Women and Children of Japan Your Government Hates You: Fukushima

Probably of more interest to those immediately effected by the levels of Radiation in Fukushima Prefecture and the lies and disregard, if not contempt, that the Government of Japan holds for the women and children in the area surrounding Fukushima, this fist presentation by Fairewinds is twofold.

Within Arnie Gunderson's normally clear and informative videos, lies a second presentation: Fairewinds introduces additional analysis by Ian Goddard showing that the BEIR VII report underestimates the true cancer rates to young children living near Fukushima Daiichi.

By all means, please don't let me put you off watching the thing, it contains lots of, if not very scary, data. But it is a tad esoteric nonetheless.

The second presentation from Fairewinds (26/12/2011) covers the more generic problems facing TEPCO's problems in Fukushima. Although if you were to listen to TEPCO, things are sorted at the Daiichi plant and there's nowt to worry about. A sentiment parroted by the IAEA, the US, and anyone else with a vested interest in the nuclear industry.

But Gunderson soon dispels, in the first minute or two, that little myth and bit of wishful thinking. Going on to examine other issues surrounding the plant, TEPCO, the IAEA and not least the role of the Japanese Government in the making of some pretty bizarre, if not insane' statements and proposals.

There is thoughtfully however, full transcripts to both videos, that can of course be translated to whichever language, by whatever means.

Cancer Risk To Young Children Near Fukushima Daiichi Underestimated

Cancer Risk To Young Children Near Fukushima Daiichi Underestimated from Fairewinds Energy Education on Vimeo.

Arnie Gundersen: Hi, I'm Arnie Gundersen from Fairewinds.

Today, I would like to introduce a video by Ian Goddard. But before I do that, I want to talk about BEIR. Now that is not the stuff you drink, but it is BEIR and it stands for the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation and it is a report from the National Academy of Sciences. What got me thinking about this were two disturbing news stories out of Japan.

The first story comes from NHK, which is the major Japanese radio-television station. The story reports that in Fukushima Prefecture, very very high levels of cesium have been found in male cedar flowers. The tip of the cedar apparently is loaded with cesium. The data indicates that it is about a quarter of a million disintegrations per second in a kilogram of these cedar flowers. That is pretty serious because, of course, in the spring the flowers will bud and that radioactive cesium will go airborne, again. Now what got my attention though was the Japanese response to that. And here is what NHK said: "The agency reports, "This is not a great health hazard as it is only about 10 times what a person would be exposed to from normal background in Tokyo."" Now there are all sorts of assumptions that go into that calculation, but to my mind when you release a quarter of a million disintegrations per second into the air when the flowers burst, that should get public health attention.

The second story is also from Japan and this one from Japan Times, where radioactive grasshoppers have been detected in Fukushima Prefecture. Now the grasshoppers are contaminated to the tune of 4,000 disintegrations per second in a kilogram of grasshoppers. Now why is this important? The Japanese eat radioactive grasshoppers with their beer. Now the story goes on to say this. "The scientists think it is safe to eat the bugs because they are usually in snack sized portions, crunchy soy-marinated locusts, enjoyed with a cold mug of beer." Now, I think drinking beer is fine, but when the bug you are eating has 4,000 disintegrations per second of cesium, that should be a concern to public health officials. more transcript

TEPCO Believes Mission Accomplished & Regulators Allow Radioactive Dumping in Tokyo Bay

TEPCO Believes Mission Accomplished & Regulators Allow Radioactive Dumping in Tokyo Bay from Fairewinds Energy Education on Vimeo.

Arnie Gundersen: Hi, I'm Arnie Gundersen from Fairewinds.

Well, it is the end of 2011, and I thought I would use this opportunity, not to look back on the disasters at Fukushima, but to look forward into 2012 and try to give you an idea about what may be happening in the next 12 months. The way I see it, there are 3 main areas:

The first is: What is happening on the site?

The second is: the personal exposures to the people in Japan, especially Fukushima Prefecture.

And the third is: Where are they going to put all the radioactive waste?

Well, the first topic is important to talk about today. On Friday, Dec. 16th, the Japanese government declared that Fukushima had achieved what is called a cold shutdown. Specifically, here is what the prime minister said: "A stable condition has been achieved and we can consider the accident itself contained." Now he was not the only one who said similar things. The International Atomic Energy Agency said, "The IAEA welcomes the announcement of the government of Japan, that the unit has achieved cold shutdown." And then interestingly, the next sentence is, "The IAEA receives it's information updates from a variety of official Japanese sources, through the national competent authorities."

And the third thing is the United States State Department. The State Department said, when they heard the announcement, "We in the United States government are very happy to hear the news. We believe the Japanese government has made the right choice toward recovery."

Well, to me this announcement sounds a little bit like George Bush on the deck of the aircraft carrier declaring that the mission has been accomplished. In fact, we all know how that turned out, and I think Fukushima is going down a very similar road. This is a long battle and it is far from being over. more transcript

ACLU sues Obama Administration Over Assassination Secrecy

I will put this here with only one of links that can be found in the original. Should you consider following it, you will know why I chose this particular link. Department of Justice indeed!

United States of America; rogue nation.

ACLU sues Obama administration over assassination secrecy
By Glenn Greenwald
Feb 2, 2012

The ACLU yesterday filed a lawsuit against various agencies of the Obama administration — the Justice and Defense Departments and the CIA — over their refusal to disclose any information about the assassination of American citizens. In October, the ACLU filed a FOIA request demanding disclosure of the most basic information about the CIA’s killing of 3 American citizens in Yemen: Anwar Awlaki and Samir Khan, killed by missiles fired by a U.S. drone in September, and Awlaki’s 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman, killed by another drone attack two weeks later.

