizers? No and no. But then after a bit of head scratching on both our parts we finally twigged that I must be in the wrong location. There was another park with a similar name. But it was miles away. I thanked him and decided to make my way there. I could watch the race and pick up some information about forthcoming races.

When I arrived the runners were just setting off. I quickly shed my waterproof jacket, changed my shoes and galloped after them, having explained to the organizer standing with stop watch and clipboard that I was now doing a training run. And so it was that I was on my way exactly 4 minutes behind the leaders.

Needless to say I didn't catch them up! But it was great fun trying. Next time I'll be sure to check the location of the race more carefully!

Trails from the Vienna Woods

2011-12-26T06:14:00.001-08:00

The weather today was fine for the time of year, the day following Christmas Day (Boxing Day it's called in the UK) so I packed my rucksack and took a tram to the Danube.

I started my run from the so-called Gateway to Vienna which is marked by a pair of upstream facing lions mounted on a bridge. One lion is hidden by a tree.

I ran out of Vienna along the riverside path to the village of Kahlenbergdorf and then turned left into the Vienna Woods. My run, at a gentle pace, took 2 hours 30 mins.

Quite a few runners, mountain bikers and walkers were on the trails. Normally at this time of year you'd expect to encounter snow. It hasn't arrived yet.

River Danube and the Gateway to Vienna

The first hill is steeper than it looks

Vogelsangberg or Birdsong Mountain

Descending a path to Grinzing

Ascending a path from Grinzing

On the last hill a telescope

Trails are clearly waymarked and signed

Path number 4 goes from Spain to Hungary

Bob Graham Round - Running in the Clouds by Maurizio Malagnini

2011-12-18T10:28:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year the Italian composer Maurizio Malagnini and BBC's Radio 4 visited the English Lake District. The composer was there to capture the atmosphere of the Lake District at first hand and also to meet Lakeland's best known fell runner the legendary Joss Naylor.

The programme also followed the fate of two runners who were attempting the demanding 24 hour challenge known as the Bob Graham Round.

Malagnini subsequently composed an inspiring piece titled: "Running in the Clouds". It will premier in Kendal, the gateway to the Lakes, in early 2012. A link to the 30 minute radio programme titled "The Bob Graham Round" is here.

Slow run in the snow

2011-12-17T12:19:00.000-08:00

This was my last opportunity of 2011 to bag an Austrian summit.

The mountain in question was the High Schrott. And although I decided to turn back about 300 meters below the summit the outing was still worth the effort as I thoroughly enjoyed the fresh air, the exercise and the scenery.

There was quite a bit more walking than running because of the deteriorating underfoot conditions on the higher slopes. The snow was nearly up to my knees when I called it a day.

I descended to the river valley and found the lane leading to the train station.

an early view from the lower path

my goal

the higher waymarked path

the weather closing in

my footprints . . . trail shoes now full of snow

time to return to the valley

and back to the station

After the fog

2011-11-26T10:34:00.000-08:00

I have a rule. I don't run in fog. So it was great to get out into the sunshine after a whole week of foggy days spent twiddling my thumbs. I decided on a longish run with a few hills thrown in.

I took my rucksack and some extra clothing. This turned out to be a smart move. It was quite breezy and with the wind chill factor taken into account it was almost freezing, and especially more so by the time the sun was setting. You can see traces of an earlier frost, left over from the foggy days, on the forest path in the second photo down.

The first photo shows where I left the road. I took the path to the left. The second photo is the trail leading to the radio mast (see third photo). That was the highest point of the run. From there it was downhill to the village of Kahlenbergdorf and the pub (fourth and fifth photos). At the pub I had a bowl of soup.

I then jogged to the village of Grinzing using a trail through the local vineyards. I reached the s-Bahn train station just before twilight. Forty minutes later I was back home.

A Lake District Run

2011-11-20T01:50:00.001-08:00

3 mature gentlemen (?) and a much older mountain; maybe it's the best route to a glass of ale at Coniston's Sun Inn.

Hoch Wechsel training run

2011-11-06T21:30:00.000-08:00

Much of the following run uses the (east-west) high level long-distance path over the Austrian Alps.

From the village of Mönichkirchen (1004 mtrs) my run took me up a ski slope for about 1 km. I then turned left onto a woodland trail signed Studentenkreuz (1182 mtrs).

The Student's Cross marks the place where a 15-year old boy was fatally wounded in a hunting accident in the 19th century. Nearby there was a large stone marking the spot where a policeman was murdered in the mid-1920's.

It was a straighforward run along a forest path up to the fellside and the first summit, Vorauer Schweig (1589 mtrs). Here a mountain walker was kind enough to take my photograph at the last signpost. From now on I would have to navigate using red and white markers painted on rocks and boulders. Note the blue sky.

By the time I was halfway to the next summit, the Hoch Wechsel, which would be the highest point on the run at 1743 mtrs, the clag was swirling in on a cold wind over the eastern shoulder of the mountain. I was glad to have brought my rucksack containing warm clothing.

At the summit I emerged once more into sunshine and was able to take a couple of photos showing a small church and a cross marking the border of Lower Austria and Styria. Then it was back into the fog and a return to Vorauer Schweig. From there I climbed a path to my 3rd summit, Nieder Wechsel (1669 mtrs), and back into the clouds.

I ran along the ridge and descended the steep Steierne Stiege, which appeared to be the remnants of an old waterfall course, and soon found myself back in the sunshine.

I stopped for a coffee at the nearby Hallerhaus (1350 mtrs) and then jogged back down to the village.

24 kms with 1,000 mtrs of ascent.

A Vienna Woods training run

2011-10-30T11:36:00.001-07:00

A gentle run in the Vienna Woods

30th October 2011

Fartlek

2011-10-25T06:18:00.000-07:00

Fartlek is a Swedish running term meaning speed play and fortunately for me the woodland trails of Austria provide an ideal location for this Scandinavian form of training.

The trails near where I live are marked with coloured paint like the one in the above picture. These trail markings will generally be anything from 20 mtrs to 200 mtrs apart, in difficult rocky terrain they may be 10 mtrs apart or less.

What I did today was to run gently for 20 minutes to thoroughly warm up the leg muscles. Having done this I then ran at varying speeds for 20-25 minutes from one painted marker to the next, but basically alternating between fast running and slower running or jogging. I then warmed down for 15 minutes with a medium paced run and finally a short walk.

I think Fartlek is an ideal training tool for short winter and autumn days provided the ground is not icy. I will now include it in my winter training regime which is basically a maintenance programme and which will now proceed roughly* as follows:

Sun: long slow run - 2 to 3 hrs

Mon: walk 30 mins - 1 hour

Tue: short run - 1 hr

Wed: fartlek - 1 hour

Thu: steady run 1 hour

Fri: walk 30 mins - 1 hour

Sat: hills 1 hour

*If I elect to do a race or two then obviously there will be changes. But this will probably not be very often, as the off-road running season is now drawing to a close.

Mental strength

2011-10-22T04:54:00.000-07:00

The photograph below serves to highlight an important aspect of ultra-distance running and this is the mental strength required to bring the runner to the end of the race. The deserted streets, the blinding sun, the unforgiving road surface, and no end in sight, are just some of the challenges that ultra-runners have to contend with. There will be painful knees, annoying blisters, dehydration, fatigue, cramp, feelings of nausea, problems with kit, etc., etc., but ultra-distance runners tend to carry on regardless. They run and run until a doctor pulls them out of the race or an official sends for an ambulance or they fail to meet a time check or until they finally arrive at the finish. It's all a battle of wills. The will of the body crying stop! The will of the mind defying the protestations of the body. It's man (or woman) challenging himself. Seeking his limits. And winning through. It's a sport not to be entered into lightly. Be prepared to suffer. Be prepared for setbacks. Work on your mental strength. And then you'll enjoy it!

Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner - - - Hanns Steiner (Der Fisch)

Eigner Express

2011-10-20T06:41:00.000-07:00

Eigner Express Running Team.

I first made the acquaintance of Leopold Eigner about 10 years ago. That's him with his name on the front of his trademark running vest.

It was not long afterwards that I saw him running in his bare feet in an uphill 5km road race. I later asked him over a beer if he'd tell me why he ran on tarmac without shoes. It toughens the feet, he told me.

Since those days I have followed the running exploits of Mr Eigner Express and I have discovered that he not only runs 5km road races in his bare feet but he also runs in marathons, ultra-marathons, mountain marathons, and 6, 12, and 24 hours ultra events in which he covers ridiculously long distances.

I recall the time I saw him disappearing up the side of a waterfall with a TV camera strapped to his forehead. He was making a film about the Hinteralm Brutal Race in which we were both competing. And yes, despite the headgear handicap he did finish ahead of me!

In a recent edition of the monthly sport magazine Top Times he was featured in a double page spread. It was his 50th ultra event and it was the Ötscher Mountain Marathon - a 70km 2-day race. Day 1 consists of a 50km gorge run in rocky terrain. Day 2 is a 20km run over the narrow ridges and the rugged peak of the Ötscher mountain. I was pleased to note that he wore his shoes.

The above photograph shows Leopold Eigner with his fellow team members at the start of the 1st Salzkammergut Marathon in Bad Ischl, Austria.

The marathon route is over the classic 42.2 kms and, let us say, interesting. After a series of undulations, each more severe than the last, the race leaves the road through valley of the Ischler Ache and follows the shore of Wolfgangsee to arrive at a punishing 250 mtr climb and a forest trail. There quickly follows a knee-jangling descent down a gravelly path where cornering too fast could see you sailing into the forest canopy. A disused railway line then takes competitors through the so-called Marathon Runner's Wall and then its back on the road and on to the finish.

One race that Leopold Eigner has firmly in his sights is the Race Across Burgenland. This annual event attracts an elite field of about 20 ultra runners. It is a 268 km road race through the Austrian province of Burgenland from north to south; from the border with Slovakia to the border with Slovenia.

Such is the world of the Eigner Express. Long may it continue.

9th Wolfgangsee 10 km race

2011-10-18T05:07:00.000-07:00

It was, it has to be said, a pleasant change to come down from the mountains and take part in a relatively flat and furious 10km race at the weekend. There were other Wolfgangsee races too: 5.2km, 27km, 42.2km. More than 3,000 runners enjoyed a crisp autumn day, clear blue skies and the sparkle of sunshine on water.

- a green medal -

Group of runners entering St. Wolfgang. The Bard is 3rd from the left.

Behind me in the picture below is the picture postcard town of St. Wolfgang with its landmark church tower. That's where the race will finish. I'm standing near the start line at Gschwandt.

The trail follows a disused railway track as far as the village of Strobl (to the right, out of pic). There you are halfway. Next comes the undulating Strobl to St Wolfgang road section and the sharp descent back to the lakeside and the finish.

-Result-

Wolfgangsee 10km: 328th (50mins 12secs) (11th of 29M60's) 927 ran.

Running with 110-year old lady

2011-09-26T07:32:00.000-07:00

Last weekend there were 4 runners from Great Britain at the Schneeberg International Mountain Race in Austria's Rax-Alps. There were also many runners from other countries including Switzerland, France, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and the home nation Austria.

The 110-year old lady is the Puchberg-Schneeberg Locomotive no. 999.05 and she throws down her annual challenge to the mountains and the runners. The route consists of a 10km mountain trail with 1,200 meters (almost 4,000 feet) of ascent.

The start is at the Puchberg Railway Station in the valley and the finish is at the end of the line - the summit railway station. This year saw the 15th running of the event and there were 385 starters including Engine 999.05.

The photo shows one of my English clubmates checking the route information on the notice board near the start.

Result:

1. D Schneider SUI 54:46

2. A Dlugosz POL 56:40

3. A Redl AUT 60:32

13. Engine 999.05 1stW110

14. F Kolinek CZE 66:20 1stM50

43. C Lilge-Leutner AUT 72:50 1stW50

76. K Hesketh GBR 77:32 5thM50

82. E Schnell AUT 78:38 1stM60

155. J Sharples GBR 85:22 16thM50

192. M Hesketh GBR 88:26 3rdW50

277. G Williams GBR 98:43 8thM60

374 Finishers (11 dnf's).

Rax-Schneeberg Combination Races

Women's Race

1. T Lillehov SUI 2:29:12

9 Finished

Men's Race

1. D Schneider SUI 1:46:10

50. F Pauli AUT M70 3:12:04

54. G Williams GBR M60 3:14:56

58 Finished

Rax result is 3 posts below this one.

Round the Langbathsee Lakes

2011-09-21T05:31:00.001-07:00

Walkers on one of the the green trails around the Austrian Langbathseen

The Langbathsee Trail Races take the runners through idyllic scenery and in the main race around two small lakes. The event attracts top club runners from the Salzkammergut area of Austria and many athletes from the local running club at Ebensee whose championship race it is. There are races up to 3,500 mtrs which are contested by fun runners and local children.

The main event is a 7.2km race and this year 104 runners finished. I was pleased to be one of them and fit enough to be able to enjoy the beautiful scenery and the fresh mountain air to the full. I was very happy with my performance even though I was beaten into 4th place in the M60 category by a good runner from the St. Wolfgang running club. There's a saying that 4th is the worst position to finish. But this is not true. There is no worst place to finish. All who run in such amazing surroundings can only be winners!

Langbathsee Lakes Trail Races (7.2km Race)

18th September 2011

1. R Gruber 24:22

42. J Reiter 1stM60 30:54

--. R Sonntagbauer 2nd M60 32:09

--. F Lettner 3rd M60 33:16

73. G Williams 4th M60 36:24

--. H Keuschnig 5th M60 38:27

104 Finished.

9/11 Trail Race

2011-09-11T10:11:00.000-07:00

Crumbs!

'Bard on the Run' wins XL Carrot Cake!

the race t-shirt

Today on the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the USA I felt it was fitting that the overall winner of the 43rd running of today's Vienna Woods' trail race was a 19-year old American college student.

Exemplary behaviour, amateur competition, dignity, fitness, honest courage are amongst the best of human qualities.

Karriegel 8.3 km Trail Race (appx: 5 miles 560' +/-)

Result:

1. M Halbach USA 33:03

45. G Williams GB 1V60 44:30

92 finishers

RAX RESULT

2011-09-08T04:19:00.000-07:00

The race winner, top European runner David Schneider of Switzerland, smashed the course record by more than 4 minutes and won the third running of the Rax Mountain Race in Austria by more than 6 minutes! An amazing achievement. Another Swiss runner, Gustav Ulrich triumphed in M60's Men's Race.

In warm conditions and running over a tough course I was happy with my second M60 place.

Runner number 66, that's me, on the Törl path (1600 mtrs above sea level). Note the spectators perched on the rock in the background.

Rax Mountain Race

9kms (1200m+ 100m-)

1 D Schneider (CH) 51:30

2 A Wallner (AUT) 57:56

16 V Limberger (AUT) 72:06 1F

66 G Ullrich (CH) 86:10 1M60

95 G Williams (GBR) 96:13 2M60

104 finishers

Cool trophy for 2nd M60

2011-09-08T00:43:00.000-07:00

Most often they present you with a medal on a piece of ribbon or a shiny cup when you finish in one of the first 3 places in your age category; but the Rax Mountain Race organizers came up with a better idea.

This die-cast metal trophy has a good solid feel to it. It is about 12 cms in height and features a trail runner, a stop watch, a laurel wreath and the year (2011) in front of a gold coloured cup. The base of the trophy shows details of the runner's achievement. It's a unique race souvenir and it's a handsome prize I take much pleasure in having!

The 3rd Rax Mountain Race - Payerbach Sports Club - Category 4 (Male 60+) - 2nd Place

Rax Lauf 2011

2011-09-03T12:17:00.000-07:00

On the summit plateau - not far now to the finish line.

Today as my clubmates ran up and down Ben Nevis in Scotland I ran in a local mountain race on the Rax here in Austria. Below is the course profile. It was a fairly hard slog in the warm conditions. In all there were 104 finishers. A man less than half my age set a new course record.

A trio of M60 veterans took part. I finished 2nd to a Mr Ulrich, 3 years younger than me, of Switzerland. I think Mr Pfleger the 3rd M60 to cross the finish line was a local man.

An enjoyable day in fine scenery.

Spring

2011-08-29T06:35:00.000-07:00

No mountain races for me in August but there was a long day's walk to do in the Höllengebirge - the Cave Mountains - a traverse under blazing sunshine.

At one point in the limestone pavement I was able to locate a source of fresh water which someone had kindly marked with a red Q (quelle - it means a spring) and I was able to replenish my bottle.

I was unaware that the area was inhabited by poisonous black vipers until after I'd finished the walk.

The new Lawrence of Arabia headgear (www.capo.cc) proved its worth and my ears and nape came through unscathed.

Signs of wear and tear* were limited to a raging thirst for a beer! This was later satisfied at the Höllengebirge tavern in Seefeld. Here Mahler composed his 2nd and 3rd symphonies.

*ps - I forgot to mention my two black toenails!

Flower power!

2011-07-31T01:41:00.000-07:00

This post-race picture, taken by a spectator and now sent to me, relates to the post immediately below. You can see how delighted I am with my 3rd place. Although I didn't enter any races during July the training runs have been progressing well.

Yesterday I checked out a new 75% off-road trail. It was over 14.5km with approx 400m +/- hd and was advertised as a 4 hour walk. I didn't see any walkers. In fact I only saw three people. All farmers. It took me 1h 33min to complete the course of the No. 53 Bad Traunstein Panoramaweg.

www.bad-traunstein.at

Back on the podium

2011-06-08T08:22:00.000-07:00

OK, it was only 3rd place. But please see the posts below. It pays to keep on doing what you think of as doing your own thing, even when the clouds are gray and the road is long, so long as you really do enjoy doing what it is that you do. That's worth remembering. When the enjoyment has gone, it's a time for reflection. Why do you do the sport that you do? If the answer is because you really do enjoy it there is no better justification needed.

Back on the run!

2011-04-05T07:12:00.000-07:00

On Sunday after a long absence due to injury I was delighted to finish my comeback race without any ill effects. The run was over 8.5kms and I placed 4th of 11 in my age group - the over 60's!

There's power in water!

2011-04-02T00:18:00.000-07:00

Check out http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110329134254.htm

Sanford University have developed a system where countries blessed with seawater and freshwater (e.g. islands like Britain, Japan, ) will never need dangerous Nuclear Energy!

You simply borrow water from a river, send it to a battery in which seawater is also being used to generate power, and then return the fresh water to the river. In fact the water needn't be all that clean. You could do it with other neutral water. The university's model is more than 70% efficient but with more development a figure of over 80% is easily reachable.

In fact the system could provide 13% of the world's energy!

WORLD BLIND FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

2010-08-19T09:10:00.000-07:00

www.blind2010.com (see LINKS >>>) is the site for video highlights of the 2010 WORLD BLIND FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS (in which only the goalkeepers are sighted) and latest news and results. I can tell you that England are doing much better in the tournament than the sighted players did in South Africa. And as you might expect some of the skills of the blind Brazilian and Argentinian players are truly amazing.

Could there be an England v.Brazil semi-final? Tonight England, having defeated Japan and South Korea, will play Colombia for a place in the semi-final. The rain is falling in Hereford where the games are being played. This will make progress tricky. In similar conditions the England team suffered their only defeat, 0-1 against Spain. Good luck tonight to the boys! A capacity crowd will be right behind them.

