A “Lib Dem” minister just told Sky News he was approving new nuclear power stations to promote green jobs. If anybody ever votes for these lying bastards again I shall be disconsolate.
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Ben Franklin -Machine Gun Preacher (Unleaded Version)
1 Apr, 2013 – 12:58 am
A once-every-4 million- year event?
Ben, i read that. But, what is the ‘event’?
The Babbler babbles:
“It’ll take more than just a few BRICks to build a New House..”
I wonder what the ‘k’ is there for? And why the ‘s’ is a small one?
Missed the point, as per usual?
MI6 organised the torture and murder of the Congo’s first and only democratically elected leader, Patrice Lumumba, ensuring the mineral rich country endured successive vicious and corrupt dictators, endless and still ongoing wars, poverty and the slaughter of untold millions, all in order to keep whitey’s hands on the goodies.
Sound familiar.
“British peer reveals MI6 role in Lumumba killing”
“Lord Lea [writes] It so happens that I was having a cup of tea with Daphne Park… She had been consul and first secretary in Leopoldville, now Kinshasa, from 1959 to 1961, which in practice (this was subsequently acknowledged) meant head of MI6 there. I mentioned the uproar surrounding Lumumba’s abduction and murder, and recalled the theory that MI6 might have had something to do with it. ‘We did,’ she replied, ‘I organised it.’” ”
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/world/british-peer-reveals-mi6-role-in-lumumba-killing/article4567513.ece
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1fJckuXzpc
Hey guys, what is it with this intolerance for anything but the party line on certain subjects? BrianFujisan makes frequent perceptive and useful comments on many subjects. It is obvious that he thinks carefully about current affairs and shares broadly similar views to most on this blog. He even seems to share your musical tastes, Crab! Whatever his views, I would suggest that they are arrived at after consideration and are genuine beliefs rather than deliberately provocative, or part of a secret agenda. Surely they deserve more respect than the dripping sarcasm that they have received?
I would characterise those ‘broadly similar views’ referred to above as being in favour of a fairer society whilst being cynical about the MSM propaganda that claims the same whilst encouraging the opposite. This propaganda effort is huge – it has been going on since before we were born and is constructed from a blend of huge lies, subtle disinformation, withholding information, false education, conditioning, infiltration, and many more techniques. As children we believe what we are told, then we spend our adult lives progressively detecting then peeling back onion layers of deception. It is a never-ending task. My own progress is marked by periodic realisations that yet another swathe of beliefs which I had confidence in are actually false. I have no reason to believe that I have come to the end of this process, therefore some of the things that I believe to be true now are actually false.
Here’s a useful question. Out of all the thousands of people you know, do any of them share exactly the same set of beliefs as you? No? Well, that suggests that none of us have got it all right. It’s not surprising. We take our own individual paths through the jungle of lies, we see some bits that others don’t, and vice versa.
I am delighted to have found this blog. I have learned so much here. It attracts a broad range of intelligent and informed people. No subscription and Craig’s erratic erratic posting habits lend themselves to a nice recipe of focussed discussion drifting off into broader fields. But what really distinguishes this blog and makes it work so well, is the lack of moderation. This is only possible because the majority of visitors here are genuine and appreciate what they have got, but it means we have to be responsible and moderate ourselves. Let’s not forget why we’re here. If we want wide-ranging open discussion, let’s respect all genuinely held opinions. Sure, argue against them, if you don’t agree, but not with insult or ridicule.
We can’t afford to be too indulgent. There are some skilful operators frequenting this blog whose aim is disruption and disharmony. Let’s the rest of us stick together and thwart them.
Mutual respect is the key.
Oops, that above posted started out as a specific point and drifted into a more general one. I didn’t mean to single you out, Crab. For all our history, I do respect your views.
Guano, 31 Mar, 1:59 pm; an excellent comment that displays engineering understanding as applied to the working of society. Yes, polarised political systems are structurally incapable of addressing many social problems. A privileged subset of people hold the levers of power, but the lack of breadth of their social circumstances blind them to the overall structure of people’s problems. Their children have outlets and options that help them cope with life’s difficulties, so their only other requirement is discipline to encourage appropriate choices. But our privileged political class generalise this to the whole of society, assuming that discipline is all that is required in cases utterly dissimilar from their own, and thus they escalate the discipline until it becomes authoritarian coercion, ultimately backed by drug addiction enforced by the state.
So we follow the sign that reads “Diversion”, only to discover that the alternative route offered is impassable due to non-existent infrastructure development. Of course, we can’t expect our betters to have experience of the second-class avenues that they divert us into; why on Earth would people like them ever venture into places like that?
Herbie at 11.58 – If this is true, then it is really dreadful. I can remember the murder of Lumumba and vaguely recollect the hoo-ha it caused at the time, although being young and giddy, had no real understanding of the background and implications of his killing.
