Kate McCann Never Less Than Dignified

Kate McCann Never Less Than Dignified

Famous faces pick their person of the year

Liz Hunt, Sunday Telegraph columnist
29 Dec 2007

Kate McCann. Madeleine’s mother suffers daily the torture of knowing she should have been there for her child and has endured the agony of being implicated in her death. Yet she has never been less than dignified, and her focus on finding her daughter has not wavered. link

Takes your breath away doesn't it?

This somewhat less than dignified begging bowl made its appearance in Pria da Luz shortly after the McCanns disappeared their daughter, Madeleine. 

And disappeared her they did, make no mistake, Madeleine McCann was not abducted. And should anybody like to argue the fact in a court of law, fine by me, bring it on. They can have their day, and I'll have mine.

Let me give you a brief analogy a shorter, hypothetical version of what you will find at the link above, the essence of the thing so to speak.


Scene, any courtroom in the land.

Gerry McCann: I apologise for being late your honour, my car had a punctured tyre.

Judge: Sergeant, please check Mr McCann's car.

Anon

Sergeant: No sign of a flat tyre m'Lud.

Judge: Mr McCann, that defence may be good enough for the Home Secretary and the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, but it is not acceptable to this court. (Take him down)

For flat tyre substitute jemmied shutters. (Take him down again)

Good enough for the Home Secretary; it must be mustn't it, why else would Theresa May be in the same room as Kate McCann, let alone rubbing shoulders with the woman.

Well not quite rubbing shoulders, I think a little body language, intentional or otherwise, has come to the fore in that picture. I don't know what that says to you dear reader, but I know what it says to me?

Tut tut Theresa, surely Kate McCann no longer reeks of her daughter's cadaver, it must be something else then? Proxemics is it?

Why Theresa May you might ask? Why not, it's her watch?

For every vile stunt pulled by the McCanns has been at the pleasure of previous and present Home Secretaries.

I will just say one thing more then I shall move on to the offending article.

When this shabby edifice finally comes tumbling down, as it must, of that much you must be well aware, you won't for shame Home Secretary cry, "Well I never! Who'dathunkit? Not for shame you won't.

To dignity then and the offending article.

Do I really need to add my comments to this deplorable drivel?

No, I'm sure I don't, I don't think I have the stomach for it. What I might do however is borrow a tweet I spied yesterday, yes, that will suffice and I'm sure you might agree.

A LIST!!! a fucking list. I weep.

Gerry and Kate McCann reveal the reasons why they miss Maddie
By Tracey Kandohla
6 Nov 2015

Kate and Gerry McCann include her smile, her dimples, her sense of humour, her “chat” and her excitement in the festive build-up
The parents of Madeleine McCann have compiled a heart-rending list of all the things they miss about their long-lost daughter in the run-up to Christmas.
The list accompanies a picture of the couple standing at their front door in Rothley, Leics.

The photo, taken for the charity Missing People’s Home for Christmas Exhibition, is among 12 pictures of -families who have missing loved ones.
The exhibition – at The Crypt in London’s St-Martin-in-the-Fields – highlights the plight of thousands of people across Britain who are living in limbo after the disappearance of a family member.

A charity spokesperson said: “These powerful images depict families standing by their front doors, symbolising the hopes and fears experienced by those desperately waiting for news.”

The picture of heart doctor Gerry and former GP Kate , both 47, is on public view until November 22. The couple, parents to 10-year-old twins Sean and Amelie, refuse to give up hope of finding their eldest child, who would now be 12.

Madeleine disappeared from a holiday apartment in Portugal’s Praia da Luz in May 2007.

Missing People’s Jo Youle said: “The exhibition will give the public the opportunity to stand with these families missing a loved one by sharing messages of support.”

Her smile
Her laughter
Her eyes
Her dimples
Her sense of humour
Her smartness
Her imitations of people and characters
Her voice, her ‘chat’
Her company
That knowing look
Her singing
Styling her hair
Chasing her round the garden
Sharing her excitement in the run-up to Christmas
Sharing anything
Spoiling her on her birthday
Shopping with her
Going to a cafe with her
Holding her, hugging her, kissing the top of her head
Lying next to her
Our complete family of five
Everything
We miss her

Who else but the Mirror?

Looking For Madeleine: A Book Review

Without comment, posted and preserved for posterity. You will however, find a clip or two below, where Summers and Swan opine on other subjects.

Atrocious representation of a problematic narrative, fraudulently disguised as 'objective investigative journalism.',
12 Sep 2014
By Vten "Vten"

This review is from: Looking For Madeleine (Kindle Edition)


This is a genuinely troubling work.

Much of Anthony Summers 'kudos' stems from his work debunking government narratives and 'official' accounts of controversial events, not least in his work on the Kennedy Assassination, which is effectively what made his 'name' in this kind of field of research. His volume on that subject is considered a staple of speculative 'research' and earned him some degree of respect.

It was on that basis that Summers allowed himself to be regarded as an 'investigative journalist' or an 'investigative reporter' (whichever he prefers) and indeed he certainly epitomised the altruistic skeptic, cutting through the 'official story' to dig through the nuggets of inconvenient, irrepressible, undeniable facts which defied the attempts at establishment whitewash, refused to go away, the testimonies and evidences which called loudly to be heard above the white noise of government narratives.

Sadly, and inexplicably, Summers has taken recently to becoming an apologist for incredulous 'official' narratives - for writing volumes which reassure the reader that it is safe to overlook the inconvenient, irrepressible, undeniable facts which defy attempts at whitewashing, to disregard them. He did so lazily with the subject of 911, a topic which would certainly have lent itself to requiring far more pages even to debunk the circulating theories and claimed misinformations. An investigative journalist should not merely form a narrative, but should investigate. With depth. Thoroughly. And one claiming to be 'impartial' or 'independent' or 'objective' should do so affording equal opportunity to the troublesome points of issue or debate.

This volume is no exception. It is nothing short of an emotionally sickly rehash of a tired and unconvincing narrative in which the author(s) (and I suspect that this is more of her work than his) has managed entirely to avoid objectively investigating troublesome points of issue or debate in this case. Indeed, the author appears to be inexpllcably proud of the very minimal amount of contact and interview that has been conducted, which shows in the content of the book.

I've actually had to resort to skim reading the book, because there's literally nothing new in it, and I'm shocked and appalled by the sheer amount of foregone conclusion and logical fallacy involved in glossing over a very small number of the glaring problems in the Tapas Group's narrative and the 'official story.'

Once upon a time, as with the JFK controversy, the very inconsistensies and incriminating evidences (sniffer dogs alerting positively to McCann apartment, hire car and clothing) would have a serious investigative journalist straining for a pen in order to get to the bottom of those very damning details. Summers, however, clearly past his prime, is doing little more than giving (if at all) a fleeting reference to these inconveniences and offering a reassurance on the basis of his own claimed authority and acumen, that there is 'nothing to see here.'

For certain, his is an utterly unique work in this field.

But not for the reasons he'd like you to think. Not because his work is definitive. Not because his work is so cutting edge and accurate. Not because he's gotten to the truth.

Rather, his work is unique because it is so utterly redundant, and pointlessly benign.

You see, he's offered nothing that isn't already being pushed by the McCann family and their agents including PR guru Clarence Mitchell. He's offering nothing that hasn't already been published, ad nauseum, by the apologists.

