Superheavy - 'Miracle Worker'

Off the top of my head I cannot think of another song that includes the word preposterous!

Superheavy are the new 'supergroup' comprising Rolling Stones front-man Mick Jagger, Eurythmics founder Dave Stewart, singer Joss Stone, composer A.R. Rahman and reggae artist (and son of Bob Marley) Damian Marley. I quite like the track, how about you?

Harder, Faster, Deeper

The Young Britons' Foundation plea to 'Cut Spending, Cut Debt, Cut Taxes'.



Sorry Richard

Did something other than an airplane bring down the Twin Towers on 9/11?

Many deluded people still believe that something other a mere plane crash brought down the World Trade Center towers on 9/11? A large proportion of these 'truthers' just want to blame the USA for everything and cannot conceive of George W. Bush being to blame somehow. There's plenty of proof that airplanes did hit the Twin Towers on 9/11 and plenty of scientific proof as to how the Twin Towers collapsed.

However one Norwegian materials expert disagrees with the consnsus view, Christian Simensen thinks the Twin Towers were ultimately felled by a thermite reaction:

' "If my theory is correct, tonnes of aluminium ran down through the towers, where the smelt came into contact with a few hundred litres of water," Christian Simensen, a scientist at SINTEF, an independent technology research institute based in Norway, said in a statement released Wednesday.

"From other disasters and experiments carried out by the aluminium industry, we know that reactions of this sort lead to violent explosions."

Given the quantities of the molten metal involved, the blasts would have been powerful enough to blow out an entire section of each building, he said. This, in turn, would lead to the top section of each tower to fall down on the sections below.

The sheer weight of the top floors would be enough to crush the lower part of the building like a house of card, he said.'

Here's some science...



Thanks to Boing Boing for the spot.

'The AFP has a write-up about the theory. There's also a more-detailed explanation on the website of SINTEF, the Norwegian research lab where Simensen works. Finally, this appeared in the trade journal Aluminum International Today, and they've got an email address where you can request a copy of the story.'

The perils of wearing a red-shirt - Star Trek wise

Ian Leini has produced a T-shirt dedicated to those bit players in the original Star Trek series who you just knew would never make it back from the 'landing party'.

'"Landing party, with me. Spock. McCoy. Uhura. And... you. Over there in the... red shirt."

Ah, the poor red shirt. Ensign Whosit. Yeoman Whats-his-face. Don't bother learning their names, as they won't be around long enough for you to need to know them. This design is my tribute to unsung heroes everywhere who tirelessly do their work behind the scenes and sometimes give their lives while the flashy ego-maniacs is charge get all of the credit (and all the alien women).

Engineers, Communications Officers, Security, Administrators - this shirt is for you.

Front print has an updated insignia, showing the likely fate of the wearer, and warning label on the back lists each and every method by which those brave red-shirted souls were summarily dispatched during the Original Series.'

The perfect Xmas gift for Trekkies and Trekkers everywhere?


Thanks to Boing Boing for the spot.

Martin McGuinness in his own words

When will there be an investigation into how many people were killed by, on the orders of or to the knowledge of Martin McGuinness?

Will a BBC reporter ever ask Martin McGuinness such questions?

The 20 most indebted countries

The list of the world's 20 most indebted countries are a little shocking, but not as shocking as the amounts...
20. United States - 101.1% ($14.8 trillion)
19. Hungary - 120.1% ($225 billion)
18. Australia - 138.9% ($1.2 trillion)
17. Italy - 146.6% ($2.6 trillion)
16. Spain - 179.4% ($2.46 trillion)
15. Greece - 182.2% ($580 billion)
14. Germany - 185.1% ($5.4 trillion)
13. Portugal - 223.6% ($552 billion)
12. France - 250% ($5.4 trillion)
11. Hong Kong - 250.4% ($816 billion)
10. Norway - 251% ($641 billion)
9. Austria - 261.1% ($867 billion)
8. Finland - 271.5% ($505 billion)
7. Sweden - 282.2% ($1trillion)
6. Denmark - 310.4% ($626 billion)
5. Belgium - 335.9% ($1.3 trillion)
4. Netherlands - 376.3% ($2.6 trillion)
3. Switzerland - 401.9% ($1.3 trillion)
2. United Kingdom - 413.3% ($8.98 trillion)
1. Ireland - 1,382% (Debt, at $172.3 billion, more than 10 times the national GDP)

Second place for the UK; well done Gordon Brown, Ed Balls and the other members of the last Labour government who ruined the UK's economy with their spend, spend, spend policies, their lack of efficient bank regulation and Gordon Brown's persuading of Lloyds bank to takeover HBOS and so ruin Lloyds bank.

The real supporters of human rights at the United Nations

Dissidents Urge UN to Expel China, Cuba, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia from its Human Rights Council & Women's Rights Commission

Draft resolutions sent to UN chief Ban Ki-moon on human rights situations in China, Cuba, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Venezuela, Zimbabwe

NEW YORK, Sept. 28 - Led by UN Watch, some of the world's most famous dissidents and former political prisoners urged the UN today to suspend China, Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia from the UN Human Rights Council, which is now in session, and to expel Iran from the UN Commission on the Status of Women. See full text below.
In a letter sent today to UN chief Ban Ki-moon and rights commissioner Navi Pillay, the international group of activists submitted draft resolutions on the human rights situations in China, Cuba, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Venezuela and Zimbabwe, for adoption by the UN's General Assembly and the Human Rights Council.  Canadian MP Irwin Cotler announced the dissidents' declaration yesterday in the Canadian parliament. 

_____________

Declaration of Dissidents for Universal Human Rights

United Nations, New York, September 22, 2011

Version Française

We, former prisoners of conscience, dissidents, victims of torture, persecution, and repression, fighters for freedom, democracy and the dignity of all human beings, gathered here at United Nations Headquarters in New York City, on 22 September 2011, do hereby declare:

Seventy years ago this week, in the face of Nazi tyranny, nations gathered in London to proclaim the Four Freedoms of the Atlantic Charter that are the birthright of all human beings and the hallmarks of democratic society: Freedom of speech and of belief, freedom from fear and from want. These four freedoms form the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Two decades ago, the Soviet Union, the other great tyranny of the twentieth century, collapsed amidst the cry for freedom that first resonated through its satellite states. Today, across the Middle East, we are witnessing that same cry echoing from Cairo to Tripoli toDamascus, as old regimes are swept aside or cling to power through ever more brutal means.
Inspired by the courage and idealism shown by ordinary women and men fighting for basic freedoms across the world; enraged by the continuing evils perpetrated by authoritarian states, including genocide, torture, state-sanctioned violence, rape and starvation as an instrument of political repression, the imprisonment of thousands of men and women of conscience, the silencing of dissenting voices, the xenophobic persecution of minorities, the denial of freedom of thought, belief and worship; we, survivors of repression in our own countries of origin, recognize that human beings can be trampled, but their spirit can never be crushed.
At this decisive moment in the struggle for universal human rights, we celebrate the defeat of Libyan dictator Col. Muammar Gaddafi and of other brutal regimes in the surrounding region.
To the remaining tyrants and dictators around the globe, who have systematically violated the rights of their peoples, we give notice: Your time has passed. No more will the world suffer your specious arguments to justify policies and practices of abuse and repression in the name of claimed exceptions to the universality of basic human rights. Belonging to diverse faiths and cultures, and originating from all regions of the world, we, the authors of this Declaration, unequivocally reject such dishonest apologetics, which suit the interests of the despots, and not the interests, or ideas, of their peoples.
We assert that the writ of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted on 10 December 1948 by the General Assembly, continues to run through all societies, and for all times. The talk of tyrants is refuted by the cries of prisoners—who, from the dungeons of Burma, China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Tibet, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, and elsewhere—demand justice and freedom on the basis of these universal laws and eternal truths.
Therefore, in renewing the promise of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we call on the United Nations to make the dream of the four freedoms a reality. We urge the United Nations General Assembly to pursue a new agenda for human rights, and call for the Member States to:

• Remove tyrannical governments from special positions of power in the United Nations human rights system. Welcoming the United Nations suspension this year of the Gaddafi regime from the Human Rights Council, and the successful campaigns to prevent the election of Iran and Syria to that body, we call on the United Nations to continue on the path of reform, including by:

• Suspending China, Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia from the UN Human Rights Council;
• Removing Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women; and
• Expelling Saudi Arabia from the Executive Board of UN Women.

