All Seeing Eye: December 2009

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Survivor Of USS Cole Terrorist Attack Dies Of Injuries

As we seem to be justifiably nervous again about the terrorist threat, let's remember an event from October 2000 and a resulting death which happened only two days ago.

The attack on the USS Cole killed 17 sailors and injured 39, among them Petty Officer 3rd Class Johann Gokool of Homestead, an electronic warfare technician who lost his left leg.

Last Wednesday, a week after his 31st birthday, Gokool transitioned from survivor to victim. Relatives say he died in his bed, apparently during one of the violent panic attacks that had plagued him since the incident.

His younger brother found Gokool about 7 p.m. Dec. 23 in the house they shared. Medical examiners still haven't said what killed him, but relatives believe that a deadly attack stopped his heart.

The U.S. Navy classified Gokool 100 percent disabled due to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The attacks came without warning, lasting from a few minutes to hours, and because of them, Gokool couldn't work, drive or even bowl - his favorite pastime.

His obituary is in the Palm Beach Post and makes for sad reading. If nothing else it should remind us that for many ex-servicemen war doesn't end when the last bullet is fired. RIP

Profiling Would Save Lives

Ann Coulter's column today makes an early and yet strangely powerful bid for the Statin' The Bleedin' Obvious Prize of 2010 by noting:

For the past eight years, approximately 2 million Americans a day have been subjected to humiliating searches at airport security checkpoints, forced to remove their shoes and jackets, to open their computers, and to remove all liquids from their carry-on bags, except minuscule amounts in marked 3-ounce containers placed in Ziploc plastic bags -- folding sandwich bags are verboten -- among other indignities.

This, allegedly, was the price we had to pay for safe airplanes. The one security precaution the government refused to consider was to require extra screening for passengers who looked like the last three-dozen terrorists to attack airplanes.

Since Muslims took down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, every attack on a commercial airliner has been committed by foreign-born Muslim men with the same hair color, eye color and skin color. Half of them have been named Mohammed.

An alien from the planet "Not Politically Correct" would have surveyed the situation after 9/11 and said: "You are at war with an enemy without uniforms, without morals, without a country and without a leader -- but the one advantage you have is they all look alike. ... What? ... What did I say?"

It's worth a look. Not on her very top form in my humble opinion, but it is still entertaining, challenging and completely to the point.

Padded Parking Spaces For Women

From the ever-entertaining Austrian Times comes this New Year tale of genius...

Shopping centre bosses are offering women customers something to cushion the blow of a sales splurge - a special padded car park. The centres - in Peking and spread across all of northern China - feature women-only car park sections with wider spaces and colour coded walls to make them easier to spot. The purple and pink colour scheme is supposed to ease the anxiety women feel when trying to reverse into a parking space, psychologists have advised the designers. And even the pillars are padded with foam to soften the impact of parking shunts. Wanxiang-Tiancheng shopping centre director Wang Zheng in Hebei denied that the spaces are sexist but said they appeal to women's "strong sense of colour and different sense of distance." "There is a scientific basis for all this. Women have a poorer sense of distance when they are locked inside a small space. "That is why female drivers often bump the front and back of their cars. There is also a 15 per cent greater chance that a woman will whack her car door into another car when she opens it," he added. "Each parking space is three metres wide, much larger than normal parking spaces and there is more CCTV to help women feel safer," he explained.

Not sure if this is original news or if the Austrian Times has only just noticed it elsewhere, but it's a new one on us. Just don't mention it to the missus...

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Gitmo A Better Idea Than Obama Thinks

From The Spectator tonight and only a brief article so worth reproducing in full. The photograph is of the Detroit bomb.

Two of the leaders of the organisation that is claiming responsibility for the attempt to blow up a jet over Detroit were released from Guantanamo in 2007, ABC News is reporting. They were sent from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia where they were entered into an ‘art therapy’ programme designed to rehabilitate terrorists. They seemed to have given this rehabilitation programme the slip and joined up with Al Qaeda in Yemen. This example highlights just how difficult the problem of repatriating Guantanamo inmates is. Guantanamo is, obviously, not an ideal solution nor even the least worst. But it is naive to imagine that the problem Guantanamo was designed to solve—what to do with those the authorities have reasonable grounds to believe are terrorists but not enough evidence to prosecute successfully in civilian courts—is simple.

And the beat goes on....

BackOfAFagPacket-athon At ConHome

Fair play to Tim Montgomerie over at ConservativeHome - last weekend he reproduced some dire political posters from the Dependent on Sunday and asked for better anti-Labour / pro-Tory ideas. Very brave of him, considering. Steve Green of the Daily Referendum blog entered this one, and Tim says that he likes it. "I think it sums up where lots of fair-minded voters are. They gave Brown/Blair another chance in 2001 and then one final chance... but never again. With a little development I think it's worth someone using as a poster or as a YouTube." ~~Yes~~, ~~Maybe~~, ~~Stick to the day job~~, Manly attempt, Steve, although multiple uses of an exclamation mark is usually the sign of a warped mind.

The G.O.T. has done his fair share of political artwork, most of which wouldn't make it on to ConservativeHome's shortlist of posters-you-could-show-your-mother but TheEye's graphics skills aren't up to it. Hopefully someone somewhere will come up with something more inspiring to bedeck McDoom's political funeral.

Political Deadlock Is A Good Thing

All of us at the AllSeeingEye hope that our readers have had a splendid Christmas and apologise for the pause in blogging. When it comes to priorities, family trumps just about everything. So, getting back in to the swing of things with a thought or two from across the Pond....

"You say we [reporters] are distracting from the business of government. Well, I hope so. Distracting a politician from governing is like distracting a bear from eating your baby." - P. J. O'Rourke

Over at the New York Times, they're bemoaning the polarization of Congress:

Much to the distress of more rebellious Republicans, House Republicans who had never tasted life in power tended to try to cooperate with Democrats as their best chance of getting things done. It was not uncommon for top Democrats and Republicans to have close and cordial relationships.

