I am not a sheep, I have my own mind
I have had enough of being told what and how to think
Whilst we are still allowed the remnants of free speech, I will speak out.
I also reserve the right to discuss less controversial matters should I feel the urge.
Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines has spawned many parodies, I posted one last night, here's some more.
First the Sexy Boys Parody by Mod Carousel- quite amusing
Second the #WomensRights Pro-Choice Parody- quite dire
Third Madmoni's spoof "Tan Lines - amusing in parts
Fourth the could have been good but is in fact terrible "Cougars" by Fitzy and Wippa
Fifth the well above average, in fact rather good Lame Lines (Douchebag) with lyrics and lead vocals by Melinda Hughes
Sixth the unblurred Dicks Parody Spoof which is a good idea that could have been better executed
Seventh Nikki & Sara Make a #Sexy "Blurred Lines" Video FOR THE LADIES! Rather disorganised but does have goats
Eighth Robin Thicker's food related parody 'Long Lines' - Hmmmm
Ninth and probably best is this rather clever parody with some great lines, including "Come over here if you want to get raped, by a creepy wannabe Timberlake" and "and now it's time for stupid hashtags". Not so sure about "I really want to fuck this goat" though!
Tenth, last but by no means least is this Doctor Who "Blurred Lines" parody by the name of "Time Lines". The singers look nothing like the actors that they're portraying but somehow it still works...
#Don'tBlink is rather good, as is the fact that Time Lines are #WibblyWobbly and #TimeyWimey
I cannot believe that it's 10 years since the great Warren Zevon died.
To mark the occasion here are some Warren Zevon tracks.
First is A Certain Girl
Here's Werewolves of London...
For your delectation here also is Excitable Boy...
Warren Zevon was a legend, albeit a mostly unknown one! Just take a read of his Wikipedia entry for a flavour of a life of oddity and some pain; here's a few examples:
'Zevon was born in Chicago, Illinois to William "Stumpy" Zevon (formerly "Zivotovsky") and Beverly Cope Simmons, a Mormon from Salt Lake City, Utah. "Stumpy" Zevon was a boxer, small-time criminal and Mickey Cohen associate of Russian Jewish origin and a relative of folk/blues-singer, Jedaiah Zivotovsky, They soon moved to Fresno, California. By the age of 13, Zevon was an occasional visitor to the home of Igor Stravinsky where he, alongside Robert Craft, briefly studied modern classical music. Zevon's parents divorced when he was 16 years old and he soon quit high school and moved from Los Angeles to New York to become a folk singer.
...
Another early composition ("He Quit Me") was included in the soundtrack for the film Midnight Cowboy (1969).
...
During the early 1970s, Zevon toured regularly with the Everly Brothers as keyboard player and band leader/musical coordinator.
...
His dissatisfaction with his career (and a lack of funds) led him to move to Spain during the summer of 1975, where he lived and played in a small tavern in Sitges near Barcelona owned by David Lindell, a former mercenary. Together they composed Zevon's classic "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner".
...
By September 1975, Zevon had returned to Los Angeles, where he roomed with then-unknown Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. There, he collaborated with Jackson Browne, who during 1976 would produce and promote Zevon's self-titled major-company debut. Contributors to this album included Nicks, Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, members of the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, and Bonnie Raitt. Ronstadt elected to record many of his songs, including "Hasten Down the Wind," "Carmelita", "Poor Poor Pitiful Me", and "Mohammed's Radio." Zevon's first tour during 1977 included guest appearances in the middle of Jackson Browne concerts, one of which is documented on a widely circulated bootleg recording of a Dutch radio program under the title The Offender meets the Pretender.
...
During 1978, Zevon released his first major album, Excitable Boy (produced by Jackson Browne and guitarist Waddy Wachtel), to critical acclaim and popular success. The title tune (about a juvenile sociopath's murderous prom night) name-checked "Little Susie", the heroine of former employers the Everly Brothers' tune "Wake Up Little Susie", while songs such as "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" and "Lawyers, Guns and Money" used deadpan humor to wed geopolitical subtexts to hard-boiled narratives. Tracks from this album received heavy FM airplay and the single release "Werewolves of London", which featured Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, was a relatively lighthearted version of Zevon's signature macabre outlook and a Top 30 success. Rolling Stone called the album one of the most significant releases of the 1970s and placed Zevon alongside Neil Young, Jackson Browne, and Bruce Springsteen as one of the four most important new artists to become well known during the decade.
...
In 1983, the recently divorced Zevon became engaged to Philadelphia DJ Anita Gevinson and moved to the East Coast.[4] After the disappointing reception for The Envoy, Zevon's distributor Asylum Records ended their business relationship, which Zevon discovered only when he read about it in the Random Notes gossip column of Rolling Stone. The trauma allegedly caused him to relapse into serious alcoholism and he voluntarily checked himself into an unnamed rehab clinic somewhere in Minnesota in 1984. His relationship with Gevinson ended shortly thereafter.[4] Zevon retreated from the music business for several years, during which he finally overcame severe alcohol and drug addictions.
...
A lifelong fan of "hard-boiled" fiction, Zevon was friendly with several well known writers who also collaborated on his songwriting during this period, including Thompson, Carl Hiaasen and Mitch Albom. Zevon also served as musical coordinator and occasional guitarist for an ad-hoc rock music group called the Rock Bottom Remainders, a collection of writers performing rock and roll standards at book fairs and other events. This group included Stephen King, Dave Barry, Matt Groening and Amy Tan, among other popular writers, and it has continued to perform one benefit concert per year since Zevon's death.
