The Devil!, Steady Lad, Steady

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"The devil came here yesterday and it smells of sulphur, it smells of sulphur here today."



I don't know which I would prefer more, go walking with dinosaurs or watch Hugo Chavez strutt his stuff before the UN.

I was sorely tempted to juxtapose it with something of Bush's and do a Letterman "Great Presidential Speeches" number, but that would be just tooo bitchy, too bitchy I'm sure. Fun though, lot's of fun.

This twenty four minute delight is entirely novel to me.

Stuff On Your Doorstep

On March 6, the Russian Security Council announced plans to draft a new military doctrine, which commentators expect will be "more aggressive" than the previous one

This decision comes after Henry Obering, head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, announced in Brussels on March 1 that the United States is considering deploying additional mobile radar systems to the Southern Caucasus.

Hence, Russia's decision to draft a new military doctrine comes as a response to these challenges. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on February 10, Russian President Vladimir Putin openly stated that “the U.S. has overstepped its political limits in almost all spheres

Proponents of the American initiative believe that the missile defense base would protect their countries from a limited intermediate to long-range ballistic missile attack from the Middle East and from a limited long-range missile attack from North Korea.

Professor Roman Kuzniar,former President of the Polish Institute for International Affairs, has been a vocal critic of hosting the base.

"Stories about attacks from rogue states should be written off as fairy tales," he said, "because countries are not suicidal. Wars are begun by stronger, hegemonic countries, not by weaker ones." Full Story

Now Then Hugo, Less of The Porkies

Hugo Chavez in Haiti.

"It's not a question of a personal nature between Bush and I." He declared that President George Bush, "represents the cruelest, most cynical and most criminal empire on the planet,"

There is one thing you have to say for old Chavez, when it comes to winning hearts and minds he's figured it out that buck$ work better than bombs,
whodathunkit.

The Butcher Of Iraq

"People were moved to outbursts of laughter at Bush's granting of scholarships."

A Mexican take on the recent Bush/Chaves tours.

Captain America

Questions are being asked, not least.

There are so many doubts which assail us and so few answers, such as: Why does Daffy Duck put a towel around his waist when he gets out of the bath, when the rest of the time he went about nude?

Something a little different from Argentina

Dinosaur Clips

A few clips from Walking With Dinosaurs, more on YouTube.
Off to bed.

Walking with Dinosaurs I - New Blood (1/3)

Walking with Dinosaurs I - New Blood (2/3)

Walking with Dinosaurs I - New Blood (3/3)

Walking With Dinosaurs - Death Of A Dynasty 1

Walking With Dinosaurs - Death Of A Dynasty 2

Les Oublie

"The Forgotten" by most everybody, but as I try a venture into the sunshine I can spare a thought for these unfortunates. Many buried underground, many to never again see the light of day again as long as they live.
Bad dudes or not, nobody should be incarcerated under conditions such as these. Should I add in a "Christian Nation; under God?"

Supermax page 1 Page 2

Oubliette

Formula One

Half hour to go, brrum brrum. Eeeh Monty lad, come back all is forgiven.

Only In America

Only In ........

Ambien! Saved By The Blog

A Warning And An Alert.

A Couple of hours ago I thought I would put something together depicting some of the more humorous side effects of the much recently publicised sleeping drug Ambien.
These side effects include "Sleep Driving" though there wouldn't be much to laugh about if a person jumped in the car and had a major wreck whilst under the influence.
Also on the list was "Sleep Eating" there could be some humour in that, not least what all tokers have to suffer when we get a severe case of the munchies.
Then there was "Sleep Sex," that left a broad avenue to drive down, just as long as it involved you and missuss and not next door's kids.

But as I started my research, all humour, like Pandora's love, came flowing out. Came flowing out and took off down the road like a scalded cat, the humour that is.

Now I not going to air my aches and pains in this forum, it will suffice to say that I'm more than a bit "crook" I'm quite ill in fact, my thyroid has thrown in the towel.
It is a condition that is treatable with replacement hormones, "keep taking the pills"
But jazus I tell you, I have gone from bad to worse to worsest to worser to near death.

Things were, still are for that matter, pretty bloody grim. Every bone, joint and muscle crying out for the love of a good woman, my body so swollen, I'm the new Michelin Man, I can't even put a pair of socks on, in a word; fucked.
I have no need to go further and bore the arse off you all, but my research threw up something that can now act as a warning to others who might find themselves in a similar situation.

I was prescribed, alongside the hormones "Zopiclone" (Uk brand name) for the same type of drug as "Ambien" a few snippet's:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zopiclone
Zopiclone is known colloquially as a "Z drug," Other Z drugs include zaleplon (Sonata®) and zolpidem (Ambien® and AmbienCR®)
All the nasties explained in Wiki
-----------------------------

• Life-threatening allergic reactions, as

well as severe facial swelling, both of which can occur either the first time the pills are taken or anytime thereafter.

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/nation/16906487.htm

---------------------------------

http://circadiana.blogspot.com/2005/03/lunesta.html

And given the numbers of people who neck this thing I'm sure I can't be alone in this very shitty experience.
Peace.

Is There Anybody Out There?

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No, not that kind of out there, that's Scooter scooting round the universe searching for planet to colonise.

