Suicide In The Trenches

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I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life in empty joy,
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
And whistled early with the lark.

In winter trenches, cowed and glum
With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
He put a bullet through his brain.
No one spoke of him again.

You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you'll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.

Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967)
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A Stocking Filler by Dr Martin Roberts

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By Dr Martin Roberts
20 December 2009

A STOCKING FILLER

And why not? Continuing the on-going theme of 'bloomers' by the McCanns and their various spokespeople, a stocking is merely more appropriate apparel for one's metaphorical foot than the oral variety preferred by the McCanns.

Just a few days ago we heard the not so edifying account of how a couple's foiled attempt at intimidation inside a court of law was transmuted into an act of piety, in the shape of a pilgrimage to Praia da Luz (well it justified the air fare at least). With the McCanns' penchant for comment unabated, the waiting world was treated to gaffes at both ends of their crusading compass.

The Sun newspaper of 12 December recalls the following:

'Gerry said: "There is an innocent child missing here and this is what this is about. It's not about freedom of speech but the search for our daughter."

'Standing by his side at the entrance to Lisbon's Palace of Justice an emotional Kate said: "Freedom of speech should not outweigh the rights of human beings."' (Especially since it is a right of human beings, Kate. Or are you wishing to imply that, like lesser species, the rest of us can do without it?).

Ironically, Kate informs us via the Daily Mirror (also 12 December) that "Freedom of speech should not include distortion of the truth, lies, fabrication and slander," all criteria from which her own speech acts demonstrably suffer. We have the evidence: 'Gerry hardly ever sent a text message until after Madeleine was taken' (But hardly ever sending any in no way accounts for deleting a baker's dozen previously received. Hence distortion of the truth). 'If what happened hadn't happened' it wouldn't have occurred to Kate to mention the crying incident to the PJ (Except she did mention it, three times, at dinner, before it had happened at all. Lies therefore). 'They were watching us, I'm sure.' (Fabrication). And as for Goncalo Amaral, he was simply 'a disgrace' both as a person and a professional wasn't he? (Slander). Yes, Kate McCann is well and truly conversant with behaviours inappropriate to Freedom of Speech. More mccannfiles
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Is Your Blog A Mess After Copy-Pasting?

Removed by me.

Come Back Saddam All Is Forgiven

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Come back old love and bring your dictatorship with you, this democracy is killing us.

A television channel dedicated to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has appeared on Arab satellite networks.

Its launch came on the third anniversary, on the Islamic calendar, of the former president's execution.

It is not clear who is behind the channel which broadcasts the speeches, images and even poetry of Saddam Hussein, backed with patriotic music.

It is broadcast from outside Iraq and some analysts suspect his former political supporters of bankrolling it. more

O/T, but then maybe not, not according to Dubya it ain't, it's a sure sign of a burgeoning democracy said G Dubya as he tried to make light of it.

But having given it a little thought maybe he's right, the journo got a kicking and sentenced to three years in the slammer. I cannot help but wonder then, had the same thing happened at a Whitehouse briefing, that the perp would have got a kicking and thirty years in Levenworth.

I suppose that's the difference between only a burgeoning democracy and one that's truly established, American style that is.

But I didn't up the video in order to give my statement bona fides, I upped it because it's one of the funniest things I've seen in years.

And while we have the popcorn out, here's Letterman, upped primarily for my European visitors.


Staying with dumb pols, here's one who makes Dubya look like Richard Dawkins.

Aspiring President, the one and only Sarah Palin.
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Giant Blobs Appear Off Japan

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Japan's fishing industry is under threat from an unusual predator. Swarms of giant jellyfish have appeared along the Pacific coast after apparently drifting from spawning grounds in Chinese and Korean waters.

The Echizen jellyfish have already cost the industry millions of Yen. 90sec clip

But In Miami, Montoya Is a Rock Star

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A nice article.

Miami's most popular driver not who you think.

Jane Tanner Liar, Gerry McCann Liar, They Are All Liars

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Fact: Jane Tanner became the principal and only witness regarding the sighting of " a stranger carrying a child" who went on to become the corner stone of the McCann's abduction story.




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All emphasis mine, this is a much slimmer and easier to comprehend version of a previous post.



Firstly let me set the scene, this extract from Amaral's book.

Two contradictory lists and a torn children's book

The first investigator who went to the apartment after the alarm was raised was informed of the existence of a plan for checking on the children while the parents dined one hundred metres away.

At the time, Russell O'Brien handed over two lists handwritten on the inside cover of a children's book, a sticker activity book for children more than 3 years of age. We believe the book was Madeleine's and we do not understand why they tore off the cover of the child's book.

A child had just gone missing and all its belongings should be precious to those who loved her. Was there really no other paper around? Not even a simple napkin? The question hangs in the air and the response is yet another contradiction. The lists contained the possible record of the checks in the apartment.

That it was Madeleine's book is not vital to the case but it is a good indicator to what was seemingly transpiring in apartment 5A the alarm was raised.
Not Vital as I say, but worth remembering when I pose a question a little later on.

The next Extract from Russell O'Brien's Rogatory interview does give us two pieces of information, one extremely important piece of information is that it places Gerry McCann in the apartment at the time O'Brien was writing the timeline, at the same table even, and the other: "I thought it was a cereal box" is worth remembering.

But it is the time that is the critical component in all this

In response to a question from Leicester plod.

Reply Russell O'Brien........ at some stage sort of quietened off and the, the PJ sat down with, you know, came in and sat down with Gerry....

