'The figures show that some of the biggest increases in reserves come from the Labour-led Wakefield council, which is expected to have more than doubled its cash pile from £21million to £51million by March. Labour-run Bolton council is likely to have more than tripled its reserves of £23million to £81million'Now why might a Labour council prefer to cut services, and blame the cuts on a Conservative government) rather than dip into reserves?
'a glittering celebration on which the Russian billionaire is spending more than £5million with plans to eclipse even last year’s sparkling event.Fine and fair enough but then I spotted this picture and its caption...
Mr Abramovich, 45, is back on the island of St Barts'
"The armed resistance and the armed struggle are the path and the strategic choice for liberating the Palestinian land, from the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river, and for the expulsion of the invaders and usurpers [Israel]... We won't relinquish one inch of the land of Palestine."From the sea to the river, now where have I heard that before? Oh yes, remember that every time someone chants "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" they are calling for the destruction of Israel, the ending of the Jewish state. The river is the Jordan, the sea is the Mediterranean; from the river to the sea is not calling for a two state solution, it is calling for the destruction of Israel.
"There will be no military resistance."According to Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas had agreed to a permanent solution based on the 1967 borders. However, Haniyeh said that Hamas agrees to a temporary solution on the 1967 borders as a first stage only.
"The permanent solution is on the '67 borders."
''Hundreds of people are estimated to flee Eritrea every month, often making risky journeys to reach Europe or Israel in search of better opportunities.' The BBC report
a strange tale of people fleeing Eritrea and wanting to go only to Europe or Israel; the story really does not fit with the BBC's usual portrayal of Israel as vile 'apartheid state'.'
'Saeb Erekat, one of the PLO/PA's most senior spokesman recently declared that the "Palestinians" will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state. He was speaking on Palestine Radio Monday when he gave the rationale for the "Palestinian" position. "There is no country in the world where religious and national identities are intertwined,". An interesting position to take and of course one that is frequently referred to by the "Israel is an apartheid state" crowd.
The truth is somewhat at odds with the statement as I have mentioned before. Here is a longer list than my last:
1) Saudi Arabia - The Saudi constitution states "Saudi Arabia is a sovereign Arab Islamic state with Islam as its religion." (see * below)
2) Pakistan - "The Islamic Republic of..."
3) Afghanistan - "The Islamic Republic of..."
4) Iran - "The Islamic Republic of..."
5) Jordan - The Jordanian constitution describes that country as an "Arab State" and notes that "Islam is the religion of the State."
Just remind me why Israel is an apartheid state and not Saudi Arabia...
*
"Saudi Arabia is an Islamic monarchy and the Government has declared the Qur'an and the Sunnah (tradition) of Muhammad to be the country’s Constitution. Freedom of religion is severely limited. Islam is the official religion, and all citizens must be Muslims. The Government prohibits the private and public practice of other religions. The Government bases its legitimacy on governance according to the precepts of the rigorously conservative and strict interpretation of the Salafi or Wahhabi school of the Sunni branch of Islam and discriminates against other branches of Islam."
"Under Saudi law conversion by a Muslim to another religion is considered apostasy, a crime punishable by death if the accused does not recant."
"Saudi Arabia prohibits public non-Muslim religious activities. Non-Muslim worshipers risk arrest, imprisonment, lashing, deportation, and sometimes torture for engaging in overt religious activity that attracts official attention."
"Proselytizing by non-Muslims, including the distribution of non-Muslim religious materials such as Bibles, is illegal. Muslims or non-Muslims wearing religious symbols of any kind in public risk confrontation with the Mutawwa'in. Under the auspices of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, approximately 50 so-called "Call and Guidance" centers employing approximately 500 persons work to convert foreigners to Islam. Some non-Muslim foreigners convert to Islam during their stay in the country. According to official reports, 942 foreign workers converted to Islam in the past year. The press often carries articles about such conversions, including testimonials. The press as well as government officials publicized the conversion of the Italian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia in late 2001."
"The Government requires non citizen residents to carry a Saudi residence permit (Iqama) for identification in place of their passports.[4] Among other information, these contain a religious designation for "Muslim" or "non-Muslim."