The ACLU’s FOIA request sought merely to learn the legal and factual basis for these killings — meaning: tell us what legal theories you’ve adopted to secretly target U.S. citizens for execution, and what factual basis did you have to launch these specific strikes? The DOJ and CIA responded not only by refusing to provide any of this information, but refused even to confirm if any of the requested documents exist; in other words, as the ACLU put it yesterday, “these agencies are saying the targeted killing program is so secret that they can’t even acknowledge that it exists.” That refusal is what prompted yesterday’s lawsuit (in December, the New York Times also sued the Obama administration after it failed to produce DOJ legal memoranda “justifying” the assassination program in response to a FOIA request from reporters Charlie Savage and Scott Shane, but the ACLU’s lawsuit seeks disclosure of both the legal and factual bases for these executions).

From a certain perspective, there’s really only one point worth making about all of this: if you think about it, it is warped beyond belief that the ACLU has to sue the U.S. Government in order to force it to disclose its claimed legal and factual bases for assassinating U.S. citizens without charges, trial or due process of any kind. It’s extraordinary enough that the Obama administration is secretly targeting citizens for execution-by-CIA; that they refuse even to account for what they are doing — even to the point of refusing to disclose their legal reasoning as to why they think the President possesses this power — is just mind-boggling. Truly: what more tyrannical power is there than for a government to target its own citizens for death — in total secrecy and with no checks — and then insist on the right to do so without even having to explain its legal and factual rationale for what it is doing? Could you even imagine what the U.S. Government and its media supporters would be saying about any other non-client-state country that asserted and exercised this power?

But there’s one abuse that deserves special attention here: namely, the way in which the Obama administration manipulates and exploits its secrecy powers. Here is what the DOJ said to the ACLU about why it will not merely withhold all records, but will refuse even to confirm or deny whether any such records exist: More Salon.com

France Regards Scientology as a Cult, Not a Religion: Court to Rule on Appeal

I think the fist time I ever heard of Anonymous, it was over their attacks on Scientology.

Founded in 1954 by US science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, the Church of Scientology is recognised as a religion in the United States.

Need one say more?

French court to rule on Scientology fraud appeal
By Agence France-Presse
Thursday, February 2

A Paris court is to rule Thursday in an appeal against a fine of hundreds of thousands of euros imposed on the Church of Scientology after it was found guilty of fleecing vulnerable followers.

A 2009 fraud conviction saw Scientology’s Celebrity Centre and its bookshop in Paris, the two branches of its French operations, ordered to pay 600,000 euros ($790,000) in fines for preying financially on several followers in the 1990s.

The original ruling, while stopping short of banning the group from operating in France, dealt a blow to the movement best known for its Hollywood followers such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta.

Alain Rosenberg, the French leader of the movement, was handed a two-year suspended jail sentence and fined 30,000 euros on the same charge of fraud.

Five more Scientologists were given fines ranging from 1,000 to 20,000 euros for fraud or the illegal practice of pharmacy after plaintiffs said they were given vitamins and concoctions to improve their mental state.

On appeal, the prosecutor has sought a fine of not less than 1.5 million euros for the Celebrity Centre and the SEL bookshop, more than double the original penalty, and suspended prison sentences for most of the accused.

France regards Scientology as a cult, not a religion, and has prosecuted individual Scientologists before, but the original trial marked the first time the organisation as a whole had been convicted.

Church of Scientology lawyers in November raised five constitutional questions in a bid to get the trial annulled, but they were rejected, prompting the defendants and their lawyers to walk out.

The Celebrity Centre said in a statement on Tuesday that it had boycotted the trial because of “numerous violations of defence rights” and “doubts about the independence of the justice system felt throughout the trial, after the heavy interference of the executive in the judiciary.”

Prosecutor Hughes Woirhaye said the Scientologists were adopting an “evasive strategy” and making “a deliberate choice of systematic denial”.

Court hearings were curtailed because of the absence of the accused, while the four former followers who brought the case also withdrew from the trial.

The sole remaining witness was Catherine Picard, who heads Unadfi, an organisation that campaigns against sects and is a plaintiff in the case.

Picard testified to the “heavy debts, broken family ties” and the “state of subjection” that could result from the “sect-like methods” used by Scientology to “indoctrinate vulnerable people”.

The original case followed a complaint by two women, one of whom said she was manipulated into handing over 20,000 euros in 1998 for Scientology products including an “electrometer” to measure mental energy.

A second claimed she was forced by her Scientologist employer to undergo testing and enrol in courses, also in 1998. When she refused she was fired.

Founded in 1954 by US science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, the Church of Scientology is recognised as a religion in the United States. It claims a worldwide membership of 12 million and 45,000 followers in France. Raw Story

Hey Priest Shutupayourface!

How Hollywoodesque.

Severed pig's head dumped on doorstep of crime fighting Italian priest after he condemned Mafia
By Nick Pisa
30th January 2012

Mobsters have dumped the severed head of a pig on the doorstep of a brave crime fighting priest, it emerged yesterday.

Father Ennio Stamile made the grim discovery as he left his house for morning Mass and it was the second time he had been targeted after his car was vandalised last week.

Detectives are convinced he is being singled out after he started to regularly condemn the criminal activities of the local mafia known as the 'Ndrangheta during his weekly parish sermons.

The bloodied animal head was found with a piece of cloth stuffed in its mouth outside Father Stamile's home in Cetraro near Cosenza in southern Italy and it is the mob's trademark way of intimidation and convincing people to stop talking.

Cetaro has been the scene of several mob murders over the last few years and it is also a stronghold for the local 'Ndrangheta, who although less well known than their Sicilian counterparts they are a far more lucrative operation controlling much of the importation of cocaine from South America. More The Wail

Glacier Thief Arrested in Chile

Not a story that you read every day.

Glacier thief arrested in Chile

Police hold man on suspicion of stealing five tonnes of ice from a glacier in Patagonia to sell as designer ice cubes for cocktails
Rory Carroll
1 February 2012

Climate change sceptics have acquired a new explanation for why glaciers are retreating: it's not global warming, it's theft.

