Bohemian Bankruptcy
TheEye thoroughly enjoyed this over at Subrosa's place and thought it deserved a wider airing - so it's here and also cross-posted at A Tangled Web. Enjoy....
Great Athletes Are Made?
6 hours ago
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Jacket Potato
The hooded poncho is made with a special plastic made from spuds and other natural resources, claim makers Good4Environment, in Ourense, Spain.
When wearers are finished with the coat, they simply bury it in the ground and seeds contained in the fabric will grow into a new plant.
"We wanted to make something that is practical to wear, looks good and then does some good when its working life is over," said spokeswoman for the firm Maite Canton when contacted by Central European News. She said: "We put seeds in special little pouches - the rotting coat will provide all the raw material for the germinating seeds.
"We have a selection of seeds - some are of aromatic plants, some flowers and some are of Mediterranean trees."
Speechless. Just. Speechless. Read more...
Heartbreak In Copenhagen
Denmark's prime minister says he does not think a legally binding deal on climate change will be agreed upon at a December summit in Copenhagen.Essentially, that is all the Kyoto Protocol was, a political agreement. That is still a bad thing, though, since the majority of signatories harmed their economies and still failed to reach their assigned targets. But, it will surely give Obama a chance to fly off to attempt to be Mr. Rock Star again, do a little blame Bush, and try to show that he is actually relevant on the world stage. The US taxpayer will pick up his carbon offsets, so it's rather unfortunate that a leading UN IPCC report author, who shares that Nobel the group won, says that cap and trade will destroy the U.S. economy.
Lars Loekke Rasmussen spoke ahead of an EU summit at which climate change will be one of the main topics.
"We do not think it will be possible to decide all the finer details for a legally binding regime," he said.
However, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that even if no treaty is signed in Copenhagen, he was confident a political agreement could be reached there.
Meanwhile, you know what all those greenhouse gasses causes in the Philippines?
But Sarah Umayat, medical technologist of the town's rural health center, was forced to bring a vaccine thermometer to find out of it could be used to gauge the temperature.
The sudden dip in temperature had surprised residents, she said. She noticed the change in temperature after Typhoon "Pepeng" struck the Cordillera's upland towns.
"Maybe this is another effect of climate change," she said.
Apparently, it causes Idiocy. It is also so evil, it supposedly forces children in the Philippines to quit school and stay at home to watch their brothers and sisters.
Finally, just to make your day complete, supermodels strip (not all the way) for global warming (starts about 20 seconds in.) Read more...
Exercise Macaque Attack
Nobody can say that MoD planners in Whitehall don't have a sense of humour when it comes to naming things. When it starts tomorrow, Exercise Macaque Attack will be the first full-squadron size exercise to have taken place at RAF Gibraltar for several years.
Six Tornado GR4s of XIII Squadron, based at RAF Marham in Norfolk, will conduct operational training flights supported by five Hawk aircraft from 100 Squadron normally based at RAF Leeming in Yorkshire. The Hawks will also carry out their own operational training.
In total, over 130 RAF personnel will have travelled out from UK to take part in this two week exercise. That should keep the bars and the Military Police busy for a few days. And not much sleep for TheEye when they start night take-off and landing practice. Blogging will continue uninterrupted but a level of sleep-deprived tetchiness may creep through on occasions...apologies in advance.
Population Control But Only For The West?
It had to happen sooner or later - the population control eco-freaks are coming out of the woodwork. In this bit of lunacy we're only a few logical steps away from putting sterilising chemicals in the water supply (an approach already advocated in the past by Obama's Science Czar). From Comment is Free in The Grauniad:
The worst thing that you or I can do for the planet is to have children. If they behave as the average person in the rich world does now, they will emit some 11 tonnes of CO2 every year of their lives. In their turn, they are likely to have more carbon-emitting children who will make an even bigger mess. If Britain is to meet the government's target of an 80% reduction in our emissions by 2050, we need to start reversing our rising rate of population growth immediately.All children are bad, but Western children are particularly bad, because according to the Gaiaist religion,
the poorer you are, the less carbon you emit. By today's standards, a cull of Australians or Americans would be at least 60 times as productive as one of Bangladeshis. …one less British child would permit some 30 women in sub-Saharan Africa to have a baby and still leave the planet a cleaner place.As usual, the role model for eco-nutters is communist China, which is praised for reducing its population by hundreds of millions by dictating to parents that they can only have one child - a policy that often results in infanticide for baby girls. If Nazism and Communism could leave tens of millions dead, what will be the death toll if the evil freaks driving the environmentalism movement get the leverage to inflict their anti-Western and antihuman fantasies? At least this will make life easier for the Lib Dem fascists in Watford who have banned parents (hat-tip Dizzy) from stepping on playgrounds where their children are now to be marched up and down in complete safety by an approved and vetted PlayRangerFuhrer. There won't be any children to save...
Read more...
Happy Birthday Internet
At 10.30pm precisely, the first message was sent over the Arpanet between the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Stanford Research Institute by student Charley Kline. The message itself was the word "login". The "l" and the "o" transmitted without problem but then the system crashed. So, trivia fans, the first message transmitted over the internet was "lo".
Little did anyone realise that this unsung event would trigger the start of the largest porn stash known to mankind, interspersed by the occasional irreverent political blog or two. You'd have hoped that if Charley Kine had known what he was starting he would have pulled the plug out of the back pretty sharpish and gone straight to the pub. Read more...
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
"Murdered By Muslim Terrorists" On A Gravestone?
Peter Gadiel wants a specific line added to the plaque to say, "murdered by Muslim terrorists" but Kent's city officials are playing the can't-we-all-get-along game.
"We perceive ourselves as a very warm, loving town," said Ruth Epstein, a Kent selectman and one of two town leaders to vote the plaque down. "To disparage any one ethnic group is just against everything that we stand for here."Idiots. I'll bet if you asked all the three thousand Americans murdered by those Muslim terrorists that dark September 11th day they each would have said that they felt that they all lived in "very warm and loving" towns. What the city officials haven't realised is that these Muslim murderers don't care about your "warm and loving" town - they would have no qualms whatsoever about bombing you warmly into oblivion.
