I am not a sheep, I have my own mind
I have had enough of being told what and how to think
Whilst we are still allowed the remnants of free speech,
I will speak out.
I also reserve the right to discuss less controversial matters should I feel the urge.
Pages
Sunday, 30 September 2012
It's odd who the BBC will give airtime to and who they will not
The Express (not my paper of choice and no stranger to conspiracy theories itself) reports that:
'A CONTROVERSIAL new BBC documentary which claims the 7/7 bombings were carried out by the Labour government to extend the war on terror was branded “ridiculous” last night.The allegation is one of several extraordinary claims about the suicide attacks in which 52 people died at the hands of Islamic terrorists in 2005.Furious MPs and security experts criticised Conspiracy Road Trip, which is presented by a comedian and will air on BBC3 tomorrow night. “The premise that these terrible attacks were carried out by the government is ridiculous,” said Patrick Mercer MP last night.
...
The programme sourced the conspiracy theorists from the internet and university campuses.
One contributor, Jon, tells presenter Andrew Maxwell: “The British Establishment did it. We needed this excuse to continue this war – 7/7 was an excuse.”
Another theorist, Tony, said: “There could be a business element [to the bombings].” He added: “They [the terrorists] were hired as patsies, hired as part of a training drill as actors.
Unbeknown to them, there was a secondary operation going on.” The theorists also suggest the government lied about the time the train carrying the bombers left Luton for London, and that a homemade bomb could not have caused the devastation.
Further allegations surround the apparent absence of CCTV footage of the bombers at Tube stations, while a newly converted Muslim woman claims not enough was known about the bombers to suggest they were terrorists.
At the end of the programme, three of the conspiracy theorists change their views. Series producer Riete Oord said: “The claims are out there on the internet. There are people with these conspiracies, 9/11 is also obviously a huge one, 7/7 follows on from that.'
It is strange what conspiracy theories the BBC will allow on their channels and what they won't. I know plenty of people who believe that there is documentary evidence that Labour deliberately increased immigration to the UK as a political and sociological act, will the BBC give them airtime?
Saturday, 29 September 2012
Friday, 28 September 2012
Sky's James Bond trailer
Marking the first time in UK history all the Bond films will be available to enjoy in one place, in HD, on demand and without ad breaks, Sky Movies 007 HD launches on 5 October 2012. Uniting all six Bonds in one exhilarating car chase sequence using footage from Dr No, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, The Spy Who Loved Me, The Living Daylights, Goldeneye, The World Is Not Enough and Quantum of Solace, Sky Movies' seamless sequence features all of the Bonds as portrayed over the course of the franchise by Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig.
A proud goat saved by a pig?
Footage from a petting zoo where a goat gets into difficulties and is saved by a pig, how embarrassing.
Barack Obama's foreign policy disaster
Two lucky lorry stories
This is a less incredible story but does involve Boris Johnson...
Oh dear, how sad, never mind - People just aren't interested in Gordon Brown
'A press conference by the former Prime Minister at the United Nations in New York was cancelled this week when not enough journalists turned up to hear him speak.As of now, not a mention on the BBC; I wonder why?
Mr Brown, who has recently been named the UN special envoy for global education, was at the United Nations General Assembly delivering a speech about a new UN initiative to put more children through school.
He was scheduled to address reporters at 4pm on Wednesday to discuss the project, but unfortunately when just one journalist - a reporter from the Daily Telegraph - arrived for his briefing.
As the former Prime Minister stood in the background, a message was played on the loudspeaker reminding the media that Mr Brown was due to speak.
At about 4.20pm another message was played over the public address system informing the media that Mr Brown’s press conference was cancelled.'
Thursday, 27 September 2012
Why should you vote for Obama?
This Cleveland voter knows why she's going to vote for Barack Obama - Apparently for the free phones...
"Everybody in Cleveland, low minorities, got Obama phone. Keep Obama in president, you know. He gave us a phone, he gonna do more... You sign up! If you on food stamps, you on social security, you got low income, you disability…"Is what this lady saying correct? Are phones being given away?
It seems that being a sheep rather than a goat is 'normal'
'This Japanese video shows 32 metronomes set rocking on a wobbly surface. They begin in a state of chaos, and as they feed motion into the table, they begin to influence one another, until, 4 minutes later, they attain synchrony.'I see myself as the pink metronome front row on the right... But will I too eventually have to march to the same beat as everyone else? Thanks to Boing Boing for the video spot.
How rich!
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) $305.46 Million
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) $198.65 Million
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) $140.55 Million
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) $85.81 Million
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) $83.08 Million
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) $79.11 Million
Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) $72.09 Million
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) $56.80 Million
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) $41.78 Million
Rep. Jim Renacci (R-Ohio) $36.67 Million
Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) $36.49 Million
Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) $28.58 Million
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) $26.43 Million
Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) $24.79 Million
Rep. Rick Berg (R-N.D.) $23.78 Million
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) $21.73 Million
Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) $19.63 Million
Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho) $19.09 Million
Rep. Gary Miller (R-Calif.) $17.41 Million
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) $15.57 Million
Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) $14.95 Million
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) $14.47 Million
Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) $14.34 Million
Rep. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.) $13.69 Million
Rep. Nan Hayworth (R-N.Y.) $12.34 Million
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) $12.00 Million
Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) $11.60 Million
Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) $10.75 Million
Rep. Kenny Marchant (R-Texas) $10.33 Million
Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) $10.20 Million
Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) $10.06 Million
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) $10.05 Million
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) $10.01 Million
Rep. Tom Petri (R-Wis.) $9.53 Million
Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) $9.17 Million
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) $9.01 Million
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) $8.95 Million
Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) $8.94 Million
Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.) $8.93 Million
Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) $8.81 Million
Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) $8.41 Million
Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) $7.69 Million
Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) $7.65 Million
Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) $7.48 Million
Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) $7.10 Million
Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas) $6.94 Million
Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) $6.72 Million
Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) $6.47 Million
Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) $6.28 Million
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) $6.14 Million
Staggering, I wonder how many British politicians would get close to these levels of wealth. Maybe Tony Blair really did want to Americanise British politics.
