Eight arrests as Murdoch 'throws staff to the wolves'
Five senior 'Sun' journalists, two MoD staff and a police officer taken in dawn swoop as new front opens in bribery scandal
12 February 2012
Rupert Murdoch was last night preparing to fly to Britain to join frantic efforts to secure the future of The Sun after the arrests of five senior journalists by police investigating allegations of bribery and phone hacking.
Police swooped on eight individuals between 6am and 8am yesterday, arresting the five Sun journalists, two Ministry of Defence staff and a police officer. The arrests came hard on the heels of five related arrests two weeks ago when four senior Sun journalists and a police officer were questioned in connection with bribery allegations. All eight were released on bail last night.
The latest astonishing development, which came two days after the Leveson inquiry into press standards finished its first session, prompted fury among the newspaper's staff, amid allegations that those arrested had been "thrown to the wolves" in an effort to bolster the embattled News Corp empire, and, particularly, to rekindle its hopes of taking over BSkyB. The police were acting on information provided by News International, owner of The Sun and Times newspapers, through its Management and Standards Committee (MSC).
Amid fury among the paper's editorial staff, Mr Murdoch was forced to issue a pledge last night that he was not preparing to sell the newspaper, via his chief executive, Tom Mockridge. Senior staff were told that Mr Murdoch planned to fly to London to calm the situation. Journalists including the paper's deputy editor were bailed after being questioned in connection with allegations of making illegal payments to police officers and other officials.
The investigation broke new ground yesterday: for the first time, the arrests broadened beyond payments to police, with a female member of the MoD and a member of the armed forces also held while their homes were searched following dawn swoops by officers working on the Elveden investigation. The journalists arrested were Geoff Webster, The Sun's deputy editor; John Kay, a former chief reporter who joined the title in 1974; Nick Parker, chief foreign correspondent; John Edwards, picture editor; and John Sturgis, a reporter. The paper's editor, Dominic Mohan, said: "I'm as shocked as anyone by today's arrests but am determined to lead The Sun through these difficult times.
"I have a brilliant staff and we have a duty to serve our readers and will continue to do that. Our focus is on putting out Monday's newspaper."
Nevertheless, there were fears that the worsening crisis at the red-top, sister paper of the now defunct News of the World, could have wider ramifications for the Murdoch media empire, as the Leveson inquiry prepares to examine the relationship between journalists and police. In 2003, The Sun's former editor Rebekah Brooks admitted to a parliamentary select committee that her journalists paid police officers for information, which is illegal.
Sources suggested that Mr Murdoch was being sent texts and emails from irate staff at the newspaper. Michael Wolff, Mr Murdoch's biographer, who has inside knowledge of News Corp, said last night that the latest arrests put pressure on theproprietor to close The Sun: "I've never known a point in News Corp history with so much internal acrimony... Murdoch must feel this is so out of control. He faces his son's arrest, a Department of Justice investigation, more bribe revelations, more hacking fallout and challenge to BSkyB control."
Yesterday's arrests mark the latest controversy surrounding the MSC, which has provoked anger among journalists at NI's Wapping offices. Several have protested strongly, warning that morale has been undermined. The latest criticism came from the National Union of Journalists, which accused Mr Murdoch of throwing his journalists to the wolves in an effort to save his company, adding that the reputation of those arrested will "inevitably" be damaged. The union's general secretary, Michelle Stanistreet, said News International staff were furious at "what many sense to be a witch hunt" and "a monumental betrayal on the part of News International". "Once again Rupert Murdoch is trying to pin the blame on individual journalists, hoping that a few scalps will salvage his corporate reputation," she said.
There were suggestions in Wapping that the MSC was, to quote one source, "draining the swamp" in an attempt to revive the BSkyB deal that fell apart last year in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World. Yesterday's arrests are the clearest indication yet that illegal activity was not limited to the News of the World, as was initially thought.
NI's chief executive, Tom Mockridge, sent a memo to staff at The Sun yesterday, giving them his "personal assurance" from Mr Murdoch that he plans to continue to own and publish The Sun. Speculation has been mounting since the closure of the NOTW last summer that Mr Murdoch might sell his three remaining British national newspapers. Some Wall Street analysts have said that selling these newspapers could add as much as 20 per cent to the News Corp share price.
Mr Mockridge's memo sought to reassure staff at The Sun and to stand by those arrested. "This news is difficult for everyone on The Sun and particularly for those of you who work closely with those involved. Some of the individuals arrested have been instrumental in breaking important stories about public bodies, for example the scandal of our underresourced troops in Iraq," he said.
"We must take care not to pre-judge the outcome of the police interviews." News International has provided legal support to those interviewed by police today.
Tom Watson, the Labour MP who has been instrumental in exposing the extent of illegal activity at News International, welcomed the arrests and in a letter to Mr Mockridge called for the issues that led to Rebekah Brooks's resignation to be re-examined. "It seems that Mr Rupert Murdoch now understands the seriousness of the situation News Corp in the UK finds itself in. Under your leadership, the Management and Standards Committee is, for the first time, ensuring that News Corp UK is fully co-operating with the police investigation into wrongdoing at News International. Clearly, allegations of illegal payments to police officers are more serious offences than those of phone hacking."
Yesterday's dramatic developments are the second batch of high-profile arrests at The Sun to take place in two weeks.
Deborah Glass, deputy chairman of the IPCC, said: "We are continuing to actively supervise the Metropolitan Police Service investigation into alleged corruption. Today's arrests are further evidence of the strenuous efforts being undertaken to identify police officers who may have taken corrupt payments." Indi
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Eight More Arrests as Murdoch 'Throws Staff to The Wolves'
File under: Twats Getting Theirs.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Awesome Amendment to "Personhood": the "Spilled Semen" Clause
If I said as with the previous post, some things don't need an introduction, I don't really know how to introduce this one. The sexual repression and religious fervour (insanity) are beyond scope of reference.
What more can I say? other than, I suppose a blow job is out of the question!
What more can I say? other than, I suppose a blow job is out of the question!
Awesome Amendment to "Personhood": the "Spilled Semen" ClauseIt's satire evidently. To prove that her amendment was in jest, Johnson voted... But you would have to be forgiven for thinking it's not. In 2012 America, nothing, and I mean nothing, would surprise me.
We must have as much sex as possible.
By Jill
2.12.2012
A brilliant Democrat in Oklahoma has tagged an amendment onto her state’s proposed Personhood law, making sure that the government doesn’t just intrude into women’s reproductive lives, but men’s as well:
Oklahoma State Senator Constance Johnson, a Democrat, has offered an amendment to the “personhood” bill pending in the state legislature. The pending bill, if passed, would declare that “the unborn child at every stage of development (has) all the rights, privileges, and immunities available to other persons, citizens, and residents of this state.”
Johnson writes that “the Personhood bill would potentially allow governmental intrusion into families’ personal lives by policing what happens to a woman’s eggs without any similar thought to what happens to a man’s sperm.” Her amendment reads:“provided, however, any action in which a man ejaculates or otherwise deposits semen anywhere but in a woman’s vagina shall be interpreted and construed as an action against an unborn child.”
But that’s not enough. The Bible is pretty clear that only the Lord knows which sperm and which egg will join to create a person. Interfering with that in any way is very very bad — so we should give the Lord as many opportunities as possible to make sure that the right gametes can come together. As the wonderful Frances Kissling says in the comments to that article:This [spilled semen] amendment is critical. We must protect spatial separated persons – sperm and eggs. The creator, the bible tells us, knew each of us before we were “knit” in the womb. He knew the very sperm and egg that would unite to make us who we are. Given that reality, it is imperative that we all have as much sex as possible. For women, ovulation is the time when we must be sure to give our egg a chance to join with the sperm that it was destined to meet.