GROUP 'A' RESULT: England 1 - 0 Colombia

SEMI-FINAL RESULT: Brazil 5 - 1 England

Final matches*
THE FINAL: Spain 0 - 2 Brazil
3RD PLACE PLAY-OFF: China 1 - 0 England

*8:02 video of these two games and interview with Gordon Banks at the LINK>>>

__________

Is walking the answer?

2010-07-10T23:52:00.000-07:00

I have completed two races this year. Unfortunately not without injury. I think that now I'm in my mid-60's I have to be a little more circumspect. A running injury that took 3 or 4 weeks to get over can now take much longer, several months in fact. And so I'm looking for an alternative form of exercise, at least until my injury settles down. Nature must always be given a chance to heal. I recall about ten years ago I injured my foot;perhaps a minor fracture somewhere in the arch. It felt like that anyway. It took 12 months to get back to running. Maybe my groin strain will also take that long. If so, then I'm mentally prepared to adapt. And so I've recently bought a pair of entry level Nordic Walking Sticks.
The shop assistant gave me a 10-minute course in the technique up and down the wide aisles of the multi-national sports-equipment supermarket and confidently sent me on my way. After 3 tentative days, during which small children laughed at me and big dogs bellowed as I passed, I found that I'd mastered the basic skills involved. In fact, I soon found that I was even inserting one or two confidence boosting flourishes into my walking style. And so I go on. My shoulders and upper arms appear to appreciate the work out, and without the pounding involved in mountain running my legs now have the opportunity to recover from the strains imposed upon them. A shelf full of cups, medals and trophies won since I was 60 are a sign that I've been pushing myself a little bit too hard.
So, is walking the answer? It could well be. Ask me again in 6 months.

The Pink Ribbon Fun Run 2010

2010-04-15T05:13:00.001-07:00

The Pink Ribbon Fun Run 2010 takes place in Vienna on Saturday 17th April 2010. The blue line shows the route, which begins and ends at the red spot.

The anti-clockwise city centre course is 2.5kms long. The finish line is the finish line that will be used in the Vienna City Marathon, which takes place the following day.

The purpose of the Pink Ribbon Fun Run is to raise money for breast cancer victims. Entry is a €15 donation which may be made at the Heldenplatz start field from 10:00am onwards on the day. The race starts at 2:00pm.

There will be no official results, printouts of race times, or any prize presentations after the race. Every participant is a winner!

Good luck to us all!
(runner no. 20609)
_________________________________
Result: 700 runners = €10,000 for the charity!

A new trail running magazine!

2010-04-09T05:20:00.000-07:00

A quarterly magazine dedicated to trail running is to be launched in the UK. Publishers of the magazine 'Trail' are behind the venture. The first two issues of 'Trail Runner' will be bagged together with 'Trail'. More information about this exciting project is available via Bard on the Run's MS&T link >>>

...and don't forget to send your used running shoes, provided they are in a reasonable condition and have more than 100km+ of tread left on them, to:

Shoe 4 Africa

PO Box 6943

Eldoret

Kenya

Looking ahead

2010-02-24T09:22:00.000-08:00

Jon S. at the 3-Peaks: Ingleborough, Pen-Y-Ghent and Whernside

Yes, it's that time of year again. The thaw has set in and there's energy in the air. You can feel it, or at least I can. It's palpable. Suddenly there's sunlight about the place. There's a new freshness abroad. Why, some people are even smiling.
And so, it's time to renew and replenish. Away with the aches and pains of old age. Out with the running shoes! Show me a mountain. I want to run up it. But not yet.

It's a case of slow and steady at first. A routine must be got into. The body must become accustomed to the new regime. In a few weeks, with 5 kgs less to carry about, this Bard will be flying. It's been a long time, a long winter. But the running season is definitely on the horizon. This cheers me immensely.

Mountains, lakes and riverside paths are still covered with snow. In another month or two the paths and trails will be free. I look at my prizes; running trophies for sexagenarians! Yes, once again, I'll be ready. The call of the trails is irresistible. I can hardly wait.
_______
The FRA Calendar 2010 features mountain and hill races in GB; everything from the Chelmorton Chase (Derbyshire) to the Cader Idris Mountain Race (Wales) and much more, in fact 500 races in all. We don't know how lucky we are! I hope to be over for one or two during the year, if I can escape from the Alps.

colour

2010-02-21T05:56:00.000-08:00

The colour of the earth hereabouts is brown. It had no choice in the matter. In other places the earth is yellow, red, white, black, blue, grey, orange; and hundreds of other shades of these and many other colours; often depending on the light and other factors. Of course, we are all differently coloured too.
I mention this because a poll is taking place today to decide if a holding station for refugees should be built. The local populous at the proposed site is expected vote massively (85%)* against the scheme, despite a plea from the local priest to 'help our brother in his hour of need'. But then, if a man's skin is a different colour to mine is he my brother? Yes, local politics has its colour too.

colour

choose your colour if you can,
or
easier
take the colour they give you,
or
harder
be yourself and be all colours
or
be no colours
or
just be

______
gw2010

*final result: 89.8% voted against the plan.
On the night of this Volksabstimmung a bus carrying Kosovo-Albanians returning to their new homeland in Germany crashed in Austria with tragic consequences. Early reports are of 6 dead and 35 injured. The Austrian media often speaks of asylum seakers being untergetaucht or disappeared below the radar and therefore living in a shady world of criminals and drug dealers. In reality, these untergetaucht people make their way to Germany where they figure they'll get a better deal. For Austria it's a convenient and inexpensive way of dealing with a perceived problem. Auslander angst or fear of foreigners is a major political and moral issue in this Alpine republic. The bus accident is Sod's Law.

Looking for Eric; Monsieur Cantona that is.

2010-01-21T11:58:00.000-08:00

The Ken Loach film Looking for Eric is a must for anybody with the slightest interest in the beautiful game. The interspersed sports newsreel footage alone is worth the price of the cinema ticket.

To see the skills of Cantona at intervals on the big screen is a treat not to be missed. There's a wonderful slow motion clip of Cantona's favourite moment; his unforgettable outside of the foot pass to Irwin. "You have to trust your teammates" says the flawed genius. Irwin tucks it away. The pass is the metaphor.

Ex-Manchester United footballer Eric Cantona, and his alter ego - postman Eric Bishop, a man with a troublesome son called Ryan and a pair of blue suede shoes, battle bravely against all odds. They get mixed-up with criminals, with the fairer sex, have stress at work, are kind to children, smoke harmless roll-ups, share a bottle of wine and even go jogging together. And like good heroes, yes, they come through it all together. If they didn't there wouldn't be much point to the film.

The many sayings of Cantona are there and like the sardines they are fed to the seagulls. Friends in the end are discovered to be much more than friends and, as happens in the real world, the petty mobsters and psychopaths are found to be unscrupulous and cruel. But they will be punished for it. We have more choices than we believe, says Cantona. And so, after a brainstorming session down at the pub, the crooks are finally defeated.

Drama, comedy and Cantona on the ball - and all for the price of a match programme and the half-time meat pie.

Go follow your trawler!

Pictures from an exhibition

2010-01-21T04:52:00.000-08:00

The notion of 1989° as being the end of an era and the start of something new and unified - at least seen through European and American eyes - results in countless pages of notes and scribble, and shoe-boxes of postcard-size photos; part of the the documentary materials of history.

After the fall of the Wall there was cash to be earned in the sacked rubble and souvenir trade. Now it's nostalgia. In Berlin they hang nostalgia on the park railings for the tourists. And having acquired the tricks of the trade they hard-sell it. It's a class business.

cooking in the microwave

Marx
Engels
Lenin
Mao
and
El Che

emancipator of the oppressed

Stalin

Mrs Ceausescu

shut up
and eat your salami

On negotiating Ilya & Emilia Kabakov's Big Archive Labyrinth

"All persons aged between 18 and 28 who have been living in this village for more than 12 years should complete Form-16 or Form-16B and take it to the official sitting at Desk N12 in Room N3...

...and certify that no-one in their family has gonorrhea or other transmittable sexual disease...

...and that they are available for military service...

...and then take Form-32 to Desk N6 in Room 45...

...provided that they are not borrowing books from a friend who has a collection of more than 5 books or have a collection of more than 5 books themselves

...

The Soft Life

switch off the alarm
wake & swallow the pill
called Life

______
°1989.
Title of an exhibition at MQ Vienna.

WAR? YOU CAN BANK ON IT!

2010-01-20T01:37:00.000-08:00

During World War I (1914-1918) at least 21,000 new billionaires and millionaires were created in the USA according to Major General Smedley Darlington Butler (1881-1940); a man in receipt of two congressional medals of honour and a distinguished service medal.

In 1935, 4 years prior to the outbreak of World War II (1939-1946) he said: "For a great many years [...] I had a suspicion that war was a racket [...] Now that I see the international war clouds gathering, as they are today, I must face it and speak out."

In 1935 there were throughout the world at least 40,000,000 men under arms. "Yes," said Major General Butler, "they are getting ready for another war. Why shouldn't they? It pays high dividends."

The USA's brief participation in World War I (1914-1918) cost $52,000,000,000. So where did this money go? Who made the profits?

Butler lists the big profit takers: du Pont, Bethlehem Steel, United States Steel, Anaconda, Utah Copper, Central Leather Company, General Chemical Company, International Nickel Company, American Sugar Refining Company ... and so, and so on; not to mention 122 meat packers, 153 cotton manufacturers, 299 garment makers, 49 steel plants and 340 coal producers. And of course the bankers who financed the "war to end all wars" as it was called.

How the Ancient Egyptians located Heaven

2009-12-14T05:00:00.000-08:00

The Great Pyramid of Giza was built as a tomb for a Pharaoh more than 5,000 years ago. It probably took thousands of men more than 20 years of non-stop labour to construct. It was the tallest building on planet Earth for more than 4,000 years. It is the only surviving wonder from the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

The ancient Egyptian astronomers knew the exact location of that unknown place the religious like to call Heaven. Its location is in the northern sky, in the small group of stars known to the ancients as the Unconquerable, which are found in the vicinity what we call today the North Star or Polaris.
And the location of the final destination of the spirit or soul was surely there because this was the only fixed and unmoving point to be found anywhere in the sky. There, without a doubt, was Heaven. And there surely the Eye of God; the Masonic eye we see in many places today; on the paper currency of the USA for example.

What was earlier believed to be a ventilation shaft leading outwards and upwards from the so-called King's Chamber in the middle of the Great Pyramid is nowadays believed to be the shaft, or path, for the Pharaoh's soul to proceed through and then onward into the sky in the direction of its heavenward journey to the region of Polaris; there to be renewed.

A religion or cult with a precise location for its Heaven. Now that really is something out of the ordinary; but then that's really no surprise for those ancient Egyptians were an out of the ordinary people.

Red-haired Giants

2009-12-08T13:57:00.000-08:00

A survey I read somewhere, some years ago, found that there are more red-haired people in Scotland than anywhere else. I believe it was 10% of the general population. Other countries in Northern Europe; countries like Norway, Holland, Ireland, also have a significant percentage of redheads.

So why is this? Like a lot of things on our planet it has do with the weather; a period of extremely hot weather in Africa and at the same time the end of a Northern Hemisphere Ice Age. It was a long time ago. Here's the basic story as told by:
Big Bang in the Laboratory - French/German TV arte.

Big Bang in the Laboratory is about the origin of the Universe and much of the programme's content was to do with the Large Hadron Collider and what the LHC may find or discover in the coming weeks and months. Another part of it was to do with astronomy and the latest discoveries in space. But the part of the programme I personally found most interesting was a report which boldly stated the following:

Approximately 30,000 to 40,000 years ago there were to be found two distinct species of humans living side by side in Europe.

That is, there were living in Europe the original first wave settlers out of Africa - the so-called Neanderthals. They moved northwards from Africa to seek a cooler climate. The men were large, for the period, and strong; 1m 75cm in height and built like weightlifters, weighing-in at a solid 90 kg. They buried their dead in narrow passageways deep inside caves and placed crystals alongside the dead. The crystal shown in the film may have been an amethyst. All well and good then; a spiritually inclined, prehistoric race.

But then came the cruncher; the genetic LHC equivalent: Only descendants of Neanderthals have genes for red hair.

Well, I'd heard about this before. But, until I saw Big Bang in the Laboratory I never dreamed that it was backed up with serious science.

After all, we're all from the same tribe who wandered out of Africa - the Homo Sapiens, we were always told. But not now. Now there's been a subtle shift. Almost unnoticed the DNA-door is being pushed open a little wider. It turns out that we're not all the same after all. Many of us are not 100% dyed in the wool Homo-Sapiens.

"Those fleet-of-foot Homo-Sapiens (Cro-Magnons) from Kenya," said the scientist pointing to the map of Africa to show me where Kenya was, "arrived in Europe a long time after the Neanderthals." They also come out of Africa. They were the second wave. They all had dark hair.

The two species, for what else shall we call them, lived side by side for 10,000 years but then the Neanderthals disappeared. It is not known how or why. But since I'm sitting here with my Neanderthal genes safe inside me, it must mean that the Neanderthals interbred with and, over a 10,000 year period, evolved into Cro-Magnon Homo-Sapiens.

"If you have red hair," said the scientist (confirming my thoughts) you must be in part Neanderthal."

And so, there you have it. There were giants in the Earth in those days. And they were my, and perhaps your, ancestors.

But, as a redheaded youngster I found that having a mop of red hair and the freckles to go with it caused me diverse problems: I was sometimes seen as being a bit different and singled out as a member of a strange and suspicious red-haired minority group; it was known that I must have a fiery temper, that I might be dangerous, that I might pose a threat to others - to the majority. Other normal boys, a few neighbours, and even a couple of teachers, appeared almost instinctively to know all these wierd things about me.

Perhaps Nestroy's Titus Feuerfuchs° is due for a rewrite.

____________
°A play in which a red-haired man experiences discrimination simply because of his red hair. On the verge of despair he fortunately meets a red-haired woman ...
image: courtesy Wikipedia

Bard on the Run's bad run

2009-12-05T05:36:00.000-08:00

Pendle Hill, apart from being the home of the Pendle witches and the place where George Fox is reported to have had his vision that led to the founding of the Quakers, is also the home of a classic foot race.

I knew it was a mistake to enter the 'Full Tour of Pendle' fell-race having missed 6 weeks training due to a series of colds, coughs, sneezes, sore throats and not surprisingly a general feeling of lethargy. But I couldn't resist it.

Some 350 runners duly entered the fray, which involved running up the boggy mass of Pendle Hill 5 times in sweeping rain and swirling mist and visiting 11 checkpoints in various far-apart locations with only a compass-bearing for a guide. Route choice is your own problem.

And so it came to pass that as I ran off the Apronfull Hill* side of the Pendle hump down into Asshenden Clough I felt my first twinges of cramp in my thighs. And I was only halfway round the course. Halfway that is in terms of distance. But the serious climbing, the climb out of Asshenden Clough, the climb up the Big Dipper and the climb up the aptly named Big End were still ahead of me.

I would for safety-first reasons choose a longer route which I knew by heart rather than take any short-cuts in the poor visibility and the uncomfortable easterly wind; a nagging wind which reduced all but the hardiest fell-runners to little more than walking pace, and many to a shuffle, on the wide summit plateau where the terrain consists of millions of waterlogged ankle-spraining tussocks, some old stone walls and a maze of peat groughs.

Choose the wrong line in many places and you could soon find yourself up to your knees in watery peat, a soft black substance guaranteed to suck the very shoes from your feet even as your tired legs work laboriously to extricate themselves from the dark trap.

Having survived everything that Pendle Hill could throw at me, and having somehow negotiated the 20-odd miles of my route choice and ascended and descended the required 5,000' and visited all 11 checks in the right order I arrived back where I had started from; the village of Barley.

Yes, I was near the tail-end of the field and more than a little bit tired but I'd done it. Yes, I'd had a bad run. It was not up to my ridiculously unrealistic expectations. I had wanted to be a good hour faster than I finally was. But then I heard of the reported 15 runners who didn't manage to get round and what they must have felt like having to retire from the race. And then I thought to myself, yes I had quite a bad run but really, my foolish ambition aside, it was not really so bad.

_______
*Apronfull Hill is so-called because it was here that the Devil armed himself with an apronfull of rocks and angrily hurled them at Clitheroe Castle 5 miles away in the west. A large hole in the castle wall testifies to a direct hit.

The return of Merlin

2009-11-30T05:01:00.000-08:00

Stonehenge, an ancient circle [image: courtesy National Geographic]

Large Hadron Collider, a modern circle [image: courtesy Wiki-Commons]

Dr. Lyn Evans, known to the Welsh as Evans the Atom, may well be a new Merlin awakened. The original Merlin, the Welsh wizard known at King Arthur's Court, hailed from Carmarthen. Lyn Evans, sometimes referred to as the destroyer of the world, was born just 50 miles away in the small town of Aberdare.

The original Merlin was fooled by the seductive charms of the beautiful temptress Fay Morgan (later to become the Fata Morgana of illusion). As a result Merlin now sleeps in a mysterious crystal cave. The location of his undiscovered resting place might well lie in a mountain range known as the Preseli Hills situated on the West Coast of Wales. The reason I make this bold claim is because it is in these hills that the magical crystal stones, commonly known as the blue stones, which make up the important inner-circle of Stonehenge (Wiltshire) are found.

The blue stones, and I have one, are blue-grey in colour and have white crystals scattered through them like currants in a cake. It follows that Merlin would not hesitate choose the Preseli Hills for his eternal sleep. Hence the legend of a magical crystal cave. Merlin would have walked over these hills many times, for they are not far from Carmarthen, and he would have seen the quarries which even today have the appearance of work only temporarily stopped. Standing there I half-expected a band of Stonehenge quarrymen to appear out of the swirling mists at any moment.

And now 5,000 years after the Preseli quarries were mined a new magician has appeared on the scene. Lyn Evans recently restarted his brainchild the Large Hadron Collider and we now await its amazing discoveries. Quantum particles will be fired into each other at almost the speed of light and colliding they will briefly produce temperatures hotter than the centre of the sun. "There might even be 10 dimensions in there," said one quantum physicist.

Evans has spent the last 40 years of his life designing and building his giant magic wand and one more year getting it to work. And now he has switched it on.

Those early observers of the stars, the ancient Stonehenge and Preseli people, would be extremely proud of this modern day magician who carries on the fine tradition of opening our eyes and minds to the workings of the amazing universe in which we live and have our beings.

A bottle of moon water, please!

2009-11-14T05:55:00.001-08:00

[image courtesy of NASA]

The NASA image, released yesterday, shows a plume of dust raised by a projectile deliberately crashed into the Moon's surface. The dust cloud was analyzed and found to contain molecules of water.
When I was a young boy they told me that the Moon was made of green cheese and that there was no water on the Moon. They were were wrong on both counts. There's a message in there somewhere.

The amount of water discovered in the dust cloud was not very much; some 100 litres all told in that light grey plume that you may just about make out if you can squint at the screen at the right angle.
Obviously for water to exist on the Moon it must be frozen and the source of it must lie somewhere under the dust in the shadow of the crater where no sun ever shines. What I think is amazing about this discovery, which confirms a similar discovery by India, is that the Moon's water probably comes, like the Moon itself, from our own precious and wonderful blue planet, the Earth.
When we return to the Moon, for now there is some real point to returning there, and we bore into the frozen reservoir of Moon-ice will we find any evidence of life? An immense question. The answer may well change the way we see ourselves and define our new role in the Universe.