But that's the point. You cannot declare yourself an 'investigative journalist' or an 'objective reporter' on a subject where critical or contradictory analysis CANNOT be legally published. In the UK the texts which take a dim view of what should be, in any case like this anywhere in the world, the prime suspects and the smoking gun evidence, have been banned by request of the people who have the most to lose from the eye of critical assessment.

In short, the ONLY narrative that can be printed in book form in the UK and sold for profit is a narrative which affirms the 'official' story. Yet that 'official story' is not supported by any independent, testable, credible evidence whatsoever. Rather, it exists only in the testimony of the people who were claimed as being present at the time - testimony which, the official PJ files show, has changed a disturbing number of times. From the outset, it was never possible for this book to exist and to deliver anything other than this very same affirmative narrative irrespective of the facts, the evidence and the wealth of contradictory opinion - all of which are available freely in the public domain.

On this basis the author makes several false statements and perpetuates several fallacies which are repetitions of staple claims and insistences made by the McCann Organisation, but which bear no resemblance to the statements made by the appropriate investigative authorities in Portugal or the UK. Similarly, the author's work is already out of date. The authors, like the McCann organisation, make frequent insinuations about the mysterious figure allegedly seen carrying a limp girl through the chilly streets during the mere moments of incredulous 'windows of opportunity' presented by the Tapas Group in their numerous contradictory statements, as identified by one of the Tapas Group as an 'afterthought', when in October 2013 Scotland Yard and the BBC Crimewatch team began a comprehensive dismissal of this 'mystery' figure by identifying and eliminating from enquiries the individual in question. The authors also make reference to optimistic claims by senior detectives at Scotland Yard that the missing child is probably still alive, while the reality is that the lead detective at Scotland Yard has lent a disproportionate support to the 'consensus' that the child did not leave her family's holiday apartment alive.

This work cannot be considered a credible, independent, objective evaluation of this mysterious and controversial case while it is so clearly formed from the outset around drawing and reinforcing foregone conclusions without any kind of credible examination of inconvenient facts, critical assessment of incriminating evidence, or fully revelatory examinations of the case against the only universally recognised prime suspects in the case.

In actual fact, you would learn more about the statistical probabilities, tried and tested likelihoods, and investigative due process in 'missing child' cases by watching some old episodes of 'Without A Trace' than you will from reading this book, because here the authors immediately dismiss what patterns and profiles police departments have established internationally from examining such cases, and declared - solely on their own testimony - the prime suspects to be free of culpability and above scrutiny and suspicion.

Even more incredulously, the authors have become apologists for the controversial actions of parents who left their own children for multiple nights in a row home alone in a strange, unlocked holiday apartment while they ate and drank in a holiday resort in which, it seems, the bulk of their holiday was spent sending their children off to organised activities to be looked after by holiday resort staff.

An apologetic is not an objective assessment. It is a pre-determined agenda. Informational sleight of hand.

This volume is strong on regurgitated narrative, and bereft of actual, critical, objective factual examination.

Similarly, it is premature. Summers previous work has been on 'cold case', biographies and investigations into past and concluded matters. This is an ongoing, unsolved investigation which has been the subject of significant political and media interference and is as yet unconcluded and leaves a significant population of the UK, and a sizeable majority of the US, Australia and Europe strongly questioning the carefully screened and deliberately spun narrative presented via the mainstream media where this matter is concerned. This cannot, by nature, be a post-mortem of a case, which begs the question as to why Summers and Co felt the need to wade in with such selective partiality. In the UK no books can be sold which offer a contradictory or controversial analysis of the case and the 'official story', although in Europe the media market is free enough to allow citizens to purchase and read the work of unconstrained investigators and journalists who yield a very different conclusion to that presented in UK media. So this volume is, as a supposedly 'critically objective' work, utterly redundant. It instead appears to be an unnecessary contribution to the steering of public opinion in favour of the mainstream media, regurgitating and reinforcing the already well-established 'consensus' account of the case.

There is, literally, nothing here for readers that has not been heard ad nauseam and without challenge, for seven years - great sections of the book are simply lifted from case files, media interviews and so on. There is naught original here, nothing brave or challenging about this writing, and the curious reader would be far more enlightened and intrigued by referencing the PJ Police Files directly or in their translated form, or reading the commentary from investigating officers in Portugal.

In view of the informational and misinformational mess that this case has become with too many parties with vested interests dipping a stirring spoon into the pot, particularly in recent months, it almost seems like this book comes along to lift the Tapas Group's carefully contrived and harmonised narrative out of the noise of the active investigation and to reinforce it with the illusion of a safe, impartial, academic authority.

As a work, this isn't worth the paper or the pixels that its printed with, because it has no academic or informational value that could not be better served elsewhere for free.

In Reply

M. Goldberg says:

Excellent appraisal. Put into words thoughts I could never articulate so succinctly. It is, in essence, a eulogy for the McCanns. The authors knew that straying from the official narrative would have them carpeted at Carter Ruck and that Amazon would never stock it.
We are inured to the Mitchell driven spin surrounding the McCanns and this has his rank scent rising from it from cover to cover. Summers and Swan have literary, sorry, literally sold out. Oxfam and remainder fodder.

Response

Vten says:

I think so.

It's a shame.

Truth is truth. Even in a sea of misinformation, even in a flood of speculation and negative comment, truth will prevail and those telling the truth can maintain a quiet dignity in knowing what they know. They have no need to hire a Carter Ruck and they have no need of a PR expert. Indeed, this is one of the details that has done this family the most damage. Many rational human beings the world over cannot even fathom that the parents of a missing child would engage in anything other than upping sticks and spending every last penny and every last breath doing everything they can to help the police and to make the search their own. Many rational human beings immediately sense the hairs on the back of their neck bristling when they hear about parties, however unfairly scandalised, who bother giving gossip and unkindness the legitimacy of a PR campaign to counter, or a law firm to sue, or superinjunctions to silence. It immediately sends a message which speaks of anything other than the conviction of innocence and a commitment to stay on track and on topic in the relentless, ceaseless, tireless quest for a missing child.

The establishment of a media-savvy organisation which gives new jobs to family and friends, the crusade of searching four star hotels and chat show sofas across the Western world, the endless fundraising activities, the lack of cooperation with the primary investigating police force and the bypassing of due process in order to steer attention and information toward a privately owned (and ultimately predictably corrupt and useless) investigation team - all these have done this family far more damage than any word uttered by any skeptic anywhere in the world. Even the mainstream media (Channel 5) recently recognised this, and began - as much as the injunctions would allow - to explore the theme of where this did tremendous damage.

I was personally disappointed, not because I have a dog in this hunt. I have very clear opinions about this case, based on the objective analysis of all the available (freely available - thank you Policia Judicia) evidence, and arrived at conclusions (if not complete theories) which I believe no rational, reasonable thinking adult could fail to reach, even with the greatest desire to believe the best. More than that, however, I'm fascinated with the extensive government and organised media interference, and again, it is this abundantly evident exceptional involvement which prompts the suspicion of a cover-up and a dark truth waiting to be revealed, seemingly of the scale of Watergate and in the spirit of every great conspiracy to cover-up the dastardly.