I'm sorry but words fail me
The Times has been printing much more detail than the BBC has been reporting and some of The Times' reports have left me lost for words. Here are some extracts from The Times courtesy of Gates of Vienna:
Police went to a house outside which a father was demanding the release of his daughter, who was inside with a group of British Pakistani adults. Officers found the girl, 14, who had been drugged, under a bed. The father and his daughter were arrested for racial harassment and assault respectively. Police left, leaving three men at the house with two more girls.
Two terrified girls who were dragged into a car and driven to Bristol to be used for sex as part of a drugs deal phoned support workers to seek help… officers rescued them and returned them to Sheffield… South Yorkshire Police did not question them about the incident.
In two cases, police officers responded to missing persons reports but left the young women with the suspected abuser, concluding she was safe. When the parents attempted to intervene they were threatened with arrest and charged with breach of the peace.
A girl’s mother copied the names, addresses and text messages of 177 Asian men, including a police officer, from her daughter’s mobile phone after the 13-year-old went missing for five days. Police said that using the information would infringe on the girl’s and the men’s human rights.
In 2002, the confidential report of a Home-Office funded research project considered a series of Rotherham case studies. It criticised police for in all cases treating young victims as deviant and promiscuous while the men they were found with were never questioned or investigated.
Denis MacShane, MP for Rotherham, said he was appalled that in several meetings with senior South Yorkshire police officers to discuss internal trafficking ‘no one has ever revealed or even hinted at the important allegations made by The Times’…
Throughout this period, Rotherham council has failed to accept the role of ethnicity and culture in such group offending. Earlier this year, this newspaper revealed how the town’s safeguarding children board censored a report into the murder of a 17-year-old girl to conceal the ethnicity of the British Pakistani men suspected of using her for sex from the age of 11.Some of the British police, the Crown Prosecution Service and local councils in parts of this country have followed the creed of political correctness, to such an extent that rape of young white girls was deemed less important than good community relations. Makes you sick, doesn't it.
Herbert Lom R.I.P.
Here are some extracts from the Pink Panther films to remember him by.
Herbert Lom will be greatly missed, he also starred in one of my favourite films of all time - The Ladykillers...
David Cameron - Does Magna Carta mean nothing to you?
"Does Magna Carta mean nothing to you? Did she die in vain? Brave Hungarian peasant girl who forced King John the pledge at Runnymede and close the boozers at half-ten. Is all this to be forgotten?"..."From "Twelve Angry Men" BBC-TV Series 5 of "Hancock's Half Hour"
The one hundred and sixty third weekly "No shit, Sherlock" award
'Obama not ‘Best President’ for Israel - Unfair demands made on Israel while Hamas gets a pass'Seriously "No shit, Sherlock"
Wednesday, 26 September 2012
Madonna endorses Barack Obama and makes a peculiar comment - NSFW language
Madonna tells her fans that they'd "better vote for f***ing Obama, OK?=" and then refers approvingly to the fact that with this President there "is a black Muslim in the White House". How odd...
Yom Kippur 39 years on
The Yom Kippur war was deliberately timed for when the Jewish state would be at its least prepared for an attack, with many soldiers praying rather than on guard.The combined forces of Egypt and Syria totalled the same number of men as NATO had in Western Europe. On the Golan Heights alone, 150 Israeli tanks faced 1,400 Syria tanks and in the Suez region just 500 Israeli soldiers faced 80,000 Egyptian soldiers. There are many places you can read a history of this war, including the run up to it. But what must be borne in mind at all times is that the Israeli armed forces and nation had to work to one simple equation: if they lost, the state of Israel would cease to exist. Thus, for Israel, it was a fight to the finish – literally "death or glory". Contrastingly, if the various Arab nations lost, they could survive for another day. I find the Israeli tactics pre the war interesting, this passage from Wikipedia gives you a flavour:
'The Israeli strategy was, for the most part, based on the precept that if war was imminent, Israel would launch a pre-emptive strike. It was assumed that Israel's intelligence services would give, in the worst case, about 48 hours notice prior to an Arab attack. Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan, and General David Elazar met at 8:05 am the morning of Yom Kippur, six hours before the war began. Dayan opened the meeting by arguing that war was not a certainty. Elazar then presented his argument in favor of a pre-emptive attack against Syrian airfields at noon, Syrian missiles at 3:00 pm, and Syrian ground forces at 5:00 pm "When the presentations were done, the prime minister hemmed uncertainly for a few moments but then came to a clear decision. There would be no preemptive strike. Israel might be needing American assistance soon and it was imperative that it would not be blamed for starting the war. 'If we strike first, we won't get help from anybody', she said." Other developed nations, being more dependent on OPEC oil, took more seriously the threat of an Arab oil embargo and trade boycott, and had stopped supplying Israel with munitions. As a result, Israel was totally dependent on the United States for military resupply, and particularly sensitive to anything that might endanger that relationship. After Meir made her decision, at 10:15 am she met with US ambassador Kenneth Keating in order to inform the United States that Israel did not intend to preemptively start a war, and asked that US efforts be directed at preventing war. An electronic telegram with Keating's report on the meeting was sent to the US at 16:33 GMT (6:33 pm local time). A message arrived later from United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger saying, "Don't preempt." At the same time, Kissinger also urged the Soviets to use their influence to prevent war, contacted Egypt with Israel's message of non-preemption, and sent messages to other Arab governments to enlist their help on the side of moderation. These late efforts were futile. According to Henry Kissinger, had Israel struck first, it would not have received "so much as a nail."'