But former Speaker Newt Gingrich and his allies showed that drawing the sharpest possible contrasts with the opposition could pay political dividends as they gained control of the House, and the see-saw fight for the Congressional upper hand began.

At the same time, a political toll was being taken on the centrist Democrats and Republicans who were most prone to compromise. Many left Congress or were defeated.

Sherwood Boehlert, a centrist Republican from New York, left the House in 2006. He said the partisanship had become too pervasive and made it all but impossible to reach across party lines, as he tried to do on issues like automotive mileage standards.

“Now if a Republican is seen working on something with a Democrat, you are seen as a heretic,” said Mr. Boehlert, who tries to create consensus approaches at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Democrats drew their own stark lines in 2003 when Republicans and the Bush administration coalesced around adding prescription drug coverage to Medicare, an expansion Democrats had sought for years. The plan, which Democrats criticized for its generous subsidies to health insurers, was endorsed by AARP, but House Democrats sought to keep their members from voting for it, though 16 did in the end.

It's ironic and amusing in equal measure that the New York Times is now admitting that Democrats were stalling the Bush agenda for partisan reasons - now that Bush is out of office and it might benefit Democrats, but consider the argument that the US Congress has become so incompetent, so corrupt, and so broken, that America is better off as a nation when they can't get anything done. Then extend the idea to the UK...and as a proposition it has a lot going for it.

That doesn't mean there ever has been or is going to be a period in history when you can't do anything at all better than it's being done at the time - there will always be something useful to improve. However, ask yourself if there has been a single law passed in the last year that makes the United Kingdom a better place. If, as a nation, we could simply go back and wipe every new law off the books for the last 10 years we would, on the whole, be better off as a country.

Does that mean that no laws ever make things better? No. But, they're such a minority of the laws that we pass, they're so small in scope compared to the negative laws that go through, and government has gotten so large and so out-of-control already, that the odds are that the more laws passed, the worse things will get.

If it wasn't for the scorched-earth mess bequeathed to the incoming Conservative government and the need (almost certainly beyond their political backbone and vision) to take radical and strong action, an ideal government should just take old laws off of the books. If we did nothing but that for 5 or 10 years, the country would benefit immensely from it.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Merry Christmas

All of the contributors to the All Seeing Eye: TheEye, St Crispin, GrumpyOldTwat and David Vance, would like to wish our readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

TheEye will be spending the time with family and friends, and hopes that everyone who wishes to has that same blessing. Blogging will resume when the red wine has run out....at current rates of consumption it's going to be down to the cooking brandy by about Sunday-ish so expect some ramblings early next week.

(a typical Gibraltar Christmas scene - minus the cars parked on top of each other and the scooters whizzing past, and with some random extra animals)

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Oh, Get You! That's Look Is Just Sooooo 1940's

Now if you want some interior design done, it might seem a stereotype but it's also true that most of the best designers seem to be gay. So it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that plans for a monument to homosexual victims of the Nazis in Vienna have been shelved – because artists could not find the right colour for it.

Hans Kupelwieser had won a competition 2006 with plans for a 60x60 foot water basin full of pink-coloured water and the word "Que(e)r" written across it to be placed at Morzin square. Tasteful? Well that's debatable for a start, but at least there weren't any drapes or cushions to argue over.

But Social Democratic (SPÖ) cultural councillor Andreas Mailath-Pokorny (pictured) said the project had been called off because of a failure to find a colour suitable for daily use. "We really wanted it to become a reality." There will be a new competition for a memorial so get designing, folks, but SPÖ city development councillor Rudolf Schicker’s office had said there are no concrete (groan) plans for the square’s renovation and none would be made "for the foreseeable future."

Iain Dale was unavailable for comment.

Hat-tip: The ever bizarre Austrian Times

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Gordoom And The Goracle Take A Wrong Turning

Remember that video clip of George W Bush in Peking trying to walk through a locked door? Yes, you can't forget it because the BBC have played it (and still do) on every 'comedy' panel gameshow going as a sign of how "stupid" he was supposed to be. Contrast that with the comparative absence of the video of Obama trying to enter the White House through a window. Similarly, this one of McDoom and the Goracle making fools of themselves at Hoaxenhagen will be quickly forgotten as a brief 'funny'. Plenty of "wrong turning" and "directionless" jokes to be had in the meantime though.

Christmas Presents You Won't Get From TheEye (No.94)

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Santa Loves All Kids, Even Ginger Ones.....

You have to laugh at the political correctness of it all.

Britain's biggest retailer Tesco apologised on Tuesday after complaints that a Christmas card it sold was offensive to people with ginger hair. The card in question shows a child with red hair sitting on the lap of Santa Claus under the banner: "Santa loves all kids. Even ginger ones." Davinia Phillips, whose three children all have red hair, was enraged when she saw the card at one of Tesco's stores in northern England. "It's discrimination, pure and simple. I have shown it to a lot of friends and they are all disgusted by it," she was quoted by newspapers as saying.

Luckily, an appeal has already been launched to help us through this global catastrophe. (with apologies to David Vance's family!)

Monday, December 14, 2009

Consensus? What Consensus?

A rather good effort has been put in to this "the science is settled, move along, nothing to debate here" line which is constantly being spouted by the climahysterics here.

PopularTechnology have put together a list of 500 fully peer reviewed papers which support the sceptical side of the man-made global warming non-debate in an effort to bring some balance.

It's doubtful if any of them will be quoted at Hoaxenhagen, but it just goes to show that the science isn't quite as one-sided as some people would have you believe. In more cheery It's All An Act news today, a whole group of ~~corrupt~~ ~~greedy~~ ~~scrounging~~ ~~bandwagon jumping~~ ~~can't believe their luck~~ ~~think it's Christmas~~ 3rd world hellholes have walked out of the conference., potentially scuppering an economy-ruining 'deal'.

Let's hope they stay out and the whole thing collapses. Maybe it is Christmas early after all....