As the ever increasing likelihood that we are about to witness the Whitehouse of Cards teeter and totter before collapsing into the cesspit of it's own making. A cesspit of lies and corruption, of deceit and mismanagement, of needless death and destruction on a scale that we thought we would never witness again, of entire cities and countries laid waist. A cesspit so clogged with dead bodies and torn limbs that it overflows with the blood of men women and children, innocents all, that if they could, the very sands of the dessert would cry out in anguish as they are asked to soak up these never ending rivers of blood.
A cesspit of global proportions as America has shit on all the principles that constitute a civilised nation. Shit on decency, shit on morality, shit on laws both domestic and international, shit on the very earth itself, shitting Depleted Uranium from the great arsehole of the American death machine , wiping it's arse with shit stained dollars and scattering them by the billions like shit soaked confetti.

And in going about this evil we hear your incessant intoning of all your "moral values" The Sanctity of Life, and your other religious psycho babble, One Nation Under God, In God We Trust, This Great Nation of Ours.

Well I have some news for you. You never were, never have been, and never will be. You are no great nation, you are the Evil Empire, from Sea to Blood Soaked Sea.
And if there were a god, you would be the last country on earth that would receive his blessings.


Bugger, where did that jump out from? obviously from not too far under the surface.
This was meant to be a quick post about the deafening silence that surrounds me, in fact what I have written above should have an ending but I can't bother me arse, so here's a short one.

All those wankers in the Whitehouse and the GOP are going to need a new planet or a big jail, enough, no more.

No this was meant to be a spot of humour and an appeal for a bit of communication, and it is here I must be careful not to sound like a whiny little bitch, (Alberto Gonzales, "I'm just a poor Mexican boy made good, please don't send me to jail for being a lying little turd and a crook, I didn't really mean to shit all over the constitution, but having done so it was the only thing handy to wipe my arse on.") No I wouldn't want to sound anything like that.

So I won't

But come on you feckers, you must have some bit of something to say, what brings you here, my brilliant and scintillating writing apart?
It was poetry from Pakistan for my last visitor, why don't you tarry awhile and discuss it.
What about you lads or lasses from the Orient, you call by on a regular basis, I have no idea why, but I am intrigued, or Japan man/woman, what brings you a knocking, what about my views on whaling?

Come on chaps, leave me a bit of feed back, and who knows ,it would be rather nice if a small but eclectic group developed out of it.

Peace.
Himself

Hitchens, A Pleasant Surprise

He is not a fellow I have really come across much before, and what little I have, his portrayal has always been negative.
How nice then to listen to his argument on a proposed amendment to criminalize hate speech.

H/T RichardDawkins.net

The Dog's Bollocks Indeed

And it is, from start to finish, The Dog's Bollocks.
What an amazing, wonderful, fantastic series that has ever had the fortune to grace the television screen, the dog's bollocks indeed.

There is very little on television that I could view twice, (as last night) but this series, not a problem, not at all at all at all, simply the best.
The best in educational value, the best in entertainment and the best example of jiggery pokery that I have ever witnessed.

Jiggery pokery so good in fact that these buggers were alive and a viewer had no problem being transported back to a time all those millions of years ago when these rascals, both large and small roamed the earth.

That I say no problem being transported back is in fact wrong, never a title has more fittingly been ascribed,
"Walking with dinosaurs" because surely that is what you were doing as you witnessed the trials and tribulations of these awe inspiring creatures.

It is rarely I can feel the slightest bit of compassion or sympathy for the fundamentalists or the creationists, but watching this production makes me want to reach out to them and say, give it up, come and join us, this is what you are missing.
Put away all your nonsense and all your ignorance, come and fall into the arms of evolution, embrace each other in something that transcends any feeling that you might have previously felt, come and experience truth and the true wonder, the wonder of evolution.
It will blow your mind.

At this point you could be forgiven if you accused me of being a salesman for the BBC, for this production, I could be, would be, and for free, that's how good it is.
So if you live in some remote part of the world or some part that there is little likelihood of ever having the opportunity to have this wonderful experience, follow the link to the BBC shop,* part with your twenty quid, about forty bucks American, and when it drops through the letter box, throw it into the machine, sit back, and go "Walking With Dinosaurs."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking_with_Dinosaurs

* Regions

What The Papers Say

Wanko christo journo totally misses the point, don't they all, and slags off Richard Dawkins, my Hero

Jesus Christ what next, a baby Jesus? (girl edition) Don't tell the Fundies or the Feminists, they'll never be off your doorstep.

Practice your chanting in the Scrubs you wanker, looks like you will have plenty of time, and as far as your blag goes, pathetic, what a stroker.

On England's pleasant pastures seen, a sex slave auction.

US entrapment comes to Britain, repressed sick fucktards set up sting. If anyone deserves locking up it's the bloody judge that let this happen, shameful.

End of an era for the Senior Service.

And in spite of appearances I don't buy the Mail

Got WMD. Got A Red Face. Got A New Job?

We have Greenpeace warriors that are quicker off the mark than the anti-terrist squad, whoops boys.

Story and video of Greenpeace in action.

File under: Warm and Fuzzy Feeling.

Byline. There have been others in the past who have tried to show their displeasure with Parliament. non more so than Guido Fawkes although not in such a radical way.

Creation Cruises, Well I Never!

Click pic for big.

Does Nobody Heart Condi?

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Now don't be reticent old love, if you've something to say, best get it off your chest, it'll only fester.