• Adopt the annexed resolutions on compelling situations of human rights that have hitherto been neglected or ignored at the United Nations;
  
• Champion the cause of civil society by speaking out against the persecution of human rights defenders and dissidents, and for the freedom of non-governmental organizations to advocate for an end to repressive laws and practices;
  
• Guarantee the freedoms of speech, the press, and assembly, being the lifeblood of democracy;
  
• Condemn the ongoing censorship, harassment and imprisonment of Internet fighters for freedom and democracy;
  
• Demand equality, tolerance and freedom for minorities everywhere;
  
• Defend women who are victims of state-sanctioned subjugation; and
  
• Protect children from ideologies of hatred and intolerance that promote contempt for fundamental human rights.

Annexed
1. Proposed UNGA Resolution on Situation of Human Rights in China
2. Proposed UNGA Resolution on Situation of Human Rights in Cuba
3. Proposed UNGA Resolution on Situation of Human Rights in Pakistan
4. Proposed UNGA Resolution on Situation of Human Rights in Russia
5. Proposed UNGA Resolution on Situation of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia
6. Proposed UNGA Resolution on Situation of Human Rights in Syria
7. Proposed UNGA Resolution on Situation of Human Rights in Venezuela
8. Proposed UNGA Resolution on Situation of Human Rights in Zimbabwe

Signed on this 22^nd day of September, 2011, at the opening of the 66^th session of the United Nations General Assembly, for the We Have A Dream: Global Summit Against Discrimination and Persecution.
 

Yang Jianli, Former Chinese political prisoner, founder of Initiatives for China
Ahmad Batebi, Former Iranian political prisoner
Fidel Suarez Cruz, Cuban dissident and former prisoner
John Dau, Survivor of war in Sudan and founder of John Dau Foundation
Rebiya Kadeer, Uyghur dissident and former political prisoner in China
Grace Kwinjeh, Zimbabwean dissident and torture victim
Berta Antunez, Women’s rights activist in Cuba with Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White)
Adeeb Yousif, Darfur human rights activist
Jacqueline Kasha, Ugandan activist for LGBT rights, recipient of Martin Ennals 2011 Human Rights Defenders Prize
Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi, Iranian human rights activist
Witnessed by:
Prof. Irwin Cotler, Canadian MP, former Minister of Justice & Attorney General, McGill U. law professor, international human rights lawyer, counsel to prisoners of conscience
David Lowe, Vice President for Government Relations and Public Affairs, National Endowment of Democracy
Ambassador Alfred H. Moses, Chair of UN Watch
Katrina Lantos Swett, President of Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice
Philippe Robinet, French publisher of human rights testimonies
Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of UN Watch
John Suarez, Directorio
Human Rights Foundation
Viet Tan

(For list of all 22 human rights NGOs sponsoring the summit, click here. For videos of the testimonies, click here.)

To support the vital work of UN Watch, please contribute here.

Thursday afternoon catch-up

The usual story; too many open tabs and nowhere near enough time.

1) Are Hezbollah setting up a base in Cuba? Naharnet have the story:

'A U.S. Republican lawmaker has warned that Hizbullah could build "missile sites" in Cuba and pose a threat to the United States.

"Why would you normalize trade with a country that sponsors terror?" Rep. Michele Bachmann asked an audience of supporters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Monday, in response to a question about her position on trading with Cuba.

"There are reports that have come out that Cuba has been working with another terrorist organization called Hizbullah,” she said.

The Shiite party “is looking at wanting to be part of missile sites in Iran and, of course, when you are 90 miles offshore from Florida, you don't want to entertain the prospect of hosting bases or sites where Hizbullah could have training camps or perhaps have missile sites or weapons sites in Cuba. This would be foolish," she added.

Bachmann was apparently referring to an unsourced report in the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera earlier this month about how a handful of Hizbullah members have set up some sort of encampment in Cuba.

The report was never backed up in major publications but was picked up by conservative blogs like Glenn Beck's The Blaze and Andrew Breitbart's Big Peace.'

2) Has the Obama government armed Mexican drugs barons? pajamas media says that they have, that it is not accidental and that the Obama supporting media have deliberately ignored the story:

'Monday’s revelations by Mike Vanderboegh at Sipsey Street Irregulars and David Codrea at the Gun Rights Examiner, corroborated here at PJMedia and expounded upon at Fox News, comprise a “smoking gun” of the one of the most stunning political scandals in U.S. history.

As William Lajeunesse writes at Fox:

Not only did U.S. officials approve, allow and assist in the sale of more than 2,000 guns to the Sinaloa cartel — the federal government used taxpayer money to buy semi-automatic weapons, sold them to criminals and then watched as the guns disappeared.

I don’t wish to understate it: elements of the U.S. Departments of Justice, State, Homeland Security, and Treasury are responsible for supplying an arsenal to narco-terrorists waging a civil war against an American ally. Our federal government may bear responsibility for at least 200 murders committed with “walked” firearms, in what Mexican Attorney General Marisela Morales describes as a “betrayal” of her country by the Obama administration.

...

But despite the revelations from of documents and testimony obtained by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and repeated calls for full disclosure from senators and congressmen, mainstream media organizations have done everything in their power to bury the scandal. This can only be viewed as a partisan media’s attempt to protect a criminal executive branch.'

3) What really caused the Eurozone crisis? The Street Light Blog has an interesting quotation from Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s finance minister, from his recent piece in the Financial Times:

Whatever role the markets have played in catalysing the sovereign debt crisis, it is an undisputable fact that excessive state spending has led to unsustainable levels of debt and deficits that now threaten our economic welfare.

4)  Are BBC employees more 'of the left' than 'of the right'? The BBC is meant not to be biased, indeed we are told that impartiality is in its genes. This old Conservative Home piece says otherwise:

'One of the great things about Facebook is that you can find the nichest of niche groups of like-minded people. It has an advertising package to match. You can, for example, upload an ad banner that will appear 10,000 times to female twenty-somethings who live in York and enjoy listening to jazz. This kind of micro-targeting has got to be the next stage of the Party's online advertising campaign. The advertising package has other uses...

BBC employees went Facebook mad earlier this year with 10,580 now having profiles on the social networking site. Many of them chose to specify their political views as either liberal, moderate or conservative (there isn't a socialist option available to the chagrin of many). An advanced search reveals that more than 11 times the number of BBC employees on Facebook list themselves as liberal than conservative:
BBC - 10,580
BBC liberals - 1,340
BBC moderates - 340
BBC conservatives - 120

Former BBC journalist Robin Aitken, who has still yet to be properly interviewed by any of his many former colleagues about his whistle-blowing on its institutional biases, said you couldn't make a cricket team out of the number of Tories at the corporation. He wasn't far wrong!

To show that these proportions don't merely reflect the fact that the student-dominated Facebook is full of young liberal trendies anyway, a search of the UK-wide Facebook population reveals a liberal to conservative ratio of just 2.5 to 1, that's four times less liberal than those on the BBC network:
UK -  6,407,580
UK liberals - 545,240
UK moderates - 251,320              
UK conservatives - 216,660
Narrowing it down to the London network where most BBC employees reside, the ratio is still just nigh of 3 to 1 at 147,340 to 51,760.'