It is fascinating that even in 1973 Israel had to wait to be attacked for fear of losing American support. In 2012 with Iran promising genoicide against Israel, the same strictures could well apply.
Tuesday, 25 September 2012
The Palestinian Authority are not Israel's 'partners in peace'
PA Chief Justice of Religious Court: Quran says Jews are evil
Dr. Tayseer Al-Tamimi, PA Chief Justice of Religious Court, and Chairman of Supreme Council of Islamic Law:
"Concerning the Jews, the Holy Quran says that they lack understanding, are void of wisdom, know nothing, violate agreements, etc. However, the Jews were known – it was known about them throughout history – that they make false claims, lies, forgery, slander, and fabrications, in order to justify their aggression, land theft, defilement of holy sites, appropriation of land, destruction of homes, murder of children, women, and the elderly
."
The Palestinian war with Israel is not due to 'occupation' but Islam
PA TV Friday sermon
"These new Mongols…the Jews, the enemies of Allah and of His Messenger, the enemies of Allah and of His Messenger! Enemies of humanity in general, and of Palestinians in particular… Our enmity with the Jews is a matter of faith, more than an enmity because of occupation and the land… Even if donkeys would cease to bray, dogs cease to bark, wolves cease to howl and snakes to bite, the Jews would not cease to harbor hatred towards Muslims. … The Prophet says: 'You shall fight the Jews and kill them.'"
Monday, 24 September 2012
Jeremy Bowen's Rosh Hashonah Twitter Q&A
This matter is something that I feel really deeply about so I have lodged another complaint, just in case the BBC have 'lost' the original.
Your Complaint
Oddly I have yet to receive a response from the BBC with the all important Case Number, why not?
James Hansen - Two views
'Prof James Hansen, the Nasa scientist who has done perhaps more than any other academic down the years to raise the spectre of catastrophic climate change. '
Scott Pelley on 60 Minutes introduced Hansen as “NASA’s top climate scientist, credited with the earliest and most accurate projections on climate change.”
Peter F at Watts Up With That recalls something interesting:The truth is out there...
'I recall Hansen’s 1988 testimony before Congress in which he predicted a warmer climate by 1.2°C in twenty years. Here in 2009, the global average is only 0.17 to 0.22°C warmer than the 20th Century benchmark. He then had the audacity to publish a paper with himself as the lead author extolling the virtues of the accuracy of his 1988 projections. Looking back, none of his three scenarios came even within 50% of being accurate, yet the ya-hoos over at RealClimate.org insist Hansen was and is spot on.'
Sunday, 23 September 2012
Saturday, 22 September 2012
In case you, like the BBC, think that climate science is 'settled'
'In climate research and modelling, we should recognise that we are dealing with a coupled non-linear chaotic system, and therefore that the long-term prediction of future climate states is not possible.'IPCC report, section entitled '14.2.2.2 Balancing the need for finer scales and the need for ensembles' Just wondered if important!
Friday, 21 September 2012
Nipples in advertising
A Brazilian Toyota advert
Brrr Seasonal Ale from Widmer Brothers Brewing
mint Air Action Vigorsol
Oh dear Apple, not good at all
Tarsdorf is actually about 3 km (~2 miles) away from Fucking.
Search for Manchester United Football Club and Apple shows you Sale United Football Club, a community team for ages five and above.
Basingstoke wasn't quite so rural the last time that I was there.
For more try this Tumblr site
Finally, proof that cats are better than dogs - hmmm
I await the response from the defenders of the dog...
In the dog vs cat debate I am neutral, I love both.
The importance of the little qualifying words - part 1 - Polar ice
'Arctic sea ice has reached its minimum extent for the year, setting a record for the lowest summer cover since satellite data collection began.''Since satellite data collection began' - so how far back does this record go? Let's see the first satellite, Sputnik 1, was launched in 1957 (55 years ago in a few weeks time) but the data collection of polar ice started in 1979. So we have a mimimum sea ice level for 33 years.
Here are some more extracts from that BBC report:
'Scientists say they are observing fundamental changes in sea ice cover. The Arctic used to be dominated by multiyear ice, or ice that survived through several years.Fascinating and scary, well no. I wonder how much sea ice there was at the North Pole during the Medieval Warm Period, that's the period that warmists ignore when they show you world temperatures increasing due to man's technology.
Recently, the region is characterised by seasonal ice cover and large areas are now prone to completely melt away in summer.
The sea ice extent is defined as the total area covered by at least 15% of ice, and varies from year to year because of changeable weather.
However, ice extent has shown a dramatic overall decline over the past 30 years.
...
Some ships have already been cutting their journey times by sailing a previously impassable route north of Russia.'
But you don't have to go back that far to find less sea ice at the North Pole, Watts Up With That has some photos of nuclear submarines in open water at the North Pole in 1958, 1959, 1962, 1987 and 1993. Here's three of the many photos, take a look at the full set, they are fascinating.