An affiliated project for which Zevon both played and wrote liner notes is the offbeat 1998 album Stranger Than Fiction, a two CD set attributed to the Wrockers containing rock covers and originals by many of the Remainders authors plus such notables as Norman Mailer and Maya Angelou.
...
After another five-year layoff, Zevon signed with industry veteran Danny Goldberg's Artemis Records and again rebounded with the mortality-themed 2000 release Life'll Kill Ya, containing the hymn-like "Don't Let Us Get Sick" and an austere version of Steve Winwood's 1980s success "Back in the High Life Again". With record sales reasonably brisk and adulatory music critics giving Zevon his best notices since Excitable Boy, Life'll Kill Ya is seen as his second comeback. He followed with 2002's My Ride's Here (with morbid prescience of things to come), which included "Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song)" (which was co-written by Tuesdays with Morrie author Mitch Albom, and featured Paul Shaffer, the "Late Night" band and a spoken guest vocal from TV host David Letterman) and the ballad "Genius", later taken as the title for a 2002 Zevon anthology, and a song whose string section illustrates the lasting influence of Stravinsky on Zevon's work.
At about this time, he and his neighbor actor Billy Bob Thornton formed a close friendship because of their common experiences with obsessive-compulsive disorder and the fact they lived in the same apartment complex.
...
During interviews, Zevon described a lifelong phobia of doctors and said he seldom received medical assessment. Shortly before playing at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival in 2002, he started feeling dizzy and developed a chronic cough. After a long period of untreated illness and pain, Zevon was encouraged by his dentist to see a physician; when he did so he was diagnosed with inoperable mesothelioma (a form of cancer associated with exposure to asbestos). Refusing treatments he believed might incapacitate him, Zevon instead began recording his final album. The album, The Wind, includes guest appearances by close friends including Bruce Springsteen, Don Henley, Jackson Browne, Timothy B. Schmit, Joe Walsh, David Lindley, Billy Bob Thornton, Emmylou Harris, Tom Petty, Dwight Yoakam, and others. It has been said that the decision to include "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" was his, much to the dismay of the others in the project, and his recording performance reduced the studio to tears; one part happy, one part sad.[citation needed] At the request of the music television channel VH1, documentarian Nick Read was given access to the sessions; his cameras documented a man who retained his mordant sense of humor, even as his health was deteriorating over time.
On October 30, 2002, Zevon was featured on the Late Show with David Letterman as the only guest for the entire hour. The band played "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" as his introduction. Zevon performed several songs and spoke at length about his illness. Zevon was a frequent guest and occasional substitute bandleader on Letterman's television shows since Late Night first broadcast during 1982. He noted, "I may have made a tactical error in not going to a physician for 20 years." It was during this broadcast that, when asked by Letterman if he knew something more about life and death now, he first offered his oft-quoted insight on dying: "Enjoy every sandwich." He also took time to thank Letterman for his years of help, calling him "the best friend my music's ever had". For his final song of the evening, and his final public performance, Zevon performed "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" at Letterman's request. In the green room after the show, Zevon presented Letterman with the guitar that he always used on the show, with a single request: "Here, I want you to have this, take good care of it."[6]
...
Warren Zevon died on September 7, 2003, aged 56, at his home in Los Angeles, California. The Wind was certified gold by the RIAA during December 2003 and Zevon received five posthumous Grammy nominations, including Song Of The Year for the ballad "Keep Me In Your Heart". The Wind won two Grammys, with the album itself receiving the award for Best Contemporary Folk Album, while "Disorder in the House", Zevon's duet with Bruce Springsteen, was awarded Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal. These posthumous awards were the first Grammys of Zevon's more than 30-year career.
He was cremated and his ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean near Los Angeles.'
This was not an exercise in name-dropping, Warren Zevon was that influential and that respected in the American Music scene. I love his music although not necessarily his politics, "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" being an example that I choose not to sing along with.
Look out for other Warren Zevon tracks, there is a great cover of Prince's 'Raspberry Beret' for example but I leave you with 'Boom Boom Mancini' as Warren Zevon sure knew his boxing...
And here is some video of the fight between Ray Boom Boom Mancini and Duk Koo Kim that ended with the death of Duk Koo Kim and the subsequent suicides of his mother and the fight's referee...
This parody nicely done but doesn't reversing the roles demonstrate that two wrongs don't make a right?
The performers are The Law Revue girls who 'want to define those supposedly "blurred lines"'. It's interesting that the credits for the video on YouTube don't include the names of the male models, presumably they're just pretty bodies on the video!
If you want to see the original Blurred Lines videos both usual and uncensored take a trip here.
'By linking the very real Nazi genocide to the complete fabrication of a genocide against Arabs by Jews in Israel, he does all of the above. He is denying the Nazi Holocaust while appearing to accept it.'
Visit the website below and key in your annual gas and electricity bill.The site will tell you how much of your bill is tax. It will also tell you how much you can expect your combined bill to be by 2020. I suggest you do this while sitting down as the 2020 figure may come as a shock. The average combined bill is predicted to be close to £1900. You can thank Ed Miliband for much of the increase.
Website here http://energyswindle.org/
These are the people that Barack Hussein Obama wants to help...
' The Syrian rebels posed casually, standing over their prisoners with firearms pointed down at the shirtless and terrified men.