Rice and the Black Widow have many similarities, beyond the fact that they are both Black (with great respect to the Blacks) and aside from the fact that they are both biologically female (there's no need for women to get angry at me, since technically, Rice does belong to the female gender). The overriding similarities are that they both have poison dripping from their mouths, kill mercilessly and take horrifically sadistic pleasure in tormenting their victims and sucking their blood. But more importantly, both perfectly plan their hostile acts ahead of time. Read the rest of the diatribe here.

"we should not condone immoral acts"

Click image for a clearer picture of morality.



"I believe homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts," Pace said.


"I do not believe the United States is well served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way," Pace told the newspaper in a wide-ranging interview.

The Ambassador Will See You Presently

He's A Little Tied Up At The Moment.

And you can have a read of Pravda after the story.

Noah You Knock Up A Mean Piece Of Wood

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I can definitely cancel the comics, there's hours of fun to be had.

The book of Genesis describes Noah's Ark as a wooden vessel 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. Based on the shortest estimated length of the cubit, this means it was at least 450 feet (135 meters) long, 75 feet (22.5 meters) wide, and 45 feet (13.5 meters) high. These proportions are ideal to meet the demands of a ship's sea-keeping, hull strength and stability. The ark's size is equivalent to an average cargo vessel by today's standards, which is in line with the limits of timber construction.

Global Realignment and the Decline of the Superpower

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I found it difficult to pick a "choice bit" as a header, the article is all "choice" bits.

Don't like ID cards? Hand over your passport

In order to get a passport, people will still have to hand over all their personal details for storage on the ID cards Register - where they will be treated in the same was as those who agreed to sign-up.

They simply avoid getting the card - even though they will have to pay the full combined price of £93 for an ID card and passport.

It means that, despite the Government repeatedly insisting the scheme is voluntary, the only way to avoid signing-up is to never obtain or renew a passport.

Therefore, anybody who objects to ID cards on principle and wants to keep their personal details private must remain in the UK for the rest of their lives. More.

Er, Not Fans Then?

I Guess Not.

"The call for mobilization has the goal of concentrating the largest number of Uruguayans, to better express 'the greatest possible rejection to the presence of Bush in Latin America and in Uruguay.'"

CreationWiki ! Can I Cancel The Comics?

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Abandon All Reason Ye who Enter.

"Kangaroos, like all modern animals, originated in the Middle East and are the descendants of the two founding members of the modern kangaroo baramin that were taken aboard Noah's Ark prior to the Great Flood." This sentence is taken from an online encyclopedia. And it is meant seriously. (Spiegel)

I'm sure it is old lad, but then so is being Raptured and these boys shouldn't be laughed off, not when you want to know all there is about dinosaurs let's not forget about Fasting For Bush (updated to Obama) that's really serious shit, probably more serious even than being on The Presidential Prayer Team (link dead, internal link here) but when it comes to serious what about saving your maidenhead, just for daddy?

Yes it's all very serious, once you stop rolling about with laughter. All very serious indeed, but only in America.

Thought For Today

Hours of fun, lost in cyberspace.

Misused Abused And Overused

"Great Scott Holmes!" exclaimed Watson.
That's the one, the exclamation mark. And no more a stickler for it's proper use than I.
Deliberately, though extremely rarely, misusing it at the end of the Sea Shepherd article lets me raise the issue of "Why don't we?"

I won't say why don't we have an alternative, because it's not an alternative we need.
Why don't we have a kind of a "Multiple Meaning Mark," a fine example being my incorrect use here of employing quotation marks to draw attention or emphasis to. A special kind of mark, one that means; well; you know what I mean.

Kind of a "know what I mean know what I mean nudge nudge wink wink know what I mean?" kind of a mark, a universal punctuation mark, one that transcends the language barrier, know what I mean!

Everything You Wanted To Know About Swimming The Amazon

But Were Afraid To Ask.

Post Number 100. I Shall Dedicate To Paul Watson. Sea Shepherd

To Paul Watson. Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. And Activists Around The World.

And Not Least Those That Need Our Protection.

A clip giving a brief overview of Paul Wilson, co-founder of Greenpeace and the present day mission of Sea Shepherd.

A harrowing clip of a whale kill showing the horror of the reality of "Japanese Research."

Successive short clips Sea shepherds 06/07 campaign. I have strung them in order as best I can.

clip1 clip2 clip3 clip4 clip5 clip6 clip7

And to finish on a nice note what better than this previous featured video.
Coincidently this rascal is the one in the photo header although drawn from different sources and quite unintentional, what an effect it must have on a person's life to experience that, magic!
H/T to all video posters.

International Women's Day. (BBC Roundup Here)

Women have managed to achieve equality in one field only: equal right to imprisonment, exile, torture, being killed, and now being slaughtered. In fact in the Islamic Penal Codes, Iranian women have the unenviable distinction of having a greater share of punishment. Let us first examine the question of liability to punishment.

Punishments.

Article 49 exempts children from punishment. Addendum 1 to this article defines a child as someone before puberty. But in the civil law puberty for boys is 15 and for girls 9 lunar years (article 1210, addendum 1). So girls come of age for punishments six years before boys. This is particularly striking since in everything else such as inheritance, custody over children, marriage, divorce, ownership, travel, giving witness etc women are considered delicate creatures in need of protection by men. But when it comes to being punished, suddenly they are more mature and responsible for their actions. Less rights, more punishment. One can imagine a situation where a boy of 14 and a girl of 9 steal. According to the law she would lose four fingers of her right hand for first offence (article 201), her left foot for the second offence, prison for third and execution for the fourth! He would go scott free.

