Israel Intercepts Gaza Blockade Runners: 14 Dead.

Firstly, the bare facts. It seems that the Israelis aren't messing around with their blockade:

At least 14 people were killed and 50 were injured early Monday as the Israeli Navy took over the ships taking part in the aid sail to Gaza, Arab and Turkish media reported.
The IDF reported that four soldiers were injured during the takeover from live ammunition and knife stabbing. One of the troops was said to be in serious condition and three in light to moderate condition. The injured were evacuated to the Chaim Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer by helicopter.
According to an IDF source, “The sail’s participants were not innocent and used violence against the soldiers. They were waiting for the forces’ arrival.”

It's been largely forgotten that it's actually a joint blockade with the Egyptians taking part too, but that'd ruin a good dhimmi media spin. That's also been ignored on CHome, which has a thread going spectacularly batshit crazy about the whole issue.

William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, has issued a statement which completely puts to one side the fact that Gaza is a haven for terrorists, smugglers, gun-runners and all sorts of people you wouldn't take home to meet your parents:

This news underlines the need to lift the restrictions on access to Gaza, in line with UNSCR 1860. The closure is unacceptable and counter-productive. There can be no better response from the international community to this tragedy than to achieve urgently a durable resolution to the Gaza crisis. I call on the Government of Israel to open the crossings to allow unfettered access for aid to Gaza, and address the serious concerns about the deterioration in the humanitarian and economic situation and about the effect on a generation of young Palestinians.

 Aid is pretty much "unfettered" at the moment. Hamas are even taxing the importation of luxury cars brought in through the smuggling tunnels, and here burned 2 million Tramadol painkillers because the smugglers hadn't paid an import bribe. 

What the BBC is laughably calling a "Gaza aid ship" belongs to IHH, an Islamic militant organisation. By coincidence, on board amongst all the vets, teddy-bear makers, global-warming experts and luxury car mechanics so desperately needed in Gaza, there happened to be a metric assload of random lefty MPs from various places - none of them expecting a propaganda stunt at all...no....of course not.


Israeli troops were attacked when they boarded the ship by knives and live ammunition, and Israel's Defence Minister said they returned fire in self-defence having given the ship plenty of opportunity to dock peacefully - a statement backed up by this video.



So it's going to turn into one of those he-said-she-said arguments:

The Israelis say that the ships refused to respond to multiple radio communications and refused to divert to the harbour at Ashkalon for cargo inspection; that their commandos were attacked with live fire, clubs, and metal rods upon boarding one of the ships; and that the commandos only fired after one of the activists grabbed a weapon from one of the commandos. Four commandos were injured. 

The Palestinians say the Israeli commandos - blood dripping from their fangs - opened fire for absolutely no reason while the activists were playing with puppies and singing "Kum Bye Yah," killing at least 14 of them. Then, the Israelis laughed and stomped on the puppies. 

The Palestinians and their allies will be absolutely delighted by this propaganda coup. Whatever the truth is, one thing is certain... Israel will receive far more international condemnation for this than North Korea did after deliberately torpedoing a South Korean ship in South Korean waters and murdering 46 South Korean sailors.

Numerous hat-tips inline.

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Just What Is The US Congress For?

A marvellous little video from BankruptingAmerica. With all of the attention on the BP oil spill, the European debt crisis and even financial regulatory reform, the fact that the US Congress hasn’t passed (and will likely not pass) a federal budget is flying under the radar.

To quote the words of their House Majority Leader, “The most basic responsibility of governing – enacting a budget.” So what has Congress been so busy doing that they can’t find the time to pass a budget?  Enjoy...

And a note for your diaries, folks. The first Saturday in May is National Explosive Ordinance Disposal Day. Why can't we have one of those in the UK? It'd be great fun for all the family!

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Most Terrorists Are Christians, Apparently

The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is a US-taxpayer funded organisation (to the tune of 20% of its annual operating revenue from Federal sources and 25% to 29% from State and local taxes), is required by charter to have a "strict adherence to objectivity and balance in all programs or series of programs of a controversial nature" yet has faced continuous accusations of left-wing bias. Luckily we don't have a similar "uniquely funded" left-leaning public broadcaster in the UK, eh?

Here we have Tavis Smiley of PBS interviewing Ayaan Hirsi Ali about her autobiographical book Infidel. Ali escaped from Muslim oppression in Africa and the Middle East only to find it again in the Netherlands. There she became a member of Parliament, but was then driven out of the country by dhimmis after incurring the wrath of Muslims for daring to speak out.

So, with Travis Smiley glossing over all that inconvenient 9/11, Fort Hood and botched Times Square bombing trivial stuff, let's take a look at where he thinks the *real* threat comes from:

Christians do that every single day. In this country. … There are so many more examples of Christians who do that than you could ever give me examples of Muslims who have done that inside this country where you live and work.

Wow. Public service broadcasting at its best. Substitute English accents and it could easily be the BBC's Toady programme over here.

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World No Tobacco Day

As a connesewer of the occasional Cohiba, TheEye is indifferent to the fact that tomorrow is World No Tobacco Day. Begun in 1987 it has been marked by apathy, disinterest and lots of taxpayers' money ever since.

This year's theme is the catchy and memorable Gender and tobacco with an emphasis on marketing to women. That'll get them dancing in the aisles.

TheEye is delighted, as always, to offer everyone the chance to take a completely balanced and unbiased view of whether this girl is sexy or not.

'nuff said.... Case closed.

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David Laws' Letter To His Successor

Expansive tipping of the trilby to Mr Eugenides

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House of Lords Degraded (Again)

'I don't want to be a member of the House of Lords. I will not accept it,'

John  Prescott, 2009

It reads like Wilson's Lavender list - a shameful compilation of has-beens, never-will-be's and frankly disturbing toadys. This is the list of people that the One Eyed SnotGobbler thinks make a worthwhile addition to our legislature. After the headlines, though, don't read on for big hitters or worthy appointees. It's as memorable as the Earl of Derby's Who?Who? Ministry of 1852.

On it we have such odious characters as treacherous floor-crosser Quentin Davies, the worlds worst bullimic John Shagger Prescott, Ex-Defence Secretary John "Gordon Brown will be a fucking disaster as PM" Hutton (okay, so he got that right), knuckledragger John Reid, the nosebleed-inducingly useless Des Browne and one-time Chief Whip Hilary Armstrong - runner up to Margaret Beckett in the annual Parliamentary Face Like A Horse competition ever since the event began.