Chinese Junk

2009-10-28T03:35:00.000-07:00

Hong Kong artist Pak Sheung Chuen makes no apologies for his collection of useless information and bric-a-brac at the Hong Kong Pavilion in the Venice Biennale. And nor does he need to. I was handed a folded sheet of yellow recycled - an artwork list with all the details (www.venicebiennale.hk) titled Making (Perfect) World.

The artist is nothing if not supremely dedicated. He spends whole days and nights photographing, collating, travelling, standing, walking, observing and collecting the world's trivia. One time he went around blindfolded for a week. For the Biennale he produces 29 works. I only wonder when and where he gets his sleep.

The Hong Kong exhibition is spread over a courtyard and 6 rooms.

Exhibit 15 (b) in Room 3 is a charcoal drawing which is reminiscent of a poem by the Chinese poet Gu Cheng:

Darkness of the night gave me black eyes
I used it to search for light

Exhibit 11 in Room 2 is Waiting for Everyone to Fall Asleep. He reports:

I stood in front of a 13-storey building in Sham Shui Po and waited for all the residents to fall asleep. The 5 images were taken at 22:38/01:40/02:36/04:09/05:04. A person in the building remained awake throughout the night, we ended up wasting a night together while being on opposite sides of the street.

In the courtyard are 45 plastic bottles filled with seawater collected at 100 meter intervals from Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong. This is titled: The Horizon Placed at Home (N22°17'400" Version).

And last but not least back in Room 2 there is to be seen a curious Love Letter to LC. The artist visited the Hong Kong Commercial Press Book Store and bought 4 books. The first word/s from the title of each book spelled out the message: I am thinking of you

Other exhibits such as Two People Blowing into One Balloon, A Lake is a Huge Floating Cloud, Travelling Venice in the Dark, and Square Light were also great fun. I came away smiling. Great work. Art for art's sake! Stimulating and mind-bending rubbish. Full marks to Pak Sheung Chen and curator Tobias Berger.

Art works

2009-10-28T02:20:00.000-07:00

CROW LEAVING AN AUSTRALIAN POPPY FIELD
is not in the Biennale

The average net worth for Abu Dhabi's 420,000 citizens is US$ 17 million

Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), currently estimated at US$ 875 billion, is the world's wealthiest sovereign fund, in terms of total asset value.

from UAE Fact Sheet being distributed to visitors attending la 53. Biennale di Venezia Esposizione Internazonale d'Arte 2009.

Happy 54th Birthday Austria

2009-10-26T10:50:00.000-07:00

The picture shows Poet-in-Residence together with representatives of the allied powers (Russia, USA, Britain, France) returning control to Austria in 1955.

Today Austria is 54 years of age. The date 26th October is, as it has been every year since 1955, a national holiday.
In 1933 the fledgling 1st Austrian Republic disintegrated into a Fascist-Catholic State. The country ruled with an iron hand for hundreds of years by the Hapsburg's was unable to handle freedom and democracy. It fell apart. Fours years later Adolf Hitler, who had cleverly bankrupted Austria with severe economic sanctions, pounced. The Nazis marched in and the crowds cheered in the streets. There would be bread on the tables. Austria ceased to exist on the world maps. She was now part of the 3rd Reich. And she would be known simply as Ostmark.
The cheering stopped when the Austrians discovered their role in Hitler's master plan. The citizens of the beautiful land of Tirol would be shipped to the Ukraine where they would be given houses and land to farm. But first the Ukrainians would need to become slaves to the Germans, to the Herrenvolk (the supreme race). Austrians of all ages from 15 to 50 suddenly found themselves dressed in battlefield grey. The vast majority of them ended up on trains to starvation and death, or at best disablement, illness, disease and imprisonment with hard labour in Siberia, via the Battle of Stalingrad.
After the war Ostmark fell under the jurisdiction of the Allied Powers of Britain, USA, France and Russia. The ex-country and its ex-capital Vienna, were divided into 4 sectors. The system continued until 1955 when the allies withdrew and Austria became a fully fledged Republic once more.

Today I took myself along to the celebrations which took place in the centre of Vienna outside the Presidential Palace, the Hofburg. The first thing I saw was that the crowd was not of the usual sophisticated Vienna city-goer type. It was the man and woman from the Prater. The grass roots working class, you might say, of today's modern and outward looking Vienna. Working class it is and politically red to the bone. The socialist mayor Michael Haüpl need fear nothing from his extreme right wing rival Mr H C Strache in next year's mayoral elections, no matter how well Strache is doing in other provinces, if this lot are anything to go by. It's winning Vienna that counts. And count it will. For Haüpl a convincing win will help stem the tide of right wing fanaticism and xenophobia currently sweeping through many parts of Europe, starting here in the city where Adolf Hitler learnt his business at the heel of Dr Karl Lueger, a legendary anti-semitic mayor currently reposing in a tomb of Napoleonic proportions. Haüpl is another cut from schnitzel of pork altogether.

At the show field there was a plastic Eurofighter and a couple of Black Hawk helicopters which drew a modicum of public attention. The main business was eating. The Viennese are good at eating. The langos stands did a roaring trade. A langos is a kind of giant Hungarian crisp fried in batter. It is totally unhealthy eating and so it is extremely popular with the local citizenry.

Entertainment in the beer tent was provided by Team X-Dream, a folksy rock group dressed like Italian gangsters. It comprised of Don Patrone, Don Huan, Don Tango and Don Carlos. After letting us have "Born to be Wild!" at full volume - the wildest thing to be seen was a child with a helium filled teddy bear - Don Patrone yelled "Wien is Anders!" Yes, Vienna is different. It is different from what it was, and it is different from other cities. Vienna is unique. It is not a city living in a baroque past as the architecture would have you believe, nor is it a city living in a Mozart-like or Wagnerian fantasy world as the musical diet might lead you to believe. Vienna is like ... well, Vienna. Don Patrone wrapped up his singing spot with a rendition of "Knocking on Heaven's Door" and perhaps that's what Vienna is these days, a city almost in heaven, a city that consistently gains a top 3 spot when it comes to lists of major cities having the best quality of life for their citizens. Zurich and Vancouver being the other two constant companions.

Drifting away, at 6pm when it was all just about over, I negotiated a solitary peaceful drunk with a two-thirds empty wine bottle and made my way to the Donner Kebab stand. A young man, a Turkish student served me. He was reading Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment between serving customers. He was studying chemistry at the Vienna University. "Austria is wonderful," he said. And he's right. It is. The blustering bombast of the likes of far right-wing mayoral candidate H C Strache will be extinguished next year if the City of Vienna has anything to do with it. Meantime the Viennese will grin and bear it.

Happy birthday Austria!

A song from India.

2009-10-25T01:42:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASNoAeJKFx8
Go to the above place if want to escape to India for 10 minutes.
Less than the price of an airline ticket! Worth the journey.

fellephant's Ben Nevis footage

2009-10-10T00:51:00.000-07:00

Well worth a visit today is Mud, Sweat & Tears (MS&T in LINKS>>>). There you'll find brilliant piece of black&white film by the Scottish Hill Runners' blogger fellephant showing the atrocious weather, poor vizibility and slippery underfoot conditions experienced by competitors in the recent 2009 Ben Nevis Hill Race.

"Can you see anybody?" fell champion Rob Jebb asks one spectator.

Light for the world

2009-10-06T03:51:00.000-07:00

In Ethiopia there is ONE opthalmologist for every ONE MILLION people. In Ethiopia there are 600,000 blind people whose eyesight could be restored by means of a relatively simple operation costing $40 per person. So why hasn't this been done already?

Consider for a moment how much money the so-called civilized World, in its self-gratifying climate of political hysteria takes from the public purse and wastes on manufacturing and developing more weapons of war than could ever possibly be needed. There is already in existence enough weaponry to wipe all human life off the face of the Earth almost overnight. And forever.

Clearly there can be no reasonable excuse that can be put forward for the impossible situation in which blind people find themselves in a country like Ethiopia. And the situation in several other African countries is even worse believe it or not. It's high time the West's politicians and bankers, to put it bluntly, got their finger out. Surely they can see that it's better to give than to destroy.

Tonight 15,000 runners, including blind runners, will run in Vienna's Night Run to raise awareness and much needed cash for the charity Licht für die Welt (Light for the World). www.licht-fuer-die-welt.at

People like eye doctor Prof. Dr. Gerhard Schuhmann (University Clinic Graz) work in Africa helping many thousands of children regain their lost eyesight. He has been actively involved with the charity for more than 20 years.

Every second blind child in the so-called Third World suffers from grey star (cataracts) and can be helped to see again with a relatively simple operation, says Prof. Schuhmann who has recently returned from Ethiopia. The charity is now building a clinic in Somalia where tens of thousands of blind people will for the first time be able to benefit from appropriate medical treatment.

The terrible facts (WHO statistics) are that two-thirds of the blind children in the Third World will die within 2 years of becoming blind. An operation costs €30, €10 provides a course of Vitamin A.

The WHO is working with VISION 2020 to prevent the number of blind people from doubling in the next 12 years.

When blind children can see again they look eagerly at their world with new eyes. And every time it is just like a small sunrise, says Prof. Schuhmann.

A lot of stars

2009-09-23T04:24:00.000-07:00

In the Milky Way Galaxy there are 100,000,000,000 stars. The Earth's sun is one.

The nearest star to the Earth's sun, on a scale where the Earth's sun is about the size of a small coloured sweet known as a Smartie (we may use a yellow one), is 150 kms away.

Now imagine the whole Milky Way Galaxy with its 100,000,000,000 stars shrunk to the size of a Smartie. Where would next galaxy, it's called M31, be? The answer may surprise you. It will be just 13cms away. Galaxies tend to clump together. They appear to enjoy each others company.

The Milky Way Galaxy Smartie and the M31 Galaxy Smartie, sitting a mere 13cms apart from each other are part of the Local Group. The group of galaxies nearest to the Local Group is the Sculptor Group. The Sculptor Group and the Local Group are 60cms apart.

Only 3mtrs away from the Sculptor Group there is a very large group. It is spread over an area the size of a basket ball. The next big cluster of galaxies is 20mtrs away. And so it goes on. Some of the galaxy cluster are 20mtrs across. The entire known Universe would fit into a sphere 1km across.

This begs the question: What is beyond 1km or is there a beyond?

Ben Nevis Hill Race

2009-09-04T06:43:00.000-07:00

The Ben Nevis Hill Race will take place tomorrow 5th September. A local band complete with bagpipes will give a musical salute to the 500 or so runners dashing away from the starting field in Fort William and out along the lane to the fell gate and to the rough track leading to the summit of Britain's highest mountain, Ben Nevis.
Having arrived at the top the runners will visit the checkpoint, have their numbers recorded, then turn around and dash all the way back down the mountainside and back along the lane to the field from whence they started.

Some 35 runners from Clayton Harriers will be amongst the particpants and, like all the other runners, they will be seen and warmly applauded by the spectators lining the track on the lower slopes.
"It matters no who wins!" or indeed is last, for it is as the old saying goes the taking part that counts.
The only opponent is the big bulky mountain and her blustery weather. Treat her with due respect. Keep a weather eye on the skies. Carry the map, the whistle, the compass, the wind/waterproof gear and some emergency rations.

Good luck to all who compete in this wonderful traditional race run in the spirit of fair and friendly competition. I'm only sorry I can't be there.

WADA LINK >>>

2009-08-27T23:58:00.000-07:00

WADA is the World Anti-Doping Agency, the only organization currently dedicated to worldwide eradication of doping in sport. The WADA link in the sidebar will take you to a 2-minute video about the important and essential work of WADA. Why should the cheats have it all their own way; a token 2-year ban and they bounce back with broad guiltless smiles all over their faces. Behold the conquering hero returns! And even in the world's doping laboratories there are shady characters at work who will mix-up or tamper with the samples for a financial or other consideration. WADA's motto is:
"Respect, Dedication, Character, Solidarity, Excellence, Courage and Play True!"

What better way is there? If you must cheat go and play cards!

So what are your library books, then?

2009-08-22T07:36:00.000-07:00

A few days away from running for it doubtless pays (aged 60+) to give one's weary legs a short respite after a couple of hard mountain races.

I used the first rest day to nip down to the library and get a new stock of books. The following day I met a friend and over a coffee I happened to mention my library visit. "So what are your library books, then?" was the natural response. It was oh so sad. I struggled to remember the titles and authors of just 3 of the books...the rest were well beyond my recall.

Obviously almost all my energy is going into my legs and insufficient is being left for the brain. So what books did I borrow? Having now emptied the rucksack and examined the contents I can now refresh my memory and at the same time make a list.-

In no particular order, they are:

The Beggar - Naguib Mahfouz°
Paul Celan Selections - Pierre Joris°
What am I Doing Here - Bruce Chatwin
Poems & Prose - Georg Trakl
House of Splendid Isolation - Edna O'Brien°
A Person Made of Porcelain and Other Stories - Heimito von Doderer

°these are the titles I remembered -
apologies to Chatwin, Trakl and Doderer!

Bard on the Run's run on p3tv

2009-08-17T02:07:00.000-07:00

To tell the truth I don't know if I actually feature in the 2-minute TV clip of the Hinteralm 'Brutal' Race but in any case it should be interesting viewing for we climbed up a ladder at the side of a waterfall in the course of of our 7.5km run with 980mtrs+ ascent. The reward: exhilerating exercise, wonderful scenery, a bowl of soup and a beer, a small cup to take home (3rd M60 in 62:16). The winner's time 44:05. Other performances of day - the two 75 year olds who finished the course!!!

The TV 'sport' item (with approx 2 minutes of mountain running) may be viewed for a few days at www.p3tv.at (go there and click on 'sport' and then the icon showing a mountain runner) from Wednesday 19th Aug 2009.

When the race is no longer on the front sport page entering the following link may bring it up: http://www.p3tv.at/webtv/sport/1786

Inspired by a younger man

2009-07-22T23:46:00.001-07:00

I am following the sky-running career of the young running sensation (young to me at my white haired age of 60+) Kilian Jornet on the Salomon and Mud, Sweat and Tears websites with great interest and fascination and I have to confess that I am truly inspired. It's not often that one's heroes are two generations younger than one's self but in this case it is so. Follow him too, and see why! He, like anothet running hero of mine New Zealand's world champion Jonathan Wyatt, is unassuming, courageous, talented, communicative, and best of all is a brilliant mountain runner.
Kilian's own blog (see LINKS) links to Salomon. There you can watch his amazing record breaking run across Corsica.
Good luck Kilian Jornet! You are an inspiration to us all; and especially to this enthusiastic, not very talented, lover of mountain scenery and forest trails.

Inspiration from the top of Andorra

2009-07-17T11:30:00.000-07:00

The MS&T sidebar link for 15th July 2009 features a mountain race in superb scenery in Andorra. Sky Runner Kilian Jornet (7) will show you how it's done! The best often make it look oh so easy.

Bard on the Feuerkogel

2009-07-07T13:28:00.000-07:00

The following LINK shows Bard on the Feuerkogel (Runner 160).

Startnummer 152 - 219

Great art rescue gets hand from God

2009-07-01T23:14:00.001-07:00

In almost every town and village in Austria there is to be found a plague column. The plague column is a curiosity from the baroque era and shows the tormented victims of one of the great plagues that beset Europe periodically. These plagues are known by such names as the Black Death, the Purple Death and so on. The most recent great European plague was the Spanish Flu of 1919 which began in Normandy, France and went on to kill 50,000,000 people worldwide. The plague column's purpose is to thank God for saving the remnants of a town's populous following its fervent prayers, doubtless by all and sundry for divine intervention and forgivness, and to send the cruel plague away. It is a most powerful religious symbol.

One of the great novels written against the background of a plague is Hermann Hesse's Narcissus and Goldmund. I have no hesitation in highly recommending the Bantam edition translated by Ursule Molinaro. It is a novel, as described on the back cover, of: two medieval men, one quietly content with his religion and monastic life, the other in search of more wordly salvation. This conflict between flesh and spirit, between emotional and contemplative man [...] is a theme that transcends all time.

What is being described as 'the greatest art disaster in the world narrowly averted' is unfolding here in Vienna. The manager of the Albertina Museum just round the corner from the Vienna State Opera is widely reported to have said: That the flood didn't destroy the works in the storage room is evidence of the existence of God.

I don't know if I'd go so far as to agree with Dr Schröder but it was certainly a small miracle judging from press reports of the narrowly averted disaster. It seems that water poured in to the storage room containing a thousand artworks by such iconic painters as Rembrandt, Klimt, Warhol and Durer. The combined value of the works stored in the Albertina basement is said to be €950,000,000. The works of art are now in the process of being transported to a secret, and we are assured a 'safe and secure' location. Unfortunately God is not assisting here. It seems that the robotic arm that pulls the works from the racks and shelves is malfunctioning due to electrical problems caused by the flood. Work, with or without God's assistance, is progressing at a snail's pace.

Bard on the Run on the Big Long Run...

2009-06-29T08:27:00.000-07:00

0005_A._Bocek_09

...57 kms and 2,290 mtrs +/- to be exact!

Q: What number is the Bard?

A: click on image 1096 , runner no. 7

Bard on the Run on the run

2009-06-26T09:03:00.000-07:00

Bildergalerie Nr 883 Bild Nr 196 / 212 Name Katrinberglauf Ziel 2009_140609_0194.jpg

Erich Fried's Diagnosis

2009-06-25T00:27:00.000-07:00

Erich Fried (1921-1988), as regular Poet in Residence readers will know, was an Austrian-born poet who fled from the looming Nazi terror in 1938 and took up permanent residence in England.
In 1954 Fried translated Dylan Thomas's play for voices Under Milk Wood. The play was broadcast on German radio to much acclaim a few months after its BBC premier. But Fried was also a major poet in his own right.

We may now recall the dreadful events that began in the so-called Holy Land during the 2008 Season of Goodwill to all Men and which were highlighted on this blog at the time. And we may recall the shrill outcry of news media over the so-called criminal use of phosphor-bombs in civilian built-up areas which was said to be 'justified' on the grounds of 'tactics'. Various war-regulations were quoted. Reporters told us that the barbaric unfolding scenario was highly illegal.

During the Siege of Gaza the hospitals, when not being bombed, were at full stretch dealing with the many casualties. A Scandinavian doctor spoke of having had no sleep for 72 hours.

So what are these phosphor-bombs? What do they do? Have they been used before? Will they be used again? Should the ban have been enforced by the international community? Will there be any repercussions?

To help us answer these questions we may now turn to a Poet-in-Residence translation of an Erich Fried poem first published in 1983. It refers to the results of an earlier military campaign. The poem is Diagnose.

