Sorry seems to be the easiest word

So Mr Bliar has apologised to Walter Wolfgang the 82 year old thrown out of the Labour Party conference yesterday for heckling. It now transpires that when he was evicted, his pass was marked in some way on the security computer so that when he tried to re-enter he was arrested by police under the anti terrorism legislation. Mr Wolfgang was allowed back into the venue this morning and received something of a hero's welcome. Sadly Mr Bliar's humble sorry will not erase the pictures we all saw last night which so shame the former party of the people. The same cannot be said for 'old' Labour MP Austin Mitchell's camera, confiscated by a rozzer and wiped clean. What was Mr Mitchell photographing? People queuing for their passes. A security threat claimed the party, fear of a shambles being exposed claims Mr Mitchell.

I hope that those who believe the police and security services need more powers, believe ID cards will be a good thing are sitting up and re-thinking their position. The line (lie) they always use is that if you have done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear. Is an 82 year old man shouting at a minister doing something wrong? Does it merit arrest under the terrorism act? Austin Mitchell wasn't arrested or charged yet a policeman arbitrarily wiped pictures from his camera citing security as the reason. Wake up people. Britain is already beginning to resemble a police state. And you fools want the authorities to have more power? Wake up people and smell the fascism.

Touched by the Lord

SIGNED JESUS PICTURE

Quite how a personally signed picture of our Lord turned up in Essex, godless place that it is, remains a mystery. (thanks Claire)

Straw is a wuss

The trouble with party political conferences is that you have to invite the public. As stage managed as the Labour Party conference is, they cannot brainwash and indoctrinate everyone who attends. Jack Straw knows this. He lives in the same bubble as Tony when it comes to the invasion and occupation of Iraq. He's told so many lies (remember his lecture to the UN with Colin Powell, all his maps and photos of 'mobile weapons plants' actually weather baloons, hidden arms dumps actually empty air-raid shelters?) that he really believes the crap which seeps out of his own polluted mouth. So when an 82 year old man heckled him during his speech this afternoon, rather than respond with intelligent, reasoned answers, he had the old chap thrown out. Ah, free speech and healthy debate. What treasured things they are. Except when you question the government of course.

The sinister minister

The lead story on the BBC this morning is the government’s latest nannying initiative (spell checker suggested annoying for nannying – equally appropriate) which will see anything that tastes nice banned from schools. No more chocolate, cola or salt and vinegar chipsticks, just boiled cabbage, carrot smoothies and Granny Smith’s. I suppose I shouldn’t mock given some of the fat arsed fucking kids I see each morning rolling their bloated, corpulent bodies out of mummy’s 4x4 at the school gate.

It isn’t the sort of story I’d normally comment on and I would have ignored it today but for the picture. Is Ruth Kelly, the education minister perving onto that poor kid or what? Aren’t there rules against this sort of behaviour?

Time for a caption competition.










So far I have;

No, not your spoon, guess again. It’s long, hard, has a big round end and I can put it in my mouth? (me)

Go on. Just a little nibble. (Claire)

So, do you come here often? (Andy)

When I said this was 'the shit' I was talking literally (Matt)

Over to you, use the comments box. Winner gets nothing but my eternal love and respect. It’s worth far more than money.

Update. The BBC have only gone and changed the picture. Good job I'm quicker than they are. I'm faster than Walt Flanagan's dog!

Morality

Thanks Matt

MORAL CHOICE

This test only has one question, but it's a very important one. By giving an honest answer, you will discover where you stand morally. The test features an unlikely, completely fictional situation in which you will have to make a decision.

Remember that your answer needs to be honest, yet spontaneous. Please scroll down slowly and give due consideration to each line.

THE SITUATION

You are in New Orleans to be specific. There is chaos all around you caused by a hurricane with severe flooding. This is a flood of biblical proportions. You are photo journalist working for a major newspaper, and you're caught in the middle of this epic disaster.

The situation is nearly hopeless. You're trying to shoot career- making photos. There are houses and people swirling around you, some disappearing under the water. Nature is unleashing all of its destructive fury.

THE TEST

Suddenly you see a man in the water. He is fighting for his life, trying not to be taken down with the debris. You move closer. Somehow the man looks familiar. You suddenly realize who it is. It's the President, George W. Bush.

At the same time you notice that the raging waters are about to take him under forever. You have two options- you can save the life of the President, or you can shoot a dramatic Pulitzer Prize winning photo, documenting the death of one of the world's most famous men.

THE QUESTION

Here's the question, and please give an honest answer.......

Would you select high contrast colour film, or would you go with the classic simplicity of black and white?

Round up

Just a few things that have caught my eye today.

The Tory party's latest attempt to reinvent itself is still-born. They are still racists and bigots at heart.

MP's article 'highly offensive'
A race equality group has complained to the Conservative Party after an MP said the UK was "thankfully a predominantly white, Christian country". The Cheshire Racial Equality Council said Ann Winterton's remarks were "highly offensive".