In the Services To Terrorism section we have the PC PC, Iain Blair (who thinks innocent electricians are easier targets) and Ian Paisley (who is happy to sit in govenment with them).

That required section of Oh Bugger, Check If We Forgot To Put Any Blacks In candidates is ably filled by Paul Boateng who will be delighted to have left being High Commissioner to crimestruck, AIDS-ridden and BBC success story South Africa. Showing that they are ready to play in the big leagues with the adults now, the LibDems selected ex-children's television presenter Floella Benjamin.

Corrupt fake-charity the Smith Sith Institute's Wilf Stevenson gets that organisation's last hurrah before the rich teat of Labour government funding dries up and they all have to find real jobs.

Prescott is joined by fellow socialist class-warfare veteran John Monks of the TUC and BigotGate's very own walking disaster zone Sue Nye.

There are some good nominations on the Conservative benches: Michael Howard and Guy Black will make good lawmakers in the Upper Chamber. However you've got to wonder why the newly invented category of Services To Winding Up The Grassroots was required specifically for John Maples and Shireen Ritchie. Tim Boswell and Angela Browning are worthy enough but will doubtless continue to be as anonymous in their new House as they were in the old.

As far as the naked figures go, the changes are:

Labour 211 to 240
Conservative 118 to 204
LibDems 72 to 81
Crossbenchers 182 to 183

Which takes the Labour majority over the Conservatives from 23 to 36.

Whilst it's arguable that Gordoom's last flail of the scorched earth policy was always going to have this result, number-crunchers will be divided between whether the largest party in the Commons should have the most aligned seats (it most certainly does not) or whether the Coalition should (which it does). Whichever is right, Conservative B-List peerage contenders will feel that they have missed out badly after being on the squeaky side of the election result. There could have been another 50+ names pulled from the hat.

After Labour's appalling chop-shop butchery of constitutional "reform" this is bound to reignite the questions opened up by their incompetence. Another mess to clear up now that they are gone.

A post on House of Lords reform has been bubbling for months now. It will probably stay bubbling where it is.

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Can't Take A Hint...

Some families just can't take a hint. In 1988, three IRA terrorists came here to Gibraltar with the aim of murdering members of a military band at the weekly Changing of the Guard ceremony at the Governor's Residence. And the civilian bystanders, locals and tourists who were watching the band play that day.

Everyone knows the score - SAS: 3, IRA: 0

Good result, lads.

It appears, though, that the Farrells may have been keeping the family business going.

A brother of an IRA woman shot dead by British Special Forces in Gibraltar appeared in court yesterday (26th) charged with a bomb attack in Northern Ireland.

Ciaran Farrell, whose sister Mairead was one of three republicans gunned down by the SAS in 1988, stood in the dock of the same magistrates’ court in Newry that he is accused of blowing up.

The 51-year-old, arrested in Dunmurry in greater Belfast on Monday, is charged with the dissident republican car bombing that caused substantial damage to the outside of the court in February. A police detective said there was “strong circumstantial” evidence linking the defendant to the bombing.

A lawyer for the Public Crown Prosecution Service said: “This accused is a member of a dissident republican organisation, in particular the police view, and the Crown view concurs, that it is the Real IRA.”

If Mairead Farrell (then 31), Sean Savage (24), and Daniel McCann (30) had left their 64kg of Semtex at home then they'd probably be in Government in Northern Ireland by now. But they didn't, and the outcome was richly deserved.

It seems now that Ciaran Farrell could soon find himself on the wrong page of history too. Oh dear. What a shame that the bomb plotters in this case will be kept alive at our expense...a result they didn't plan for their innocent victims. And unlike Farrell's unlamented evil sister.

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Then They Came For Journalists...

Why is it that some of the oddest and most stupid ideas come from the side of the political aisle which is supposed to defend liberties and freedom? Name five things in your life, the challenge goes, which aren't in some way taxed or regulated? You can't. And the first question any libertarian should ask themselves is - why is suchnsuch law necessary. They shouldn't be asking themselves this:

State Senator Bruce Patterson got to thinking about the media recently, and noticed something. Hairdressers and auto mechanics are regulated and licensed by the state.

So are lawyers, doctors, even those who give manicures. So, he reasoned, why shouldn't reporters be as well? Accordingly, he has introduced a new bill, SB 1323, to add reporters to the list of occupations regulated by the state.

His bill would set up a board to review applications and license reporters. Candidates would have to demonstrate that they have a journalism degree, or, failing that, three years of experience, some published stories, and letters of recommendation.

Those who qualify would have to pay a license fee, and would be entitled to call themselves a "Michigan Registered Reporter." Senator Patterson isn't suggesting that those who don't register be prevented from writing or broadcasting anything.

Of course, as naturally as night follows day it'd only be a matter of time. Government would be delighted if they could revoke a licence to write articles and op-eds. Coalition resident eco-nutter Chris Huhne would be salivating at the prospect of shutting James Delingpole down for his role in exposing the climate change myth. The excellent Christopher Booker might as well start retraining now as a fashion designer..oh...scrub that idea...a furniture maker or something.

This will never be adopted in its proposed form in the UK because it has a clause requiring registered journalists to be of "good moral character." The BBC would be in deep trouble.

Patterson has a history of being a bit of a nutcase, though - he once called for a bill imposing a cash deposit on newspapers; redeemable if returned. It turned out to be a scare tactic so that he could "unload about the need for them to do a better job of reporting on how bad things are in Lansing." So he has form as an idiot. However he's done one useful thing: drawn attention to the absurdly unnecessary and counterproductive registrations required by bureaucrats. And if you think that registration leads to higher standards; just think...it was a registered stylist who crafted his moustache....

Hat-tip: Moonbattery

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Question Time 27th May 2010

Question Time tonight comes from Gravesend in Kent, famous mostly for the world's oldest surviving cast iron pier and being the town where Pocahontas died. The seat of Gravesend is held for the Conservatives by former SAS Captain Adam Holloway.