The fact that God chose not to tell us which of our eggs and our sperm would join means that a celibate priesthood and sisterhood must be ended. Each priest and nun knows not what God intended for their eggs and sperm and therefore, procreative sex is essential lest we prevent the person already know to God from coming into being. Feministe
Facebook "Defriending" Led to Double Murder
Some things don't need an introduction. Y'all.
Similar previous: Talhotblonde Documentry
Facebook "defriending" led to double murder, police say
By Tim Ghianni | Reuters
Feb 9, 2012
NASHVILLE, Tenn (Reuters) - A Tennessee couple who "defriended" a woman on Facebook were murdered in their home by the jilted woman's father and another man, police said on Thursday."It's the worst thing I've ever seen," Johnson County Sheriff Mike Reece said, adding he had never seen anything like it in his 27 years in law enforcement in the area. "We've had murders, but nothing like this. This is just senseless."
He said Billy Clay Payne, Jr. and Billie Jean Hayworth were killed last month after they deleted Jenelle Potter, the daughter of one of the suspects, from their "friends" list. Both were shot in the head and the man had his throat cut.
The couple's 8-month-old baby was in the mother's arms, unharmed, when the bodies were found.
Marvin Enoch "Buddy" Potter Jr., 60, and Jamie Lynn Curd, 38, were each charged on Wednesday in Mountain City in northeastern Tennessee with two counts of first-degree murder. The men were arrested on Tuesday.
The case was not the first involving violence linked to Facebook. Last year in Iowa, a woman was arrested on accusations of setting fire to a friend's garage after she was defriended on the social network site, local media reported.
In Texas, a man was accused of hitting his wife after she failed to "like" a Facebook post he wrote about the anniversary of his mother's death, according to media reports.
In the Tennessee case, Reece said a couple of harassment cases had been filed against Jenelle Potter in court over "someone blocking her or taking her off."
"Once you've crossed her, you've crossed her father too," Reece said, adding that Jenelle Potter, in her late 20s or early 30s, stays home with her parents and was constantly on Facebook.
Her father, "Buddy" Potter, will return to court next week for a bond hearing after he hires an attorney. Curd, also a second cousin of one of the victims, was appointed an attorney and bond was set at $750,000 for each murder count. His preliminary hearing will be in March.
No charges have been filed against Jenelle Potter, the sheriff said. She could not reached for comment.
Curd's attorney, R.O. Smith, an assistant public defender, said it was "safe to say there's more to it than the Facebook problem, it appears."
"I wish I could provide more of what went on, but there's needless to say a lot of rumors swirling around and nothing substantiated on the rumors," Smith said. Yahoo News
(Reporting By Tim Ghianni; Editing by Mary Wisniewski and Cynthia Johnston)
Similar previous: Talhotblonde Documentry
Common Sense Prevails Court Victory for Cigarette Butt Man
Which makes a change.
H/T https://twitter.com/#!/StevenNott
Previous insanity: On England's Pleasant Pastures Seen
Why I Don't do PC and Why This Country is a Bollocks
Scroll down for: Motorist returns to find yellow lines painted either side of her car - and a parking ticket
Court victory for cigarette butt man
24 May 2010
A man fined £50 for dropping a cigarette butt down a drain celebrated a victory when the case was thrown out of court.
Benjamin Barton was handed the fixed penalty notice by a council officer who spotted him disposing of the stub in Nottingham city centre.
But he refused to pay it and the case was taken to Nottingham Magistrates' Court last week, where he won.
The 24-year-old told the Nottingham Evening Post: "I am absolutely delighted. I think it was crazy that I was fined and then taken to court in the first place.
"The fact that I have won is not just a victory for me but for the public as well."
Nottingham City Council said it was council policy to issue a £50 fine to anyone seen dropping a cigarette butt in the street.
Community protection officers responsible for handing out the fines can exercise discretion however, and some offences result only in a warning.
A council spokesman said: "We respect the decision of the court and will not take this matter any further." Indi
H/T https://twitter.com/#!/StevenNott
Previous insanity: On England's Pleasant Pastures Seen
Why I Don't do PC and Why This Country is a Bollocks
Scroll down for: Motorist returns to find yellow lines painted either side of her car - and a parking ticket
Monday, February 13, 2012
Blog NewsUpdate
I am back online, although must be said, in a very limited capacity. I shall endevour to reply to all comments as soon as possible, I pray though, a little patience on your behalf, I have much to catch up on and very little bandwidth with which to do so.
The reason I have no internet service, apart from refusing to pay my bill, and the reason that I am having to avail myself of a temporary mobile service, which allows me to post this, is explained here. http://mybtaccount.blogspot.com/
As you can well imagine, BT isn't flavour of the month with me.
The reason I have no internet service, apart from refusing to pay my bill, and the reason that I am having to avail myself of a temporary mobile service, which allows me to post this, is explained here. http://mybtaccount.blogspot.com/
As you can well imagine, BT isn't flavour of the month with me.
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
Blog News
I am presently in dispute with my ISP, BT. I am accessing this via a third party.
I may have minimal access by the weekend, but I will not have the bandwidth to upload posts until I resolve my differences with BT, or change my ISP.
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
The Perils Facing Julian Assange
I have put this here in its entirety; not because I particularly wanted to, but because both you and I can read it in some kind of comfort.
Now I may not be the greatest blogger in the world, but at least I try and present what I do in the tidiest manner possible. All photo's are bordered, I use one font, one size, and keep italics to the minimum. And the text is always in readable bite sized chunks.
I don't know if you as a reader feel the same, but if the font is too small it's a struggle, equally, if it's too large it's not comfortable, it's like watching a tennis match and trying to make sense of what's written there at the same time. See footnote below.
Footnote: Now it goes without saying, there are some pretty sharp brains at blogger, but if someone could explain the sense of what I am about to demonstrate, then I would surely listen. (First)
As you are well aware, I upload lots of pics, and invariably I want them in the order that I upload them. Now I'm going to upload five test pics (the max) in the same order as they are numbered. Watch what happens.
The pics were upped in order 54321. Now can someone explain the fucking logic in that? Brains are grand things, but they are no good without a bit of common sense. It wasn't always thus by the way, this is a relatively new 'improvement.'
Now I may not be the greatest blogger in the world, but at least I try and present what I do in the tidiest manner possible. All photo's are bordered, I use one font, one size, and keep italics to the minimum. And the text is always in readable bite sized chunks.
I don't know if you as a reader feel the same, but if the font is too small it's a struggle, equally, if it's too large it's not comfortable, it's like watching a tennis match and trying to make sense of what's written there at the same time. See footnote below.
US Extradition
Extradition to the United States
Contents
Extradition Risks
Temporary Surrender
Legal Safeguards under Temporary Surrender and Extradition
Will Sweden extradite Julian Assange to the US?
Wouldn’t the UK be more likely to extradite Assange than Sweden?
United States: Secret Grand Jury
Extradition risks''The US investigation against WikiLeaks is unprecedented both in its scale and nature - Australian Embassy in Washington
Sweden is bound by different extradition agreements. It is not meant to grant onwards extradition to a third country without agreement from the extraditing country. But at the same level of the legal hierarchy there is a bilateral treaty between the US and Sweden that allows for extradition without consent from the UK or minimum tests. This is the temporary surrender/conditional release regime - automatic extradition on a loan basis. It is highly likely that the United States will soon request Julian Assange’s extradition from Sweden and this mechanism will be used while Julian Assange is in Swedish custody.''The US government is certainly looking at the technical aspects of the two extradition agreements between the UK and Sweden and then considering the political and legal atmosphere in both places. - John B. Bellinger III, former legal adviser to US State Department and National Security Council
Of the reasons for Julian Assange’s challenge to Sweden’s extradition order, relevant to this topic are:
1) Julian Assange has not been charged with any offense.