"Until March 1, 2004, the official government website stated that Jews were forbidden from entering the country"
"According to Alan Dershowitz, "in Saudi Arabia apartheid is practiced against non-Muslims, with signs indicating that Muslims must go to certain areas and non-Muslims to others.""
"According Saudi policy for tourists, it is not permissible to bring Christian or Jewish religious symbols and books into the kingdom and they are subject to confiscation" '
'According to The Tab, a Boston-area newspaper, Newton resident Tony Pagliuso was shocked when he examined a reading selection on the treatment of women in the Middle East his daughter brought home from her history class at Newton South High School. The article, from a controversial textbook called The Arab World Studies Notebook, falsely accused Israeli soldiers of murdering Arab women.'That was just the starting point for an investigation that uncovers worrying and indeed disgusting anti-Israeli lies being taught at Harvard. The trouble is that this is not an isolated case, much of the further educational system in the UK is infested with anti-Semites (although they would describe themselves as anti-Zionists) who regularly produce vile lies about the Israeli/Palestinian situation. The next generation is being brainwashed to hate Israel and by extension Jews and the authorities ignore the problem.
'French President Nicolas Sarkozy met on Thursday with Jewish leaders and tried to explain the embarrassing incident in which he was overheard calling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a "liar".Ah that old excuse 'out of context'. As I blogged in 2007:
One participant at the meeting told the JTA news agency that Sarkozy said the relationship between Netanyahu and his family was "strong" and claimed that his remarks were taken out of context.'
'It seems that whenever someone is caught saying something that they shouldn't, they defend themselves by saying that what they said is "being taken out of context". The next time someone says this, ask yourself in what context it would have been OK to have said what was said. Even better maybe the interviewer could ask the question "you say you have been quoted out of context, please could you explain the context in which you said what you said".
Here are a couple of examples of the "taken out of context" excuse being used.
First the principal of the King Fahd Academy in Acton, an Islamic school in West London, who admitted that the school uses textbooks which describe Jews as "apes" and Christians as "pigs" and has refused to withdraw them. Dr Sumaya Alyusuf was interviewed on Newsnight back in February when she said that the quotations about apes and pigs had been taken out of context. I would like to know the context and how Dr Alyusuf thinks that it was alright to liken the majority of people in this country as apes. You can read more about this story here.
Second let's examine the Channel 4's Dispatches documentary Undercover Mosque, in the programme a preacher called Abu Usamah spread his message of inter-communal respect and understanding thus "No one loves the kuffaar! Not a single person here from the Muslims loves the kuffaar. Whether those kuffaar are from the UK or from the US. We love the people of Islam and we hate the people of kuffaar. We hate the kuffaar!" In case you do not know, 'Kuffaar' is a derogatory term for non-Muslims used by many Muslims. As Andrew Anthony's article from The Observer about the police action against the Channel 4 programme makers here made clear "Usamah was not asked to cite any examples of misrepresentation. Nor was he confronted with the recordings of his sermons broadcast in the documentary. Now that would have made for a compelling piece of radio. The police and CPS suggest that comments like these were taken 'out of context'. I've read extended transcripts of Usamah's quotes and I'm satisfied that they were perfectly 'in context'. But let's ask what conceivable context could make these quotes acceptable or reasonable? Was he rehearsing a stage play? Was it a workshop on conflict resolution? Or perhaps it was the same context in which a spokesman from those other righteous humanitarians, the BNP, might attempt to aid community relations by repeatedly stating that his followers 'hate Muslims'. Yes, you can well imagine their excuses if they got caught at it: 'No, we don't really hate Muslims, we just want them to leave the country.' Except no one in the media swallows it, much less gives them air time."
You can see Abu Usama defend his comments here including a lot of "out of context" comments. Listen to his excuses and make up your own mind; do bear in mind the interviewing that makes even James Naughtie interviewing a Labour minister look rigorous.
Undercover Mosque was made by Hardcash productions. David Henshaw, its managing director, said it was "one of the programmes I'm most proud of. It's absolutely copper-bottomed and everything was properly contextualised. It's hard to understand what the proper context for some of those comments could be."'