On the panel we have former Welsh Secretary John Redwood, Liberal Democrat Susan Kramer who lost to Zac Goldsmith in the Richmond Park seat, Alastair Campbell, Piers Morgan and Sir Max Hastings. Piers Morgan is more correctly called 'Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan' if you ask his mother, or 'Piers Moron' if you ask any Private Eye reader.

For those playing the Buzzword Bingo, we'll be trialling the BBC Coalition Undermining Protocols (2010 revision) which means that referring to David Laws as a closet Tory is worth double points and a sell-out traitor gets you 20 credits to spend in the Biased-BBC online shop. As the first question will definitely be an attempt to get John Redwood to criticise Coalition economic policy, players can only nominate "taxes" as their joker together with a named-tax under-card.

As usual the LiveBlog will also cover the entertainingly awful This Week, which will be missing the mad banterists Abbott and Portillo...the sofa will be temporarily relaxing under the less stressful load of David Davis and Hazel Blears. It'll be Godzilla vs the Chipmunk.

Your re-elected and loyal 1922 Committee is once again TheEye and David Mosque, who have chosen not to have ministerial cars but will be arriving by public transport here at 10:30pm.

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Unfortunate Headline O' The Day

Made TheEye chuckle...

Hat-tip to @MarthaKearney

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Dunkirk Little Ships Reunion

To be filed under Things TheEye Wanted To Go To....this Thursday and Friday the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships (ADLS) are returning to Dunkirk to mark the 70th anniversary of Operation Dynamo.

54 ADLS Little Ships are taking part in the event, with HMS Monmouth (Type 23 Duke Class Frigate) and HMS Raider (a P2000 University Royal Naval Unit Vessel) in company to escort them across the Dover Straits. 25 RN Ratings from HMS Collingwood are accompanying the Little Ships for the duration, representing the RN ratings that took the Little Ships across in 1940; and around 35 veterans of Operation Dynamo are expected to be in Dunkirk for the commemorative events.

As veterans and survivors of events such as these leave us, the commemorations become smaller and more sombre each time. Remember the scandal about the attempts to downgrade the last major D-Day commemorations? Hopefully we will we see them gathered again for their 75th and this will not be their swansong year.

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Oona King For London? Oonbelievable

Well, if you're counting the politically correct tickboxes then (half) Black, (half) Jewish, Woman, Idiot gets you the full house. The same tokenistic idea of tickboxes, incidentally, which the Human Bouncy Castle, Diane Abbott, is blatantly using to leverage her pointless campaign to lead the Labour Party. And if you don't fall slavishly into line then you're automatically a racist, a misogynist, or both.

Her record of electoral triumph is short and...well, short. Forced on the Labour Party in Bethnal Green and Bow by a centrally imposed shortlist (because they had certain issues with the local Bangladeshi activists) she was returned to Parliament in 1997 by a constituency in the dark about her claimed abilities. As soon as they became aware of the shallowness of those talents, that majority of ten thousand turned into a 2005 loss by 823 votes, with a spectacular 26.2% swing from King to the unspeakably awful Galloway. At the 2005 count she vowed to fight the same seat at the next election; a promise which was soon glossed over.

Unable to face the fact that she'd been humiliated, she said that she'd carry on as a "shadow MP" in an office funded by the GMB but, with that idea getting the kicking it deserved, she landed (and retains) a plum non-job sucking on the public teat as head of "diversity" at Channel 4. Oddly, there is no sign of her resigning that in order to run - obviously those pesky impartiality rules don't apply. That would be waaaaaaaaacist, you see.

A lightweight? Definitely. Even that rent-a-jolly-old-sailor impersonator Dobson had been in the Cabinet prior to running for London Mayor. And that's certainly no longer an accusation that can be levelled at Boris, who will be sleeping easier in his bed this week knowing that the Newt Lover isn't a shoo-in for the nomination.

And if Boris decides that he needs to ride to the rescue of Great Britain and find himself a convenient by-election? Maybe a few quid early on James Cleverly could unexpectedly pay a month off your mortgage?

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International Number Ones

...because everyone is good at something.

It's not fact-checkable, but this cites the CIA World FactBook as a source so it's a fair bet that it's accurate. Apparently we are No1 in the world for CCTV, which shouldn't come as much of a surprise to anyone. Amusing that the world leaders in condom manufacturers are next door to the leaders in rubber glove making. It's only a matter of callibrating the machine, you'd guess... 

Click to enlarge, or a larger version here. Courtesy of Da Fink.

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Signs Of The Tory-Lib Love-In Continue

There are more signs that the Conservative-Liberal coalition is becoming more than fingertips-only contact. From PR Week, we see that the coalition  will be sharing a new Communications Unit. Logical strategy for a coalition? Maybe. But it's not doing a good job of throwing sand on the fire of those conspiracy theorists who are speculating about a longer term Cameron-Clegg tieup and the discarding of their unwanted party fringes.

The new set-up would see a small number of Conservative and Liberal Democrat media strategists sitting side-by-side. Lib Dem insiders said the party's director of general election communications Jonny Oates would occupy a key role in the unit.
 
In the new PR operation, Oates is expected to work closely with Andy Coulson, the former Conservative Party communications chief who is in line for the Downing Street communications director role. Other Lib Dem communications staff are expected to be based in the Cabinet Office, working directly for deputy prime minister Nick Clegg. The new Downing Street communications unit is expected to get the green light next week. Well-placed sources told PRWeek it would help the coalition government to successfully integrate announcements and to avoid mixed messages.

Mixed messages?  How can you possibly spin as "integrated" a coalition deal which allows Libs to abstain on Tory policies but whips Tories through the lobby in support of Liberal nonsense? Trident, anyone? And how can they possibly spin a merger of two so completely different views of our European enemies? UKIP will be pleased.

They'll find it easier on the Green nonsense though. After all, apparently we're all watermelons now.

* Picture blatantly pinched from the irrepressible GrumpyOldTwat

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Question Time 20th May 2010

The second post-election Question Time comes from Richmond, Surrey.

On the panel tonight we have a line-up positively pulsating with familiarity: Theresa May, Caroline Flint, Ming Campbell, Universal Shami and Douglas Murray from the Centre for Social Cohesion.