Summers should have been a researcher capable of handling this subject intelligently and objectively. And he didn't. As you rightly say, this content and conclusion was predictable for whichever author produced it, and makes me wonder if it wasn't the publisher that commissioned the content. After all, this is literally the only book on this subject which could sell. If a publisher could crack the injunctions and conspiracy against free press that is currently suppressing Goncalo Amaral's 'The Truth of The Lie', then that is certainly a volume which will spin straw into gold, and should this case ever crack in that direction, and the power of Carter Ruck be rendered null and void, I can't imagine a media organisation on the planet that wouldn't kill to sign the rights.

With this, the incredible absence of speculative, albeit controversial texts, is evidence of the suppressive nature of whatever legal threat is in place. And in those circumstances the publisher - who is almost certainly ambivalent to the conclusions which can be drawn, impartial in opinion, is simply seeking the opportunity to make money. Whether Summers and Co were chosen by the publisher, commissioned by an outsider, or have succumbed to some kind of intellectual dementia or the dulling effect of greed, the publisher makes money on the sale of a title which I suspect they grossly overestimated a demand for. I doubt Summers and Co will be overly excited about their earnings on this one. And let's face it, News Corporation would serialise the inventory of a grocer's shop, if they thought it would sell copy. These people are morally ambivalent by nature, and no publicity is bad publicity. All of it has plausible deniability built in. The duped can turn hero. The sued and censured can be vindicated. The fence straddle can come down on the right side.

I wanted this to be a good, intelligent, investigative read - a comprehensive study of the wealth of evidence and the inconvenient conclusions they lead to. It wasn't anything even close.

Reply

M. Goldberg says:

Thank you for your reply. Once again hammered down into a succinct precis of my thoughts this past seven years. Having followed the Soham Murders and their parents machinations and demeanour it was immediately evident that, with the McCanns, something was rotten in Rothley.
Where are Summers and Swan's analysis of the plethora of footage of Gerry shutting Kate up in interviews? Their true colours shining incandescently outside the Lisbon Court? The ridiculous implausibility of a part time GP visiting 6 corpses two weeks before her holiday taking her child's soft toy with her? The reversal of Gerry's initial statement regarding his choice of entrance to 5A? The risible "Ask the dogs, Sandra?" His less that empathetic comment, quote, "Gerry: "And if Madeleine had hurt herself inside the apartment - why would that be our fault?" end quote.

Have they established what time it was Dr Payne visited 5A the "last day", a person Crimewatch managed to omit completely in their "reconstruction"?
Do they not question the McCann prescience of arranging forthcoming anniversaries of 100 days missing weeks in advance when she could so easily walk right back in through the Villa door? The monumental and unprecedented protection of the McCanns, ranging from Gordon Brown and Special Branch to the mainstream media's luvvies. The UK media, when held up against any other country, smacks of Government gagging. The banning of a book here takes me back to a Totalitarian Fascist-like state akin to 1930's Germany.

None of this has reached us via the TV and pulp media here, all filtered out after the media found themselves successfully sued by serial wannabe litigators, the McCanns.
What of the crooks they hired, Metodo3, Halligan (whichever way he spells it these days)? Of Edgar and Cowley's jury rigged ramshackle little unregistered outfit?
And Summers and Swan don't spot a theme, here?
It is, of course, another pro McCann ditty, a guarantee (they thought) of making money, possibly part of the publisher's requirements to fulfil their output quota deal.
Having seen Swan on Sky calling Eddie and Keela "so-called cadaver dogs" was sufficient for me to know the ostensible purpose of this cozy little literary genuflect to the media lionised McCanns.
I'm not sure what category this "book" could be nominated for. I don't think Pulitzer give prizes for obsequious potboiling.

Response

Vten says:
Not at all...

You don't need a work of fiction to serve a purpose or carry potency. You don't need poetry to serve a purpose or carry potency. You don't even need a shameless apologetic or even a biography to serve a purpose or carry potency.

But when a piece of writing claiming to be investigative journalism, claiming to be the result of years of objective analytical study, which presents itself as having the authority of riding on the coat-tails of critically acclaimed pieces of writing where materially implausible 'official stories' were debunked by precisely focusing on the mass of detail found in the evidence which has formally been overlooked, ignored, childishly explained away, suppressed, or by consideration of the glaring inconsistensies and contradictions, then I maintain my view that without purpose and without potency in doing so, the work is utterly pointless and shamelessly commercial.

In musical terms Summers has stepped beyond the artistic concept album, he's left behind the cutting edge punk explosion, and he's settled squarely in the field of middle-of-the-road geriatric pop. He has the right to do so, but to feel any obligation to accept where he's at as having in any way been the result of a process of maturing, improving and advancing would be nothing short of madness.

In terms of prematurity, this work is as ill-placed as if he had written, four years ago, an 'expose' of Hillsborough in which overlooked the majority of available testimony, glossed over the pertinent details which court controversy, and simply affirmed that everything the British police had already said was entirely true, regardless of the fact that experts from across the world were screaming that something was stinking.

Heck, for the sake of journalistic integrity in the field (Summers' former field) of conspiracy theory alone, you would be compelled to at least devote a chapter to how tried and tested it is to recognise extraordinary government intervention and the extraordinary and exceptional behaviour of nationally controlled police and secret service agencies which was neither precedented nor has ever been repeated in this case, as bearing the hallmarks of something extremely suspicious, even if only by the absolute abstractness from form of those actions and interventions.

These are the premises under which Summers worked when he penned earlier titles. When American police forces (FBI or otherwise) ignored information, destroyed vital notices that rang alarm bells. When police gave right of access and even right of control to non-police individuals or agencies, that rang alarm bells. When the authority of a sailor shut down the investigation which should be led by a pathologist, that rang alarm bells. When tried and tested forensic science was declared irrelevant, because it produced a result which to all intents and purposes was valid but inconvenient, that rang alarm bells. When witnesses were omitted from official investigation, and untraceable but convenient witnesses were conjured up to affirm the official story, that rang alarm bells. When government departments with much better things to do stepped into situations that were outside their remit and enacted measures which were not their usual way of dealing with similar matters, that rang alarm bells. When timelines were changed, when conclusions and divergences were being publicised before even the dust had settled, before a forensic examiners briefcase had even been opened, that rang alarm bells. And Summers, like others including those whose shoulders he stood on to pen his unoriginal but comprehensive work, was writing in response to the very valid alarm bells.

With this work he's doing nothing short but muffling them.

I can tell you this... As a journalist if I got used to seeing my local police force night after night picking up abusive drunken wifebeaters, bouncing them down the garden path, tossing them head first into a black Mariah, dragging them out again dripping in the urine they excreted against the side of the van, endured the spitting and the verbal abuse before booking them in and tossing them in a cell to cool off until a court appearance in the morning, if I was hearing that on one such occasion the police escorted a man away from the scene while referring to him as 'sir', refused to handcuff him in case he felt insulted, said 'thank you' when he urinated and laughed heartily at ever curse and insult, offered him the front seat in the van and asked if he was comfortable enough and what radio station he'd like playing, covered his head and refused to book him in under any name other than 'Mickey Mouse' before escorting him to an unsecured lounge so he could sleep it off with the assurance 'don't worry sir, this will never go to court' then as an 'investigative journalist' I think I'd be utterly failing in my job if I was not all over that exceptional, extraordinary case with the fully correct suspicion that this wasn't merely a 'generous day' down at central, but that - in fact - the subject who had been removed from the arrest-worthy situation was someone extremely important, who was in the process of escaping justice. I think my sense of indignance would be heightened if I then heard that back at the crime scene it was a body that had been discovered, and the police were busy inside staging a sham of an investigation and were even then engaged in attempting to find a drunk or degenerate mentally ill person in the neighbourhood who they could frame.