"I wonder if I might crave your momentary indulgence in order to discharge a by no means disagreeable obligation which has, over the years, become more or less established practice... as we approach the terminal period of the year — calendar, of course, not financial — in fact, not to put too fine a point on it, Week Fifty-One — and submit to you, with all appropriate deference, for your consideration at a convenient juncture, a sincere and sanguine expectation — indeed confidence — indeed one might go so far as to say hope — that the aforementioned period may be, at the end of the day, when all relevant factors have been taken into consideration, susceptible to being deemed to be such as to merit a final verdict of having been by no means unsatisfactory in its overall outcome and, in the final analysis, to give grounds for being judged, on mature reflection, to have been conducive to generating a degree of gratification which will be seen in retrospect to have been significantly higher than the general average."As Sir Humphrey put it so memorably in Yes Minister.
'We're often asked "what's so great about digital e-stim?" The answer is simple: Variety! Instead of a device that can only turn the output on and off over and over, a digital device opens up a whole new dimension. We like to compare it to playing the same note over and over on a piano versus playing real music. Which would you rather listen to?Is this the stocking-filler that you have been looking for this Christmas?
By producing waveforms in the digital domain, and including a powerful microprocessor, our products can deliver vastly more complex stimulation. The output can be constantly changing and choreographed between multiple channels. It's simply a night and day difference.'
'Despite promises to clean up violent and xenophobic content from textbooks, recent editions in Saudi Arabia
continue teach school children barbaric practices, Fox News reported.
The news network, which was able to obtain translated copies of the recently-printed books from the Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington, DC, said that the books teaches ninth graders that the annihilation of Jews is imperative.
"The hour (of judgment) will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them," one part reads. "There is a Jew behind me, come and kill him."In 2006 when such textbooks were reported upon in the West, the Saudi Ambassador to the US, Prince Turki al-Faisal, said that King Abdullah is determined to eradicate the hateful ideology in his country.
The reviewed editions were printed for the 2010-2011 academic year. Another book teaches 10th graders how to cut off the hands and feet of a thief.
"This is where terrorism starts, in the education system." Ali Al-Ahmed, director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs, said, noting that the books were financed by the Saudi government.
In addition to coaching kids to kill Jews and amputate body parts, the text books depict women as weak and irresponsible. Moreover, al-Ahmed said the textbooks call for homosexuals to be put to death "because they pose a danger at society, as the Saudi school books teach.” '
"In recent years, the kingdom has reviewed all of its education practices and materials and has removed any element that is inconsistent with the needs of a modern education," al-Faisal said. "Not only have we eliminated what is objectionable from old textbooks that were in our system, we have also implemented a comprehensive internal revision and modernization plan"The problem is that whilst we in the West might see these comments as disgusting, to the Saudi authorities they are simply the words of the Koran and so immutable law and absolutely to be taught.
'French prosecutors are investigating a Nazi-themed stag party attended by the Conservative MP Aidan Burley.If it is so disgusting to be photographed with a man wearing a Nazi uniform, so disgusting in fact that the BBC also tell us that:
Mr Burley lost parliamentary private secretary post after he was photographed at a stag party in the Alps with a man wearing Nazi costume.
...
A Downing Street spokesman declined to comment about the decision by the French authorities to investigate the stag party but reiterated that Mr Burley's conduct had been "offensive and foolish".
Possible charges under French law that could stem from wearing Nazi uniforms include incitement to racial hatred and being an apologist for Nazi war crimes.'
'Ian Austin, shadow work and pensions minister and Labour MP for Dudley North, said: "David Cameron and the Tories tried to brush this under the carpet, but the scandal surrounding Aidan Burley's disgraceful conduct is not going away.... then what action should be taken against an MP who has been pictured actually wearing a Nazi uniform? If it was a Conservative MP then I am sure that the BBC would be giving publicity to people calling for the expulsion from the Conservative party. However as it is a Labour politician, indeed the Labour politician who the BBC still hope could lead their beloved Labour party, Ed Balls, the silence is deafening and I have yet to see any reference to this photo on the BBC...
"Surely the prime minister must take the whip off Mr Burley while this investigation is taking place." '
As of now I can see no mention of this story on the BBC US & Canada news page. Somehow I think that if the guilty pleas had been entered by Republicans that the story would be 'front and centre'.'A total of four Democratic officials and political operatives have now pleaded guilty to voter fraud-related felony charges in an alleged scheme to steal a New York election.