(I thought) that we were writing on the back of a piece of card,I thought it was a cereal box but obviously it was a children’s book,

that (it) was written with me sat at the table in Kate and Gerry’s room. Gerry by this point had certainly calmed down but was, his head was just on the table, you know, like that, he was just staring at the, at the table, very, very quiet and very, very low.

Question Leicester plod....

LP. “Was the first attempt, the earlier attempt as you say. When was this drafted up”?

Reply Russell O'Brien
Erm this was drafted er **around the time that the initial pair of Officers from the PJ came to 5A**
I can certainly recall writing some of this, I think perhaps the neat, maybe the neater version erm sat down at the table in Gerry’s flat...

Let us now look at some bits from Jane Tanner's Rogatory statements.

I didn’t want to say to Kate at that point, which might sound odd now, you know, ‘Oh why wouldn’t you say straight away to Kate’, but, you know, the thought of telling the mother of a child that you might have seen being carried away is, it’s too horrible to even say.

The nitty gritty.

4078 (Leic plod) “Sorry, was that on the night that Madeleine had disappeared?”

JT.“That was at three o’clock in the morning after she’d disappeared, yeah”.

LP. "So when you went into Gerry and Kate’s apartment who else was there?”

JT. “Erm, I think there was Russ, I think Russell came with me and there was Sylvie who was the translator.

I can’t remember which, there was some, there was a PJ chap was sitting on the, by the table.And there was Gerry who was standing by the, the bedroom door”.

LP. “And how was Gerry at that point?”

JT.“Oh he was just, well obviously, obviously distraught.
And I think it was quite hard for me to be saying at that, you know, looking in his face and to be explaining what I’d seen, at that point was quite hard because, you know, Gerry was obviously standing there, I don’t know whether, and you sort of think ‘Oh God, here’s me, if I’d tried to stop them this wouldn’t have happened’ sort of thing.So I think I did feel sort of a bit obviously guilty at that stage even though I didn’t know whether it was anything, but obviously you think ‘Oh bloody hell, what if I’ not stopped it happened potentially”.

LP. “And what was Gerry’s reaction to what you said?”

JT. “Well I don’t even know whether he took it in, I mean, he was just, he was, you know, obviously just standing there looking absolutely horrified, so”.

Short ending.

Prior to the PJ arriving at 12:40/12:50 Russell O'Brien has written the timeline for them all, including, "Jane tanner sees stranger walking carrying child." He does this while Gerry McCann sits at the same table.

At three o' clock in the morning Jane Tanner informs Gerry McCann for the first time, about the existence of a possible abductor.

Gerry looks horrified upon hearing this.

Err hello, hello mister English policeman, are you there?

~ ~ ~

Long ending.

Firstly let me dispense with the book.

Having read all that O'Brien has to say I would have difficulty in believing that Monday followed Sunday if such statement came from his lips, but for once and for purposes of this article I shall go with one sentence being the truth.


"I thought it was a cereal box but obviously it was a children’s book."


At first glance it might not seem so terribly important but it does bother me somewhat and makes me ask who handed the torn book to O'Brien, who would feel comfortable enough to tear up a book belonging to a child, someone else's child and a recently "abducted" child to boot?

How likely is it that one of the Tapas Seven would tear up a book belonging to Madeleine? for all their faults I would say they have enough social graces that to do such a thing would be totally alien to them, who then?

Well it can't have been Gerry can it? because according to Jane Tanner she didn't inform McCann until three in the morning that she had in fact seen a possible abductor.

But that begs another question, especially with Gerry being placed in the apartment at the time.

How did O'Brien and Co. conjure up so surreptitiously the timeline, commit it all to paper duly noting Tanner's 9.20pm sighting of the possible abductor without the knowledge of Gerry McCann who was, at the very time the thing was being drafted,was sat with his head resting on the same table.

It's all a mystery to me.




**This is the critical part, what time did the PJ arrive, before or after 3am?**

Vitor Manuel Martins
Occupation : PJ Officer
He is an inspector with the PJ and currently works at the Porto PJ Directorate.
(...)On the night of 3rd May 2007 he was on duty at the Portimão DIC, in the company of Inspector Manuel Queirós, who was acting as head of the station.
When questioned he confirms the integrity of the service information drawn up from the station’s inquiries carried out in the early morning of 04/05/2007, adding that he arrived on the scene about 30 – 40 minutes after the phone call from the GNR, at about 00.40/00.50.

João Franciso Páscoa Luis Trigo Barreiras
Occupation: PJ Deputy Specialist
Place of work: Criminal Investigation Department Portimão
(...)He was brought into service together with an Inspector from the station. It was the inspector’s duty to take notes of the services as well as all the information relating to them. The inspector who accompanied him on that date, Vitor Martins, informed him that the case in question was that of the disappearance of a small girl, of British nationality, who was staying at the OC with her parents.
The immediately left for the scene and arrived about 30 – 40 minutes later, at about 00.40/00.50.

The Lies of Gerry McCann: The Bed Covers

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Witness statement of Gerald Patrick McCann, on the 10th of May 2007, at 3.20 p.m.

Gerry: So, I actually came in and Madeleine was just at the top of the bed here, where I'd left her lying and the covers were folded down and she had her cuddle cat and blanket, were just by her head It’s terrible because, I , erm, had one of those really proud father moments, where I just thought, you know....(I will spare you the rest)

PJ report on Gerry McCann's statement: 3.20pm, 10 May 2007

Also relevant to the bed where his daughter slept is how it was found on the night of the disappearance. States that his daughter slept without the covers, as was normal, due to the heat, with the bed sheets folded towards the foot of the bed.