When a woman is stoned to death in Iran, as happened frequently in the wake of the 1979 revolution, she is covered in a white sheet and buried up to her breasts in a hole. Article 102 of Iran's Penal Code says that men should be buried up to their waists, and women up to their breasts.

Only small stones are used, to prolong the agony of the punishment, though these must be larger than a pebble. Article 104 of Iran's Penal Code states that when adulters are stoned that the stones should "not be large enough to kill the person by one or two strikes, nor should they be so small that they could not be defined as stones."

Often, the face of the woman is covered, so she does not see her assailants, and they do not see her. In films I have seen of public stonings, it takes several minutes for the victim to die. The woman pictured above was stoned to death in Iran.

Update. A ten minute report from Newsnight at the twenty five minute mark, usually comes on-line 00.00 GMT for 24Hrs. Mon. to Fri.

It is well for his peace that the saint goes to his martyrdom. He is spared the sight of the horror of his harvest. Wilde

Ann Coulter and The Concerned Vaginas For America

Did Ann Coulter Say 'Bag it?'

So, while making her inflammatory comments, perhaps Coulter - in her own less than glorious way - intended not only to question John Edwards' political machismo but to suggest that America's self-appointed thought police stop trying to force those who dare to violate their politically correct word-code into Orwellian, re-education "rehab" camps. When Coulter spoke last Friday, everyone heard the word "faggot." But if you take her words - abrasive as they were - in their full context, she was apparently just telling the left to back off and "bag it."

Have you ever heard such a load of follocks in all your life?

But to hear the left talk about it, you'd think Coulter had gone so far as to pine for the assassination of the Vice President of United States or something (and, of course, that's exactly what liberal activist Bill Maher actually did on the same day Coulter made her unfortunate comments. And it should come as little surprise that we've heard only the deafening and ever-so-telling clamor of silence from the left on that one. Gotta love that double standard!

The (next member of the Spiro Club) Veep? no just: John Murtha: The reason soldiers invented "fragging."
And let's not leave Big Dog out of it; "There was one time I had a shot at Clinton. I thought 'Ann, that's not going to help your career.'"
and we all know what kind of shot you would really like to give Billy Boy, and it sure don't involve a gun. "Methinks she protesteth too much"

Yes you, Gotta love that double standard! Stop talking out of your mouth.

TOWING A YOKE

Light pollution, sure their wasn't a hint of it, somewhere near midway 'twixt France and Ireland.
There was just the one colour, black. A perfect black canvas that played its part in the creation of the few lines at the end this piece of prose; originally being writ as a stand alone few lines.

Some two or three years after the creation of those few lines, I joined for a brief spell, a little circle of writers who would meet every two weeks and read out whatever we had written on a subject chosen at the prior meeting, in this case "A starry night"
So then I composed the long intro of events leading up to the birth of those few lines. And here I cannot stress enough just how magnificent a sight it was.
I hope you can get a feel for the moment.
I employ a hybrid of Northern English vernacular with a biteen of Irish thrown in to add a little flavour, I hope you enjoy.



TOWING A YOKE

I got the job where most all jobs is got; in the pub.
Would I ship aboard a trawler going to France, and tow a boat back.
Giving it a bitteen of thought, and not wanting the sole company of two other men, I says “If Herself can come, you’re on”
“It’s a bit rough on board” says the skipper.
“Sure she’ll grand, not a problem”
So off we sets; it were fair lumpy day; thought to me self, I’m glad Herself’s with me, at least we can keep the bunk warm.
There’s nothing much to do on those kind of jobs, it’s all steaming.
Skipper weren’t up to much, he were a Kiwi, I think he’d been to one of them antipodean charm schools, but that’s another story.
Next day, it were glorious, so we thought we’d soak up some rays.
We dragged the mattresses up onto the foredeck, just in front of the wheelhouse, it were the only place you could sunbathe.
True to form, Herself, not bein’ one for false modesty or bikini tops, gets ragged off, and its tits out for the lads.
Now you can call me biased, but she’s a fair bonny lass, and I’m sure lads in wheelhouse agreed wi’ me.
It must have made watch keeping a bit more interesting.
In fact if it weren’t for autopilot, I don’t think boat would have ever got where it were s’posed to.
But got there we did, and made ready the tow for next day.
Well Herself had brought her glad rags, so we hit the town and got her lit.
Herself with her long tanned legs n all glittery, she looked a million dollars, and I felt like one.
What’s all this got to wi’ stars? Well as the Manx say, “Traa-dy-Liooar” it’s a bit like manyana, only nowhere near as urgent, “Time enough”
So off we sets back with this yoke in tow. Now for them of you that don’t know what a yoke is, well it’s a grand Irish word, and if you does a bit of writing , then it’s a right handy one to have.
A yoke is anything, a big yoke, a small yoke, a grand yoke altogether, you gets the idea.
One crystal clear night, there’s Herself and Himself, that’s me, sat on a couple of fish boxes on the blunt end off this old yoke we were sailing on.
And there it were, in all it’s glory, the Milky Way. It just blew us away, I just haven’t got the words in me to describe it.
It were like we were little atoms, no them little things inside ‘em, them neutrons or protons or whatever they're called.
We were speechless, it were a wonder we’ll never forget.
It were some time later, I couldn’t get this sight out of me head, and then didn’t a few little lines appear, just like magic, and them lines were these.