5) Social engineering in education continues apace, as The Independent reports that:

'A controversial plan to rank all A-level students according to the schools they attend – which would allow universities to discriminate against pupils from private schools – is unveiled today by Britain's biggest exam board.

The plan by the exam board AQA (Assessment and Qualifications Alliance) provoked a storm of argument among academics and independent schools. There were immediate fears that candidates will be penalised simply because they achieve good A-level results at a good school. Independent schools are also alarmed that the approach could discriminate against disadvantaged pupils to whom they have offered scholarships.'

6) I dislike Marcus Brigstocke, well who doesn't, so I was pleased to see this New Statesman article from 2008 , here's the conclusion:

'All Brigstocke does is preach to the choir. He is the poster boy for an effete, obsolete, undergraduate, Meccano-set humour that can be snapped together in short order. Absolutely nobody, apart from BBC commissioning editors, thinks Brigstocke is funny. He is, in fact, the very opposite of funny. He is the new Jim Davidson.'

7) The Mail discovers that a convicted aider of would-be Islamic terrorists cannot be deported because of human rights legislation and as a result travels on the very tube trains, amongst the very people that he was convicted of trying to assist in the killing of. Richard Littlejohn  has his own take on the story.


8) Archbishop Cranmer ties together the fuss over Andy Coulson receiving severance pay after leaving News International and whilst being employed by the Conservative party with the lack of fuss over Chris Patten's  EU pension. The EU pension point is one that I have raised over and over again, most often with reference to Peter Mandelson. Here's part of the Archbishop's article:

'Robert Peston (BBC) broke the story (which some already knew) that Mr Coulson continued to receive money as part of a 'severance package'. His Grace has done a bit of fishing around on this, and such arrangements are not at all unusual under 'compromise agreements': the reasons may relate to taxation, or some clause to stagger payments to ensure the compromise conditions are met. So the issue appears to be that Mr Coulson was apparently serving two masters - in the words of John Prescott, he was a 'double agent being paid by the Tories & Murdoch'.

If that is the principal objection - or perception - how can Lord Patten simultaneously be Chairman of the BBC Trust and in receipt of an EU pension? He readily gave up jobs (with the Global Leadership Foundation, the International Crisis Group and Medical Aid to Palestine) which might have been perceived as a conflict of interests, but his EU pension of around £100,000 per annum continues to be paid.

Lord Patten's pension is conditional upon him doing nothing to harm the interests of the European Union. According to Article 213 of the Treaty establishing the European Community:

The Members of the Commission shall, in the general interest of the Community, be completely independent in the performance of their duties.

In the performance of these duties, they shall neither seek nor take instructions from any government or from any other body. They shall refrain from any action incompatible with their duties. Each Member State undertakes to respect this principle and not to seek to influence the Members of the Commission in the performance of their tasks.

The Members of the Commission may not, during their term of office, engage in any other occupation, whether gainful or not. When entering upon their duties they shall give a solemn undertaking that, both during and after their term of office, they will respect the obligations arising therefrom and in particular their duty to behave with integrity and discretion as regards the acceptance, after they have ceased to hold office, of certain appointments or benefits. In the event of any breach of these obligations, the Court of Justice may, on application by the Council or the Commission, rule that the Member concerned be, according to the circumstances, either compulsorily retired in accordance with Article 216 or deprived of his right to a pension or other benefits in its stead.

...

 

The BBC already manifests considerable pro-EU bias, but Lord Patten is perceptibly unable to address this lest he be accused of acting against the interests of the Union.

Now, Lord Patten may be an honorable man. But, as Lord Prescott has pointed out, there is the perception of a conflict - of being a 'double agent'.

Why, pray, is the media kicking up such a fuss over payments to Andy Coulson from 2007, but not batting an eyelid over the hundreds of thousands of pieces of silver still being paid to keep the state broadcaster in thrall to the EU?'

9) Why are Turkey kicking up such a fuss over Israel and also Cyprus? The answer is not just anti-Semitism, it is also Gas - lots of GAS. Eagle Speak has the full story:

'So, Turkey has been shaking the war stick at Israel, making big noise over the Israeli blockade of Gaza that last year resulted in the stopping of Turkish ship and the violence that followed. In addition, Turkey is most unhappy with the discovery of large amounts of natural gas beneath the waters off Israel and Cyprus.

...

For Cypriots who always had an Arab-envy, seeing their neighbors drawn in oil while they have to import every drop of it, has been frustrating if not intoxicating. Loren Steffy, the business columnist for the Houston Chronicle, reports: “Just as the Israeli discoveries may transform that country from an energy importer to an exporter, a similar find off the coast of Cyprus could turn the island nation into a major European energy hub”.

Terry Gerhart, the Vice President for international operations of Houston-based Noble Energy declares: “Cyprus could be on the verge of a natural gas revolution. Gas will strengthen the Cypriot economy for decades to come. Cyprus will become the Mediterranean’s energy hub”.

Well, maybe - both Cyprus and Israel are going to have some serious challenges - as noted here:

From Israel, there is good news and bad news.

The good news – and it is huge – is that Israel will soon be awash in natural gas. Gas discovered on the country's outer continental shelf will turn the country from being hydrocarbon-deprived to being a net exporter.

Indeed, Israel is set to become so rich that it is laying the groundwork for creating a sovereign wealth fund for overseas investments in order to protect the country from inflation and the shekel from getting too strong.

The bad news is that with Hezbollah poised to control Lebanon's government, Iran has de facto arrived on Israel's northern border. Even without an Iranian nuclear weapon, this is a grave deterioration in Israel's security.

Already Lebanon has asked the United Nations to guarantee that Israel does not violate the integrity of Lebanon's outer continental shelf, where Iran plans to help Lebanon drill for gas.

Geology is about to change the political geography of the world's most combustible neighborhood.

The two huge gas discoveries are in the Tamar and Leviathan fields. Taken together, the gas reserves are estimated at 26 trillion cubic feet or 10 times larger than Britain's North Sea discoveries.

Since its creation in 1948, Israel has drilled on land for oil and gas with very little success. While the Arab Gulf countries have found and produced massive quantities of oil and gas, Israel has scrounged in the international markets for its hydrocarbons, including coal.

Israel's isolation made this difficult and expensive. In recent years, it has bought gas from Egypt. But Egypt will lose its good customer.

Turkey, once Israel's only Moslem friend – until the botched seizure of a humanitarian ship bound for blockaded Gaza – will be affected too. There were plans for a pipeline that would carry gas from Azerbaijan across Turkey and undersea to Israel. That economic boost will no longer be going to Turkey, but instead will probably go to Greece and Greek Cyprus. There have been preliminary discussions between Israel and Greece about shipping gas through Greece, by an undersea pipeline or a liquefied natural gas train, as an entry point into Europe.

So now, we see new headlines Turkey rattles sabres over Cypriot natural gas drilling:

Prospects of an underwater natural gas bonanza in the eastern Mediterranean have sparked a fresh row between Turkey and the divided island of Cyprus that is also embroiling Greece and Israel.

The Turkish prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, warned last week that he was ready to send warships to the area, both to escort Turkish aid convoys to the Gaza Strip and to monitor Cypriot and Israeli energy projects.

How far Turkey is prepared to escalate tensions will become clearer in coming days.

A Texas-based company, Noble Energy, is due to launch exploratory drilling south of Cyprus soon on behalf of the Greek Cypriots, who represent the island internationally and in the European Union.

Asked about those plans, Egemen Bagis, Turkey's EU minister, warned this month: "It is for this [reason] that countries have warships. It is for this that we have equipment and train our navies."

In the past, Turkey has proved ready to back its positions in maritime disputes with military muscle.