You might agree with me that I could end the article here and now without the need for another word to be writ, 'twixt photo and statements it's all there, the lies, the deceit and the whodunit, Mummy and Daddy.

But I shall.


Must have been the abductor then, that made the bed I mean, he is some geezer I do have to say. Let us take a look at what he managed to achieve in the ten minutes between McCann leaving the apartment at 9:05 and Tanner's sighting at 9:15.

He has entered the apartment via the only route available, the chimney, because he didn't come through the locked front door and he didn't come through the patio door because McCann and Wilson were conspiring, sorry talking, immediately outside, and he wasn't already in the apartment as Goncalo Amaral has proved in his documentary.

Single handedly, and we must presume in the dark, he has sedated all three children, what other explanation could there possibly be for Madeleine not to cry and the twins to remain comatose for hours on end, and despite all the uproar that was gong on around them at the time?

So once having removed Madeleine from her bed our thoughtful abductor, in the dark, sets to and makes the bed, and a pretty damn good job he made of it if you ask me. I mean with that kind of natural domesticity he wouldn't have a problem getting a position anywhere as a maid or a cleaner.

Having made the bed our geezer has noiselessly opened the shutters, don't forget in the still of the night our good doctor was talking with Jez Wilson, program maker and good mucker of Donal MacIntyre, not but a few meters away, what they were discussing I know not, perhaps our good doctor was relaying his recent proud father moments, or perhaps his recent conversion to Islam as only a little later that evening he would demonstrate.

So having noiselessly raised said shutters, our abductor geezer negotiates, in the darkened room the various obstacles, whilst carrying a silent Madeleine, and then proceeds to climb out of a small window, the ledge of which being some three feet of the ground.

He achievement in all this is quite remarkable, if not surely unique, for our abductor has completed all this without leaving at the crime scene, not one skin cell, not one fibre, not one fingerprint, not one shoe-print, not one scuff mark, nothing, nothing at all, zilch, zero, it's just as though he was never there at all.

~ ~ ~

This is a re-up, I thought it got a little lost previously, amongst my digressions that is, and that would be a bit of a shame.

ETA: This isn't a response to the fairy story in the world's greatest newspaper, the Daily Express, I wrote this prior to them printing their drivel.

It's almost as if their article was in response to mine, if they had perhaps printed the story next week instead of this I might have even believed it.


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Be An Old Queen, Read A Verdade Da Mentira - The Truth About The Lie

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Read along with Betty, Goncalo Amaral's, A Verdade Da Mentira - The Truth About The Lie.

Compare the stories, one written by the chief co-ordinator of the investigation based on the case files, the other by the chief suspects in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and last people to see her alive, the parents, Kate and Gerry McCann.

Available here for the first time in English.



That's the lot folks. Please help to fight censorship and bring justice for Madeleine McCann, spread the word.

Online With Obama: Read A Verdade Da Mentira - The Truth About The Lie

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The book the Parents of Madeleine McCann don't want you to read.

A Verdade Da Mentira - The Truth About The Lie, read it online for the first time in English.

E=mc2. McCanns = Guilty: Read A Verdade Da Mentira, The Truth About The Lie and Reach Your Own Verdict

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Although I don't think you need to be an Einstein to arrive at a rational conclusion.

Available here for the first time in English.

Read With Obama: A verdade Da Mentira- The Truth About The Lie

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Enjoy your First Amendment rights, read the book the McCanns don't want you to read.

A verdade Da Mentira- The Truth Of The Lie available here for the first time in English.

Have A Grand Day Out Read A Verdade Da Mentira: The Truth About The Lie

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And you don't have to go to the moon to read it, although the McCanns are effectively trying to accomplish something similar.

Read the complete publication in English for the first time here.

Mandela Reads The Truth About The Lie

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And so can you, here and in English.

Don't be told what you are allowed to read, not in this day and age.


Bloggers, I shall be spamming all three of my blogs throughout the day with various graphics on the same theme. Perhaps when you see one that appeals, you might like to help spread the word and copy paste one to your blog.
Thanks.

Within The Bounds Of Responsible Parenting: Doing A McCann

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I know nothing of the author "A Miller" but he/she deserves far more than a sweeping flourish of the hat for producing this exceptionally well written and superbly constructed article, it truly is a must read.

Beginning with an overall view of what the McCann parameters are for "Responsible Parenting" the author moves on to deal with more than just a few specifics which leads on to even more questions. The inference of course being.... well I think you can well imagine just exactly what the inference is.



Just a little note of my own on the subject of "Within the bounds of responsible parenting," "we've all done it," and not least the bizarre support that these two toe-rags enjoy, be it from Pleb or Prime Minister.

I cannot help but wonder the level of support that would be afforded the McCanns had for instance our phantom abductor turned out to be a not so phantom murderer and had cut the throats of all three kids?

Still it wouldn't have been the McCanns fault, it never is, always somebody else's.

Those Straw Men, such wicked buggers.

Crying Shame
A Miller

The plight of not, just Madeleine, but all of the children, could not fail to touch even the hardest of hearts. Left alone, to cry in their holiday apartment, no one to comfort, care and protect them, ease their fears when they woke in the night, when they needed reassurance, when they needed to be made feel safe.

The question on the lips of some –‘How could the McCann’s, both doctors have treated children in this way?’

I ask – How could the McCann’s, not as medical professionals, but as parents, treat their own flesh and blood in this way? What makes parents, who say they were so desperate to have children, carry out such a cold and callous act against their own, leaving them in a horrifying situation?