1958
1962
1987
What is always fascinating at Watts Up With That are the depth of knowledge of the commenters. Here's one comment that I think should be compulsory reading at the BBC and every school who teach the science/religion of Man Made Climate Change.
'” Claims of unprecedented warmth and abnormal melting of meltic arctic ice are unfounded if we look at history;
1 The following link describes the ancient cultures of the warmer arctic 5000 to 1000 years ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Lithoderm/Inuit_culture
2 This relates to an Arctic culture thriving in warmer times 2000 years ago
From the Eskimo Times Monday, Mar. 17, 1941
The corner of Alaska nearest Siberia was probably man’s first threshold to the Western Hemisphere. So for years archeologists have dug there for a clue to America’s prehistoric past. Until last year, all the finds were obviously Eskimo. Then Anthropologists Froelich G. Rainey of the University of Alaska and two collaborators struck the remains of a town, of inciedible size and mysterious culture. Last week in Natural History Professor Rainey, still somewhat amazed, described this lost Arctic city.
It lies at Ipiutak on Point Hope, a bleak sandspit in the Arctic Ocean, where no trees and little grass survive endless gales at 30° below zero. But where houses lay more than 2,000 years ago, underlying refuse makes grass and moss grow greener. The scientists could easily discern traces of long avenues and hundreds of dwelling sites. A mile long, a quarter-mile wide, this ruined city was perhaps as big as any in Alaska today (biggest: Juneau, pop. 5,700).
On the Arctic coast today an Eskimo village of even 250 folk can catch scarcely enough seals, whales, caribou to live on. What these ancient Alaskans ate is all the more puzzling because they seem to have lacked such Arctic weapons as the Eskimo harpoon.
Yet they had enough leisure to make many purely artistic objects, some of no recognizable use. Their carvings are vaguely akin to Eskimo work but so sophisticated and elaborate as to indicate a relation with some centre of advanced culture — perhaps Japan or southern Siberia —certainly older than the Aztec or Mayan
3 This link leads to the Academy of science report of the same year regarding the Ipiutak culture described above
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1078291
4 This refers to the Vikings living in a warmer arctic culture 1000 years ago
People might be interested in reading a very interesting book about the Vikings called ‘The Viking world’. It is a very scholarly and highly referenced book running to some 700 pages and deals with all aspects of the Vikings. It is good because it does not have an axe to grind, but deals matter of factly with all aspects of Viking culture and exploration.
There is a large section on their initial exploration of Greenland, the subsequent establishment of their farms there, everyday life, how they gradually lost access to the outside world as the sea lanes closed through ice, a record of the last wedding held In Greenland and how trade dried up. It also deals with Vinland/Newfoundland and it seems that it was wild grapes that helped give the area its name, it being somewhat warmer than today.
This is one of a number of similar books that record our warmer and cooler past throughout the Northern Hermisphere. Al Gore wrote a good book in 1992 called ‘Earth in the Balance’ in which he explored the changing climate that devastated the civilisations in the Southern Hemishpere.
The book ‘The Viking World’ is Edited by Stefan Brink with Neil Price Published by Routledge ISBN 978 0 415 33315-3
I suggest you borrow it from the local library as it costs $250!
5 This refers to a warmer arctic 75 years ago recorded on Pathe newsreel by Bob Bartlett on the Morrisey during his journeys there in the 1920’s and 1930’s and reported in all the media.
http://boothbayharborshipyard.blogspot.com/2008/08/arctic-explorer-on-ways.html
Wednesday, 10th August 1932
The ship rolled heavily all night and continues to do so….
The glacier continues its disturbances. No real bergs break off but great sheets of ice slide down into the water and cause heavy seas. About noon, the entire face of the glacier, almost a mile in length and six or eight feet deep slid off with a roar and a rumble that must have been heard at some distance. We were on deck at the time for a preliminary report like a pistol shot had warned us what was coming. The Morrissey rolled until her boats at the davits almost scooped up the water and everything on board that was not firmly anchored in place crashed loose. But this was nothing to the pandemonium on shore. I watched it all through the glasses. The water receded leaving yards of beach bare and then returned with a terrific rush, bringing great chunks of ice with it. Up the beach it raced further and further, with the Eskimos fleeing before it. It covered all the carefully cherished piles of walrus meat, flowed across two of the tents with their contents, put out the fire over which the noonday meal for the sled drivers was being prepared, and stopped a matter of inches before it reached the pile of cement waiting to be taken up the mountain. Fortunately, in spite of heavy sea, which was running, the Captain had managed to be set shore this morning so he was there with them to help straighten out things and calm them down.”
The arctic has periodically warmed to greater amounts than today-there is additional data from the Royal society, The Hudson Bay co and many other sources illustrating that there seems to be a cycle of extensive warming every 80 years or so contained within a longer cycle of melt and cold. A tiny reduction in ice extent since 1979 ( A high point in ice levels) is of no consequence if you look at the historical record of this region
Tonyb'
The cherry picking of data and deliberate selection of start & end points for data comparison is an easy way to manipulate people's minds and is something that the warmists have been doing for years.
Interesting statistics
United Kingdom | 49% | ||
United States | 33% | ||
Germany | 6% | ||
Australia | 3% | ||
Canada | 3% | ||
France | 3% | ||
India | 2% | ||
Denmark | 1% | ||
Russia | 1% | ||
Netherlands | 1% |
Interesting
Is that the difference between being a temperamental teenager and being a mature adult?