The prisoners, seven in all, were captured Syrian soldiers. Five were trussed, their backs marked with red welts. They kept their faces pressed to the dirt as the rebels' commander recited a bitter revolutionary verse.
"For fifty years, they are companions to corruption," he said. "We swear to the Lord of the Throne, that this is our oath: We will take revenge."
The moment the poem ended, the commander, known as "the Uncle," fired a bullet into the back of the first prisoner's head. His gunmen followed suit, promptly killing all the men at their feet.'
It is exclusively Muslims. We have a problem in Malmö. There are Muslims here who don't like Jews. But the media choose to keep quiet about it. It is considered politically incorrect to talk about it and I suppose they are worried about appearing to be racists. Nevertheless the truth must be told."
'MOSCOW—Despite Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s flat-out admission to
the Russian leader that he was responsible for an August 21 chemical
weapons attack on a suburban Damascus neighborhood, Russian president
Vladimir Putin confirmed Wednesday that al-Assad has yet to provide a
convincing case that he carried out the assault. “Given the information
I’ve seen at this point, President Assad failed to show me clear,
substantiated evidence that he used chemical weapons against the Syrian
people, regardless of how many times he says ‘I, Bashar al-Assad,
President of Syria, am the one who did this’ while showing me videos of
people dying of Sarin poisoning,” said Putin, adding that he remains
extremely skeptical despite phone conversations in which a reportedly
frustrated Assad repeats, over and over again, the step-by-step account
of how he authorized the use of nerve gas to kill over 1,400 people. “We
need to know all the facts before we act. I don’t care how many autopsy
reports, laboratory tests, or pictures of Assad pressing a button
labeled ‘chemical weapons launcher’ he sends me—before we have
conclusive proof that he and not the opposition forces did this, we
cannot say that Syria is in violation of international law.” Putin went
on to confirm that until Assad proves beyond a doubt that he carried out
the alleged attack, Russia will continue delivering components of a
surface-to-air missile defense system to the Syrian government.'
That's odd because here's Barack Hussein Obama from August 2012
"We have made it very clear... that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilised... We have communicated in no uncertain terms with every player in the region that that's a red line for us and that there would be enormous consequences if we start seeing the movement on the chemical weapons front or the use of chemical weapons..."
'We go on to reaffirm that the President has set a clear red line as it
relates to the United States that the use of chemical weapons or the
transfer of chemical weapons to terrorist groups is a red line that is
not acceptable to us, nor should it be to the international community.
It's precisely because we take this red line so seriously that we
believe there is an obligation to fully investigate any and all evidence
of chemical weapons use within Syria.
...
On your red line question, it is absolutely the case that the
President's red line is the use of chemical weapons or the transfer of
chemical weapons to terrorist groups.
...
But I think nobody should have any mistake about what our red line is.
It is when we firmly establish that there has been chemical weapons use
within Syria, that is not acceptable to the United States, nor is the
transfer of chemical weapons to terrorist organizations. And the people
in Syria and the Assad regime should know that the President means what
he says when he set that red line. And keep in mind, he is the one who
laid down that marker. He's the one who directed that we provide this
information to the public. And he's the one who directed that we do
everything we can to further investigate this information so that we can
establish in credible, corroborated, factual basis what exactly took
place.'
So when President Obama says "I didn't set a red line", is he telling the truth?
If this was a Republican President the BBC would be all over this story but as it's the Obamamessiah the BBC restrict themselves to this:
'US President Barack Obama has said the world had set a red line over the "abhorrent use of chemical weapons", and that the credibility of the US and international community was at stake over its response to Syria.'
So for the Obama worshipping BBC there's no questioning of Barack Obama's change of mind/lie, but just faithful reporting of his words. The lack of critical analysis would be staggering if we weren't so used to such partisan reporting.
This week's winner has to be Greg Dyke for as the BBC reports stating that "I don't think anyone realistically thinks we are going to win the World Cup in Brazil."
'Doctors who agreed to arrange illegal abortions based on the sex of an unborn baby have been told they will not face criminal charges, despite prosecutors admitting that there is enough evidence to take them to court, it emerged on Wednesday night.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) was accused of failing to uphold the law after it ruled that it would not be in the "public interest" to prosecute the two doctors exposed in an undercover Daily Telegraph investigation.'
'One aspect of this is to expose anti-Semites. The estimated figure of 150 million European anti-Semites with extreme negative opinions about Israel is so shocking that not a single non-Jewish paper in Europe has dared to publish it. I have received a lot of media attention for Demonizng Israel and the Jews in Jewish circles. So far articles in at least eight languages have been published about the book.
In the non-Jewish world in Europe however, there is silence. I have been interviewed by journalists from major European papers. Their editors would not print the interviews. These interviews would most likely open up a Pandora's box. My publisher Rene van Praag said that just as there are many stories which are too small for the media to deal with, there are also stories which are too big.'
'In fact, kidnapping young Christians and holding them for ransom has become increasingly common in Egypt. Last April, 10-year-old Sameh George, another deacon, or altar boy, at St. Abdul Masih ("Servant of Christ") Church in Minya, Egypt, was also abducted by "unknown persons" while on his way to church to participate in Holy Pascha prayers leading up to Orthodox Easter. His parents said that it was his custom to go to church and worship in the evening, but when he failed to return, and they began to panic, they received an anonymous phone call from the kidnappers, informing them that they had the Christian child in their possession, and would execute him unless they received 250,000 Egyptian pounds in ransom money.