This is Ms Winterton's third reported racist comment in three years. No sign of the party expelling her though. Luckily, the Conservatives have just voted to keep the electoral system which made Michael Howard leader, and so a further period in the political wilderness is inevitable as the grannies and BNP rejects will doubtless elect another faceless twat to lead the party into the next election.

In Brighton, Bliar has told the Labour Party faithful that New Labour must be the party of the "change makers" if it is to secure its lasting legacy. Change eh? A change from blindly following that fucking idiot Bush in his demonic plan for world domination would be nice Tony. Just a thought.

In the US Private Lynndie England has been found guilty of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib last year and now awaits sentence. I've said before and will no doubt say again that, although what she did was inexcusable, I do feel sorry for Linndie. The word missing from most articles on the case is 'scapeghoat'. The trial bore no more relation to justice than Stalin's show trials. There is ample evidence that the orders to torture and abuse came right from the top and the trials of the little people involved, the corporals and the privates, are nothing but a diversion, a smokescreen so that both the leaders and supporters of Bush's evil empire can sleep at night.

These supporters are few and far between I'm pleased to report. While Washington's anti war demo on Sunday pulled in over 100,000 (maybe as many as 300,000) the pro war demo only motivated a couple of hundred people to get off their arses and wave the flag. It's enough to drive a man to drink. If Bush is indeed drinking again it may be a good thing. As John Chuckman says in this article, it will at least mean he'll be kept out of the way. If you follow John's advice and send George a bottle of Bourbon, can I suggest you filter it through your own body first?

Right oh. Back to Bob Dylan. If you missed Scorsese's documentary, shame on you.

Quote

of the week. Via The Guardian..

"La llegada de Flintoff representa un regreso a las valores tradicionales ingleses: es decir, el borracho bonachon, el soldado libertino, como ejemplo a seguir"

Andrew Flintoff hits the sports pages of Spain's quality daily El Pais
(rough translation: "The arrival of Flintoff represents a return to traditional English values: the genial drunk, the libertine soldier, an example to follow.")

Congratulations to the great man for becoming Professional Cricketers' Association Player of the Year for the second year running.

You Spurs

Faith is restored.

Tottenham 1-0 Fulham

Fourth in the Premiership. Bring it on.

Poodle

Further evidence that Bliar is no more than Bush's bitch. Horribly depressing.

Blair falls into line with Bush view on global warming

Tony Blair has admitted that he is changing his views on combating global warming to mirror those of President Bush - and oppose negotiating international treaties such as the Kyoto Protocol.

His admission, which has outraged environmentalists on both sides of the Atlantic, flies in the face of his promises made in the past two years and undermines the agreement he masterminded at this summer's Gleneagles Summit. And it endangers talks that opened in Ottawa this weekend on a new treaty to combat climate change.

The U-turn will inevitably bring accusations that he has, once again, sold out to Mr Bush, just at the time that the US President is coming under unprecedented pressure to change his policy in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Last week the UK Government's chief scientific advisor, Sir David King, said that global warming might have increased their severity. Over the past two years Mr Blair has consistently claimed global leadership in tackling what he described as "long term, the single most important issue we face as a global community" and has stressed that it "can only properly be addressed through international agreements". President Bush repeatedly expressed anger at his position.

Sharing a platform with the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, in New York this month, Mr Blair confessed: "Probably I'm changing my thinking about this", adding that he hoped the world's nations would "not negotiate international treaties". This contradicts his assertion in a speech a year ago - which drew a private rebuke from the Bush administration - that "a problem that is global in cause and scope can only be fully addressed through international agreement".

It also denies what his ministers claimed to be his main achievement on global warming at Gleneagles. He had succeeded in getting all the leaders except Mr Bush to sign up to negotiating a successor to the Kyoto treaty, and in arranging a meeting between the G8 and leading developing countries to discuss it.

But instead of endorsing agreed limits on the pollution that causes climate change, Mr Blair told this month's meeting at the Clinton Global Initiative that he was putting his faith in "developing science and technology" - precisely Mr Bush's position. He justified his change of heart by saying that countries would not negotiate environmental treaties that cut their growth or consumption - another of the President's main contentions. But in another speech last April he said it was "quite false" to suppose that environmental protection would inhibit growth.

Last night, Tony Juniper, executive director of Friends of the Earth, called the Prime Minister's volte-face "unbelievable": "Having failed to practise what he preaches, he is now changing his preaching to match his practice."

24/09/05 day of action

OK, so there weren't the millions of two years ago, but the London peace match yesterday drew many, many thousands of people who know that Bush and Bliar have lost the plot in Iraq and that it is now time for us to end the occupation.

In Washington well over 100,000 turned up and there were demonstrations in Salt Lake City, Seattle, San Francisco, Oklahoma and many other towns and cities.

The message is still not getting through to Bliar;

Defiant PM says: I'll face down Iraq protesters

War critics dismissed as 'urban intellectuals'. Most Britons want troops out, poll shows

Tony Blair will signal this week that Labour should abandon "urban intellectuals" who deserted it over the Iraq war. As the party's conference begins in Brighton today he is determined to face down growing pressure for a withdrawal of British troops. He believes Labour will lose if it seeks to win back middle-class voters who protested against the war at the last election and can rely instead on its heartland to remain in power.