An act, which the doctors McCann, have since defended, claiming it was ‘WITHIN THE BOUNDS OF RESPONSIBLE PARENTING.’

An act, which perhaps more disturbingly, more bizarrely, has been condoned by some members of the public, who in their defence of the McCann’s state that leaving the children for all of these nights in an unlocked apartment was a ‘mistake.’

They said it would not bring Madeleine back, to speak of the ‘mistake’.It should be forgotten!.

Travelling by private jet to Rome............


...........What changed in general that day? Almost everything!
1.The McCann children were not taken to the tennis courts after tea for their usual ‘playtime.’

2. Kate claimed that they were too tired to play on this night.

3. David Payne claimed he was asked by Gerry McCann to check on Kate McCann and the children. Why? So far, I have not heard a feasible explanation for doing so.

4. David Payne claimed he saw all three McCann children sitting dressed in pyjamas looking like little angels.

5. David Payne ........a man of mystery! His wife Fiona in her police statements found great difficulty in pinpointing exactly when he made his visit to Kate McCann. His wife said he was on the tennis courts at 6:30pm? Could not decide whether he visited Kate before or after tennis. If after, what would be the point, by that time it should have been obvious to Gerry that the children were not coming to watch daddy ‘play!’

6. Matt Oldfield takes it upon himself to do an impromptu check at the shuttered window of the bedroom where the McCann children slept...........



........There were a number of “Firsts.”

1. It was the day that Gerry McCann decided he was a lucky man to have such a lovely daughter.

2. It was the day which Kate McCann spoke of as being just lovely sitting reading the children bedtime stories.

3. It was the day that the McCann children were not taken to the tennis courts to have their usual short playtime at the side of the courts while their parents played tennis..........more Joana Morais.

Jack Straw: Porkies!

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Straw admits Lockerbie trade link

Trade and oil played a part in the decision to include the Lockerbie bomber in a prisoner transfer deal, Jack Straw has admitted.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, the UK justice secretary said trade was "a very big part" of the 2007 talks that led to the prisoner deal with Libya.

However, Mr Straw's spokesman accused the press of "outrageous" innuendo.

Scotland's Justice Secretary granted Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi compassionate release because he was terminally ill.

However, Mr Straw's spokesman accused the press of "outrageous" innuendo.

Scotland's Justice Secretary granted Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi compassionate release because he was terminally ill.

£550m oil deal

The 57-year-old was serving life in Greenock prison for the 1988 bombing of PanAm flight 103 over Lockerbie, which killed 270 people.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown insisted there was "no conspiracy, no cover-up, no double dealing, no deal on oil" over his release.

But officials admit the prisoner transfer agreement (PTA) was part of a wider set of negotiations aimed at bringing Libya in from the international cold, and improving British trade prospects with the country.more

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And Gordon has no balls

PM 'did not press Libya over IRA'

Gordon Brown declined to pressure Libya directly to gain compensation for IRA victims, Downing Street has confirmed.

Mr Brown told a victims' lawyer it was not "appropriate" to discuss the claims with Libya, whom he called an essential partner in the fight against terrorism.

The victims say Libya should pay compensation because it supplied the IRA with explosives used in atrocities. more

Popcorn With Palin

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Variations on the expression, "I can see Russia from my house," have become so common that it's hard to imagine it's only been a year since Sarah Palin catapulted onto the national scene when John McCain announced his decision to make her his running mate on August 29, 2008.

Since then, the former Alaska governor has become one of the country's best-known politicians, *consistently named one of the top three choices for Republican presidential candidate in 2012, an object of ridicule to some, and an easy punchline for late-night comics.

Herewith, videos of Palin's most memorable TV moments from the past year:

CBS News' Katie Couric asks, "What newspapers and magazines did you regularly read?":




Palin describes her foreign policy experience to ABC News' Charlie Gibson:



Palin explains her foreign policy comments about Russia to Couric:



Gibson asks Palin whether she agrees with the Bush doctrine:



Palin explains why she was for the "Bridge to Nowhere" before she was against it:




Palin mistakenly says that the vice president is "in charge" of the Senate:



Highlights of Palin-Biden debate



Palin addresses the "controversy" over David Letterman's jokes:



Palin's farewell speech



*Only in America.
h/t Huffpo
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New Rules From My Favourite American

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This ain't exactly hot off the press, I saved it as a draft sometime last week and then forgot all about it.
This week, last week, What's the difference the message is the same.

But first a New Rule of my own: When a person is so fucking dumb, so incredibly stupid, that by comparison that person makes G Dubya Bush look like an Oxford Don, then Republicans must start to live in the real world and tell Sarah Palin to sit down and STFU.

Only in America could a woman so mindblowingly stupid, so mindblowingly dumb, that were she a teacher you wouldn't trust her with your children's education, only in America could such a woman find herself on a Vice Presidential ticket, truly only in America.

The inimitable and irrepressible Bill Maher.

Bill Maher New Rules: The Sorry Party

New Rule: If Mitt Romney, Karl Rove and Sarah Palin all think America has never done anything wrong, we must be doing something wrong. Look at them: an empty suit, an empty heart and an empty head. It looks like the news team on Good Morning Hell. And what they've been competing about lately is who would not apologize the most. America is infallible, and apologies are horrible things that must never, ever be given. Except by me when I make a joke about the Pope. "We're perfect -- deal with it," is their new handshake. But I say, what's wrong with America occasionally saying, "I'm sorry"? Because these are the three sorriest white people I've ever seen.