Gadiel, for his part, is sad that people are too easily forgetting about what happened.
"It isn't just overlooked, it's suppressed," Gadiel said. "It's simply wrong to imply that people just died. The buildings didn't just collapse, they didn't just fall down - they were attacked by people with a specific identity, a specific purpose."Exactly right. The town of Kent should dump its warm and fuzzy rose-coloured glasses and see the world as it truly is. Add the line that father Peter Gadiel wants to the memorial.
Read more...
Guess How Much For A Pint In 2030?
SOARING food prices could leave UK consumers forking out almost £6.50 for a loaf of bread and more than £18 for a pint of beer by 2030, unless urgent action is taken to avert dangerous climate change.
A study for Friends of the Earth by Oxford University lecturer Ray Hammond examining how warming temperatures could affect food supplies said the prices of basics such as bread, rice and pasta could all spiral in the next two decades, leaving millions hungry in the UK.
Yields of staple crops are predicted to fall as global temperatures rise, while climate change will put extra pressure on land and resources such as water, with more droughts, floods and extreme weather events expected.
No news on the effect of all this nonsense on the price of a large G&T but that's not really a North-of-the Border drink. They should have included a random guess at the price of whisky if they'd really wanted to frighten the horses up there. Read more...
An End To Drones? (Pt2)
Remember those very useful unmanned drones being used in Afghanistan and Pakistan to target terrorists? AllSeeingEye has blogged on them before, their effectiveness in combat situations and the fact that human rights lawyers therefore don't like them. Well it seems possible that that expansive monolithic bastion of socialist stupidity the United Nations has had enough of the possibility that the forces of good might actually get the upper hand over those who want to blow us up, and is having another go about them. The UN, as usual, want to take away the things which work and, probably, arm our troops with spoons or similar. Bob Ainsworthless will be pleased.
A U.N. human rights investigator warned the United States Tuesday that its use of unmanned warplanes to carry out targeted executions may violate international law.
We know how Obama loves the UN (witness the allowing of human rights inspectors into major US cities to investigate housing issues), so, what will he do? This might give him the chance he seems to desperately want, after all his campaign promises and without appearing weak, to abandon
Philip Alston said that unless the Obama administration explains the legal basis for targeting particular individuals and the measures it is taking to comply with international humanitarian law which prohibits arbitrary executions, "it will increasingly be perceived as carrying out indiscriminate killings in violation of international law."
Alston, the U.N. Human Rights Council's investigator on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions, raised the issue of U.S. Predator drones in a report to the General Assembly's human rights committee and at a news conference afterwards, saying he has become increasingly concerned at the dramatic increase in their use, especially in Afghanistan and Pakistan, since June.the War on Terrorism, Operation Overseas Contingency.
So, this is a test for Obama. Despite preferring to play golf than taking the decision to commit to the troop surge in Afghanistan and renaming the WoT, as well as some pretty speeches, he has actually done a decent job, mostly out of the public eye. He escalated drone strikes not only in Afghanistan, but in Pakistan. He has stuck with the Bush plan to leave Iraq. He has kept rendition. Gitmo is nowhere close to being closed. Will he listen to the UN this time? Hopefully not.
Arnie's Message To Sacramento Lawmakers
Spotted over at the Greek lad's place, and originally from the San Fransico Bay Guardian we have this gem:
It was hardly a bill of cosmic import, but Assemblymember Tom Ammiano’s AB 1176 would have helped the Port of San Francisco with some financing issues. It’s the kind of bill that legislators offer on behalf of their cities all the time -- and generally, they are non-controversial. This one was the same -- no substantive opposition, it passed both houses easily -- and normally, the governor would sign it with little fanfare.
But no: Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill -- and sent Ammiano and the legislators a remarkable veto letter. The letter says nothing about the substance of the bill; in fact, the language is really convoluted and it’s hard to figure out what the gov is really saying. [...]
But wait -- there’s a real message, an actual missive from the Gov to Tom, embedded in this text. And it’s not hard to find -- in fact, it’s hard to believe it could have been a coincidence...
The San FranciscoBay Guardian doesn't like it and is getting all uppity and self-righteous in a Lefty false-moral-preachy sort of way, but frankly to TheEye the rejection of just about any legislation is welcome - only just less so than actual repeal of laws - and to do it to Sacramento lawmakers (you remember, the lovely chaps who heckled Arnie to "kiss my faggot ass" last month) has got to be very satisfying. Read more...
Peter Kilfoyle Tries To Derail President Blair
Peter Kilfoyle MP has tabled an EDM opposing the coronation of Blair as President of the European Council. At least that's what he probably means - there is no such job of President of the European Union...that's just a phrase used by lazy journalists and ignorant backbench Labour MPs. This is the text:"That this House believes that, on his record in international affairs, Tony Blair is wholly unsuitable to be President of the European Union; that the Foreign Secretary is both wrong and unwise to promote his candidature for the post; and believes that there should be a full public debate before the Government contemplates embarking on such a recommendation."These are the signatories so far:
- Kilfoyle, Peter
- Hancock, Mike
- Spink, Bob
- Cook, Frank
- Drew, David
- Holmes, Paul
- McDonnell, John
- Corbyn, Jeremy
- Davies, Dai
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Now AGW Makes You Believe In Halloween
If it's Tuesday, it must be time for the next AGW scaremongeringDr Francis Yeboah, Head of Molecular Medicine at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), on Tuesday said too much heat could affect how the brain worked and could also increase the risk of cardiovascular or heart diseases.
Too much cold has a negative effect on the body, as well. And, this thing about too much heat makes a bit of sense. But, he wouldn't have an agenda, would he?
He explained that even though the body could absorb some heat, the required body temperature is 37 degrees Celsius, when the body temperature rises above 40 degrees Celsius there was cause for concern.
Dr Yeboah said certain fluids, including the cerebrum spinal fluid were affected when the body absorbed too much heat.He was speaking at workshop organized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the theme: "Integrating Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in Development Planning."
No, no agenda.The workshop is being attended by participants from the various embassies and high commissions, delegates from the sub-region, representatives from the various Ministries, Department and Agencies as well as the media Dr Yeboah said with changes in the weather, temperatures were expected to rise and it was important that government put in place measures to address public health since many diseases in Africa were also linked to changes in the weather.