Mr Blair's hardline stance comes as a poll released last night showed that a majority of Britons wanted UK troops to pull out. Senior military, diplomatic and intelligence figures added their voices to the protest last night. The Prime Minister's determination to ignore the issue was made clear yesterday when party managers stifled a proposed debate on Iraq.

Tony would rather the issue would go away, but while Britain and the US continue their illegal, immoral and incompetent occupation of Iraq, the protests will continue.

p.s. US soldiers are fucking crap!!

US forced to import bullets from Israel as troops use 250,000 for every rebel killed

Bollocks to Blair

Much as I hate the Cuntyside Alliance and all they stand for, I find this story utterly distasteful.

Girl arrested over Bollocks to Blair shirt



A girl was arrested for wearing her “Bollocks to Blair” T-shirt at the Midlands Game Fair last weekend. Charlotte Denis, 20, a gamekeeper from Gloucestershire, was stopped by police as she left the Cuntyside Alliance stand because of the “offensive” slogan. Shocked and dismayed to be made a public spectacle, Denis tried to reason with the officers: “What do you want me to do? Take my top off and wear my bra?” At this point, two officers marched Denis towards a police car. “They grabbed me as if I was a football hooligan,” she says.

Although the “Bollocks to Blair” slogan was in evidence all round the Game Fair, police maintained it was the first time they had seen it. “They had to walk past a huge banner in order to get to me and there were lots of other people wearing the T-shirts,” explained Denis. A tearful Denis was driven to a mobile police unit. “I asked the officers how they could arrest someone for wearing a T-shirt and they told me it was because it would offend a 70-80-year-old woman,” she said. After agreeing to wear a friend's coat, Denis was released without charge. But the incident ruined her day: “You don't expect to be treated like that at a country fair,” she said. Denis bought her T-shirt at Badminton Ho Trials last year, as well as a matching badge she wears on her coat.

“Bollocks to Blair” merchandise is manufactured by Splash and first appeared last year. “The demand has been crazy,” said Splash director Toby Rhodes. “The slogan is an expression of anger in the cuntyside — which we are not trying to incite. We originally thought it a bit too direct for us but it has been popular with all ages. I've been told that some police officers wear the T-shirts under their uniforms.”

“It's complete nonsense,” said the Cuntyside Alliance. “The police surely have better things to do with their time than protect the Prime Minister's modesty.”

Free speech dying in Britain?

If you want to say bollocks to Bliar and his evil regime get off your arse tomorrow and come to London. Parliament Square, 12 noon. I'll even buy you a pint. What else are you going to do? Trawl round ASDA, take the kids to the park, a bit of DIY. Fuck it, can't that wait until Sunday?

Make the effort.

Balls 3

Charlie Kennedy finds his. It is now open season on Bliar. Can we hunt him with dogs yet? I'm polishing my horn already.

Kennedy says Blair costing lives

Tony Blair's pride and his "blind support" for George Bush are costing lives in Iraq, says Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy. Mr Kennedy told the Lib Dem conference in Blackpool the presence of UK troops in Iraq was now part of the problem.

And he claimed the "war on terror" had increased the threat of terrorism.

Jack Straw said WHAT?!?

When is a war criminal not a war criminal? When he's Israeli.

Straw apology on Israeli arrest

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has apologised to his Israeli counterpart over the attempted arrest of a general accused of war crimes. Major General Doron Almog, ex-head of Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, faced private prosecution charges.

The Foreign Office says Mr Straw apologised to Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom "as a courtesy". "He was saying he was sorry if the incident had embarrassed the Israelis," said a Foreign Office spokesman. Mr Straw also stressed the UK Government had not played a role in the arrest warrant - which Maj Gen Almog dodged after a tip-off from an Israeli official.

A 'tip-off' eh? Handy.

Let's have a think about why so much of the Middle East hates the west.

Saddam Hussein - brutal dictator - gassed and oppressed all opposition - overthrown

Ariel Sharon - war criminal - receives $15,139,178 per day in aid from the US

Iraq - no WMD - invaded by USA/UK as a threat to Middle East & global security, despite lacking a clear mandate from the UN - ever wondered why?

Israel - known to have WMD - in violation of numerous UN Security council resolutions - yet USA now vetoes criticism of Israel

Israel carries out a terrorist attack against the US - ignored

British troops in the process of carrying out a terrorist attack against Iraqi civilians - suspects liberated by the occupying force

Getting a clue?

Iraq

What the fuck are we doing? Why are we killing the people we are supposed to protect? Why are we being lied to? Why do so few people appear to care? Shame on us all.

British "Undercover Soldiers" Caught driving Booby Trapped Car

British prison break and blown covert operation, exposes "war on terrorism" lie

There are a hundred other links exposing British and US involvement in the entirely fake civil war/insurgency being perpetrated in our name in Iraq. Take your head out of the sand and find them. Then ask why. Then hate yourself for voting Labour 4 months ago.