The latest guilty pleas expose the ease with which political insiders can apparently manipulate the electoral system and throw an election their way, by the forging of signatures of unsuspecting voters that are then cast as real votes. '
“Tea with Tony Blair at No. 10. He was yawning a lot and drinking endless cups of tea. I tried to wake him up a bit.”Piers Morgan's diary entry for 26 March 1997, taken from his 2005 book The Insider: The Private Diaries of a Scandalous Decade.
'The following is an outtake from Joe Berlinger's movie Crude. At the March 4, 2007, lunch meeting between plaintiffs' lead U.S. lawyer Steven Donziger and plaintiffs' U.S. consultants Charles Champ, Ann Maest and Richard Kamp, they reveal the truth about plaintiffs' lack of evidence and their intent to manipulate the Ecuadorian court. Maest tells Donziger that they need evidence of groundwater contamination, because plaintiffs did not submit any. Maest admits that, "Right now all the reports are saying it's just at the pits and the stations, and nothing has spread anywhere at all." Donziger responds, "Hold on a second, you know, this is Ecuador. ... You can say whatever you want, and at the end of the day, there's a thousand people around the courthouse. You're going to get what you want. Sorry, but it's true." Donziger continues, "Because at the end of the day, this is all for the court just a bunch of smoke and mirrors and bulls**t. It really is. We have enough, to get money, to win." View more outtakes at YouTube.com/TexacoEcuador. For more information about the Ecuador lawsuit, visit Chevron.com/Ecuador.'Fascinating, do take a read of Chevron's website but also of The San Francisco Examiner and The Wall street Journal amongst other linked articles.
Baldrick: "What I want to know sir, is before there was a Euro there were lots of different types of money that different people used. And now there's only one type of money that the foreign people use. And what I want to know is, how did we get from one state of affairs to the other state of affairs"
Blackadder: "Baldrick. Do you mean, how did the Euro start?"
Baldrick: "Yes sir"
Blackadder: "Well, you see Baldrick, back in the 1980's there were many different countries all running their own finances and using different types of money. On one side you had the major economies of France , Belgium , Holland and Germany , and on the other, the weaker nations of Spain , Greece , Ireland , Italy and Portugal . They got together and decided that it would be much easier for everyone if they could all use the same money, have one Central Bank, and belong to one large club where everyone would be happy. This meant that there could never be a situation whereby financial metldown would lead to social unrest, wars and crises".
Baldrick: "But this is sort of a crisis, isn't it sir".
Blackadder: "That's right Baldrick. You see, there was only one slight flaw with the plan".
Baldrick: "What was that then sir?"
Blackadder: "It was bollocks".
'On December 16, 1965, while in orbit above planet Earth, the crew of Gemini 6 added another milestone to their already historic mission.
Astronauts Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford reported sighting an object, a satellite, in a "polar orbit...traveling North to South."
"Stand by, he's trying to signal something," reported Schirra.
The next thing heard at Mission Control was a rendition of Jingle Bells performed by the astronauts using instruments which they had smuggled onboard.
The story is well known. The harmonica and string of bells are now housed at The Smithsonian, and the incident is believed to be the first time human beings ever played music in outer space.
But no recording of the song has ever been made available. Until now.
I've been looking all over the Internet for this recording for more than a year with no success. So I started asking for help.
KUOW reporter Phyllis Fletcher pointed me toward NASA's Media Resource Center in Houston Texas.
After digging around their Web site and calling the phone tree at Johnson Space Center, I eventually reached Librarian Jody Russell. Her contacts in the Audio Department pointed me to the online archive for the entire Gemini 6 and 7 joint mission.
They narrowed it down to 8 audio files for me, which covered about 33 hours of the mission. They also provided me with links to mission transcripts that I could use as reference to find the song.
The message from NASA ended with "...it's in there somewhere."
And it was.
Enjoy!'