Delight the night
For hidden by day
Delight the night
We sailed the Milky Way
Our chariot of rust and rattles
Our space ship on the sea.
.

Libby

Prison Nation

Compared with what?

The US has often been described as "The Prison Nation,"
I myself make use the term at the end of a prior post.
But looking at the graphic (article) on the right the UK doesn't look all that much of an enlightened society compared with the rest of Europe.

So does the US deserve its reputation? If we study the graph (article) below the answer is rather apparent, glaringly so.
Much has been written on the subject, and I have scribbled more than a few lines in various other forums, but for now I shall let someone else take up the tale in this "must read" article.

This Is A dog of A Story

And not just the bollocks

I like his sense of humour but I'm a little unsure on the menu.

He is standing under a mango tree in "South Africa", the name of an open-air restaurant hidden behind the living quarters of a Western construction firm in Abuja.

"It is called South Africa because behind those high walls you'll find rich Europeans and outside here is Soweto, where we, ordinary masses, struggle with dog meat," Mr Eze explains with a smile playing on his face.

Jack Murtha. A Soldier's Declaration And A Small Deception

A Soldier's Statement

"I AM making this statement * because I believe that the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it.

I am a soldier, convinced that I am acting on behalf of soldiers. I believe that this war, upon which I entered as a war of defense and liberation, has now become a war of aggression and conquest. I believe that the purposes for which I and my fellow-soldiers entered upon this war should have been so clearly stated as to have made it impossible to change them, and that, had this been done, the objects which actuated us would now be attainable by negotiation.,

I have seen and endured the sufferings of the troops, and I can no longer be a party to prolong these sufferings for ends which I believe to be evil and unjust.

I am not protesting against the conduct of the war, but against the political errors and insincerities for which the fighting men are being sacrificed.

On behalf of those who are suffering now I make this protest against the deception which is being practiced on them; also I believe that I may help to destroy the callous complacence with which the majority of those at home regard the continuance of agonies which they do not share, and which they have not sufficient imagination to realize."

* as an act of willful defiance of military authority,

Siegfried L. Sassoon...July 1917

Forgive me but it is I that practice the deception, but reading Sassoon's statement that he issued reflecting the concern he felt for his men to every other point he brings to the fore, I cannot but help make the comparison between the message of Jack Murtha and Sassoon.

And it is EVERY last point that Sassoon makes, from beginning to ending:

also I believe that I may help to destroy the callous complacence with which the majority of those at home regard the continuance of agonies which they do not share, and which they have not sufficient imagination to realize."

Some ninety years on.

It’s Time to Bring the Troops Home

For 2 ½ years I have been concerned about the U.S. policy and the plan in Iraq. I have addressed my concerns with the Administration and the Pentagon and have spoken out in public about my concerns. The main reason for going to war has been discredited.

Our military has been fighting a war in Iraq for over two and a half years. Our military has accomplished its mission and done its duty.

I said over a year ago, and now the military and the Administration agrees, Iraq can not be won “militarily.”

But to highlight a few, the similarities are frightening, but this:

A panel of army doctors quickly decreed that Siegfried Sassoon was 'suffering from a nervous breakdown and not responsible for his actions', and sent him off to a hospital for shell-shocked soldiers (Craiglockhart War Hospital in Scotland).

But the publicity the army feared wasn't entirely suppressed. A pacifist Member of Parliament read Sassoon's 'Statement' aloud in the House of Commons. There was an uproar.

Now nobody has carted Murtha off to the big house in the country, but the right wing smear machine did it's best, how many times did we listen/read "Sit down and shut up Murtha, you crazy old man."

The point of all this, when Sassoon recognised that the war could never be resolved by any other means than political discourse, which history has proved him correct, and no matter how many more bodies were thrown into the conflict to die needlessly, he stood up to be counted, and by virtue of making his statement his message was crystal clear, enough! it's time to end it.

I could go on but I think the point is made, other than to ask how many more millions died needlessly from that time on until the conflict ended and how many more are yet to die in this?

And now if you are feeling comfortable and nodding in agreement I would like to make my feelings known.
This talk of "Heroes" both British and American, well I am afraid they are not. That America has taken over the role that once was ours, the role of Warrior Nation, you have become so inured that it borders delusional.
The stark reality is WE are an invading force in an illegal war of aggression and are an army of occupation. Heroes only to ourselves, but don't include me.

Suicide in the Trenches

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

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

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

Siegfried Sassoon
1918

Walter Reed. Does It Matter?

Does it Matter?

DOES it matter?--losing your legs?...

For people will always be kind,

And you need not show that you mind

When the others come in after hunting

To gobble their muffins and eggs.

Does it matter?--losing your sight?...

There's such splendid work for the blind;

And people will always be kind,

As you sit on the terrace remembering

And turning your face to the light.

Do they matter?--those dreams from the pit?...

You can drink and forget and be glad,

And people won't say that you're mad;

For they'll know you've fought for your country

And no one will worry a bit.