What shocks me even more is the fact that this old dear, presumably towards the end of her life, could not resist boasting, even years after, of the power and influence she once wielded; at least that’s what it sounds like. Of course she may have felt shame, remorse and regret – a turning from old ways of thinking – but I wonder how likely that is.
Are you all right Craig? I am aware of a post a couple of weeks back where you were concerned and there has been nothing from you for a while. Hope you are well.
I also remember the hoo-ha Rose – Roy Orbison was crying, while Britain murdered to covet the fuel of ‘Big Boy’ annihilation, destroying the ideals of a national unity, economic independence and pan-African solidarity.
Unreal; barbaric and predicable. To the Congolese it was their ‘original sin’- a shattering blow to the hopes of millions for freedom and material prosperity. It was also further legacy to the millions dead and dying of radiation poison and mutation.
US police are infiltrating music-lovers’ society to shut down rock music performances in private homes.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2013/03/boston_police_catfishing_indie_rockers_cops_pose_as_punks_on_the_internet.single.html
Villager
The moral blame is on Assad. He has strung his own people along with promises of reform for years. Nobody would be resorting to violence if the megalomaniac dictator had embraced a tiniest whiff of reform. The flashpoint into violence is Assad’s false promises.
Whatever project you embark on, from a business to defeating a dictator, it needs funding. Vicious reprisals by Assad have left the Syrian people not only battered but jobless and starving. What lies behind the suicide bombings is the frustration that Assad could only stay intact by virtue of vast diplomatic and logistical support from Russia (= Israel=US=UK etc) who are all ideologically on the side of the dictator.
If USUKIS had its way Assad would continue to be a tool of control which subjugates the Syrian spirit through attrition. Suicide bombings make the process of attrition impossible. When it comes to faith, it is not a matter of choosing to be oppressed forever but alive. There comes a point where the humiliation for false promises pushes people beyond caring until they have defeated the one who is mocking them with his world-backed bombs.
The hypocrisy of Whague and Kerry is not in their sponsoring of Al-Qaida but in their vastly greater, surreptitious sponsorship of Assad by Russia. Politics is lies. This way they get to oppress the Muslims AND get a pot shot at Russia at the same time.
Clark 31 Mar, 2013 – 7:50 am
Life affirming as always, Clark. They should be compulsory, like national service.
Give me a shout next time you’re in Inverness-shire and I’ll see what I can do.
Hey Phill good to see you round, hows the big stink?
There are also raves nearer by, Clark, you don’t have to tarvel all the way up to Invernesshire, Norfolk and Suffolk are known to busy around bank holiday weekends.
Thanks for that link Brian, Obama’s real face beaming as he climbs another step towards his goal of setting the ME on fire.
So Lumumba was silenced by MI mechanics, colonialism never went away, it just acquired the prefix neocon.
Sun is shining here, but the wind is still bitter and the moment the sun disappears this part of Norfolk turns into little Siberia.
Ideology focuses your mind Guano and who am I to abandon restraint. Yet Britain must take the blame not Assad. Britain went for the jugular that fed the Hamas/Syrian bond by subterfuge and stratagem. Dispatching British mercenaries into a Palestinian refugee camp to foment ideological discord was de rigeur in early 2012.
A trick, one of many we also witness in the plot to associate North Korean’s nuclear path with Iran without evidence:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/north-korean-secrecy-on-bomb-test-fuels-speculation-on-nuclear-advances/2013/03/31/f46bda44-98ae-11e2-b68f-dc5c4b47e519_story.html
Uranium rules; Wapo reveals the nuclear stage in a theatre of war, the wrathful dramatics of preserving a sole nuclear power in the Middle East while bereaving China of resources and building attrition towards Russia.
A Node, thanks. I should be at least as far north as Edinburgh some time this year; Inverness-shire sounds like a great place to dance until dawn.
Villager, I appreciate your health advice, but I’m convinced that humans are diverse in their natural waking hours as they are in many things. Sometimes I’m on an “early to bed, early to rise” regime (as I am at present). But I’ve spent decades working in providing technical support for entertainments. The 20:00 to 23:00 entertainment slot (theatre, pub gigs etc.) is fine for me. Doing the nightclub circuit, where you’re lucky to get out of the venue by 3:00, proved rather stressful, especially with long van drives home afterwards. All night parties are great, as my energy seems to resurge after the Sun comes back up, and then I can pack up and sleep before having to travel.
Phil, good to see you again.
There’ll be a screening of Jeremy Scahill’s new film, Dirty Wars, at the Frontline Club in London, April 14. There’s a book too.
http://www.frontlineclub.com/2013/03/27/dirty-wars/
This documentary has, unusually for a film of this nature, been receiving rave reviews all over the place.