'PCHR reiterates condemnation of all the Israeli policies aiming at the obliteration of Islamic and Christian features in East Jerusalem, and:So PCHR Gaza claim that East Jerusalem has been 'occupied' since 1967, this surely menas that East Jerusalem was not 'occupied' immediately prior to Israel's capture of East Jerusalem in the defensive war of that year. Does that mean that the Palestinian's position (or at least that of PCHR) is that East Jerusalem belongs to Jordan and thus not a previous Palestinian state? Is this therefore recognition that Jordan was setup in 1929 as the Palestinian state, on land taken from that promised to a future Jewish state (itself not setup until 1948) and that what I first blogged here in 2010 is accepted by the Palestinians:
...
2. Confirms that East Jerusalem, which has been occupied since 05 June 1967, is an integral part of the oPt, and that procedures taken by Israel following the occupation of the city do not change its legal status.'
With that last thought in mind remember that on the same day Yasser Arafat signed the Declaration of Principles on the White House lawn in 1993, he explained his actions on Jordan TV thus "Since we cannot defeat Israel in war, we do this in stages. We take any and every territory that we can of Palestine, and establish a sovereignty there, and we use it as a springboard to take more. When the time comes, we can get the Arab nations to join us for the final blow against Israel."'The other uncomfortable truth about Jordan is that it is the Palestinian State. It was set-up in 1929 on part of the land promised by the 1917 Balfour declaration for the 'establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people'. Here's a map of the Palestinian Mandate, can you see how it divides between what is now Israel and what is now Jordan?
Do remember that back on March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview with Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:
"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.
For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."
Read that again: "The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.
For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva ."
The enemies of Israel make no secret of what they want and how they intend to achieve it but we are expected to pretend that they want peace and a return to 1967 borders?
'Though most of the women are mothers in their 40s, the video was still considered too raunchy'Savour the casual ageism in that line, why can't women in their 40s be raunchy?
'15 Million Merits is set in a time - supposedly at some point in the future - when people 'are confined to the drudgery of real life unless they can impress the judges of a popular TV talent show'.Maybe Mrs NotaSheep and I should catchup online...
If the premise sounds familiar, the newly released pictures of the upcoming episode will seem like even more of a dig at The X Factor, as three judges are seen sitting behind an X Factor-style desk as they pass judgement on contestants.
The first episode of Black Mirror, The National Anthem, was a resounding success, attracting high ratings for Channel 4 and gripping critics and viewers alike.'
'THE BBC last night faced accusations of pro-Brussels bias as it was revealed that the corporation had taken out £141m in “soft” loans from the European Union.
The broadcaster has taken out three separate low interest loans from the EU-backed European Investment Bank (EIB) to fund the expansion of its growing commercial empire.
It also emerged that the BBC has received grants from the EU worth £1.4m over the past five years.
The Brussels deals raise awkward questions for the corporation about its coverage of European affairs and its burgeoning profit-making arm whose interests extend to property, publishing and the internet.
The details of the loans and grants stretching back six years emerged in a letter written by Zarin Patel, the BBC’s finance director, to Bob Spink, a Conservative MP.
The first £66m loan in 2003 was used to fund “the fit-out” of a new building in the BBC’s Media Village development in west London, which was later sold for a profit. The second loan for £25m and the third for £50m were made to BBC Worldwide, the corporation’s profit-making arm, to pay for the acquisition of overseas rights to programmes made by the BBC in the UK.
The EIB has described itself as “an autonomous body set up to finance capital investment furthering European integration by promoting EU policies”.
It specialises in providing low interest loans below the normal commercial rates. However, the BBC refused to disclose exactly what rates the EIB was charging.
The BBC letter, written in response to a parliamentary question, also discloses a series of grants to help to fund online educational programmes and preserve the BBC archive.
Spink said yesterday that he would be putting down a Commons motion condemning the BBC for accepting the cash: “I am concerned that the independence and objectivity of the BBC may have been improperly influenced by funding from the EU.”
A BBC spokesman denied any pro-Brussels bias: “There were no editorial obligations whatsoever attached to the three EIB loans. The BBC’s commercial businesses go to the European Investment Bank as opposed to any other commercial bank for purely commercial reasons.”
He added: “The BBC occasionally receives some EU funding in relation to specific educational or research and development projects.”
However, the size of the EU loans highlights the rapid growth in the BBC’s commercial activities, which are kept separate from the core programme-making funded by the £3.5 billion a year licence fee.
Critics question how commercial contracts fit into the BBC’s “public services” remit.'