Siegfried Sassoon 1918.

Autumn Journal

I much admire this earthy timeless piece,
taken from MacNeice's Autumn Journal.

Surbiton, and a woman gets in, painted
With dyed hair but a ladder in her stocking and eyes
Patient beneath the calculated lashes,
Inured for ever to surprise;
And the train's rhythm becomes the ad nauseam
repetition
Of every tired aubade and maudlin madrigal,
The'he faded airs of sexual attraction
Wandering like dead leaves along a warehouse wall:
'I loved my love with a platform ticket,
A jazz song,
A handbag, a pair of stockings of Paris Sand--
I loved her long.
I loved her between the lines and against the clock,
Not until death
But till life did us part I loved her with paper money
And with whisky on the breath.
I loved her with peacock's eyes and the wares of
Carthage,
With glass and gloves and gold and a powder puff
With blasphemy, camaraderie, and bravado
And lots of other stuff.
I loved my love with the wings of angels
Dipped in henna, unearthly red,
With my office hours, with flowers and sirens,
With my budget, my latchkey, and my daily bread.'
And so to London and down the ever-moving
Stairs
Where a warm wind blows the bodies of men together
And blows apart their complexes and cares.

Louis MacNeice.
Berlin 1938

A Biteen Of Humour

I suggest you open another window to listen to the words.
The audio is a bit short lived, but ye gets the idea.
Play.

The Button Pusher	[print]
(Enoch Kent)
I am the man, the well-fed man In charge of the terrible knob The most pleasing thing about it It's almost a permanent job When the atom war is over And the world is split in three A consolation I've got, well maybe it's not There'll be nobody left but me I sit at my desk in Washington In charge of this great machine More vicious than Adolf Hitler More deadly than strychnine And in the evening after a tiring day Just to give myself a laugh I hit the button a playful belt And I listen for the blast I am the man, the well-fed man In charge of the terrible knob The most pleasing thing about it It's almost a permanent job When the atom war is over And the world is split in three A consolation I've got, well maybe it's not There'll be nobody left but me If Brezjnev starts his nonsense And makes a nasty smell With a wink and a nod from Nixon I'll blast them all to hell And as for that fellow Castro Him with the sugar cane He needn't hide behind his whiskers I'll get him just the same I am the man, the well-fed man In charge of the terrible knob The most pleasing thing about it It's almost a permanent job When the atom war is over And the world is split in three A consolation I've got, well maybe it's not There'll be nobody left but me If me wife denies my conjucular rights Or me breakfast milk is sour From eight to nine in the morning You're in for a nervous hour The button being so terribly close It's really a dreadful joke A bump of my ass as I go past And we'll all go up in smoke I am the man, the well-fed man In charge of the terrible knob The most pleasing thing about it It's almost a permanent job When the atom war is over And the world is split in three A consolation I've got, well maybe it's not There'll be nobody left but me Now I'm thinking of joining the army The army that bans the bomb We'll take up a large collection And I'll donate my thumb For without it I am helpless And that's the way to be You don't have to kill the whole bloody lot To make the people free I am the man, the well-fed man In charge of the terrible knob The most pleasing thing about it It's almost a permanent job When the atom war is over And the world is split in three A consolation I've got, well maybe it's not There'll be nobody left but me

Now for your listening pleasure. "The Fields of Athenry"

The "Fields" THE anthem of West Cork.
Those feckin Brits I'm tellin ye.

Three Stars Do Not A General Make and Other Contradictions

He is what is known perversely in Iran as a three star student. That means he has three bad marks against his name for political activism - enough to be banned from the university.

The contradictions only applying in the context of what "He Said, She Said." as reported by the BBC or more accurately "He Said, He Said"

This paragraph is an update if you will. I had published the whole article and nowhere to be found was mention of the point of interest that inspired its writing.
As you read the report from the BBC you might see much similarity between the actions of the Iranian Government and the modus operandi of Bu$hco, as is reflected in the latest stunt involving US attorneys and then there is this.

And there is mobile phone footage from a demonstration in the summer at which the posters make it pretty clear what the students think of their new Ayatollah-turned-chancellor.

"This is not a religious seminary - it's a university," read one poster.

Now wouldn't that be the ultimate wet dream of the Fundi-Right, every school and uni headed by some batshit crazy preacher man. Christ it would have made Kansas look like Cambridge inside of a year, and science!, oh my, Adam and Eve off to church (Southern Baptist of course) on Sundays riding on the backs of his and her dinosaurs. Proceed if you will.


For what "She Said" is of little importance in Iran, unless of course it is, and then it suddenly becomes "Propaganda and threatens national security. Wow, your bad ladies, oh and lets not forget your Riotous Assembly.

The five have been charged with endangering national security, propaganda against the state and taking part in an illegal gathering. (June 2006)

As we know from the old adage Two's Company, Three can be a ball,
or in the case of Governments the world over, Riotous or Illegal Assembly.
And who knows what kind of threat thirty two might pose for the Government of Iran,(watch) and them not even in full Ninja kit.

The protesters were showing solidarity with five women on trial for organising a protest last June against laws they say discriminate against women.

The consensus being that the thirty two women represent the majority of the leaders of the women's rights group in Iran, and the arrests are a pre-emptive move to down play "International Women's Day" on the Eighth of March. (Report from IWD 2004)

Only In France? Not In America.