Police in Chile have arrested a man on suspicion of stealing five tonnes of ice from the Jorge Montt glacier in the Patagonia region to sell as designer ice cubes in bars and restaurants.

Local media reported that last Friday police intercepted a refrigerated truck with an estimated £3,900 worth of illicit ice allegedly bound for whiskies, rums and cocktails in the capital Santiago.

Authorities have accused the driver of theft and are considering adding violation of national monuments to the charge sheet.

Scientists say Jorge Montt, part of the Bernardo O'Higgins national park, is retreating by half a mile a year, making it one of the world's fastest shrinking glaciers.

Environmentalists have cited it as evidence that man-made climate change is warming the planet. Sceptics have cited other explanations for retreating glaciers, but theft – until now – was not one of them. It may be the only case in which both sides agree human activity was to blame. Gruniad

“Anonymous” Reveals Close Ties Between Ron Paul And Neo-Nazis

“Anonymous” Reveals Close Ties Between Ron Paul And Neo-Nazis
by Casey Gane-McCalla
February 1, 2012

The group of hackers known as “Anonymous” has shut down several neo-Nazi websites owned by Jamie Kelso, a former John Birch Society member, assistant to David Duke and moderator for the white supremacist website, Stormfront.

“Anonymous” claims to have recovered emails from Kelso that prove that Ron Paul has regularly met with members of Jamie Kelso’s neo-Nazi political party American Third Position and even was on several conference calls with their board of directors. Here is a statement from “Anonymous” from one of the neo-Nazi websites they shut down.

In addition to finding the usual racist rants and interactions with other white

power groups, we also found a disturbingly high amount of members who are also

involved in campaigning for Ron Paul. According to these messages, Ron Paul has

regularly met with many A3P members, even engaging in conference calls with

their board of directors. Ron Paul’s racist politics and

affiliations are already well known, being viciously anti-immigrant,

anti-abortion and against gay marriage — not to mention having authored the

racist “Ron Paul Papers” and receiving financial support from other white power

groups (pictured with Don Black from stormfront.org). Hard to believe Ron Paul

draws some support from the left and the occupation movements, especially now

that it is confirmed Ron Paul hangs out with straight up racist hate groups.

We put extra effort in ruining the life of A3P webmaster Jamie Kelso. On top of

being on the board of directors of A3P, former $cientologist, and high ranking

Ron Paul organizer, he also is the account owner of german nazi forums and store

nsl-forum.org, rhs-versand.com.

Jamie Kelso, a notorious white supremacist has bragged about being a Ron Paul organizer and has several pictures from Ron Paul events posted on his website “White News Now” More and photo's

John Pilger: In The Assange Case We Are All Suspects Now

Again no prisoners for Pilger, especially Australian ones, but not forgetting that special place in his heart that Pilger reserves for the Guardian.

In The Assange Case We Are All Suspects Now

Washington's enemy is not "terrorism" but the principle of free speech and voices of conscience within its militarist state.
By John Pilger
February 01, 2012

This month's Supreme Court hearing in the Julian Assange case has profound meaning for the preservation of basic freedoms in western democracies.

This is Assange's final appeal against his extradition to Sweden to face allegations of sexual misconduct that were originally dismissed by the chief prosecutor in Stockholm and constitute no crime in Britain.

The consequences, if he loses, lie not in Sweden but in the shadows cast by America's descent into totalitarianism. In Sweden, he is at risk of being "temporarily surrendered" to the US, where his life has been threatened and he is accused of "aiding the enemy" with Bradley Manning, the young soldier accused of leaking evidence of US war crimes to WikiLeaks.

The connections between Manning and Assange have been concocted by a secret grand jury in Virginia that allowed no defence counsel or witnesses, and by a system of plea-bargaining that ensures a 90 per cent conviction rate. It is reminiscent of a Soviet show trial.

Moral choice

The Obama administration's determination to crush Assange is revealed in secret Australian government documents, released under Freedom of Information, which describe Washington's pursuit of WikiLeaks as "unprecedented". It is unprecedented because it subverts the First Amendment of the US constitution, which protects truth-tellers such as WikiLeaks.

In 2008 Barack Obama said, "Government whistleblowers are part of a healthy democracy and must be protected from reprisal." Obama has since prosecuted twice as many whistleblowers as all previous US presidents.

With US courts demanding to see the worldwide accounts of Twitter, Google and Yahoo, the threat to Assange, an Australian, extends to any internet user anywhere. Washington's enemy is not "terrorism" but the principle of free speech and voices of conscience within its militarist state and those journalists brave enough to tell their stories.

“How do you prosecute Julian Assange and not the New York Times?" a former administration official told Reuters.

The threat is well understood by the New York Times, which in 2010 published a selection of the WikiLeaks cables. The editor at the time, Bill Keller, boasted that he had sent the cables to the state department for vetting. His obeisance extended to his denial that WikiLeaks was a "partner" - which it was - and to personal attacks on Assange.

The message to all journalists was clear: do your job as it should be done and you are traitors; do your job as we say you should and you are journalists.

Much of the media's depiction of Bradley Manning illuminates this. The world's pre-eminent prisoner of conscience, Manning remained true to the Nuremberg principle that every soldier has the right to a "moral choice".

But according to the New York Times, he is weird or mad, a "geek". In an "exclusive investigation", the Guardian reported him as an "unstable" gay man who got "out of control" and who "wet himself" when he was "picked on".

Such psycho-hearsay serves to suppress the truth of the outrage Manning felt at the wanton killing in Iraq, his moral heroism and the criminal complicity of his military superiors. "I prefer a painful truth over any blissful fantasy," he reportedly said.