If in your eyes America can do no wrong, you should really look into Lasik surgery. There's the rational, mature assessment of our country: that it's a great nation -- especially if you like fried foods -- but it also has its faults. And then there's the Republican view: that it's perfect and pure in every way and it's always right all the time, just like Leviticus and Ronald Reagan.

If the founders were alive today, Republicans would be giving them shit because the Preamble to the Constitution says, "In order to form a more perfect union? Hello, it's already perfect! Why are you suggesting American apologetics, Ben Franklin?"

One of the things that makes Republicans furious about our current president is their idea that Obama is always apologizing for America's biggest mistakes. Unlike President Bush. Who was one of America's biggest mistakes.

In his first week as president, Obama did an interview with Arab TV in which he said, "We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect." Thought crime! And then he went to Cairo and violated one of those absolute eternal rules the Right Wing is always making up out of thin air: "The president must never apologize on foreign soil. Lest our allies begin to doubt that we're assholes. "

But what did Obama actually say to make Karl Rove's head explode and the popcorn fly out? Cover your children's ears: When he was asked if he believed in American exceptionalism, he said he did, the same way "the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks in Greek exceptionalism." Yes, our so-called president actually said people in other countries might like their countries better. I was so shocked I nearly dropped the Bible I was using to help me masturbate into my gun.

In her farewell speech -- if only -- Sarah Palin kept telling us "how she's wired." Now I'm not a doctor, or an electrician -- but this is faulty wiring, this worldview that, in her words, "we should never apologize for our country." Really? Never? Not for slavery? Or Japanese internment camps, or if we tortured the wrong guy at Guantanamo? The Indians? Nothing, Sarah? "The Real Housewives of Atlanta"? Shouldn't John McCain apologize for... you?

When did intractability become a virtue? Mitt Romney's new book is called No Apology: The Case For American Greatness. You can find it at Borders, in the "Suck-Up" section. It's such a perfect title, combining paranoia with arrogance: "No one has yet asked me to apologize but, if someone ever does, fuck them."

Conservatives think apologizing is a sign of weakness. It's what liberal pussies do, when they're not busy driving electric cars and feeling empathy. When in fact it's the weak and the scared who are too insecure to apologize. Apologies are actually a sign of strength. That's why six-year-olds hate them.

In Rwanda, after a genocide that killed a million people, they set up special courts where people stood up and said, "Hey, sorry I macheted your entire family. My bad." And believe it or not, in most cases, that was enough. That's the power of an apology. A recent study reveals that doctors who are willing to apologize to patients for their mistakes are sued for malpractice about half as much as doctors who aren't willing to apologize.

Apologies can do great things, and they can enable great things. And if you still don't believe me, I have three words for you: make-up sex.

Palin's interview with Katie Cuiric, can anyone translate or actually tell me what she saying? (8mins)

But the Cuircic interview wouldn't be complete without Palin's views on foreign policy and diplomacy, or, how to loose the will to live in (10 minutes.)

Footnote: This post is directed more towards my European readers, you Yankees already know the score on this one.
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Valencia F1 Loosing The Will To Live

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Without the slightest shadow of doubt, Valencia, the most dismal poxy ridiculous god-forsaken venue to ever host a Grand Prix.

A venue where you can never get an overall view or perception of the race. A venue that in terms of atmosphere reflects only and exactly what it is, an industrial dockland and absolutely no place to hold Formula One event.

Not last year, not this year not ever.

Combine that above with the incessant over emphasised ramblings of Jonathan, I'm such a loud mouthed ignorant fucking gobshite, Legard, then it really takes away my will to live.

So to Bernie Ecclestone who brought this dismal place to the Formula One calendar, you are a cunt.
To the BBC, if next year you continue your otherwise excellent coverage with Legard as part of the team then you can stick your licence fee* up your fucking arse, and I ain't kidding, I will watch it as a re-run on line,... so endeth the rant.


The winner, Rubino well done you old bugger, if it wasn't going to be a McLaren win then I cannot think of who I would rather see on the top step.

I do like Rubens he's a nice bloke and whereas I thought him well out of order with his recent outburst I can empathise with him. Having to play second fiddle to Schumaker all those years can't have been at all easy.

Not as a racing driver in his own right it can't have been, and let's face it, Rubens is racy racing driver, far more so than half the lacklustre pedestrian buggers that turn up at each race and only go through the motions.

I have done a fair bit of racing over the years albeit in a totally different animal to a F1 car, but I shared something that Rubens has, the overwhelming desire to win, and it's that overwhelming desire coupled with frustration that on the odd occasion has clouded Rubino's judgement somewhat.

That desire to be first is fundamental to all successful sportsmen not just racing drivers, it's what I believe makes the Yankees so successful in the sporting arena, we Brits might celebrate a silver or bronze medal and think we did well, to the Americans silver is the first looser.

On a slightly different note, and I don't want to write too much on the subject for I'm hoping to write much more in the near future.

It was with much wailing, wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth that I greeted the news that Juan Pablo Montoya was moving to NASCAR.
Three years leaning a new trade, two of those years operating with inferior kit, JPM is now doing pretty well, lying seventh in rankings with I think just four races to go before the cut-off for the Sprint Cup Chase where only the top twelve drivers compete for the actual cup in a series of ten races.


Whereas redneck racing wouldn't normally hold a great deal of interest for me, with Juan the man in contention I do watch it live online, race times vary depending on daytime or evening starts unfortunately a late start tonight 7pm EST here are two feeds for live viewing if don't want to watch the whole thing you can watch highlights or lap by lap at NASCAR.com usually within twenty four hours of the end of the race.