Why is Turkey involved? Ah, the "Cyprus Problem!" '

Turkey invaded and occupied Northern Cyprus but that  gives them a foothold on the island and thus the chance to try and lay claim to Cyprus's gas finds...


10) Finally as the Eurozone gets closer and closer to the abyss, Stop Turkey has an interesting article:

'Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has called for a United States of Europe to be created with Turkey as a full member and Russia as an associate member.

We should "not dither any longer, but get serious with the European core," he said, pointing to the international competition of different world region: otherwise Europe and its nation states will "sink into insignificance" between Asia under Chinese leadership and a re-strengthened America. Schröder supports the goal of a United States of Europe that Ursula von der Leyen[a German politician] had brought up. "The Europe I imagine is more strongly integrated, supplemented with the membership of Turkey and an association with Russia."

Since leaving political office, Schröder has been involved in energy and pipeline projects that involve Russia and Turkey.

He also calls for a joint European finance minister:

"National sovereignty must be relinquished", referring to parliamentary budget rights.

"What the national parliaments give up must go to the European parliament as the highest authority." In addition, he imagines that a "special committee" of the EU parliament could be formed, "consisting of the members of the Euro zone and taking over this monitoring function".

"Great Britain creates the biggest problems." The country is not in the euro, "but the British still want to have a say in the design of the business area." That doesn't go together.'

The answer is always closer union and bringing Turkey into the EU will aid in the destruction of the Judeo-Christian identity of the EU.

How many Labour shadow cabinet ministers have business experience?

That's direct business experience not Trade Union activism, poltical researcher, etc. I feel a spot of research is called for...

No updates from the BBC?

The Rory Weal story has moved on apace but not at the BBC. Guido fawkes has plenty on the story the BBC does not.

Now what is being suggested here by John Denham and Michael Crick?

So why would individual electoral registration be 'worse for Labour' let alone bad for labour? Do Labour benefit from weak electoral registration controls then? Who weakened the controls? Why did they do so? Should someone be held accountable?

Shana Tova

For my many Jewish followers - 'Shana Tova' - A Happy New Year

BBC bias?

Craig
You've got to hand it to Kevin Maguire. Being an experienced pro-Labour tabloid journalist, he knows how to use emotionally-charged tabloid language to turn his audience against the Tory government, as here this morning: 

"The Royal Navy is making redundant more than a thousand sailors, some of them recently returned from risking their lives in the Libyan campaign."

"Risking their lives" is much better than merely saying "serving" for hitting the right emotional buttons and influencing people against the government's job cuts. Bravo Kevin!

Except it wasn't Kevin Maguire. It was the BBC newsreader on this morning's Today programme.

From Biased-BBC

Someone's not happy with Yvette Cooper's comments on immigration

jarwill101
  Yvette Cooper's nauseating admission, 'We got things wrong over immigration', has to be challenged. No, Yvette, credit where credit's due, given New Labour's avowed policy, as revealed by speech writer, Andrew Neather, you got things right over immigration. You wanted to obliterate the Brtish nation state as rapidly as possible & mass immigration was your weapon of choice. And the beeboids filled the atmosphere with an enveloping, rainbow-tinted iCloud of touchy-feely propaganda to speed the transformation on its way. 
  Never mind the quality of the incomers, forget their, very often, utter unsuitability, their arrogant refusal to integrate, their immediate reliance on benefits, their propensity for criminality/terrorism. Our towns & cities are now descending into the Second World, a volatile, crowded, violent waiting-room, before the descent into the Third. Places like Tower Hamlets/Haringey should be the jewels in Yvette's papier-mache crown. You, Yvette, & your cultural Marxist destructors have ensured that there will never be a harmonious society in this country again. Your job is done, don't be self-effacing about it. Step out into our wonderful, 'diverse' streets, especially at night, rejoice in the 'enrichment'. Perhaps a kindly passerby will help you count the holes in you face, help you into the ambulance.
  I'll wave to you from the river, upon which the indigenous people, & the hard-working, law-abiding immigrants, have been sold down in exchange for the advancement of your own worthless, traitorous little soul.

From Biased-BBC...

Another Obama misspeak that the BBC have not yet reported and I doubt that they will

Barack Obama asks if they think a billionaire should pay the same tax rate as a Jew, before correcting it to janitor. Why the mistake: teleprompter problem or his subconscious coming to the fore?

Now imagine the BBC coverage if George W. Bush had made the same mistake.

The incestuousess of the BBC and Labour

Stephanie Flanders' previous dalliances with Labour's Ed Balls and Ed Miliband are not that well known to the general public, even if readers of this blog do know. I was however shocked to read that the Labour/media links do not end there:

'After a sound montage of Ed's leadership, we got the views of Patrick Wintour of the Guardian (inevitably) and Jenni Russell of the Sunday Times. Jenni Russell was surprisingly nice about Ed. Googling her, it turns out that there's a good reason for that - Ed Miliband is her child's godfather!'

Thanks to Craig at Biased-BBC for that info.

That charmless man

I heard the BBC Radio 4 Toady programme's interview with Ed 'second choice' Balls yesterday morning. What a sycophantic interview by James "If we win the election" Naughtie. Interviews by Naughtie and Humphrys with Conservative ministers are full of interruptions to break the interviewee's train of thought and aggressive questions.This interview was far more genial. There were some tough questions but these were put almost apologetically, in the spirit of 'I hope you know that I have to ask this question but don't worry I won't pursue the matter, whatever you respond.'

The general tone of the interview was very matey, talk of football and gentle ribbing; in the way that friends or workmates do.  I doubt that George Osborne will be similarly treated as one of the gang next week.


I do hope that (Beed Biased) Craig was listening to the interview and will be comparing it with the one that George Osborne will be subjected to next week. I expect the interruption coefficients to be very different.

Another in the series entitled 'Just listen to what they say'

For some years now I have been pointing out that whilst Fatah and Hamas may say when speaking to the West and the United Nations that they want peace with Israel, they say something altogether more honest when they speak to their own people.


Here at MEMRI is Fatah Central Committee Member Abbas Zaki quite brazenly explaining to his Al Jazeera audience what the plan for Israel is...

'The settlememnt should be based upon the borders of June 4, 1967. When we say that the settlememt should be based ipon these borders, President (Abbas) understands, we understand, and everyone knows that that the Greater Goal Cannot Be Accomplished in One Go. If Jerusalem withdraws from Jerusalem, evacuates the 650,000 settlers and dismantles the wall, what will become of Israel? It will come to an end.... If we say that we want to wipe Israel out... It's not (acceptable) policy to say so. Don't say these things to the world. Keep it to yourself. I want the resolutions that everyone agrees upon. '

As I keep saying, just listen to what they say; not to the BBC. For the BBC would never report such words from a Fatah official, they have too much invested in portraying Israel as the agressor & obstacle to peace  and the Palestinians  as just wanting peace and their own state alongside Israel.

Thanks to Israelly Cool for the video spot.

The one hundred and forty-sixth weekly "No shit, Sherlock" award

This week's award goes to Friedland Security's UK Home Security Report which according to Sky News's report has discovered the shocking news that:

'The majority of burglars are using social media websites to help target victims and plan their crimes, a survey suggests.

Three quarters of convicted burglars questioned said sites including Google Street View now play a big part in their planning.

A similar amount said Twitter and Facebook - where users 'check in' to locations - are also being used by criminals.

Security expert Jonathan Lim told Sky News: "Burglars are analysing what's going on.

"They can see people's status updates, with people on Twitter saying 'I'm away on holiday having a great time'. If they know where you live it's like an open invitation."

...

"We'll tell them even when we're going away on holidays. We will let them know that we're not in. We're inviting them... round to our house."'

Let's see; putting the news on social media that you are away from your house on holiday might put you at risk from burglars.

"No shit, Sherlock"

A change of policy

I have always prided myself on my blog policy of posting all comments, apart from the libellous or insane, Unfortunately that policy is going to have to change.