Diagnosis

They call it
the symptom
in Beirut's hospitals

That is when
with exhaled breath
from the mouths
of women and children
the smoke comes
for the phosphorous
of the phosphor-bombs
eats through
skin and flesh
and lungs
and within them
burns
and smokes
(even after death)

This symptom
should not be overlooked
when diagnosing
a Begin
or a Sharon

------
translated from Es ist was es ist* by Erich Fried (pub 1983):
Wagenbach, Berlin

*It is what it is

NASA Image of the Day

2009-05-27T00:15:00.001-07:00

The NASA Image of the Day for today shows the Space Shuttle now landed at Edwards Air Force Base following the mission to upgrade the far-seeing Hubble telescope. The telescope has already provided us with amazing pictures from the depths of the universe. Regular visitors to this blog will have seen many. There are two new pictures to be seen almost every day. These pictures are Bard on the Run's book of holies. They are beyond biblical. Beyond anything that has gone before. One recent picture showed an 8.2 red-shift explosion taking place only 600 million years after the so-called Big Bang. This is almost the very beginning that we are looking at. We are on the doorstep of the Creator. She is doubtless pleased with our progress - or at least with the progress of some of us. Where I write these words the newspapers are full of stories of the latest religious blood-letting, the story of the latest murdered guru shot in the head as he preached. On the one hand the human race races boldly forwards - on the other hand it is stuck in the primitive prejudiced behaviour patterns of the past. A mystery, if ever there was one.

Make the best of it!

2009-04-27T07:31:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I was unable to get to the Yorkshire 3-Peaks Mountain Race and so I devised a challenge of my own. With the aid of a useful 1:50,000 map I plotted a footpath and trail route from the Danubian town of Melk (as in Umberto Eco's 'Name of the Rose') to the amusingly named town of Spitz.

The run went over the highest mountain in the area, the Jauerling, at about 3,100'. Total ascent/descent was in the region of 4,000 - 4,500'. Distance? 20 miles as near as makes no difference. I set off at 1.30 pm.

The chosen way led through small villages, deep gorges, along narrow zigzags up and down the sides of valleys, across wide plains and along a variety of surfaces ranging from tarmac country lanes to woodland trails to gravel footpaths and green tracks across fields where there duly appeared a local farmer on a tractor at the very moment (twice it was) when I needed a little assistance with route finding.

The weather was fine, about 20°C and sunny, and so I took care to wear some suitable headgear as protection against the sun's rays. For food I took along a packet of nuts & raisins. The whole business took just over 4 hours. I carried a bottle of water which I replenished with orangeade at the summit of the Jauerling where there is a small cafe´ which was open. It was 5 pm and I was the only customer.

With care I descended a leaf-strewn rocky path marked with red arrows that is used for the annual Jauerling Berglauf (Jauerling Mountain Race). And after half an hour or so I jogged down the road, a broad grin of satisfaction on my face, into the sunny town of Spitz.

After this most enjoyable run I called at The White Horse Inn, back near the starting point, and sitting outside in the golden lamplight of the terrace enjoyed an enormous bowl of meat and veg soup, an ice cream and a beer. It was the perfect end to a perfect day.

The 3-Peaks? I wasn't bothered by the fact that I wasn't there. I did what I could in the situation I was in. And, for me, that's always good enough. As the old saying goes: Make the best of it!

Considering the universe in which we have our being

2009-04-15T22:44:00.000-07:00

The photograph below shows my small collection of cacti. They have now emerged from their over-wintering place and are enjoying the sunshine. They will flower grandly during one night, and then only 2 or 3 times in the year. They will quickly go to sleep again. With their simultaneous night-time burst of heavily scented perfume they will attempt to attract a rare moth from thousands of miles away in the desert. It is unlikely that the creature will arrive. But this doesn't stop the cacti from trying.

That the universe is a big place may appear to be stating the obvious. But, beware, for in the universe the obvious is not always what it appears to be. What we see in the physical realm is merely a manifestation of something whose qualities are unknown to us. Many sages, poets and holy men have spent their lives delving into the matter and have often come away at the end as confused as they were when they started. One has only to look at the high suicide and mental illness rates to get some idea of the difficulties encountered in going down a path that leads into a labyrinth through which it is impossible to navigate one's way to the tower in the centre. The poet and holy man R S Thomas, summed up an important aspect of life in the labyrinth when he said: God waves the white flag of surrender and at the same time retreats from you at the speed of light.

The images featured on the Astronomy Picture of the Day give us ample food for thought. They serve to nourish our curiosity and our ambition. The images are often composite images made with x-rays and radio-waves and other 'tricks of the trade' to give us the wonderful images that a God would see if his huge magnifying 'eyes' could visit many different frequencies and wavelengths at the same time. On the other hand, closer to home, we can imagine the colours of the flowers as seen by insects, small white and yellow daisies may appear as a large yellow and red flowers to passing insects.

We say flowers are beautiful, and so they are, but when we look at them we are not seeing the real flower. The real flower is what the bee sees. To feed the bee and by this means to multiply is the flower's raison d'etre. The fact that flowers carrying out their vital and important tasks, appear as beautiful creations in our eyes is one of the miracles of creation.

Thoughts at Easter

2009-04-14T04:34:00.000-07:00

Concerning Jesus, there's one thing we can be pretty certain of; he didn't die on the cross!

The following Words of Christ appear on igoogle today and are from Luke 24:38/39.-

"Why are you troubled and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself. Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have."

Jesus goes on to ask for something to eat.-
They gave him a piece of broiled fish and he ate it in their presence (Luke 24:41,42,43).

A similar scene is enacted in John 20:19,20.-

the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and side.

and then in John 20:26,27.-
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side..."

We have reports of Jesus showing the holes in his hands and side and his own words uttered at these times. We even have him eating a fish. It is clear, if anything is clear in the life of Jesus, that he could not possibly have died on the cross. As he himself says, "It is I myself ... a ghost does not have flesh and bones"

The fresh wind of change for sport

2009-04-02T00:56:00.000-07:00

Sport doping began as a means to an end during the communist era in Eastern Europe. We remember those great East German and Russian women built like battleships and tanks throwing their spears and hammers half way across the world's Olympic stadia. We gazed in wonderment from the innocent English shores where sport had always been more or less a hobby.

Chariots of Fire meant cutting down on cigarettes and jogging on a beach or up and down some sand dunes coupled with a few press-ups and so on. Gold medal marathon runner Ron Hill's idea of a supplement was a mixture of orange juice, water and a pinch of salt.

We could run like the comic hero Tough of the Track on a diet of fish and chips and steak puddings; and through all weathers and in unsuitable footwear. It was all sport. We spoke innocently of someone being a good sport, meaning that he or she was a fair minded person. The idea of doping was almost unheard of.

But then we saw Arnold Schwarzenegger become Mr Universe, and those battle cruiser East European women scooping all the gold medals and the glory. Not only we, but all of Europe and then all of the world. We decided to become stronger and faster whatever it took to do it.

The Tour de France rider with his baguette and bottle of water, or in one famous case a bottle of wine which caused him to fall asleep at the roadside, became almost overnight a drug experiment on wheels. And in other sports like athletics we saw men built like weightlifters pumped up with steroids winning races that once went to the slim and lithe. It was crazy. It was nonsense. It was big money. And, here in Austria, it is now crashing down.

In the last few days there have been raids and arrests. For the first time those behind the scenes are being rounded up; or at least two or three of them are. More, we can only hope, will quickly follow. Austria, once known as a doping oasis, is getting at long last to grips with the problem. I applaud the Austrian authorities for this overdue action.

Let no stone be unturned in the fight, for it is a fight and it will be a long struggle, against those corrupt and evil drug and blood-doping dealers who would not hesitate to injure the health of young men and women, boys and girls, who strive to make the grade in their chosen sport.

Managers and trainers of young talent have a responsibility to make sure that all their athletes; swimmers, skiers, cyclists, weight lifters, wrestlers, boxers, marathon runners and so on are clean and doping free. When they abuse their position of responsibility and the confidence that parents, friends, relatives and supporters of the young up-and-coming talent have entrusted them with they deserve no mercy. Throw the book at them!

Art and National Socialism in Linz and Upper Austria

2009-03-30T00:55:00.000-07:00

Linz is the European Capital of Culture for 2009. The exhibition The Fuhrer's Capital of Culture 17th September 2008 - 22 March 2009 was extended by one week and so, by chance, I caught it two days before it finished at its venue in Schloss Museum Linz overlooking the Danube and Adolf Hitler's contribution to bridge building, the infamous Nibelungen Bridge.

The Nibelungen Bridge was built from stones quarried at the nearby Mauthausen Concentration Camp, the camp famous for its cruelty and featured in the famous war film The Hill. In fact, it's this bridge that is used as the logo for the exhibition. It is featured on the cover of the exhibition's publicity, I'm almost tempted to say propaganda, leaflet.
The cover shows a bright sunny day, a white fluffy cloud in the sky, people walking briskly over the bridge on their way home from work or about their business, a woman with a little girl, a man carrying a heavy black bucket, a cyclist, a man in an open-necked shirt and suit. It could a scene in almost any European city; London, Paris, Prague. But it's not. At the corner of the bridge in the 1943 photo (c- Walter Frenz Collection, Berlin) the stone figure of a mythological steel helmeted warrior in arrogant pose astride his solid and trusty steed proves that it is a scene in the 1,000 Year Reich. It's late evening and sunset's long shadows from the west give the scene a sense of forbiddingness. The face of the child being hurried over the bridge clutching the hand of the smiling woman in the foreground is almost hidden in the sunset shadow. The child clutches something in her free hand, it could well be a handkerchief. One might be forgiven for believing that she is weeping.

Hitler was 15 when he first dreamed that his home city of Linz might become a great metropolis. Even at this age he was making sketches as to how he saw the city developing. Nazi architect Albert Speer defends Hitler's plan. We recall here the final photo of the Fuhrer in his Berlin Bunker poring over a model of how Linz would look as one of the 5 model cities of the Reich. Speer's quote heads the pamphlet blurb thus: "...what was actually illicit about a project that was designed to turn the city of his youth into a cultural metropolis?" Nothing, we might answer Speer, except for the fact that the enterprise was being built by the inmates of Mauthausen, many thousands of whom perished undertaking their role in what we might call Phase 1, quarrying the stone for the Nibelungen Bridge, which strangely and curiously even to this day is still called the Nibelungen Bridge. The visitor might be forgiven for thinking that the Mauthausen Bridge or the Memorial Bridge to the Victims might be more suitable and more appropriate names.

Austria's Anschluss, the visitor is informed, made National Socialist power fantasies briefly focus on Linz [...] the capital of Reichsgau Oberdonau was declared one of the five "Fuhrer cities" that were to serve as models for future [...] town planning. The visitor is asked to consider a number of questions. An important one is: What manoeuvering space was there for artists? There were too many writers and artists who switched to the Nazi way without losing any sleep over it, there were a lesser number of others who pretended to do so and who then tried to write between the lines, and there were an even smaller number of those, like Zweig, who were able to flee and a greater number - those many who simply disappeared never to be heard of again and those few like Primo Levi who actually survived the concentration camps and wrote about it all afterwards.

Another vital question is: How do today's artists cope with the cultural political legacy of that period? This question is open to debate but I would say that they must continue, as the late Thomas Bernhard did, to struggle valiantly. For instance, next year the Austrian public libraries will receive no funding from the Government. This story has recently passed through the news media almost unnoticed. There has been no discussion, no public outcry, and there will not be. Libraries in small towns will obviously have to close their doors. As with the new fingerprints in passports law (a law which states, amongst other things, that 12-year old children wanting to be included on their parents' passports must give their fingerprints to the authorities) also passed into law without much discussion of the issues involved, there's an impression created that it's but the thin end of the wedge. Freedom is sleep-walking to her doom.*

And so back to the exhibition in Linz. What did I make of it? There was much that is well known to the casual student; the usual Adolf Hitler schoolboy photographs, some sketches, and so on. It was all pretty standard fare. Two items were of some interest. The first was the desk with its Visitors Book open and a page signed, without comment, by the pen of a manic depressive if the scribbled falling away signature is any evidence of character. Before the desk is a larger than life sculptured head lying on its side on the floor.

In the final room is the so-called Poison Cabinet containing not dangerous drugs or medicines but banned books. Erich Kästner wrote: "It's a strange feeling to be a forbidden writer and not to see one's books on the shelves anymore, not even in one's home town, not even when the Germans are shopping for Christmas presents in the snow. Twelve Christmases long it has been! One is a living corpse."
A catalogue of banned books ran to 180 pp and contained such dangerous publications as Liam O'Flaherty's The Beasts Awake and The Dark Soul, Billy Jenkins' The Black Rats and, of course, everything by Jewish writers - the complete works of Franz Kafka and Thomas Mann for instance.

An example of the Burning of the Books which took place in 50 German cities and towns were the events in Salzburg where the Hitler Youth collected together a pile of 12,000 banned books and set the match to them. One soldier is reported to have shouted: I throw into the flames the Habsburg book by Otto the Last!

The last impression of the exhibition that I took away were the words of the radio commentator in Berlin: "We regret to announce that the Furher was killed in action. He fought until his last breath!"
It was of course a lie. But then it was all a lie based on a lie. The lie that there is in this world a Herren Volk, a superior race, a chosen people. It is a lie that is promulgated even today in many places within and outside of Europe.
It's a remarkable thing, in the context of this piece, how one word can start another: NAZION

*I confidently predict that travelling this road, we have now set off along, will take us, perhaps within 10 years, to an Orwellian world of voice prints, eye-prints, DNA ID-cards, and finally, for why bother with cards at all, to scannable computer chips implanted in our bodies. Regardless of age nobody will be exempt.

Fritzl Schnitzels and the man with the blue head

2009-03-17T06:33:00.000-07:00

The schnitzel is the favourite food of the Austrians. It is a battered and deep-fried pork or veal cutlet and can be almost as large as a dinner plate. It is often accompanied by what is euphemistically known as a salad. The so-called salad normally consists of a small lettuce leaf topped with a quartered tomato and a few slices of cold potato. A presenter on my favourite radio station, FM4, summed up the schnitzel: It can lie in your stomach for a week waiting to be digested.
A week is the amount of time set aside for the Fritzl trial in the Austrian city of Sankt Pölten.
For those who have been living on another planet the basic facts are that Joseph Fritzl, now 73, of Amstetten in Lower Austria imprisoned his daughter in the cellar of the family residence when she was 18 years and fathered at least 7 babies by her. She was kept underground for 24 years. Three of the children were brought upstairs to join the main family in the house above. Fritzl told the authorities that he had found these children on his doorstep.
The authorities readily accepted this version of events despite the fact that Herr Fritzl was building an underground bunker and had planning permission to do so. Mrs Fritzl's suspicions were not aroused when her husband stocked-up with foodstuffs and regularly disappeared below ground, especially on his daughter's birthday and at Christmas. What went on in the Fritzl house when the breadwinner was away on sex holidays in Thailand is unclear. We can only surmise.

Herr Fritzl has become the man with the blue folder for a head. He is almost like a Renee´ Margrite painting or a Wallace Stevens poem as he enters and leaves the courtroom with his blue folder-shaped head. The whole thing is bizarre in the extreme. A half-page photo in Austria's popular daily paper the Kronen Zeitung shows blue headed Fritzl flanked by three police officers. It is a worm's eye view. The strange long-legged powerful image can only be compared to a child's view of a Banana Republic statue group.
And so back to the Fritzl Schnitzels. The internet paper Austrian Times reports that the Mayor of Sankt Pölten has instructed an innkeeper in the town to take Fritzl Schnitzels off the menu. The €9 meals are not to go on sale. It would be in bad taste.

On the run in the Vienna Woods

2009-03-12T06:06:00.000-07:00

Here is some evidence that I, as the blog title implies, actually do run. The area where I do most of my running is in the Vienna Woods. It's a wonderful area with 9,000 kms of paths and trails. It should be better protected from the grasp of unscrupulous property developers and other dodgy characters. But it won't be. It's one of these things that is often talked about, but little or nothing ever happens. Money talks. Reason doesn't.

For me springtime is the time that I finally get out and into the great outdoors on a regular basis to enjoy myself physically. I think of it as a reward for 3 or 4 months pent up in fog, ice, snow and in Austria I'm sad to say far too many smoke-filled, tobacco-reeking, unhealthy cafe´houses which stink my clothes and hair and make my eyes water.
Now outdoors under sun and scudding cloud, amid birdsong and the gentle rustle of branches, I get my much needed fresh air and exercise. I can feel my body coming back to life; the energy coursing through my veins as the blood does its work and feeds my muscles so that I can run for miles, and shake off the winter blues along with the few surplus kilos.
The only problem, and there is always a snag, is the dreaded Rottweiler. Some owners take two of these slobbering beasts along the forest trails. It's quite unnerving to suddenly meet one of these unfriendly creatures barring the way along the path. I have found, from grim experience, that the best thing to do is to stand still, avoid eye contact and await the arrival of the owner who will invariably come huffing along uttering some inane words and meaningless phrases before disappearing with his hound of hell bounding away ahead through the undergrowth.
But even standing still and keeping quiet may not save you. The canine warrior may not try and devour your leg but in my experience he may try and bowl you over with repeated body checks, running at you from a distance of 10 mtrs or so. It will take some nerve to stand your ground. It is highly unlikely that the owner, if owner is the right word for the keeper of the savage beast, an animal that should be in a zoo along with the lions and tigers, will apologise for the inconvenience caused or the damage to your running tracksters. He's only playing, is the best you'll get, the best you can hope for. In Austria keeping fit is like passive smoking; quite a risky business.
__
gw

Marcus Aurelius on the primal Cause

2009-02-25T08:33:00.000-08:00

Upwards and downwards, from age to age, the cycles of the universe follow their unchanging round. It may be that the World-Mind wills each separate happening in succession; and if so, then accept the consequences. Or it may be, there was but one primal act of will, of which all else is the sequel; every event being thus the germ of another. To put it another way, things are either isolated units, or they form one inseperable whole. If that whole be God, then all is well; but if aimless chance, at least you need not be aimless also.

Soon earth will cover us all. Then in time earth, too, will change; later, what issues from this change will itself in turn incessantly change, and so again will all that then takes its place, even unto the world's end. To let the mind dwell on these swiftly rolling billows of change and transformations is to know contempt for all things mortal.

The primal Cause is like a river in flood; it bears everything along. How incorigible are the little men who play at politics and persuade themselves that they are acting in the true spirit of philosophy. Babes, incapable even of wiping their noses!

What then, you who are a man? Why, do what nature is asking of you at this moment. Set about it as the opportunity offers, and no glancing around to see if you are observed. But do not expect Plato's ideal commonwealth; be satisfied if even a trifling endeavour comes off well, and count the result as no mean success. For who can hope to alter men's convictions; and without change of conviction what can there be but grudging subjection and feigned assent?

Oh yes; now go on and talk to me of Alexander, and Philip, and Demetrius of Phaleron. If those men did in truth understand the will of Nature and school themselves to follow it, that is their own affair. But if it was nothing more than a stage-role they were playing, no court has condemned me to imitate their example.
Philosophy is a modest profession, all simplicity and plain dealing. Never try to seduce me into solemn pretentiousness [...]