The treatment handed out to Assange is well documented, though not the duplicitous and cowardly behaviour of his own government. Australia remains a colony in all but name. Australian intelligence agencies are branches of the main office in Washington. The Australian military has played a regular role as US mercenary.

When Prime Minister Gough Whitlam tried to change this in 1975 and secure Australia's partial independence, he was dismissed by a governor general using archaic "reserve powers" who was revealed to have intelligence connections.

Don't explain

WikiLeaks has given Australians a rare glimpse of how their country is run. In 2010, leaked US cables disclosed that top government figures in the Labor Party coup that brought Julia Gillard to power were "protected" sources of the US embassy: what the CIA calls "assets". Kevin Rudd, the prime minister Gillard ousted, apparently had displeased Washington by being disobedient, even suggesting that Australian troops withdraw from Afghanistan.

In the wake of her portentous rise to power, Gillard attacked WikiLeaks's actions as "illegal" and her attorney general threatened to withdraw Assange's passport. Yet the Australian Federal Police reported that Assange and Wiki­Leaks had broken no law.

Freedom of Information files have since shown that Australian diplomats have colluded with the US in its pursuit of Assange. This is not unusual. The government of John Howard ignored the rule of law and conspired with the US to keep David Hicks, an Australian citizen, in Guantanamo Bay, where he was tortured.

Australia's principal intelligence organisation, Asio, is allowed to imprison refugees indefinitely without explanation, prosecution or appeal.

Every Australian citizen in grave difficulty overseas is said to have the right to diplomatic support. The denial of this to Assange, bar the perfunctory, is an unreported scandal.

Last September his London lawyer, Gareth Peirce, wrote to the Australian government warning that Assange's "personal safety and security has become at risk in circumstances that have become highly politically charged". Only when the Melbourne Age reported that she had received no response did a dissembling official letter turn up.

In November, Peirce and I briefed the Australian consul general in London, Ken Pascoe. One of Britain's most experienced human rights lawyers, Peirce told him she feared a unique miscarriage of justice if Assange was extradited and his government remained silent. The silence remains. johnpilger.com

Mulcaire Ordered To Spill The Beans

Mulcaire is told to reveal who commissioned phone hacking
Tom Harper
1 Feb 2012

News International suffered a fresh blow today when senior judges ordered its former private investigator to reveal who commissioned him to hack phones.

Glenn Mulcaire lost an appeal against a court order that found he cannot rely on privilege against self-incrimination over his illegal interception of voicemail messages at the News of the World.

The private detective, who hacked the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler for the defunct Sunday tabloid, lost his legal battle against a claim brought by comedian Steve Coogan and Nicola Phillips, a former assistant to publicist Max Clifford.

The Appeal Court ruling was issued by the country's highest-ranking judges Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge, Master of the Rolls Lord Neuberger and the vice-president of the Court of Appeal, Lord Justice Maurice Kay. Mulcaire was granted leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Sources close to the case said the decision could trigger an "avalanche" of fresh claims against the Murdoch media empire as Mulcaire now has to reveal the identities of journalists who asked him to hack phones.

Together with ex-NoW royal editor Clive Goodman, the private investigator was jailed in 2007 after pleading guilty to hacking the phones of aides to Prince William.

Mark Lewis, Ms Phillips's solicitor, said his client "hopes that she will soon get the answers that she wants as to who from the News of the World instructed Glenn Mulcaire". thisislondon

Assange Appeals 'Invalid' Warrant at Supreme Court

Assange appeals 'invalid' warrant at Supreme Court

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is appealing his extradition to Sweden at the Supreme Court, arguing the arrest warrant is "invalid and unenforceable".
1 February 2012

His lawyers say the Swedish prosecutor who issued the European Arrest Warrant against him did not have the authority to do so as she was not impartial.

Mr Assange is wanted by the Swedish authorities for questioning over alleged sex offences, which he denies.

Judgement is expected to be reserved to a later date.

The 40-year-old Australian, who remains on conditional bail in the UK, claims the allegations against him are politically motivated.

He is accused of raping one woman and "sexually molesting and coercing" another in Stockholm in August 2010.

Mr Assange's Wikileaks website published a mass of material from leaked diplomatic cables embarrassing several governments.

The key legal question for the seven judges is whether the prosecutor who issued the arrest warrant had the judicial authority to do so under provisions of the 2003 Extradition Act.
Invalid

Mr Assange's lawyer, Dinah Rose QC, said it was "a matter of fundamental legal principle" that the person issuing such a warrant was both independent and impartial.

But she said the Swedish prosecutor was a party in the Assange case and therefore was not either of these things.

Ms Rose submitted: "Since the Swedish prosecutor cannot fulfil those conditions, she is not a judicial authority and not capable of issuing a warrant for the purposes of he 2003 Act."

The arrest warrant itself was therefore invalid, she said.

In the UK, judges can issue arrest warrants, and courts honour warrants issued by "judicial authorities".

Lawyers for Sweden argue that in Sweden, prosecutors play a judicial or semi-judicial role.

But Ms Rose said a prosecutor "does not, and indeed cannot as a matter of principle, exercise judicial authority.''

The High Court, which previously approved his extradition, had recognised that the status of the public prosecutor was debatable.

But Ms Rose said it had "nonetheless concluded that the Swedish prosecutor was a 'judicial' authority within the meaning of Part 1 of the 2003 Act" and was "wrong to reach that conclusion".

Draconian instrument

Ms Rose said Swedish prosecutors could investigate without Mr Assange being extradited using telephone, by video-link or in person at an embassy.

She said: "The EAW is a draconian instrument which affects individual liberty, freedom of movement and private life: it should only be resorted to if other, less invasive, measures for achieving the general interest have failed or are unavailable."

Supporters gathered outside the Supreme Court to greet Mr Assange as he arrived for the hearing.