There were lots of issues back during the early days of the Little Ice Age. The Vikings in Greenland started dying off when they were no longer able to farm, they couldn't grow grapes for wine in England, and, oh, yeah, the Black Death was spreading around Asia and Europe.
The heat is probably affecting people's belief systems, tooThe latest Pew poll on global warming shows a large drop in the percentage of Americans who say there is solid evidence that global temperatures are rising, from 71% down to only 57% in the last 18 months. And global warming due to human activity? The overall numbers have declined from 47% to 36%. To put this in perspective, a Gallup poll found that 37% of Americans believe that houses can be haunted. This contrast is particularly dramatic among conservatives: Only 18% of Republicans believe that there is evidence of global warming caused by human activity, while 28% of conservatives believe in haunted houses.
To sum it up, 37% believe in haunted houses, 36% believe in AGW.
Meanwhile, Climate Chief Lord Stern says you need to turn vegetarian, particularly since a successful Copenhagen climate treaty will "lead to soaring costs for meat and other foods that generate large quantities of greenhouse gases."
And, all you fatties? You are bad for the climate environment, but has anyone told Al Gore? He's not exactly thin anymore, what with all that great food at the conferences he attends as he flies around the world in his personal jet.
Hat-tip: William Teach at RightwingNews
Monday, October 26, 2009
Break The Habit, Break The TA?
Defence Minister Bill Rammell told MPs a whole load of nothing, culminating in the nugget that "the MoD would not be pursuing a 6 month hiatus in training for units not deployed in Afghanistan, as part of a £20m cut to the TA budget and that instead, funding will be provided for monthly training sessions to take place".
In response, Dr Fox wanted to know the answer to "three simple questions":
"First, the Government has previously said that they ‘always finance our military commitments overseas out of the reserve'. The Secretary of State stated during the debate last week that: ‘we are adjusting the core defence budget to reprioritise Afghanistan.’ Some of us are surprised that it’s not already the No.1 priority, but if it is fully funded from the Reserve, why are they cutting the core budget of the TA by £43m?Looks like someone is either being dishonest with the figures, is trying to cover up previous dodgy financial brinkmanship or is currently engaged in frantic budgetary deckchairs-on-Titanic shuffling. Or if we consider the cock-up not conspiracy angle, it could just be that they are bloody incompetent.
“Secondly, we know that due to the recession and the major recruitment drive in the past year there are more recruits in the Regular Army than there is money to train them. The Government have demanded savings from other places within the Army to fund this. Why did the Government not plan to fund its own target numbers for recruitment—especially in a war?This is pretty much a killer point. If you have a target for recuitment then all of the subsequent requirement have to be in place in advance too. Or are you factoring in the expectation of failure to reach those targets. In that case, why have targets at all? Someone was paid to produce the figures for those targets...why not sack them as their job is obviously pointless and spend the money on a smart top-hat to pluck random figures out of? If you are going to be dishonest about these things then at least do it with style.
This government do not understand the concept of volunteering or of selfless puvlic service. They only understand the enjoyment gained by sadists who apply for 'elf'n'safety non-jobs in the Grauniad. Interesting 'break the habit' phrase....not really thought of it that way but TheEye has certainly found that to be true for other similar things and can well believe that there will be an effect.
“Thirdly, does the Government really understand the ethos of volunteering or the effect this could have on future available numbers? For many the TA is a habit: break the habit, break the TA.
“Pre-deployment training is only of use if you have the numbers to start with. Is it not the case that pre-deployment training is meant to augment and not supplant routine TA training, so routine training is just as important as pre-deployment training? Whether an individual is deploying on operations or not, regular and routine training is required to ensure medium and long term readiness levels in the TA for any future deployments to Afghanistan or somewhere else unforeseen.”So they are double-counting the training. Take what should already be there, cut it, give it a new coat of paint and a different name, back down and shuffle some of it back into place...and Bob(Ainsworthless)'s your uncle. No-one'll notice, Squire. You'll see.
This is a scandal, which, as usual, will be shrugged off by our Government of metropolitan failed trades-unionists. There will be many more ex-Forces in the Commons after the next Election so we can expect a greater understanding of Defence requirements when a rump of surviving Labour MP's are consigned to the Opposition benches. Read more...
Soldiers' Stories
On the History Channel tonight is a programme called Soldiers' Stories. From the website:
Soldiers' Stories tells of the troubles in Northern Ireland from the perspective of the British soldiers who served there between 1969 and 2007, the longest continuous deployment in the history of the British Army.
This was a war against terrorists who knew no mercy or compassion; a war involving sectarian hatred and violent death. Over 1,000 British lives were lost in a place just 30 minutes flying time from the mainland.
This year is the 40th anniversary of the British Army’s arrival in Northern Ireland. They were deployed on 14 August 1969, by the Wilson government, as law and order had broken down and the population was in grave danger. Between then and 2007 some 300,000 British troops served in Northern Ireland. Occasionally they were welcomed; more often, they were spat at, pelted with missiles or shot.
So how did it feel to be a British soldier in Northern Ireland? These are their stories, terrible stories of bombings, killings and heartache over three decades, told for the first time from their own perspective.
This looks like excellent viewing and is definitely on the To Do list for this evening. Read more...
In Praise Of Political Balance
We all know that the Left loves to debate and give people their say, to listen to all points of view, right?
A polirical row has broken out over a Derby Conservative councillor's decision to show a climate change-sceptic film in the city's council chamber.
The new film, Not Evil Just Wrong, is a documentary which suggests evidence of global warming is inconclusive and that the impact climate change laws will have on industry is much more harmful to humans than beneficial. It is a direct challenge to Al Gore's film, An Inconvenient Truth, with was shown to councillors in Derby during Labour's control of the authority in 2007.
Tory councillor Frank Leeming put forward the idea to show the new film today, sparking criticism from Labour councillors.
So they are up in arms simply because it was suggested that the film be shown? For that they are insisting that the Conservative chairman resign? I wonder if they felt the same when Gore's "movie" was shown? You know, the one which a British judge ruled was full of lies and half-truths, with 9 significant errors so serious that they had to be told to cildren before they are forced to watch the propaganda piece.