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Why Are These Graphs Wrong?

Iain Dale poses a perfectly legtimate question (but was slated on Twitter for it):

Question: Could any scientists out there tell me why the graphs in this presentation are wrong? Beacause they appear to show that the current period of global warming is but nothing to that which occurred in mediaeval times, or 10,000 years ago.
I'm genuinely interested.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Miss Gibraltar Is Miss World

It’s a Red Letter Day here in Gibraltar today*.

Kaiane Aldorino, Miss Gibraltar, has shot to the top and won the Miss World contest. The show was seen by millions world wide and rocked Gibraltar as results came in. Mobile telephones were blocked as people rushed to spread the news.

“It’s a wonderful achievement for her and for Gibraltar. She's a special lady who deserves her huge success. A Gibraltarian again puts Gibraltar on the map! We'll give her a home coming fit for a queen. Congratulations to her and her family,” said Chief Minister Peter Caruana.

Local residents partied in Casemates Square (picture) and the sounds of car horns and the occasional firework could be heard over the city.

Kaiane as crowned at a glittering two-hour pageant in Johannesburg today. The event saw silver confetti rain down on the stage and she clapped her hands to her mouth when her name was announced. Aldorino said she "had no words" to describe how she felt at her win, but that she was "really happy." She was a crowd favourite and won the swimsuit competition, although the loudest cheers were kept for hometown beauty Miss South Africa, Tatum Keshwar. Keshwar was the second runner up. The first runner up was Miss Mexico, Perla Beltran Acosta.

TheEye can only echo what everybody here in Gibraltar is saying tonight...Congratulations!

*Hat-tip: The Chronicle

Who Owns The Sovereign Debt Of The US?

We still talk optimistically of the concept of 'ownership' but what do you really own if you don't own your own country? It is not at all clear whether it is better to owe U.S. dollars or be owed them - that question rests largely on the character of the American people and the politicians they elect over the next generation. These are the countries that are the most interested in the answer to that question:

Note that the number at the bottom is the deficit....the shortfall for this year only. The total amount owed in all is an eye-watering $12.9 trillion. Maybe there is a similar illustration for the UK - if not TheEye may do one if we are at home to Mr Enthusiasm.

If there is one thing far beyond the humble abilities of TheEye it is the time-delayed awesomeness of the animation below. All relevant hat-tips are on the graphic. Good work, lads.

Sarko vs Gordoom

Game, Set and Match methinks. This was Browns Press Conference with Sarkozy this morning. Brown and Darling didn't fall out in the run up to the PBR it seems. In fact. Brown absolutely and certainly didn't overrule his Chancellor or interfere with the report and his "deficit reduction plan" is right on track.

Watch Sarkozy. He's standing on his box giggling away, grinning at the journalists and generally taking the mickey out of our Prime Mentalist in front of the world's media. He might as well be making finger gestures behind Brown's head. No respect at all...and who can blame him?

Spotted at the excellent ToryBear and elsewhere

Friday, December 11, 2009

Dan Hannan At The Adam Smith Christmas Bash

As a fully paid up member of the Dan Hannan for PM Society its a pleasure to post his 10 minute spot at the Adam Smith Institute Christmas Party (even if most of us have heard the joke he kicks off with). Enjoy, if you are a fan of his too.

Petition Supporting The Accused Navy SEALs

All Seeing Eye blogged recently about some US Navy SEALs who are up for court martial after upsetting an infamous jihadist in the course of apprehending him for the ambush of Blackwater contractors whose bodies were burned and hung on a bridge in Fallujah. Ahmed Hashim Abed accused them of punching him in the stomach during a raid earlier this year. You can sign here (petition text below). Members of Congress have called on Secretary Gates to intervene as well. Two of the SEALs were arraigned earlier this week and spoke out. Here’s an interview with Navy SEAL Matthew McCabe’s lawyer. Interviews and local coverage here. Excerpt:

Two Navy SEALs accused of mistreating an alleged terrorist denied the charges Monday - one during a formal arraignment and the other in more plain-spoken terms after the court proceeding.

“No - the answer’s no, point blank,” said Special Operator 2nd Class Matthew McCabe, as he met well-wishers outside Naval Station Norfolk. McCabe is one of three Navy SEALs charged with mistreating Ahmed Hashim Abed, the suspected mastermind of the March 2004 attack that killed four Blackwater employees. The SEALs have also been credited with his capture.

The grisly ambush created worldwide headlines as the bodies of the burned and mutilated victims were displayed for the press to photograph.

…Capt. Moira Modzelewski, who presided over the arraignment, set a Jan. 11 trial date for Huertas and Jan. 19 for McCabe.

The case has attracted widespread public attention. About 20 members of Congress have signed a letter circulated by Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., calling on Defense Secretary Robert Gates to intervene. It has also attracted grass-roots support from people like Richard Berndt, of Virginia Beach, who arrived at the naval base at 6 a.m. with a sign that read, “You Fought For Us - Now We Fight For You.”

“I just feel I owe these guys everything I can give them,” said the 24-year Navy veteran. “They just need our support.”

Donna Zovko, the mother of one of the four slain Blackwater employees, drove from Cleveland, Ohio, to stand with the supporters. In one emotional moment, she found herself next to Marty McCabe, the father of the accused Navy SEAL. The two shared a few words before embracing. Until the charges became public, Zovko had never known the names of the SEALs credited with Abed’s capture. “It took me a few minutes to talk to her,” McCabe said later. “I kind of got choked up. This is closure for her.”

IBD also has an editorial today calling for the SEALS to be freed. Their conclusion is apt: “McCabe is…officially charged with punching Abed ‘in the midsection with his fist’ while in custody. It is the American people who are being sucker-punched in the gut.”