Hubtvonline channelsurfing.net NASCAR.com Dead as the proverbial.

Bugitty bugitty bugitty let's go racing Boys!

*License fee: £140-$230 per annum obligatory payment to the BBC by TV owners.

Hey Coppers, Leave Them Kids Alone

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Totalitarianism, dontcha just love it? Rule Britannia!

Previous: Another Nail in The Coffin of UK Civil Liberties.

By Murray Wardrop
Published: 3:01PM BST 04 Jun 2009

Police 'arrest innocent youths for their DNA', officer claims

Hundreds of teenagers are having their DNA taken by police in case they commit crimes later in life, an officer has disclosed.

Officers are targeting children as young as 10 with the aim of placing their DNA profiles on the national database to improve their chances of solving crimes, it is claimed.

The alleged practice is also described as part of a "long-term crime prevention strategy" to dissuade youths from committing offences in the future.

The claim comes amid widespread criticism of government proposals to store DNA profiles of innocent people, including some children, on the database for up to 12 years.

Civil liberty campaigners have condemned the tactic of as "diabolical" and said it showed contempt for children's freedom.

A Metropolitan Police officer made the claims after figures were released showing that 386 under-18s had their DNA taken and stored by police last year in Camden, north London.

The officer said: "Have we got targets for young people who have not been arrested yet? The answer is yes. But we are not just waiting outside schools to pick them up, we are acting on intelligence.

"It is part of a long-term crime prevention strategy. If you know you have had your DNA taken and it is on a database then you will think twice about committing burglary for a living.

"We are often told that we have just one chance to get that DNA sample and if we miss it then that might mean a rape or a murder goes unsolved in the future."


Last month the Home Office drew up plans to amend the DNA database after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that a blanket policy of retaining profiles of innocent people indefinitely was illegal.

However, adults and children arrested, but not convicted, of terrorism or serious sexual or violent offences will still have their profiles held for 12 years before they are deleted.

Children not convicted of any other offence will have profiles erased after six years or when they reach 18, whichever is sooner.

The Home Office announced last year that the DNA of children under 10 will not be retained.


Shami Chakrabarti, director of the human rights group Liberty, said: "This is diabolical and proof positive that Liberty's fears are being realised.

"The current law has created an incentive for the abuse of police power so that youngsters are being targeted purely for the purpose of stockpiling their DNA for the future.

"We hope that dealing with this outrage will be high on the list of priorities for any new Home Secretary.

"Politicians can no longer demand due process for themselves whilst showing such contempt for the freedoms of others."

Figures obtained via a Freedom of Information request show that a further 139 youths arrested in the Camden area have had their DNA profiles added to the database this year.

Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Holborn and St Pancras, Jo Shaw, who applied for the data, said: "The Met and the Home Office have some serious explaining to do if this is the case.

"Innocent children should not have their DNA profiles kept for years."

There are an estimated 5.3 million profiles on the DNA database – accounting for about one in 10 people – making it the largest of its kind in the world.

However 850,000 are of people who were never convicted of any crime. source

Is This What We Are Fighting For In Afghanistan?

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And this is the government not the goddamn Taliban.

Row over Afghan wife-starving law

An Afghan bill allowing a husband to starve his wife if she refuses to have sex has been published in the official gazette and become law.

The original bill caused outrage earlier this year, forcing Afghan President Hamid Karzai to withdraw it.

But critics say the amended version of the law remains highly repressive.

They accuse Mr Karzai of selling out Afghan women for the sake of conservative Shia support at next week's presidential election.

The law governs family life for Afghanistan's Shia minority.

Sexual demands

The original version obliged Shia women to have sex with their husbands every four days at a minimum, and it effectively condoned rape by removing the need for consent to sex within marriage.

Western leaders and Afghan women's groups were united in condemning an apparent reversal of key freedoms won by women after the fall of the Taliban.

Now an amended version of the same bill has passed quietly into law with the apparent approval of President Karzai.

Just ahead of this Thursday's Afghan presidential election, human rights groups suggest the timing is no accident.

"There was a review process - Karzai came under huge pressure from all over the world to amend this law, but many of the most oppressive laws remain," Rachel Reid, the Human Rights Watch representative in Kabul, told the BBC.

"What matters more to Karzai is the support of fundamentalists and hardliners here in Afghanistan whose support he thinks he needs in the elections."

Women's groups say its new wording still violates the principle of equality that is enshrined in their constitution.

It allows a man to withhold food from his wife if she refuses his sexual demands; a woman must get her husband's permission to work; and fathers and grandfathers are given exclusive custody of children. source BBC

Despite whatever the header might infer, I have no truck with this or any other totally unnecessary illegal war.
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Pigs In Space, And The Rabbis Too

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Whereas I try to treat all religions with equal contempt, I think this is a first for featuring the Jewish faith in these unhallowed pages.


Not by design that Judaism has previously slipped under the radar, unless of course I have subconsciously given them a free pass because I know I'm never going to get a Jew knocking at my door trying to sell me a Bible or their god.

That said, and perhaps after watching the forty second clip, you might agree with me that they are just as loopy and batshit crazy as all the rest of the nutters.

A group of rabbis and Jewish mystics have taken to the skies over Israel, praying and blowing ceremonial horns in a plane to ward off swine flu.

About 50 religious leaders circled over the country on Monday, chanting prayers and blowing horns, called shofars.