"We are a democratic group which allows free speech. I don't see any reason why I shouldn't do this," (Harvey Jennings, leader of the Conservative group) said.
Bah, free speech is so last year. Read more...
As remembrance grows closer
I hope you are now all wearing you poppies. Dame Vera managed to put in the effort, so none f really have an excuse!
Here is a less than gung-ho song on that subject.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
St Crispin's Day
It is not for nothing that one of the writers on this blog has chosen St Crispin as his nom de guerre. His status as a serving officer precludes him from contributing anything like as much as he would like to our blog but he is a good friend to TheEye both inside and outside of blogging. May the day dawn very soon when we are drinking Horse's Necks once again in the Mess at HMS Rooke.
Until then, on this day for patriots and those who carry themselves with bravery and honour; enjoy with us this famous scene:
Jimmy Carr Is Way Over The Line
For those who haven't heard of him Jimmy Carr is a 'comedian'. Not really to TheEye's tastes, but it takes all sorts to make a world and the default attitude is: if you don't like it, don't buy tickets.Up to a point, but not this time.
Five minutes from the end of his show at the Manchester Apollo on Friday, Carr said: "Say what you like about these servicemen amputees from Iraq and Afghanistan, but we’re going to have a f*****g good paralympic team in 2012".
Whilst it's true that his website describes his act as "rude, crude and offensive" and he's tried to brush off criticism of this incident as a "silly joke" which if it "draws attention to the plight of these servicemen then so much the better" - and compunding the insult by saying so - this goes light-years beyond anything TheEye could remotely see as amusing.
Jimmy, lets see you stand on the parade ground at Aldershot and tell that one to a bunch of squaddies. They'll tell you if it's funny or not.
UPDATE: The GrumpyOldTwat has a great graphical take on it here.
Read more...
UPDATE: The GrumpyOldTwat has a great graphical take on it here.
Fashionista Update
A nobody called Mary Tomer has written an excruciating book claiming that Michelle Obama is the fashion guru of the sentient Universe. Of the 120 photographs used, this oddly isn't one of them
Philip Sherwell has "reviewed" it in the Telegraph - if by 'reviewed' you mean slobbering all over the author and sticking the pages of her book together with his drool. At least, here's hoping that it was drool. Obama's "style and wardrobe is celebrated in a glossy new book that will delight her growing band of fashion devotees" - a cue for an article deserving of a nomination to Private Eye's Order of the Brown Nose....or is that waaaaacist?
Never fear, though. This "growing band" becomes a "legion" not a hop, skip and paragraph later. Luckily he runs out of paid-by-the-word space before "intergalactic titanium-clad super-battalions of mind-boggling proportions" get involved with their opinion.
The authoress, Miss Tomer believes much is communicated through Mrs Obama's style. "There is a sense of optimism, such as the lemongrass dress she chose for the inauguration in January, amid a sea of black winter coats". Or "horribly clashing tastelessness" as we used to call such a fashion disaster, but never mind. Try the Rorschach ink-blot test, love, and tell us if you see galloping unicorns and fairies.
Really, the Daily Telegraph is going through the floor with biased op-eds, sycophantic fawning and slanted commentary all taking the place of proper journalism. TheEye only buys it for the crossword these days.
Read more...
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Ping Pong Payout
From the Department of Good Grief What Next we hear about a prisoner serving time in Sweden's Gävle jail who has received a pay out of 18,300 kronor ($2,700/£1,650) in compensation after injuring his little finger during a game of table tennis.
The incident happened in November 2007 when the 46-year-old inmate whacked the little finger of his right hand on the edge of the table, according to local newspaper Arbetarbladet.
For the next ten weeks he was forced to wear a plastic splint to support the finger which was "tender and swollen", and the prisoner made a personal injury claim over the matter. The Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency (Kammarkollegiet) concluded that he suffered pain, injury and scarring.
Maybe only a trifle considering some of the payouts we hear about these days...and don't let's even start the comparisons with awards to servicemen...but surely it's another sign of the impending apocalypse. Read more...
Israelis Want Warships For Free
Daddy, daddy, I know what I want for Chanukah!
What, my Jewish son?
Two warships!
Do you know how much they cost?
Nothing! I want them for freeeeeee!
Israel is hoping to order two modern German-made warships without paying for them, daily Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung reported on Friday.
Sources within the German government told the paper that Israel wants the Berlin to finance the MEKO corvettes, a sum that would reportedly reach hundreds of millions of euros. The paper reported that the government has not yet reacted to Israel’s request. But “influential politicians from northern Germany,” where the shipbuilding industry is suffering from the global economic downturn, are apparently supportive in the interest of keeping German shipyards in business.
The shipbuilding contract would go to Hamburg company Blohm + Voss, probably more famous for construction triumphs such as the Bismark. The internal weapons system would come from the United States, with the end result being a missile defence system on water.
Israeli naval forces have already received help from the German government. Between 1999 and 2000, three submarines completed by Kiel shipyard Howaldtswerken Deutsche Werft were delivered.
Meanwhile the government is reportedly paying for two-thirds of two more submarines with fuel-cell power plants priced at €500 million. They are currently under construction in Kiel with plans to deliver them to Israel in 2012.
Nice to have friends, eh? Read more...
Climate Change Bedtime Story
It was inevitable, in hindsight. Not quite the new Downfall but some entertaining dubbing...enjoy...
Olympic Madness
From the Hootsmon:
An artist plotting his own "field of dreams" has won a £460,000 grant – to create a full-size football pitch in a secluded part of a Scottish woodland.
Craig Coulthard, 28, has been selected to create one of 12 artworks across the UK to help celebrate the staging of the 2012 Olympics in London.
The artist, who lives in Edinburgh, will spend the best part of 18 months creating a football pitch in the Borders – which can only be seen from the Edinburgh-London flight path. But the pitch will only be in use for one day – just before the Games – before being left to be "taken over by nature". The games will be played by volunteers who have gained British citizenship since the last Olympics.