Now do something about it.

If you are in the UK, please come to London on Saturday. Well over a million did in February 2003, making it the biggest demonstration ever held in the UK. Be a part of something equally momentous. Tony B needs to know that we will not stand for this bullshit any more.

Jesus don't want me for a sunbeam

Another in the sadly infrequent series of 'can you see the face of Jesus?"

This one is pretty uncanny though. The picture is of a weird cloud formation and was taken in Spain. Is it Jesus? Or is it Ringo Starr? You decide.

Priorities

I apologise for banging on about ID cards and Basra. Having spent the last couple of hours watching a selection of the news channels available to me, it is clear that the biggest story in the world at the moment is actually the problem some skinny chick is having with Columbian marching powder.

Sir Ian Bliar commissioner of the Met spent as long talking about Ms Moss as he did about his latest idea to have ex-soldiers (and trained killers) 'assisting' the Met in their struggle against terrorism and crime. Because London needs more unaccountable, trigger happy gimps patrolling the streets. Yes indeed.

Opera

The newest release of the Opera browser is available to download. Many bugs have been ironed out and it is now completely ad free. Get it here.

ID

Couple of ID card stories have caught my eye recently.

Holland is famed in Europe anyway, for its liberal mindset. ID cards became compulsory there in January. It's proven to be quite a revenue earner for the Dutch government with over 47,000 people having so far been fined for not immediately producing a card when requested by a Dibble. Henk Ruyssenaars writes on the story here and likens the Dutch system to the compulsory passes coloured people were required to carry in South Africa under apartheid;

Thirty years ago I saw in Johannesburg what will happen in Holland next week: the inhumane spectacle of hundreds of people who have been dragged into court because they - in their own country - could not immediately show an ID card and are punished. And remember: we were promised a European Union without borders, where we all would be able to travel freely, not even needing a passport. None of it was true: it was all a pack of lies.

Do we want this in Britain?

Legislation is also in place for an ID card system in the US. Tom DeWeese writes on the potential for mistakes and his fears for what it will mean to the future of America;

"Once this system is set up, you as an American no longer have control of your life. That will now fall under the whim of any government official or bureaucrat that controls the data in your file. "Do you know how much information currently in government data files is incorrect," I asked. Then I answered my own question; "Over 25 percent. Underpaid, undereducated government employees are paid to input information into massive data banks. They make mistakes. "Have you ever tried to get credit, only to find a mistake on your credit report?" I asked. "Have you ever tried to fix it? Now take that experience and consider what happens when such mistakes block you from accessing your checking account so you can't buy groceries. Consider what might happen if a mistake puts a false arrest warrant under your name. How do you prove you're the wrong guy? How do you get it fixed? Now you have no money, no driver's license. No ability to travel. You are completely cut out of society. What do you do now?"

Bliar and Clarke want ID cards for Britain. We cannot allow this to happen. Join the NO2ID campaign, there is a link on the right.

While we're on the subject of campaigning, remember that there is a national demonstration against the continued occupation in Iraq on Saturday, assembling at 12 noon in Parliament Square. Considering some of the news that has been leaking out this week about what the British army are up to in Basra it is essential that the government are told firmly that we do not want this happening in our name.

You @%*~ing Spurs

A couple of years ago when I met my mate Steve for the first time, we were talking, as chaps do, about the beautiful game. Recognising his Sheffield accent I asked if he was Wednesday or United.

“United” he said, “but I don’t follow it much now, they always break your fucking heart.”

That reply stuck with me. Tonight I sat down, beer in hand so that I could watch the belov’d Spurs take on Grimsby in the Carling Cup. Spurs are currently eighth in the Premiership, having only been beaten once in the league this season. Grimsby are 60 places below us, although they are top of the bottom league (so to speak). Spurs are stuffed with international players, names any football fan will recognise. Grimsby – err, well – they’re from up north somewhere.

So how the fucking fuck has this happened?

Grimsby 1-0 Tottenham

We were shocking, only looked like scoring once or twice and always looked fragile at the back. I'm a little pleased I'll be working at home tomorrow. There's gooner's in my office that pest control seem unable to exterminate. This will only make them stronger.

Thought of the day

I hope I shall keep this diary more regularly up than hitherto. Should everyone keep a record of his daily acts and sentiments, the history of the world would be made out in a way that no historian could distort however illiberal or enthusiastic in his nature. However stupid a man might be could he be persuaded to set down what he thought or did, something would accrue from it. To judge by myself however many would have day after day to record blank. I have trouble to remember if it is one or two days that I have omitted to fill in. I can remember yesterday but not the one before. I know them both to have been idle ones. A loathing of my vacation has seized me. I must rest. Work, work, work for ever muddles a man's brain and mine at times is none the clearest.

Ford Maddox Brown. August 1854.

Just sit down!