If those in Egypt being kidnapped and sometimes killed for ransom money are not all deacons, they are almost always church-attending Christians. Last April, for example, another Coptic Christian boy , 12-year-old Abanoub Ashraf, was also kidnapped right in front of his church, St. Paul Church in Shubra al-Khayma district. His abductors, four men, put a knife to his throat, dragged him to their car, opened fire on the church, and then sped away. Later they called the boy's family demanding a large amount of money to ransom child's life.
The hate for these Christians—who are seen as no better than dogs—is such that sometimes after being paid their ransom, the Muslim abductors still slaughter them anyway. This was the fate of 6-year-old Cyril Joseph, who was kidnapped last May. In the words of theArabic report, the boy's "family is in tatters after paying 30,000 pounds to the abductor, who still killed the innocent child and threw his body into the toilet of his home, where the body, swollen and moldy, was exhumed."'
The new Iranian Penal code that
was passed by the Guardian Council of the Constitution in Iran on May
1, 2013, states, “male homosexuality , in other cases rather than lavat
[sodomy] and tafkhiz [rubbing penis between another man's tights without
penetration], such as passionate kissing and lustful touching – is
punishable by 31 to 74 punitive lashes of 6th degree.” [Article 237].
The wording of the law [such as..] allows the judge to consider any
other “homosexual” conduct – whether imaginary or real – as deserving
punishment …. This vague law, in practice, paves the way for the
punishment of anyone arrested on suspicion of homosexuality, but can’t
be tried on sodomy charges due to the lack of evidence.
Has anyone noticed any coverage of this news on the BBC? Or is criticism of Islamic states verbotten on the anti-Israel BBC?
Remember "If they are expensive enough to be effective, they aren't going to be affordable. And if they're affordable, they aren't going to be effective"
I hear that Android 4.4 will not in fact be called Key Lime Pie as everyone had been lead to believe by Google, but will instead be called KitKat. It is being claimed that no money has changed hands between Google and Nestle, how odd.
The
OECD economic agency has sharply increased its growth forecast for the
UK economy this year to 1.5% from an earlier estimate of 0.8%.
It said UK growth had gained momentum through the first half of the year.
The forecast came as a survey indicated that activity in the
UK construction sector grew at its fastest pace for nearly six years in
August.
On Monday, a similar survey had shown strong growth in the manufacturing sector.
Recent data and surveys have pointed to an acceleration in the UK's economic recovery. 'Impressive' performance
The OECD's UK growth forecast came as part of its latest assessment of global prospects.
The body said that global growth was set to remain sluggish, as
problems in emerging economies offset improving recoveries in some
advanced economies.
However, it cited the UK, North America and Japan as places where activity was expanding at "encouraging rates".
Also on Tuesday there was an upbeat report on the UK building industry.
The latest Markit/CIPS purchasing managers' index
(PMI) for the UK's construction industry indicated further improvement
in the sector, with residential building leading the way.
The PMI reading rose to 59.1 in August, up from 57.0 in July
and the highest reading since September 2007. A reading above 50
indicates expansion.
"The latest construction PMI figures are yet another
indication that the UK economy has performed impressively over the
summer months," said Tim Moore, senior economist at Markit.
"A steep upturn in civil engineering activity suggested that
public sector demand has joined residential building as a key driver of
construction output growth during August."
On Monday, the PMI survey for the manufacturing sector found
the strongest growth in activity for two and a half years, with output
and new orders rising at their fastest rate for 19 years.
Oddly there was no comment provided from Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, not even from the Shadow Chancellor Ed 'doom and gloom' Balls.
Is Barack Hussein Obama a member of the Muslim Brotherhood as some Egyptians claim? I doubt that he's a member but he certainly seems to be acting like a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, indeed he has since first elected.
'Israel plans to impose a 500-meter buffer zone along its border with the Gaza Strip, a senior Israeli military official said Sunday.
Israeli residents living in neighborhoods close to the Gaza border have received eviction notices.
Homeowners who received eviction orders demonstrated against the decision and burned tires in protest.
Army bulldozers have also uprooted trees in the border area.
The army has demolished 13 homes in the neighborhood where tunnel entrances were found.
An Israeli military official told Ma'an that most cross-border tunnels with entrances in fields or open areas had been destroyed in a security campaign to stop smuggling. He said it was more difficult to locate tunnels that opened into houses. '
Quick alert the United Nations, get the BBC on the case.
Oh hold on, the above is not quite the text of the article in Ma'an. Here's the actual text
'Egypt plans to impose a 500-meter buffer zone along its border with the Gaza Strip, a senior Egyptian military official said Sunday.
Egyptian residents living in Saladin, al-Barahmeh, Canada, Brazil, al-Sarsouriya and other neighborhoods close to the Gaza border have received eviction notices.
Homeowners who received eviction orders demonstrated against the decision and burned tires in protest.
Army bulldozers have also uprooted trees in the border area.
The army has demolished 13 homes in the al-Sarsouriya neighborhood where tunnel entrances were found.
An Egyptian military official told Ma'an that most cross-border tunnels with entrances in fields or open areas had been destroyed in a security campaign to stop smuggling. He said it was more difficult to locate tunnels that opened into houses.'
It's not Israel, it's Egypt; so don't bother the United Nations, let the BBC continue to blacken Israel's name.