For those playing the Buzzword Bingo, we'll be invoking the "BBC Coalition Attention Distraction Rules" which means that playing your joker on Labour Leadership gets you double points for every lefty nonentity name-checked more than five times. Combining Backtracking with either Europe, Inheritance Tax or Human Rights Act means that you get to pass 'Go' but not collect a Married Couples Allowance. Players with Foxhunting can only be trumped by Trident or by using the concealed Lembit Opik gambit.

As usual the LiveBlog will also cover the entertainingly awful This Week, which surely by any measure of impartiality can't feature newly declared candidate to lead the Labour Party, Diane Abbot...could it?

Dissenting backbenchers aside, your governing coalition will once again be TheEye and David Mosque, who will be dispensing with motorcycle outriders and appearing here from 10:30pm

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Spare A Thought For...Jacqui Smith

The BBC tell us that "Jacqui Smith adjusts to life after election defeat"

In 2007 she became the country's first female home secretary and yet just three years later Jacqui Smith is the highest profile casualty of Labour's election defeat.

Yes, there was a reason for that. £116,000 of taxpayers money stolen through the expenses racket and over £2million grabbed by manipulating the second home rules. Oddly, the BBC can't find the space on their page to mention either of these figures. Strange, eh? And wasn't there something else? Can't remember...

"I'm out of a job and...."

Sorry; it says some more, but I was too busy laughing.

"For Richard to have to literally stay in the house with the curtains drawn for weeks on end. It was hard and I don't see why they should have to put up with it."

Ah, that was the forgotten thing! Your husband didn't have the curtains drawn because the press were outside, Smithy. It was because he hated the sight of you so much he was spanking the monkey at the taxpayers expense.

So, Jacqui, any immediate plans?

When I jokingly asked whether any press would be invited to her farewell constituency party she answered without hesitation. "Only my sister." (Her sister works for the BBC).

The completely unbiased BBC; the one which gave you this pointless puff-piece interview. And for the future?

The Aston Villa season ticket-holder doesn't rule out standing as an MP again

We'll be divebombed by squadrons of Gloucester Old Spots before she'll be allowed back to Westminster - either by the electorate or the Labour Party; both of who are glad to see the back of this arch-trougher. Far from "didn't deserve the treatment", you should be thanking whatever deity you believe in that you're not in prison right now.

Good riddance to you, your husband, your sister and the whole of your taxpayer-scamming spawn; and shame on the BBC for giving you one last puff on the oxygen of undeserved publicity.

Hat-tip for the image to the unbeatable GrumpyOldTwat.

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Today is: International Everyone Draw Mohammed Day

As covered last month here on AllSeeingEye and covered everywhere else today - except on the BBC - today is International Everyone Draw Mohammed Day. Their Facebook page is here and blog is here.

Oh, and also strangely missed by Google's search prediction algorithm. Not for the first time. They have form for this sort of thing, though.

For those who don't recall, this was inspired by a jihadist death threat against the creators of South Park and was originally suggested by Seattle artist Molly Norris. South Park had this dialogue:

Freedom of speech is at stake here, don’t you all see? If anything, we should all make cartoons of Mohammed and show the terrorists and the extremists that we are all united in the belief that every person has a right to say what they want. Look people, it’s been really easy for us to stand up for free speech lately. For the past few decades, we haven’t had to risk anything to defend it. One of those times is right now. And if we aren’t willing to risk what we have now, then we just believe in free speech, but won’t defend it.

(Later censored) dialogue on South Park

From the rationale behind the effort:

Freedom of speech has been under attack for much of my life. It started with Salmon Rushdie. He dared to write a book in which a fictional character said something bad about Mohammed, and for that they put a fatwah, a decree that he should be murdered. And many people died bravely to bring that book to market. It continued when Theo Van Gogh made a movie critiquing how Islamic culture treated women. They killed him for that. Then the Danish created cartoons and we didn’t stand with them. Finally, South Park made a two part episode in which they took on the controversy, and Comedy Central censored the image of Mohammed, explicitly citing the fear of violence. And for their 200th and 201st episodes, the guys at South Park did it again, and under threat from a bunch of idiots called Revolution Islam, Comedy Central censored them again. They even censored a speech about the need for courage.

This has got to stop. Someone has to stand up for freedom of speech.

So, there is is. Go to their blog as see some of the cartoon attempts. Show some solidarity with what they are trying to do.

Remember, folks: no actual prophets or people were harmed in the creation or publication of this cartoon. So lighten and stop being so sensitive.

UPDATE: Reader 'Katabasis' has already been getting involved. Any more contributions from readers?

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Al Gore Preaches To Graduates - No Casualties Reported

Seen over at ConHome, this has to be one of the most depressing reach-for-the-razorblades speeches at a graduation day ever - courtesy of that old washed-up fraud Gore.

With similarly washed-up fraud Chris Huhne installed as the Coalition's Prophet of Doom, prepare for the same on this side of the Pond. By candle-light of course, because we'll all be relying on wind power and rubbing tofu sticks together by then.

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Gordon's New Job

From Daniel via email.

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A Medal For Doing Nothing

Last week, Sir Donald MacLean, former President of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Association died. The Brighton bomb, intended to kill Margaret Thatcher and her Cabinet, was planted in Donald and Muriel’s bathroom and Muriel was one of the seven who died. It took a week to do so from the severe injuries she sustained.  Some of the men who plotted and carried out that attack walk the streets today because often we weren't robust enough in those days. A few are even in Government, mostly due to overly restrictive rules on engagement for our troops. Any Shoot To Kill policy against terrorists should have been official and overt. Fighting terrorism isn't for nice fluffy people.  Luckily the concept of Crown Immunity still protects our troops from, for example, any application of the Humans Rights Act on the battlefield. However, officers are already being trained to make decisions with the HRA in mind and if lives haven't already been lost specifically because of that then they soon will be.
  We know that soldiers die whenever politicians and generals put a higher premium on keeping "civilians killed" stories out of the newspapers than they do on keeping troops alive.

So, in a classic example of good old fashioned stupidity, the US have moved on to the next level of getting their own soldiers killed with medals for "Courageous Restraint":

U.S. troops in Afghanistan could soon be awarded a medal for not doing something, a precedent-setting award that would be given for “courageous restraint” for holding fire to save civilian lives.

The proposal is now circulating in the Kabul headquarters of the International Security Assistance Force, a command spokesman confirmed Tuesday.