2) Sweden has a bilateral agreement with the United States which would allow it to surrender Julian Assange without going through the traditional tests and standards of regular, lengthy ’extradition’ procedures.
3) There are standard EU mechanisms (such as Mutual Legal Assistance) for Julian Assange to answer any questions the Swedish government may have. It is disproportionate, and an abuse, to use extradition proceedings in this manner.
4) Extradition law requires a "judicial authority" (e.g a judge or other independent body) to issue an extradition warrant, in order to keep the separation between the executive and the judiciary. It is an abuse to permit prosecutors, intelligence agents or other officials who are not independent to issue proceedings.
''The concern is that the Swedish case is a holding case while the Virginian grand jury come forward with an indictment to take him to America. - Christine Assange
Temporary surrender - under the US-Sweden Extradition Treaty''It is not clear how Sweden might respond to any US request for his temporary surrender to the US, if American charges were laid against him on arrival in Sweden. The present conservative Swedish Government has a history of acceding to all US rendition requests during the War on Terror. - Tony Kevin, retired Australian diplomat
Most of the attention regarding Julian Assange’s possible extradition to the US has focused on the EU agreements that are meant to prevent onward extradition - namely that the UK Home Office would have to consent to his onward extradition. Little or no attention has been given in Europe to the temporary surrender (sometimes called ’conditional release’, see the Panama example below) mechanism that Sweden established bilaterally with the United States in their 1984 treaty (TIAS 10812):
VI. If the extradition request is granted in the case of a person who is being prosecuted or is serving a sentence in the territory of the requested State for a different offense, the requested State may:
b) temporarily surrender the person sought to the requesting State for the purpose of prosecution. The person so surrendered shall be kept in custody while in the requesting State and shall be returned to the requested State after the conclusion of the proceedings against that person in accordance with conditions to be determined by mutual agreement of the Contracting States.
Temporary surrender has been incorporated into the EU-US Extradition and Mutual Legal Assistance agreements entered into in February 2010. The Council of the EU’s handbook explains temporary surrender in the following manner:''[Temporary surrender] facilitates the orderly and efficient prosecution of a person sought in two jurisdictions by allowing the temporary transfer of the person to the Requesting State for prosecution, when that person is subject to proceedings (either prosecution or service of a sentence) in the Requested State. The transfer is subject to conditions agreed to in advance of the transfer. - Council of the European Union - Handbook on the practical application of the EU-U.S. Mutual Legal Assistance and Extradition Agreements (p. 15)
The US has put what appears to be an expedient de facto extradition in place that effectively sidesteps traditional extradition safeguards. The background for this mechanism is to combat serious crimes - typically drug trafficking, terrorism, and so on - and it has implemented such innovative mechanisms with several strong allies.
One of the strategic allies that has implemented these types of mechanisms in the context of drug trafficking, is Panama: a recently released US embassy cable described the "conditional release" regime:''use of Conditional Release, under which the GOP [Government of Panama] releases to the US a suspect already under arrest in Panama on other charges. Under this procedure, the suspect is "lent" to the US for prosecution on the condition that they will be returned for prosecution in Panama at the end of their sentence. This procedure is much faster than a formal extradition, and has proven so successful, that DEA sometimes designs operations to bring suspects to Panama so they can be arrested in Panama and turned over to US authorities quickly. - US Embassy Panama Cable, 2008
The Conditional Release mechanism appears indistinguishable from the temporary surrender mechanism, apart from the fact that in conditional release the suspect will serve his/her sentence in the US before returning to the requested state (in the case above, Panama), while in temporary surrender the US would have to negotiate with Sweden at what point Julian Assange would be returned to the requested state for prosecution/serving a sentence.
A research paper prepared for US Congress in March 2010 by the Congressional Research Service (’Extradition To and From the United States: Overview of the Law and Recent Treaties’) does not mention the Conditional Release mechanism in the report and it appears that little is known about this preferred method of extradition.
US Embassy contacted regarding temporary surrender/conditional release of Julian Assange
The US Embassy in London was [contacted by The Guardian newspaper] after readers sought clarification about the temporary surrender/conditional release mechanism, and whether the US will employ it in its request to Sweden. The US embassy declined to give a statement.
Surprisingly perhaps, the Guardian did not attempt to contact the Swedish Embassy - it is after all Sweden that is bound by the two potentially conflicting extradition regimes (under the Framework Directive and the US Extradition Treaty, respectively) and would be best equipped to address whether it would treat a ’temporary surrender’ as regular extradition (with its safeguards). The EU Handbook on the US-EU Extradition Treaty seems to suggest differently:''The transfer is subject to conditions agreed to in advance of the transfer.
Despite the failure of The Guardian to get to the bottom of this potentially game-changing issue, the readers’ discussion raised some important hypotheticals: For example, the reader GregCallus suggested "this extradition takes place under a European Arrest Warrant [which] means that (as a matter of EU law) Sweden would be bound by the Article 28.4 rules on seeking permission from the UK (which would be judicially reviewable). If they tried to ignore those obligations, then a preliminary reference to the ECJ (on the super-fast track urgent) route would likely compel them to get the UK’s permission."
However, the question remains: if the US uses not traditional extradition but temporary surrender do the presumed safeguards under EU law apply? Is it extradition if the suspect is merely ’on loan’ to the US and not ’extradited’ proper - as the US embassy cable suggests?
Legal Safeguards under Temporary Surrender
The retired Swedish judge Brita Sundberg-Weitman (who testified at the first extradition hearing in February) wrote to SwedenVersusAssange.com and explained that Sweden’s Act regarding Criminal Extradition (Lag 1957:668 om Utlämning för Brott) requires the Swedish government to apply to the Supreme Court for permission to exercise the "conditional release" mechanism.
Sundberg-Weitman notes, however, that the government could ignore that requirement with little risk to itself; the legal and/or political repercussions, if any, would most likely be negligible. They would in any event be too late to be of any use to Julian Assange, who would have already been turned over to the U.S.
Bearing in mind that the the Swedish Courts (Stockholm District Court, Svea Court of Appeal) granted the prosecutor’s application to have Julian Assange arrested without seriously considering the principle of proportionality and that the Supreme Court refused to reconsider that decision - it is rather likely that the Supreme Court would approve a request by the government to have Assange extradited to the US.
Will Sweden extradite Julian Assange to the US?''Certainly Assange’s lawyers would mount a very vigorous opposition [to extradition] in either case [Sweden/UK], in London in particular. Past U.S. extradition requests for criminals from the UK have faced vigorous opposition, and a number of people have successfully resisted that through appeals through the House of Lords and ultimately all the way up to the European Court of Human Rights. We can anticipate lengthy litigation. - John B. Bellinger III
Both the UK and Sweden refuse to guarantee that they will not extradite Julian Assange to the United States. Political and military extraditions are expressly prohibited under the extradition treaty between Sweden and the United States, so this refusal is unusual. Moreover, it is likely that the US will request extradition on charges that are not overtly political (see below).
Shortly after issuing the EAW and Interpol Red Notice to 188 countries, the prosecutor Marianne Ny originally stated that extradition to the United States was ’out of the question’ (05 December 2010) - but her statements were later redacted (see Prosecution).
The Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has adopted several strategies in order to lessen the pressure on him to provide assurances that Julian Assange will not be extradited to the United States:
1. Reinfeldt claims that the decision to extradite Julian Assange is up to the courts, not the executive.
- This is false. Sweden’s extradition treaty with the United States explicitly prohibits political and military extraditions. The final decision lies in the hands of the executive, who can block an extradition if it believes that political/military motivations underlie the extradition order. However, it it difficult to prove the underlying motivations of an extradition order. The US is likely to issue an order under charges that are not overtly political (see below).