I have had enough of commenters on my blog who raise minor points and in return refuse to address the substantive points that I reply with. From now on I will post responses that I think of interest or value and respond accordingly. If I consider a commenter to be being evasive, insulting or trolling I reserve the right to delete their comment rather than posting it.

If anyone doesn't like the change in policy, tough - my blog, my rules.

Are you sure that email is a Nigerian 411 scam?

Worth a thought?

Any other vested interests that Ed Miliband did not mention?

The BBC proudly report that their hero, Ed 'second choice even in his own family' Miliband has bravely said that his Labour party will fight against 'vested interests. These vested interests apparently include energy companies and train operators. No word as yet whether the Trade Unions, who ensured Ed Miliband's election as Labour leader ahead of more competent but less left-wing candidates, will also be treated as 'vested interests'.

When I was young I had a model train-set

I admit that my model train-set might have been a touch smaller and less impressive than this German model airport.

A Doctor Who deleted 'Easter Egg'

David Tennant gives it some schtick.

Typical BBC

Friday evening I normally grit my teeth and listen to the News Quiz, old habits die hard. Last night for some reason I was bored by the Radio 4 news and so was listening to 5Live when they went to the United Nations for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech. As I drove I was transfixed; he was making the points that needed to be made, he was criticising many of the people who needed to be criticised and he laid the blame for the many of the problems in the Middle East and beyond where it should be laid - at the feet of radical Islam. Of course the BBC couldn't stand for that and cut him off after about 15 minutes. I actually shouted "NO"  when they did this, fortunately I was alone in the car at the time. 5Live then started blathering about something else so I switched over for the end of the News Quiz. I was just in time to hear Jeremy Hardy produce one of his oh so regular attacks on Israel. The subject was something about fireworks which gave the vile Hardy the opportunity to 'jest' something along the lines of "It's a good job the Israeli Air Force didn't spot them because they would have bombed them to pieces" _ I may try and get the actual wording later but do I really want to hear that obnoxious prat again? So Jeremy, you slimy sh*t, why do you think Israel responds to rockets being fired at its land and people? What should Israel do? Lie back and submit to Islamic terror? would you prefer that?

Anyway that's the BBC ready to stop coverage of an important speech because uncomfortable (for the BBC) truths were being told but always happy to give sh*ts like Jeremy Hardy the airtime to disparage Israel.

In case you missed all or part of Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to the United Nations, here is the full transcript thanks to Haaretz. Do read it all, it is powerful and deserves to be read by every anti-Israel journalist at that bastion of hatred for Israel and spreader of lies about Israel - the BBC:

'Ladies and gentlemen, Israel has extended its hand in peace from the moment it was established 63 years ago. On behalf of Israel and the Jewish people, I extend that hand again today. I extend it to the people of Egypt and Jordan, with renewed friendship for neighbors with whom we have made peace. I extend it to the people of Turkey, with respect and good will. I extend it to the people of Libya and Tunisia, with admiration for those trying to build a democratic future. I extend it to the other peoples of North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, with whom we want to forge a new beginning. I extend it to the people of Syria, Lebanon and Iran, with awe at the courage of those fighting brutal repression.

But most especially, I extend my hand to the Palestinian people, with whom we seek a just and lasting peace.

Ladies and gentlemen, in Israel our hope for peace never wanes. Our scientists, doctors, innovators, apply their genius to improve the world of tomorrow. Our artists, our writers, enrich the heritage of humanity. Now, I know that this is not exactly the image of Israel that is often portrayed in this hall. After all, it was here in 1975 that the age-old yearning of my people to restore our national life in our ancient biblical homeland -- it was then that this was braided -- branded, rather -- shamefully, as racism. And it was here in 1980, right here, that the historic peace agreement between Israel and Egypt wasn't praised; it was denounced! And it's here year after year that Israel is unjustly singled out for condemnation. It's singled out for condemnation more often than all the nations of the world combined. Twenty-one out of the 27 General Assembly resolutions condemn Israel -- the one true democracy in the Middle East.

Well, this is an unfortunate part of the UN institution. It's the -- the theater of the absurd. It doesn't only cast Israel as the villain; it often casts real villains in leading roles: Gadhafi's Libya chaired the UN Commission on Human Rights; Saddam's Iraq headed the UN Committee on disarmament.

You might say: That's the past. Well, here's what's happening now -- right now, today. Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon now presides over the UN Security Council. This means, in effect, that a terror organization presides over the body entrusted with guaranteeing the world's security. You couldn't make this thing up.

So here in the UN, automatic majorities can decide anything. They can decide that the sun sets in the west or rises in the west. I think the first has already been pre-ordained. But they can also decide -- they have decided that the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Judaism's holiest place, is occupied Palestinian territory.

And yet even here in the General Assembly, the truth can sometimes break through. In 1984 when I was appointed Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, I visited the great rabbi of Lubavich. He said to me -- and ladies and gentlemen, I don't want any of you to be offended because from personal experience of serving here, I know there are many honorable men and women, many capable and decent people serving their nations here. But here's what the rebbe said to me. He said to me, you'll be serving in a house of many lies. And then he said, remember that even in the darkest place, the light of a single candle can be seen far and wide.

Today I hope that the light of truth will shine, if only for a few minutes, in a hall that for too long has been a place of darkness for my country. So as Israel's prime minister, I didn't come here to win applause. I came here to speak the truth. (Cheers, applause.) The truth is -- the truth is that Israel wants peace. The truth is that I want peace. The truth is that in the Middle East at all times, but especially during these turbulent days, peace must be anchored in security. The truth is that we cannot achieve peace through UN resolutions, but only through direct negotiations between the parties. The truth is that so far the Palestinians have refused to negotiate. The truth is that Israel wants peace with a Palestinian state, but the Palestinians want a state without peace. And the truth is you shouldn't let that happen.

Ladies and gentlemen, when I first came here 27 years ago, the world was divided between East and West. Since then the Cold War ended, great civilizations have risen from centuries of slumber, hundreds of millions have been lifted out of poverty, countless more are poised to follow, and the remarkable thing is that so far this monumental historic shift has largely occurred peacefully. Yet a malignancy is now growing between East and West that threatens the peace of all. It seeks not to liberate, but to enslave, not to build, but to destroy.

That malignancy is militant Islam. It cloaks itself in the mantle of a great faith, yet it murders Jews, Christians and Muslims alike with unforgiving impartiality. On September 11th it killed thousands of Americans, and it left the twin towers in smoldering ruins. Last night I laid a wreath on the 9/11 memorial. It was deeply moving. But as I was going there, one thing echoed in my mind: the outrageous words of the president of Iran on this podium yesterday. He implied that 9/11 was an American conspiracy. Some of you left this hall. All of you should have. (Applause.)

Since 9/11, militant Islamists slaughtered countless other innocents -- in London and Madrid, in Baghdad and Mumbai, in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, in every part of Israel. I believe that the greatest danger facing our world is that this fanaticism will arm itself with nuclear weapons. And this is precisely what Iran is trying to do.

Can you imagine that man who ranted here yesterday -- can you imagine him armed with nuclear weapons? The international community must stop Iran before it's too late. If Iran is not stopped, we will all face the specter of nuclear terrorism, and the Arab Spring could soon become an Iranian winter. That would be a tragedy. Millions of Arabs have taken to the streets to replace tyranny with liberty, and no one would benefit more than Israel if those committed to freedom and peace would prevail.

This is my fervent hope. But as the prime minister of Israel, I cannot risk the future of the Jewish state on wishful thinking. Leaders must see reality as it is, not as it ought to be. We must do our best to shape the future, but we cannot wish away the dangers of the present.