In December, two High Court judges, Sir John Thomas and Mr Justice Ouseley, decided that Mr Assange had raised a question on extradition law "of general public importance" and allowed him to ask the Supreme Court for a final UK ruling.

Later that month, a Supreme Court spokesman said its justices had agreed to hear the case "given the great public importance of the issue raised, which is whether a prosecutor is a judicial authority". BBC

I Think We Need To Cut Europe's Power

If the blog wasn't already half full of it, I would start a new tag: Shit You Couldn't Make Up!

Europe to cut power of vacuum cleaners to save energy

The cleanliness of Britain's homes is being threatened by European bureaucrats who want to reduce the power of vacuum cleaners in a bid to cut energy use.


First it was traditional light bulbs, then it was plasma televisions. Now European bureaucrats are targeting the nation's vacuum cleaners as part of plans to cut energy use in the home.

Officials at the European Commission are proposing to restrict the power of domestic vacuum cleaners in a move which experts fear could reduce their effectiveness in sucking up dust and dirt.

Manufacturers say it could also reduce cleaners' ability to remove fine particles from the air they pump back into the atmosphere, potentially leading to nasty side-effects for allergy and asthma sufferers.

The EU experts propose restricting the power of vacuum cleaners to levels last seen in the 1960s.

Britain's current best selling upright bagged vacuum cleaner, the Hoover Pure Power, has a power rating of 2.1 kilowatts (kW) – about the same as a typical kettle. A rival, the Vax Power 2 Pet has a power input of 2.2kW. More Telegraph

I Have Nothing To Say

Having waded through a couple of hundred news items from the past week, I can honestly say that there wasn't one item that I wanted to blog. One of us is getting jaded, me or the world, I'm not sure which? I did try watching the Julian Assange proceedings for awhile, but it was all legaleese,

So for something a little different, a picture gallery of just some of the the stuff that, as a blogger who likes to decorate his posts, I save as a matter of course when I happen on them.

In the main, uploaded alphabetically and named correctly. The only exception being this latest offering from Martin Rowson on the stripping of Goodman's knighthood. I do have to say, I have become a recent fan of Rowson, if for nothing else than his brilliant lampooning of Cameron. Or should I say Camerface?








The four images below, I captured from the other bit of Wikileaks Collateral Murder. For me personally, I found this particular part of the film even more unacceptable than the multi-murder sequence that got the most coverage. Watch the man approaching from the left, and if you have watched the whole of the film, you will know as I, that there was no hurry for the death from above jockey to unleash his deadly load.












No border for the Hubble Deep Field photo, (the dawning of the universe) it's a 1280 wallpaper.

Be Careful What You Tweet The Yanks Are Listening and The Yanks Are Paranoid

And the Yanks are ever so slightly batshit and ever so pissed with power.

Oh, and did I mention, lacking a tad in the sense of humour department?

Whatever happened to:

''Are you now, or have you ever been a member of, or in any way connected or associated with the Communist Party?''

"Do you intend to engage in the United States in any activity to overthrow the United States government?"

All joking apart kiddywinks, this is scary shit.

Brit pair deported from US for 'destroy America' tweet

Also intended to disinter Marilyn Monroe, Homeland Security claims
By Lester Haines
30th January 2012

A couple of Brits were unceremoniously ejected from the US last week after one of them ill-advisedly tweeted he was off to "destroy America".

Leigh Van Bryan, 26, and pal Emily Bunting, 24, jetted into Los Angeles last Monday ahead of what they hoped would be a lively Stateside holiday. Their shorter-than-expected trip certainly delivered, although the pair weren't expecting to be arrested, internally probed and thrown in a cell for 12 hours with hungry Mexican narcos.

The Department of Homeland Security had already earmarked Van Bryan and Bunting for a warm welcome before they even touched down at LAX. The agency had picked up on a couple of Van Bryan's tweets, which suggested they intended to wipe out the US and disinter Marilyn Monroe.

The first, posted on 3 January, said: "3 weeks today, we're totally in LA pissing people off on Hollywood Blvd and diggin' Marilyn Monroe up!"

The second, written on 16 January, declared: "Free this week, for quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America."

Van Bryan and Bunting had their collars felt after clearing passport control. They were first quizzed for five hours, during which they failed to convince the authorities of the innocent nature of the tweets.

According to the Daily Mail, Bunting said: "The officials told us we were not allowed in to the country because of Leigh's tweet. They wanted to know what we were going to do. They asked why we wanted to destroy America and we tried to explain it meant to get trashed and party.

"I almost burst out laughing when they asked me if I was going to be Leigh's lookout while he dug up Marilyn Monroe. I couldn't believe it because it was a quote from the comedy Family Guy which is an American show."

She added: "It got even more ridiculous because the officials searched our suitcases and said they were looking for spades and shovels. They did a full body search on me too."


Van Bryan described the ordeal as "almost funny" but "really scary". He said: "The Homeland Security agents were treating me like some kind of terrorist. I kept saying to them they had got the wrong meaning from my tweet but they just told me 'you've really fucked up with that tweet boy'."

The two then spent the night in jail, where the Mexican drug cartels put Van Bryan on involuntary hunger strike. He explained: "When we arrived at the prison I was shoved in a cell on my own but after an hour two huge Mexican men covered in tattoos came in and started asking me who I was.

"They told me they'd been arrested for taking cocaine over the border. When the food arrived on the tray they took it all and just left me with a carton of apple juice."

Van Bryan and Bunting were deported back to the UK the next day. Van Bryan's rap sheet, explaining why he was refused entry, says: "Mr Bryan confirmed that he had posted on his Tweeter [sic] website account that he was coming to the United States to dig up the grave of Marilyn Monroe. Also on his tweeter account Mr Bryan posted that he was coming to destroy America." Register

Some of the stranger parts of US immigration discussed here.

How's the tourist trade these days?

