I have no words – every time I try to produce some, I want to throw up instead. Please come up with some comments for me.
Big bucks for Blair on lucrative China trip
Former British prime minister Tony Blair was paid 500,000 dollars for a three-hour trip to a luxury Chinese housing estate, state press reported Thursday and questioned whether he was worth it.
Some newspapers criticised the whirlwind visit, sponsored by a real estate company, as a show of extravagance and said Blair, who resigned earlier this year, produced little more than cliches.
Blair gave a speech during Tuesday’s visit to Dongguan in China’s southern province of Guangdong and stopped by a luxury villa compound developed by his trip’s sponsor, Guangda Group.
The real estate company also offered him one of the houses worth 38 million yuan (five million dollars), the Guangzhou Daily said.
The newspaper did not say whether he accepted the villa, while noting that the cash payment would have been 330,000 dollars after tax.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20071108/ten-china-britain-politics-blair-a56114e_1.html
I'm no Angel (to quote Mae West) but I too am weeping at this profligate waste of money.
Difficult to fully comprehend the irony of this. But Blair (and Mrs) have revealed themselves for exactly what they are: mendacious, delusional money-grubbers.
What will happen in due course – and please God let that be very soon – is they will lose their perceived value. At that point we'll be treated to the sight of Mrs Blair bemoaning her lot.
Now, to most ordinary people that may seem laughable, but I hope they both find life (and the herafter) complete hell.
These are disgusting animals. The sole advantage we have is that we are not routinely treated to his and her faces in the daily prints. As far as I'm concerned that is a great boon. I welcome the fact that Blair is out of the country for much of the time. If this could be turned to a permanent arrangement that would be even better. The icing on the cake would be for him to take his appalling family and friends with him.
'show me the money'
quote from a film
Well, he's been a brilliant salesman for war, plague, pestilence and famine – so why not Chinese housing estates.
Give one of Britain's outstanding entrepreneurs a break.
Look on the bright side, the Chinese may be having the last laugh. The dollar's value is in decline, China owns a lot of dollar debt, maybe they are looking at ways of dumping it. Did Tony get paid or did he just get a few promissory notes ?
Let's hope Tony keeps getting paid in dollars, which as a good poodle he will be loyalty bound to, unlike Gisele Bundchen. You'll know the dollar is doomed when he starts asking for Euros too.
You've got to wonder about the villa, did the guy offering it to him also offer him a really long wall at a knock down price ?
According to those figures, he owes the HMRC $30,000 (about £15,000), without taking into account the actual viaal. Will he be paying?
The actual villa, time to go to bed I think!
The Blairs' naked greed is so bare-faced that it's actually a perverse form of public service, reminding the electorate to never, ever put their representatives on any kind of pedestal should they be so foolishly inclined. For that, Mr Blair, I thank you (never thought I'd write those last three words).
There are times when words hardly seem adequate to express the true level of disgust one feels.
We're all pretty much intelligent and educated people around here, no? The language we use is normally that of the educated class; measured, tempered, rational, well-argued, balanced…
But there's also "poetry" or language which is freed from the normal constraints of polite discourse.
I'm talking about the power of the righteous ranter, who dares to spew the truth into the face of power. The Old-Testament prophet crying out in the dusty, market-place, raging to heaven about the injustice and hypocracy of the world!
How does one free words again from there chains, in a world where imagery has become so dominant?
I think one has to break the bonds of censorship and dare to rant and rave at the darkness that is closing in on us. Words can explode like grenades, and for this reason our political leaders are literally sucking the life out of words before our very eyes, or should that be ears?
We need the courage to be honest and brave in our use of language. I'm thinking about the drug-fueled tirades of Lenny Bruce, who used "humour" to attack hypocracy and paid a heavy price for his efforts. Recently I heard a tremendous rant by George Carlin which was incredibly powerful and fearless. In three minutes he managed to trash more "sacred cows" than one would think possible in comedy routine. One line is worth repeating.
"That's the secret of the American Dream, you have to be asleep to belive it!"
I suppose it's part of the space and licence we give to our entertaining "fools".
There's an analogy I've just thought of about guitar playing. We need to somehow move from being Bert Weedon and turn into Jimi Hendrix!
If Holy Tone's involved it's likely to evolve into Johnny Rotten
A this time of trembles and terror, when the shadows are dancing around us and pulling at our sleeves, dragging us towards the solace of horror, why not resort to barbarism for Blair?
Now we've returned to the charm of the ducking stool and the thrill of torture and the gratification of screams and pleading, surely we could strip Blair naked and tar and feather him and parade him through Whitehall from Parliament to Trafalgar Square.
Does he deserve a fate better than the one he thought "just" for Saddam? There was something terrifying about the way Saddam was slaughtered. It reminded me of the way the Romans killed the leader of the Gauls, Vercingetorix, a vile ritual and bold statement.
How can we consider ourselves civilized when we allow this struting, lying, rent-boy, of a poltroon, to makes millions of pounds, at the same time that he's caused so much suffering for millions of Iraqi people? It is an insult, not only to our intelligence, but to morality and decency as well. It's time for us to actually prove we're civilized people and hold Blair accountable for his crimes against humanity, and at the very least put him on public trial and confiscate his ill gotten gains. There must be no rest or peace for this man, only the sound of hounds eternally snapping at his heels until justice is finally done to him and his ilk!
I think we are being too hard on him. Obviously he is now very sorry for deliberately delaying a ceasefire in the Lebanon crisis and is going to donate his fee to help all those Lebanese families who lost loved ones as a result of his delaying tactics.
Thinking about the way the Coalition disposed of Saddam sets one wondering just how would Tone (or Dubya for that matter) shape up when they arrive at their Rendezvous With Death? Would they show such courage?
That takes one laterally – courage in death, that is – to "Braveheart" (awful parody of history and all): maybe that's how we should recompense Tone – drag him through the streets of London from Parliament Square to Smithfield Square to be hanged, drawn, and quartered for High Treason.
It strengthens resolve to dream of justice, and read the great rousing pieces here. One aspect of this payment ive been wondering if will be broached, is it's possible disproportionality (marketwise).
Supposing that a third of a million pounds for a short visit and speech is an unnecessarily large payment, that immoral spinners even of Blairs' rank would attend for less. Could such revolting yet distant fees as this one from a seemingly unaligned Chinese megacorporation actually be well laundered payments for the years of immoral deceit? Obviously im suspicious, but everwary of treading conspiratorial waters especialy in this brilliant site.
Please come up with some comments for me.
Pol Pot looking out his window –
"There goes the neighbourhood"
Only Blair could make the dictatorship he's visiting seem like an oasis of humanity – no wonder Bejing invited him. Inscrutible oriental gentlemen that they are. Anything to make them look good.
It could've been worse,
Mrs Morticia Blair could've been there with him – obviously, the Blairs do have a heart after all!
Maybe Tony was bribed not bring his lovely Drusilla with him –
"A Pony without Vampira, otherwise its only a Donkey!"
all the best!
ps
My copy of 'Murder in Samarkand' is in the post.
Why can't Blair just fuck off quietly to make a pile at some large arms company like John Major did at the Carlyle Group in return for the carnage and profit in the Middle East?
We'll never know if he accepted the villa — it can very well be placed in someone else's name. Cherie is a lawyer.