And the world around Israel is definitely becoming more dangerous. Militant Islam has already taken over Lebanon and Gaza. It's determined to tear apart the peace treaties between Israel and Egypt and between Israel and Jordan. It's poisoned many Arab minds against Jews and Israel, against America and the West. It opposes not the policies of Israel but the existence of Israel.

Now, some argue that the spread of militant Islam, especially in these turbulent times -- if you want to slow it down, they argue, Israel must hurry to make concessions, to make territorial compromises. And this theory sounds simple. Basically it goes like this: Leave the territory, and peace will be advanced. The moderates will be strengthened, the radicals will be kept at bay. And don't worry about the pesky details of how Israel will actually defend itself; international troops will do the job.

These people say to me constantly: Just make a sweeping offer, and everything will work out. You know, there's only one problem with that theory. We've tried it and it hasn't worked. In 2000 Israel made a sweeping peace offer that met virtually all of the Palestinian demands. Arafat rejected it. The Palestinians then launched a terror attack that claimed a thousand Israeli lives.

Prime Minister Olmert afterwards made an even more sweeping offer, in 2008. President Abbas didn't even respond to it.

But Israel did more than just make sweeping offers. We actually left territory. We withdrew from Lebanon in 2000 and from every square inch of Gaza in 2005. That didn't calm the Islamic storm, the militant Islamic storm that threatens us. It only brought the storm closer and make it stronger.

Hezbollah and Hamas fired thousands of rockets against our cities from the very territories we vacated. See, when Israel left Lebanon and Gaza, the moderates didn't defeat the radicals, the moderates were devoured by the radicals. And I regret to say that international troops like UNIFIL in Lebanon and UBAM (ph) in Gaza didn't stop the radicals from attacking Israel.

We left Gaza hoping for peace.

We didn't freeze the settlements in Gaza, we uprooted them. We did exactly what the theory says: Get out, go back to the 1967 borders, dismantle the settlements.

And I don't think people remember how far we went to achieve this. We uprooted thousands of people from their homes. We pulled children out of -- out of their schools and their kindergartens. We bulldozed synagogues. We even -- we even moved loved ones from their graves. And then, having done all that, we gave the keys of Gaza to President Abbas.

Now the theory says it should all work out, and President Abbas and the Palestinian Authority now could build a peaceful state in Gaza. You can remember that the entire world applauded. They applauded our withdrawal as an act of great statesmanship. It was a bold act of peace.

But ladies and gentlemen, we didn't get peace. We got war. We got Iran, which through its proxy Hamas promptly kicked out the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority collapsed in a day -- in one day.

President Abbas just said on this podium that the Palestinians are armed only with their hopes and dreams. Yeah, hopes, dreams and 10,000 missiles and Grad rockets supplied by Iran, not to mention the river of lethal weapons now flowing into Gaza from the Sinai, from Libya, and from elsewhere.

Thousands of missiles have already rained down on our cities. So you might understand that, given all this, Israelis rightly ask: What's to prevent this from happening again in the West Bank? See, most of our major cities in the south of the country are within a few dozen kilometers from Gaza. But in the center of the country, opposite the West Bank, our cities are a few hundred meters or at most a few kilometers away from the edge of the West Bank.

So I want to ask you. Would any of you -- would any of you bring danger so close to your cities, to your families? Would you act so recklessly with the lives of your citizens? Israel is prepared to have a Palestinian state in the West Bank, but we're not prepared to have another Gaza there. And that's why we need to have real security arrangements, which the Palestinians simply refuse to negotiate with us.

Israelis remember the bitter lessons of Gaza. Many of Israel's critics ignore them. They irresponsibly advise Israel to go down this same perilous path again. Your read what these people say and it's as if nothing happened -- just repeating the same advice, the same formulas as though none of this happened.

And these critics continue to press Israel to make far-reaching concessions without first assuring Israel's security. They praise those who unwittingly feed the insatiable crocodile of militant Islam as bold statesmen. They cast as enemies of peace those of us who insist that we must first erect a sturdy barrier to keep the crocodile out, or at the very least jam an iron bar between its gaping jaws.

So in the face of the labels and the libels, Israel must heed better advice. Better a bad press than a good eulogy, and better still would be a fair press whose sense of history extends beyond breakfast, and which recognizes Israel's legitimate security concerns.

I believe that in serious peace negotiations, these needs and concerns can be properly addressed, but they will not be addressed without negotiations. And the needs are many, because Israel is such a tiny country. Without Judea and Samaria, the West Bank, Israel is all of 9 miles wide.

I want to put it for you in perspective, because you're all in the city. That's about two-thirds the length of Manhattan. It's the distance between Battery Park and Columbia University. And don't forget that the people who live in Brooklyn and New Jersey are considerably nicer than some of Israel's neighbors.

So how do you -- how do you protect such a tiny country, surrounded by people sworn to its destruction and armed to the teeth by Iran? Obviously you can't defend it from within that narrow space alone. Israel needs greater strategic depth, and that's exactly why Security Council Resolution 242 didn't require Israel to leave all the territories it captured in the Six-Day War. It talked about withdrawal from territories, to secure and defensible boundaries. And to defend itself, Israel must therefore maintain a long-term Israeli military presence in critical strategic areas in the West Bank.

I explained this to President Abbas. He answered that if a Palestinian state was to be a sovereign country, it could never accept such arrangements. Why not? America has had troops in Japan, Germany and South Korea for more than a half a century. Britain has had an airspace in Cyprus or rather an air base in Cyprus. France has forces in three independent African nations. None of these states claim that they're not sovereign countries.

And there are many other vital security issues that also must be addressed. Take the issue of airspace. Again, Israel's small dimensions create huge security problems. America can be crossed by jet airplane in six hours. To fly across Israel, it takes three minutes. So is Israel's tiny airspace to be chopped in half and given to a Palestinian state not at peace with Israel?

Our major international airport is a few kilometers away from the West Bank. Without peace, will our planes become targets for antiaircraft missiles placed in the adjacent Palestinian state? And how will we stop the smuggling into the West Bank? It's not merely the West Bank, it's the West Bank mountains. It just dominates the coastal plain where most of Israel's population sits below. How could we prevent the smuggling into these mountains of those missiles that could be fired on our cities?

I bring up these problems because they're not theoretical problems. They're very real. And for Israelis, they're life-and- death matters. All these potential cracks in Israel's security have to be sealed in a peace agreement before a Palestinian state is declared, not afterwards, because if you leave it afterwards, they won't be sealed. And these problems will explode in our face and explode the peace.

The Palestinians should first make peace with Israel and then get their state. But I also want to tell you this. After such a peace agreement is signed, Israel will not be the last country to welcome a Palestinian state as a new member of the United Nations. We will be the first. (Applause.)

And there's one more thing. Hamas has been violating international law by holding our soldier Gilad Shalit captive for five years.

They haven't given even one Red Cross visit. He's held in a dungeon, in darkness, against all international norms. Gilad Shalit is the son of Aviva and Noam Shalit. He is the grandson of Zvi Shalit, who escaped the Holocaust by coming to the -- in the 1930s as a boy to the land of Israel. Gilad Shalit is the son of every Israeli family. Every nation represented here should demand his immediate release. (Applause.) If you want to -- if you want to pass a resolution about the Middle East today, that's the resolution you should pass. (Applause.)

Ladies and gentlemen, last year in Israel in Bar-Ilan University, this year in the Knesset and in the U.S. Congress, I laid out my vision for peace in which a demilitarized Palestinian state recognizes the Jewish state. Yes, the Jewish state. After all, this is the body that recognized the Jewish state 64 years ago. Now, don't you think it's about time that Palestinians did the same?

