http://www.humanbeams.com/index.php/editors_notepad/index/ News, Views and Updates --HB Editors en Copyright 2010 2010-02-18T21:41:36+00:00 http://www.humanbeams.com/index.php/editors_notepad/comments/galloway/ http://www.humanbeams.com/index.php/editors_notepad/comments/galloway/#When:20:41:36Z A DAY IN THE LIFE OF GEORGE GALLOWAY V/O: It’s 9am. We find GEORGE in his office with the Respect Party campaign team. GEORGE: Come on lads. It’s been over a week since I’ve had a front page in the papers. I need to say something controversial. Something that’ll get me a spot on the news. My hair’s looking particularly good at the moment, I don’t want to waste the chance for more photo opportunities.? .......I know, I’ll say “Tony Blair is the world’s biggest terrorist”. AHMED: But George, you always say that. GEORGE: WELL, YOU CAN’T COME UP WITH ANYTHING BETTER! .. That’s it Ahmed, you’re fired. AHMED: good (walks out slamming door) GEORGE: I don’t know why they allow these people in the country…. Right, Imran. Do you have any ideas? IMRAN We could try to find out what the ordinary voters think, Mr Galloway? GEORGE Good idea, we can find out why they hate Tony Blair and love me, thier leader, oh and call me George, Mr Galloway sounds so formal. V/O: It’s 10:30am. George is on the street, meeting the people GEORGE Imran, bunch of kids over there, get the camera, great photo op IMRAN yes, Mr Galloway. GEORGE: Hi kids, give me five! Don’t leave me hanging, dudes. KID: Wanker. GEORGE: A SPELL IN THE ARMY WOULD DO YOU SOME GOOD!... Imran, phone the chief constable, find out why they aren’t issuing more ASBO’s V/O: 10:45am. GEORGE: Imran, lets try this shop, it’s the hub of the community. We should be able to find out what the pulse of people’s feelings are. IMRAN: George, maybe not this shop… GEORGE: Why not? IMRAN: Well… GEORGE: Let me finish, I’m going to have my say! IMRAN: Erm, okay. What?’ GEORGE: What? IMRAN: Nothing… GEORGE: You need to learn to listen more and stop asking stupid questions. Let’s just go in the shop. A doorbell rings as GEORGE and IMRAN enter the shop. SHOPKEEPER: Hello sir. Can I help you? GEORGE: No, my friend, it is I that can help you and your people. I’m George Galloway, though I expect that you recognise me? S/KEEPER: Are you that scouser man that says: “Calm down, Calm Down?” GEORGE: No, I’m your Respect MP. S/KEEPER: Oh. How can I help you? GEORGE: I understand your pain, and the suffering of your brothers in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kashmir. I’m fighting to defeat the terrorism of George W Bush and Tony Blair. S/KEEPER: I voted Conservative. GEORGE: Peace and respect to you, but the Conservatives are war and hate mongers like Tony Blair. Join us, the Respect Party, the true voice of Islam and Pakistani Youth in Britain. We speak for your children. S/KEEPER: Please leave my shop, not only am I Indian, I’m also a Hindu. Get out! GEORGE and IMRAN are leaving the shop. GEORGE: THEY COME HERE AND FIVE MINUTES LATER, THEY THINK THEY BLOODY OWN THE PLACE! V/O: 12.30pm. IMRAN: We should get something to eat and drink. Rest our feet. GEORGE: Okay. Five minutes. For we cannot rest while the people of Iraq suffer the oppression of US capitalist and cultural imperialism. IMRAN: Well, there’s a sandwich shop over the road. We can get something there. GEORGE: Does it use Fair Trade products? IMRAN: I don’t know George. (Sighs) GEORGE: THAT’S MR GALLOWAY TO YOU! IMRAN: Sorry. GEORGE: Let’s find somewhere suitable to my position to eat. I’ll find us somewhere. V/O: 1.45pm. IMRAN: We have an appointment with a women’s support group in 15 minutes. GEORGE: Okay, Okay! I’m just gonna finish this puzzle. Gotta go round this maze without bumping into the hamburglar. DAMN! . Imran, go and ask for another Happy Meal box. IMRAN: they said we’ll have to buy another Happy Meal if we want any more. GEORGE: US IMPIRIALIST PIGS!, FREE IRAQ! ok let’s go IMRAN: Don’t forget your free Happy Meal toy, Mr Galloway. GEORGE: Ah, yes. V/O: 2.15pm. GEORGE and IMRAN arrive at the Winnie Mandela Women’s Refuge Centre. GEORGE: Hello. I’m your guest of honour. WOMAN: Sorry? GEORGE: I’m George Galloway, your guest of honour. WOMAN: Oh, I’m sorry Mr Galloway. We’ve had to cancel your speech. The other guest speakers had strict timetables and we couldn’t delay. GEORGE: I’m only 15 minutes late! And that was my boy Imran’s fault. He wanted to go to McDonalds. Couldn’t drag him away. WOMAN: Well, I am sorry. Maybe you could do five minutes at the end? Round everything off. GEORGE: Five minutes! My good woman, I’ve written a 20-minute speech with a slide show about my victory at the US Senate. I demand you give me my full allocated time. WOMAN: But Mr Galloway. We only wanted you to do a 10-minute opening speech for the conference. GEORGE: I’m a busy man! I’ve spoken before the world’s most powerful people, I defeated the US senate. I DEMAND MY 20 MINUTES OR I‘LL SEE YOU IN COURT! WOMAN: Mr Galloway. I don’t like your tone. Could you please leave? GEORGE: Don’t worry, I’m going! And lady, IF I LOOKED LIKE YOU I’D WEAR A BLOODY BHURKA! V/O 8:15pm HOUSE OF COMMONS GEORGE:  IMRAN! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU? IMRAN (panting)  sorry sir, what is it? GEORGE:  did you find out if the Prime Minister is here or Brown? IMRAN:  no, I don’t think they are here. GEORGE : HA HA!, cowards, they flee when they hear I’m coming in, Imran, I’m the man they all fear, ever since I defeated the yanks on live TV! SHOUT FROM A DISTANCE: IS THAT YOU GEORGE, OLD BOY? IMRAN (WHISPERS) who’s that? GEORGE (whispers back):  Fred Smith, one of Tony’s lackeys FRED : George my dear old thing, I loved you on TV, shouting down the US Senate GEORGE : well yes, if I ever catch up with the Prime Minister, he’ll get the same, he can’t run forever, Georgie boy will catch him. FRED : didn’t you get the invite to No 10 for Thursday? GEORGE : (coughs and mumbles) yes, but I had prior apointment FRED : oh, pity, but if you do want a meeting with the PM, text me GEORGE : well not sure when I have time, I’m a busy man, I can’t be having meetings with the powers that be, when there are voiceless people on the streets, needing my help FRED : ok, well you know my number, if you ever change your mind, I know TB would love to see you. oops! look at the time, gotta go and meet some constituents, bye Fred runs off GEORGE : did you see that Imran, typical coward, scared of old bruiser George, running away! IMRAN : I don’t think you have any meetings for Thursday, Mr Galloway? GEORGE : I’M GETTING JUST A BIT SICK OF YOUR ANSWERING BACK, GO HOME AND DON’T BOTHER COMING IN TOMMOROW, YOU’RE FIRED! END. 2010-02-18T20:41:36+00:00 http://www.humanbeams.com/index.php/editors_notepad/comments/making_the_switch/ http://www.humanbeams.com/index.php/editors_notepad/comments/making_the_switch/#When:18:19:12Z Well, I’ve taken the plunge and switched the front page of the site to the main Human Beams blog. That means that unless melonhead or Doc, or anyone else whose name is listed in the left menu, decides to post here, this blog is basically closed. There is an rss link to the new blog on the front page. There are still a few kinks to work out, but so far, so good. This really is a plunge for me. In my wacky brain there is somehow a difference between posting directly to the main page (or, really, only page for now) and pulling in a feed. I guess I feel more of a responsibility, a commitment now that it’s done. Weird. I had planned to do this only after I had a regularly functioning computer, reliable internet access and plenty of quiet time to write. I have none of these things, but oh well. What’s that they say? Leap - and the net will appear. General 2010-01-11T18:19:12+00:00 http://www.humanbeams.com/index.php/editors_notepad/comments/its_almost_like_starting_over/ http://www.humanbeams.com/index.php/editors_notepad/comments/its_almost_like_starting_over/#When:23:44:52Z I’ve decided that the best plan - for me, for Human Beams - at this point in time, is to have no plan at all. Not, of course, that I will not and do not have goals in the back of my mind, or a vision of where I want things to go, but… well, I don’t know. It’s not that it never works out, it’s just that I think I need to just let it be, for right now. Not the site, although I had almost decided to do that, as well… even had the little “see you on a better day or in a better year” type post written out, but still in drafts. I can’t recall what happened before I could click “publish”, but I was interrupted in some way and thought I’d just go ahead and let it simmer for a bit. I’m glad I did. So, what’s going to happen? I’m not all that sure. I just feel I need to sort of “find my voice” again, as they say, writing about everything that seems to fit, and let whatever the site will be grow from that. I think it will be a stronger, more focused site that way. Or, maybe it’ll just stay a blog, whatever - no pressure! The page itself is changed too, by the way. It has no links to the other parts of the site (all of the articles are still available directly and through the archives), so it will be just this page and, if others are still writing on it, Stalking Sunlight. arin (who needs to stay warm in 17 degree wind chill!) set this up for me a couple of months ago, but I didn’t access it till now. Also, for those who have Stalking Sunlight on rss, the address will be changing as I switch over to the main site blog - I am not sure of that rss address yet, will post when I figure it out. This page may look a bit iffy from time to time as I play around with placement and stuff, but not to worry, it’ll all right itself (or I will yell for arin) eventually. Anyway, I am doing a lot of writing these days, which is a good thing, between my personal blog (Serenity… an expedition) and my Black history/book writing blog (The Book of Louis) and now this one, and wonder of wonders I am looking forward to doing more of it. Having no plan may free me up enough of my brain to actually make one, but not just yet.  