The flight's aim was "to stop the pandemic so people will stop dying from it", Rabbi Yitzhak Batzri was quoted as saying in Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
The flu is often called simply "H1N1" in Israel, as pigs are seen as unclean.
Eating pork is banned under Jewish dietary laws.
According to Israel's health ministry, there have been more than 2,000 cases of swine flu in the country, with five fatalities so far.
"We are certain that, thanks to the prayer, the danger is already behind us," added Mr Batzri was quoted as saying.

Television footage showed rabbis in black hats rocking backwards and forwards as they read prayers from Kabbalah, a form of Jewish mysticism which counts the singer Madonna among its devotees.
The shofar is the horn of a ram, and is used to mark major religious occasions in Judaism.
Source

TV (Ratings) Can Be Injurious To Your Health

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There aren't many stories like this in a week, you would be hard put to find a plot like this in a dime store novel. Utterly bizarre.

Brazil TV host 'ordered killings'

By Gary Duffy
BBC News, Sao Paulo

Police have accused a TV presenter in Brazil of being involved in organised drug trafficking and ordering killings to get rid of rivals and boost ratings.

Wallace Souza, who is also a state legislator, says the claims are an attempt by rivals to smear him and that there is no evidence to back them.

But the police say he ordered killings in the state of Amazonas and alerted TV crews to get them to the scene first.

His TV show was halted late last year as police stepped up their inquiry.

If what the police say is true, then this is the TV show that not only reported crime, but was actually behind it as well.

Son charged

The authorities believe that Mr Souza commissioned at least five murders in order to get rid of drug trafficking rivals and to boost his programme ratings.

They say he wanted to prove his claims that the region he represented in the state of Amazonas was plagued with crime.

A local police chief told the Associated Press that the order to execute always came from the presenter and his son, and that TV crews were alerted to get to the scene of the crime first.

State Security Secretary Francisco Cavalcanti says the truth has now become clear.

"On several occasions they fabricated the facts, they fabricated news," Mr Cavalcanti said.

Wallace Souza faces a variety of charges, including drug trafficking and weapons possession, but remains free because for the moment his political role gives him immunity.

His son Rafael, meanwhile, has been arrested on charges of murder, drug trafficking and illegally possessing guns.

Lawyers for Wallace Souza, a former policeman who was expelled from the force, say the accusations are an attempt to smear him and that there is not one piece of material proof to back the police claims. Source and short clip.

Atheist Camp and The Great Unicorn Hunt

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Other than offering a signed tenner I don't know to what degree (if at all) the good professor is actively involved in this project.

The aims of the camp sound so Richard Dawkins, but that in itself proves nothing, perhaps the organisers just took a page out of Dawkins book, and I might add, where better a place to take one from.

Aims
"Campers are taught that ethical behaviour is not dependent on religious belief and doctrines, that religious belief and doctrines are sometimes a hindrance to ethical and moral behaviour, and that irreligious persons are also good and fully capable of living a happy and meaningful life."

An atheist summer camp in Somerset is offering children aged seven to 17 a "godless alternative" to religious camps traditionally run by the scouts and church groups.

Some of the 24 children arriving at Camp Quest in Bruton seemed a little young to be tackling the weighty concepts ahead of them....snip

The summer camp, designed with the children of atheist parents in mind, has a slightly daunting mission statement.

It is "dedicated to improving the human condition through rational inquiry, critical and creative thinking, scientific method… and the separation of religion and government"....snip

(Of Unicorns)

The only proof of their existence is contained in an ancient book handed down over "countless generations".

A prize - a £10 note signed by Professor Richard Dawkins - is offered to any child who can disprove the existence of the unicorns.

Outside the camp gates, a single lonely demonstrator criticised both Professor Dawkins and the camp he supports.more

Video 2m.40s

Hard Hard Time: Supermax: Repost

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In view of the previous posting I though I would re-up this old post.

This is the type of facility that the much misnamed US Department of Justice would send Gary McKinnon to serve out his (Sixty year?) sentence on conviction.

There is much more reading to be had on this subject, you can find it in the sidebar under Prison Nation.

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I did on one occasion watch Bill Maher mention the "greatest country on earth" and in his inimitable way asked the question, Who says so, the eighty five percent of arrogant dipshit Americans who don't even own a fucking passport?

I could, but I won't, make a list of all that ails America, American society and most importantly the American psyche.

The same psyche that starts at the very top with the endless "Kick arse because we can" attitude and works it's way down through a para-military police force that is totally out of control to a prison system and it's employees that should be the shame of any society that aspires to wear the label of "Civilised."

I shall not enter into a diatribe for it has all been said before, you only have to search the labels "Prison Nation" and "Police," I will just leave you with a short sentence that I came across, part of which I used as a previous title.

The prison authorities, more often than not, are persons of limited intellectual capacity and of authoritarian attitudes whose primary penological goal is to maintain order.



And if anybody wants to try and convince me that America deserves the tag of greatest nation I would be glad to listen to your argument.

Torture in Our Own Backyards: The Fight Against Supermax Prisons


Imagine living in an 8-by-12 prison cell, in solitary confinement, for eight years straight. Your entire world consists of a dank, cinder block room with a narrow *window* only three inches high, opening up to an outdoor cement cage, cynically dubbed, "the yard." If you're lucky, you spend one hour five days a week in that outdoor cage, where you gaze up through a wire mesh roof and hope for a glimpse of the sun. If you talk back to the guards or act out in any way, you might only venture outside one precious hour per week.
You go eight years without shaking a hand or experiencing any physical human contact. The prison guards bark orders and touch you only while wearing leather gloves, and then it's only to put you in full cuffs and shackles before escorting you to the cold showers, where they watch your every move.