The Jewish state of Israel will always protect the rights of all its minorities, including the more than 1 million Arab citizens of Israel. I wish I could say the same thing about a future Palestinian state, for as Palestinian officials made clear the other day -- in fact, I think they made it right here in New York -- they said the Palestinian state won't allow any Jews in it. They'll be Jew-free -- Judenrein. That's ethnic cleansing. There are laws today in Ramallah that make the selling of land to Jews punishable by death. That's racism. And you know which laws this evokes.

Israel has no intention whatsoever to change the democratic character of our state. We just don't want the Palestinians to try to change the Jewish character of our state. (Applause.) We want to give up -- we want them to give up the fantasy of flooding Israel with millions of Palestinians.

President Abbas just stood here, and he said that the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the settlements. Well, that's odd. Our conflict has been raging for -- was raging for nearly half a century before there was a single Israeli settlement in the West Bank. So if what President Abbas is saying was true, then the -- I guess that the settlements he's talking about are Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jaffa, Be'er Sheva. Maybe that's what he meant the other day when he said that Israel has been occupying Palestinian land for 63 years. He didn't say from 1967; he said from 1948. I hope somebody will bother to ask him this question because it illustrates a simple truth: The core of the conflict is not the settlements. The settlements are a result of the conflict. (Applause.)

The settlements have to be -- it's an issue that has to be addressed and resolved in the course of negotiations. But the core of the conflict has always been and unfortunately remains the refusal of the Palestinians to recognize a Jewish state in any border.

I think it's time that the Palestinian leadership recognizes what every serious international leader has recognized, from Lord Balfour and Lloyd George in 1917, to President Truman in 1948, to President Obama just two days ago right here: Israel is the Jewish state. (Applause.)

President Abbas, stop walking around this issue. Recognize the Jewish state, and make peace with us. In such a genuine peace, Israel is prepared to make painful compromises. We believe that the Palestinians should be neither the citizens of Israel nor its subjects. They should live in a free state of their own. But they should be ready, like us, for compromise. And we will know that they're ready for compromise and for peace when they start taking Israel's security requirements seriously and when they stop denying our historical connection to our ancient homeland.

I often hear them accuse Israel of Judaizing Jerusalem. That's like accusing America of Americanizing Washington, or the British of Anglicizing London. You know why we're called "Jews"? Because we come from Judea.

In my office in Jerusalem, there's a -- there's an ancient seal. It's a signet ring of a Jewish official from the time of the Bible. The seal was found right next to the Western Wall, and it dates back 2,700 years, to the time of King Hezekiah. Now, there's a name of the Jewish official inscribed on the ring in Hebrew. His name was Netanyahu. That's my last name. My first name, Benjamin, dates back a thousand years earlier to Benjamin -- Binyamin -- the son of Jacob, who was also known as Israel. Jacob and his 12 sons roamed these same hills of Judea and Sumeria 4,000 years ago, and there's been a continuous Jewish presence in the land ever since.

And for those Jews who were exiled from our land, they never stopped dreaming of coming back: Jews in Spain, on the eve of their expulsion; Jews in the Ukraine, fleeing the pogroms; Jews fighting the Warsaw Ghetto, as the Nazis were circling around it. They never stopped praying, they never stopped yearning. They whispered: Next year in Jerusalem. Next year in the promised land.

As the prime minister of Israel, I speak for a hundred generations of Jews who were dispersed throughout the lands, who suffered every evil under the Sun, but who never gave up hope of restoring their national life in the one and only Jewish state.

Ladies and gentlemen, I continue to hope that President Abbas will be my partner in peace. I've worked hard to advance that peace. The day I came into office, I called for direct negotiations without preconditions. President Abbas didn't respond. I outlined a vision of peace of two states for two peoples. He still didn't respond. I removed hundreds of roadblocks and checkpoints, to ease freedom of movement in the Palestinian areas; this facilitated a fantastic growth in the Palestinian economy. But again -- no response. I took the unprecedented step of freezing new buildings in the settlements for 10 months. No prime minister did that before, ever. (Scattered applause.) Once again -- you applaud, but there was no response. No response.

In the last few weeks, American officials have put forward ideas to restart peace talks. There were things in those ideas about borders that I didn't like. There were things there about the Jewish state that I'm sure the Palestinians didn't like.

But with all my reservations, I was willing to move forward on these American ideas.

President Abbas, why don't you join me? We have to stop negotiating about the negotiations. Let's just get on with it. Let's negotiate peace.

I spent years defending Israel on the battlefield. I spent decades defending Israel in the court of public opinion. President Abbas, you've dedicated your life to advancing the Palestinian cause. Must this conflict continue for generations, or will we enable our children and our grandchildren to speak in years ahead of how we found a way to end it? That's what we should aim for, and that's what I believe we can achieve.

In two and a half years, we met in Jerusalem only once, even though my door has always been open to you. If you wish, I'll come to Ramallah. Actually, I have a better suggestion. We've both just flown thousands of miles to New York. Now we're in the same city. We're in the same building. So let's meet here today in the United Nations. Who's there to stop us? What is there to stop us? If we genuinely want peace, what is there to stop us from meeting today and beginning peace negotiations?

And I suggest we talk openly and honestly. Let's listen to one another. Let's do as we say in the Middle East: Let's talk "doogri". That means straightforward. I'll tell you my needs and concerns. You'll tell me yours. And with God's help, we'll find the common ground of peace.

There's an old Arab saying that you cannot applaud with one hand. Well, the same is true of peace. I cannot make peace alone. I cannot make peace without you. President Abbas, I extend my hand -- the hand of Israel -- in peace. I hope that you will grasp that hand. We are both the sons of Abraham. My people call him Avraham. Your people call him Ibrahim. We share the same patriarch. We dwell in the same land. Our destinies are intertwined. Let us realize the vision of Isaiah -- (speaks in Hebrew) -- "The people who walk in darkness will see a great light." Let that light be the light of peace.'

Good speech, isn't it? The truth has been told. So how do the BBC report it? Here's the section of the BBC News front page about the UN debate.

No link to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech, presumably the BBC don't want the truth about the Middle East to pollute the minds of the people they have spent so long brainwashing to hate Israel and venerate the Palestinians.

maybe the BBC had no space on the front page, sure they would link to it on the Middle East news page...

Don't be ridiculous, but you will note that they are still reporting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's obscene claims about who was to blame for 9/11.

I will be complaining to the BBC about this censorship but I will wait until I have calmed down a bit.

The one hundred and forty fifth weekly "No shit, Sherlock" award

Elder of Ziyon reports the simply staggering news (not!) that:

'The new academy was tasked with imparting combat methods and tactics to Hamas terrorists, Abu Sisi said. Hamas men were undertaking their studies at mosques, while passing their final exams in known Gaza universities or in mosques.'

Hamas terrorists use Mosques for training and as a base for terrorist action - "No shit, Sherlock"


For more about Abu Sisi read this.

Oops - if this blog disappears

Just logged onto gmaill.com rather than gmail.com and thus gave away my password! Thankfully I managed to subsequently login to gmail and reset my password so all should be OK but just in case...

Must be more careful about checking what site I am actually on; it's dangerous out there in cyberspace.

What time does the invasion start?

Today the Palestinian land grab goes to the United Nations as an attempt is made to start the dismantling of the only Jewish state. Make no mistake that returning Israel to its 1967 borders, which is itself incorrect, is merely the first step leading to the destruction of Israel. The Palestinians and the surrounding Muslim states do not want any size of Jewish state in their midst and their internal speeches, maps and opinion polls reveal this fact time after time; it's just that the Western media lead by such institutionally anti-Israel outlets as the BBC do not report such news.

However today may be more notable for what happens on the borders of Israel rather than in New York. Hamas have declared a 'day of rage' and I fully expect a larger version of the peoples invasions of Israel that happened a few months back. This tactic was quite successful last time, so what could Israel do if they were repeated on a much larger scale? If Israeli troops shoot at the invading hordes, even after due warning, then the worlds anti-Israeli media would have a field day. If the Israelis step aside then the invasion will be successful.