I didn't post yesterday and quite enjoyed the freedom, I also didn't Tweet from Friday night until this morning and that was very freeing.
I think that I need a rest from regular blogging as I am feeling quite stale, I'll post as and and when I feel the urge, hopefully I'll regain my enthusiasm sooner rather than later.
David Lloyd aka Bumble tells the tale of being hit in the gentleman's area by a ball from Jeff Thompson. I think he's practised the telling of this story quite a bit.
As an aside, here's Bumble distracted by a sausage...
And here's David Lloyd telling a great Geoffrey Boycott story
I never saw Cliff Morgan play rugby, a little before my time, but I remember his voice as being one of the great commentator voices. Here he is describing the 'gretaest try ever scored' - It's 1973 and the Barbarians are playing the great All Blacks...
In the case of Iraq, we invaded and found no stockpiles of weapons of mass
destruction, although chemical weapons had been used previously by the Saddam Hussein regime.
In the case of Syria we didn't invade despite us knowing that they do have
stockpiles of chemical weapons and that they probably used them.
The use of chemical weapons in Syria is being pinned on the Assad regime, I'm not sure why as the BBC themselves aired this interview with Carla Del Ponte in May.
A leading United Nations investigator says she is 'stupefied' by the
testimony from victims of the Syrian conflict that rebels have used
nerve agent sarin.
Carla Del Ponte told Swiss TV there were "strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof".
She said her panel had not yet seen evidence of government forces using chemical weapons.
So why were Barack Obama and other Western 'leaders' not interested in the accusations of rebel use of chemical weapons in May but are very excited by the rumoured use by the Assad regime? Is it possible that Barack Hussein Obama and his dhimmi friends want to protect Al Quaeda from harm?
'The Jews are the Jews, whether Labor or Likud, the Jews are the Jews. They do not have any moderates or any advocates of peace. They are all liars… They must be butchered and they must be killed, as Allah said [in the Quran]: 'Fight them, Allah will punish them by your hands. He will humiliate them, and grant you victory over them.'
Note he says Jews not Zionists or Israelis. The Palestinian hatred for Israel is a result of their following Islamist teaching.
If an Israeli rabbi said that all Muslims should be killed then it would be headline news on the BBC but as it's a leading Palestinian religious leader, the BBC's coverage will be nonexistent.
'The Islamic Republic (of Iran) is a successful example of political Islam... Hezbollah is an expression of political Islam and a very good and successful one.'
So says George Galloway...
Well if you think that hanging homosexuals 'is a successful example of political Islam' then I suppose Iran is a success but what does that say about you?
If you think that bombing the US Embassy in Beirut killing 63, bombing Beirut barracks killing over 300, bombing Israeli connected entities in Argentina killing over a hundred, high jacking planes, firing rockets at Israel, planning to blow up Israeli tourists on Cyprus, etc. etc. etc. 'is an expression of political Islam and a very good and successful one' then words fail me...
George Galloway - just when you think he can't stoop any lower, he manages to surprise you.
'Commonwealth migrants from 54 states including Australia, Canada, India, Pakistan and Nigeria can join the electoral roll on arrival in the UK as long as they have an address here.'
'With the start of the new school year, and amid the backdrop of increasing security tensions in the region, an Israeli designer has created a backpack that can also function as a protective vest against explosions.'
'British holidaymakers have faced fines or worse
for feeding pigeons, playing bingo or eating while sitting on a
monument, the Foreign Office has said.
It warned that Britons booking foreign holidays without researching their destination risk being caught out by unfamiliar laws.'
The list of countries and odd laws that the BBC/Foreign Office use to illustrate this report is odd:
In the Italian city of Venice it is against the law to feed
pigeons, while in Florence it is an offence to eat or drink in the
immediate vicinity of churches and public buildings
In Barbados it is an offence for anyone, including children, to wear camouflage clothing
Fiji prohibits topless sunbathing
It is illegal to take mineral water into Nigeria
Chewing gum is prohibited on Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system
Taking more than 200 cigarettes into Thailand is illegal
In Japan it is illegal to use some nasal sprays which are commonly available elsewhere
So we have Italy twice, Barbados, Fiji, Singapore, Thailand, Japan and Nigeria. No mention of countries such as Saudi Arabia where carrying a bible can land you in prison. No mention of Saud Arabia which operates a system of aparthid such that non-Muslims are not allowed on certain roads or in certain cities.
No mention also of numerous Muslim countries where a public display of affection such as a kiss or taking a drink of alcohol could lead to imprisonment and/or a public flogging.
Odd how the BBC/Foreign Office don't seem to want to mention the problems Britons have in thosecountries that operate some degree of sharia law.
'Four in ten (79%) British adults, including a majority of those with young kids, think it would be a 'good idea' for airlines to reserve areas for passengers aged 12 and up. Only 13% think the move would be a bad idea.'
Of course it's a popular idea, flying is bad enough without having a screaming baby assaulting your eardrums. Flying is uncomfortable enough without having a five year old kicking the back of your seat for 4 hours. Flying is nasty enough without having the baby in the row behind you throw up over his parents and you. Flying is nauseating enough without you having to witness someone changing their baby's nappy on the other side of the aisle.
All of the above examples have happened to me over the last few years...
What I don't understand is why airlines that operate multiple cabins on long haul flights don't designate one cabin in each class as child free. I'd pay a 10% surcharge to be sure of a relatively peaceful flight.