Whatever this work is, there's one thing it is not. It is not a piece of investigative journalism. To be that, it would have to be objective, it would have to be investigative. Instead it is part biography, part apologetic, and appears in whole to be simply an attempt to catalogue in one 'definitive' volume only the information and the conclusions that certain vested interest parties would like to be known for, published by someone other than themselves in order to create the illusion of verified authenticity.

Reply

M. Goldberg says:

I was drawn to, quote, "When witnesses were omitted from official investigation, and untraceable but convenient witnesses were conjured up to affirm the official story, that rang alarm bells." end quote.
As an author who investigated JFK, Summers will not have failed to notice that that is exactly what the Warren Commission did. The Government cover up demands a narrative from which anyone straying is labelled a "conspiraloon", "nutter" "fantasist and so on.
Summers and Swan's reactions to criticism of their book has echoed that, talking of alarms bells.
Their book is like a "Fanzine" compendium, a Christmas bumper collation of all the disinformation supplied by Mitchell and the McCanns this past seven years. It is ostensibly designed as the definitive McCann manual, which, in the extant days of the Internet, would be laughable were it not inherently a very serious subject.
If anyone wishes to read the antithesis to the McCann "official" fable they should read the PJ files online and/or Amaral's book instead, as all you have here is nothing more than yet another feeble endorsement of, or rather attempt at, the McCann's exoneration. Customer Reviews Amazon

Summers & Swan "A plane absolutely did hit the Pentagon"



Mais oui.

9/11 - NO PLANE HIT THE PENTAGON - only once aired report




The Eleventh Day: The Full Story of September 11 and Osama bin Laden (Summers & Swan)

Summers and Swan: Building 7 fell down due to "damage by falling debris"



But of course.




Come, take my hand.



Footnote: Should "Vten" wish to avail himself of a platform, for this or any other subject, I would be delighted to offer a spot as a guest writer. Your input, as your eloquence, is not without appreciation. Thank you.

Hidalgo County New Mexico Orwellian Doesn't Even Come Close

It's not often I'm stuck for words, but I'm stuck for words. But I shall try to string a few together.

This is not your typical, abusive, violent cop video by any means, it's far worse than anything of that ilk.

For what this short clip exposes, is the ever increasing mindset of the cops, a mindset, that they themselves are the law. Not upholders of law, other than of course, the law according to cops; the ones they just make up as they go along.

As you watch or read what this poor shmuck endured, never loose sight of that mindset, and accompanying attitude, that must be present in these cops and many more like them.. A mind set that says, yeah fuck! we can do this, we can do whatever we choose to do. And why can we do it? Because we're the cops, it's that simple.

But then, just when you think it can't get any worse, it does. It gets much much worse, not two times, but ten times worse. And why does the situation get ten times worse? With the compliance and the collusion of the facility that carried out medical procedures, that wouldn't seem out of place in some of histories most unmentionable regimes.

As I tweeted some minutes ago, this is the must watch video, to end all previous much watch videos.

4 On Your Side investigates traffic stop nightmare
05/11/2013

This 4 On Your Side investigation looks into the actions of police officers and doctors in Southern New Mexico.

A review of medical records, police reports and a federal lawsuit show deputies with the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office, police officers with the City of Deming and medical professionals at the Gila Regional Medical Center made some questionable decisions.

The incident began January 2, 2013 after David Eckert finished shopping at the Wal-Mart in Deming. According to a federal lawsuit, Eckert didn't make a complete stop at a stop sign coming out of the parking lot and was immediately stopped by law enforcement.

Eckert's attorney, Shannon Kennedy, said in an interview with KOB that after law enforcement asked him to step out of the vehicle, he appeared to be clenching his buttocks. Law enforcement thought that was probable cause to suspect that Eckert was hiding narcotics in his anal cavity. While officers detained Eckert, they secured a search warrant from a judge that allowed for an anal cavity search.

The lawsuit claims that Deming Police tried taking Eckert to an emergency room in Deming, but a doctor there refused to perform the anal cavity search citing it was "unethical."

But physicians at the Gila Regional Medical Center in Silver City agreed to perform the procedure and a few hours later, Eckert was admitted.

What Happened

While there, Eckert was subjected to repeated and humiliating forced medical procedures. A review of Eckert's medical records, which he released to KOB, and details in the lawsuit show the following happened:

1. Eckert's abdominal area was x-rayed; no narcotics were found.

2. Doctors then performed an exam of Eckert's anus with their fingers; no narcotics were found.

3. Doctors performed a second exam of Eckert's anus with their fingers; no narcotics were found.

4. Doctors penetrated Eckert's anus to insert an enema. Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers. Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool. No narcotics were found.

5. Doctors penetrated Eckert's anus to insert an enema a second time. Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers. Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool. No narcotics were found.

6. Doctors penetrated Eckert's anus to insert an enema a third time. Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers. Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool. No narcotics were found.

7. Doctors then x-rayed Eckert again; no narcotics were found.

8. Doctors prepared Eckert for surgery, sedated him, and then performed a colonoscopy where a scope with a camera was inserted into Eckert's anus, rectum, colon, and large intestines. No narcotics were found.

Throughout this ordeal, Eckert protested and never gave doctors at the Gila Regional Medical Center consent to perform any of these medical procedures.

"If the officers in Hidalgo County and the City of Deming are seeking warrants for anal cavity searches based on how they're standing and the warrant allows doctors at the Gila Hospital of Horrors to go in and do enemas and colonoscopies without consent, then anyone can be seized and that's why the public needs to know about this," Kennedy said.

Search Warrant Concerns more

TEPCO Fukushima You Cannot Be Serious Man!

If this is really the view and not just the rhetoric of Naomi Hirose, the new President of Tepco, then I seriously have to question his judgement. If not his sanity.

Japan's Tepco baffled by criticism of its role in nuclear disaster

By Aaron Sheldrick and Linda Sieg
TOKYO July 19, 2012


(Reuters) - The new head of the company at the centre of Japan's nuclear disaster said on Thursday he was baffled by fierce criticism of the firm where he has worked nearly 40 years and hoped to rebuild public trust but offered no clear idea how to do so.

In a scathing report issued this month, an investigative panel appointed by parliament concluded that the last year's Fukushima disaster was preventable and resulted from "collusion" among Tokyo Electric Power Co, its regulators and the government.

"You can destroy trust in a single day but to rebuild it takes time," the 59-year-old Yale-educated president of Tepco, Naomi Hirose, told a packed news conference of foreign and Japanese reporters.

"Of course, it is a question whether we can regain trust," said Hirose, who joined the company in 1976.

He has taken over Tepco's key post at a time when anti-nuclear protests are growing, ruling party lawmakers are bolting over a decision to restart idled reactors despite safety fears and the government is nationalizing the struggling utility.

The nuclear issue has increasingly taken centre-stage in political debate ahead of parliamentary elections which could come later this year. On Monday, an estimated 100,000 anti-nuclear protesters took to the streets in Tokyo, adding to pressure on the government which is under fire over its handling of nuclear policy issues.