- It is likely that the United States will decide to charge Julian Assange with a number of offences (whether or not in conjunction with espionage) that are seemingly not political offences. The US Department of Justice has broadened its attack to include a possible indictment under the federal computer crimes statute, which it would argue was a non-political offence. Sweden is likely to consent to such an extradition given its close relationship with the US and the argument that the offences he is being sought for are not political in nature.
- It is difficult for an individual to prove that the underlying motivations for an extradition are political, especially where the requesting state is a close political ally, which is the case of the United States both for Sweden and for the UK. Swedish troops are under NATO-US command in Afghanistan. Sweden was one of the first countries to send fighter jets to Libya at the request of the US and, in June, the Swedish parliament voted to send marines to Libya together with more fighter jets (See Political Interference).
2. Reinfeldt claims that it is not up to Sweden, but up to the UK, whether or not Julian Assange is extradited to the United States.
- Sweden is shifting attention away from the fact that the final decision of whether to extradite Julian Assange to the United States or to block it is an executive decision.
- Under EU law, Sweden should only initiate Julian Assange’s onward extradition if and when the UK gives its agreement, but the UK has little incentive to block an extradition order if Sweden does not take the step to do so first. Moreover, legal commentators in the UK have stated that it is likely that the UK would consent to Julian Assange’s extradition from Sweden (this is likely to raise less criticism and mobilisation if Julian Assange is not physically under UK custody).
- Sweden has in the recent past violated international treaties in relation to surrendering foreign nationals into US custody to be interrogated and tortured (case of extraordinary rendition, Agiza v. Sweden at the European Court of Human Rights). Furthermore, Amnesty International and the UN Committee against Torture criticised Sweden because it rendered two refugees to the CIA who were then tortured under the Egyptian regime of Hosni Mubarak. (A documentary with the testimony of tortured refugees who had been granted asylum and then rendered to the CIA by Sweden was aired on Swedish television on 5 October 2011.
- Diplomatic assurances that the person extradited will not be subjected to torture or other inhumane and degrading treatment are not a sufficient guarantee to prevent Julian Assange from suffering such treatment while in US custody, or to realize a fair trial in the United States, given the politicization of the allegations against him.
- The UK and Swedish governments can choose to allege that Julian Assange is not wanted for political offences, and will not interfere with a judicial decision (despite the fact that this ’judicial decision’ would be taken by the secret grand jury in Virginia where there is no judge or defence counsel).
Given that Julian Assange is neither a citizen nor permanent resident in Sweden or the UK, these countries have little incentive to afford him the type of protection they would afford one of their own citizens or permanent residents. Moreover, it is safe to assume that both the UK and Swedish government have come under pressure to comply with the United States’ upcoming request for Julian Assange’s extradition (these pressures by the US government proved effective in the extra-judicial and arbitrary denial of service by Mastercard, Visa, Paypal, Western Union & Bank of America of WikiLeaks donations).
Wouldn’t the UK be more likely to extradite Assange than Sweden?''If the Justice Department were actually to issue charges against Mr. Assange while he was still in Britain there could be potentially a decision for the UK government whether to extradite him to Sweden or to the United States, and that could get to be a complicated clash between the two different requests which would put the UK government in a difficult position. - John B. Bellinger III on Fox News
Some critical voices claim that the UK-US extradition treaty is more permissive than the Sweden-US extradition treaty. Extradition to the US, they claim, would be simpler from the UK than from Sweden.
This argument fails on several points:
- The UK’s extradition treaty does not have the temporary surrender (’conditional release’) clause. The UK’s judicial review process, while far from perfect, has a number of practical review mechanisms. The nearest equivalent case, of Gary McKinnon - a UK citizen who has been charged for hacking US military systems - has been opposed in the courts for 8 years.
- Public opinion and the media (to a greater extent) are more sympathetic to Julian Assange in the UK than in Sweden. Public pressure could draw out the process of extradition to the United States in the UK. In Sweden the media climate is hostile (see Media climate in Sweden) due to the sex allegations. Public outcry would be significantly weaker and therefore less likely to stand in the way of a strategically convenient extradition.
- In the UK, Julian Assange is better able to defend himself, muster support and understand the legal procedures against him. In Sweden on the other hand, the language barrier prevents him from effectively challenging the actions against.
- The UK is politically better positioned to withstand pressure from the United States than Sweden. Sweden is a small country of nine million people close to Russia. It has grown increasingly dependent on the United States. In recent years Sweden has complied with directives from the United States in a manner that has not been scrutinised by Parliament, as has been revealed by the disclosed diplomatic cables (see Political Interference).
United States: Secret Grand Jury
The United States is looking to charge Julian Assange under the Espionage Act among other charges:
A secret grand jury located in Alexandria, Virginia, only six kilometres from central Washington D.C., has been meeting since December 2010. The grand jury decides whether to bring charges against Julian Assange and other people associated with WikiLeaks.
- The grand jury is held in secret, with no judge and no defence counsel. Four prosecutors are imposing subpoenas on individuals who are affiliated with WikiLeaks and on social networking sites including Twitter to disclose information about WikiLeaks’ work.
- A respected former chief judge of New York’s highest court, Sol Wachtler, famously coined the expression a grand jury would "indict a ham sandwich", given that prosecutors have complete control over the process.
- The grand jury consists of 16-23 people. Given the high incidence of government employees and public and military contractors living in this geographical area, it is likely that a majority of the components of the grand jury are ideologically opposed to WikiLeaks’ work.
- The grand jury will most likely decide to prosecute, even on weak grounds that would not withstand the minimum threshold under normal criminal processes.
- It is plausible that the grand jury has already decided to prosecute, and that a sealed indictment has been issued for extradition and will be unsealed when US extradition is convenient.
United States: What would happen if Julian Assange was extradited?
The suspected whistleblower Bradley Manning has been subjected to inhumane and degrading treatment. Julian Assange is likely to face similar treatment or worse: he will not be afforded the same constitutional rights as Bradley Manning because he is a foreign national. Over the past ten years the United States has developed a doctrine that denies basic rights to foreign political prisoners.
The 2012 US presidential elections are an opportunity to seize upon for the campaign trail: Julian Assange’s prosecution will probably be used by presidential candidates to show they are strong on "national security". Senators and presidential candidates have already called on the Obama administration to take an aggressive approach.
Republican candidates have urged the US treasury and Department of State to label WikiLeaks as a terrorist organisation, and to ’illegally assassinate’ or kidnap him, and treat him and his associates as ’enemy combatants’.
In other words, internal political pressure is calling for the United States to illegally apply torture in order to extract information, subject him to inhumane and degrading treatment as they have with Bradley Manning, or sentence Julian Assange to the death penalty. Public pronouncements by US senators and television personalities amount to hate speech and persecution (see Timing: EAW & INTERPOL Red Notice ). Source and other news justice4assange.com
Footnote: Now it goes without saying, there are some pretty sharp brains at blogger, but if someone could explain the sense of what I am about to demonstrate, then I would surely listen. (First)
As you are well aware, I upload lots of pics, and invariably I want them in the order that I upload them. Now I'm going to upload five test pics (the max) in the same order as they are numbered. Watch what happens.
The pics were upped in order 54321. Now can someone explain the fucking logic in that? Brains are grand things, but they are no good without a bit of common sense. It wasn't always thus by the way, this is a relatively new 'improvement.'
Behold: The U.S. God Of War. A Brief Statement of Hate and Hypocrisy Writ Large
I don't watch them anymore, I just can't hack them, the videos of US atrocities around the world is what I'm talking about. And the reason I don't watch them? I don't really know, all I know is that they fuck with my head and invade my being for the rest of the day.