Mr Coulthard said: "It's not the kind of project you do without a substantial grant or subsidy, so I was delighted to hear I'd won.
Other winning entries include: three 30ft hand-crocheted lions, which will be displayed in a huge case in Nottingham; an environmentally-sustainable watermill to float on the River Tyne, and the recreation of Coventry icon Lady Godiva as a giant human puppet, who will lead a cast of thousands in a processional performance.
Glad to see that Olympic money isn't being wasted, and is going towards sustainable and beneficial projects that for decades to come will....argh...todos somos condenados. Read more...
Friday, October 23, 2009
How Bad Is Your Music? Torture?
We all have our tastes in music and usually they are quite easily seperated into two distinct categories - stuff I like and everything else. A musician is going to have to have a reasonably thick skin to absorb the blow that not everyone thinks he is perfection embodied. But why would you deliberately go out to find if your music was considered torture? Could it be for the money?
Working on the assumption that no-one offended by Beethoven ever tried to blow up the Tube, rock music was famously played to the terror suspects in Gitmo. Now according to the Washington Post a number of high-profile musicians - including members of Pearl Jam, R.E.M. and the Roots - pressed the government Thursday to name the songs used.
The songs were said to be played for hours - sometimes days, a practice the musicians say amounted to torture, and one the Obama administration says has been discontinued. Listen to Pearl Jam for hours on end? Damn right that's torture, you sadistic bastards. Music can of course be useful to potential terrorists. Anyone planning to fly a plane as a weapon should learn from John Denver's last song as a pilot "Rocky Mountain Higher Than I Thought It Was".
In an effort to declassify all records related to what they say was the use of music as torture, several musicians have endorsed a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the National Security Archive, according to the newspaper. "I think every musician should be involved," singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash, daughter of Johnny Cash, told the Post. "It seems so obvious. Music should never be used as torture."
"The fact that music I helped create was used in crimes against humanity sickens me," Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, said. Have you ever listened to the music you made, sunshine? Put down the crack pipe, diffuse the fumes and give it a go sometime. It should be you in the orange jumpsuit for crimes against humanity.
You've got to wonder though...are they doing this for the good of mankind or because their careers have dried up and no-one listens to them any more? In this recession, and with dwindling royalties, that coke habit is going to seem more and more of a luxury. What's the betting they are really angling for a performing rights payout for air time soon? After all, all they have to do is prove that their own work was torture....
Croatian Blogger Saved By Supreme Court
You could do worse than bookmark that post for future reference.
Anyway, there is an update on the story. From the Croatian Times:
Vukovar resident Damir Fintic, the first Croat who was supposed to go to jail for expressing opinions on his blog, will not have to do so after all. Fintic was sentenced to 20 days in jail for comments written by someone else on his blog criticizing former Vukovar Mayor Vladimir Stengl and his wife Dragica.
The Supreme Court, however, has dismissed the verdict against him with an explanation that Fintic was illegally sentenced and has sent the case back to the Vukovar court. Stengl pressed charges against Fintic and demanded a total of 250,000 kunas or 33,311 Euros in damages. Fintic decided to go to prison because he did not have that much money.
Fintic was accused according to the old law of 2005, which provides for fines or prison for calumny, but a new law in 2006 provided only for fines for calumny. The State Attorney's Office had asked for the dismissal of his sentence. He was supposed to have checked himself into Osijek prison on 27 October.
Fintic expressed content with the Supreme Court decision. Croatian Journalists Association (HND) head Zdenko Duka said he was pleased that Croatia would not be the first European country to send a journalist to jail for comments on a blog.
So the issue hasn't gone away but local law enforcement seems to be in a bit of a mess about the whole thing. Certainly this bears out the initial assessment by Peter on the original post here that the law used in this case was one not designed to cope with bloggers or blogging. The legal system needs to play catch-up with technology (as ususal) but this is not a situtation unique to Croatia....be careful out there, folks. Read more...
Church Of Sweden Okays Gay Marriages
The decision, which is based on a proposal from the church’s governing board, means that the Church of Sweden will conduct wedding ceremonies for both heterosexual and homosexual couples.
The proposal was approved by 176 of 249 voting members.
The decision comes just three days after the 30th anniversary of the date when homosexuality stopped being classified as a disease in Sweden.
“The Synod’s decision takes a stance in favour of an inclusive view of people. Regardless of whether one is religious or not, this affects the entire social climate and the view of people’s equal value,” Åsa Regnér, head of the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU) - the country's largest gay rights group, said in a statement.
In June, the church board took the first step towards permitting same-sex marriages by submitting a petition to the Church of Sweden Synod – the church's highest decision-making body. The board proposed the church continue to perform wedding ceremonies following new legislation which came into force on May 1st and grants same-sex couples in Sweden the same legal marriage status as heterosexuals.
Current church regulations will likely continue to apply in practice, with some alterations, such as replacing “man and wife” with “lawfully wedded spouses” when a homosexual couple is married. Individual pastors would also still be able to refuse to perform marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples.
Since 2007, the Church of Sweden, which counts around 74 percent of Swedes as members, has offered gays a religious blessing of their union.
The ruling by the Synod, which has 251 delegates - two of which were absent from Thursday's vote, puts Sweden among the first countries in the world to allow gays to marry in a major church. Representatives from the Catholic and Orthodox churches in Sweden, however, were disappointed by Thursday’s decision.
“It is with great sorry that we receive news that the Church of Sweden’s Synod has today decided to wed same-sex couples that it will be referred to as marriage. This is a step backwards, not only from Christian tradition, but also from all of the major world’s religions views of what marriage is,” write Vicar Fredrik Emanuelson of the Catholic Church and Father Misha Jaksic, coordinator of the family of Orthodox Churches at the Christian Council of Sweden (CCS), in a joint statement. “We don’t wed same-sex couples in our churches and faith communities because doing so stands in clear opposition to the church’s tradition and to our entire view of creation.”
In moving ahead with the decision to perform same-sex marriages, the Church of Sweden also ignored concerns expressed earlier this year by the Church of England in a strongly worded letter to Swedish archbishop Anders Wejryd that the move could lead to “an impairment of the relationships between the churches”.