“The idea is consistent with our approach,” explained Air Force Lt. Col. Tadd Sholtis. “Our young men and women display remarkable courage every day, including situations where they refrain from using lethal force, even at risk to themselves, in order to prevent possible harm to civilians. In some situations our forces face in Afghanistan, that restraint is an act of discipline and courage not much different than those seen in combat actions.”

Soldiers are often recognized for non-combat achievement with decorations such as their service’s commendation medal. But most of the highest U.S. military decorations are for valor in combat. A medal to recognize a conscious effort to avoid a combat action would be unique.

Please, find someone for the article who thinks this is a daft idea.

...A spokesman for the 2.2 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars, the nation’s largest group of combat veterans, thinks the award would cause confusion among the ranks and send a bad signal.

Confusion? Bad signal? Okay; weak response but it'll have to do.

“The self-protections built into the rules of engagement are clear, and the decision to return fire must be made instantly based on training and the threat,” said Joe Davis, a spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars. “The enemy already hides among noncombatants, and targets them, too. The creation of such an award will only embolden their actions and put more American and noncombatant lives in jeopardy. Let’s not rush to create something that no one wants to present posthumously.”

The whole concept is a steaming pile of ridiculous nonsense. If you want to get yourself killed then use a revolver and a glass of whisky, but auditioning for one of these medals will get your whole squad killed; and that is a greater crime than any.

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"Countries like Europe"

If George W Bush had referred to "57 States" in the USA he would have been hauled over the coals, but TheOne is immune from such criticism. For similar errors, one is a moron and the other one is tired from saving the world so frequently.

However TheEye (described marvellously on last night's LiveBlog as a "paleo-conservative...fantastic!) took great umbrage at this stupid comment from Obama when talking about the excellent law in Arizona that finally makes it illegal to be illegal.

"Europe" is a geographical description, it is not a country. And whilst TheEye has breath to speak it will not become one.

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Question Time 13th May 2010

The first post-election Question Time comes London.

On the panel tonight are Lord Heseltine and Simon Hughes for the Liberals, Lord Falconer for Labour, Melanie Phillips for all those who mistakenly thought they were voting for a right-of-centre government last week, and Mehdi Hasan, who may or may not be an 83 year old ghazal singer from  Karachi.

For those playing the Buzzword Bingo, we'll be invoking the "BBC Spoiling Agenda rules update of 2010" which means that all attempts to sow discord amongst the new allies win double points. Mentions of Europe are wild, I agree with Nick places you in Nidd for a turn and players who score PR, Inheritance Tax and Trident in a straight line win a ticket to one of Richard Black's nosebleed-inducingly utterly fair and impartial conferences. Overall game winners receive two tickets and a complimentary sick-bucket.

TheEye and David Mosque are determined to ignore the opinions of their supporters and continue in a Moderating Coalition for a fixed term, which will begin at 10:30pm and finish when This Week ends - or when 55% of Parliament votes to dissolve the liveblog.

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Newspaper Roundup

TheEye was watching cricket yesterday, and all sorts of excitement seem to have happened in the meantime. Typical, isn't it?

A splendid summary by ToryBear wrapped up in a single picture:

Despite the vast amount of trees currently being chopped down to provide us with a range of opinions from the sublime to the ridiculous, it's clear that nobody has a clue where all this is leading. So let's just wait and see what happens when the dust settles.

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Market Reaction To Brown's Resignation on D-Day +4

This is Sterling against the Dollar as Brown triggered a Labour leadership election and offered the LibDems a coalition until that bloodbath takes place in the Autumn. Clegg's response of opening formal talks just cemented the gloom in the markets.

And all this is happening before we get to see the books - assuming that the whirring sound in the background that we hear isn't the Treasury shredders working overtime. Maybe the financial situation really is as bad as Greece?

Look on the bright side though. At least we can't possibly be as financially screwed as Portsmouth FC.

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Evening Standard on D-Day +4

Will this look a bit daft in 24 hours?

Their website hasn't caught up with their dead-tree version yet. Isn't it supposed to work the other way around?

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Watch Gordon Brown's Resignation Announcement

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D-Day +4

...and Police in Westminster have confirmed that the stand-off at a large terraced house in London is continuing. Reports say that Scottish man has barricaded himself inside and is holding 60 million people hostage.

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Will Jesus Sue?

In a piece of random daftness, it seem that some people go through life with a great big target on their backs:

Police say a Pittsfield woman has been cited for running down a man named Lord Jesus Christ as he crossed a street in Northampton [MA] on Tuesday.

The 50-year-old man is from Belchertown. Officers checked his ID and discovered that, indeed, his legal name is Lord Jesus Christ.

Not going to bother with death/resurrection puns. The jokes write themselves. The woman is being charged with "failure to yield" but surely "attempted deicide" is more appropriate?

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D-Day +3

“The people have spoken, the bastards”.

Dick Tuck’s concession speech following his loss in the 1966 California Senate.

And so we wait another day to find out who will be our next Prime Minister. Astonishingly, if we don't have a new one by Monday morning then Jim Knight, Mike O'Brien, Shahid Malik, Vera Baird, Angela Smith, and Ann Keen  - who all lost their seats on Thursday - will still be reporting for work as Ministers. Badger Eyebrows will be flying to Brussels to sign up to a multi-billion bailout of the Euro despite the fact that we had the common sense to stay well away from it (or so we thought). It's being done under majority voting because the EU have called their currency a "natural disaster"*. A position which will be supported by likely incoming Chief Secretary of the Treasury Vince "I predicted 17 of the last 2 recessions" Cable. Sums it up, really.

For all those who think that this is outrageous, you're going to love PR...

* Article 122 of the EU Constitution Lisbon Treaty - the thing everybody promised us a referendum on.

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Final Humilation: Corrupt Third World Accuse Us Of Being Equally Corrupt

Laugh or cry? There was a time when our electoral system was fair and incorruptible. We don't live in Africa...over here, what went into the ballot boxes was what came out. One Man (before lunacy crept in) One Vote. A property franchise too. Life was much more civilised before the 1832 Great Reform Act. That's what happens when Liberals are allowed to play with the grownups.