I believe that the Mahmoud Abbas is due to make his claim at the United Nations at around 4pm London time which should mean that Israel can expect the invasion any time from an hour before that time onwards.

Where now for the Western economy?

Sorry folks but the only direction for the foreseeable future is "Down, down, deeper and down"

As the markets fall and more people realise that our futures really are a bleak as I and others have been warning for some years, I fear that the resulting riots and civil disobedience will make last month's riots look like a country tea-party.

The future does not look bright, it looks bloody dreadful.

A momentous day for science?

It is being reported that scientists at CERN have managed to measure sub-atomic particles travelling faster than the speed of light. The speed measured exceeded the speed of light (186,282 miles per second) by 60 nanoseconds. If true, this discovery would challenge Einstein's special theory of relativity and make all sorts of theories regarding limitations on the speed of travel theoretically out of date.

Listen to what they say and watch what they do

Please note this is about 'Radical Islamists' not the majority of Muslims. However I would like more Muslims to actively oppose the 'radicals'.

Good energy news

It was reported widely yesterday that the company Cuadrilla had announced an enormous UK shale gas find. Assuming a 20% recovery rate (which is conservative) then this find is as big as the North Sea Troll super giant oil field. The gas produced would meet around 15 years of total UK energy demands. Put another way it would meet all current LNG imports for 40 years.

Of course the eco-nuts and warmists have been out in force explaining how this source of energy is bad, and of course the BBC have been at the forefront of publicising these opinions and presenting them as facts. For once I will not 'have a go' at the BBC for their clear and obvious bias and for campaigning rather than reporting, I will leave that to Biased-BBC. However I will pick up on one point made by the eco-nuts and reported eagerly by the BBC. The BBC report that:

'could provide 5,600 jobs in the UK, 1,700 of those in Lancashire.'
but also that
'Phil Thornhill, from Campaign Against Climate Change, was one of those protesting outside the meeting.

He said: "Those jobs could and should be in green energy. We need a revolution in the economy to really deal with climate change effectively.

"We need to be moving much quicker than we are to a low carbon economy, that would be a lot of jobs, a lot of development.

"They could create jobs in renewables if they put the investment there." '

Ah green jobs, the eco-nuts holy grail Shall we have a quick look at the reality of green jobs? As HotAir revealed a week or so ago:

'Today’s Washington Post acknowledges what everyone already knows, and what Spain learned the hard way as well — green-jobs subsidies are sinkholes.  When Barack Obama loaded his 2009 Porkulus with nearly $40 billion in subsidies to the green-tech industry, he promised that it would produce an explosion of jobs in a new, green US economy, starting with 65,000 directly created from his largesse.  With half of the money gone, how many jobs has Obama’s investment created?

A $38.6 billion loan guarantee program that the Obama administration promised would create or save 65,000 jobs has created just a few thousand jobs two years after it began, government records show.

The program — designed to jump-start the nation’s clean technology industry by giving energy companies access to low-cost, government-backed loans — has directly created 3,545 new, permanent jobs after giving out almost half the allocated amount, according to Energy Department tallies. …

Obama’s efforts to create green jobs are lagging behind expectations at a time of persistently high unemployment. Many economists say that because alternative-­energy projects are so expensive and slow to ramp up, they are not the most efficient way to stimulate the economy.

That may be the understatement of the year.  Even with Obama’s initial promise of 65,000 jobs created (or “saved,” which makes zero sense in this context), that would still come to $593,846 per job, which is hardly an efficient use of capital.  If a private-sector business had that kind of capital, it could easily create five jobs from that amount with $100,000 in compensation each, with enough left over for a substantial profit margin.
But the actual results in this case are much worse.  With $17.2 billion spent on these programs, the cost per actual job created comes to $4.853 million.  That kind of capital could launch entire new businesses, let alone multiple jobs.  Any company that ate through $4.853 million to create a job would shortly become a former company … kind of like Solyndra, where $535 million disappeared and took 1,000 jobs along with it.'

That's the reality of green jobs and I wish someone would put the point to Chris Huhne, David Cameron, the BBC's eco-journalists or any of the spokespeople for  the various eco pressure groups.

'Non violent protest'?!

YNet oddly report that:

'Hundreds of Palestinians clashed with Israeli security forces in several locations in the West Bank on Wednesday, as the Palestinian Authority launched its official statehood celebrations across West Bank cities.

A 16-month-old Israeli baby suffered light injuries when a stone struck her head in a riot between Tapuah and Migdalim junctions. She was taken to Schneider Hospital in Petah Tikva. Three Palestinians were arrested during clashes, and an Israeli citizen was lightly injured from stones hurled at him while he was travelling near the West Bank city of Halhul.'

Here's a picture of that Israeli baby and its 'light injuries'

Will the BBC or any other British news agency report this story or do Jewish babies not count as important?

Wednesday evening catch-up

Too many open Firefox tabs and nowhere near enough time to do these pieces justice.

1)

The connection? The man smiling in the top photo brutally killed all of the people in the bottom photo. They are the Fogel family and he is Hakin Awad who smiled throughout much of his murder trial.


2) The BBC report the simply staggering news that:

'There is evidence linking the Haqqani militant network to Pakistan's government, the US ambassador to Pakistan has said in a radio interview.'

Staggering, simply staggering; I am so shocked.


3) Daniek Hannan in The Telegraph has a history and economics lesson for the left. Unfortunately they won't listen. Do read the whole of Daniel Hannan's article, it doesn't really precis well.


4) the BBC report the words of Trade Union leader Len McCluskey:

'The head of Britain's biggest union has urged a campaign of strikes and civil disobedience to fight government cuts.

Speaking on the eve of the TUC congress, Unite leader Len McCluskey said no form of protest should be ruled out including "direct action".

He urged a "campaign of resistance so that the government will take stock and perhaps take a step back" from their "attack" on workers' jobs and pensions.

"I don't think we can rule anything out," he told the Andrew Marr Show.'

Strange how the left think they can ignore the result of elections and just try and get their own way.


5) Error Theory are still worrying whether the 'Crescent of Embrace memorial to Flight 93 really can be seen as a giant mihrab: the Mecca-direction indicator around which every mosque is built.' It's an interesting question and one that I have blogged about before.

Debunking some of the Palestinians lies

Please watch all of the video before commenting and if you want to criticise its contents or me for publishing it then do counter with facts not insults.

The new series of Two and a Half Men

The new series of Two and a Half Men, the post-Charlie Sheen series, premiered on British TV last night. You may have noticed me Tweeting during the programme, much to the annoyance of Mrs NotaSheep.

My thought... Charlie Sheen was always going to be a hard act to follow and a large hole to fill. Time will tell whether Ashton Kutcher can fill the role but the writing of the first post-Charlie episode was tight and full of great one liners. Ashton Kutcher's character did move around a bit; a shy man suddenly bagged himself a threesome but it gave Jon Cryer space to do his thing and that was mostly enjoyable. The funeral scene was full of nastiness about Charlie Sheen as I presume was the programme's intention; there is apparently no love lost between the producers and Charlie Sheen. The return of Rose as the alleged killer of Charlie was a nice touch, will they dare have that character obsess over Charlie's replacement as she did over Charlie?

There were some nice one-liners in the first episode, I especially enjoyed:

Walden "I'm Walden"
Judith "I'm impressed"

"I really don't think Pamela Anderson would agree to swallow your ashes"

"update my Facebook status to 'Not dead Yet"

"Really; you bought a Zune?!"

"I can't get the image of your penis out of my mind"

I presume that the large penis gag (pun intended) will run and run.

All in all a good first episode and I will continue watching. Will a new leading man be an excuse to bring back April Bowlby/Candy to bag her third man of the house?
What about Jenny McCarthy/Courtney?