As if the death of Jim Fixx years ago weren't warning enough, the headlines following yesterday's Great North run should be enough to convince you that exercise is rubbish. Get on your sofa and roll a phatty.

Four men die in Great North Run

Four men have died while taking part in the 25th Great North Run, police said.

The men were among 50,000 people running the 13-mile course in soaring temperatures from Newcastle to South Shields on Sunday. Northumbria Police said there had been no major incidents during the event and the deaths were unrelated.

Will

He was a cat who loved the countryside, who roamed far and wide so, I suppose, I always knew that one day, Will would cross the road at the end of the lane that one time too many. Sadly it was last night.

He was an independent spirit who would often disappear for two days, come home for a bowl of food and a couple of hours sleep, then be off again, in a different direction seeking out the next adventure. His energy was boundless, his enthusiasm for life a joy to watch.

I shall lay him to rest tonight, in the field in which he spent most of the last six months, sunning himself, catching mice, playing.

Bye bye my boy. I'm going to miss you.

Schadenfreude

Ha ha... We got used to losing - your turn boys.

(from BBC News)

Australian despair at Ashes loss

As British people in Australia savour the glory of Ashes victory, losing has been a devastating blow for many Australians, and the news is still sinking in.

The Australians did not know what had hit them.

I am not talking about Andrew Flintoff's bowling or Kevin Pietersen's batting. I am referring instead to the barrage of raucous songs being belted out by a mob of English backpackers in a smoky Sydney pub on the night that England won the Ashes. The hapless Australians watching their team slide to defeat at the Oval were treated to the full range of English irreverence.

"You all live in a convict colony," sung to the tune of The Beatles' Yellow Submarine, was a firm favourite.

Because of the time difference with the UK all this was unfolding at three in the morning, but the lateness of the hour had no effect on the enthusiasm of the English.

continues

G8 etc

Following my recent post about July's G8 deal and in the face of growing criticism of the agreements reached in Gleneagles, Bob Geldof has written a piece for The Independent in which he responds to the critics. I post the link in the interests of balance.

You bunch of sheep

People of Britain. I've had cause to moan at you collectively in the past, so please excuse me while I do it again. The trouble is you see, I have a natural instinct to always see the best in people; I always try to give the benefit of doubt where possible, to see the other side of the coin so to speak, but you constantly let me down with your endless stupidity. Your response to the threatened fuel protests in the second half of this week is a case in point.

An unelected, unaccountable bunch of rabble rousers known as the 'Fuel Lobby' are planning action from Wednesday to Friday. They have made it clear that there will be no blockades of refineries as there was in 2000 and so there will not be any shortage of fuel. Hurrah. But what are you lot doing en masse? Why, panic buying of course! Buying a weeks worth of petrol in a day. Creating traffic jams which stop sensible, level headed people like myself getting home from work in a timely fashion.

You really are a bunch of mindless fucking automatons aren't you? Not one of you is capable of achieving the level of thought being shown by the cauliflower cheese I'm tucking into as I write. Look - it's simple, no panic - plenty of fuel for us all and no traffic jams. Panic - chaos leading to bad tempers and frayed nerves.

Let's look a little deeper. What is the point of the protests? To complain about the high level of taxation on our petrol and the profits which oil companies are making at our expense. Completely reasonable. Considering that we produce (from the North Sea) the majority of the oil we consume, the price of petrol in this country is an outrage. But, by buying a weeks worth of petrol in one day you have given the oil companies a weeks worth of profit in one day. Brown has a weeks worth of fuel tax in one day. Do you see where I'm coming from here? You really haven't thought it through have you? Jesus, a child could have worked it out, but you lot with your sheep like, follow the flock instincts have spectacularly failed to get even a basic grasp of the issue. The real question is why is our fuel so expensive when we have been a net exporter of crude oil for the last 30 years (that means we produce more than we consume for the really stupid ones). Where has the money gone? That's what you need to be asking if you'd only get you heads out your arses for a few minutes. The people of Norway are voting on what to do with their oil money, while we're still holding jumble sales for school books.

If you want to hurt the oil companies and the government you need to NOT BUY PETROL AT ALL for a few days. Hit them in their pockets for a change. Turn the tables. At the moment, Mr Chairman of BP is laughing his fucking arse off at you. That's another fat bonus for him as you sit listening to the radio in a four hour queue.

And one more thing. This oil you know, it isn't going to last for ever. If one or two of you with more brain power than my tea want to look up 'peak oil' and start spreading the word then maybe you'll all have something to panic about.

But you won't. You'll keep on following the rest of them, bleating gently as you fill up with overpriced petrol while remaining slaves to BP, Shell etc...

You're idiots.

Look, baaa, it's 98p there, baaa, better fill up baaa

The Ashes

Triumphant England reclaim Ashes

I love the smell of victory in the evening!! It smells of linseed.

Pauline's pens

Blimey.

Bic over the moon as sales top 100bn

Bic, the company that has made a fortune out of things to be thrown away, has sold its 100 billionth disposable ballpoint - selling an average of 57 pens every second since it was launched in 1950.