Wearing a grey suit and blue tie, the diminutive, grey-haired Hirose spoke in fluent English for 15 minutes before responding to questions in his native Japanese.

The once well-respected utility has been widely castigated for its failure to prepare for the massive tsunami that devastated its Fukushima plant last year, lampooned for its inept response to the reactor meltdowns, and denigrated for its perceived arrogance.

Lampooned you say?

Asked about that panel report's conclusion, Hirose initially responded that the report was one of three investigations including the company's own and they had all arrived at different conclusions.

When pressed, he added:

"We have read the report and seen this word 'collusion'. However, on what basis, or for what reason, this word is being used we have not been able to fully grasp," he said.

"We will go back and read the report again more carefully and if it turns out the facts are different to the facts we have presented then we might adjust our conclusions."

Hirose was also grilled over what critics say is Tepco's tendency to cover things up, a common charge against a company that admitted in 2007 that it had faked safety reports and hidden defects at its reactors for decades.

He acknowledged that there was a "a very large perception gap" between the company's view of itself and the way the public sees it. "We have to close that gap," he said.

By his own account, doing so won't be easy.




One of Hirose's first acts as president was to talk to evacuees at a high school who had fled from the radiation plume that spouted from the company's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant after an earthquake and tsunami caused meltdowns in March 201l.

At one of the meetings, a moderate earthquake struck and he was quickly peppered with questions about the safety of a badly damaged building at Fukushima full of spent fuel rods.

That was "quite a shock for us," Hirose said, because the company assumed its reinforcement work has been sufficient.

Fukushima's spent fuel pool No. 4 has been a source of international concern because they are exposed to the atmosphere after one of the explosions that hit the station tore the reactor building roof off and caused its walls to tilt.

"It gave me renewed resolve that we should make more efforts to remove people's anxieties and concerns," he said. Reuters

One for fun.

Olympics: Who Are These People?

Who are so fucking stuck for a shilling that they are ordering the police around in a manner that in this country mine, I find particularly unacceptable and extremely offensive.

Not to mention, that for sheer brass neck and the ludicrous, the story goes from the sublime to the gor fuckin' blimey!

And as to just who they are, enlightenment below the fold.

London 2012: Police told to empty crisps into plastic bags to avoid advertising rival brands in Olympics

Police guarding the Olympics were told to empty their crisps into plastic bags so they did not inadvertently advertise brands which aren't sponsoring the games
17 July 2012

Officers who will be patrolling the Games' rowing events at Eton, Berks., were amazed when told by senior officers told them they must not be seen with snacks such as Walker's crisps or Ginsters pasties.

Thames Valley Police insisted that before going to the Olympic events officers, including Royal Protection guards, must empty their snacks into a clear polythene bag.

The top-level instruction, based on guidelines from the Games' London organisers, was designed to protect advertising by the official sponsors including Coca Cola, Cadbury's and McDonalds.

With the games being televised around the world, organising bigwigs have moved to stop any free advertising for firms which haven't forked out millions in sponsorship money.



The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) sent a directive to all forces involved in the policing of the Games to comply with the order.

It meant that Pc's protecting the millions of spectators expected to watch the events live at venues in and around London will be forced to empty their branded sandwiches, crisps and chocolate bars into unidentifiable packaging.

With just days to go until the opening ceremony of the biggest sporting event in the world, police officers were up in arms over the absurd rule.

A Police Federation member for Thames Valley Police, who are policing all rowing events for the Olympic and Paralypic Games at Dorney Lake, in Eton, Berks., said: "I'd like to see a security guard try to tell a police officer to empty his lunch into clear bags.

"They'd have to be very brave because the answer he'd get would be very short indeed."

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said in a statement: "We are expected to comply with LOCOG requirements and therefore are not expected to enter the venue with any goods that do not reflect sponsors.

"This position will be briefed to all officers and staff, although operational effectiveness and any response to an incident will always be our priority."

However, after LOCOG was made aware of the strict interpretation of their rules by Thames Valley Police chiefs and the discord of officers, they spoke to the police and issued clarification.

"The revised guidance amounts to a major climbdown by our top brass who have realised they were taking the 'no branding or advertising' rules a tad too literally," said one police officer involved in the Dorney Rowing Lake events.

"It is a victory for commonsense - but if we hadn't kicked up a fuss, they would have had us decanting our crisps and pop into unmarked containers."

A spokesman for LOCOG said that the rule had been put in place to stop unauthorised brands advertising at the Games and not to stop anyone enjoying the event.

The spokesman said: "We wouldn't want to tell people what they can bring into the venues and what they can't.

"There are rules about brands which are aimed around advertising but petty things like food products aren't the target of it.

"The rule is there to stop the advertising of brands who are not authorised Olympic brands." Telegraph

Louisiana Vying For Title America's Most Stupid State?

I know it will have a bit of a job on knocking Texas of the puerile pedestal, but it won't be for the want of trying.

I found the presentation of the article featured a bit scrappy, so I was in two minds whether to run with it or not. But the sheer audacity of the claims, of these people who are going to be in charge educating kids, couldn't I suppose, be ignored. And it is in the main, only those claims that you will find posted below. To read the article proper, you will have to follow the link.

But there was something else about the article I recognised, something I had made mention of in the past. Only on that occasion it involved the full blown theocratic state of Iran, unlike America of course, that is still at the wannabe stage.

Mind you, what it was that drew my attention, is far from uncommon when the jesoids are trying to make their case for the outlandish theories that they espouse. "Some scientists believe" or words to that effect, litter their arguments like confetti at a wedding. They never seem to produce these scientists, but that's by the by. Unless less of course it's the likes of Arnold Mendez. (Texas)

But returning to Iran for the moment, I had this to say earlier in the year:

Iran Warns World of Coming Great Event

Well I don't know what you will make of this. I found it a bizarre bit of reading, and should you agree; just wait till you see the video.

I know we are two different cultures, but until I watched the video, I never knew just how different. Polar opposites doesn't even come close.

The video is a half hour long, but I just couldn't stop watching the thing. But what does it say for its target audience? A flock, and I mean a flock, a flock of adult children who can't be in possession of a critical thought between the lot of 'em.

As a piece of propaganda, it's unlike anything else I have ever seen. You might notice a recurring get out of jail card throughout. ''Some scholars believe'' then add whatever it is you want say.

And if you think the jesoids of America have got it bad for the second coming, again, you ain't seen nuthin yet. Article Do watch, I beg you.

There are links in the article proper, to a couple of clips that physically show the publications that these absurdities are taken from. Just in case you have trouble believing what you are about read. You know how it is I'm sure.

The Loch Ness Monster Is Real; The KKK Is Good: The Shocking Content of Publicly Paid for Christian School Textbooks

Thousands of Louisiana students will receive state voucher money, transferred from public school funding, to attend private religious schools. What will they learn there?
By Bruce Wilson
June 18, 2012

This 2012-2013 school year, thanks to a bill pushed through by governor Bobby Jindal, thousands of students in Louisiana will receive state voucher money, transferred from public school funding, to attend private religious schools, some of which teach from a Christian curriculum that suggests the Loch Ness Monster disproves evolution and states that the alleged creature, which has never been demonstrated to even exist, has been tracked by submarine and is probably a plesiosaur. The curriculum also claims that a Japanese fishing boat caught a dinosaur.