I'd initially missed the fuss over Miley Cyrus's 'performance' with Robin Thicke at the MTV Awards. 'Twerking' was the phrase I've seen mentioned the most, I'd stick with embarrassing. Watching the first part of the video I was wondering what Miley Cyrus was wearing under her bear themed romper suit, she seems a little young to suffer from incontinence after all. The strip at 3:03 explained that. The 'twerking' at 3:53 raises other question, but more importantly what is up with Miley Cyrus's tongue, can't she keep it in her mouth?
Apparently the Conservatives are to launch a campaign comparing the current Labour leader Ed 'in the unions pocket' Miliband with Neil 'snout firmly and deeply in the trough' Kinnock.
Only a few months ago, Ed Balls was attacking the Conservative lead Coalition government's economic record.
'Your experiment with austerity economics has failed on living standards,
jobs and growth and on deficit reduction too – and the British people
are paying the price for this failure.'
Today I note that that left wing economic commentator Paul Mason in The Guardian writes:
'The argument that fiscal austerity would lead to deep recession
or permanent stagnation has proved false. In part, this is because the
austerity is back-loaded, with the heaviest cuts starting now. But the
economy has also refused to behave as the doomiest predicted. People
have clung to jobs, even at the cost of tolerating zero-hours contracts,
wage cuts, pension raids and unpaid overtime.
It is true that GDP
per head is stagnating. It is also true that if you measure GDP against
the retail price index, instead of the government-preferred CPI, it is
flat. It's also true that growth is patchy regionally – not just between
regions but even within small towns, as Rochdale shows. However, the
headline GDP figure is important. If, in the next few quarters, its
growth is sustained, the narrative of the government's critics on the
left will have to change.
But sustaining the recovery is where the
second political problem begins. Our last mini-recovery was choked off
by inflation: real spending power shrank and growth went into reverse.
This time there is more government money flowing through the credit
system, through Help To Buy, and the funding for lending scheme – where
the government underwrites bank lending risks. So this time the recovery
may be able survive renewed inflation.'
Maybe the headline is the best summary:
The economic recovery may be patchy, but the left is wrong to ignore it
It's
not the same across the country, but there are signs of growth. The
challenge for Labour is how to make the most of the new reality
Ed Balls and reality, now those are strange bedfellows.
First Monty Panesar was fined by police last week for urinating on club
bouncers after he was thrown out of a nightclub. Now I hear that rumours abound that some England players urinated on the pitch at the Oval after sealing their Ashes win on Sunday.
'... Indeed, this is why 'political correctness' is not remotely liberal at all, but viciously oppressive. It is simply a mechanism for re-ordering the world according to a particular dogma — and thus inescapably stifles all dissent.
Innately hostile to traditional morality, it paves the way for a secular Inquisition in which today's Torquemadas are the ideologues of such group rights — and it is Christians and other religious believers who are the heretics to be silenced by force.'
' A Saudi Arabian widow aged 75 has been sentenced to 40 lashes and four months in prison for mingling with two young men who were reportedly bringing her bread.
Khamisa Sawadi, a Syrian who was married to a Saudi, breached rules barring women from meeting with male non-relatives, a court ruled.
The two men, including Sawadi's late husband's nephew Fahd al-Anzi, were also found guilty and sentenced to prison terms and lashes.'
This is a list of the most prolific goal scorers in the Premiership (as of this morning). This season Frank Lampard should overtake Thierry Henry, Wayne Rooney hould overtake Robbie Fowler, Frank Lampard and thus Thierry Henry. Robin Van Persie should easily get into the top 10 by overtaking Robbie Keane and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and probably Teddy Sheringham, Les Ferdinand and Michael Owen. Jermain Defore might also get into the top 10 if he's given a run of games, as might Nicolas Anelka should he do likewise. Stephen Gerrard and Dimitar Berbatov will also make progress this season.
1 Alan Shearer 260
2 Andrew Cole 189
3 Thierry Henry 176
4 Frank Lampard 166
5 Robbie Fowler 163
6 Wayne Rooney 156
7 Michael Owen 150
8 Les Ferdinand 149
9 Teddy Sheringham 147
10 Jimmy F Hasselbaink 128
11 Robbie Keane 126
12 Robin Van Persie 124
13 Jermain Defoe 123
14 Nicolas Anelka 123
15 Dwight Yorke 123
16 Ian Wright 113
17 Emile Heskey 111
18 Dion Dublin 111
19 Ryan Giggs 109
20 Paul Scholes 107
21 Darren Bent 104
22 Matthew Le Tissier 101
23 Didier Drogba 100
24 Steven Gerrard 99
25 Yakubu 95
26 Ruud van Nistelrooy 95
27 Kevin Phillips 92
28 Mark Viduka 92
29 Ole Gunnar Solskjaer 91
30 Dimitar Berbatov 90
I'll keep an eye on this during the season and keep you updated!
Three minutes that should be compulsory viewing for all western politicians. The trouble is some wouldn't believe it and some know already and some like Barack Obama actually seem to support the Muslim Brotherhood.
Colonel Ralph Peters gives his analysis of the situation in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood and Barack Obama's administration's failure of foreign policy.
'"It seems odd that ordinary travellers are subject to 100 per cent checks when those travelling illegally are not subject to this regime. People attempting to enter the UK concealed in freight vehicles, who are discovered by Border Force, are no longer fingerprinted at Calais."'