According to the company, that is enough pens to stretch 40 times the distance from the earth to the moon if laid end to end or to fill the Arc de Triomphe 23 times over.

Bush

and a splendid headline from Sky News. (thanks Claire)

Colour me speechless. The legendary Bush stupidity is not just genetic, you get it if you marry into the family as well.

Barbara Bush: Things Working Out 'Very Well' for Poor Evacuees from New Orleans

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them."

Some religious folk take an equally charitable stance. Fred Phelps is in fine form;

New Orleans, symbol of America, seen for what it is: a putrid, toxic, stinking cesspool of fag fecal matter

Repent America has a similar line.

Just days before "Southern Decadence", an annual homosexual celebration attracting tens of thousands of people to the French Quarters section of New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina destroys the city.

Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Lewin meanwhile thinks that Katrina was thrust upon the U.S. for its support of the Gaza evacuation.

And England (football) were fucking shocking.

Northern Ireland 1-0 England

Bedtime.

Hubris

I'm a troubled man. With one test remaining and England only needing a draw in order to win The Ashes back, the ECB have booked Trafalgar Square for a victory parade next Tuesday.

Have they not heard of Croesus? If the ECB want a classicist on their management committee may I humbly suggest myself?

Scum

It was barely 2 months ago that the G8 leaders and their apostolic henchmen Geldof and Bono left Gleneagles after signing the ‘historic’ deal that really would (this time) end poverty and inequality in Africa. This agreement was different from its predecessors, it made for a real change, lives would be saved, nations would be given the chance to build and develop, to stand on their own feet. Right?

Wrong.

It was all a sham. A photo opportunity. A chance to garner a few good headlines amidst the unremitting bad news from Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel and of course London. Now the truth is dripping out (thanks Matt)

Immediately after the summit, as the world's attention shifted to the London bombs, Germany and Italy announced that they might not be able to meet the commitments they had just made, due to "budgetary constraints".

A week later, on July 15, the World Development Movement obtained leaked documents showing that four of the IMF's European directors were trying to overturn the G8's debt deal.

Four days after that, Gordon Brown dropped a bombshell. He admitted that the aid package the G8 leaders had promised "includes the numbers for debt relief". The extra money they had promised for aid and the extra money they had promised for debt relief were in fact one and the same.

Nine days after that, on July 28, the United States, which had appeared to give some ground at Gleneagles, announced a pact with Australia, China and India to undermine the Kyoto protocol on climate change.

On August 2, leaked documents from the World Bank showed that the G8 had not in fact granted 100% debt relief to 18 countries, but had promised enough money only to write off their repayments for the next three years.

On August 3, the United Nations revealed that only one-third of the money needed for famine relief in Niger and 14% of the money needed by Mali had been pledged by the rich nations. Some 5 million people in the western Sahel remained at risk of starvation.

Two weeks ago, we discovered that John Bolton, the new US ambassador to the United Nations, had proposed 750 amendments to the agreement that is meant to be concluded at next week's UN summit. He was, in effect, striking out the Millennium Development Goals on health, education and poverty relief, which the UN set in 2000.

Yesterday, ActionAid released a report showing that the first of these goals - equal access to schooling for boys and girls by 2005 - has been missed in over 70 countries. "Africa," it found, "is currently projected to miss every goal." There is so little resolve at the UN to do anything about it that the summit could deliver "a worse outcome than the situation before the G8".

Have you seen Geldof on the news shouting about this? He must be chuffing furious surely? His silence is deafening, if not surprising. The professional politicians ran rings round him. How they must have laughed as he left. The poor fool, did he really think the G8 would end centuries of rape and pillage in Africa and the third world? The loan deals and IMF/World Bank grants come with so many strings attached that it would be more honest if we took a couple of slave ships each year and transported a few thousand negroes back to Europe or the US to turn our soil, sew our clothes or roll our Bensons.

We continue to put profit in front of people. The bottom line ahead of the poverty line. There is an old Cree Indian proverb

Only after the last tree has been cut down; Only after the last fish has been caught; Only after the last river has been poisoned; Only then will you realize that money cannot be eaten.

The human race, with its greed and avarice can only be a few generations away from proving this correct.

Crap science

Latest in an occasional series...

Smart pegs keep rain off washing

Hanging out the washing only to witness a downpour five minutes later has long been accepted as one of life's little bugbears. But a final year student at Brunel University has come up with a weather-predicting clothes peg he hopes could solve the issue. The peg holder can sense changes in air pressure and send electrical signals to metal strips on household pegs. If rain is forecast within the next half hour, the peg will lock itself. The lock-down prevents the washing being hung on the line.

Any chance of a cure for cancer?

Balls 2

The Democratic Party seems to have found some as well

Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH) gave the following speech today on the House floor during a special session to provide relief money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina:

“This amount of money is only a fraction of what is needed and everyone here knows it. Let it go forward quickly with heart-felt thanks to those who are helping to save lives with necessary food, water, shelter, medical care and security. Congress must also demand accountability with the appropriations. Because until there are basic changes in the direction of this government, this tragedy will multiply to apocalyptic proportions.