This is the petition:

Hon. Robert M. Gates
Secretary of Defense
The Pentagon
Washington, DC

Dear Secretary Gates:
We, the editors and staff of HUMAN EVENTS, and the many Americans who have attached their signatures to this petition, hereby request your personal intervention to dismiss the charges against Navy SEAL operators SO2 Jonathan Keefe, SO1 Julio Huertas and SO2 Matthew McCabe.

These three men are charged with abusing a terrorist they captured in a daring nighttime raid on or about 1 September 2009. On that night, they — as part of a platoon from SEAL Team 10 — captured and detained Ahmed Hashim Abed, one of the most barbaric and dangerous terrorists in Iraq. The terrorist — in a move that is literally right out of the al-Queda training manual — complained of abuse, apparently alleging he was struck in the stomach.

We had hoped that the SEALs’ commanders would dispose of this matter at the lowest level — with a scolding and perhaps a few hundred pushups — for anyone actually guilty of inflicting an inconvenience on this bloody-handed barbarian. But on 29 September 2009, Gen. David H. Petraeus signed a letter authorizing MGen. Charles T. Cleveland to dispose of the allegations of misconduct. In that letter, Gen. Petraeus said that MGen. Cleveland could, “…dispose of these matters in any manner you deem appropriate. This includes the authority to convene courts-martial at any level up to and including General Courts-Martial and to refer charges concerning these individuals to any court-martial.”

The three now face special courts-martial next month. We believe their commanders — including General Petraeus — have failed you, the SEALs and the American people by not preventing the matter from going this far.

You are the person next in line above General Petraeus in the chain of command. You can, legally under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, intervene to dismiss the charges against the three SEALs and direct that they be restored to duty.

We respectfully request that you do so forthwith. For this matter to continue — and to place the honor and fighting future of these three men at stake — is manifestly a gross injustice.

Seems fair enough to me.

Hat-tip: Michelle Malkin

The Spread Of Islam...Is It Called Mujahimite?

Apologies for the awful headline but couldn't resist. Anyway, nearly three quarters of Germans fear the spread of Islam, according to a survey released on Friday.

A poll by Infratest dimap for public broadcaster ARD showed a third of those asked expressed great concern that Islam was growing too quickly in Germany. Thirty-nine percent were still worried about Islam’s impact on society, but to a lesser degree. Only 22 percent said they had no problem with the religion.

A separate survey for daily Berliner Morgenpost and broadcaster RBB showed, however, that a majority in the German capital did not support banning the construction of mosques with minarets as Switzerland did following a recent referendum on the issue.

Fifty-three percent of those Berliners surveyed rejected slapping such restrictions on Muslim houses of worship, whereas 40 percent supported such a move. Seven percent had no opinion on the matter. Both surveys polled 1,000 people each.

Tiger Woods And The UK Injunction

Just in case anybody cares, Tiger Woods has obtained an injunction in the UK and elsewhere to ban something, and we aren't allowed to know what it is. The BBC is, quite responsibly, being very coy about what the injunction covers because the injunction also covers what the injunction covers. If that makes sense. TheEye isn't because it doesn't apply out here.

So for anyone who is bothered, Playgirl Magazine claim that they have naked pictures of Tiger Woods and may publish them if they can verify their authenticity. A "third party" is selling the photos, and a Playgirl spokesman said, "Our lawyers are currently going over them, the source, the entire package."

Woods' lawyers are fighting back globally and have obtained an injunction in the UK against the publication of any nude pictures. The order was imposed by High Court Justice David Eady at the request of the law firm Schillings, which represents Woods in Britain. Using sneaky lawyer talk, they aren't acknowledging that any naked pictures actually exist, but they don't want those pictures with his likeness published, photoshopped or not. In the internet age, there aren't enough lawyers in the world to stop the distribution of naughty pictures if they exist. Doubtless we'll all be underwhelmed to find out either way pretty sharpish.

UPDATE: Here's a pdf of the full injunction itself. This interweb thingy'll never catch on.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Now Personal Hygiene Is Evil

The beauty of the global warming hoax is that it allows socialists to wallow in their trademark neurotic guilt, baseless sanctimony, and hostility to civilization while imposing all elements of their agenda - including deliberately excessive taxation, suppression of the private sector, totalitarian power for Big Government, degradation of our standard of living, elevation of animals over humans, and even the rejection of personal hygiene that progressives indulged in so flagrantly and so fragrantly during their halcyon days in the 60s.

World-renowned high priest of the climate change cult Dr. Dave Reay, Senior Lecturer in Carbon Management at Edinburgh University, has been loudly denouncing the Gaia-oppressing habits of bathing and washing clothes. Proclaims Reay:

For the largest cuts [in harmless carbon emissions], simply washing less frequently is the way to go.

Washing your clothes less often is important too:

Advertisers [have] convinced us that our shirts must always be "whiter than white", our sheets should forever smell of spring flowers, and that to be dressed in freshly laundered clothes at all times is a badge of success. We live in a "wear once and wash" culture.

It is easy to see how these emissions stack up. A full load in a washing machine uses around 1.2 kilowatt-hours of electricity per cycle and tumble drying clocks up a further 3.5 kilowatt-hours, resulting in over 2 kilograms of [yap yap yap yap…]

Buying new clothes when the old ones haven't yet been worn to rags is also an eco-crime, according to Raey. Oh, and so is drinking coffee. Medieval peasants didn't drink coffee, so we shouldn't either - since our Warmist ruling class expects us to emulate a 14th century serf's lifestyle.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Question Time 10th December

In what appears to be a blatant bit of ratings tourism, Question Time tomorrow comes from Wootton Bassett and is set up to be completely devoted to the war in Afghanistan. The panel will consist of former head of the British Army General Sir Richard Dannatt, Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague, and former News of the Screws editor Piers "Moron" Morgan. Armed Forces Minister Bill Rammell will be on, presumably to shield Bob Ainsworthless from the public, as will Salma Yaqoob, the leader of Respect.

George Galloway has already got his ha'pennyworth in the much ignored Swindon Advertiser saying that the panel is biased in favour of the war, and the local mayor is boycotting it because he wants to talk about something, indeed anything, else.