However, and for reasons unknown, I did watch this morning, the video under the header Behold: The U.S. God Of War. There was little accompanying the clip, other than a reference and a link to Mark Twain's, The War Prayer.
Given the fact I had featured the War Prayer myself, back in 2007, I decided to go back to those earlier years and re-up here, some of my earlier posts. Offered up again, although without the detraction of the many graphics used in the original posts, that which is posted below has as much, if not more significance today as it did then.
I have upped the War Prayer videos and text, but in truth, these are not essential reading or viewing in my opinion. The same can't be said however for Layla Anwar, Arab Woman Blues. What she has to say, is the essence of this post. As equally, and perhaps more meaningful, are the replies from the good Christian folk of America.
The first re-up really doesn't need an introduction, just as it does not need the highlights that I employed in the original. The whole nauseous, steeped in God and hypocrisy, piece, is a highlight in itself.
America, complete in one graphic.
Us mega church.
I am neither going to comment on what is writ below nor am I going to highlight any particular passage. (well just the one) It all makes for an insightful read.
For those that are not familiar with Layla Anwar she is a dispossessed Iraqi woman woman taking refuge in, as far as I know, Syria.
She is not unsurprisingly more than a little angry.
These first few comments, with a little editing to remove the dross, were posted in response to Anwar's post above, entitled "A Brief Hate Statement."
However, and for reasons unknown, I did watch this morning, the video under the header Behold: The U.S. God Of War. There was little accompanying the clip, other than a reference and a link to Mark Twain's, The War Prayer.
Given the fact I had featured the War Prayer myself, back in 2007, I decided to go back to those earlier years and re-up here, some of my earlier posts. Offered up again, although without the detraction of the many graphics used in the original posts, that which is posted below has as much, if not more significance today as it did then.
I have upped the War Prayer videos and text, but in truth, these are not essential reading or viewing in my opinion. The same can't be said however for Layla Anwar, Arab Woman Blues. What she has to say, is the essence of this post. As equally, and perhaps more meaningful, are the replies from the good Christian folk of America.
The first re-up really doesn't need an introduction, just as it does not need the highlights that I employed in the original. The whole nauseous, steeped in God and hypocrisy, piece, is a highlight in itself.
Save Your Prayers For Those That Need Them
July 03, 2007
Give thanks to God for the excellent work of the American military in the capture of Saddam Hussein. Praise Him for the diligence and attention to detail that led to this monumental event, and for the answered prayers of millions of Americans. Rejoice with President Bush and his team in the opportunity for freedom for the people of Iraq. Pray with the President for the ongoing efforts to build a hopeful and self-governing Iraq.
As reaction to Saddam’s capture has sparked uprisings and violence, pray for peace and calm in Iraq, and protection for our troops.
Pray for the President and Mrs. Bush as well as Barbara, Jenna and other family members as they gather at Camp David this week. Pray for their safety, enjoyment and for the blessing of God to be with them.
As Christmas nears, pray that the spirit of the holiday will spread throughout our nation—that compassion, hope, peace and generosity will characterize our national culture. Pray for those who are homeless, in poverty, addicted or lonely this Christmas, that the love of God will be shed on the neediest Americans. Pray that many will step up to serve their fellow citizens in need.
Pray for the troops who are spending Christmas away from home, friends and family in foreign cultures. Pray that they will remember the constants of the season—God’s love and plan for the world, the high calling of their service to America, and the responsibility they have to honor and serve their Commander-in-Chief with integrity and faithfulness.
Pray for the members of Congress and the Pentagon as they evaluate the necessity of increasing the number of active military held by each branch of the Armed Forces. As more and more troops are called on to serve in the Middle East, many feel there is a need for greater numbers of well-prepared military. Presidential Prayer Team Dec18 2003 (dead link)
America, complete in one graphic.
Us mega church.
"Free" & Ruined Lives.
Layla Anwar
July 1, 2007
I am "Free". He is "Free". She is "Free". They are "Free". And you are only a spectator...
Free, Freedom, Democracy. I shudder at these words.
I want to burn Plato's Republic and spit on your Constitution, on your Founding Fathers, on your Laws...
Free limbs, detached, solitary limbs, scattered to the four cardinal points and a bleeding heart in the middle, like a compass.
An arm to the West, a leg to the East, a head down South and a torso up North...And that damned bleeding heart in the Center.
Free, so free...
Free, free in Prisons. Free, so free in Detention centers...
Detention centers in the Mnistry of Interior, Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Justice!
Crammed, packed, jammed... The smell of blood, urine and feces...covering the infected wounds. Wounds of torture born on transparent skins covering rib cages...
Free, so free.
Tortured and Free in American camps. Sodomized and Free - American democracy flavor. Tortured and Free, whipped by sectarianism - Iranian flavor. Oh so Free.
Free to die. Free to cry. Free to mourn. Free to flee. Free to escape. Free at the borders...jammed, packed.
Two thousand "free souls" flee a day. They amass at frontiers, waiting for a stamp on that damned Green passport...that cursed passport.
The passport with a broken winged eagle as an emblem. Clipped wings of Freedom.
It reads "Republic of Iraq."
Republic of whom? Iraq? What Iraq?
Two thousand a day. Grave faces, desperate eyes, lost voices...
A forgotten, abandoned people. A despised, humiliated, tortured, stolen people.
A raped people.
Lost voices in the wilderness of your indifference. The Lost voices of Freedom and Democracy...The father wipes his tears and you can see the look of being stuck in "Freedom".
" I have 8 children. Look at how I am living. Has anyone asked me how I feed those kids. I have been without a job for 2 years. I tell you how I feed them...I can't feed them. I spit on the U.N. I spit on the thief Bush. If I ever return to Iraq it will be to free my country from those criminals. I will either kill or be killed by them. There is no other way " says this worn out father who looks 3 times his age.
" The Iraqi government helping us? Are you insulting me or what? The Iraqi government has not and will never do anything for us. These are the most corrupt people in power that Iraq has ever known. They are sectarians and thieves. I don't want this passport. Take it now. I don't want this nationality. I am even willing to go to Somalia. Just find me a solution. Take that passport. Take it." says another father of 32.
" The Americans bombed my house. My 9 year old son was inside. Look at his face. He is burnt all over. His eyes are stuck and he cannot open them. His tongue is stuck to his palate and he cannot talk or swallow. And his head was stuck to his shoulder.
He has already undergone 9 operations and he needs another 9... He is only 9 years old. Look at him. I, myself, have 3 bullets lodged in my body. I served the Iraqi Army for 24 years. One in my thigh. One below my ribs and one in my back. I need surgery too. But I am not important. My son is. How will I manage? On my way here, highway bandits took all my money. I sold the house to come here. Now I have nothing. The boy needs treatment. No school is willing to accept him. One school did but the other students rejected him. They said he frightened them with his looks."
Ah the look of America on his and his son's face. The look of " Freedom ".
Another one plays the lute. A melodious tune that makes your heart quiver. A languorous tune of longing that fills the empty space like smoke. A smoke soon dissipated into that nothingness of " Freedom ."
A couple with a paralysed little girl who needs urgent treatment. They have been there, waiting since the crack of dawn, at the gates of some embassy or the UNHCR. Others take to the pavements. They sit and wait some more... Long hours of waiting in the space of " Freedom ".
Free, Freedom...
Free comments on a blog.
And the rats crawl from the gutters...Rats droppings, Albert Camus's "the Plague". The same kind of rats that rule Baghdad with their droppings...
Rats everywhere, crawling the streets, crawling on this page, leaving behind them a trail of excrements wherever they pass.
Rats on the go. Rats exiting. Rats entering again through a different door.