Imagine the BBC publishing anything that might be seen as detrimental to the Islamic prophet Muhammad without lots of caveats, if at all?
Nick Clegg apologises - he's really sorry
Nicely done by The Poke. Who else was really sorry? Oh yes, him... Kin Jong Il (Team America version) - 'I'm so ronery'
Thursday, 20 September 2012
How the media question US Presidential candidates
Main Stream Media to Barack Obama:
"What kind of Girl Scout cookie do you like best?"
Quite funny and also not too far from the truth. I found this comment somewhere yesterday but can't remeber where. Sorry, if it's yours please tell me and I'll credit you.
It wasn't me it was Jew
A sighting and notice of another to come...
What am I talking about? take a look here for details.
Oh OK it's Feleicity Kendal in all her glory, well one part anyway...
The video, 2:57 is where it gets interesting...
What is going on in America?
Meanwhile in Michigan Breitbart reports that:
'You want to clean up the voter rolls so only eligible citizens can vote? Don’t run for Secretary of State in Michigan, because voting rights advocates, labor unions, and Democrats will sue you. That’s exactly what’s happening to Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson, who has claimed there are an estimated 4,000 noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls. Johnson had championed efforts to have the state’s 7.34 million registered voters affirm their citizenship when they vote in November. In return for her actions, the labor unions and their cohorts are suing her. Johnson based her estimate on an analysis she did of 58,000 driver's licenses and state-issued identification cards which found 963 noncitizens registered to vote. 54 have a voting history and have voted a total of 95 times. By using these figures as a yardstick, as well as figures showing there are 305,000 noncitizens living in Michigan, roughly 5000 could be on the voter rolls. Johnson used the number of 4000 to account for children. In a rather strange coincidence, Johnson said that she could only survey one-fifth of the state because the Obama Administration would not give her access to more data. She also said she's been rejected by the Social Security Administration and U.S. Department of Homeland Security four times in her efforts to verify the citizenship of all registered voters. Now there’s a surprise. Democrat election attorney Jocelyn Benson, who ran against Johnson in 2010, whined: If someone is legitimately trying to misrepresent themselves as a citizen in order to interfere with our elections, then what's to say they won't misrepresent themselves a second time at the ballot box. Johnson knows the score: she believes President Barack Obama and Democratic county and city clerks are blocking her efforts to root out noncitizen voters, noting that 80 noncitizens are registered to vote in Macomb County, where County Clerk Carmella Sabaugh, who is a Democrat, won't let the citizenship question appear on applications to vote. Why in the world would any red-blooded American object to checking the eligibility of voters before they vote? Oh, wait – red-blooded American – there’s a phrase sure to turn the stomach of any liberal. 'Meanwhile in the House of Representatives I read in the Hill that:
House Democrats on Tuesday introduced legislation that would essentially nullify many of the state-based voter ID requirements that Republican legislatures have enacted in the name of fighting election fraud.
...
Under the bill authored by Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), voters in states with government ID requirements could sign an affidavit attesting to their identity in lieu of showing the mandated documents.'
Accross America similar attempts to clean up the electoral rolls are being impeded. Elements within the Democrat party are desperate to ensure that every last vote counts, whether that vote is legal, of an ilegal immigrant, someone who has left the state or even died. Then there is the matter of needing identification in order to vote. I covered this story a while back in relation to the last US Presidential Election, this year CS Monitor reports that:
'The Pennsylvania Supreme Court allowed a new voter ID law to proceed Tuesday, but it ordered the state judge who first OK’d the law to take a skeptical second look to make sure that, in the state's rush to provide IDs in time for the November election, Pennsylvanians aren’t being disenfranchised. The 4-to-2 ruling suggests that the state has acted in “good faith” to ensure that all eligible voters could cast a ballot, but also asks if the rush to implement the law ahead of the 2012 election would damage “liberal access” to the polls. ... Primarily Republican-led legislatures have passed a number of tougher voting restrictions in the past two years aimed at ensuring that only eligible voters cast ballots. But Democrats, civil rights groups, and the US Department of Justice have raised questions in other states, including Texas and South Carolina, and have alleged that the new laws are veiled and illegal attempts to limit access to the polls for key Democratic constituencies. Seventeen states currently have voter ID laws, but there are lingering concerns in former Confederate states that the rules fit a pattern of prejudice against the poor and minorities, who, on average, are less likely to have a state-issued ID.'Hmmm, 'have alleged that the new laws are veiled and illegal attempts to limit access to the polls for key Democratic constituencies', well I can believe that the US Democrat party does, unoficially of course, consider illegals and dead people as key.
'Vote first, vote often' is a phrase that comes to mind here, a practice that has a long tradition in the US, per Wikipedia:
'The British newspaper The Times of 27 August 1859 printed a letter about the use of the ballot for voting in the United States, written by Richard Henry Dana, Jr. to his friend Lord Radstock. In the letter Dana reports:
The phrase is also noted as the "much vaunted maxim" of the Tammany Hall political machine of the 1860: they used "repeaters", who were given five dollars and free liquor to go and vote for recently deceased voters. This process was depicted in the Martin Scorsese film, Gangs of New York where drunkards are forcibly shaved (to alter their appearance) and turned back toward polling stations to vote again.'Our experience has shown us that in the excitement of great popular elections, deciding the policy of the country, and its vast patronage, frauds will be committed, if a chance is given for them. If these frauds are allowed, the result is not only that the popular will may be defeated, and the result falsified, but that the worst side will prevail. The side which has the greater number of dishonest men will poll the most votes. The war cry, "Vote early and vote often!" and the familiar problem, "how to cast the greatest number of votes with the smallest number of voters", indicate the direction in which the dangers lie.