Gingrich: I'd Be Quite Happy Nuking Every Fucker In Sight But I'll Ban Stem-Cell Research

Is there a competition going on that I don't know about, one where the wannabees see who can sound the most ridiculous?

Talk about Talibangenical! Fuck me! these people are utterly insane.

Gingrich vows to ban embryonic stem-cell research, questions in vitro practices

By Karen Tumulty
January 29, 2012

LUTZ, Fla. — As former House speaker Newt Gingrich courts evangelical voters in advance of Tuesday’s Florida primary, he is drawing an increasingly hard line against the use of embryonic stem-cell research — a position that contrasts not only with that of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, but also with statements that Gingrich himself has made on the subject in the past.

Speaking at a Baptist church in Winter Park on Saturday, the former speaker received a standing ovation when he declared that embryonic stem-cell research amounts to “the use of science to desensitize society over the killing of babies.”

And in a news conference Sunday, he said he would ban all embryonic stem-cell research, including that done on discarded embryos created by in vitro fertilization.

Gingrich added that he would also create a commission to study the ethics of in vitro fertilization, which has involved the creation of hundreds of thousands of excess embryos stored or discarded by fertility clinics.

“I believe life begins at conception, and the question I was raising was what happens to embryos in fertility clinics, and I would favor a commission to look seriously at the ethics of how we manage fertility clinics,” Gingrich said at a news conference outside another Baptist church here. “If you have in vitro fertilization, you are creating life; therefore, we should look seriously at what the rules should be for clinics that are doing that, because they are creating life.”

Scientists say embryonic stem cells are valuable in research because they can develop into any type of cell in the body. They are thought to hold the promise to treat or cure a variety of illnesses and injuries. However, social conservatives oppose the practice, because it destroys days-old human embryos.

In 2001, when then-President George W. Bush was considering new guidelines for federal funding of stem-cell research, Gingrich had indicated in at least two interviews on Fox News that he would support using government money for research on embryos in fertility clinics that would otherwise be discarded.

“For many of us, there’s a very, very real distinction between doing something with an unborn child, a fetus that is implanted, and doing something with cells in a fertility clinic that are otherwise going to be destroyed,” Gingrich said in one of the interviews, on July 10, 2001.

In the other, 10 days later, he added: “I think that there are ways to have appreciation for life, to recognize the sanctity of life, but nonetheless to look at fertility clinics where there are cells that are sitting there that are not going to be used to create life. They literally today, they’re unregulated, they can be thrown away. And I think the president, I hope the president, will find a way to agree that there ought to be federally funded research.”

Bush allowed federal funds to be spent only on 21 stem-cell lines that existed before his August 2001 decision. President Obama lifted that restriction in 2009. washingtonpost.com

Julian Assange to Guest on 'The Simpsons'

Something gentle to end the day.

WikiLeaks' Julian Assange to guest on 'The Simpsons'
by Dan Snierson

Here’s some news that we couldn’t wait to leak: Julian Assange will play himself in the 500th episode of The Simpsons! EW has learned exclusively that the WikiLeaks founder/editor-in-chief recorded a guest spot over the summer that is part of the animated Fox comedy’s landmark episode airing Feb. 19.

So, how did this casting curveball come about? Simpsons exec producer Al Jean says that series creator Matt Groening heard a rumor that the polarizing and elusive activist who runs the whistle-blowing website was interested in guest-starring on the series, “so we asked our casting director Bonnie Pietila — who had been able to unearth Thomas Pynchon and got Tony Blair to do the show — to find Mr. Assange. And she did.” Assange recorded his lines at a location unknown to Simpsons producers — he was and is still under house arrest in Britain — as Jean directed him remotely from Los Angeles. (“I was just given a number to call,” sums up Jean.)



In the milestone episode, Homer and Marge discover that the residents of Springfield are holding a secret town meeting to kick them out of Springfield for all of their shenanigans over the years. As a result, “the Simpsons go off the grid to this very rugged place where they meet [Assange], who’s sort of their new Flanders,” explains Jean. And how exactly is he like pious neighbor Ned? “Well, he lives next door,” quips Jean. “The similarities end there… He invites them over for a home movie and it’s an Afghan wedding being bombed.”

Assange, who will unveil a talk show on Russia’s English language channel RT in March, is slated to appear before Britain’s Supreme Court on Wednesday to appeal extradition to Sweden in connection with sex crimes allegations. “He’s a controversial figure, and there’s a good reason he’s controversial,” says Jean. “There was discussion internally whether or not to have him on the show, but ultimately we went ahead and did it.” Jean points out that “there’s nothing we did that has anything to do with the legal situation that he’s in…We wanted to make sure it was satirical, and he was willing to do that.”

Get more EW: Subscribe to the magazine for only 33¢ an issue!

Assange isn’t the only guest in the 500th episode. Hints Jean: “There are a couple of other cameos that are more familiar to fans of the show. And much less controversial.”

Season 23 of The Simpsons also features guest spots by celebrities including Kiefer Sutherland, Michael Cera, Jane Lynch, Andy Garcia, and Jeremy Irons. insidetv

Clarence Mitchell Is a Twunt

Yes, that Clarence Mitchell, the same one that Carnival Cruise Lines, in their infinite wisdom, have brought in to spin the sinking of the Costa Concordia.



The title of this post was actually meant to be, Clarence Mitchell is a Twat, but I couldn't ignore the first thing that came up under those search terms. Hence the hybrid header.

Clarence Mitchell

Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCanns, has become a Tory spin-doctor cunt.

He's gone from being paid to defend a couple of rich, devious,

spending-other-people's-money, uncaring, two-faced,

unemployable cunts who are going to disappoint millions

when they are exposed as frauds and liars...to.... ....is a cunt

~ ~ ~

Nevertheless, a search for Clarence Mitchell is a Twat does bring up rather a lot of stuff, some of it quite familiar, extremely so in fact, but for purposes of this post, which is to remind Clarence Mitchell, that there is, and always will be, a price to pay for his previous high crimes and misdemeanors. But, as I started to say, for purposes of this post I shall ignore the more familiar stuff and look to third parties for a more eclectic mix than I could ever provide.