As usual, Biased-BBC will be hosting a live-chat on that blog to follow the discussion - chaired by our very own no-nonsense David Vance and with your host from here helping proceedings through to the end of This Week. For those playing QT Buzzword Bingo this week, we'll be playing by the Pre-Election Rules where Thatcher's are wildcards and G20 scores double points. Good luck and see you over there at 10:30pm!

Now Climate Change Causes Polar Bear Cannibalism

Time for an update of The List - the media has again resorted to shrieking that the nonexistent global warming crisis has turned cuddly polar bears into bloodthirsty cannibals:

A group of tourists were left horrified when they came across the grisly sight of a polar bear eating a cub in northern Canada.

The large male adult bear had separated the baby from its mother and killed it in the Churchill Wildlife Management Area, in northern Manitoba, close to Hudson Bay.

Witnesses were left shaken and tearful after the incident.

Statist snake oil salesman rarely pass up a chance to tug on heartstrings:

One theory for the cannibalism is that climate change is melting the bears' Arctic hunting grounds, forcing them to survive on land for longer and hence leading the starving animals to turn on their own for food.

This provides such a plentiful food source that the polar bear population has been exploding. Thanks to cannibalism, the more polar bears there are, the more they have to eat, leading to more polar bears. Clearly we have to stop this vicious cycle with climate change legislation before polar bears overrun the entire planet, driving up housing prices for the underprivileged.

Back in reality, killing others' young is a common practice among ferocious beasts. The theory that global warming causes polar bear cannibalism

...is disputed by Inuit leaders in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, who claim it is wrong to connect the bears' behaviour with starvation. Kivalliqu Inuit Association president Jose Kusugak said: 'It makes the south - southern people - look so ignorant.

'A male polar bear eating a cub becomes a big story and they try to marry it with climate change and so on, it becomes absurd when it's a normal, normal occurrence.'

Moving right along, the press assures us that whatever Eskimos may think, bear infanticide

...can be accentuated among polar bears when they run low on fat reserves and become hungry enough to resort to cannibalism, according to conservation group Polar Bears International.

The group predictably claims that global warming is making the bears burn up fat reserves while they wait for the UN to do something about the weather.

If only bureaucrats had video of the cub's demise to run at Hopenhagen, reassuring themselves of the righteousness of their cause. They'll just have to make do with this one. Fear-mongering propaganda at its very expensive best!

Abolish Womens Votes Say 80,000 Swedes

Technically true, although Facebook users would disagree and claim that they were duped.

A Swedish Facebook group originally promised it would send three kronor (£0.26p/$0.42) to organizations involved in heart research for every member that joined. Membership in the group grew exponentially, quickly climbing into the tens of thousands.

But when the group reached 80,000 members, it changed its stated purpose from supporting research to working toward ending the right to vote for women. The group’s Facebook page suddenly claimed that its members “don’t think that women should be allowed to have the right to vote”, followed by a number of arguments against women’s suffrage.

The group’s 20-year-old founder said he pulled the bait-and-switch to encourage people to stop believing everything they read. “The point was to be provocative. We want to show that people shouldn’t always be so trusting of the things they join. We did it in a rather provocative way,” the group’s founder told the TT news agency.

Reaction to the stunt has been mixed. While some Facebook users said they felt “tricked into this” in comments posted on the group’s site, others found it amusing. TheEye, after hearing about a drive to take the vote from women, of course headed straight there to sign up and was disappointed that it wasn't real.

“There’s also humour in it. I wanted people to realize they shouldn’t believe everything they read, and they should check how truthful something is before signing up or joining a group,” the 20-year-old explained, saying that the ruse has far surpassed his expectations. “We got many more members than we had expected and many reacted in the way we wanted,”.

TheEye thinks that everyone has missed the point here. The point being that the lad is a complete 24-carat dick who has conned tens of thousands of people who thought that they were supporting a very worthwhile charity. Taking the money off him and giving it to the causes he hijacked would be a good start. Moron.

...And Then They Came For My Toilet Paper

The drum beat against toilet paper is continuing, this time by those oh so responsible and respectable folks at Greenpeace, who are well known for their rational actions:

The issue over tissue in the bathroom - the really super-soft stuff - is more like the fight about the big SUVs loved by many Americans.

Anti-green, according to environmentalists. Politically incorrect. Why should Americans use luxurious toilet paper made from old-growth trees when much of the world gets by with a far more basic and often recycled product?

Why should we flush redwoods, so to speak?

So Greenpeace, the Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups have pushed manufacturers such as Kimberly-Clark (Cottonelle) and Procter & Gamble (Charmin) to stop using wood from virgin forests to make tissue products.

But, of course, they just can't stop there. They can't make it about saving the forests, which would be an entirely creditable goal in itself. It has to be climate "change".

Environmentalists said old trees were being cut down when recycling alternatives exist. And it's not just about trees, they said. It's about carbon dioxide and ecosystems necessary to wildlife.

"The large old trees are the ones that do the most good," said Bill Grotts, head of the Heartland Tree Alliance, which is part of Kansas City's Bridging the Gap.

"They absorb the most water because they have more leaf area and provide the most cooling effect."

So, trees offset through nature what Mankind is doing by driving SUVs and not wanting to tear their delicate backsides up with bargain brand triple recycled sandpaper, er, toilet paper. I want socialists out of my bathroom. If they had left it at the "save forests, forests are good" part then I would have signed up but they just had to over-egg the pudding and therefore put my back up. Meanwhile, an interesting new study:

They unravelled records of atmosphere, temperature and ice-cap formation 33.6 million years ago, when the Earth cooled from a greenhouse without ice caps, into something quite similar to our present day.

Pearson’s work contains a couple of remarkable results. First the greenhouse atmosphere pre-cooling contained a CO2 concentration of 900 parts per million by volume, or more than three times that of the Earth in pre-industrial days. Second, while the cooling of the Earth took place over a time-span of around 200,000 years, the atmospheric CO2 first dropped in association with the cooling, then rose to around 1100ppmv and remained high for 200,000 years while the Earth cooled further and remained in its new ice ages cycle.