Church of England spokesvicar Steve Jenkins confirmed that relations between the two churches may be headed for a turbulent phase in the wake of the decision. “Those concerns remain,” he said, referring to the letter from English bishops Christopher Hill and John Hind, adding that he didn’t know of any plans by the English Church to issue a formal statement in response to the Church of Sweden’s decision. Read more...
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Time To Eat The Dog
The eco-pawprint of a pet dog is twice that of a 4.6-litre Land Cruiser driven 10,000 kilometres a year, researchers have found.
Victoria University professors Brenda and Robert Vale, architects who specialise in sustainable living, say pet owners should swap cats and dogs for creatures they can eat, such as chickens or rabbits, in their provocative new book Time to Eat the Dog: The real guide to sustainable living.
The couple have assessed the carbon emissions created by popular pets, taking into account the ingredients of pet food and the land needed to create them.
"If you have a German shepherd or similar-sized dog, for example, its impact every year is exactly the same as driving a large car around," Brenda Vale said.
I can't wait till someone does the same type of study on babies. Maybe socialists would stop breeding, thereby creating a future situation where we will all be left in peace from this eco-loons. Even cats are not immunune.
They found cats have an eco-footprint of 0.15ha slightly less than a Volkswagen Golf. Hamsters have a footprint of 0.014ha keeping two of them is equivalent to owning a plasma TV.
I bet bison, pandas, and other animals that the eco's have tried to reintroduce and increase in population are not AGW friendly. Maybe we should let species die off? Or maybe we should just wipe out the big animals around the world. Elephants are probably the equivalent of Al Gore's yacht. A herd of wildebeest certainly put out as much CO2 as Obama does as he jets around the country and world campaigning.
Or we could all go cannibal! That would reduce Man's eco-footprint.
Read more...
Wanted: Dope Critic
The medical marijuana review business is booming as states like Colorado and California have seen an explosion in the number of pot shops.
A Denver alternative newspaper recently posted an ad for what some consider the sweetest job in journalism - a reviewer of the state's marijuana dispensaries and their products. …
The Denver paper, Westword, … already has gotten more than 120 applicants, many of them offering to do the reviews for free. When the newspaper settles on a permanent critic for its new "Mile Highs and Lows" column, industry watchers say, it will be the first professional newspaper critic of medical marijuana in the country. …
The newspaper hasn't yet settled on a freelance fee for the reviews; it's currently running an essay contest and sharing excerpts of potential critics talking about what marijuana means to them. "Marijuana isn't just important to me, it is my life," gushed one hopeful.
Now there's a guy with a future in journalism. Read more...
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
He, She Or It?
UN "Special Rapporteur" Martin Scheinin recently filed a report with the UN titled “Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms While Countering Terrorism" in which he states that human gender is not a fixed thing but a mere "social construct" that is "changeable over time."
In this paper Scheinin, the "Special Rapporteur" (nice business card title, that) and the UN leadership (a word used advisedly) wants terribly to deny both genetics and simple reality. Page eight of this report asserts that a man is not necessarily a man and a women... well, maybe she's something else entirely... but what ever they are their gender is but a temporary designation determined at the whim of society.
Catch this PC drivel:
Of course, it is patently obvious what this sort of rhetoric is meant to do and that is play to the radical homosexual lobby. If gender is defined as something that can't be defined, this would help further legitimize homosexual, transgender and other aberrant lifestyle choices, many of which have been considered mental illnesses in the recent past and in some countries are still are.
Gender is not synonymous with women but rather encompasses the social constructions that underlie how women’s and men’s roles, functions and responsibilities, including in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity, are defined and understood. This report will therefore identify the gendered impact of counter-terrorism measures both on women and men, as well as the rights of persons of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. As a social construct, gender is also informed by, and intersects with, various other means by which roles, functions and responsibilities are perceived and practiced, such as race, ethnicity, culture, religion and class. Consequently, gender is not static; it is changeable over time and across contexts. Understanding gender as a social and shifting construct rather than as a biological and fixed category is important because it helps to identify the complex and inter-related gender-based human rights violations caused by counter- terrorism measures; to understand the underlying causes of these violations; and to design strategies for countering terrorism that are truly non-discriminatory and inclusive of all actors.
The UN has many times tried to get this definition of gender to become de rigueur but has thankfully failed thus far to convince the world's representatives to go along with such an absurd artifice. But there is a problem here and that is the fact that this language was shoehorned into an official UN report. It is language not accepted by the world, but language snuck into a sanctioned report and presented as accepted fact. It is surreptitious gay activism and nothing else but this sort of underhanded advocacy helps smooth the way for activism later.
After all, at some point, some militant gay activist will present this report as "proof" that gender is subjective and not objective or at least use the fact that this is an official UN report to help buttress their activism. Make no mistake, however, this is what activists want and also why this language was slipped into this report. These activists will not stop until they get their way so anyone that opposes this nonsense must continue to fight against it, must continue to point out the illegitimacy of reports such as this. Hat-tip: Rightwingnews
Farewell, Then, Dr. No
Joseph Wiseman, the stage and screen actor who played the title role in "Dr. No," the first James Bond film, has died at the age of 91."Dr. No" starred Sean Connery as Bond, with Wiseman filing the role of Bond's larger-than-life antagonist, a self-described "unwanted child of a German missionary and a Chinese girl of a good family [who] became treasurer of the most powerful criminal society in China" and lost both hands in a radiation accident.
"I'm a member of SPECTRE," Wiseman said as Dr. Julius No. "Special Executive for Counter Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, Extortion. The four great cornerstones of power headed by the greatest brains in the world."
"Correction," Connery's Bond replied. "Criminal brains."
"The successful criminal brain is always superior," said No. "It has to be."
Wiseman's other film credits include such familiar titles as "Detective Story" (1951), "Viva Zapata!" (1952), "The Silver Chalice" (1954), "The Unforgiven” (1960), "The Night They Raided Minsky’s" (1968), and "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz" (1974). And his list of television credits includes guest spots in everything from the original Rod Serling "Twilight Zone" to "LA Law" to, most recently, "Law & Order."