Everyone know how it has slipped. Postal votes. Electoral registration so lax that you need a polling station specifically for number 263, Mogadishu Avenue because there are so many "people" on the roll there. It's surprising, though, that things have slipped so far it was felt necessary for a pile of crappy tin-pot dictatorships and political basket-cases to adjudicate our General Election.

The 11-strong observation team countries including Bangladesh, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia and Nigeria were been in the UK since Sunday to observe the work of candidates, polling stations and the count.  

Where? Which countries again? The main exports of these countries (in order) are appeals for flood aid, dope, spears, colourful stamps and £2.4 billion held in an odd bank account by the late President Osbvfbhe Fwsfwmagubu who died in a recent plane crash.True, we usually get a few countries sending "observers" here, either as a way to find out how to run one themselves or as an all-expenses-paid junket for bored foreign allies who want to compare our brothels to the ones they use back home.

But to actually come to give us a rubber stamp of not-being-them?

One of the teams had “heard about bullying and intimidation” during their tour of constituencies, but they found that “the atmosphere on election day was generally calm. 

If you're talking about this election then calling someone a 'bigot' for asking about people who leave, er, your countries, might count. Prescott hitting someone last time round could also work. Are you spotting a party link there? Yes, they are brought to you by the party which deliberately started a policy of unrestricted immigration in order to boost their core vote - which is presumably why you don't name them, eh, chaps?

They said: “Voters understood what was expected of them and polling staff behaved in a professional and courteous manner.”

Yes, a 'X' is expected - it's not tricky, folks. Unless you live in Sheffield, where the only occasion that Opening Times are relevant is for the dole office. But don't worry, if you're a mong then you can collect £750 when you pass Go.

Innocent Chukwuma, one of the observers from Nigeria, said the voting system was vulnerable and too open to “abuse and malpractice”, while more staff were needed at polling stations. He added: “No democracy, however old, is infallible.”

Well, Labour Muslim MP and Minister Shahid Malik lost his seat in Dewsbury last night, so tribal corruption obviously needs to up its game for the next time around.

Ababu Namwamba, an MP from Kenya, said he found the system “almost casual” in the way the whole process was so calm and so civil.

Calm? This is England, sunshine. The planet could have been overrun by sentient Candiru fish and we'd still politely queue up to get into Lord's for the Friday of the first Ashes Test. Over here we don't have an equivalent of the Mau Mau who'll kill us if we don't support them. ZanuLabour haven't thought of that yet.

The Kenyan said he was surprised that more checks were not carried out to check the identities of voters. Instead clerks in the polling booths trusted the person who is voting to tell the truth. He said: "That little detail is susceptible to abuse. It [the system] is admirable but it is open to abuse. This country has opened up to many people coming in. 

Coming in? Yes, from your country; which means that he's actually saying I know we're corrupt but you should be trying harder not to import it from us. You couldn't make that up, could you?

Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, an MP from Bangladesh, suggested that staff in polling stations should demand to see photographic identification from voters. This would ensure that people do not impersonate someone else when they voted. “It should move to a more foolproof system,” he said.

 Great idea!

Oh. Okay then. Never mind. Scratch that idea.

Their full report is out on the 25th May. Can't wait...

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We're All Doomed

It's over and the dust is beginning to settle. Gordoom is holed up in the bunker staring gloomily at the revolver and the whisky but can't bring himself to do the honourable thing. It's a crying shame that the last sentence was typed metaphorically rather than literally.

Having been fed the BBC agreed script for weeks that a hung parliament would be fun fun fun for all ages we're about to see the reality in its true awfulness....(smoke-free) backroom sordid deals carving up (our) money for influence and Cabinet seats. We're doomed to weak government, minor players wielding massive influence and bit actors in power. The party which came third, or, as it used to be called in old money, last; is threatening the civilised world with having to emplot the financial acumen of the man from the Werthers' Original adverts - St Vince "I predicted 17 of the last 2 recessions" Cable in a position of more than just counting out his Alzheimers' meds.

Welcome to government,  European style.

We're all doomed.

Still, not to worry. ConservativeHome tells us that the Tories will be able to work with the LibDems because everyone apparently now understands the need to destroy wealth creators and embrace bloody save the planet nonsense (just as everyone else has started to realise that it's a pile of faked crap).

On the plus side, we also enjoyed the unspeakably awful Jacqui Spliff crashing and burning. That part of election night stood out splendidly. TheEye prides himself on being a sadistic bastard who feeds on the misery of socialists for pleasure and profit, but that was a particularly good moment. It wasn't an entirely wasted evening.

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Election Night LiveBlog

Here it is - the Election Night Liveblog.....starting when polls close at 10pm and carrying on until the last Moderator collapses in a gibbering drunken stupor over their laptop.

We're live and dangerous across 10 blogs -  All Seeing Eye, Barking Spider, Biased-BBC, Corrugated Soundbite, Dick Puddlecote, Governmentitus, GrumpyOldTwat, Man Widdicombe, Subrosa and Red Rag Online with the usual motley crew of Moderators from the Question Time liveblog.

See you here at 10pm!

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Two Hours Of Voting Left

This post is dedicated to the hard working activists who are still out there chasing up on reluctant voters, telling, and knocking up in the fading daylight with the clock counting down:

* I have a plan, sir.

* Really Baldrick? A cunning and subtle one?

* Yes, sir.

* As cunning as a fox who's just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University?

* Yes, sir.
[another call: "On the signal, Company will advance"]

* Well, I'm afraid it's too late. Whatever it was, I'm sure it was better than my plan to get out of here by pretending to be mad. I mean, who would have noticed another madman round here?
[a whistle blows he looks at Baldrick]

* Good luck, everyone.

It's too late now. It's all over. Get a stiff drink or two inside you, head to your counts and hope for the best.

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Burnin' Down The House

It's the night before the election. It's Gordoom's last night before his illegitimate and accursed premiership comes to an inglorious and miserable end. It's the last 24 hours before he fights the first competitive election of his life...and loses. It's the purging of the House of Commons; a record number of MPs standing down. It's the passing of Duck House Knight, Moat Man, and a host of house flippers and Dishonourable Members who claimed Remembrance Day Poppies back on expenses.

In the words of Oliver Cromwell to the Rump Parliament in April 1653...

“you have been sat to long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!.”

Or, to do it musically, TheEye offers 'Talking Heads'...'Burnin Down The House'...