Many of the anxieties that harass you are superfluous: being but creatures of your own fancy, you can rid yourself of them and expand into an ampler region, letting your thought sweep over the entire universe, contemplating the illimitable tracts of eternity, marking the swiftness of change in each created thing, and contrasting the brief span between birth and dissolution with the endless aeons that precede the one and the infinity that follows the other.
____________________________
Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180)

UBS* on my radio plastico

2009-02-24T06:33:00.000-08:00

UBS* on my radio plastico

today
on my radio plastico
the invisible voice said that
an invisible zimbabwean politician
wanted to send a wee bit of invisible gold
to zurich / the invisible zimbabwe - zurich axis
but this cuckoo-clock time
it wasn't to be
- for the invisible official papers were out of order
and the shady gnomes
got the chills
and the jittery-jitters
got the wind up
and barred the doors
to their vaulted gardens

that's invisible economics

three and a half tonnes
is a lot of invisible gold

it's a big lot
of invisible congolese gold

___________________________
FM4 News Bulletin 24 Feb 09
*UBS: here, Underground Banking System

The birth of two prophets, or whatever you like to call them

2009-02-12T01:31:00.001-08:00

The world is full people who like to mark the birthdays of prophets. Today in 1809 two modern prophets entered the world. Their names were Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln. It's curious that these two far-sighted prophets should arrive on this planet on the same day. If we are to believe that prophets are sent to earth to guide us then the date 12th February 1809 must make us stop and consider our situation vis-a-vis prophets.
I am not speaking of prophets here in the biblical sense. That is another matter altogether. There are those in high places who are paid a lot of money to delve into religious matters. What I am speaking about here is a prophet in the general meaning of the word. As Webster's has it there are 5 definitions of the word prophet. I am speaking about definition number 2: One who fortells the future; especially an inspired predictor.
What message can we take from the curious fact that these two men, who changed the world for the better, who brought us all a few giant steps forward in our ways of thinking, arrived on the planet on the exact same day 200 years ago? That is the question.
Today, on the 200th anniversary of the births of these modern prophets, we might do ourselves a bit of good if we took a few minutes to ponder on this strange and mysterious event. We may in the end write the whole thing off as mere coincidence. And that it may be. On the other hand it may not be. Throughout history prophets have arrived when the time is ripe; Copernicus, Galileo and others. But for two to arrive on the exact same day, that is unique. That is special. Consider the facts and decide for yourself.

Last man standing, the real thing.

2009-02-06T11:14:00.000-08:00

Austrian Times – Home > Around the World > Shack attack builders

If ever there was a Jin Chang and Goliath situation this is it. Notice the flag flying on the roof of the humble abode; and is that a satellite dish perchance (enlarges photo)? Indeed it is. Surely the owner of this house is a poet. I'd love to meet him.

BARD ON THE RUN AWARD 2008/9
~ ~ ~THE YEAR OF THE OX~ ~ ~

diverter of the myriad machines
by peaceful and patriotic means
-Mister Jin Chang of Chongqing-

No Worst, there is None

No worst, there is none. Pitched past pitch of grief,
More pangs will, schooled at forepangs, wilder wring.
Comforter, where, where is your comforting?
Mary, mother of us, where is your relief?
My cries heave, herds-long; huddle in a main, a chief
Woe, world-sorrow; on an age-old anvil wince and sing -
Then lull, then leave off. Fury had shrieked 'No ling-
ering! Let me be fell: force I must be brief'.

O the mind, mind has mountains; cliffs of fall
Frightful, sheer, no-man-fathomed. Hold them cheap
May who ne'er hung there. Nor does long our small
Durance deal with that steep or deep. Here! creep,
Wretch, under a comfort serves in a whirlwind: all
Life death does end and each day dies with sleep.

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)

Prohibitorum ad nauseum

2009-02-01T07:12:00.000-08:00

The other day I entered one of Vienna's historical city centre coffee houses, the Adolf Loos' designed Cafe´ Museum on Operngasse. The sparse functional cafe´is known to regulars as Cafe´ Nihilism. It was a frequent watering hole for Leo Trotsky and the group of philosophers and intellectuals known as the Vienna Circle. I found an unoccupied table in a corner, ordered a beer, and pulled from my jacket pocket a well-worn public library copy of Jean Paul Sartre's novel Nausea.
I was only two pages into the novel when a young man selling Augustin, a newspaper sold on behalf of the city's homeless and jobless, entered the premises. Naturally I bought a copy and commenced to flick through it. A cartoon on page 36 caught my eye. An explanatory text on the drawing stated that the Roman Catholic Church had in its index liborum prohibitorum listed the name Jean-Paul Sartre, author of my Nausea, but not the name of Adolf Hitler the author of Mein Kampf.
So there I was, sitting where Leo Trotsky may well have sat, reading a banned book. A book by Jean-Paul Sartre whose complete works are banned. The same Jean-Paul Sartre who refused the Nobel Prize. What was I to make of it all? I was soon to find out.

Arriving home I switched on the radio and was informed that the Pope had authorised the appointment of the Windischgarsten priest, Gerhard Maria Wagner as the Bishop of the City of Linz. Yes, the famous City of Linz; the European Capital of Culture 2009. And the man? Ah yes, wasn't this the man who came to notice for describing J K Rowling's Harry Potter books as satanic and then proceeded to warn parents and children not to read them? I had not long to wait; within a few seconds the newsreader informed me that this was indeed the same Gerhard Maria Wagner. The new bishop clearly had his own ideas about who should be on the index liborum prohibitorum along with Jean-Paul Sartre.

And so I looked. And there at http://fordham.edu/halsall/mod/indexliborum.html I found what I was looking for. The names of the forbidden. Descartes, Pascal, Voltaire, Stendhal, Balzac, Hugo, Flaubert, Zola, Machiavelli, Spinoza, Hume, Defoe, Swift, Kant, D'Annunzio, Bergson etc., etc., etc. Like J K Rowling's Harry Potter they are dangerous men all.
In 1966 the index liborum prohibitorum was downgraded to the status of a moral guide which "reminds the conscience [...] that a book might be dangerous."
If you are not deterred and are determined to risk your soul here are some of the dangerous books. It's but a small random selection. My Top 10 as it were:

A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy - Laurence Stern
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
Woman of Rome - Alberto Morovia
History of the Devil - Daniel Defoe
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Edward Gibbon
Memoirs - Giovanni Casanova
Creative Evolution - Henri Bergson
Life of Jesus - Ernest Renan
and last but not least,-
Jean-Paul Sartre - All works

And now, if you'll excuse me, I must read more Nausea.

post scriptum -
The morning after I wrote the above piece there came tragic news relating to a family from Gerhard Maria Wagner's parish of Windischgarsten. It appears that there was a road traffic accident in which three children (aged, 5, 8 and 10) were killed. Several other persons are badly injured.
The reason I mention this unfortunate event is because small-town Bishop-in-waiting Wagner is the same man who famously claimed that the city of New Orleans had been visited by Hurricane Katrina as a divine punishment from God. This, he said, was due to it being a sinful city.
We may wonder what Wagner will make of God's latest punishment, if that's what he believes it to be. And we may also wonder how and why such a narrow-minded and dogmatic man, this prohibitorum ad nauseum priest of Windischgarsten, is to be become the Roman Catholic Bishop for Linz, the European City of Culture 2009.

Update: the good bishop wagner now claims that god may well have had a hand in the recent Haiti earthquake (where over human beings 200,000 perished and many more were injured and/or made homeless) and says this is because Haitians engage in voodoo! It's really high time for someone in authority at god's hq to remind the herr doktor wagner that 85% of Haitians are of the same religious persuasion as his good self.

The Mayerling Affair (part 2)

2009-01-31T00:22:00.000-08:00

Prince Rudolf's last known photograph is quite depressing. It shows him, expressionless, somewhere in the Vienna Woods, gazing without emotion directly into the camera; an unlit Turkish cigarette hangs from his mouth. He is wrapped-up against the January cold in his fur-lined coat and cossack hat. The road to Mayerling is covered with ice. The days are short.
What's going through his mind? Perhaps he thinking about the blazing argument with his father, Kaiser Franz Joseph, and the Kaiser's last words, the dressing-down may still be ringing in his ears: You are not fit to be the heir to my throne! Or maybe, he's thinking about his favourite painting, an Albert Smith (1848) Three Sailing Ships Approaching the Rocks. Or perhaps of the first stag he shot in Ischl's Jainzer woodland at the age of eight. Or maybe of the evening to come, of his suicide plan; and if he could indeed go through with it when the moment came?

One man who might know the answers is the faithful servant Johann Loschek. He will sleep alone in the next room to the Crown Prince, only an inner wall and a door between them. He will hear every sound. He will be aware that Rudolf's mistress will be spending the night with him, in the room which has only one bed. He will hear their voices through the wall. But, the secretive Loschek will never divulge the nature and content of their conversation; never reveal the overheard phrases and words. In fact what he finally says will be so confusing and unreliable that it will throw many off the scent.

The official version will be in the special editions of the following day's newspapers. Crown Prince Rudolf suffered a heart attack at his Mayerling Hunting Lodge in the Vienna Woods. End.

But the authorities were soon forced to retract. Kaiser Franz Joseph was informed of the 'truth'. At 6am on 30th January Rudolf had killed Baroness Mary Vetsera by shooting her through the head with his own revolver. The revolver which he kept on his desk next to his human skull, his dead sparrow paperweight and his box of Turkish cigarettes. He had then turned gun on himself. Two shots. Two deaths. At first the Kaiser refused to believe it. But finally he broke down and wept. Of course Rudolf's body was quickly brought to Vienna and the appropriate funeral arrangements were made. It was obviously a hunting accident that had taken place at Mayerling.

But what of the young Baroness? It would be shortly before midnight on the 31st January before her body arrived in Vienna. It was taken to an outlying district of the city and the following day at 10am was quickly buried. The circumstances of its transport to Vienna are bizarre to say the least. The body was washed and dressed in outdoor winter clothes; coat, shoes, hat and so on. It was then seated in a carriage in an upright position to give the appearance of a living person and then driven under cover of darkness to Vienna.

The Neue Frei Presse, Austria's most reputable newspaper at the time, ran the scoop. But all copies were seized by the authorities before they could go on general sale. To find out what was going on many Austrians requested contacts in Germany to send newspapers to Austria under plain cover. The cat was out of the bag. Or was it?
There was the little matter of the two hours delay in breaking down the door if we are to believe Johann Loshek's version of events. Loschek claims that the fatal shots were fired at 5.50am. He tried to open the doors to the room. They were both locked from the inside. It was after 8.00am before he finally broke down the door and entered. So what was he doing all this time. It seems he was sleeping in a chair outside the door, guarding the scene as it were.

Is it possible that the couple were murdered as claimed by Lord Salisbury, the British Prime Minister? Salisbury is certain that Rudolf and the young lady were murdered: the Prince of Wales to Queen Victoria.
Certainly it's feasible. One could lie on one's back and slide under the heavy wooden bed and wait for the bed's occupants to fall asleep. It would then be a simple matter to shoot the couple, and if prince's own revolver was to hand so much the better. Next, place the revolver near Rudolf's hand and return to the hiding place. Anyone coming into the room to investigate the shots would immediately deduce that it was a suicide pact. It would be unlikely that the first person on the scene would get down on his hands and knees and peer candle in hand into the dark space beneath the bed. It is, admittedly, an unlikely scenario but it is one that can't be completely ruled out.

On 22nd December 1992 the newspapers led with a sensational story: Mary Vetsera Stolen from her Grave was one headline. It seems that not everyone is convinced of the third official version of events.

Archduke Karl Ludwig: The truth is so terrible that no-one can speak of it!

The Mayerling Affair (part 1)

2009-01-30T00:43:00.000-08:00

On this date 100 years ago the bodies of Prince Rudolf, heir to the Austrian throne, and his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera were found at Mayerling, a royal hunting lodge in the Vienna Woods. The circumstances of their deaths are shrouded in mystery. Only one thing appears to be certain. They had been shot.

Rudolf Franz Karl Joseph, the heir to the Austrian throne, was born on 21st August 1858 in Laxenburg Castle. Two days later he received The Order of the Golden Fleece and was appointed Colonel in the 19th Infantry Regiment.
In 1865 Rudolf's mother Princess Elizabeth of Bavaria demanded the dismissal of the boy's tutor General Count Leopold Gondrecourt whose harsh, sadistic methods, approved of by the disciplinarian Kaiser Franz Joseph who wanted to make a man out of the boy, were proving detrimental to the young prince's physical and mental well-being.

In 1867 Rudolf was taken by a group of seven men into the Jainzer woodland behind the Kaiser Villa at Ischl in the Austrian Lake District. There kneeling behind a tree he took aim with a rifle and shot his first stag at close range. A large stone marks the spot.

The boy developed an interest in ornithology. In 1870 he wrote a 100-page essay on the hunting of eagles. He enjoyed hunting and birdwatching holidays in Spain, Portugal, Egypt, and Palestine. On his writing desk he would one day have a bronze paperweight of a sparrow; the bird lying on its back with its wings at its sides, looking almost like a sleeping angel.

In 1880 a suitable bride was chosen for Prince Rudolf. He travelled to Belgium and became engaged to Princess Stephanie the daughter of the Belgium's King Leopold II. The following year the couple were married in Vienna. In 1883 he began publishing anonymously a series of political pamphlets.

In 1885 he suggested that the Austria-Hungarian Empire might revise and improve her foreign relations policy, especially with regard to Russia. This proposal was rejected out of hand. The following year he told Georges Clemencau: Germany will never understand the wisdom of grouping Germans, Slavs, Hungarians and Poles under the Crown. The Habsburger's have, albeit in a small way, brought about Victor Hugo's dream of a United States of Europe. Austria is a block of different nations and different races joined together. It is the basic idea of Austria, and it is an idea of enormous importance for civilistaion.

In the same year that Prince Rudolf was discussing his European Union ideas with Clemencau there was a problem that was to cause Emperor Franz Joseph more than a few sleepless nights. It was discovered that Rudolf had contracted an incurable form of gonorrhoea. His wife Princess Stephanie of Belgium was also infected. She could have no more children. There was then no possibility of a male heir. The couple's only child was a girl. This child, Elisabeth Marie, would eventually leave the royal family, marry a commoner and join the Socialist Party. But that's another story.

Rudolf continued to publish his political essays. Things came to a head on 26th January 1889 when there was a furious row between Kaiser Franz Joseph and Prince Rudolf. This was in connection with an official visit to the German Embassy on 27th January 1889, a visit that Rudolf did not want to make, until he was persuaded to change his mind.

On the 28th January, together with his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera, he travelled to Mayerling. He planned to return to Vienna on 31st January. There he would meet Count Karoly of Budapest. There were serious political matters, including the future of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy to discuss. Consider here the flurry of urgent telegrams, three in one day from Karoly and the reply from Rudolf fixing the appointment.

Count Josef Hoyos and Prince Philip von Coburg joined Rudolf at Mayerling intending to enjoy a couple of days hunting in the Vienna Woods.

The scenario about to unfold would be quite different to all these best laid plans.

"Yes We Can!" can't we?

2009-01-23T06:50:00.000-08:00

As President Obama gets down to work many here in Vienna are wondering what kind of stuff the new Austrian Bundeskanzler is made of, for after only two or maybe it's three months in that high office the Bundeskanzler, Herr Werner Faymann, is appearing courtesy of the Austrian Mint on a limited edition gold coin. It is his first real achievement.

The great message that the United States of America sends out to the world today is this: Here in the United States, 45 years after Martin Luther King marched on Washington and 44 years after Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Law, Barack Hussein Obama a man of colour, a man with roots in Africa, has attained the nation's highest political office. We are now truly a land where all can make it to the top; race, creed, colour of skin, and even your parents' choice of your name will not hold you back.

In Austria the situation is, quite frankly, grim. The following letter, is typical of an attitude that is all too prevalent. It appeared in the Kronen Zeitung, the country's best-selling newspaper, only three weeks ago.
Dear Editor,
The Vienna New Year's baby came 47 seconds after midnight and his name is Hasan. With this name the child sits between a rock and a hard place. In the homeland of his parents and grandparents he is a foreigner. Is it for our integrating citizens really so impossible that they cannot give their children typical Austrian names? Their children feel Austrian and speak the Austrian language and most will spend their lives here. Do our integrated fellow citizens really think that Hasan, with this name, in 15 to 20 years has a better chance of a job than if he were called Franz or Karl?
from Richard Reichart (Vienna).

We can only hope that the writer of the above is wrong. That the name of a person is a deciding factor in suitability for a job and will still be so in 20 years time is a diabolical indictment.

Perhaps one day the Vienna New Year baby will overcome the Austro-Germanic obstacle that is his Turkish name and rise to a high position; maybe one day he will also have his name and profile on an official gold coin. Who can tell?

ps - My forename is distinctly un-Austrian. It is Welsh. And I am proud that it is. But here in Vienna with such an un-Austrian name to handicap me would there be any point in my applying for a job? That is the question. According to citizen Reichart and his ilk unless I am prepared to change my name to something with a solid German ring; Franz, Karl, Werner etc. my place is, and will remain for the next 20 years, with baby Hasan in the unemployment queue.

Out with the old and in with the new

2009-01-18T23:41:00.000-08:00

Today is the last day on the job. He will spend it packing his bags. Tomorrow he hopes he will be chopping firewood back home on the ranch in Crawford, Texas.
I speak of course of the man who lost his way, the crusading bankrupter of America and American values, the man who will be remembered for the War in Iraq and the pretence that there were WMD's to be found there.
I speak too of the man whose Middle East peace plan was the destabilization of the region, of the man who flew 'detainees' around the world in secret aeroplanes or incarcerated them without trial in Cuba, and of the bemused 9/11 man sitting in a junior school classroom in Florida.
George W Bush will also be remembered as the man who got into office through a dubious vote count in the state of Florida; the state where brother Jeb is Governor. And, in another state, as the man who failed the citizens of New Orleans.
He may well be remembered as one of the worst Presidents in American history. He knows this and so he says we must take the long view of his presidency. But he knows when he says this that it is his last attempt, in office, to pull the wool over the world's eyes.

In October 2001 George W Bush said publicly that he supported a Palestinian state. Before 9/11 his policy had been that America had nothing to say about Arab-Israeli relationships and conflicts, they were matters for the parties concerned. After 9/11, and it's worth repeating this, he supported the idea of a Palestinian state. And he did so publicly. He went further. He called on Iran and Syria to join a US-led coalition.
Israeli President Ariel Sharon was furious. Sharon accused George W Bush of "appeasement" and drew attention to Chamberlain's appeasement policy and Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia.
To demonstrate the power of the world's fourth largest army Sharon, almost instantly, ordered his troops into the Palestinian areas in Hebron. Later in the same month, following the assassination of the Israeli Minister of Tourism, he moved troops into the Palestinian controlled West Bank.
In mid-November, with a military victory in Afghanistan behind him, Bush told Arafat to stop the terrorist attacks on Israel; Sharon had advised Bush that Yasser Arafat was the problem. The Israeli capture of the Karine A, a ship loaded with weapons appeared to confirm this.
In late March 2002 a suicide bomber killed 30 Israelis. Sharon responded with Operation Defensive Shield in which Israel reasserted control of the West Bank. Bush was now floundering. His so-called policy was in tatters. His Secretary of State had spent the most miserable ten days of his life in the region to no purpose.
Bush changed tack. Sharon now became "a man of peace". In May, following a visit from Netanyahu, the American Congress and Senate passed resolutions supporting Israel. A new situation now existed. America now stood "in solidarity" with Israel. As if to demonstrate this "solidarity" Bush gave Israel an extra $200 million to fight terrorism.
One month later Bush delivered a speech in which he said that Israeli settlement activity in the occupied territories should stop and that the Palestinians should have their own state. There was talk of a "Road Map to Peace". Much talk. But unfortunately no action. Bush had other things on his mind. The forthcoming Bush-Blair invasion of Iraq was one of them.
By May 2003 Bush was almost euphoric. Saddam had fled from his citadel. "Mission accomplished" was the slogan of the time. In the US Bush's popularity was sky-rocketing, which was wonderful news with the 2004 re-election campaign just over the horizon. Unfortunately the "Road Map to Peace" was fast becoming "The Road Map to Nowhere". Israel had no interest in road maps.
A month later, following a White House dinner attended by 100 Jewish leaders, press secretary Ari Fleischer announced that the issue was not Israel but was terrorism.
Another resolution was passed expressing "solidarity with the Israeli people".