The climate alarmists still haven't done more than create a tenuous and irresponsible link between Mankind's output of CO2 and rising temperatures. They just assume there is one. The science is showing that to be wrong.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Debt Clock Projected On To Battersea Power Station

The Conservatives have projected the £5,500 per second debt clock on to Battersea Power Station in anticipation of tomorrow's PBR announcement. It's a scary illustration of the horrendous damage Gordoom has done to the country, and a reminder that is going to take one hell of a plan, a lot of pain, and some political nerves of steel to dig us out of this hole.

Give Up Coffee And Save A Polar Bear

According to the Scotsman, every time we have a cup of filter coffee a penguin loses its wings. Or something.

Dr Reay, a senior lecturer in carbon management at Edinburgh University, claims that the average cup of black filter coffee is responsible for 125 grams of carbon emissions. But the figure for a regular cup of black instant coffee is around 80g.

Add milk to your morning coffee, and the methane belched by dairy cows means you increase your coffee's climate-changing emissions by more than a third.

Dr Reay added: "The environmental group WWF has calculated it takes 200 litres of water to produce the coffee, milk, sugar and cup for just one regular takeout latte. If everyone ditched their pre-work coffee fix that would do wonders for the planet."

TheEye doesn't drink filter coffee, nor in fact any type of coffee unless as a way to disguise a breakfast time hangover cure. However it is pleasing to note that the distortions and lies continue as though ClimateGate never happened.

For more graphics on the CO2 fight back against the hoax why don't you head over to the GOT's place? Get'em while they're still Warming....

Opposing Taxes Is Like Stealing Cars

The next election will be fought on a variety of battlegrounds, not least the fact that Gordoom has been conducting UK economic policy with all of the subtlety and finesse of a Scorsese movie. TheEye is a firm believer in the lowest of taxes and the lightest possible touch of government. Disagreeing from the red corner is Cornell professor Robert H Frank, writing in New York Times, who thinks that opposition to taxes is like car stealing and vandalism:

"Anti-tax zealots denounce all taxation as theft, as depriving citizens of their right to spend their hard-earned incomes as they see fit. Yet nowhere does the Constitution grant us the right not to be taxed. Nor does it grant us the right to harm others with impunity. No one is permitted to steal our cars or vandalize our homes. Why should opponents of taxation be allowed to harm us in less direct ways?"

It is lunatics such as him who have mutated both the UK and the USA towards the indebted shambles that we are currently in. Accusing TheEye of being morally equivalent to a car thief for recognising that socialism doesn't work is just a step too far into the land of wibble.

Gordoom will be kicked into touch by the electorate as the longest serving Prime Minister never to have won a General Election but for people like Robert H Frank...if he's on the same happy pills as our Prime Mentalist then he needs to up his doseage.

Don't Call Islamic Extremists Islamic Extremists

From todays' Sun:

"Ministers have been BANNED from using words like Islamist and fundamentalist - in case they offend Muslims. An eight-page Whitehall guide lists words they should not use when talking about terrorism in public and gives politically correct alternatives. They are told not to refer to Muslim extremism as it links Islam to violence. Instead, they are urged to talk about terrorism or violent extremism.

Fundamentalist and Jihadi are also banned because they make an "explicit link" between Muslims and terror. Ministers should say criminals, murderers or thugs instead. Radicalisation must be called brainwashing and talking about moderate or radical Muslims is to be avoided as it "splits the community".

Islamophobia is also out as it is received as "a slur that singles out Muslims".

The guide, produced by the secretive Research, Information and Communications Unit in the Home Office, tell ministers to "avoid implying that specific communities are to blame" for terrorism. It says more than 2,000 people are engaged in terror plots.

The guidance was branded "daft" last night by a special adviser to ex-Communities Secretary Hazel Blears. Paul Richards said: "Unless you can describe what you're up against, you're never going to defeat it. Ministers need to be leading the debate on Islamic extremism and they can't do that if they have one hand tied behind their back."

Marvellous. Just marvellous.

Former Nazi SS Hit Man Admits Dutch Murders

With eyes on the continuing trial of 89-year-old John Demjanjuk, a Ukrainian-born former guard at the Sobibor death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland in Munich for allegedly aiding in the gas chamber deaths of some 27,900 Jews in 1943 another similar trial in progress is being overlooked. But developments there are interesting too, as an article in Der Spiegel relates.

88-year-old Dutchman Heinrich Boere admitted in an Aachen court on Tuesday to killing three of his countrymen as a hit man for the Waffen-SS in 1944. Boere said he had merely been following orders while working for the German occupiers. This defence, famously, wasn't very successful at Neuremberg.

The former Nazi is accused of shooting three Dutch resistance fighters. Prosecutors say that the murders were among 54 perpetrated by the Nazi killing squad Silbertanne, or "Silver Pine," against Dutch civilians thought to be part of the resistance. Among the victims were a bicycle dealer and a pharmacist. Relatives of the victims are attending the trial as joint plaintiffs. Boere also told the court that his superiors threatened him with violence if he did not maintain absolute secrecy about the murders and his admission came after the defence submitted a new appeal to the court to dismiss the case.

A Dutch court sentenced him to death in absentia for the crimes some 60 years ago, but the ruling was later changed to a lifelong prison sentence. Boere never served the sentence, fleeing to Germany in 1947 and authorities in the Netherlands and Germany have been bickering about his fate ever since.

In April 2008, Boere admitted to German news magazine Focus that he was guilty of the shootings. In a later interview with Der Spiegel he said he had been following orders which he thought to be correct at the time.

The trial, which began on October 28, can only take place for short sessions to accommodate the deteriorating health of the defendant, who lives in an assisted care facility. A doctor must also be present at all times. On Tuesday, the court planned for the trial to continue for another five days. The verdict was initially expected on December 18, but has been pushed back to February 19.