From the land that gave the world "Frites" aka "French Fries" that patriotically went on to became "Freedom Fries" . But given the success of this "stroll along the beach, I cannot help wonder that this ubiquitous spud is befitting a far greater name, something worthy of its sage like qualities in the understanding of world affairs. For now though, I expect we will just revert to, 'ere Mush, got any vini for these? 'ere chips?

A story from "Chris in Paris" a contributor at AmericaBlog, almost a tale of two chippy's.

Thinking Blogger Award

Well I have given this keyboard a right good rattling today and although it is the beginning of the post it is in fact the last thing left write. I've been putting it off you see, a bit stuck for want of a word or two in fact. Larry who practices philosophy at the blog The Barefoot Bum has done me no small honour in seeing fit to give me a little badge that says a whole lot more than it's size, can I let the rules explain. Thank you Larry.


The ground rules are:
1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote.



When the talking is about the thinking, it's the thinking that this opening paragraph has to be thought with a touch of the West Cork about it. I'll give you a minute or two to get your thoughts around that one.

Now there will be one or two of you out there that will have a perfect understanding of what I've just said, there might be a couple more if they only knew where on earth West Cork actually was.
Now at this point, if there really was a big fellow up in the sky, he'd be jumping in and taking over the telling of this tale, for he'd be telling ye, "And all the while you buggers be saying I was sat on me arse on the Sunday, well you'd all be wrong, I was busy making me own bit o' heaven on earth and calling it West Cork, but sure it wouldn't be everybody I'd want to be knowing about it, just me mates, you know, me chosen few."

But there isn't and he didn't, but if there was, he would have, for sure isn't the proof still there, West Cork that is, and it's still only the chosen few that live there. And that my friends is my kind of philosophy, and perhaps if I'd be telling the tale a couple of millennia ago and somebody had bothered his arse and written it down and things would have been a touch different today.

For we'd be having Matthew Mark Luke and Himself. The gospel according to Himself, jazus now wouldn't they be on their knees for that now. I can hear 'em, "Hallelujah it came straight from the lips of Himself."
Now you have to be admitting, it's got a mighty ring to it, L Ron Hubbard, eat yer heart out.

So this little bit of my philosophy is my own small way of thanking Larry for the honour he bestows upon me, and it gives me a chance to say, what lots of you out there would also like to say, but are afraid of being labled a thicko. Larry I haven't a bleeding clue what you're talking about three parts of the time.


Aware that I am this is not a Miss World contest and as such there are sequential runners up, but those that know him will have no problem agreeing with me that one man stands alone, alone inasmuch that of all the writers on the internet today, there is not one who's star shines so bright. So allowed or not, republican that I am, that be republican with an extremely small "r" I'll have you know, tonight I embrace the Royalists and present, you think I'm going to give him a tacky title don't you, I wouldn't be so gauche as to insult the man.

I give you Arthur Silber author and writer extraorinaire. Simply, the best, I cannot say more.
And I'm sure you wouldn't want me to.

In no particular order, but this bit of a kid, in a nation of three hundred million, stands head and shoulders above them all. Enduring threats of violence and goodness knows what else along the way, has not only made me think she must have made millions think around the world.

Made millions think about this evil that has been brought to reign over the people of Iraq.
This evil that has resulted in the deaths and the tearing of limbs from the fragile bodies of tens of thousands, of numbers that cannot even be counted, of innocent children and their poor poor parents.
This evil that manifests itself in the form of George Bush, President of the United States of America.

Peace does take Courage Ava Lowery, you have shown more of it than a girl of your years should be asked to, you have a special place in my heart.


In spite of him calling me "his scary new fan" this foul mouthed gobshite is like no other foul mouth gobshite I have ever come across.

He is a very clever gobshite that has the imagination and the skill to take you along with him, be it to peek in at the Concerned Women (Vaginas) of America as the indulge in a circle jerk orgy of masturbatory fantasies on the end of cruciform dildos or to the depths of the Whitehouse dungeon as Karl Rove goes about his dark practices with his ever willing leather slave.

For all the places that you travel with the Rude Pundit, and for all the eloquence of his language, he never ever misses the mark in his message, it's on the money, always.
Signed, Cathy Bates. you fucking wanker.

As does Ava Lowery make me and others around the world think, then so does this girl.
She shows courage in a different way, she shows it every day by staying alive, no easy task in George Bush's Iraq.
She blogs from Baghdad, though she makes light of it, I would not like to think of the consequences were she to be discovered by the wrong people. Given the situation there I would suspect every living being apart from her most immediate family could easily be the "wrong people"

The pressure on this lass and her family must be enormous, how easily might a "right person" become a "wrong person" when they find themselves on the wrong end of an electric drill.
There must be a thousand and one dangers in just staying alive, let alone blogging on top of it all.

Lass we do think about you here in the west, never more so than when you go off line for protracted periods, there be plenty of us waiting with baited breaths to hear of your safe return.
I hope this little award somehow goes the tiniest way to show you that you are in our thoughts.
If you have a god may he protect you and your family. Riverbend. Baghdad Burning.

Well last but not least another blogger that has made me do an awful lot of thinking, I can't say for the main that they have been good thoughts. Occasionally she posts about a success but they are few and far between, I am sure she would be delighted to do just that, post more successes, but in Bushco's America, and in the "Prison Nation" fed by a judicial system that is a stranger to justice, there is scant good to write about.
I salute you Madam. Jeralyn Merrit. TalkLeft.