The rat with the grey steel eyes. The eyes of lies and deception has exited only to re-enter again after having ruined our lives with Freedom. Now another rat has taken up his place.
The fat rat of Baghdad. The rats of Iran. The rats of America...
The plague of Freedom.
Free, Freedom, Democracy and forever Ruined lives...
Forever Ruined. Layla Anwar
http://arabwomanblues.blogspot.com/
A Brief Hate statement...
by Layla Anwar
March 14, 2008
I really hate America, Americans, their culture, their ways, their accent, their politics, their arrogance, their stupidity, their ignorance...
I really can't stand Americans. I can't stand their men, their women, their country, everything they represent...
I truly, deeply, sincerly hate them.
I will elevate this hatred to an Art form.
What colors do you think I should use ? I love colors and I find them to be a colorless people...
So what colors should I use ? Gray, Black or Red ?
Or maybe just White ?
I have this idea of taking an old sheet, a dirty sheet...burn the edges, stab it with knifes and make holes in it, over a million holes, then throw in some bright red, like rain drops...
At other times, I fantasize about using the Abu Ghraib excrements and smudging the sheet with it, then collectively wipe your faces with it. Wipe your faces with the shit of the detainees you tortured.
Sometimes, my fantasy takes on a perverted twist, you must be a contagious lot with your perversity.
So I imagine a dirty sheet, covered with semen from forced masturbation, and have a few penises dangle on the corners, the penises you castrated, have them dangle there...and then give it a few brushes and strokes of hemorrhaging blood from the wombs of the women you raped. And this will be your new American flag.
Then you can all gather under that flag and we will take pictures of you. Don't forget to say cheese, will you ?
You know something, all the Americans I come across, the ones who are polluting the Middle East like some bacterial disease, they all know how much we hate you deep down...
They invariably start their sentences with "I'm an American, I hope you don't hate me"...And we give you the same stuff over and over..." No of course not, we have nothing against the American people"..."It's your government."
A lie...
Can you really blame any of us? What is so likeable about you ? After all you are nothing but a bunch of cold, indifferent, murderers...murderers of an innocent people. A people you have totally destroyed, destroyed right down to its fibers...
Your Bush, your Clinton, your senile Congress, your Senate...and you....All to be flushed down the toilet. But then, even the sewages of the world will vomit you out.
Of course if you are eager to hear words of praise, you really should not be visiting this blog. You can go to other Iraqi bloggers who have developed the expertise of kissing your ass for a "symbolic fee". Inside and outside the Green Zone.
But then deep down, you have contempt for these bloggers...They are too slave like. What you really secretly long for, is someone to tell you the Truth about you, about your moral degenerateness. And I shall not spare you. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever...
The most fascinating part of it all, is that I am very comfortable with this feeling I harbour towards you. It does not bother me, does not eat me up, does not cause me any guilt trips...It is so natural, so free flowing...
So what do you think ? What is the most appropriate expression for me to show you how much I really hate you ?
P.S: Brits may apply too. But you may get the leftovers...After all you have become a leftover yourselves. Layla Anwar
God Bless America
March 20, 2008I am neither going to comment on what is writ below nor am I going to highlight any particular passage. (well just the one) It all makes for an insightful read.
For those that are not familiar with Layla Anwar she is a dispossessed Iraqi woman woman taking refuge in, as far as I know, Syria.
She is not unsurprisingly more than a little angry.
These first few comments, with a little editing to remove the dross, were posted in response to Anwar's post above, entitled "A Brief Hate Statement."
- Greg from USA said...
Cheese
I think you just hate men.
How was life for you and your family under Saddam? Well taken care of?layla anwar said...
greg,
I was referring to the detainees that were raped and castrated by your brave boys...
Have you never seen the pictures?It is an abomination that you make the US military out to be a bunch of Abu Ghraib rapists. Wherever you go, there are criminals - the criminals from Abu Ghraib are traitors, and are rotting in jail - at least some of them. There will never be a justice that can stand up to this crime, but what you are saying in your blog is not only inaccurate, it invites more aggregate suffering. The US Soldier is one of the most disciplined, professional soldiers in the world. In Iraq, the US Soldier is more trusted than the Iraqi government. For every criminal you find, there are ten soldiers that personally take it upon themselves to help a sick Iraqi child, or visit with and comfort a suffering Iraqi family. US Soldiers put their lives on the line every day to protect Iraqis.
My friend asked me once why we don't just nuke Iraq. I tried to explain to him that we are trying to turn the Middle East around. We want to win hearts and minds and switch the ME to democracy, or at least one country, so that some day our children will no longer have to worry about animals who fly planes into buildings. I don't think he really gets the connection. He simply hates the terrorists. You hate everyone. Is that true? The cycle of hate goes on.
You never answered my question - I suppose you were better off under Saddam. Wife of a military man? Did he die in a fight with the Americans?
BTW, (this is a serious question) why don't they show the pictures of the thousands of Iraqis tortured by Al Qaeda?I read your other blogs. I guess I wasted my time. You are just another typical ME conspiracy theorist. Is that right? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_theory
If 100,000 tons of gold were discovered in a tunnel in Baghdad, and every Iraqi was suddenly rich, you would find a way to squander it or give it up and then blame it on "the Man" - the Americans in this case. Oh, wait - that already happened. You are sitting on top of enough oil to make everyone rich, you have a new, free constitution, and all sides have suffered immeasurably. The last time anything like this happened was the birth of the USA.
Bush is not a vampire, Americans deserve peace as much as you do, let go of your hate - stop being a stooge for the America haters. Put your brilliant mind to some good use.Greg you are for lack of a better suited word at the moment, a complete
moron. First, because you actually believe that Bush and Co. don't have some ulterior motive for US OCCUPATION of Iraq. HA. If you knew anything about the role that US has played throughout the world as a democracy-restoring nation, you would think twice about the things you say. I was born in Chile, under the dictatorship of Agusto Pinochet,put in place by the lovely American CIA. They savagely ripped out the heart of my country by stripping it of its former president Allende and posting yet another puppet. My mother lost many family members under Pinochet's regime, and this is all because of America's filthy "benevolent" intentions. I live in the US, and even with all the media bullshit coverup of Iraq and ME, I am still aware of what is happening, and the shit US is causing over there. One day you will remove your head out of your ass (or the President's) and understand what we are fucking up. Layla is fully entitled to think and feel in the matter she bests sees fit, because she has lived through this torture. You have not. So go back to your la-Z-boy and drink your red bull.
Secondly, you suggesting that under occupation, the
population of Iraq could magically rise above their oppression and take charge of the most valuable resource on earth. I hope you are alive in 20 years when China takes over this whole damned country and strips us of our rights to create a livable existence out of the natural resources we have. Oh wait, that's right, everything we need we can find at our friendly neighborhood wal-mart.Acknowledged, the US looks out for its own interests first. I look out for my family first. The fact that Germany and Japan were completely rebuilt and successful democracies, while the CIA ruined your country was due to the chance. Sorry about that. Ill bet your hero Hugo will foul things up before it is all over - central planning is iffy at best. Our military never occupied your country...
Other than Taiwan, China isn't going to take over anything. For better or worse, it is in Japans interest to check Chinas power.
BTW, its not a la-Z-boy, it is a glider-rocker and diet Pepsi. After all, I need my exercise.response to Greg from US
Go do some reading. Even your own US countryman, William Blum, former US State Department, in his excellently referenced and detailed book “Killing Hope “ has listed the US military's covert and overt operations in 56 countries of the world, since the end of world war 2. (1945-2003)
Blum thoroughly details and references the US military's/CIA dirty rotten heinous crimes carried out against people of these countries; of which the US bombed 25 of them, and caused the end of life for several million people.