~

Are dinosaurs alive today? Scientists are becoming more convinced of their existence.

Have you heard of the `Loch Ness Monster' in Scotland? `Nessie,' for short has been recorded on sonar from a small submarine, described by eyewitnesses, and photographed by others. Nessie appears to be a plesiosaur.

Could a fish have developed into a dinosaur? As astonishing as it may seem, many evolutionists theorize that fish evolved into amphibians and amphibians into reptiles. This gradual change from fish to reptiles has no scientific basis. No transitional fossils have been or ever will be discovered because God created each type of fish, amphibian, and reptile as separate, unique animals. Any similarities that exist among them are due to the fact that one Master Craftsmen fashioned them all."

Extract from Biology 1099, Accelerated Christian Education Inc. (1995)

Is the text still in use today? The answer is yes, according to U.K. critic Jonny Scaramanga, who was raised on the ACE curriculum and now runs a blog titled "Leaving Fundamentalism: Examining Christian Fundamentalism in The UK".

~

Some scientists speculate that Noah took small or baby dinosaurs on the Ark.... are dinosaurs still alive today? With some recent photographs and testimonies of those who claimed to have seen one, scientists are becoming more convinced of their existence...

~

- Science Proves Homosexuality is a Learned Behavior

- The Second Law of Thermodynamics Disproves Evolution

- No Transitional Fossils Exist

- Humans and Dinosaurs Co-Existed

- Evolution Has Been Disproved

- A Japanese Whaling Boat Found a Dinosaur

- Solar Fusion is a Myth

~

- Only ten percent of Africans can read or write, because Christian mission schools have been shut down by communists.

- "the [Ku Klux] Klan in some areas of the country tried to be a means of reform, fighting the decline in morality and using the symbol of the cross... In some communities it achieved a certain respectability as it worked with politicians."

- "God used the 'Trail of Tears' to bring many Indians to Christ."

- It "cannot be shown scientifically that that man-made pollutants will one day drastically reduce the depth of the atmosphere's ozone layer."

- "God has provided certain 'checks and balances' in creation to prevent many of the global upsets that have been predicted by environmentalists."

- the Great Depression was exaggerated by propagandists, including John Steinbeck, to advance a socialist agenda.

- "Unions have always been plagued by socialists and anarchists who use laborers to destroy the free-enterprise system that hardworking Americans have created."

- Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential win was due to an imaginary economic crisis created by the media.

- "The greatest struggle of all time, the Battle of Armageddon, will occur in the Middle East when Christ returns to set up his kingdom on earth." Article proper.

There's No Taste Like Bad Taste - No Regerts: Insane Ink

 Update: Do strap in. Link


To say I am no lover of ink, would, I have to admit, be putting it rather mildly.

Given that 99.99% don't pass the acid test, 'would you hang the same thing on your wall?' then I suppose it's hardly surprising.

I think the wearing of cringe-worthy tats must surpass any other single human activity in the world, but I think I reserve a special place, a special abhorrence, for those that adorn the bodies of young chicks.

To see the most beautiful work of art that exists in the world bar none, the body of a young female in her prime, desecrated by some ghastly tattoo or other, really makes me want to weep. What a travesty, to turn something so lovely into something ruined forever.

But it is not the tats of young gals per say, that concern us in this post from nowhere, stumbling across the subject as I did after reading the latest shenanigans of James Murdoch. But rather those tats that leave us slowly shaking the head, those tats that are a testimony to shear stupidity of the wearer, those tats that give normal bad taste a good name.

Although there are thousands of far worse examples to be found on the web, I am just going to offer up the two and then leave you a couple of links to wander round. The first being the one that the Mail led with, hence the 'No Regerts' in the title, and the other! well I don't really know what to make of it.

It's one thing I suppose, to totally ignore the fact that the Jackson tattoo that these cretins so proudly wear, is that of a fucking paedophile, but to actually celebrate the fact, by having a depiction of Jackson abusing a kid tattooed on your leg, is quite frankly, beyond fucking belief.



"He touched so many" have these people no fucking brains whatsoever?

No regerts? Well maybe a few....These tacky tattoos have been singled out as ugliest yet

Mis-spelt tattoo adorning a woman's side must fill her with regret every time she sees it

Tattoo revival prompts online posts featuring increasing number of horrendous choices Blah blah The Wail

The Mail's article prompted me to have a look at a few things, of those in a moment, but first two links to articles dedicated to Michael Jackson tattoos. The first, perhaps more than the second, endorsing what I said earlier about the ruination of something beautiful.

Michael Jackson Tattoo of the Day

15 of the worst Michael Jackson tattoos Seemingly there is quite a bit more on this fellow's blog, most of it celebrating bad taste. I shall check it out myself as soon as I have posted this. Update: I would almost say it's mandatory, but I will defy anyone who thinks they can get past half a page.

Two other things I did have a look at, Google Image them yourself if you want a bit of an eye opener. Safe search off of course, censorship not being part of my personal philosophy, try extreme tattoo and extreme body-building.

Of course, it's all in the best possible taste.

Rep Peter King Quintessential American Politician

Where does his world end and the real one begin?

GOP Rep Says U.S. Drone Program Is One Of ‘Righteousness And Goodness’

By Nina Liss-Schultz
June 11, 2012

Despite the cloud of secrecy in which the United States’ drone program is shrouded, U.S. officials continue to maintain that drone strikes are an essential and beneficial part of U.S. counterterrorism strategy. But questions have been raised about the drone program, particularly related civilian casualties, potential blowback and the relative ease with which to deploy a drone versus a piloted aircraft.

But House Homeland Security Committee chairman Peter King (R-NY), in a CNN interview on Sunday, said he’s “not concerned” about the program’s negative fallout, particularly civilian casualties, adding that the U.S. drone policy is one “righteousness and goodness“:

KING: I’m not concerned [with the casualty rate]. My belief is that when you are in a war — and we are in a war — the idea is to kill as many of the enemy as you can with minimal risk of life to your own people.

…I wish we could all live in a world where we could hold hands and love each other. The fact is, that’s not reality. We have an enemy that wants to kill us. I live in New York. I lost 150 constituents on 9/11, and if we can save the next 150 by killing al Qaeda terrorists with drones then kill them.

There’s evil people in the world. Drones aren’t evil, people are evil. We are a force of good and we are using those drones to carry out the policy of righteousness and goodness. ICH

Twelve Million Spent on River Pageant Let's Screw a Few Jobseekers

Who's in charge of the PR? Give him a fucking medal.

Unemployed bussed in to steward river pageant
Coachloads of jobless people brought in to work unpaid on river pageant as part of Work Programme
Shiv Malik
4 June 2012

Some of those hired as stewards had to spend the night before the pageant sleeping under London Bridge.

A group of long-term unemployed jobseekers were bussed into London to work as unpaid stewards during the diamond jubilee celebrations and told to sleep under London Bridge before working on the river pageant.

Up to 30 jobseekers and another 50 people on apprentice wages were taken to London by coach from Bristol, Bath and Plymouth as part of the government's Work Programme.

Two jobseekers, who did not want to be identified in case they lost their benefits, said they had to camp under London Bridge the night before the pageant. They told the Guardian they had to change into security gear in public, had no access to toilets for 24 hours, and were taken to a swampy campsite outside London after working a 14-hour shift in the pouring rain on the banks of the Thames on Sunday.