Input And Opinion

Should you wish, I would be pleased to hear any comments, be they constructive criticism or your just your thoughts in general.
I am aware of my small but steadily growing readership around the world and I would be interested and welcome input, not least from different cultures.
If you look around the blog, there are no ads, no appeals for donations and of course no pay, and that's the way it will remain. But if you want to "pay me" with a comment or two, you are more than welcome.
Himself.

John Kerry Baaad Man

Squirming red faced little fuck can be viewed at C&L

The upside of writing your own blog is the freedom to be selective in the issue you choose, so it is a normally warm day in hell when I have to read such absolute shite as this whiny little bitch yaps about.
I didn't think such drivel were possible, not even in America, then I clocked the name, well it had to be didn't it, some relation of "Viagra Man," although I had never previously heard of him.
I'm well aware of who, ("Oh I was toooo embarrassed to score my own Viagra") Limbaugh is. (update, and so doe's the "Smoking Gun" nice one Rush, there must be, let me go see.... Yesss, I knew they wouldn't let me down, you've arrived Rush, or have you come? I know you went, but coming's far better than arriving, ain't it?)

Now I'm definately not knocking the "Blue Ones" especially not the super fast acting soft ones dropped on top of previously swallowed Cialis, (meth opptional) so I've been told, personally I really wouldn't know. But Rush, I can't help but wonder how embarrassed you were flashing your little stiffy at god knows what, when you went on your little sex tour holiday, you hypocritical fat bag of Republican shite.

I digress; whiny little bitches and there whines. I have highlighted such a whine below, no perhaps he (Fox) didn't anticipate Kerry being a teensy bit pissed, after all it wasn't like it was anything important at stake, and what's a few bucks spent on a campaign matter? (You're still a wanker in my books Kerry. himself)

But no, whodathunkit that Kerry might just mention it in passing? Not Fox, and not David Limbaugh if we are to believe what he writes below.
I have a little trouble with it myself, perhaps because my world is a two word world, it has not become a two worder, as Mother has say, it's become a two worder so as to be able to differentiate between "their" world and my world, the "real" world if you will.

Kerry was not about to forego this opportunity to transfer his unquenched hostility against the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth to Mr. Fox, who, it turns out, had donated $50,000 to that group during the 2004 presidential race.

Though Fox received "glowing tributes" from a number of senators, Kerry didn't even try to mask his anger. He said, "I assume that you believe that the truth in public life is important? Might I ask you what your opinion is with respect to the state of American politics as regards the politics of personal destruction?" Unfortunately, perhaps because he didn't anticipate that Kerry would stoop so low as to turn his confirmation hearings into a public vendetta and therapy session, Fox conceded that all 527 groups, like the Swiftees, are "mean and destructive" and "smearing lies." But he justified his contribution on the grounds that both sides engage in negative campaigning and it would be political suicide for one side to quit doing it while the other continued.

So in this second highlight we witness Limbaugh endorsing Fox's stumbling stuttering words of justification, that he, (Fox) gave to Kerry.
Ah it's so plain to me now, upon re-reading, it becomes all so apparent, Fox candied up fifty large to someone, who for the life of him he can't remember, out of fairness, that's it, fairness, how philanthropic, what a lovely world he must live in.

A Christian Not Liking Body Piercings? Makes The Crucifixion A Tough Gig.

Christian Doctor Says No To Tattoos And Piercings

Doesn't bode well for you, son of mine.

Story Pharyngula.

H/T Peter McGrath (for the title)

No More Whales Will Die This Season

The Death Star Returns To The Land Of The Rising Sun

Finally, the burnt-out hulk of the whale killing floating factory called the Nisshin Maru is limping out of the Antarctic treaty zone, the stench of rotten whale meat lingering in its wake. The whale-killing fleet is now slowly heading north to Japan. There will be no stopping in New Zealand for repairs. A stop there will result in legal issues that could tie the ship up for years and the whale meat onboard would be confiscated.

The whaling fleet has a long way to go to reach Tokyo. The crew will be
mourning the loss of one crewmember and remembering

the opposition by Sea Shepherd that left their decks reeking of rotten butter and awash with the blood of the whales caused by Sea Shepherd crew sealing the bloody flensing deck outlet drains. It is a ship that reeks of death, burnt flesh, gore, and blood. It looks and smells like the Death Star that it is.

Our message to the Japanese whalers: “We hope your damages are so severe you will not be back next year but if you are, we will be there waiting for you and we will not be as polite as we were this year,” said Captain Watson.

Well done and a big thank you to all concerned.

Other articles and links.

Whaling fleets are equipped with sonar, helicopters and long-range explosive harpoons. The whale is killed by a 6ft long iron harpoon shot from a cannon. The harpoon head contains a time-fuse grenade which blows the whale's insides apart seconds after impact, though this does not usually kill it immediately.

Observer

Officials in Tokyo conceded that the premature end to the hunt was a blow to its so-called research activities in the Southern Ocean. "This is the first time in 20 years that we have had to cancel our research," Takahide Naruko of the fisheries agency told reporters. "We are very disappointed."

Wednesday February 28, 2007

Guardian Unlimited