Meanwhile whilst US embassies burn, US diplomats are being killed and a wave of anti-American protests sweepsa across the Muslim world, including France and the UK, what is the US President doing? Breitbart reveals that:
'New information reveals President Barack Obama conducted interviews with entertainment magazines and posed for a photo spread last Friday as American embassies burned and 21 countries erupted into anti-American protests. Instead of spending precious time dealing with the developing crisis in the Mid East and with his foreign policy scheme in a total freefall, on Friday morning, September 14, Obama was giving an interview to the entertainment magazine People en Español and participating in a photo session with photographer Omar Cruz. This interview was not on his public schedule and was hidden from the public. Friday, September 14th was the same day that four flag-draped coffins of those killed at the U.S. Libyan embassy arrived at Andrews Air Force base. The interview came to public attention when individuals who work for the magazine tweeted about their visit after the event was over.'
I well remember the ridicule poured on George W. Bush for continuing to read to children as news of the 9/11 attacks filtered through. The story is still hugely popular on BBC satirical news programmes (such as The News Quiz). Somehow I doubt that Barack Obama's secret interview will raise any interest from Jeremy Hardy, Mark Steele or whichever other hard left 'comic' is on the programme tomorrow. However I am sure that Mitt Romney's 'secret' tape recording will faeture large, with no mention of the conveniently missing section. Thus I turn this article full-circle, how well-crafted!
Wednesday, 19 September 2012
On the streets of London, not that you'd know from the BBC
The first speaker is unintelligible, the second speaker from 1:15 is more understandable than the first but not someone you'd really want to have over for dinner. This video is from a demonstration in London earlier this week. Thanks to Daphne Anson for the video spot.
Boris Johnson blowing somebody else's trumpet for a change
From last year Boris Johnson trying and finally succeeding in blowing a note of the shofar, the rams horn traditionally used on Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur. For more on the usage of the shofar take a read of this.
Whose prophet? The BBC respond
'The BBC yesterday and today have once again been regularly referring to 'the Prophet Muhammad', why?This is the BBC's response:
Muhammad may well be "the Islamic prophet' he is not however the Christian prophet, the Jewish prophet, the Hindu prophet or indeed the prophet in the eyes of any other religion. Jesus is not referred to by the BBC as the Messiah or even the Christian Messiah so why do the BBC refer to 'the Prophet Muhammad'?'
Ah the pleasures of receiving a standard form brush-off, albeit with a link. Here's what I found at the link:'Dear Audience Member
Reference CAS-1678260-3SLYJ7
Thanks for contacting us about BBC News.
We understand you feel it’s inaccurate for the BBC to refer to Muhammad as a ‘prophet’.
This issue has been addressed at the following link which you may find of interest:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ukfs/hi/newsid_ 4760000/newsid_4762700/ 4762772.stm
Nevertheless we understand the strength of your comments and we'd like to assure you that we’ve registered your complaint on our audience log. This is a daily report of audience feedback that’s made available to many BBC staff, including members of the BBC Executive Board, channel controllers and other senior managers.
The audience logs are seen as important documents that can help shape decisions about future programming and content.
Thanks again for taking the time to contact us.
Kind Regards
Kevin Freeburn
BBC Complaints
www.bbc.co.uk/complaints
NB This is sent from an outgoing account only which is not monitored. You cannot reply to this email address but if necessary please contact us via our webform quoting any case number we provided.'
'As the publication of the Danish cartoons continues to reverberate around the world, NewsWatch - and our sister radio programme, Feedback - has received a number of complaints about the terminology used by the BBC to describe the story.
Several dozen people have been in touch to ask why the BBC is using the word prophet. "You do not apply titles of honour to other religious figures, so why do it for Muhammad?" wrote Samuel Green.
Bruce Grant said: "I am a Christian and I cannot find any reference to this prophet in my Bible."
Josef Serf commented: "Muhammad is not considered a prophet by 80% of humanity."
And in Patrick Hall 's view: "You're half way toward endorsing a religion."
In the interests of fairness, said some people, Jesus Christ should always be referred to as Our Lord, or the Son of God. On the other hand, some Muslim viewers objected when the word prophet was not used. So what is the BBC's rule on this?
It seems that there's no hard policy, but a recommendation that the phrase "the Prophet Muhammad" is used to avoid any confusion about which particular Muhammad is under discussion. The head of BBC Radio News, Stephen Mitchell, was asked whether a double standard was operating when he appeared on Feedback on Radio 4.
"No, it's not the case. I think the reason for the use of the term "the prophet" is simply for reasons of clarity. There are a lot of Muhammads we could be referring to in news stories and we're being quite specific about which one we are talking about", he said.
However, some people suggest use of the expression "the Islamic prophet Muhammad" might have avoided any unnecessary offence. Stephen Mitchell agreed that this might be more accurate but there's no policy on this.
He said: "It's an issue for different outlets on different platforms talking to different audiences. If any editor or programme-maker wishes to elaborate on the title, he or she is free to do so as long as we think of the audience first - which is what we need in order to convey the information, to make as much sense of the story as we can."'Let's look at that key section:
'It seems that there's no hard policy, but a recommendation that the phrase "the Prophet Muhammad" is used to avoid any confusion about which particular Muhammad is under discussion.'