Okay. Time to begin my non-plan plan. 2010-01-09T23:44:52+00:00 http://www.humanbeams.com/index.php/editors_notepad/comments/big_freeze/ http://www.humanbeams.com/index.php/editors_notepad/comments/big_freeze/#When:19:08:19Z Still fighting the cold here, snowed in by nearly 4 inches of snow! local buses not running, terrible!, local schools closed! how can we cope? so if I don’t post again, you know why, I’ll be dead from being unable to go shopping, starving to death! 2010-01-07T19:08:19+00:00 http://www.humanbeams.com/index.php/editors_notepad/comments/this_is_interesting/ http://www.humanbeams.com/index.php/editors_notepad/comments/this_is_interesting/#When:19:05:41Z I apparently have - quite accidentally - set it up so that, if I email something to myself from my Blackberry, it will post here. I did attempt at one time to set up a “moblog” because it’s difficult for me to sign in and post, but it didn’t work. Or so I thought. Good thing I was just checking if my email was functioning properly and not sending state secrets (if I knew any) to myself. Let’s see if this one shows up, too. If so, I will probably start posting more regularly again. Maybe. General 2010-01-06T19:05:41+00:00 http://www.humanbeams.com/index.php/editors_notepad/comments/chk/ http://www.humanbeams.com/index.php/editors_notepad/comments/chk/#When:18:26:27Z Chk General 2010-01-06T18:26:27+00:00 http://www.humanbeams.com/index.php/editors_notepad/comments/news_notes_-_ugandas_kill_gays_bill/ http://www.humanbeams.com/index.php/editors_notepad/comments/news_notes_-_ugandas_kill_gays_bill/#When:20:13:35Z I confess I’ve (yet again) not been keeping abreast of the news, but some things did pierce through the fog: Uganda - what the heck,? I know little about that country - except that my father was stationed there, with UNICEF, sometime in the 50s or 60s. Oh, and Idi Amin, of course, which is the first thing many think of when there is mention of Uganda. Now it seems that legislators there would like to replace that image with fresh hell, in the form of codifying genocide against gays and lesbians into law. Aided and encouraged, apparently, by some religious groups and leaders in the US. Links are difficult and time consuming for me, on this device, so I’m just going to refer you to Box Turtle Bulletin’s comprehensive collection of links located at the end of each of the pages linked above. Reading through them I notice that more people and governments are speaking out against this than I had previously thought, so that is a bit heartening. General 2009-12-06T20:13:35+00:00 http://www.humanbeams.com/index.php/editors_notepad/comments/tiger_kitty/ http://www.humanbeams.com/index.php/editors_notepad/comments/tiger_kitty/#When:17:58:20Z I painted this a few years ago, copying from a gift bag. There is not really anything to say about it, it’s just that I am testing whether pics show up (am sending via email from my phone) and, if so, where. Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile General 2009-12-06T17:58:20+00:00 http://www.humanbeams.com/index.php/editors_notepad/comments/what_you_doin_obama/ http://www.humanbeams.com/index.php/editors_notepad/comments/what_you_doin_obama/#When:19:10:39Z Britain as 500 extra troops waiting, other countries have troops waiting, waiting for Obama to make up his mind on if America will send extra troops to Afghanistan, it’s well over a month of indecisiveness thats left NATO commanders unable to create a proper strategy, troops from America, Britain, and other places losing thier lives while Obama wonders whats best. Make up your mind Obama, in or out? We have men coming home in bodybags while we wait your decision! 2009-11-12T19:10:39+00:00 http://www.humanbeams.com/index.php/editors_notepad/comments/checking_in/ http://www.humanbeams.com/index.php/editors_notepad/comments/checking_in/#When:21:39:57Z Things are coming together a little bit (although it may not seem like at first glance). I’m not particularly worried about the delay (all on my part) in getting things going. I’ve started many things quickly, jumping right into them before I was ready and before the idea had time too meld into something workable for the long-term. This sort of forced planning/contemplation period can be a good thing. Is a good thing. I’m typing on a Blackberry right now. Cool tool and it’s enabling me to keep connected to things - classes, email, facebook, etc., - but it’s not the best for typing long things. Short blog posts, though? I can do that and will try to at least every other day until we are back up and running full speed. 2009-11-09T21:39:57+00:00