“The Administration yesterday said that no one anticipated the breach of the levees. Did the Administration not see or care about the 2001 FEMA warning about the risk of a devastating hurricane hitting the people of New Orleans? Did it not know or care that civil and army engineers were warning for years about the consequences of failure to strengthen the flood control system? Was it aware or did it care that the very same Administration which decries the plight of the people today, cut from the budget tens of millions needed for Gulf-area flood control projects?

“Countless lives have been lost throughout the South with a cost of hundreds of billions in ruined homes, businesses, and the destruction of an entire physical and social infrastructure.

“The President said an hour ago that the Gulf Coast looks like it has been obliterated by a weapon. It has. Indifference is a weapon of mass destruction.

“Our indifferent government is in a crisis of legitimacy. If it continues to ignore its basic responsibility for the health and welfare of the American people, will there ever be enough money to clean up after their indifference?

“As our government continues to squander human and monetary resources of this country on the war, people are beginning to ask, “Isn’t it time we began to take care of our own people here at home? Isn’t it time we rescued our own citizens? Isn’t it time we fed our own people? Isn’t it time we sheltered our own people? Isn’t it time we provided physical and economic security for our own people?” And isn’t it time we stopped the oil companies from profiting from this tragedy?

“We have plenty of work to do here at home. It is time for America to come home and take care of its own people who are drowning in the streets, suffocating in attics, dying from exposure to the elements, oppressed by poverty and illness, wracked with despair and hunger and thirst.

“The time is NOW to bring back to the United States the 78,000 National Guard troops currently deployed overseas into the Gulf Coast region.

“The time is NOW to bring back to the US the equipment which will be needed for search and rescue, for clean up and reclamation.

“The time is NOW for federal resources, including closed Army bases, to be used for temporary shelter for those who have been displaced by the hurricane.

“The time is NOW to plan massive public works, with jobs going to the people of the Gulf Coast states, to build new levees, new roads, bridges, libraries, schools, colleges and universities and to rebuild all public institutions, including hospitals. Medicare ought to be extended to everyone, so every person can get the physical and mental health care they might need as a result of the disaster.

“The time is NOW for the federal government to take seriously the research of scientists who have warned for years about the dangers of changes in the global climate, and to prepare other regions of the country for other possible weather disasters until we change our disastrous energy policies.

“The time is NOW for changes in our energy policy, to end the domination of oil and fossil fuel and to invest heavily in alternative energy, including wind and solar, geothermal and biofuels.

“As bad as this catastrophe will prove to be, it is in fact only a warning. Our government must change its direction, it must become involved in making America a better place to live, a place where all may survive and thrive. It must get off the path of war and seek the path of peace, peace with the natural environment, peace with other nations, peace with a just economic system.”

Full text

Balls

The BBC seem to have found theirs.

Has Katrina saved US media?

As President Bush scurries back to the Gulf Coast, it is clear that this is the greatest challenge to politics-as-usual in America since the fall of Richard Nixon in the 1970s. But unlike Watergate, "Katrinagate" was public service journalism ruthlessly exposing the truth on a live and continuous basis.

Instead of secretive "Deep Throat" meetings in car-parks, cameras captured the immediate reality of what was happening at the New Orleans Convention Center, making a mockery of the stalling and excuses being put forward by those in power. Amidst the horror, American broadcast journalism just might have grown its spine back, thanks to Katrina.

National politics reporters and anchors here come largely from the same race and class as the people they are supposed to be holding to account. They live in the same suburbs, go to the same parties, and they are in debt to the same huge business interests. Giant corporations own the networks, and Washington politicians rely on them and their executives to fund their re-election campaigns across the 50 states.

It is a perfect recipe for a timid and self-censoring journalistic culture that is no match for the masterfully aggressive spin-surgeons of the Bush administration.

'Lies or ignorance'

But last week the complacency stopped, and the moral indignation against inadequate government began to flow, from slick anchors who spend most of their time glued to desks in New York and Washington. The most spectacular example came last Friday night on Fox News, the cable network that has become the darling of the Republican heartland. This highly successful Murdoch-owned station sets itself up in opposition to the "mainstream liberal media elite". But with the sick and the dying forced to sit in their own excrement behind him in New Orleans, its early-evening anchor Shepard Smith declared civil war against the studio-driven notion that the biggest problem was still stopping the looters.

On other networks like NBC, CNN and ABC it was the authority figures, who are so used to an easy ride at press conferences, that felt the full force of reporters finally determined to ditch the deference.

As the heads of the Homeland Security department and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) appeared for network interviews, their defensive remarks about where aid was arriving to, and when, were exposed immediately as either downright lies or breath-taking ignorance.

continues

An open letter to the little boy in the red shirt

Via BlondeSense. Read it and weep.

By Thomas M. Braun

09/04/05 "ICH" -- -- Sweet crying little boy. I see your face over and over on the cable news channels in their coverage of the New Oleans disaster and the resulting atrocity. I am old now. I too was once a little boy in a red shirt, growing up on a small farm in Northern Kentucky.