He was also a stage actor, appearing most recently on Broadway in the 2001 adaptation of the film "Judgment at Nuremberg." Other Broadway credits include "Abe Lincoln in Illinois"(1938), "Antony and Cleopatra" (1947), "The Lark” (1955)," and "In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer" (1969), in which he played the title role.
But he'll always be Dr No. Read more...
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Sarah Palin On Oprah
Announced today by Harpo Productions, the news only seems to have perculated as far as the Anchorage Daily News (TheEye kids you not that this is on the daily check list for interesting trifles - and other flavoured dessertstuffs).
Pre-publication of her new book Going Rogue put it top of Amazon's bestseller list and it is currently 4th. Publication day is the 17th - the day after the interview, which only the most naive fool would consider a coincidence. Amazon will be shipping at the same time, so if your copy is sent via Royal Mail it should reach you just in time for her to be running for her second term as President. Read more...
AGW On Trial?
For years, leading plaintiffs’ lawyers have promised a legal assault on industrial America for contributing to global warming.
So far, the trial bar has had limited success. The hurdles to such suits are pretty obvious: How do you apportion fault and link particular plaintiffs’ injuries to the pollution emitted by a particular group of defendants?
Today, though, plaintiffs’ lawyers may be a gloating a bit, after a favorable ruling Friday from the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans, which is regarded as one of the more conservative circuit courts in the country.
The suit was brought by landowners in Mississippi, who claim that oil and coal companies emitted greenhouse gasses that contributed to global warming that, in turn, caused a rise in sea levels, adding to Hurricane Katrina’s ferocity.
For a nice overview of the ruling, and its significance in the climate change battle, check out this blog post by J. Russell Jackson, a Skadden Arps partner who specializes in mass tort litigation. The post likens the Katrina plaintiffs’ claims, which set out a chain of causation, to the litigation equivalent of “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.”
At first sight, this looks like just another meaningless and hysterical law suit, but, think about this for a moment. The plaintiffs are going to have to provide actual, factual, relevant, and meaningful evidence, and actually debate the merits of man made global warming in the public eye. The defence will be able to provide relevant, factual, and meaningful evidence, such as the "no warming in the last 10 years" information, all in the public eye. If the climahysteric plaintiffs lose, this could be a major slap in the face for the AGW movement.
Al Gore has been challenged to debate after debate after debate, yet, refuses to engage in one. The Washington Posts' Andrew Freeman chickened out on a debate with Climate Depot's Marc Morano. The US Chamber of Commerce called for a climate trial, and, rather than anyone taking them up on it, they were demonized. Lord Monckton has offered to debate any climate alarmist, and none will take him on. Perhaps this trial will shed some reality on the situation, and finally put to rest the notion of anthropogenic climate change. Until they bring it back up in a few years, of course. Read more...
AGW - Coming To A TV Near You Soon
That this House recognises that there is a climate emergency and that the catastrophic destabilisation of global climate represents the greatest threat that humanity faces; further recognises that the world is already above the safe level of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration for a stable planet; further recognises the need to reduce this level to 350 particles per million or below; believes it is impossible to predict how close the world is to dangerous tipping points and that action to reduce emissions now is worth considerably more than doing the same later; further believes that immediate action is required to enact a program of emergency measures with substantial emissions reductions in the short term of the order of 10 per cent. by the end of 2010; further believes that the majority of money spent on reviving the economy should be on green measures and that at least two hours of prime time television per week should be used to explain the gravity of the crisis to the public; further believes that unabated coal and domestic flights should be phased out by the end of 2010, that a speed limit of 55 miles per hour should be introduced and investment made in energy efficiency and renewable energy, public transport and the retro-fitting of efficient insulation to existing housing stock technologies leading to the creation of a million green jobs by the end of 2010; and further believes that the introduction of such measures would send a positive signal to other countries leading up to the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen and beyond.
In the name of all that's holy, this is just too much. The EDM can't be fisked because...well, TheEye can't even read it all the way through without wanting to kill Challen with a spoon, let alone start to take it apart. Also it would forever destroy the non-sweariness of this blog in a spectacular fashion.
And if his
Curses to Croydonian for starting TheEye on the slippery slope of reading these and Dizzy for spotting this one. Read more...
Monday, October 19, 2009
Look! It's Flash Gordoom To The Rescue!
Save us, Flash! Just like you saved Financial World from those evil invading armies of profiteers and sub-prime mortgage sellers who were enslaving them! And when you conquered Nose World live on television with the Excavating Finger Of Justice! Now, Flash, to Copenhagen! You only have 50 days......
It's not often that TheEye will post a video without having the strength to endure it all of the way through. In the name of all that is good in the world, will someone please let us know if Benny Hill style dancing girls appear later on in it? They don't in the first 14 seconds but beyond that the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak.
A time countdown widget may be required, though, to remind us of an upcoming demise conveniently timed to have us all dead before the last date possible to call a General Election. Spooky coincidence or divine intervention....you decide.
Tax-Deductible Goldfish?
In the United States, this may soon be possible on their tax returns. A proposal known as the HAPPY (Humanity and Pets Partnered Through the Years) Act was introduced in Congress earlier this year which would allow pet owners to deduct up to $3,500 for "qualified pet-care expenses" for household pets.
Unfortunately for everyone who has immediately started sizing up the denizens of their fishtank in the hopes of a tax rebate, here in the UK you are much more likely to be taxed on them as a rich toff's luxury - along with the quality of the view out of your window, and being taxed both to dig a hole and taxed again if you want to fill it in*. Even US citizens are likely to be disappointed - a Rasmussen Report released today showed that only 25% approved of this latest bit of lunacy. Even pet owners are dubious and oppose the HAPPY idea by a two-to-one margin.
Conclusively proving that the divine blessing of charity is not dead, 9% of non-pet owners are
Advocates of the HAPPY legislation say, "Providing pet owners the opportunity to deduct pet care expenses is an important step toward ensuring that pet owners provide adequate veterinary and other necessary pet care. It encourages responsible pet ownership and will hopefully reduce the abandonment of pets by people struggling as a result of the economic downturn.". Riiiiighty-ho.