Der Spiegel also has an interesting article about other Nazis who are still alive and facing trial if caught here which is worth a read if you are interested.

Monday, December 7, 2009

+++ BREAKING NEWS +++ Gunshots Off Gib - Spanish Police Detained

Tonight there have been shots fired off of Gibraltar according to witnesses, although it's unclear at the moment who fired them or how many. Four Spanish 'Guardia Civil' officers have since been detained at Gib Police HQ.

It seems that a Guardia Civil launch was chasing a Spanish speedboat within Gibraltar waters. The pursuit continued into Gibraltar Harbour and ended with both the speedboat and the Guardia Civil launch being grounded in the port area by 'Harbour Views'. The Guardia then pursued the fleeing occupants of the speedboat on shore.

Gibraltar police also arrested the two men on the fast launch and took them away. Both vessels have been seized in what the police have just described as a 'very serious' incident.

The Spanish Government does not recognise the waters around the Rock as being British Gibraltar Territorial Waters, but the Spanish have been arrested within the waters of the port itself which even the Spanish Government recognises as having been ceded under the terms of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, Britain's legal title to the Rock.

Let's see what Our Man In Madrid, Jeremy Paxman's brother, makes of this one then....more news as soon as it comes in.

UPDATE: It seems that the Guardia officers were detained but have now been allowed to leave under instruction that they might be required to return to assist with the inquiries. The smugglers remain in custody at New Mole House. Spain's Interior Minister Alfredo Rubalcaba has already been on the blower to apologise to the Chief Minister Peter Caruana for the "incorrect action".

The Gibraltar Police have said: "Enquiries established that the Guardia Civil mistakenly entered Gibraltar Territorial Waters in hot pursuit and have since apologised for their actions. The 4 Spanish officers have been released pending further enquiries and handed over to the custody of the Guardia Civil Command in Algeciras. The RGP though, have retained their RIB and firearms pending further enquiries.

"The other two Spanish nationals who were subject of the chase are being investigated for the offences of importing a prohibited import [the RIB]"

UN Bans Christmas Trees In Hopenhagen

Don't look for Christmas trees at the Copenhagen summit, where the tree-huggers are gathering from around the world to push global socialism in the name of the polar bears. After all, it's "UN territory."

Since Christmas is a religious holiday, it has no place at a United Nations event, said officials planning the event.

A sponsor providing fir trees for the conference's Christmas trees learned this the hard way when it was turned away by planners of the international event, the Copenhagen Post reported.

The trees, commonly used as Christmas trees in Denmark, were originally to be placed outside the Bella Center, where the 11-day conference will be held from Dec. 7 – Dec. 18.

But…

"We have to remember that this is a U.N. conference and, as the center then becomes U.N. territory, there can be no Christmas trees in the decor, because the U.N. wishes to maintain neutrality," said Denmark Foreign Ministry official Svend Olling.

"Neutrality" is bureaucratese for stamping out anything remotely Christian.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Climate Change Facepalm Moment of the Week

Shamelessly lifted from here and subsequently filed under the heading,
"You couldn't make it up" . . . .

Today I met a young couple on their way to London for a 'day of action'.

I happen to know that they live in Mummys house in the very best part of our town.

I asked "where you off to then ?"

'Off to London to register a protest'

Oh yeah, what sort of protest ? ( in my best Baldric )

"Well, it's a demonstration really,

No Actually its a Protest", said he.

"wot you protesting about ?

Well, erm the climate, Copenhagen, that sort of thing.

Oh right, you're protesting against Copenhagen ?

No, we are pressuring the Government into acting on manmadeglobalwarming.

Where you protesting then ?

Well, we will be meeting in Grosvenor Square and then marching on Parliament.

Oh right, outside the American Embassy

Is It ! ? The American Embassy ?

Very right-on I chided, gently.

Did you get permission from the Metropolitan Police to demonstrate outside The Houses of Parliament?

Well we dunno really

Whose flag will you be marching under? CND, ActionOnCO2 ?

We dunno really.

We Demand that the Government take action on Climate Change right?

So you are demonstrating in support of what the Government already wants ?

Not exactly hardcore says I.

Hmmm, well, there's not much that I can add to that apart from saying . . .

GIVE ME STRENGTH!

Friday, December 4, 2009

Germans Say Muslims Must Show "Restraint" With Mosques

Following the Swiss referendum to ban mosques with minarets, Christian Democratic state interior ministers in Germany on Thursday recommended Muslims show "restraint" when building houses of worship.

“Naturally the Muslims in Germany have a right to build mosques. But they should make sure not to overwhelm the German population with them” Hessian Interior Minister and conservative Christian Democrat Volker Bouffier told daily Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung (interview is in German so use an online translator if you need to!)

Large mosque minarets or domes that dominate the skyline will only create fears of Islamisation and fuel protests, Bouffier told the paper. The country’s state interior ministers discussed it during their regularly scheduled conference on Thursday and afterwards made an appeal to Muslim associations to avoid such structures, even if they are legal according to building regulations, in addition to “further intensifying the dialogue with Muslims in Germany”.

Attempts to prevent the construction of mosques in Germany have made national headlines in recent years. This November workers in Cologne broke ground on a large, futuristic mosque with 180-foot minarets after it drew protestors from across the continent. To avoid inflaming public sentiment against the project, the Ditib Turkish association, which organised the mosque’s construction, agreed to not broadcast the call to prayer to the neighbourhood from the minarets and to keep the building’s height the same as nearby structures.

In Berlin’s Pankow district the first mosque to be built in former East Germany opened in October 2008 after two petitions for a referendum failed. Meanwhile residents of Gelsenkirchen, Munich and Dortmund are collecting signatures to prevent mosque construction in their communities.