So just for starters you have at least the majority of people from 56 Countries around the world that hate the US's guts. That excludes the US's puppet well-fed elite in these countries of course. In 2008 you can now add a few million more onto this number.
One can honour soldiers defending their own sovereign country. But one does not honour the US's barbaric marauding invaders of bullies cum pillagers, destroyers, ransackers, torturers, rapists, assassins, chemical poisoners, and murderers. This is what the majority of the worlds' people see the US and its military as. Bearing in mind not one of these 56 countries were a threat to the US.
And while your US airmen/women brag about the precision of their bombs of death. You disgusting cowards have the audacity, when you fire on civilian targets to tell us it was a mistake.
The issue that stands out here, is the glaring fact that the US never takes on anybody their own size. Like most bully boys it picks on those who have little defense to no defense. And then its excuse-for-soldiers kid themselves they are heroes.
In view of all this, of course you are a hateful country, which millions of people around the world healthily, and quite justifiably hate.- Greg from USA said...
bluegum,
Whatever - I don't care if the rest of the world hates us - they read or listen to what they want to hear - William Blum, Saddam Hussein, whoever gives them an easy answer for their problems. If you think blind hatred gets you somewhere, you are sooo sadly wrong. If bigots in Al Qaeda attack the US again - worse than 911 - it will turn all of our la-Z-boy cowboys into a raging bunch of killers - not the guys that are treating our enemies with "kid gloves" now.
Iraqis are much better off working with us to clear out Al Qaeda, then we will go home and you can run your own affairs, less Saddam, with the only democratic system in the ME other than Israel. The US should/will only meddle when it feels it is threatened. (By the way, any threat to the oil supply is definitely a life threat to millions here - we have these wild lefties over here that have blocked us from building enough nuclear plants to cut our oil dependence. They would rather we meddle in your affairs than take any risk of an accident) Finally, America and the rest of the world are joined. If the USA falls into chaos, your satisfaction will be tempered by the knowledge that we will probably drag everyone down with us.
As for the atrocities, I didn't commit them so I can't apologize for them. WHY DONT YOU WALK DOWN TO YOUR NEIGHBORS HOUSE, the one who scared off, tortured or murdered half the sunnis or shia in town and ask him to apologize first?
We are the good guys, no matter what William Blum or Kim Jong Ill or anyone else says. I would show your people a lot more mercy than you would show mine. And that goes for my family, my town, my state, etc., so I can confidently project that thinking onto the majority of US soldiers. I can be angry with this blog or posts without lusting to see your skin peeled off - can you say the same?
"You disgusting cowards have the audacity, when you fire on civilian targets to tell us it was a mistake." Yep, it was a mistake. We don't target civilians.
"the US never takes on anybody their own size" The last time we did that, 50 million people died in WWII. Is that what you lust for?
If YOU killed my family, I would hunt YOU. I would hunt YOU down and kill YOU. That is the only way I would be a slave to my hate. But then if I captured my enemy I would have the discipline not to torture them. Unless you have information that can save lives, there is no reason to do it. I know when the devil speaks to me. Is there a devil in Islam? Or is it G-d telling you to blowtorch holes in people's feet?
I intended to finish at this point but before parting I thought I should offer this last nugget.
Awwwww you hate me Layla? That really breaks me up!!! Good God, how pathetic can you get? Let that hate consume you...go ahead, let that hate flow...do it for me.
You know, this blog entry should be the automatic response sent to every American who agrees with anything you have to say. You know, the ones who kiss your ass, begging for forgiveness of their sins. I am talking about the Americans who don't think they are included in your hate-speak - when, in fact, you have more contempt for them than anyone else. You make my skin crawl.
Hate me - I still have electricity
Hate me - I have running water
Hate me - I have a job & money
Hate me - I have law & order
Hate me - I don't spend my life stand in line
Hate me - I have Medicine & insurance
Hate me - I own a house
Hate me - I have a big family who love me & I love them
Hate me - I live in my own country
Hate me - I am a Christian
Hate me - I can walk down the street without fear
Hate me - I am laughing at you
Hate me - IT'S AN HONOR!!!
Face it, Americans are far more innocent than Iraqies. Iraqies relate perfectly to their so called fearless leader, Saddam - a cold, indifferent murderer himself. What is so lovable about you? You are purple fingered traders, liars, cry-babies, backward shits, cowards, sectarian & tribal assholes, fundimentalist nuts, pedophile worshipers, crooks & criminals, rapists, pimps, whores & torturers.
I need to take a bath just thinking about you people....while you enjoy wrapping yourself up in that new American flag you invented....you sick fuck...- Further reading can be found in the comments section of the article preceding this.
Behold: The U.S. God Of War
The holy fire of patriotism
O Lord our God, ... help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, - Mark Twain ICH
The War Prayer
By Mark Twain
It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and spluttering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with happy emotion as they swung by; nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory which stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts, and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country, and invoked the God of Battles beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpourings of fervid eloquence which moved every listener. It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half dozen rash spirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast a doubt upon its righteousness straightway got such a stern and angry warning that for their personal safety's sake they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no more in that way.
Sunday morning came -- next day the battalions would leave for the front; the church was filled; the volunteers were there, their young faces alight with martial dreams -- visions of the stern advance, the gathering momentum, the rushing charge, the flashing sabers, the flight of the foe, the tumult, the enveloping smoke, the fierce pursuit, the surrender! Then home from the war, bronzed heroes, welcomed, adored, submerged in golden seas of glory! With the volunteers sat their dear ones, proud, happy, and envied by the neighbors and friends who had no sons and brothers to send forth to the field of honor, there to win for the flag, or, failing, die the noblest of noble deaths. The service proceeded; a war chapter from the Old Testament was read; the first prayer was said; it was followed by an organ burst that shook the building, and with one impulse the house rose, with glowing eyes and beating hearts, and poured out that tremendous invocation
*God the all-terrible! Thou who ordainest! Thunder thy clarion and lightning thy sword!*
Then came the "long" prayer. None could remember the like of it for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The burden of its supplication was, that an ever-merciful and benignant Father of us all would watch over our noble young soldiers, and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work; bless them, shield them in the day of battle and the hour of peril, bear them in His mighty hand, make them strong and confident, invincible in the bloody onset; help them to crush the foe, grant to them and to their flag and country imperishable honor and glory --
An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness. With all eyes following him and wondering, he made his silent way; without pausing, he ascended to the preacher's side and stood there waiting. With shut lids the preacher, unconscious of his presence, continued with his moving prayer, and at last finished it with the words, uttered in fervent appeal, "Bless our arms, grant us the victory, O Lord our God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!"
The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside -- which the startled minister did -- and took his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes, in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said:
"I come from the Throne -- bearing a message from Almighty God!" The words smote the house with a shock; if the stranger perceived it he gave no attention. "He has heard the prayer of His servant your shepherd, and will grant it if such shall be your desire after I, His messenger, shall have explained to you its import -- that is to say, its full import. For it is like unto many of the prayers of men, in that it asks for more than he who utters it is aware of -- except he pause and think.
"God's servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two -- one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of Him Who heareth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this -- keep it in mind. If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor's crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it.
"You have heard your servant's prayer -- the uttered part of it. I am commissioned of God to put into words the other part of it -- that part which the pastor -- and also you in your hearts -- fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so! You heard these words: 'Grant us the victory, O Lord our God!' That is sufficient. the *whole* of the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words. Elaborations were not necessary. When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory--*must* follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!
"O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle -- be Thou near them! With them -- in spirit -- we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it -- for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.
(*After a pause.*) "Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits!"
It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.