And so it goes on. Went on. For now it is over, or almost.

Tomorrow there will be a new man in the White House. President Obama may not be so easy to manipulate. It may be that the current Israeli war is one last throw of the bones on the Middle East variant of the Monopoly board, one last deal of the marked cards, one last slaughter of the hundreds of innocent children. And it may be that is why we are being treated to this display of military prowess and brute force in this unholiest of Holy Lands.
A new day is dawning, a new sun is rising, the long shadows of the Bush-Arafat-Sharon era are dwindling away. A man is coming who will change the world and make it a place fit for human beings to live, communicate, discuss, mediate, meditate, and to think things through. We may all learn that with power there comes responsibility. Responsiblitiy to the values that make us humans and not some kind of insecure wild animals who feel the need to be armed to the teeth with dangerous weapons or the need to terrorise people of different faiths or even of no faith.
At the present time in history the key to the whole business is American Foreign Policy. When this becomes even handed and fair the world will be able to move forward. It will take the efforts of each and every one of us. We must not allow injustices to fester. When we find them we must expose them and deal with them. We must stamp out greed, corruption, and unacceptable behaviour towards our brothers, for that is what we are when all is said and done. And if we do, the dream of a better world for our children and grandchildren will become the new reality.

Doctor Fischer and the Bomb Party*

2009-01-15T04:45:00.000-08:00

On his recent state visit to Israel, shortly before the outbreak of the latest Israeli war, now into its 20th day, the Austrian President Dr. Heinz Fischer was accompanied by Ariel Muzicant the President of the Austrian Jewish Community (IKG).
The whole state visit business was a very civilized affair. The Austrian President was grandly feted and was awarded an honorary degree or some honour of that ilk. Many photographs were taken to show a series of happy diplomatic handshakes. A short excursion into the West Bank resulted in more smiley photos. Relations between Israel and Austria have never been so good we were told.
And so we all settled back with our popular anti-EU ski-report tabloid with its 8,9 or 10 pages of daily ski-reports and colourful photos. But then came the war. And everything changed. Or did it?
President Dr. Heinz Fischer has been, except for one brief conspectus early on, conspicuously silent about it all, or if he has spoken the skiers on Austria's snowy slopes, concerned about the possibilty of new ski-helmet requlations and speed limits for downhill skiers, are not aware of it. You would think that a man, a President, recently returned from an area now plunged into barbarity would have something to say about it.
As I type this I'm listening to reports of two hospitals in Gaza bombed; a Red Crescent hospital and a Red Cross hospital. I'm listening to reports of a United Nations compound now ablaze following an Israeli attack. I'm listening to reports of countries breaking off diplomatic ties with Israel. I'm listening to reports of 1,050 dead on one side and 13 dead on the other side. What I'm not listening to is President Heinz Fischer. His silence is, as they say, quite deafening. Almost as deafening as the bombs falling around the Aljazeera press office in Gaza.
I am, however, listening to President Ariel Muzicant of the Austrian Jewish Community. Ariel Muzicant, unlike Fischer, is not completely silent. On the contrary he is noted for being outspoken. In today's Daily Ski tabloid for example Muzicant blames the European Union for the current ongoing war situation. He bemoans the fact that the EU has not put enough 'Cease-fire' pressure on Israel. And that may well be true.
In the broadsheet Die Presse he says that critics of the Israeli invasion of Gaza lack empathy for a Jewish State. Now that is not true Mr Muzicant. The critics of Israel's conduct are critical both with and without empathy. They are to be found all over the empathy spectrum. What the critics are mostly critical of is the unbridled brutality and savagery of the Israeli response. Muzicant cannot expect the critics to support Goliath when he is raining down clouds of white phosphorous on a densly populated city. Muzicant might change his tune if he was a Palestinian child and not allowed to flee the war zone.
"When one sees Arab television crews running around trying to find injured residents of Gaza..." begins another line of Muzicant propoganda. But here again he is being blinkered by empathy. After 20 days there are 5,000 wounded Palestinians in Gaza. One Norwegian surgeon, working around the clock, going 72 hours without sleep, described the scene in his hospital as "a conveyor belt of wounded".
Muzicant goes on to ask the big question, the question that's really troubling him, "After 3,000 years of persecution, we must constantly ask ourselves the question; where can we flee in the worst case?" And to that there's no answer.
A eurocent for your thoughts Dr. Fischer. The bomb party goes on.

*title of a novel by Graham Greene

A miserere for the children

2009-01-13T23:07:00.000-08:00

Up to now on Sunset Strip as the tragicomedy unfolds the first 1,000 have been killed. 35% of the killed are chidren. Children yet to die have been traumatized. The world's 4th largest army is wreaking its vengance. 80,000 people have been forced out of their homes. In the UN's 38 schools 35,000 people shelter from the blitzkrieg, the blitzkrieg which has no end in sight.
The world's politicians continue to pontificate. Yesterday, Tony Blair, the Middle East Special Envoy (or whatever he calls himself) received his Medal of Honour from his friend George W Bush. We saw it on television.
What we didn't see on television, if we didn't have Aljazeera, was what was going on yesterday in Sunset Strip. Aljazeera is the only international television station with reporters in locus. Israel has not had a reporter in the enemy's camp for 2 years. BBC and CNN reporters, and all international reporters, are banned from entering the war zone.
Why is the world's news media banned from Sunset Strip? That is an important question. Reporters are supposed to report from war zones. That is their job. There was even a time, go back as far as you like, when artists armed with canvas and brushes found themselves in war zones and on battlefields. So why this new rule? Why this no reporters, no cameras, no artists rule? Doubtless some of the world's courageous and dedicated newshounds will sniff out the 'Why' of this in due course.
As we wait for the truth to emerge from the fog of war I offer a miserere for the children of Sunset Strip and say to the world's dithering and overpaid politicians: You do nothing but insult those 350 dead children and their mothers with your windbag pontifications and your tragicomedy gongs and ribbon parties.

from Psalm 52
(for politicians and diplomats
who didn't try too hard)

Why do you boast of evil, you
mighty man?
Why do you boast all day
long,
you who are a disgrace in the
eyes of God?
Your tongue plots destruction;
it is like a sharpened razor

from Psalm 86
(for all the dead children
and those about to die)

The arrogant are attacking me,
O God;
a band of rutheless men seeks
my life -
men without regard for you.
But you, O Lord, are a
compassionate and
gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding in
love

Why? Part 2

2009-01-10T02:20:00.000-08:00

Both my future grandfathers-to-be ran with the throng and were all too soon, unbeknown to each other, fighting for their lives in France. They were typical cannon fodder of the day, poorly educated patriots who knew little or nothing of the world outside their local communities, knew only that when Your Country Needs You! you must do your bit. One was a slate quarrier from Snowdonia in Wales and the other a coal miner from Tyneside in England.
The two young men's destinies were decided in the trenches at the Battle of the Somme. Somehow they both survived. One was sent home with an arthritic condition known as trench knee and the other with an advanced case of wet gangrene.
The Somme action was opened on 1st July 1916 by the noble Douglas 1st Earl Haig. It was battle in which 600,000 Allies and 650,000 Germans were killed, and so I ask 'Why?'. Why, for instance did Haig do it? What possessed the man to send millions of soldiers over the top and 600,000 to certain death. At Passchendaele the noble Lord took more unbelievable losses; there he sent another 245,000 Allies to their certain deaths. Mankind has all too often a short and blinkered memory. These days Douglas 1st Earl Haig is remembered fondly as the founder of the British Legion.
Fortunately for me, and for them, the names of my future grandfathers-to-be did not appear on those endless lists, those lists of the names and numbers of the 1,250,000 young men who were forced to slaughter each other at the Somme or the 10,000,000 young men whose lives were cut short because of this war to end all wars.
Another who survived the war was a young man named Adolf Hitler. He was a messenger who ran backwards and forwards with coded messages sent from those at the back giving the orders to those at the front carrying them out. He was excited by what he had seen. He won a medal. The Iron Cross was pinned to his proud pseudo-Teutonic chest.
Adolf Hitler, did not know it yet, but he would do better. In his war it wouldn't be a question of a mere 10,000,000 perished. It would be six times this number. The figures would become quite sensless; beyond anyone's imagining. And in the 60,000,000 there would be a hidden figure. A figure of 6,000,000. In Hitler's war there would be two wars. One would be against the Allies and another would be against the Jews.

Why? Part 1

2009-01-09T04:48:00.000-08:00

The summer of 1914 is noted in Europe for being particularly summery. The Austrian monarch, Emperor Franz Joseph was going on his summer holidays. So what if Franz Ferdinand, that irritating heir to the throne had been killed by some Serbian lunatic, or even if the infamous Black Hand Brigade was involved, it was of no consequence. In fact, mused Franz Joseph, whoever was responsible has probably done us all a favour, saved me a lot of trouble anyway. Yes, the summer was pleasant. The deer were running in the woods at Bad Ischl. He would travel there on the royal train and spend another pleasant summer with his guns, his horses, his dogs and his mistress. Life could hardly be better at the grand old age of 83.
Behind the scenes, back in Vienna, Generalstabchef Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf had other ideas on how the summer might unfold. In secret, with a small group of politicians and diplomats von Hötzendorf considered the military options. "If the worst comes to the worst Germany has 4,500,000 soldiers and we, Austria-Hungary, have 3,500,000. Between us I, ahem, I mean we, have 8,000,000 soldiers. Now if I add in Italy's 3,400,000 soldiers, that's 11,400,000 soldiers on my side. Even Great Britain only has 1,067,000. Ah, but France has 4,300,000 and Russia, dangerous expanding Russia they have say 4,000,000..." he went on. "The plan is to hold on to Serbia following its annexation in 1908," he explained, "A small war in the Balkans will drive the message home. We are not a nation, I mean an empire, to be fooled around with. Who would dare oppose an army of 11,400,000? Add in the Turks if required and the army will stand at 12,800,000 men...let's say 13,000,000." He doubtless smiled at the assembled and lit a corona cigar. And there we must leave him enjoying his smoke.
The plain fact is that in Europe of 1914 there were well over 20,000,000 soldiers. Perhaps nearer 25,000,000. Even little Belgium had an army of 182,000. War was almost inevitable. It only needed the match on the blue touch paper. A newspaper cartoon of the time shows the bright New York skyline behind a braying donkey it's wide open mouth spewing forth an endless river of war materials. Somebody was making a fortune. And 10,000,000 lives would end because of it.

Why Mr Guo will win the war

2009-01-08T01:17:00.000-08:00

From Ho Chi Minh's Prison Diary I have extracted three items to make a point.

The first is the poem
Air-raid Warning November 12

Enemy planes come roaring in the sky.
People flee helter-skelter, leaving the place empty.
Out of prison we are ordered for safety:
How gladly we all hasten to comply!

The second hints of changing fortunes, shows you can't trust Mars.
Dog-meat at Baoxiang

At Gode the guards liked their fish fresh.
Now at Baoxiang they relish dog flesh.
Ah, even that gang of turnkeys
At times show a taste for delicacies!

The third shows that ordinary people are basically good natured.
Mr Guo

Like duckweed meeting water, glad we were to see each other.
How kind and cordial Mr Guo was to me!
Nothing much: "A little gift of coal in wintry weather."
Yet, that such people exist is truly a blessing.

We might think that what the world needs today is more kind people like Mr Guo and less of the other sort. There are, contrary to public perception, people like Mr Guo in abundance. Millions of them. More than enough. They can be found in every country and every city in the world. The problem is that their voices are all too often unheard because of the clamour of the war industry.
This situation can only get worse because of the sanitized, approved versions of events that are continually bombarding us from our breaking news screens you might think. But you'd be wrong.
The Mr Guo's of this world are not so dumb as the censors, the priests, the politicians, the industrialists, the bankers, the turnkeys et alia would have you believe. Mr Guo will out. Mr Guo will have his way. This has been proven time and again. How the mighty are fallen, is not an idle observation.
A universal law is at work here. It is beyond the minds of generals and warmongers to comprehend this. And I repeat, it will have its way. The king cannot wear enough for both of us.
Ho Chi Minh put it very well in his poem The Weather is Clearing Up:

The Weather is Clearing Up August 29, 1942 - September 10, 1943

Everything evolves, such is the law of nature.
After days of rain, here's fine weather coming!
In an instant the earth has cast off its damp clothing;
Over ten thousand li the land spreads its mantle of brocade,
Under warm sun and balmy wind flowers smile with rapture;
In the tall trees and shining boughs birds release their trills.
Joy fills man's heart as well as the universe.
After bitter comes the sweet: so runs the course of nature.

All wars must end around a negotiating table. There are three steps. Peace, War, Negotiations. It's quite simple. Peace, War, Negotiations. The trick that Mr Guo is teaching us is to miss out the middle step; to go from step one to step three directly. It's easy. It's quite simple. All it takes is a little courage.

Mr Guo gave Ho Chi Minh a simple gift, a piece of coal. What are the consequences? The gift, the kindness of the gift, inspires Ho Chi Minh. It enables him to continue his long sufferance. The gift becomes a milestone on a long road. Why is this important? It is important because those who would have it otherwise want to control the giving and the receiving. Think about that. Mr Guo risks his life to give a prisoner, a stranger in dire circumstances, a man in shackles and rags who has nothing, a simple gift, a piece of coal.

The Milestone

Neither high up nor far away,
Not on an emperor's nor a king's throne,
You're only a little slab of stone
Standing on the edge of the highway.

People ask you for guidance;
You stop them from going astray,
And tell them the distance
Over which they must journey.

The service you render is no small one;
People will remember what you've done.

Murder and Madness on Sunset Strip

2008-12-27T05:36:00.000-08:00

The so-called Holy Land is one of the unholiest places on the planet. And there a war is being waged against an imprisoned people; a people living in what is euphemistically called a 'strip', a 'strip' which is in reality a prison. These people have no medicine, food, water or other resources of their own and depend on UN charities and other charities to survive. In desperation a few rockets which are not much more than hand-grenades on sticks and lack guidance systems are launched in the direction of the enemy; an enemy armed to the eyeballs with all the latest hi-tec American equipment and an arsenal of atom bombs.
Today, at first count 155 inhabitants, including the usual percentage of women and children, of the 'strip' are dead and 250 more are seriously wounded. A massive air attack by Israel is responsible. It is an outrage. It is disgusting. It is criminal. No, it is worse than criminal. It is beyond belief that a powerful military machine can be used with impunity to put down what is little more than a token of defiance from the impoverished and imprisoned. There must be a law against it. Those responsible must be brought to justice.
Tonight on the 'strip' the sun will set yet again on a scene of misery and devastation. Throughout the world the suicide bombers will already be forming new and longer queues ouside the mosques and prayer houses. The rest of us may ultimately have to count the cost of Israeli stupidity.

Remembering a real hero, 50 years on

2008-12-22T03:57:00.000-08:00

In one of the buildings where I used work there's a plaque on the wall. I, and many others, would pass it every day. Many times I would stop and read it. Sometimes I would point it out to a visitor. On the plaque is written:
This tablet
is erected to perpetuate the memory of
James O'Donnell MM & Bar Detective Inspector
County Borough of Blackburn Police
To whom has been posthumously awarded
'The Queen's Police Medal for Gallantry'
who died from gunshot wounds received
in the execution of his duty
on the 13th December 1958

Mike Griffin, the editor of my quarterly pensioners newsletter writes: On this 50th anniversary of his death, it is proper to remember with gratitude and pride the service that this remarkable man gave to this country. I agree.

THE WAR
James O'Donnell was a native of Bolton, then a County Borough in Lancashire. During the war he served in the Irish Guards. On the 10th May 1940 the German Army invaded neutral Holland. Three days later, manning an anti-aircraft gun on the Hook of Holland jetty which was being bombed and machine-gunned, Lance Sergeant O'Donnell fired a continuous stream of tracer at enemy aircraft until he lost consciousness from machine-gun wounds. This courageous action gave Queen Wilhelmina and the Dutch Government the opportunity to sail to Dover. Two days later, lying in hospital in the Hague, O'Donnell was captured.
He soon found himself in prison in Poland. He managed to escape on at least a dozen occasions, including once by hiding in a box and another time by hiding in a sack, but always, being unable to get passable forged papers, he was recaptured within a few days. One Gestapo official managed to catch him twice. The longest time he was able to remain at large was for a period of 10 days. Finally, in April 1945, he escaped for good and rejoined his regiment in Bergen after an absence of 4 years and 11 months.

THE BREWERY STREET SIEGE
After the war O'Donnell rejoined Blackburn Police where he rose to the rank of Detective Inspector and head of the Criminal Investigation Department. It must be remembered that British Police Officers in uniform and their detective colleagues were in those days, as they are today for the most part, unarmed.
On 12th December 1958 at 11.35pm two constables, Jack Covill and Jack Riley, were called to a terraced house in Brewery Street, near to the police station. On arrival they found the front door barricaded and the occupant Henry King standing at the back door with a shotgun in his hands. King had been drinking heavily. He had purchased a shotgun earlier in the day. It was his intention to kill his wife and baby. The family was crowded into the back room.
Constable Covill told King to hand over the gun. King immediately shot Covill in the groin. He then turned the gun on his wife and fatally shot her. Meanwhile Constable Riley, acting swiftly, was able to pull his colleague to safety. It would take Covill a year to recover from his injuries.
Detective Inspector O'Donnell and Detective Inspector Harrison arrived at the house and King, who knew O'Donnell, allowed them entry. Shortly after they had entered King fatally shot O'Donnell in the chest at close range. Detective Inspector Harrison then threw a chair at King, who was now pointing the weapon in his direction, and in the confusion managed to get out of the house. The incident ended at 2.15am the following morning when armed police officers entered the house after using tear gas and arrested King.

In a world where the term 'hero' is much abused we would do well to reflect on what the word really means, or what it ought to mean.

Craig Ewart, dying with dignity

2008-12-12T04:59:00.000-08:00

Hamlet: To be, or not to be - that is the question;
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep -
No more - and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
that flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consumation
Devoutly to be wished. To die - to sleep -
To sleep - perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub.
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil
Must give us pause [...]
[...] Who would these fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all [...]