Lest we forget, today is the 74th anniversary of the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between the Russian communist state and the German Nazi state. There are some who claim that this was just a non-aggression pact, it was much more than that. The treaty also included a protocol that divided the various territories of
Romania, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland into Nazi and
Soviet "spheres of influence", anticipating the potential "territorial and political rearrangements" of these countries.
The Russian Communists were happy to have a pact with Nazi Germany, to deal with that anti-Semitic, evil state. Russia only turned on the Nazi regime after the Hitler's Nazi Germany invaded Russia in June 1941.
Let nobody convince you that Russia stood up to the evils of Nazism. Russia's Communist leaders were happy to be in a pact with Nazi Germany right up until Nazi Germany reneged on the deal.
'USA Today reports that "forty churches have been looted and torched, while 23 others have been attacked and heavily damaged" in one week. According to the Coptic Orthodox and Catholic churches in Egypt, 160 Christian-owned buildings have also been attacked.'
I'm sure I've posted the end of Billy Wilder's incomparable Some Like It Hot before but here it is in all of its magnificence. Jack Lemmon and Joe E. Brown achieve comic perfection whilst Tiny Curtis and Marilyn Monroe make-out in the seats behind them.
In fact I have posted this scene before, take a look here for several more magic scenes.
I heard the Darren Lehmann Australian radio interview yesterday but didn't have tome to blog it. He made some rather off colour remarks about Stuart Broad including this:
“From my point of view I just hope the Australian public give it to him right
from the word go for the whole summer and I hope he cries and he goes home.
...
DJ “The first day at the Gabba is Free Tomato Day, they’re giving
tomatoes out outside the ground, so just let him know that would you, Boof?”
DL “Perfect, we’ll get the whole lot for him. I just hope everyone gets
stuck into him because the way he’s carried on and the way he’s commented in
public about it,"
What a delightful chap Darren Lehmann is.
Actually he has form because back in 2003 he was banned for five
one-day games for a “racially motivated obscenity” after he had been run out
by Sri
Lanka, “Black c----” was the epithet Lehmann was punished for barking out.What a charmer...
'FALLING unemployment and signs of economic recovery have left Ed Miliband dangerously close to self-befoulment.
Experts said the faint signals of optimism could destroy the Labour leader's strategy of hoping you are still poor and frightened come May 2015.
Julian Cook, professor of political underwear at Roehampton University, said: "If you look closely at Miliband you'll see that his smile is wonderfully desperate and that his eyeballs are sweating.'
That's Lady Gaga's video for her new single 'Applause'. It's the usual Madonnaesque video with no more than average singing but am I alone in thinking her voice at the beginning is reminiscent of Hazel O'Connor's 'Eigth Day' from the film Breaking Glass?
PA Official Abbas Zaki, again, this time expressing the view that if the Jews leave Jerusalem as well Judea and Samaria...then Israel will collapse.
Once again have you seen this reported on the BBC or other anti-Israel media? Of course not, they are too busy blaming Israel for stalling the peace talks by building 'settlements'.
Fatah leader Abbas Zaki speaks on Palestinian Authority television about "the great goal," referring to the goal of destroying Israel. He explains that it is impossible to achieve the "goal in one stroke," but that it would be "great" if Israel were "remove[d] from existence." He goes on to explain that this is not "a [stated] policy" and "you can't say it to the world."
This is a clear of example of the duplicity of PA leaders, who adhere to one position when speaking to foreign audiences, claiming to be seeking peace, but uphold a different position when speaking in Arabic, denying Israel's right to exist and educating the Palestinian people for continued conflict.
This video also indicates that Fatah is likely not to seriously work towards peace.
Transcipt:
"The agreement is based on the borders of June 4. While the agreement is on the borders of June 4, the President [Mahmoud Abbas] understands, we understand, and everyone knows that it is impossible to realize the inspiring idea, or the great goal in one stroke. If Israel withdraws from Jerusalem, if Israel uproots the settlements, 650,000 settlers, if Israel removes the (security) fence - what will be with Israel? Israel will come to an end. If I say that I want to remove it from existence, this will be great, great, [but] it is hard. This is not a [stated] policy. You can't say it to the world. You can say it to yourself."
[Al-Jazeera, Sept. 23, 2011]
This is the sort of statement that responsible, unbiased news agnencies would report. Which is why the BBC and others have not and will not report the actual views of the Palestinian leadership, preferring to blame any delays in the peace process on Israeli setlements.
In a quite amazing turn of events, Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary General of
the United Nations, admitted to a group of Israeli students that there
is indeed an “unfortunate” bias against Israel in the UN:
Responding to a student who said Israelis felt their
country was discriminated against in the international organization, Ban
confirmed that there was a biased attitude towards the Israeli people
and Israeli government, stressing that it was “an unfortunate
situation.”
Ban met with the students as part of the UN Model international
academic convention initiated by students at the College of Management.
[...]
Addressing the attitude towards Israel, Ban said that the Jewish
state was a UN member and should therefore be treated equally like all
other 192 member states. Unfortunately, he added, Israel has been
criticized and sometimes discriminated against because of the Mideast
conflict.
Despite these stirring words however, Ban Ki-Moon hasn’t done anything to ease the built-in bias against Israel.
If you want to learn more, read This article at Anne's opinions, if not then carry on getting your news from the likes of the anti-Israel BBC.
I've written about this case before and have noticed that the BBC are incredibly uninterested in reporting the ongoing case. Thanks to Jihad Watch I have an update:
'I received this email today from Neal M. Sher, attorney for the victims of Nidal Hasan's murderous jihad attack at Fort Hood on November 5, 2009.