Following on from the political moves in Denmark to ban minarets there and similar efforts in Italy reported over on A Tangled Web (sorry no direct link, will fix that) it appears that this drive across Europe is gathering pace.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

"Hide The Decline" Campaign Continues

The G.O.T. is in full flow with his creative genius. Please use some of them on your blogs if you can...they are excellent, and a perfect picture for any story about the Great Global Warming Hoax. And as opposed to the completely-by-coincidence similar-looking government produced propanda posters, no taxpayers' money was defiled in their production! Enjoy!

Question Time 3rd December

Question Time is once again upon us and today it comes from London. The gurning faces behind the table this week are the person who narrowly beat Baroness Ashtray in a "Face Most Like A Horse" Competition Margaret Beckett, the Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, BBC favourite and all round flip-flopper St Vince of Cable, Clive Anderson and Kirstie Allsopp.

TheEye will be assisting David Vance in the live-chat which accompanies Question Time over on Biased-BBC starting at 10:30pm and carrying on until either This Week finishes or the alcohol runs out. As usual, B-BBC Buzzword Bingo will be played, and recent weeks have shown that players with "blame Thatcher" on their cards have been winning quickly. Good luck this week, contestants! All welcome...see you there.

Where Are They Now Series: WWI Reparations

All Seeing Eye runs an occasional Where Are They Now series and in the past we've caught up, if that's the right phrase, with the Iraqi shoe-thrower, the Washington Sniper, the father in the Jacko case and several others.

Tonight, following on from a post on the highly recommended Subrosa blog the other day mentioning the recent completion of British payments to the USA, we look at Germany's World War 1 repayments....which are still, you'll be surprised to know, up and going 90 years after the Treaty of Versailles.

When the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, Germany accepted blame for the war and agreed to pay 226 billion Reichsmarks, a sum that was later reduced in 1921 to 132 billion Reichsmarks. Up until 1952 Germany had paid some 1.5 billion Reichsmarks in war reparations to Allied countries. But in 1953 the balance was suspended pending a reunification of East and West Germany.

On October 3, 1990, the old debts went into effect again with 20 years for payment. Germany plans to pay off its World War I debts by October 3, 2010 and this still-open contract for interest and amortisation payments is around €56 million.

Well there you go. It wasn't just the Brits who have been paying all this time. Ironically, we just finished paying the Americans off in time for McDoom to land us in an even bigger pile of debt than WWII - and it'll probably take us just as long to pay it all off. Never say this blog isn't informative.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Tiger Woods....In Glorious CGI

Okay, maybe not so glorious. You can imagine the hurried telephone conversation now.

....hey, Mr Wong, you down pub again?....I hear jukebox over telephone so you not lie to boss!...I need Tiger Woods CGI work choppychoppy....no no not care if you pissed again, just make up any old clap....

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Hide The Decline

A short ClimateGate song...worth it if only for the picture of Al Gore and his soon-to-be new prison "friends".

US Calls Germany Most Important Ally In Last 60 Years

Gordoom will be furious, and Nokia sales will be up this afternoon. He would kill all the firstborn for similar comments from the US ambassador here, and Heaven only knows what he'd give for a photo-op like this.

The subject of our Prime Mentalist's rage today will be one Philip Murphy, the US ambassador to Germany, who said “We need strong partners – and nowhere are there better or more committed partners than in Europe. And Germany is the centrepiece of the European Union,” in a speech yesterday evening at Berlin’s American Academy.

Calling Germany’s partnership with the United States the most important relationship of the past 60 years, Murphy said the transatlantic alliance still formed the foundation of US diplomacy around the world.

Listing an array of pressing issues which Obama is currently avoiding by playing golf, Murphy dismissed the idea that Europe’s importance to American foreign policy had diminished since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Saying Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had a “common agenda” the ambassador emphasised America needed help from its “extraordinarily strong ally Germany” to ensure global prosperity and bring peace to Afghanistan. There was some climate change nonsense in there too.

“I want to underscore the importance of the effort by German soldiers and police trainers to bring stability to this troubled land,” Murphy said. “We recognise the commitment that it takes, not just from the men and women in uniform, but from their families and indeed the entire German nation.”

Obviously considering his venue there was no mention of the fact that the Germans are a poor third in providing manpower in Afghanistan and not in any of the dangerous bits either. You can also understand playing up the Germany alliance whilst being a guest there...but can you imagine such effusive comments being made towards the current occupant of No10?

One-term Barry knows that McDoom is toast and won't touch him with a bargepole. At the last conference they were both at, Brown had to chase Obama down the waiters' corridors towards the kitchen to snatch a few words - which were then exaggerated to sound as though more had happened than Gordon asking him which way it was to the toilets (okay, that's an exaggeration but the corridors bit is true). Watch out for more of the same sycophancy in the presence of The One in Hopenhagen.

African Leaders To Advise Bono On Reform Of U2

An expert commission of African leaders today announced their plan for comprehensive reform of music band U2. Saying that U2’s rock had lost touch with its African roots, the commission called for urgent measures to halt U2’s slide towards impending crisis.

“Our youth today are imperiled by low quality music,” said Commission chairman Nelson Mandela. “We will be lending African musicians to U2 to try to refurbish their sound to satisfy the urgent and growing needs for diversionary entertainment at a time of crisis in the global music and financial sectors.”

Concerns about U2 have been growing in Africa for a while. One Western aid blogger testified to the Commission that his teenage kids found U2’s music “cheesy.” The Mandela Commission proposed that U2 follow a series of steps to recover its Edge:

1) Hire African consultants to analyze U2’s “poverty of music trap”
2) Prepare a Band-owned and Commission-approved Comprehensive U2 Reform Strategy Design (CURSD)
3) Undertake a rehabilitation tour of African capitals to field-test and ground-truth proposed reforms
4) Subject all songs to randomized experiments in which the effect on wellbeing of control and treatment groups is rigorously assessed.

Mandela expressed optimism that the Commission’s report and proposed reforms had come in time to stave off terminal crisis in U2, and restore its effectiveness in the 80s arena rock field.

Hat-tip: AidWatch

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