One young worker said she was on duty between London Bridge and Tower Bridge during the £12m river spectacle of a 1,000-boat flotilla and members of the Royal family sail by . She said that the security firm Close Protection UK, which won a stewarding contract for the jubilee events, gave her a plastic see-through poncho and a high-visibility jacket for protection against the rain.

Close Protection UK confirmed that it was using up to 30 unpaid staff and 50 apprentices, who were paid £2.80 an hour, for the three-day event in London. A spokesman said the unpaid work was a trial for paid roles at the Olympics, which it had also won a contract to staff. Unpaid staff were expected to work two days out of the three-day holiday.

The firm said it had spent considerable resources on training and equipment that stewards could keep and that the experience was voluntary and did not affect jobseekers keeping their benefits.

The woman said that people were picked up at Bristol at 11pm on Saturday and arrived in London at 3am on Sunday. "We all got off the coach and we were stranded on the side of the road for 20 minutes until they came back and told us all to follow them," she said. "We followed them under London Bridge and that's where they told us to camp out for the night … It was raining and freezing."

A 30-year-old steward told the Guardian that the conditions under the bridge were "cold and wet and we were told to get our head down [to sleep]". He said that it was impossible to pitch a tent because of the concrete floor. More Guardian

You will allow me a bit of poetic licence I'm sure.

The Black Velvet Band

Well, in a neat little town they call Belfast, apprentice to trade I was bound
Many an hours sweet happiness, have I spent in that neat little town
A sad misfortune came over me, which caused me to stray from the land
Far away from my friends and relations, betrayed by the black velvet band

Her eyes they shone like diamonds
I thought her the queen of the land
And her hair it hung over her shoulder
Tied up with a black velvet band

I took a stroll down Broadway, meaning not long for to stay
When who should I meet but this pretty fair maid comes a tripping along the highway
She was both fair and handsome, her neck it was just like a swans
And her hair it hung over her shoulder, tied up with a black velvet band

Her eyes they shone like diamonds
I thought her the queen of the land
And her hair it hung over her shoulder
Tied up with a black velvet band

I took a stroll with this pretty fair maid, and a gentleman passing us by
Well I knew she meant the doing of him, by the look in her roguish black eye
A goldwatch she took from his pocket and placed it right in to my hand
And the very first thing that I said was bad luck to the black velvet band

Her eyes they shone like diamonds
I thought her the queen of the land
And her hair it hung over her shoulder
Tied up with a black velvet band

Before the judge and the jury, next morning I had to appear
The judge he says to me: "Young man, your case it is proven clear
We'll give you seven years penal servitude, to be spent faraway from the land
Far away from your friends and companions, betrayed by the black velvet band"

Her eyes they shone like diamonds
I thought her the queen of the land
And her hair it hung over her shoulder
Tied up with a black velvet band

So come all you jolly young fellows a warning take by me
When you are out on the town me lads, beware of them pretty colleens
For they feed you with strong drink, "Oh yeah", 'til you are unable to stand
And the very next thing that you'll know is you've landed in Van Diemens Land

Her eyes they shone like diamonds
I thought her the queen of the land
And her hair it hung over her shoulder
Tied up with a black velvet band

Beware of them pretty colleens.

A Brief Interview With The Prime Minister

Just a slight shift in focus required.

Andrew Marr and David Cameron, what a pair of twats.

Hunt acted 'wisely and fairly' says Cameron Independent

$92 Million a Year Religious Scam and Still The Bitches Fall Out

Which kind of endorses the old adage, there's one born every day, or in this case, a lot more than one. All the same, it's hard to believe that there are that many schmucks in the world.

But are they any worse than the Catholic Church selling indulgences? There again, even the Catholic Church moved on from that little scam.

A fool and his money . . . . .

Lavish spending of America's first family of televangelism revealed in bitter legal feud

America's "first family" of televangelism is being torn apart in a bitter legal feud which includes allegations of lavish spending on private jets, mansions and a $100,000 motor home for their pet dogs.
By Nick Allen
23 Mar 2012

Paul Crouch, 77, and his wife Jan Crouch, 73, run the Trinity Broadcasting Network which delivers the Christian message to every continent except Antarctica 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It bills itself as "the world's largest religious network and America's most watched faith channel".

The network broadcasts prosperity gospel programming, which promises that believers will be materially rewarded, and raked in $92 million in donations in 2010.

During a recent Praise-A-Thon one preacher asked viewers to shout "Fear not" three times, count down from 10, and then rush to the phone with donations.



The couple's granddaughter Brittany Koper, 26, has now filed court papers claiming she was sacked after discovering "illegal financial schemes" adding up to tens of millions of dollars.

Mrs Koper claims she was made to turn over her house, life insurance policy, car, furniture and jewellery to the organisation as "an act of Christian contrition" when she complained about alleged financial misdeeds.

A legal claim from another relative, Joseph McVeigh, alleged that TBN obtained a $50 million Global Express luxury jet through a "sham loan", owned an $8 million Hawker jet for Jan Crouch's personal use, and had 13 homes for the Crouch family's use across the United States. He claimed a $100,000 recreational vehicle was for the use of Jan Crouch's dogs.

The legal claims are offering a rare window into the secretive world of the sprawling religious empire, which the Crouches founded in 1973 with fellow televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. The Bakkers left two years later to start their own ministry.


TBN shows Christian-themed news, documentaries, films, talk shows and sermons. It owns seven other television networks and has more than 18,000 television and cable affiliates.

In addition to its headquarters in Orange County, California, it has an estate outside Nashville called Trinity Music City USA, and a Christian amusement park in Florida called Holy Land Experience.

Last year Mrs Koper's father, Paul Crouch Jr, resigned abruptly as vice president of the network. Mrs Koper took over as chief financial officer in July.

She claims to have found that directors, members of her own family, were acting illegally. She sent a memo to the board but was sacked within days, according to her lawyer Tymothy MacLeod.



Mrs Koper claims her husband, also a TBN official, was sued by a debt collection company which had been registered by a TBN lawyer one day earlier. He was accused of embezzling $1 million from TBN, an accusation Mrs Koper claims was retaliation for her whistleblowing. The suit was dismissed.

Colby M May, a lawyer for TBN, rejected suggestions of family turmoil and financial wrongdoing. He claimed Mrs Koper and her husband had stolen from the network and that the legal claims were a "tabloid filing" and "utterly and completely contrived".

He said: "They're attempting to create a diversion and to create as much public spectacle as they can in the vain hope that this will all get resolved, and that's simply not going to happen."

He said the Crouches travel by private jet because they have received "scores of death threats, more than the president of the United States."

Their ministry keeps large amounts of cash in reserve because incurring debt goes against the Biblical instruction to "owe no man any thing," he said.



He added: "The answer is, there is no fire there. They pay as they go and, every now and then, one of the things that they pay as they go on is the acquisition of a broadcast facility, and that's a multi-million dollar transaction." Telegraph



Brittany Koper with her grandparents Janice Crouch (far left) and Paul Crouch Sr (right) at her wedding

Mississippi Republican Voters: Sublime Ignorance

Although why the writer should single out Mississippi I don't know, I should imagine there ain't a great deal of difference between any of 'em, south or west of New York State. As the video below will attest.