As the attorney for the victims of the Ft. Hood massacre,
and their families, I can say unequivocally that at every turn the
Administration and the Army have twisted rules, regulation and common
sense into pretzels to avoid acknowledging what Hasan himself has
admitted prior to the attack and now in court: that he is a committed
and devout jihadist who is fighting for an enemy.
The question which needs an answer: in light of his admission why has
he not been tried for treason, as was Bradley Manning? While his crimes
are most serious, he's not a mass murderer.'
So why is Barack Hussein Obama so keen to 'avoid acknowledging what Hasan himself has
admitted prior to the attack and now in court: that he is a committed
and devout jihadist who is fighting for an enemy'? It's a mystery.
The BBC have a page of news stories about the ongoing crisis in Egypt. The link to that page from the BBC news home page says 'Coverage in full'. Hmmmm.
Why are the BBC censoring the news coming out of Egypt in order to protect the Muslim Brotherhood?
Why do the BBC love the Muslim Brotherhood so much?
Could the Muslim Brotherhood's Sheikh Qaradawi's comments in 2009 be the explanation?
"Throughout history, Allah has imposed upon the Jews people who would
punish them for their corruption...The last punishment was carried out
by [Adolf] Hitler.
By means of all the things he did to them – even though they
exaggerated this issue – he managed to put them in their place. This was
divine punishment for them...Allah Willing, the next time will be at the hand of the believers. "
Is this the same factor that explains the BBC's love for Hamas? Hamas whose Charter expresses this truth:
“[W]e believe that the battle between us and the Jews is coming … Such a
battle is not driven by nationalistic causes or patriotic belonging; it
is rather driven by religious incentives. This battle is not going to
happen between Arabs and Zionists, or between Jews and Palestinians, or
between Jews or anybody else. It is between Muslims and Jews as is
clearly stated in the hadith. This battle will occur between the
collective body of Muslims and the collective body of Jews i.e. all
Muslims and all Jews. (p. 77)”
It's also odd that the BBC, who are so quick to identify real or imaginary restrictions on the rights of women in the west, never reported that when the Muslim Brotherhood came to power in Egypt they rejected a draft UN declaration calling for an end to "all forms of
violence against women". The Brotherhood said it "contradict(s)
established principles of Islam" and "undermines Islamic ethics". It
does so by "granting equal rights to adulterous wives", "full rights to
file legal complaints against husbands", "allowing Muslim women to marry
non-Muslims" and "cancelling the need for a husband's consent in
matters like travel, work or use of contraceptives".
The BBC's inability to criticise Islamofascists worries me hugely, this added to their massive control of the UK's news media is actually dangerous.
'A Saudi prince has warned that his oil-reliant nation
is under threat because of fracking technology being developed elsewhere
around the world.
Billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said the Gulf Arab kingdom needed
to reduce its reliance on crude oil and diversify its revenues.
His warning comes as rising shale energy supplies in the United States cut global demand for Saudi oil.'
I'm trying not to weep for the Saudis, truly I am!
Maybe with less reliance on oil from nasty Islamofascist states like Saudi Arabia, the rest of the world will stop following such states' views on Israel.
' 203. Farmer Joe JUST NOW Maybe next time make the BBC team stay at home in the UK, and commentate on the television pictures viewers are watching. (Like the marathons, where commentary could have come from Salford rather than elsewhere in Moscow).
If the 'usual suspect' castlist of former competitors want to attend the championships, they can buy their own tickets, rather than leaving the licence-payers to foot the bill.'
The BBC news website headline at the moment is this:
'Labour has "massively failed" to get its case across to the public this summer, the party's former deputy leader Lord Prescott says.'
No shit Sherlock
Actually it would be fair to say that 'massively failed' would be a pretty good summary of the last Labour government, one in which John Prescott was one of the largest (pun intended) failures.
'BBC motoring show Top Gear is embroiled in controversy over faked scenes after it emerged that actors had been hired to appear in a segment where a home-made hovercraft soaks diners at a riverside restaurant.'
Just an average story from joyfully multicultural post Blair Britain.
'A Met Police officer leaked details of plans to arrest hate preacher Anjem Choudary to his wife while she was working for MP George Galloway, a court heard today.
Detective Inspector Mohammed Afiz Khan, 46, from Yorkshire, is accused of passing confidential information to his wife Aisha Ali-Khan while he was at the helm of the Muslim Contact Unit - part of the force's Counter Terrorism Command.
Ali-Khan, 33, who worked as the Bradford West MP's parliamentary secretary, is said to have asked her husband to use his position to investigate the source of a string of e-mails and obtain personal details.
In addition to the alleged leak concerning the radical Islamist cleric, Khan is also accused of obtaining CCTV footage from South Yorkshire Police without a valid reason.'
The BBC's pro Islamist terrorist coverage continues.
' Significantly, at no point during her shallow reporting of the "parties" and "big family reunions" does Knell bother to make clear to her audiences the significance of the fact that these events celebrating the release of murderers are organised by the same (foreign aid funded) Palestinian Authority which is supposed to be a 'partner for peace'. At no point does she raise the question of how such official public displays of the glorification of terror and violent crime against foreign tourists, Israelis and Palestinians might be perceived as one of the "core issues" central to the peace process and may in fact be reasonably described as one of what the BBC likes to term "obstacles to peace".'