What tosh, if we heard that there was an issue of Muslim anger because of cartoons of Muhammad, I think that we would understand that it was 'the Islamic Prophet Muhammad' and not Muhammad from the local Iranian restaurant.However is people really are that stupid that they need to be told that it is 'the prophet Muhammad' not just any Muhammad then surely adding the word Islamic would help these people to know whose prophet Muhammad is.
Let's look at the last sections of that article as well:
'However, some people suggest use of the expression "the Islamic prophet Muhammad" might have avoided any unnecessary offence. Stephen Mitchell agreed that this might be more accurate but there's no policy on this.That is nonsensical, apparently using 'the Islamic prophet Muhammad' might be more accurate but the BBC don't have a policy on this. Why not? Surely the BBC are meant to be as accurate as possible. If the BBC do indeed 'think of the audience first' then surely giving more information is serving that audience better. As above, adding the word Islamic would surely help people 'make as much sense of the story' as possible.
He said: "It's an issue for different outlets on different platforms talking to different audiences. If any editor or programme-maker wishes to elaborate on the title, he or she is free to do so as long as we think of the audience first - which is what we need in order to convey the information, to make as much sense of the story as we can."''
My response to the BBC has been submitted:
'The link you provided me included this: 'It seems that there's no hard policy, but a recommendation that the phrase "the Prophet Muhammad" is used to avoid any confusion about which particular Muhammad is under discussion.' No, if we heard there was Muslim anger because of cartoons of Muhammad, I think we would understand it was 'the Islamic Prophet Muhammad' and not Muhammad from the local Iranian restaurant. If you think people really are so stupid that they need to be told it is 'the prophet Muhammad', not just any Muhammad, then surely adding the word Islamic would help these people to know whose prophet Muhammad is.Apologies for the slightly poor English but it was hard to condense into the limited characters that the BBC allow. I await the BBC's response.
The last sections of that article were also illogical: '...some people suggest use of the expression "the Islamic prophet Muhammad" might have avoided any unnecessary offence. Stephen Mitchell agreed that this might be more accurate but there's no policy on this... "It's an issue for different outlets on different platforms talking to different audiences... as we think of the audience first - which is what we need in order to convey the information, to make as much sense of the story as we can."''
So using 'the Islamic prophet Muhammad' might be more accurate but the BBC don't have a policy on this. Surely the BBC are meant to be as accurate as possible. If the BBC do 'think of the audience first' then surely giving more information is serving that audience better. Thus adding the word Islamic would help people 'make as much sense of the story' as possible'
Tuesday, 18 September 2012
Say what?!
'Azealia Banks has claimed that Samantha Cameron is a big fan of her summer 2011 smash '212'. The rapper wrote on her Twitter feed last night that she had met the Prime Minister's wife, who told her she "loves" the track – which is possibly one of the most brilliantly explicit in chart history with lyrics focusing on cunnilingus, gang violence and homoeroticism. "Just met Samantha Cameron... She told me she loves 212...... *mind blown*," Banks wrote last night. She added: "Samantha Cameron is the Michelle Obama of Britain… This is actually crazy right now." The pair are thought to have met at London Fashion Week.'You don't know the track? Here is is, with slight NSFW warning for 'language' Makes you wonder about Sam Cam doesn't it...?
It's Sparks time
This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us - introduced by Lauren Laverne
And a documentary 'Brothers In Arms' that I have only just discovered... Here's Sally James interviewing Sparks in 1974 from a freebie disk, with recipes... So young... and doesn't Sally James sound posh? And this is what would become Sparks from 1969 Urban Renewal Project - "Computer Girl" 1969 - computers?
Just saying...
'In September and October 2012 there are but three moonless nights each; the 15th, 16th and 17th of each month.
Unless the Israelis go tonight, it is unlikely they will go until next month on the 15th.
I'm just sayin''
Thanks to Shelley @ Theo Spark for the spot. Although in these days of high-tech is a moonless sky still that critical?
Monday, 17 September 2012
Jeremy Bowen responds, as do I
So the BBC's Middle East Editor did know that he was holding a Q&A on Rosh Hashonah, one of the holiest days in the Jewish calendar when most even moderately religious Jews will be in synagogue not online, but thought that was fine because 'it doesn't stop quite a few Jews using social media!'. Well that's OK, isn't it?
If you think that I am being over-sensitive and that the chosen date doesn't matter or is a coincidence then ask yourself if you think that Jeremy Bowen would have held a similar exercise during Ramadan?
The BBC's Jeremy Bowen in a biased nutshell
Either Jeremy Bowen doesn't know that today is Rosh Hashonah, being more concerned with Muslim/Arab affairs and religion than Jewish/Israeli matters, or this was a deliberate move to avoid receiving hard questions. Whatever the reason it is a fine example of the lack of sensitivity to Israel and Jews regularly shown by Jeremy Bowen and the BBC.
Remember this is the same Jeremy Bowen who the Editorial Standards Committee of the BBC Trust published a report into three complaints about in April 2009. The complaints included 24 allegations of breaching BBC guidelines on accuracy and impartiality of which three were fully or partially upheld.
If you think that I am being over-sensitive and that the chosen date doesn't matter or is a coincidence then ask yourself if you think that Jeremy Bowen would have held a similar exercise during Ramadan?