Still on the first page of search results, this looked as though it might hold some interest.



And lo and behold, what did it render? a veritable feast of the outpourings of Joe Public. I remind you these are comments found on Youtube, not as you might have thought, on some dedicated forum or other.

The video in question can be found at the bottom of the page. Now as then, then being when it was first aired, I have never watched the performance of this slithering globule of puss, save but a few seconds in order to grab a screen shot.



Some of the comments accompanying the video then.

It's not only Mr Amaral's work- THE WHOLE WORLD THINKS THE PARENTS WERE INVOLVED...

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Its the slick and at times sinister spin machine surrounding the whole Madeleine saga which makes people very uncomfortable and leaves many people having nothing but contempt for the McCann's.

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Clarence ! Who pays your salary cunt ? The fake fund ( which only used 13% to search for Madeleine. Or is it the government ?

So what's the McCanns got on you all ? More debauchery towards little kids ? That is all hushed up when Tony Blair called a media blackout to protect paedo ministers.

Your days are marked in this country. Only a matter of time before the people take the power away from you lot.

Bunch of high level paedos, the lot of you.

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they should have helped the police in the investigation when first the little girl vanished instead they refused to answer 47 questions (?) why? now its too late, all they doing here is trying to clear their names. presence of blood and bodily fluids does not suggest she has been harmed?and shave that fucking toupee off u lying cunt!

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Oh Clarrie you really are a buffoon...

Clazza...just what kind of look were you going for here? So, listen up Claz... You're telling me you got up that morning, showered, washed your hair and then STYLED it to look like THAT. What? On purpose? Holy F^**!

Your hair is hiliarious - even after all this time - I just can't look at it without laughing until my stomach .

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i cannot stand this tory twat and i wish he would fuckin die

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WTF's with that hairdo????

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Why did this man leave a secure well paid government post to take on a role that would have been rendered redundant had Madeline actually been abducted and then recovered just days / weeks later.

A role for which his salary is wholly reliant on donations to the McCanns fund, which, like his job security, is wholly reliant on the continued disappearance of the child.

Shrewd career move?

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Not too long before he starts wearing a toupee, I dare say. Its strange; even from the start of this sorry charade, anyone with a brain would have realised the McCanns were slightly dodgy. It all comes down to connections, of course, and Mr Clarence wanted to be a piece of the action. What he doesn't have - piquantly for a man in Public Relations - is the gift of self-awareness - he looks like a complete twonk.

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How much are you making out the fund you pathetic liar ? Go spin somewhere else, off the planet perhaps. The UK public aint listening no more. Dispicable... and while your at it go get your hair cut the fund will see to your expenses.

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In every answer to the journalist, Clarence Mitchel says "there is no evidence that she (Madeleine) was harmed".

Trying some brainwashing, hun, Clarence!

And the Oscar for the best liar goes to... Clarence Mitchel!!

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Erm. We don't believe you CM - nor your 'clients'. Tell you what though.... get your 'clients' to officially request the case be RE-OPENED (not that review rubbish), get them to take polygraph tests, complete a reconstruction with their other warped friends; get KM to answer those straight-forward 48 questions and maybe we WILL have faith in them. Until then, we find your 'clients' behaviour extremely odd, suspicious and guitly of a terrible crime. And that's before we even consider neglect...

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Watching this Toad makes my skin crawl,

and he's going to work for the Tory party, as there spin Doctor,

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lying cunt should be shot

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Watch out boys and girls. Dont take the piss out of his hair or he will have you on "defamation of barnet" Just when you thought this man couldnt make himself more ridiculous he goes and does this.

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I could only watch the first 20 seconds or so of this tosser doing his bla bla about disrupting the search! What bloody search? The McScams have never searched and neither have their dodgy defectives!

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How can parents be given hope from hearing that a young girl was abducted and held in a shack by a paedophile for all those years? She was raped, had children when she was not much more than a child herself, and that gives the McCanns hope? Even so, Madeleine will not have come to any harm!

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That is why I said it was act of desperation. Why not also bring up the Austrian evil dad as well? The glib way in which Mitchell dragged up the Duggard case shows you how stupid this wanker is.

http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=gFZy2f2yQJA

Clarence Mitchell, Carnival Cruise Lines Spokesman!

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What, thought I, would a similar search render, if one searched, gerry mccann is a cunt not inconsequential as you might appreciate. But unlike the comments for Mitchell, I shall limit those for the repulsive Gerry, and family McCann, to just the one. It being quite sufficient of purpose, putting it somewhat mildly.

Doctoring standards: officially slipping

Doctors have an age-old tradition of moonlighting as murderers, from Crippen through to Shipman. However, they also have a vague reputation for not being thick-as-pigshit fuckwits.

Which brings us to anonymous blogging medic Dr Rant. For those of you who’ve been on Mars for the last six months, god-bothering doctors Kate and Gerry McCann went on holiday in Portugal and murdered their child abandoned their child to be murdered were the cruel victims of Evil Child Abductors and Sinister Foreign Policemen. Unsurprisingly, this has become something of a news story.