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Election Night LiveBlogging

It's almost here...the night that should see only the second change of a ruling party in the UK since 1979.

We'll be hosting another LiveBlog; this time starting when the polls close at 10pm and finishing when the last Moderator expires from alcohol poisoning in the early (or not so early) hours of the morning. As background information, these were the declaration times from 2005.

As we've done previously, this is a joint LiveBlog collaboration with a host of other splendid blogs; on Biased-BBC, All Seeing Eye, Barking Spider, Corrugated Soundbite, Dick Puddlecote, Governmentitus, GrumpyOldTwat, Man Widdicombe, Subrosa and The Red Rag. Ten splendid and highly recommended blogs, one livechat!

Join us for a night of excitement and high drama from 10pm on Thursday...

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We Surrender. Here, Take My Daughter...

No, not the traditional battle-cry of the French, but the approach that planning inspectors have been ordered to take with gypsies.

After a series of Freedom of Information requests, the Daily Mail has an article today detailing the corruption of planning rules through a series of directives issued by the Department for Communities and Local Government in spring last year. This consolidated changes which have taken place over the course of the last Parliament.

Whilst you've got to treat any newspaper with some caution, especially on this subject and especially on the day before a General Election, the allegations (with direct quotes) are quite specific:

• Gipsies need caravan sites, the rules said, because many suffer 'aversion to bricks and mortar' and 'the sense of enclosure can be distressing to people who have been used to outdoor living'. Aversion to bloody bricks and mortar, eh? Goes with their aversion to soap. And honesty.
  

• They qualify for special favours under human rights and race relations law, meaning the fears of those who worry that a Gypsy site will bring an increase in crime should be given 'little weight'. Just rely on the weight of the baseball bat you'll need to keep by your bed.

• Rural settings for sites 'are acceptable in principle'. Conservation areas and areas of outstanding natural beauty 'are not precluded', and gipsy sites on green belt land are allowed 'under very special circumstances'. Acceptable in principle? As opposed to rules for the rest of us which are unacceptable by default.

• Fear of crime is not 'a legitimate ground on which to withhold planning permission,'. If we can't fear their crime then they can't fear our retribution.
  

• If travellers say they cannot live on an existing site because they are worried about intimidation by its ruling families, 'this should be taken into account'.

• Residents will not be able to bar a gipsy site because the travellers have no local connections and if gipsies can show they have local links, it strengthens their case to build a site.

• Travellers do not even need to have settled on a site to claim that it is their home. Give. Me. Strength.
  

• And they should be given the right to pick a site of their own if the local council has failed to provide enough official sites in the neighbourhood.

This comes in addition to other "rights" which have been slid quietly into legislation:

Children from gipsy and traveller families are being given priority admission to popular state schools. Heads are told to offer them places even if the school is full, has a long waiting list or if the travellers 'are camped on the roadside and may not be here long'. Guidelines laid down last summer by the Department for Children, Schools and Families also mean schools are told to 'doubly scrutinise' any decision to expel a traveller or gipsy child.

Travellers should be given priority when they need hospital treatment, GP appointments and even NHS dentists, state health rules laid down last year. They should be able to see a GP as soon as they walk in to a surgery, even if the doctor is booked up for the day, and get a longer consultation than other patients. Their special needs and circumstances as an ethnic minority must be taken into account. But other ethnic groups do not enjoy similar advantaged treatment.

No further comment is needed. Read it all and weep. Then go and buy a caravan...its apparently the only chance you've got of seeing a dentist.

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Why ID Cards Are A Bad Idea (Pt.94)

The subject of ID cards has largely been absent from this election campaign. The Conservatives have pledged to drop the un-libertarian and repressive idea, and Labour have remained quiet on the subject. With the attitude of the LibDems to defence, one has to assume that future ID card policy would be implemented by the next occupying army.

For a look at how any debate is progressing on the other side of the Pond, it's always a good idea to read Mark Steyn. In a short post made a few days ago he makes a relevant point about calls in the US for a national ID card which also apply to the UK so it's well worth passing on to a smaller audience.

If we ever do get a mandatory national ID card, it will be one more bureaucratic imposition upon the already law-abiding, and entirely irrelevant to those whom it's supposedly intended for. That's to say, little old ladies will be required to show it when they go to check out a large-print library book or the Jessica Tandy double-bill at Blockbusters, but it will be [called] utterly racist and discriminatory to ask a suspected illegal alien if he can produce one

Entertainingly this article was found just a day after a heated discussion with denizen of this parish Daniel, and the examples used by Mark Steyn are by a marvellous coincidence the same as those employed then by TheEye. Although it may be bad etiquette to try for a killer blow in an argument by blogging about it 24 hours later...Daniel, stick this in your pipe and smoke it....

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In Defence Of Admirals

From yesterday's Porstmouth News: "Clegg pledge to halve number of admirals"

...He said: 'I admire and want to support everyone who works selflessly in the armed services, but it's hard to work out how to support people on the front line when money is tight.

'We have to ask why there are around 800 civil servants doing communications for the MoD and why there are two admirals for every ship in the navy. We don't need more than one per ship.

'There's too much money tied up in projects we don't need, and in the wages of the top brass...

As you'd expect from the leader of the Lib Dems, he's taken a perfectly adequate urban myth and made the mistake of quoting it as if it is a fact.

According to the March 2010 Bridge Card, the Naval Service still has nearly 80 surface warships of all sizes plus 14 nuclear submarines and 16 fleet auxiliaries. Then there are the three RM Commandos, 17 Naval Air Squadrons, Naval Strike Wing and all their supporting assets and infrastructure.

For more accurate numbers of what Clegg calls "top brass", the Daily Telegraph printed this letter on 22 April 2010:

Lt Cdr Lester May RN (retd):

Clegg’s Navy ignorance

SIR – The buzz is that Nick Clegg did well in the last television debate. However, on defence, he made a glib claim that there are two admirals for every ship in the Royal Navy, hinting strongly at there being an opportunity for savings. He is way off track with his figures – there are not 150 or so admirals as he suggests. There are 36 flag and general officers in the Navy, of whom 30 are admirals and six are Royal Marines major-generals. Of this number, 20 admirals and two generals are in dedicated naval or marine posts, and only two hold the four-star rank of a full admiral. Ten admirals and generals are in tri-service defence posts, most of which are open to Army generals and air marshals by competition, and another four are in Nato posts.