On Yom Kippur (the holiest day in the Jewish calendar) in 1973 the armies of Egypt & Syria with support from elsewhere attacked Israel, deliberately choosing the day when they hoped Israel's defences would be at their weakest. Is Jeremy Bowen simply following anti-Israel tradition?
UPDATE: I have posted the above as a question to Jeremy Bowen at the above mentioned link. I wonder if the BBC will use it or if Jeremy Bowen will explain his choice of day.
Sunday, 16 September 2012
Saturday, 15 September 2012
Why are the liberal media and politicians in the West fixated on 'that film'?
'...the film has even less to do with anything than did the Danish cartoons or the schoolteacher’s teddy bear or any of the other innumerable grievances of Islam. The 400-strong assault force in Benghazi showed up with RPGs and mortars: That’s not a spontaneous movie protest; that’s an act of war, and better planned and executed than the dying superpower’s response to it.'That was Mark Steyn in The National Review making more sense than the BBC, CNN, MSNBC or any of the other western news media who are way more interested in ensuring Barack Obama is re-elected than that the truth emerges about radical Islam's continuing war on 'the west.'
The difference between Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism & Buddhism on one hand and Islam on the other
'WASHINGTON—Following the publication of the image above, in which the most cherished figures from multiple religious faiths were depicted engaging in a lascivious sex act of considerable depravity, no one was murdered, beaten, or had their lives threatened, sources reported Thursday. The image of the Hebrew prophet Moses high-fiving Jesus Christ as both are having their erect penises vigorously masturbated by Ganesha, all while the Hindu deity anally penetrates Buddha with his fist, reportedly went online at 6:45 p.m. EDT, after which not a single bomb threat was made against the organization responsible, nor did the person who created the cartoon go home fearing for his life in any way. Though some members of the Jewish, Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist faiths were reportedly offended by the image, sources confirmed that upon seeing it, they simply shook their heads, rolled their eyes, and continued on with their day.'What is incredible is that this is true, I have shown The Onion's image to a Christian, a Hindu and myself (a Jew), I had no Buddhists to hand, and all were not happy with the concept but vaguely amused at the execution of the drawing. That would seem to be the difference between followers of these religions: the majority of Christians, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists (as well as Sikhs, Jains, Shinto etc. ) have a sense of proportion and can exercise self-restraint, too many Muslims don't and can't - or maybe are unwilling to do so when by behaving in the way that they do they can gain special privileges.
Oh by the way here's that image, what do you think?
In the meantime if you are not sure what religion to follow, here's a flowchart to help you choose
Friday, 14 September 2012
One of life's great mysteries finally solved for me - NSFW for a Rule 5 Friday Night
Ever since I first watched this film, aged about 12, and every time since (and I think I've watched The Graduate well over a dozen times), I've wondered how she did that with her tassels. Finally I've found the answer... Polestar's Tempest Rose has the answer
Meanwhile I note that Elvira (Mistress of the Dark) has also mastered the technique
There are more experts out there, here's Red Snapper Kittie Klaw And now some performances from other exponents of the art... Peekaboo Heidi Von Hottentot and Liberte' Belle - two (or four) for the price of one An unnamed exponent of the art Gal Friday and Peekaboo Pointe have a showdown Peekaboo Pointe by herself Tina Tassels first performance Now that's all getting a bit tame so Beau Rocks takes it up a notch or two with fire tassels I think that that's enough tassel twirling, I probably won't think of this again - well until I watch The Graduate again!
Headline news when the BBC thought the film-maker was an Israeli, less so now he probably wasn't.
'The exact origin of the movie and the internet clip, and the motivation behind its production, remains a mystery, but it appears not to be linked to an Israeli film-maker as was earlier widely reported, including by the BBC.'The fact that the BBC, amongst other news media, publicised the news that the film-maker was an Israeli Jew and hence inflamed antisemitic sentiment amongst Islamists whose antisemitism is usually at fever-pitch anyway, is apparently excused by the above sentence. Well I don't think it is. At the very least the BBC could make the retraction as obvious as the original story but why bother as it's only Jews that might be attacked or killed as a result of the BBC's initial story and does the BBC really care about them?
The Duchess of Cambridge (Kate Middleton) topless
I must admit that I somewhat more interested in seeing Kate Middleton's breasts than Prince Harry's pubes, well to be honest most breasts are more interesting than male pubes.
So should I publish the photos here? Somehow I don't think so.
Putting the numbers into perspective
More people are killed by
Islamists each year than in all 350 years of the
Spanish Inquisition combined. (source) |
Islamic terrorists murder more people every day than the Ku Klux Klan has in the last 50 years. (source) |
More civilians were killed by Muslim extremists in two hours on September 11th than in the 36 years of sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland. (source) |
19 Muslim hijackers killed more innocents in two hours on September 11th than the number of American criminals executed in the last 65 years. (source) |
What connects these five people?
Christopher Stevens, in Libya, 2012
The answer according to New English Review is as follows:
'Four of the five were killed either at the hands of frenzied Muslim mobs or, as in the case of Ambassador Cleo Noel, by the express order from a Muslim Arab terrorist leader: the man who ordered Noel's murder was Yassir Arafat.
Davies was killed by a sniper during a demonstration outside the embassy by Greek Cypriots. Who that sniper was, and whether he was a Cypriot or possibly an Arab -- Cyprus is a known center for Arab intrigue, including plots against Israelis and Americans -- is not known to the public. If the State Department knows, or strongly suspects, it is not telling. Of course, the American government has still refused to release the record of Arafat's message to Khartoum giving the go-ahead for the killing of Cleo Noel.'