The case of Craig Ewart, 59, a former university lecturer from Yorkshire, England, has raised a stormy debate in Great Britain. Ewart took his own life at the Dignitas Clinic in Switzerland. He swallowed a handful of tablets and turned off his own oxygen supply. There was no-one forcing him to do this. It was his free decision. It was his own life that he himself was ending.
Phil Willis, the Member of Parliament for Ewart's constituency in Yorkshire is reported, in The Northern Echo, to have said: I don't believe anyone has the right to take their own life.
What Mr Willis and his ilk believe is naive in the extreme and irrelevant. People have always taken their own lives and will doubtless continue to do so. Mr Willis might like to consider the situation in countries such as Roman Catholic Austria where any discussion of suicide is conveniently swept under the nearest church doormat. In these types of societies persons determined to take their own lives often have do so in a way designed to protect their families from the stigma attached to suicide; for example by crashing their car at high speed. Unfortunately this tactic all too often results in the deaths or serious injury of innocent persons who happen to be in the vicinity.
Presumably, as Mr Willis ruminates it, it is better for potential suiciders in his constituency to consider the use of tried and tested methods like blasting one's teeth into the bedroom ceiling with a double-barrelled shotgun or cutting into one's jugular in the bathtub. Never mind about the shock and trauma this will cause to family and friends. Or about the mess that somebody else will have to come and clean up.
Far better then, than all this hypocrisy, would be to provide the terminally ill patient whose mind and body is in rapid decline, after appropriate discussion with doctor and family, the opportunity to end his own life with dignity and to depart with his mind at peace with the world; leaving one's nearest and dearest with no fardels to bear.
One of several advantages that the Dignitas method of taking one's quietus has over traditional methods is that of time factor. It takes longer. Hamlet has time to mull on the consequences. He has time, in Shakespeare's tragedy, to change his mind. This is something that the suicider who leaps into the air from the roof of the multi-storey carpark doesn't have. He cannot change his mind at the last second and propel himself back to his starting point. He must go on with the act. The tragedy is, he may survive; his crumpled and crippled body may be saved by medical skill.
Another advantage of the Dignitas method is that some inncocent stranger is not forced to particpate in the act. Consider the inter-city train driver who suddenly finds a suicider standing on the line. The driver has no time to react. He has no choice but to kill. It's the nightmare scenario in the real sense of the word. The driver is left with Hamlet's fardels. What shall he do with them Mr Willis? He can only take them home. It's all part of the job.

The Laughing Hangman and other stories

2008-12-04T04:10:00.000-08:00

Country squires in fur coats and farmers in rags, all lumped together. And all ages from confused old men to frightened children. And alone, in groups, or in lines; from trees, from telegraph poles, or the gallows. Some with their caps and hats on their heads. And also two women; both young and pretty. And the spectators, often posing for photos. A soldier who appears to be amused stands over the body of a Ukrainian priest. Nazi criminals? You have to ask!
Anton Holzer's collection of photographs speaks volumes. And will shock; for the facts are not yet known in the wider world. It's a photographic story that demonstrates that the old Austrian K.u.K. Army in the Balkans, in Poland and in Russia was not very much better than the German Wehrmacht in World War II with its contribution to the Holocaust. In Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia, along the Adriatic and in Galicia not thousands but tens of thousands of innocent civilians, the vast majority without any legal process and only because of hysterical outbursts from K.u.K. officers who thought every civilian was a spy, were summarily executed.
The worst affected were the Ukrainians and the Jews. In East Galicia every constable, watchman, sergeant, had the power to order that every alleged spy, every arbitary suspect, could be hanged without any formalities. The newspapers carried photos of arrests and public executions; Russian Spy Arrested, Farmer is Suspected Spy, Suspicious Female Spy Captured, German Gendarme with a Jewish Spy, were typical captions.
The public hangings were photographed and went on sale as postcards. The fear of spies had to be widely spread. Training courses for potential hangmen were available.
The K.u.K. army was ordered to spread terror: In Serbian border towns and villages take hostages. In the event of any incidents and to justify hostages burn down the place, to paraphrase an instruction to military commanders dated 12th August 1914. The first massacre of Serbian civilians took place in the third week of the war.
At an execution of a prominent prisoner a photograph was taken of Vienna's laughing hangman, Josef Lang, who was brought in for the occasion; dressed in bow-tie and bowler hat Lang stands smiling over the corpse of Cesare Battisti. He is surrounded by a laughing crowd of civilians and soldiers. Battisti, a former K.u.K. politician was an Italian patriot and had therefore joined the Italian Army. When he was captured by the Austrians, he was imprisoned, charged with betrayal and hanged in public.
In Sabac on 18th August 1914 Field Marshal Lieutenant Kasimir von Lütgendorf ordered three of his own soldiers to be executed for being drunk. The bloody execution, carried out with bayonets, took place in the square directly outside the town's church. In 1920 Lütgendorf was sentenced to 6 months military detention but without loss of rank or military honours.
Anton Holzer's book Das Lächeln der Henker - Der unbekannte Krieg gegen die Zivilbevölkerung 1914-1918* (Primus Verlag) will not be widely read in Austria says reviewer Hellmut Butterweck in the Wiener Zeitung newspaper dated 12th December 2008.
This theme is an indigestible morsel for Austrian self-image, he concludes.

*The Smile of the Hangman - the unknown war against the civil population 1914-1918

Recollecting - Looted Art and Restitution

2008-12-03T09:30:00.000-08:00

Outside Vienna's Museum of Applied and Contemporary Arts there is an old car. The car is in a large red container with one open side. It is an exhibit in an exhibtion titled Recollecting: Raub und Restitution / Looted Art and Restitution. The car is a 1931 Fiat 522C. It once belonged to a respected Vienna citizen, a man called Moritz Glückselig. In 1938 the vehicle was confiscated by the authorities. The reason was simple. The owner was Jewish. As a Jew he had no right to posses a car. Did he not know of the Jüdisches Gut wird Volksgut law which said Jewish property is the People's Property? It would appear not.
By 3rd December 1939, another new law regarding motor cars and motor cycles was on the books. This new law prohibited Jews from driving. Not much use having a car then, even such a handsome and prestigious vehicle as a Fiat 522C. And anyway you can't drive a car when you are locked-up in Dachau and Buchenwald, as Mr Glückselig was soon to find out. Once Mr Glückselig was safely ensconced in his new quarters his People's vehicle was disposed of by the VUGESTA, the Secret Police for the Administration of Jewish Relocation Property whose other duties included collecting Reich Flight Tax (this has nothing to do with airline fuel surcharges by the way). Mr Glückselig did not perish in Buchenwald and he was not shipped to Auschwitz. He later surfaced in Argentina where he opened a Deli.
Brigitte Bermann-Fischer was fond of her Camille Pissarro painting Le Quai Malaquais et l'Institut until the VUGESTA knocked on the door and took it away along with all her other property including her books; her favourites being those on Austrian music. In 2002 she found her books in the Austrian National Library. She knew they were hers because they had her name and her ex libris inside their front covers. In 2007, after years of searching, she found her beloved painting. It was in the Kantonalbank in Zürich.
The People's new artworks were distributed by VUGESTA through the Zentralstelle für Denkmalschutz the 'Central Office for the Protection of Monuments'. This latter organization was renamed the Institut für Denkmalpflege the 'Institute for the Care of Monuments' in 1940. Under the Führervorbehalt that is the Führer Priority Proviso of 1938 a man named Hans Posse was appointed to select the works deemed suitable for the proposed Führermuseum in Linz, Upper Austria. The last photo of the Führer in his Berlin Bunker shows him gazing lovingly at a plywood model of the capital of Ostmark and presumably the Führermuseum.
The banker Phillip Gomprez was a wealthy man. He lived in Palais Tedesco (The German Palace) in Vienna's fashionable shopping street, Kärntnerstraße. He fled with his family to Brno (Czech) and made his way from there to Switzerland. His sister Marie died in Brno in 1940, the year the VUGESTA cleared out the Palais Tedesco. Cornelia died in Bern in 1944. Phillip Gomprez passed away in 1948 in Montreux. Ten of his artworks had the honour of being selected for the Linz museum. Art was moved by truck or train in the night. Sometimes in crates, other times under a tarpaulin. Paintings were sold in Switzerland or like two of Gomprez's favourite paintings, a Gauermann and a Spitzweg, they were hidden in tunnels in Austrian salt mines.
In 1945 the US Army created four collecting points in a former NSDAP building in Munich. Here works of art were brought with a view to restoring them to their owners. When the Americans closed the collecting points in 1950 they handed 1,000 artworks to Austria on the understanding that they should try to trace the owners and return the property. The Austrians decided to put the artworks in a safe place. And where is safer than a monastery? The Federal Office for the Care of Monuments situated in the Carthusian Monastery at Mauerbach was just the place. Here work to trace the owners of 8,000 stolen artworks could be carried on in an atmosphere of peace, tranquility and quiet. Or could it? Very few works were returned. Work seemed to go on at a snail's pace or more aptly at the pace of a monk wandering around a quadrangle deep in thought, deep in prayer. In 1996, following the Washington Conference on Holocaust Era Assets "the remaining objects" were auctioned off at the Mauerbach Benefit Sale.
An interesting side to the exhibition is the appearance of lists of appropriated property with official Nazi stamps and signatures and comments regarding the estimated value of articles. A family's photos and other personal effects would be entered on the same typed official lists as artworks and then marked down by a qualified official in the appropriate column in red ink as wertlos, that is to say 'of no worth', before disappearing forever.

Pictures from an exhibition (2) Land of Songs

2008-11-27T23:27:00.000-08:00

One of the songs that the child is instructed to copy into its school exercise book runs like this:
Creed
Führer and flag
Volk and Reich
in holiest goodness
we all the same
ready to fight
we are prepared
to live and die
for you...[etc.]
And another so:
30th January
Hear the banner flutter in the wind
Hear the storm rush through the land
Of Germany we are...[etc.]
There are official songs too. Austria has had many National Anthems since 1918. Like the street signs they are changed at intervals:
..... 1918 "Gott Erhalte..." the so-called Kaiserhymn (Seidl/Haydn) better known today as "Deutschland, Deutschland Über Alles")
1920 - 1929 "Deutsch-Österreich du herrliches Land" (Renner/Kienzl)
1929 - 1938 "Sei gesegnet ohne Ende" (Kernstock/Haydn)
1947 - "Land der Berge..." (von Preradovic/Holtzer)
Of course there must have been at least two other National Anthems; 1918-1920, 1938-1947. But, strange to say, there's nothing here about them. There are always gaps in the offical accounts. By now I have come to expect them.
A single poem catches my eye. It's by Theodor Kramer and it is dated 13/7/1938. It's on the side of a display cabinet. There's a pillar in the way. I almost missed it. Could easily have done so. Others do. I scribble a copy of it (and I will attempt to translate it for a future post). I was unable to find any information on the poet's post-1939 life in exile.
Adolf Hitler is here. Never easy to miss the Führer. One photograph shows a pair of devoted officers giving an enthusiastic 'Sieg Heil' salute in his direction. He sits with his entourage in a box at the Vienna State Opera. The date is 27th October 1938 and the opera is Eugen d'Albert's Tiefland. It's one of Hitler's favourites. In 1940 film producer Leni Riefenstahl made the film Tiefland for Hitler. The film's extras, Romer gypsies who played the parts of the Spanish peasantry, were duly sent to Auschwitz to be murdered. So much for their contribution to the silver screen. Tiefland's action takes place in the Spanish Pyrenees; not far from Guernica, the town made famous by the Luftwaffe's crimes and the paintings of Picasso. It is ironic, and not mentioned, that Glasgow born composer Eugen d'Albert was a man with French, Italian, Scottish and German blood in his veins; was a man who saw himself as a Weltbürger, a free spirit, a cosmopolitan citizen of the world.
There's a photograph of the new synagogue in the Austrian city of Graz. It was opened in the year 2000 and stands on the site of the 1892 constructed synagogue which was destroyed by the Nazis in 1938.
But we cannot dwell too long in this period of the past. It doesn't do. Austria is now a member of the European Union. A corner of the exhibition testifies to this. But it doesn't impact on my mind.
What I take away in the end are the images of students fleeing for their lives down ladders, scrambling out of Vienna University's windows almost as if the building is on fire. But the building is not on fire. The Nazi terror is in there looking for its next victims. I take away a photo of the courageous playwright Thomas Bernhard, the writer of Heldenplatz, a man still ostracized by many, a man whose grave is vandalised at regular intervals. And I take away also a distinct feeling that something is missing, the feeling that the full story is not before me, the feeling that they have allowed me in to show me that it wasn't so bad and that it was all inevitable. I walk out of the fog of woe and into the sunshine and see once again the exhibition's banners proudly fluttering in the sunshine blazing down on the inner-city's main artery. So, at the end of the two hours spent in the Austrian Parliament looking at what they wanted me to see, what's the word I'm looking for to sum it all up? Something to do with a dearth of qualities; civil courage, integrity. Things like that. And soon I have it. A lack of Weitsichtigkeit. The ability to see past the end of one's nose. Perhaps that's it. The sign hanging over the door of the Vestibule, a small theatre adjoining the Austrian National Theatre the Burgtheater, it's perhaps 400 metres from the '1918 Austria Republic 2008' Exhibition ; it's a title of a performance. And it reads 'Everywhere the Neurosis is Blooming'. Maybe, the situation is not totally without hope. Somebody, somewhere may be addressing the issues.

Pictures from an exhibition (part 1) Born in Blood

2008-11-26T05:20:00.000-08:00

A 130 page guide (German/English) to the Austrian Parliament (€4.00) was on sale in the Austrian Parliament's foyer when I bought my ticket (€2.00) for an exhibition in the main entrance hall of Palas Athene, an exhibition that I felt was a little misleadingly titled Republik 1918/2008 Exhibition on the giant screen alongside the Ring, the inner-city's main artery.
By 1918 the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy had drowned itself in a blood bath. At the end of the war, the K.u.K. Army had accumulated senseless losses: more than 1,000,000 soldiers dead, more than 2,000,000 soldiers wounded, more than 1,200,000 soldiers taken prisoner. It was beyond comprehension, especially when one considers that the Habsburgs were offered favourable peace terms on at least four occasions during the years 1916 to 1918 and refused them all. The last refused offer was from the USA's President Wilson. In reply to an earlier offer from Clemenceau the newly appointed Kaiser Karl, crowned in Budapest, sent a curt note written in French and immediately turned up in Berlin in his Prussian Officer's uniform to announce that his cannon would face to the west.
It had been said repeatedly on the radio and elsewhere that the exhibition was to mark the Republic of Austria's 90th birthday, which of course it isn't. The Second Republic was born on 27th April 1945. It is 63 years old. The First Republic was born on 12th November 1918 and died on 4th March 1933. It was 15 years old. The two republics have a combined age of 78 years. But that is not even the case. The First Republic was not the Repbublic of Austria but the Republic of German-Austria. Another kettle of red herrings altogether.
The original idea was that the exhibition would be open to guided groups only. That idea was doomed from the start, for reasons I can guess at; lack of interest being one. And so, the man off the street was duly allowed in to see for himself. The only problem was that the exhibition was not open as advertised. "Perhaps you could call back tomorrow? Tomorrow we will certainly be open." And so I did.
I arrived at 9.30am today. There was no queue. I was able to go straight to the counter, get my ticket and go in. Two or three school groups of a dozen or so teenagers were doing the guided tour. About twenty other people wandered around the large upstairs exhibition room; the room in which the Nazis tried to kill Dollfuss the first time, but more about him later. Workmen were erecting a large Christmas tree. There was much banging and chattering. But it was only slightly distracting. A video installation in a dark box next to the great tree was not showing. Perhaps the workmen needed the electricity supply for the tree's lights? I didn't ask.
At this point it's good to come back to the guidebook for a moment. If ever there was a pivotal moment in the history of the Austrian Parliament it would be the 25th July 1934, the day of the attempted Nazi Putsch when the Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss was murdered in the Parliament building by Nazis and the nation's Radio Station was occupied by them. I looked for details of this event in vain in the section 'History'. The whole business seemed skipped over. Here's what I read:
The events surrounding 12 February 1934, which triggered a short but violent civil war in Austria, further shifted the powers of government towards the autocratic forces. This was strongly supported in Italy, which, governed by Mussolini and at the time Austria's only effective ally against National Socialism, favoured an autocratic and anti-democratic solution. All this occurred against a background of growing conflict with Nazi Germany, which the Dollfuss government hoped to counter successfully with a corporative, autocratic constitution and the formation of a new unity party [.....] the prohibition of political parties and the stipulation that the Fatherland Front was to be the sole state party. This expressly forbade any form of opposition to government [.....]
Austria under Nazi Dictatorship (1938-1945)
The occupation of Austria by Hitler's troops entailed the Anschluss, the country's annexation to the German Reich [.....] After the death of the German president, Paul von Hindenburg, the functions of chancellor and president were combined (Act of 1 August 1934).
I now turn to the actual exhibits. The first thing to see is 10 seconds of original film footage; a large crowd has gathered outside the Austrian Parliament building. Several men dutifully raise their hats and some of them wave. They are not exactly jubilant. In fact the mood is somewhat sombre. Many red flags are in evidence in a painting of the scene on the wall nearby. A quotation sums up the business of the day, 12th November 1918: A new and happy time has broken out. From the old Austria is born a new German-Austria.
I move on to look at a political poster. It shows a map of Germany and Austria. They are almost the same shade of pink. They are separated by a lightly drawn dotted line, a line that you will think will soon disappear. In the middle of the beautiful pink drawing is a dark, almost black, splodge. This cancer, as you are drawn to think of it, to diagnose it, is in an otherwise healthy heart and is marked with one word CECHIEN (Czech).
There's a photograph of a large building from which smoke is pouring. This is the Palace of Justice; it's just round the corner from where I'm standing. On the 15th July 1927 there was a demonstration 'for justice' outside the building. And justice was duly meted. The police fired into the dense crowd and killed 89 people. Hundreds more were badly injured. Two scorched papers in a glass case, legal documents, are on show.
The 5th March 1933 edition of Das Kleine Blatt (The Small Paper) carried the front page headline: Crisis in Parliament. The 3 Parliamentary Presidents had resigned following a heated debate over a railworkers' strike. This meant that the Austrian Parliament could no longer function democratically. At one stroke the citizens of Austria were disenfranchised. From now on, until his assassination, Engelbert Dollfuss would rule as a fascist dictator. He'd be supported in his new role by the Roman Catholic Church and his Italian friend Mussolini. A photograph shows the busts of the three founders of the First Republic, which stand on three granite plinths as a monument to democracy, on a corner between the parliament building and the palace of justice, suitably covered with white sheets.
By 1935, with Dollfuss out of the way, Nazi propoganda dramatically increasing in Vienna and the other provinces. At its peak a total of 530,505 Austrians would be paid up members of the NSDAP.
On the 15th March 1938 Adolf Hitler addressed the jubilant crowds in the Heldenplatz (The Square of the Heroes). On the 10th April 1938 there was a plebiscite. It was a farce. The result: more than 99% of Austrians voted for unification with Germany.
Dollfuss Platz was renamed Adolf Hitler Platz in the Austrian tradition of honouring the flavour of the day. Today it is Rathausplatz (City Hall Square).
There was a small photograph of some Jews scrubbing the pavement. A nearby text explained that under the Nuremburg Racial Laws 200,000 people had lost their 'civil rights'. There was another photo. Dozens of jars, containing the brains of handicapped children, removed for 'research' at Am Spiegelgrund in Vienna. Nothing about the infamous and highly honoured Dr. Gross who lived to be over 90, the man responsible for the efficient running Am Spiegelgrund (On the Mirror Ground), the man responsible for the welfare and care of these unfortunate children. Eight hundred in all. Treatment included being locked in solitary confinement in a windowless cell. Somehow one or two children survived. It's not mentioned. There's just the photo. The jars and their contents. It's enough.
At Austria's most famous concentration camp Mauthausen (Toll Houses) more than 100,000 lost their lives. The approximate figures: 66,000 Jews, 20,000 Medical Cases, 10,000 Roma and Sinti, 4,000 Political inmates, 500 criminals. Curiously there's no mention of allied servicemen who died at Mauthausen. A famous film, The Hill, where starving prisoners are forced to run up a hill carrying heavy loads, is based on actual events that took place at Mauthausen. This is not mentioned either.
What is highlighted, in prominent text on a colourful wall chart, is the number of Austrian casualties: 246,000 soldiers killed (of which 76,000 missing), 600,000 taken prisoner, 250,000 wounded (of which 116,000 invalids), civilian victims due to bombs etc. 24,300.
There's an interesting section which shows children at school. A young boy, a Hitler Youth member, is learning to shoot straight. Men in military uniform look on. They appear suitably impressed. There's a school exercise book open at a page. The child, perhaps 10 or 12 years old, has copied out poems. He or she will be told to learn them by heart.