Opponents have had some fun with the proposal, even creating a tongue-in-cheek “Individual Pet Tax Return” which includes a line item for rating the cuteness of your pet.
On a general point and most worryingly, only 55% of people in the US say tax cuts are generally good for the economy. However by applying the laws of averages and the bell-curve model of IQ we note that 50% of people are either of the mean average intelligence level or higher - so as a statistic this makes quite a bit of sense.
*Aggregate and landfill taxes, since you asked. Read more...
Illegal Alien
From CNN and with comments:
Immigrant rights activists are calling on U.S. retailers to stop selling two controversial "Illegal Alien" costumes that have surfaced for Halloween, saying the outfits are a broadside attack on illegal immigrants.
The "Illegal Alien Adult Costume," manufactured by Forum novelties, includes an orange jumpsuit, similar to prison garb, with "Illegal Alien" stamped in black across the chest; a space alien mask; and a fake Green Card. The "Illegal Alien Mask with Hat" also includes a space alien mask, this time with a dark handlebar mustache and a baseball cap.
The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles said it began receiving e-mails from concerned legal immigrants on Friday. In response, CHIRLA wrote a letter asking several retailers, including Target, Walgreens, and Amazon.com, to stop offering the costume.
From legal immingrants, eh? Yes right. We believe you. Not illegals that you'd have to report, but legals who are completely unaffected. We believe you. CHIRLA has been identified by the CIA and FBI as a "pro-Soviet front organisation" which dents their credibility a bit.
As of Saturday afternoon, Target had pulled the products, and some links to the costumes on other sites were no longer functional. Target said the "Illegal Alien" costume was inadvertently uploaded to its Web site due to a data entry error.
A data entry error? Obviously. After all, it's so easy to accidently type in a full product description complete with pricing, stock control details and pictures whilst your mind is distracted by bright shiny objects.
"It is never our intent to offend the consumers with the products we offer," a company statement said. The makers of the costumes could not be reached for comment on Saturday.
An outbreak of cowardice all round, it seems. We should be selling these over here. There would be quite a demand for the genuine articles in Luton and Bradford.
Jorge-Mario Cabrera, the director of communications for CHIRLA, said he initially thought the costume was a stab at harmless satire. But when he saw the Green Card, he realized it was an swipe at illegal immigrants.
"This was an ignorant attempt to poke fun at a small community," said Cabrera. Political satire and Halloween often merge. Costumes depicting former well-known political figures are often seen along side those depicting Batman or Wonder Woman.
Yes, there were plenty of George Bush masks to go around, but you'd put large amounts of cash down that no-one is going to dare do an Obama one. That would be waaaaaaaaasict, after all.
To some, the attempted humor of the costumes falls flat. Guillermo Iglesias said both of his parents were illegal immigrants in the United States. He felt the costumes were offensive because they depicted illegal immigrants as "not one of us."
Yes, the "not one of us" Clue is in the phrase "Illegal Alien". It's a giveaway, in fact.
"I have a lot of illegal immigrant friends," said Iglesias. "If I showed them that costume, it would really hurt them."
Right, you've just admitted live across the world to multiple felonies related to aiding, abetting and harbouring fugitives from the law. Slap the cuffs on officer. Way to go, moron.
Despite the controversy, some stores say the costumes have been a hit. "It's a very well-recommended costume," said an employee at Ricky's, a costume store in New York City. The store has sold seven costumes for $39.99 apiece and is set to receive another shipment.
"I think having a costume like that is distasteful," said Andrea Hill, outside of Ricky's. "But if it's not illegal, I think it's alright for them to sell it."
Right, so Truth, Freedom and the American Way have to wait for half of the article before kicking in, but CNN can't avoid a side-swipe that it's only capitalism which is supporting the "distasteful" outfits.
William Gheen, the president of Americans for Legal Immigration, said he intends to buy the costume, and calls the reaction unfounded. "The only people getting upset are the hyper-sensitive, over-politically correct, pro-amnesty, illegal alien-supporting nuts," said Gheen. "You can't attack people's freedom in this country."Yay! Go William! And that deserves to be the final word on the matter.... Read more...
Laws And Consequences
So, as hunting has carried on regardless of the ban, what extra benefits would we get by repealing it? How about hunting eco-loons? From the Telegraph:
Chief inspector Linda McCarthy of Nottinghamshire police said on Sunday: ''There have been reports of some protesters receiving dog bites and other injuries as a result of a concerted effort to pull down fences and enter the site.
One protester, Laura McFarlane-Shopes, 23, wore a bandage on her arm to cover a bite she had received from one of the dogs.
She said: "We were near the fence and some people were trying to get over. I was just in front of them. Horses and dogs started charging down. Police shouted that they were coming. They let the dogs on to me and one leaped up and bit my arm."
Seems like fun. Tally ho! Read more...
Saturday, October 17, 2009
A Prize For President Palin
So Obama got a Peace Prize? Meh. He's only 15th where it counts. President Palin will do better than that. From Politico:
"President Barack Obama may have been granted a Nobel Peace Prize, but that doesn't mean that every top honor comes to him easily. The new website "Hottest Heads of State" has ranked the attractiveness of 172 world leaders, and Obama comes in 15th behind such notables as Ukraine's Yulia Tymoshenko, Norway's Jens Stoltenberg, Belarus's Alexander Lukashenko and Argentina's Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner."
Tymoshenko came in first. That one, we can all understand. She might even compete with Sarah Palin on something like this, although we'd have to see them both in boots to make a really informed decision.
Stoltenberg (above right), okay, he's got kind of a Clive Owen thing going, and nobody would argue against Argentina's de Kirchner (top left). But Lukashenko with a high ranking position (above left)? You've got to be joking.
Obama can take some comfort, however, in the fact that he beat Russia's Vladimir Putin, France's Nicolas Sarkozy and Iran's resident nut-job Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
McDoom ranks a pathetic 84th, just ahead of Manmohan Singh of India but is pipped by Tertius Zongo of Burkina Faso (Upper Volta as TheEye was taught in skule) in the lower-right picture.
Amid keen competition and jockeying for bragging-rights in the lower ranked positions, Kim Jong Il is rated the world's least hot ruler, behind Pope Benedict XVI.
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