Least We Forget: Fuck America
Monday, February 06, 2012
UK Government Wants ‘Extreme’ Web Sites Shut Down
When I read stuff like this, it reminds me of someone's granny; Eeeh that internet thing, it's the Devil's tool!
And where you see "Witnesses'' read, ''Some scholars believe.''
And where you see "Witnesses'' read, ''Some scholars believe.''
Government wants ‘extreme’ web sites shut down
ISPs expected to aid censorship
By Dave Neal
Feb 06 2012
THE AUTHORITARIAN UK GOVERNMENT is asking internet service providers (ISPs) to help it rid the world of 'extreme' political web sites.
A report from the UK Home Affairs Committee has appeared on government web sites this morning and warns of an increase in such web sites and calls for more help in shutting them down.
"More resources need to be directed to these threats and to preventing radicalization through the Internet and in private spaces," blathered Keith Vaz, chairman of the committee. "These are the fertile breeding grounds for terrorism," he blustered.
According to its research the internet is one of the "most significant vehicles for promoting violent radicalism", and is even worse than "prisons, universities and places of worship", the committee's report said.
"Witnesses told the Committee that the internet played a part in most, if not all, cases of violent radicalisation," it added.
That is a bold claim, but it is enough to justify an internet witch-hunt it seems. "The Committee recommends that internet service providers themselves should be more active in monitoring the material they host, with appropriate guidance, advice and support from the Government," added the Committee.
"The Government should work with internet providers to develop a code of practice for the removal of material which promotes violent extremism."
Unfortunately, although it does not make much of it, the Committee's investigations found that actually there is not much of a link between the internet and radicalism.
"Many of our witnesses cited the internet as the main forum for radicalisation," says the report before admitting that this contradicts other government research.
"This seemed to be contradicted by more recent Home Office-commissioned research, which concluded that the internet 'does not appear to play a significant role in Al Qa'ida-influenced radicalisation'," it admitted.
"Even those witnesses who attributed a significant role to the internet tended to support that report's conclusion that some element of face-to-face contact was generally essential to radicalisation taking place, including with regards to the extreme far right."
However, it has an argument to get around this inconvenient fact, which is that the internet can influence people.
"By definition this does not deal with the issue of self radicalisation which by its very nature takes place in isolation and concerns have been expressed about the impact of 'Sheikh Google' on individuals who may be vulnerable, but have not been identified as starting on a journey of self radicalisation," it claimed.
The report was greeted with disappointment from Loz Kaye, the leader of the UK Pirate Party. "Violence is born of too little information, not too much. We need a free functioning Internet if the aim is to engage," he said.
"Yet again it seems that politicians' solution to any problem is to pass the buck to ISPs." The Inquirer
Daily Mail Tits & Bums Ten Questions For Paul Dacre
10 questions for Daily Mail boss Paul Dacre
The editor's appearance before the Leveson inquiry is the perfect time to ask about Mail Online.
by Steven Baxter
06 February 2012
The timing couldn't be better. Just as Paul Dacre prepares to appear before the Leveson inquiry, his newspaper appears to be vindicated over its calls for Fred "The Shred" Goodwin. Coming so soon after Dacre's slightly odd appearance on his own website, proclaiming the value of his publication's campaign in the Stephen Lawrence case, it's a time to celebrate the Daily Mail, isn't it? While it will be easy to point to the inflated role of the press in general -- and the Mail in particular -- in the Stephen Lawrence case, there's not as much to shout about when it comes to Mail Online.
Sure, it's the No 1 news website in the world; which would be a real bauble worth having if most of the traffic came there to look at news. But get beneath the bold headlines and political comment and you'll see a bewilderingly high number of stories about obscure (to British readers, anyway) American celebrities on holiday, wearing bikinis or being "poured into" (a favourite phrase, this, of Mail Online's) swimwear or little black dresses. As The Media Blog pointed out last week, you have to ask whether this recipe for success is really something to shout about.
Maybe it is. Maybe Paul Dacre is delighted to have the Mail brand associated with softcore masturbators seeking out cheesecake images of women in lingerie and bikinis -- though I doubt that would be the first thing he would bring up when asked about the relative success of Mail Online and what it means for the future of journalism. But as editor-in-chief of Associated Newspapers, and a highly remunerated editorial expert on the Daily Mail and General Trust board, he'd be hard pressed to claim it's nothing to do with him.
All that aside, there are other nagging issues about Mail Online: photos used without the takers' permission; articles that border on the tasteless and unethical which are only pulled after they've attracted thousands of visitors to add to Mail Online's growing statistics; hundreds of stories about young children who happen to have famous parents; trashy articles speculating on the weight gain (or loss) of (mainly female) celebrities. How does that kind of activity sit with the Mail brand?
So here are 10 questions for Paul Dacre ahead of his appearance before Leveson about Mail Online and whether its standards live up to those of his flagship printed edition.Oh woe is me.
1) Do you think it is appropriate to embed a 7 minute video of an alleged rape in a story about an alleged rape in Brazil's Big Brother? The footage was available to view for several hours.
2) Do you think it is acceptable to use photographs from Facebook/Twitter/Flicker/blogs without the permission of the copyright holder, even when that person has explicitly denied permission?
If not, why does it keep happening? Would the rules be different for photographs sourced for the print edition of the Mail?
3) Do you think it is appropriate to run stories about children where the reason for their newsworthiness is their family connection to a public figure, for example 572 stories about Suri Cruise, including the agenda-setting "The tiring life of Suri Cruise: Katie Holmes' daughter snuggles up in her favourite pink 'blankie'"?
4) More New Statesman
Newton's third law of motion.
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Gang Membership Cards For Catholics?
Card-carrying Catholics
Catholics are being encouraged to carry a 'faith card'. Could it catch on?
by Nelson Jones
02 February 2012
I'm intrigued by the proposal, revealed yesterday by the Telegraph's Martin Beckford, to issue all one million regularly practising Catholics in England and Wales with credit-card-sized "faith cards". One side carries a quote from the recently beatified John Henry Newman, while the other lists six things that good Catholics ought to do (number one is to share the faith, incidentally) and carries the injunction, "in the event of an emergency please contact a Catholic priest."
I assume that this refers to a medical emergency, rather than to a sudden crisis of faith or to a difficulty encountered while trying to explain the finer points of the doctrine of transubstantiation to an incredulous atheist.
Launching the scheme, Bishop Kieran Conry put the card in the context of modern society, in which it is common to carry cards "which reflect something of our identity and the things that are important to us." But it would surely have appealed to the fifteenth century Franciscan preacher St Bernardino of Siena, who used to carry around a plaque inscribed with an IHS logo, the better to impress congregations with reverence for the name of Jesus. He's now the patron saint of advertising.
According to the bishop, the card will remind Catholics of their faith and encourage them to share it. It isn't, though, a membership card. There's no suggestion that it would be necessary to show it before receiving communion in an unfamiliar church, for example. Perhaps they're missing a trick, there. Given the complexity and specificity of the rules surrounding who is and isn't permitted to receive the sacrament, it might be considered surprising that the system continues to function largely on trust. A smart card would provide an excellent way of keeping track of which Catholics were in good standing with the Church, as well as preventing Anglicans from surreptitiously availing themselves of communion, as Tony Blair used to do while he was prime minister.
Nor is it, yet, a loyalty card, although I can imagine enterprising Catholic-friendly businesses offering discounts to its bearers. It's not uncommon, after all, for some clubs and societies to negotiate discounts on behalf of their members, or universities on behalf of their alumni, while many businesses spontaneously offer discounts to students, pensioners or local residents. At a time when the Catholic Church is seriously worried about falling congregations (the pope himself warning the other day that "in large parts of the world the faith is in danger of dying out like a flame that has no more sustenance") some such incentive scheme might prove useful.
More seriously,...... more
See full text for significance.
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