Bring Out the Dinosaurs: 66 Percent of Likely Mississippi GOP Primary Voters Are Creationists
Mark Karlin
03/13/2012

A columnist for "The Atlantic" chastised a Democratic-affiliated polling firm for asking likely Southern GOP primary voters if they thought Obama was a Muslim. Isn't this just reinforcing the idea that the president is Islamic, the writer asks?

There's a point to be made that in this age of demagogic factoids, repeating them in some ways gives them more credence.

On the other hand, isn't it of significance to discover that "new data from Public Policy Polling ...shows that 52 percent of Mississippi Republican believe President Obama is a Muslim (a comparatively slight 45 percent of Alabama GOP voters agreed with them)"? In addition the poll shows some further disarming responses: 66 percent of likely Mississippi Republican voters don't believe in evolution; 60 percent of Alabama GOP followers share that opinion. Oh, and 67 percent of likely Alabama Grand Old Party voters believe that the state's xenophobic and harsh anti-Mexican "immigration law" is a "good thing."

When you add these and other poll responses together, you realize that a large portion of the Southern Republican voting base that is living in the dark ages. The much-commented upon belief that Obama is a Muslim is just the most sensational of poll revelations, because it is so contrary to a verifiable fact.

What you have here is a profile of a segment of the US population that is somewhat akin to a religious cult with a deep fear of anyone who doesn't look and talk like they do. Of course, the "Obama is a Muslim" meme (repeated in innuendo so often on FOX and by right wing talk show hosts such as Limbaugh) plays to the racial animosity of the heritage of the Confederacy. Maybe many likely GOP primary voters don't even know that believing such a false "factoid" is just a cerebrally coated way of reflecting, "I don't want a black man as president; 'real' Americans are white."

Polls such as this pre-primary one reinforce the idea that the South may have lost the Civil War, but the inherited values and beliefs of the Confederacy now dominate the Republican Party. As a result, this "backwards in time" outlook currently has a stranglehold on the United States through Republican control of the House of Representatives. Furthermore, the US Senate Republican caucus frequently appeals to this base and stifles progress through the threat of filibusters. Not to mention that the GOP field of presidential candidates heavily leans in the direction of this minority of voters living in a bubble.

In that regard, knowing that the majority of likely Mississippi GOP voters believe that President Obama is a Muslim and that 66 percent of them are creationists is information worth knowing. Buzzflash

This little pearl from Lynchburg Tennessee. Originally posted under the header, Now I Know How Idiots Get Elected President.

It's scary to say the least, especially when you see the young uns caught up in all this nonsense. If we can't look to to youth to cast off this yoke of ignorance, who can we look to?

US Arrogance Writ Large

Should I have mentioned in the header that the story is centred around US rice farmers? I don't think so. arrogance is after all, a defining and quintessential characteristic of the American psyche. Just as equally, is the, it's all and only about us attitude, that permeates throughout the US.

Whereas the link will take you to an essay by Arthur Silber, an essay, that in part focuses on the 'American exceptionalism' attitude of John Kerry; we need to go no further than the side bar in this blog, to have that exceptionalist attitude displayed.

But perhaps exceptionalism is not the correct choice of term to employ here, perhaps delusional might be nearer the mark, but however we describe it, it is the same staggering arrogance, no, make that delusional arrogance, displayed by the whinging farmer as that displayed by his one time Commander-in-Chief, George W Bush.

“I think the Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude, and I believe most Iraqis express that. I mean, the people understand that we've endured great sacrifice to help them. That's the problem here in America. They wonder whether or not there is a gratitude level that's significant enough in Iraq.” Bush interview '60 Minutes' 1/14/07

Yes, kind of takes your breath away doesn't it?

Farmers furious after Iraq stops buying US rice
The Associated Press
Feb 23, 2012

The talk of the day among Ray Stoesser and other rice farmers is Iraq's decision not to buy U.S. rice, a stinging move that adds to a stressful year punctuated by everything from drought to unusual heat.

Stoesser and other farmers know Iraqis struggled during the U.S. invasion and subsequent occupation. They know most countries _ and people _ buy based on price. (Sic When did underscore enter the language?)

But at the moment, with production costs rising, export markets shrinking and rice prices dropping, it's difficult to be rational and suppress emotions so intimately intertwined with their land and livelihood.

"That's just not right," the 63-year-old Stoesser fumed. "If we've got some rice to sell, they ought to pay a premium for it just because this is the country that freed them."

Iraq imports most of its rice, about 1 million metric tons per year, making it a significant player in the global market. In the past decade, about 10 percent to 15 percent of that total came from the United States. But Iraq hasn't bought any U.S. rice since late 2010.

"You would think with all that we've done over there, there would be a way to get them to do business with us," said Ronald Gertson, who grows rice in Lissie, Texas.

Iraq has been buying instead from Asia and South America, and it recently lowered its quality standards so it would be able to buy rice from India, something that was impossible under the Iraqi Grain Board's old rules, said Andy Aaronson, chairman of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rice Interagency Commodity Estimate Committee. It also recently bought rice from Uruguay, which grows a variety similar to the American one but sold for less.

"Iraq seems to be buying on price, and the lowest offered price is coming now from India," Aaronson said.

In Iraq, officials said the decision to forego American rice largely came down to a matter of taste. A Trade Ministry official said Iraq has decided to import only long-grain basmati rice from India due to its wide acceptance nationwide and cheap price.

"We have no problem with the U.S. rice specifically, which was widely acceptable by Iraqis, but we are seeing a demand for the Indian rice rather than others, which is also bought in good prices," he added.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to make a statement on government policies. He would not comment on U.S. farmers' anger or their argument that Iraq should buy U.S. rice because thousands of Americans died in the war there.




Iraq had accounted for about 2 percent to 5 percent of U.S. sales each year. It stopped buying American rice during the Gulf War in the early 1990s and in 2003, when the most recent war started, Aaronson said. Every other year, though, during the war, insurgency and U.S. occupation, the Iraqi Grain Board bought American rice.

Iraq's abandonment of U.S. rice comes as Haiti, once an exclusively American market, and Central America, another major buyer, also seek cheaper options elsewhere.

The lost sales sting because the U.S., unlike China and other major rice-growing nations, exports nearly half of its crop. With less demand from overseas, prices have dropped while production costs, including for fuel, have risen. The combination is squeezing farmers, Aaronson said. Rice acres in the United States decreased last year and will likely drop again as farmers switch to crops that will make them more money.

About half of the 3 million acres of rice typically planted in the U.S. each year are in Arkansas. The remainder comes from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and California.

When Iraq sought bids on rice a few months ago, word on the street was the U.S. would have a piece of the action, said Mike Wagner, who grew up on a rice farm in Sumner, Miss. When that didn't happen, Wagner and other rice farmers say they were shocked.

"We invested so much in that country, and we feel like it's something of a slap in the face," said Wagner, who's considering planting more soybeans or a new crop on his 4,000-acre Mississippi Delta farm.

John Alter, 64, also is considering alternatives. Usually, about one-third of his 1,500-acre farm in DeWitt, Ark., is devoted to rice. This year, it would be risky to dedicate too much land to the crop, he said. The loss of imports is disappointing, Alter said, noting the price difference between U.S. rice and Uruguayan grain was small.

"We spent billions and billions, if not trillions over there, and lots of people died," Alter said. "There should be some reciprocation ... Last time I checked, there wasn't any Uruguayan soldiers that lost their lives in Iraq." lasvegassun