Of the eight vice-admirals on the active list, half are in Nato or tri-service appointments, such as Surgeon Vice-Admiral Philip Raffaelli who succeeded an Army officer as Surgeon-General in December. These appointments say a lot about the high calibre of these officers. Moreover, when their appointment ends they don't get re-assigned; they will leave the Service, so there is no sinecure to be had.

So, there are 30 admirals and 6 RM general officers to lead 35,000 uniformed personnel and umpteen MoD civil servants, manage over a hundred hulls and administer a budget of several billion pounds, plus fill several top level MoD support roles and other national, NATO, EU and tri-service billets.

Nothing like the picture painted by Clegg.

Hat-tip: to Naval_Gazer

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Be True To Who You Are

Two days to go. So, wither the patriot and his vote?

TheEye struggles with such thoughts. It is a struggle made easier by the lack of a Westminster vote for us here in Gibraltar, so this blogger watches impotently as the future of his Rock is shaped on distant shores. Of my fellow bloggers here; David Vance has of course nailed his colours to the mast as the candidate for Traditional Unionist Voice in East Belfast, St Crispin gets his voice, and GOT will doubtless be stockpiling bullets and tins of beans in case Gordoom doesn't go quietly.

But for all of you who are still genuinely wavering; maybe between one of the two main parties and a fringe one, consider these words from The Gipper.

If there is a weakness in our two-party system it is that we accept a party label as ours and then vote the label without questioning whether the party continues to represent our own philosophical beliefs.

I was a Democrat when the Democratic Party stood for states rights, local autonomy, economy in government and individual freedom. Today it is the party that has changed, openly declaring for centralized federal power and government sponsored redistribution of the individual's earnings.

[Reagan, A Life in Letters :from Ronald Reagan to Philip; undated pre-presidential]

Go with your instinct, and don't be afraid to break with what you've done for years, or what your family has always done. This is not a tribal election - this is a watershed election...an I Was There election. The chance of only the second change in governing Party since 1979.

Don't hold your nose and vote. Don't vote for someone because of who they're not. Vote for who they are, regardless of size or the local situation in your constituency. When you're asked in years to come who you supported in the election of 2010, make sure you can say that you voted positively. Whether your big issue is immigation, the EU, fundamental freedoms, or just being able to put food on the table, vote with your heart as well as your head.

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Seaside-Tsar: Shortest Government Non-Job Ever?

In a mind-numbing splurge of stupidity, Gordon Brown has apparently created something called a "Seaside Tsar" three days before an election.

Duncan Bannatyne appears on television's Dragon's Den, which apparently is a capitalist version of Professor Heinz Wolff's classic show The Great Egg Race, and he's been promised the new job if Labour win.

Don't start ordering the business cards, sunshine.

But let's take a look at this bloke and his qualifications anyway, just...well...because we can. His fascination with the seaside doubtless began when he was thrown out of the Royal Navy (with a trip to the glasshouse at Colchester en route) for throwing an officer off a boat landing jetty.

Mr Brown announced that he would appoint Mr Bannatyne, who spends much of his spare time at his villa on the French Riviera, as an adviser on regenerating Britain’s seaside resorts if Labour win the election. 

Yes, right, we can see the fit instantly. Riviera....Bournemouth. You'd be hard pressed to tell the difference, wouldn't you? Perhaps his regeneration plans will begin with destroying what's left of the social life in coastal towns by extending the hated smoking ban - as President of the charity No Smoking Day he's already nicely integrated into the Labour anti-smoking Geheime Staatspolize heirachy.

However, the appointment of Mr Bannatyne has baffled Mr Brown’s opponents. Last year, the tycoon, 61, told a newspaper that he spent 46 days at his £3 million holiday home in Mougins in the south of France.

Baffled everyone except the doctor who prescribes Gordoom's happy pills, more like. So why has the Prime Mentalist dangled the carrot of this job despite being only hours away from watching the removal vans turn up?

...has a fortune recently estimated to be worth £320 million. He has donated money to the Labour Party. 

Oh. Ah. Right. Shouldn't all this blatant jobs for donors nonsense be wildly nose-bleed-inducingly collar-feelingly illegal? Who cares? He'll never be given the job and all of this stupidity will be over (or much reduced) by Friday lunchtime.

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How To Avoid Jail In Dubai (And Here)

So the Foreign Office have published a list of how to avoid going to jail if you travel to Dubai. The unspoken implication, of course, is that they are a horrendously bigotted bunch of fruitcakes who are oppressing innocent and harmless tourists (go to any bar in Benidorm to see how stupid that idea really is).

Britons in Dubai have been officially warned against dancing, drinking or sharing hotel rooms following a string of clashes with the Muslim authorities.

...or "national authorities" as we used to call them in my day. Why bring the 'Muslim' bit into it? It's a sovereign country (unlike our region of the EU) and can make their own laws. if you don't like them, don't go. The broad-brush 'dancing, drinking or sharing hotel rooms' part is, of course, sloppy alarmist journalism with the devil residing in the detail.

The British Embassy has issued a formal “don’t-do” list on its website with the warning: “If you want to face possible arrest and imprisonment, ignore the advice.” The list advises against kissing or holding in hands in public, as well as swearing and using drugs. 

Apart from the ridiculously posturing double-negative threat, you'd also get your collar felt in the UK for using drugs. And for swearing too, if there is a policeman about.

Drinking is only allowed in licensed restaurants, pubs, clubs and private venues...

Surely the drinking thing isn't much different in the UK? My house is a "private venue" and a park bench isn't...unless swigging bottles of cider hidden in brown paper bags whilst stinking of stale urine has been made compulsory overnight. 

...were jailed in 2008 after being caught having sexual intercourse on a beach in Dubai. 

Yes, try that on a beach in Dorset and you're similarly nicked, sunshine. The only big diffence between the two countries is the going-for-it-when-unmarried angle, and with a choice of almost 200 other countries for your dirty weekend - if she insists on Dubai then she's probably too high maintenance anyway.

It's a bit of luck that we have the Foreign Office to save us from such unfortunate misunderatndings. Imagine how we'd laugh if they did the same to us? Our laws are all so obvious and sensible...

Oh, okay.

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