A farm, where the yearly flooding was welcomed as it enriched the bottom lands and allowed an annul crop of abundant and beautiful corn which was fed to the farm animals - causing them to grow and give us meat and eggs and milk and vegetables. It was a completely nourishing and kind environment and a lovely place to be raised. I attended clean schools, taught by nuns and priests, and the world was wonderful to me back then. I felt free and loved and I was warm in the winter and cooled in the hot summers and the seasons in between were heavenly.

I almost feel personal guilt that you will now never know such a life, or anything remotely resembling that life.

Why is that?

It is because, and this is only partly the answer, the country we both were born into has, at its core, a racism and classism that is nothing less than shameful. For you it is horrible, I know, little boy. You are black and I am white. I was born in a less dangerous and less hateful time and place than you - yet we are both Americans. You are in the middle of hell. However, you are loved, I have no doubt in my mind about that. Your family has cared for you, and god bless them for that. But the rich and powerful in your city, your state and in this country, care nothing about you and all the others who live next to you and who struggle to make it through each and every day. They could care less.

There is no profit in you.

There is no profit in your grandmother, a woman whose smile is enough proof for me that there is a god. She is a woman of color and a person of dignity. As are you, little boy. Your dignity in the arms of your caretaker is astonishing and it delights my soul. But, the course of political development in the United States is killing your little friends and family and your neighbors and the workers who labor eighty hours per week, and the old and infirmed and sick and disabled, and the addicted and those whose hearts are so saddened by their own existence that they are carrying around an anchor of suffering with them as they move through each and every day.

The once bounteous and big and gracious soul of this country is dying also.

I love you, sweet little boy in the red shirt.

I love your grandmother and your mother and your father and your playmates. Please know that the good and kind and loving people of the world see you and want you to grow and become happy and to prosper. Let your grandmother sing you a lullaby tonight, if she is still alive.

Play with your little friends if they make it through one more dark and dangerous night. Walk hand in hand with your daddy on land high and dry, if only in your dreams, little boy. You know I see you. You do not understand what is happening, but you do know fear, and that is why you cry.

Go ahead, cry, little boy, cry to your heart's content. I cry also. I cry when I see the heartlessness and the ignorance and the vile bigotry and elitist idiocy that is now coming from our leaders and politicians and those citizens who lost their souls years ago.

Speaker Hastert said it would be ridiculous to rebuild your home, your schools and your playgrounds, and the ice cream shop you love and the bright and beautiful streets you knew where people used to laugh and kiss and love one another and enjoy a life of grace and beauty.

My little boy, I want you to tell your story one day.

After the lying and vicious leaders of this country are long dead. I want you to speak out loudly and boldy and with all the dignity you own. I want you to tell the world that way back in the summer of 2005 in the decimated and flooded city of New Orleans an angel appeard to you - the angel of truth.

Tell those in this country, long after I am dead, that the angel spoke softly to you and said, "lovely boy, I am giving you a wondrous gift, and it comes out of your misery and suffering and it arises out of the love of the universe, and the gift is one that will bring you joy and pleasure and great wealth.

It is the gift of the truth and the word - that is - you will be able to tell your story with richness and holiness and with such a powerful truth that millions across our blue planet will see your wisdom and love and they will learn from you".

All the while, the putrid dead souls of the lying and racist and classist politicians and their supports will be floating amid the empty and cold discarded debris in our universe and they will not remember the goodness, and they will be empty vessels, their humanity not even a memory. Such is the legacy of the New Orleans disaster in the summer of the year 2005.

You, sweet little boy, I will remember forever.

Thomas M. Braun < TommyFocus2000@aol.com > is a retired and freelance writer living in Tampa, FL

I've just spent the last hour or so looking at stories on WRH and other sites; I still really can't get my head round what is happening in New Orleans. Nevermind that Bush took a week to stage a visit, it was brave of him to go there at all following his 80% cut in flood defence funding, nevermind that the richest country in the world has had its emergency response shamed by Cuba's, it is the role of FEMA that baffles me. What on earth have they been doing? Has anyone woken up to the fact that maybe this organisation shouldn't be led by an incompetent fool, maybe shouldn't outsource all its work to unaccountable cronies? These idiots are also responsible (if that is the right word) for how the US would deal with another terrorist attack. Would a terrorist have given 48 hours notice? Something is indeed not right.

More analysis on the failure of Bush/FEMA here.


Via What Really Happened?

Timescales

International aid following December's tsunami arrives within 2 days.

US aid to New Orleans arrives after five days.

Nice one George.

Lovely

Just returning to Diana for a second, the memorial trench is at least more tasteful than Mo Fayed's latest monstrosity.

Going down to South Park

I love sites like this one. I think MSN have a thing called Mini-Me which allows you to create a little picture of yourself. Well this place goes one better and allows you to create a little South Park version of yourself.

So in a shockingly realistic fashion, this is South Park Phylos.