Just a couple of things before I go; unless they give excellent English lessons in Poland these days, I don't really think Stanislav is a young plumber from Cracow, or Kracow for that matter. And if you want a little fun, try a Google image search, safe search off of course, Clarence Mitchell is a Twat,


Responses to “Doctoring standards: officially slipping”

stanislav,a young plumber from Cracow says:
September 17, 2007 at 1:49 am

No, it won’t. War on Portugal, that’s the only remedy. And cuntfaced pharmaceuticals salesman, Brother Righteous John McCunt should be put in charge of Interpol. And fuckwit teachercunt fishwife sister Philo mcCunt should be in charge of UNICEF and Kate and Gerry be put in a Cabinet of all the talents by snot-eating McCannite Gay Gordon McBroon. Make Gerry McCunt minister for child welfare and make the Mrs minister for running issues. And anyone who questions John ‘n’ Yoko McCunts’ bizarre, surreal version of events should be damned for a sick weirdo, child-molesting, internet creep in the pay of incompetent and corrupt Portugeezers determined to frame two fine british doctors. One of them a drugged-up scouse headbanger and the other a smarmy Glasgow git in love with his own ghastly voice. Kate and Gerry McCann, what a pair of cunts. There. Everyone should say it out loud. And feel much better. One-two-three, Kate and Gerry McCann are a pair of cunts. Kate and Gerry McCann’s family are all cunts. Kate and Gerry McCann’s friends are all complete and utter fucking cunts. Richard and Judy Wotsit, Alison Pearson, Melanie Phillips, India Knight and the rest of the stupid cocksuckers in the McCann media circus are all cunts. Stupid cunts.

Richard Branson is a complete cunt, too, but everybody knows that, even Branson himself.

Remember stupid readers, should your child “be abducted” first thing is phone Philo McCunt in Ullapool, Scotland, organise a fund for your own expenses, recruit a top-notch PR team, retain a couple of ruinously expensive lawyers and then and only then, notify cops of “abduction.” Oh yes, don’t forget to have a dozen drunks rampage over the crime scene before the cops arrive. This is perfectly normal behaviour after your child is “abducted.” First things first, PR team, expenses fund, lawyers and then the cops. Innocent until proven guilty. Cunts. Pigdogfucker

The relevant bit from the link in the comments.

• Unusual to hear directly from Dirty Des, proprietor of the Star and Express, but we did last week at the Leveson inquiry. A short contribution. There one minute, gone the next. As was this helpful, erratically crafted, reader posting that appeared immediately afterwards on the great man's website. "I agree the news papers heve been scapegoated. No one knows what happened to that poor wee girl Madelaine. Untill what has happened to her has been established then no one can be rulled in or out of the enquiry. Unless their is absolutley compelling and unrefutable evidence that the parents were not involved then they should remain as suspects." They should "consider themselves lucky that they have not been charged with child neglect". Another case of system failure at the "world's greatest newspaper", and although the rant was deleted the following day, he'll want to get his story straight. He's already had to pay the McCann's £500,000 in damages.

• They could turn again to Clarence Mitchell, the former BBC reporter who represented them at the outset. He's now managing director of PR giants Burson-Marsteller UK but before that he gave a talk on it all: "Missing Madeleine McCann: The perfect PR campaign". But that was then; right now he's busy. Costa Crociere, the cruise ship operator whose fortunes, and vessel, hit the rocks in Italy needs PR help. Someone has to do it. Might as well be him.

A Russian Eye View of the Netherlands: Islamists Dying for Power in Holland

Come back Geert, all is forgiven.

Islamists Dying for Power in Holland
30.01.2012

For the first time in the history of Europe, Islamic organization can participate in the elections. Party For Muslim Netherlands wants to get into parliament in 2015. The Netherlands could become the first country on the continent where the Islamists will participate in the legislature. The far-right sentiment is increasing in the country as well.

The party program leaves no doubt about its nature. Let's start with the fact that only Muslims can be members of the organization. Its aims are to fight against abortion, homosexuality, abuse of religion and religious texts and all kinds of discrimination. It proposed to prohibit all kinds of drugs, including recreational. The main authority in the Netherlands should be the Shura (Islamic council).

There are also no doubts with regard to foreign policy. Activists of the Party for Muslim Netherlands insist on the cessation of support for Israel, withdrawal of Dutch troops from Afghanistan and Iraq, an early admission of Turkey into the EU. Party members are promoting their ideas through the members of city councils of Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Many Muslims live in the major cities of Holland, so Party for Muslim Netherlands has enough voters.
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Some of the demands of the organization are shared by the conservative Dutch (there are still some of those). Many residents of the country do not like the open sale of marijuana, gay marriage, and "red light" neighborhoods - in short, everything that made modern Netherlands famous. However, the topic of discrimination and harassment of religious texts is quite slippery. The indigenous people are unlikely to be thrilled with the idea of life under Sharia law under the authority of the Shura.

What are the chances that the Islamists will get into the parliament? The threshold for getting into the States General of the Netherlands is five percent. The number of adherents of Islam is approximately one million people (out of 16), or over six percent. It is not a given that all followers of Islam will vote for the Party For Muslim Netherlands. But even participation in the election of such an organization is a significant event. Never before has Islamist party "stormed" the parliament of a European country. And then, everything is possible: the birth rate in Muslim families is high. The time may soon come when the Islamists break through to the power. More Pravda

Ahmadinejad: Just Another End Times Religious Nutter?

Should the West be worried about Ahmadinejad's preoccupation with the Twelfth Imam? Is it any different to the crazies of the religious right in the US, and their preoccupation that Israel must be in place in order to facilitate the second coming of Christ?

Or are both sides equally insane, and both to be feared equally?

Listen to Ahmadinejad towards the end of this 2007/2008 clip.

Just another self deluded religious headbanger. Unfortunately, one with a nuclear agenda. And he has, make no mistake about that. His time as President is supposedly up in 2013, is a nuclear weapon meant to be his legacy?

Not that I advocate the immediate bombing of Iran, but then I don't have to; it's on the cards; it's the American way. It's the only way they know.




Is this below the bit he is talking about? Don't see much of an aura, do you?



Iran, with a serious hard on.



Mark McGowan gives us, among others, a little bit on the Iranians and their marching.

America: Can We Have Our Drone Back Please