You cannot make phone calls to your friends or family and must "earn" two visits per month, which inevitably take place through a Plexiglass wall. You are kept in full shackles the entire time you visit with your wife and children, and have to strain to hear their voices through speakers that record your every word. With no religious or educational programs to break up the time or elevate your thoughts, it's a daily struggle to keep your mind from unraveling, more

*window* If indeed the cell even has a window. there are Supermax facilities where the secure housing units (SHU) are sixty feet underground and like all such places the cell lights shine twenty four seven.
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Andrew MacKinlay MP: A Rare Breed

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A Pol with integrity, they don't come rarer than that.

I would go as far to say even rarer than me agreeing with a Tory rag (Daily Mail) and a Tory leader (Cameron) but I have been following the Wail's campaign and Cameron's efforts in the house on behalf of Gary McKinnon, who embarrassingly, for the Pentagon, hacked into their zillion dollar security system and who now want to bury McKinnon underground in some hell hole of a supermax prison for decades to come.

And a word for Andrew MacKinlay, it might be quite noble to resign on principle but don't you think you ought to stay and fight your corner, or better said Gary McKinnon's corner.

Labour MP resigns in fury over Gary McKinnon: Veteran who stood up for Asperger's victim quits over colleagues' hypocrisy

Labour MP Andrew MacKinlay is quitting Westminster in disgust after MPs failed to stop computer hacker Gary McKinnon's extradition to the US.

The respected backbencher says he is 'disillusioned' about Parliament's inability to hold ministers to account.

He told the Daily Mail, which is campaigning for Mr McKinnon to stand trial here, that he had been frustrated for some time by MPs' willingness to follow party 'diktats', even if they contradicted their private views.

The Commons vote last week over Britain's unbalanced extradition arrangements with the US had been the final straw.

'It crystallised a view of Parliament I have had for some time,' Mr MacKinlay said.

The 60-year-old was one of just ten Labour MPs who had the courage to vote for a review of the 2003 Extradition Treaty in the wake of controversy over the case of the Asperger's Syndrome sufferer.

But 74 Labour MPs, who had previously signed motions backing Mr McKinnon, or demanding an extradition review, failed to oppose the party line.

The review move was defeated by 290 votes to 236.

Mr McKinnon's mother Janis Sharp said last night she was 'delighted' at the MP's decision....more

The Daily Mail campaign links.


This is the latest article by Labour MP Andrew MacKinlay

This feeble wobbling on McKinnon is bad for democracy

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1200270/ANDREW-MacKINLAY-This-feeble-wobbling-McKinnon-bad-democracy.html#ixzz0MfNDI3Ie


Trust in Parliament has never been lower. Respect for politicians has been heavily diminished, not just by the Commons expenses scandal but also because of the failure of MPs and Ministers to be straight with the public.

Lack of conviction, weasel words, submission to the party whipping machines and a reluctance to abide by previous pledges have all played their insidious part in undermining the reputation of the Commons.

Public faith is hardly likely to be restored by this week's vote on the extradition to the U.S. of Gary McKinnon, whom the Americans want to put on trial over charges of hacking into the Pentagon's computer systems...more

It was back in April 07 that I blogged about Gary McKinnon and the one sided extradition policy that the UK enjoys with the US.

UK Hacker Loses Extradition Fight

Pissed, seriously pissed am I to hear this, a few words from the text takes the words from my mouth.

Alleged threats by US authorities, including one from New Jersey prosecutors that "he would fry", would be among issues raised, Mr Cooper said.
And make no mistake fry he will, after the US has nailed him to a cross....more

Previous

G'day.Possums.
I have written previously on the shabby behaviour of the British Governments acquiescence in giving up one of it's own to the American injustice system and the even shabbier practice of fast tracking extradition requests from the US.
In both cases that I cited the alleged offences were committed on British soil, now it seems that Blair's antipodean counterpart, another eager fellator of Bush's cock, Howard of Australia (legacy of a mean nation) is throwing one of it's citizens to the baying pack at the American Department of Justice.
The same DoJ you no doubt recall headed by the despicable liar and perjurer Alberto Gonzales. Given then that this wonderful level of international cooperation exists can we expect of successive governments to be equally cooperative and acceding to shall we say a request from the international criminal court for the arrest of Tony Blair on the charge of war crimes, or that of Bush himself or one of his cabal on crimes against humanity?
What action then will the Us be taking against...more

And more

Fast Tracked Laws

Fast Tracked Laws.
Fast Tacked To Where. (Guantanamo Bay, Secret Prisons, or just Good Ol' US Ones?)
Fast Tracked To What. (American Justice?)
Fast Tracked To Whom. (A trusted partner?)

Or is that the new euphemism for riding rough shod over due process?

White collar criminals have been the main targets of draconian of new British "fast tracked" laws designed to speed up the extradition of terrorists to the US.
No alleged terrorists have yet to face US courts using the new rules which allow suspects to be sped through British courts without American prosecutors having to show a reasonable case against them.

The legislation brought in as a response to the September 11 attacks has seen the time taken from the arrest of a suspect to their removal for trial in America drop from nearly three years to just over eleven months.
But the home office admits that none of the twenty nine suspects so far sent to the US are alleged terrorists.

The new statistics are set to reignite the row over over the extradition of the so called Nat West Three were sent to the Us last July and charged with fraud relating to the collapsed energy giant Enron.
The row flared after British authorities investigating the alleged offences found their was no case to answer. snip.

Also included was Jeremy Crook, an IT executive who was flown shackled to to US agents to America in September last year. He is due to stand trial in August next year....more