You can't take it with you!

2008-11-20T01:52:00.000-08:00

A body and the coffin containing it have disappeared from a family tomb at Auen on the shores of Lake Wörthersee. The location, in the Austrian province of Carinthia, is close to Velden, the town where the late Carinthian Governor Jörg Haider's last movements (see below) became lost in a fog of misinformation and speculation.
Billionaire, Frederick Karl Flick, left behind a personal fortune of €5-6 billion at the time of his death in 2006. His father, a self-made billionaire industrialist and member of the 'Himmler Circle of Friends' employed slave labour at his steel plants and coal mines in Germany, France and the Soviet Union during the Nazi era. He was subsequently sentenced to 7 years at the Nuremburg Trials but was released after 3 years with more than 30% of his fortune still intact.
The missing Flick, for his part, was best known for his cultivation of the political landscape in Germany, which appears to have required a mere $25 million, and in connection with the Helmut Kohl affair of 1983.

More on Hungary/Slovakia border problems

2008-11-15T23:34:00.000-08:00

The current (13th November 2008) edition of the weekly German language Czech newspaper Prager Zeitung carries the following short report of the recent troubles on the Slovakia-Hungary border under the page 2 headline 'Border blockade':
Last Monday right-wing extremists blockaded the Slovakia-Hungary border at several crossing-points. This deployment was a protest against the presence of Slovakian police at the football match between Dunajska Streda* and Slovan Bratislava* at the beginning of November, when 11 people were injured and 30 arrested. The Slovakian government stand behind the action of the police. Premier Robert Fico claims that Hungarian fans entered Slovakia in order to provoke a conflict with the police. Budapest called for the Slovakian authorities to investigate the adequacy of the police presence.

*Both towns are situated in Slovakia. Dunajska Streda has a large Hungarian population.

On the same page of the Prager Zeitung under the headline 'Remembering' is the following:
In Slovakia, last Monday, on its 70th anniversary, the Reichsprogromnacht was remembered. In the east of Slovakia in Kosice 40 survivors of the Holocaust were welcomed by the mayor Frantisek Knapik. From the area of Kosice more than 13,000 Jews were deported to various concentration camps. Only 400 of them survived.

Slovakia closes border crossings

2008-11-10T08:37:00.000-08:00

Slovakia today announced the closure of two border crossings; in order, they say, to prevent Hungarian neo-fascist trouble-makers from entering Slovakia.
The relationship between these two European Union countries which share a common border along the River Danube is far from good. Neighbouring countries like Austria are wondering if the latest move signals the beginning of a big problem for the region.
In the south of Slovakia there lives an Hungarian minority, residue of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy which fell in 1918. Hungarians comprise 10% of Slovakia's total population of 5.4 million. Recent 'crowd trouble' at a football match in the town of Dunajska Streda (Dunas Zerdahely - H) appears to have kick-started the latest grudge war.
Slovakia claims that neo-fascists from Hungary were responsible for causing violent street battles and vandalism in the town. The Hungarians countered with an accusation of police brutality. The Slovak flag was subsequently set on fire outside the doors of the Slovak embassy in Budapest. In the Hungarian area of Slovakia road signs were oversprayed. Slovakia then demanded that Hungary deal firmly with the problem of extremism.
Hungary replied to this request with its old tactic of issuing new school books to the Hungarian children in Slovakia. These Hungarian school books are printed only with Hungarian place names (e.g. Dunas Zerdahely) and with no Slovak place names ( e.g. Dunajska Streda).
Following this escalation, Jan Slota head of the Slovakia National Party (SNS), part of the Slovak coalition government, decided to engage in schoolboy mentality name-calling. He started by calling the Hungarian patron saint "a clown on a horse" and the Hungarian Foreign Minister Göncz "a Hitler without a moustache". The final and most provocative insult was to Hungarian national pride itself. He referred to the Turul, the giant bird of Hungarian myth and legend, as a mere "parrot".
Slota: Slovakia is no longer part of Upper-Hungary, the home of the terrible Turul bird but the home of the doubled crosses of the Slovakia State. Our army should hold more manouevers to answer this Hungarian chauvinism.
Hungarian leader Viktor Orbam countered: Slovakia is preparing for a Kosovo in Central Europe.
The time bomb ticks...

Thinking of the NS-Progrom

2008-11-10T02:57:00.000-08:00

'Thinking of the NS-Progrom in Austria' is the title of a report on page 2 of the popular Austrian tabloid the Kronen Zeitung, a daily paper boasting a readership of 3,000,000 in a land of 8,000,000 souls.
The story, by Dieter Kindermann, is accompanied by a picture of Pope Benedikt XVI. It reads (subject to any unfortunate translation errors by me) as follows:
Rome/Vienna.-
"Today I still feel the pain of this tragedy," Benedikt XVI said yesterday after Angelus in St. Peter's Square. He was speaking about the Jewish victims of the NS-progrom, cynically called 'the night of broken glass', in Germany and Austria. Yesterday with memorial services and silent marches the churches remembered the inhuman terror of the night of 9/10 November 1938.
In Vienna alone 42 synagogues and prayer houses were set on fire, 30 people were murdered, thousands were deported to concentration camps. Without any scruples the mobs plundered the Jewish shops and homes.
Historians are united. It was with the November progrom that the holocaust began, the systematic extermination of the Jews through the criminal NS regime.
"A terrible, shameful, and tragic event in the history of our land," said President Fischer.

*

At this time I feel strongly that we should also remember those thousands of anonymous others, many unknown and unsung, who were murdered by the Nazis. People like the poet and professor of theology Roman Karl Scholz, who organized an underground resistance movement with 400 members in Klosterneuburg near Vienna. Unfortunately Scholz and other members were betrayed by Otto Hartmann, a Burgtheater actor and Gestapo spy in 1939.
Scholz, who wrote a book of poems called Ferne Feine Dinge 'Fine Distant Things' (published in 1935) was tried and found guilty along with 8 others of making preparations for high treason. He was incarcerated in 11 different prisons, and doubtless brutally tortured, before being executed by guillotine in 1944. During his time in prison he wrote a novel Goneril and two dramas: Zu Spät 'Too Late' and Männer 'Men'.

A glass of milk and water

2008-11-08T23:06:00.000-08:00

The telephone at Austria's ORF TV station was said to be 'red hot' as outraged viewers bombarded the station after remarks, described by Austrian Times as a 'racist tirade' were made by an experienced journalist of 61 years standing.
Klaus Emmerich, 80, a former ORF chief editor and US correspondent made the controversial comments on the US Election show. And he followed them with similar remarks in broadsheet newspapers.
On the ORF show Emmerich said, "I do not want the Western world directed by a black man. And, if you say that is a racist remark, I say you are damn right." He added that Obama was "a talented but branded man with a devilish talent to present his rhetoric so effectively."
In an interview in the Austrian daily Der Standard he explained that he saw Obama's election as "a highly disturbing development" because "blacks were not as far advanced in the process of civilisation and political progress."
In another Austrian newspaper Die Presse he said, "Americans are racist so the situation in the USA must be very bad if they send a black man to the White House. That would also be the case in Austria if the next Chancellor was a Turk." He went on, "I am no racist. I've written a book in which I describe a scene when as a child in 1928 I walked through my home town of Frankfurt with my parents and a young black. I'll never forget the hate in the faces of the people of Frankfurt who didn't want to see a small white child walking with a black. The point is not Obama. The point is the emotion in politics."
ORF spokesman Pius Strobl's glass of milk and water reaction was that the moderator Andreas Pfeifer was "too weak" and that the other panelists had failed to react because they "were tired after the long election night."
In 3 days time Austria will mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the 1st Republic on 12th November 1918 following the fall of the Habsburg Monarchy after World War I. The 1st Republic lasted 16 years. In 1934 following on the heels of a civil war the Republic was replaced by a system known as Austro-Facism until 1938 when the land became part of Nazi Germany.
Austria regained it's Republic status in 1945 due to the sacrifices of millions of non-Austrians, including thousands of black Americans, and not through any sacrifice on Austria's own part. The majority of Austrians were more than content to be loyal inhabitants of Ostmark in Adolf Hitler's 1,000 Year Reich; but only until it all turned sour at Stalingrad.
It is only because of the great sacrifices of peoples "not as far advanced in the process of civilisation and political progress" as white man Emmerich, that Emmerich and his ilk at ORF TV have their freedoms of speech and reporting.
In Austria's recent general election the far-right populist parties, the BZÖ and FPÖ, received a combined 29% of the votes.

Imprisoned blogger to be set free

2008-11-06T23:51:00.000-08:00

Malaysian blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin, sentenced to 2 years imprisonment in September and now in custody for 56 days, is to be freed later today by order of the high court in Selangor. The blogger had been imprisoned for allegedly promulgating articles insulting Islam on his Malaysia Today blog at http://mt.m2day.org/2008
A full report can be found on the Al Jazeera link in the side bar on my Poet-in-Residence blog.
Raja Petra has consistently infuriated the authorities by refusing to follow the government line with his blog. He is one of 700 Malaysian bloggers who comment on social and political issues says Al Jazeera. His detention triggered widespread protests, a brisk trade in anti-government t-shirts and candle-light vigils. The Malaysian deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, whom the blogger links to the brutal murder of Altantuya Shaariibu in 2006, is a frequent target of the Malysia Today blog. Raja Petra's pages also highlight Muslim on Muslim terror attacks and murders in Islamic countries like Algeria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The controversial law under which Raja Petra was arrested empowers the authorities to detain a 'suspect' for 2 years, and this is renewable indefinitely, without bringing any charges. Raja Petra could even be immediately re-arrested under Malaysia's all-encompassing Internal Security Act. Bloggers throughout the free world will be keeping more than a close eye on developments.

Bizarre twist in the 'King of the Carinthians' death saga

2008-11-05T06:33:00.000-08:00

Ingo Krassnitzer the organizer of the Stermann and Grissemann comedy show due to take place at Klagenfurt University in December has survived a murder plot. Krassnitzer was driving near Klagenfurt when for no apparent reason his car began to skid. Austrian Times reports that the wheel nuts on Krassnitzer's car had been loosened by persons unknown.
This bizarre attempt at a repeat performance of a Jörg Haider type death accident follows an ORF TV show in which the comedy duo Stermann and Grissemann made jokes about the circumstances surrounding the death of the late Governor of Carinthia in particular about his vodka drinking spree in a gay bar.
Writing in The Vienna Review Maruska Strah reports that a survey of 2,000 internet users found that 79% believed that Haider had been murdered. Only 16% believed that the fatal accident was of his own making. Several blogs and websites highlight a strange looking hole in the roof of Haider's VW Phaeton and suggest it was made by some kind of explosive device. This theory can be laid to rest here and now. The indentation in the car roof above the driver's seat corresponds to the size and shape of the top of an Austrian fire hydrant. The hydrant was uprooted by the impact of the Phaeton and obviously struck the vehicle a heavy blow on the roof.
A story originating in Algeria is that Haider was responsible for securing the recent release of the two Austrian hostages held for over 250 days in Mali and that he did this through his Libyan connections. It is being widely reported that a sum of money, perhaps as much as €5,000,000 has been paid to the kidnappers. Austrian Foreign Minister Plassnik and the Mali authorities deny that any ransom was paid.
There was another political death in Austria recently and that was the demise of Helmut Zilk, a retired socialist Mayor of Vienna, who passed away in his sleep at the age of 82 following a long illness. In 1993 when in office Zilk was the victim of a right-wing fanatic's letter bomb campaign; his left hand was blown to pieces when the device exploded as he was opening a package. Helmut Zilk has said of Haider: "Whether we like it or not Jörg Haider is the only political talent that Austria has experienced in the past few years." The recent words of Zalka Kuchling, of Carinthia's Green Party appear to confirm Zilk's observation: "There wasn't a single day that Haider was not mentioned in the newspapers or on the radio. The journalists made him look good. This kind of adulation was never here before."
And so we are unlikely to see the truth and reality of what really happened on that dark night when a man driving to his mother's 90th birthday party met his end. The man was drunk and driving too fast. The rest is a private matter.
- The king is dead. Long live the king!

The lost 250,000 and neo-Colonialism

2008-11-04T05:06:00.000-08:00

Today, or was it yesterday, news can travel slowly through the Congo, twelve United Nations trucks carrying medicines and supplies finally halted in the refugee camp at the end of the long and dusty trail. And found the camp totally deserted. That this does not bode well for the refugees goes without saying. We can only pray to whatever gods there are overseeing this unholy war that the 250,000 refugees, mainly old men, women with children, and girls with babies who were in the camp only a few days ago are now hiding somewhere safe. We can only hope that another genocide has not yet been perpetrated.
When President Obama takes office, as he must surely do according to all the pre-election polls, one of his first international problems will be how to deal with the situation in the Congo. Will he send in more peace missions, more troops on the ground, more spy planes in the air, more money, more skilled workers, more American firms, more experts or what? Or will he be the man who finally gets to the root of the problem?
A glance in any modern encylopedia will reveal the causes of the current strife. To spell it out: the area is much too rich in mineral wealth for its own good. Tribes are now staking their claims. The G8 and G7 countries are dealing from their marked decks at the high table. The usual shady interests are lurking in the long shadows, knives drawn. The new power blocks are seeking to get their hands on large chunks of the mineral wealth cake. Every dog wants its 'place in the sun' as Mussolini, and Hitler too, termed the old colonialism. The arms manufacturers and the manufacturers of civil unrest and civil wars have 'never had it so good'.
So what are these minerals that lie in abundance under Central Africa? Here's a list, by no mean comprehensive, but it will suffice to tell the tale: gold, copper, zinc, cobalt, manganese, oil and uranium... and of course, also of much interest, above the surface the green jewel, the vast African rain forest.
The great river which flows through Africa's 'Heart of Darkness' is 4,820 kms long; long as the Atlantic Ocean is wide. The crocodile infested waters may already be flowing red.

The nature of the beast

2008-10-29T05:28:00.000-07:00

In Somalia a woman accused of adultery was killed on Monday evening by public stone throwing. The brutal sentence was carried out in the port town of Kismayu which is held by Islamic rebels.
Hundreds of local people, including several members of the woman's family, are said to have gathered in a public square to witness the execution.
The woman, Asha Ibrahim Dhuhulow, 23, was bound by the hands and legs and placed screaming in a hole in the ground. Several men then threw stones at her head.
Some reports claim that Dhuhulow was removed from the hole and placed back in it at least three times before her executioners were satisfied that they had completed their abhorrent task.
A child who may have been running towards the woman was shot dead by a guard.
Latest:
Reports from various sources, including Amnesty International, now say that Dhuhulow was aged only 13 years and that she was in fact a rape victim.

Playing the sympathy cards...the Ace of Hearts, the 3 of Bishops

2008-10-26T22:59:00.000-07:00

Jörg Haider, the right-wing Austrian politician perished at the wheel of his official Volkswagen Phaeton motor car. We were told by the media that the tragic accident had happened as he was on his way to celebrate the 90th birthday of his mother.
A great funeral was held in the capital of the Austrian province Carinthia. Three bishops in their pink skull caps were prominent on the front row of the black mass of mourners sitting in rows in the city square. Steel helmeted green soldiers were on parade. A gun carriage carried the coffin. The wife picked up fallen rose petals. The President and all the political leaders were there to pay their respects. It was doubtless a moving spectacle.
Haider, 58, trumped in the recent elections by the young and virile populist - the boy Strache, who took 40% of the youth vote and finished 3rd close-up behind the two main parties, was said to have been considering a re-merger of his BZÖ (orange is a lighter shade of brown) with his protege's rapidly ascending xenophobic FPÖ (bright and breezy blue).
Conspiracy theories now abound; a Mossad assassination or a Slovenian terrorist acting alone are two popular scenarios. The fact of the matter is that Haider was drunk. Witnesses in a popular gay bar a few miles from the crash site have spoken of how the politician drank a bottle of vodka in less than an hour and of how he walked unsteadily to his car shortly after 1am on the fateful morning and drove away after refusing a lift home.
Three questions the conspiracy theorists and the rest of us should be asking are these:
Why did the Austrian authorities delete the SMS messages on Haider's telephone?
Why did Haider's deputy, Petzner, get out of Haider's VW a few minutes after the duo left a Velden night club together earlier that night?
Why did Haider feel the need to get drunk?
The time has come for all players in this bizarre game of cover-up to lay their cards, face up, on the unholy altar of truth.

Que Cera ...Cera?

2008-10-14T05:34:00.000-07:00

Austrian 2008 Tour de France rider Bernie Kohl (trans. Cabbage), 3rd on the podium in Paris and overall winner of the red polka-dot King of the Mountains jersey is the fourth Tour de France rider to test positive for the banned substance Cera*. Stefan Schumacher, Kohl's Gerolsteiner teammate and roommate on Le Tour is one of the others to have tested positive.
Kohl (trans. Cabbage) received a letter containing a 20-page document with the results of two positive 'A' samples (tested: 3rd July and 15th July) on Friday. On Monday he met with Andi Schwab, head of Austria's Anti-Doping Commission, in a Klagenfurt hotel and was suspended from competitions pending the results of his 'B' samples. Said Schwab, "I am not happy. Once again Austria is making negative international headlines."
Italian cyclist Riccardo Ricco who injected himself with the blood-booster before the start of Le Tour has been banned for two years. Ricco, who was advised to use Cera by the banned physician Carlo Santuccione won stages 6 and 9 of Le Tour in spectacular fashion. Ricco tested positive on July 17th. The case against teammate Leonardo Piepoli is still pending. Both riders have been shown the door by the Saunier-Duval team.
Bard on the Run, who dopes on bananas and beer, applauds the work of Wada (World Anti-Doping Authority)!
The organization now has the technology and expertise to check blood samples taken as long as eight years ago. In the fight against the cheats the latex gloves are being pulled on. The dopers may run but now there's no hiding place.
The International Olympic Committee has given Wada permission to test 969 blood samples taken at the Beijing Olympics.

*Cera - Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator - from Hofmann-La Roche produces increased levels of red blood cells and therefore gives an obvious advantage to drug cheats in endurance events. Cera was developed to help patients in hospitals and on dialysis.