Here’s Glenn Greenwald’s take on it. Looks good.
“Yesterday I had the privilege to watch Dirty Wars, an upcoming film directed by Richard Rowley that chronicles the investigations of journalist Jeremy Scahill into America’s global covert war under President Obama and specifically his ever-growing kill lists. I will write comprehensively about this film closer to the date when it and the book by the same name will be released. For now, it will suffice to say that the film is one of the most important I’ve seen in years: gripping and emotionally affecting in the extreme, with remarkable, news-breaking revelations even for those of us who have intensely followed these issues. The film won awards at Sundance and rave reviews in unlikely places such as Variety and the Hollywood Reporter. But for now, I want to focus on just one small aspect of what makes the film so crucial.”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article34468.htm
Well worth getting hold of William Blum’s latest book too, which covers the broader historical themes of US foreign policy.
“Blum’s central objective, it seems, is to expose the American mythology of good intentions. He states in the introduction, writing about the American public, “No matter how many times they’re lied to, they still often underestimate the government’s capacity for deceit, clinging to the belief that their leaders somehow mean well. As long as people believe that their elected leaders are well intentioned, the leaders can, and do, get away with murder. Literally.””
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/04/01/empire-of-deceit/
=======================================
Rose
The above documentary and books deal with themes such as the murder and torture of Patrice Lumumba, but particularly with the more recent past.
There’s an account of Colin Powell prior to his UN speech where he presented his “evidence” for attacking Iraq, in which he’s reported as discussing his doubts and misgivings with Jack Straw. It seems Powell said that the “evidence” was “bullshit”, but he presented it anyway. He now says he was misled, but it really does seem that he knew it was all bollocks and just went ahead with it amyway.
He certainly had an opportunity to really make a name for himself and save a whole lot of lives by communicating his fears more publicly. That he didn’t I suppose just indicates that he’s more of an orders kinda guy.
Guano and Mark Golding, it seems to me that the truth lies somewhere between the end-points that you define, and the Syrian / Russian governments and the US-UK-NATO-Saudi etc. axis between them carry most of the responsibility for the conflict in Syria. But how much does this ‘truth’ actually matter? It always takes two to tango.
The truth is definitely not represented by the constant howling of “Assad must be ‘toppled’, bloody dictator” etc. etc. etc, as if the whole thing is down to one man; the very concept is ludicrous, and a deliberate corporate media distraction from the overwhelming realities of geopolitics.
Guano, I don’t understand your assertion of collusion between Russia and the US-etc. It seems to me that the “Cold War” itself was to some extent a contrived distraction, as though the nuclear arms race was an end in itself rather than adjunct to a set of manoeuvres around the hydrocarbon deposits, the location, extent and importance of which were known well before WWII:
http://www.killick1.plus.com/map.jpg
Mark
Islam wasted centuries on the philosophy of non-Muslim thinkers which diverted it into stupidities of whether God has hands or not. They even got as far back to front as to think that Plato might have been a prophet of Islam. The current waste of time that obsesses Islam is politics, which in the sense of lying in order to achieve what you cannot achieve by telling the truth, is 100% outside the remit of Islam. Except on the battleground or to bring peace between friends.
Political brotherhood, without entering into friendship/care/concern is a waste of time. One has to be totally clear about what the ideology of one’s brother is and what is one’s own. The confusion is intentional, both by the non-Muslims who offer the non-brother brotherhood and by the political Muslim minds that embrace the un-Islamic system.
I suspect that the Syrian people are prepared to fly the hot air balloon of political jihad even though they know that it is alien to their Islamic instincts. The political Muslim minds that follow on from UBL know full well that it is a rudderless gamble to poke the hornet’s nest of global politics by engaging in the walk and talk of the non-Muslims. Look where it has led to in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq. These countries survive in spite of the disunity rather than because of it.
Political Islam is going to get severely humiliated by Imam Mahdi, when he arrives, for their bloodthirsty legacy. They are fully aware of that as well. Faced with the choice of continuing to be terrorised by mad dictators, and on the other hand playing the non-Islamic political game, I for one have to decide whether to move with the flow towards the latter. It is not my own ideology nor Islam’s, but it is compulsory in Islam to defeat the dictators.
I was once accused of condoning a situation which I was very unhappy about. Our whole moral education is to be patient with what is wrong. The persecution of the dictators has been indescribable so all one can hope for is that the new dictators in the pipeline will be an improvement. God gives you the rulers you deserve, so it’s up to the people to reform. That is the UBL philosophy in a nutshell.
Political Islam thinks they can turn round and blame the people if the new dictators are a problem. If you don’t agree with the political Muslims they will blow you up physically or mentally. Be sure that if the new dictators turn out to be good, the political Muslims will try to take the credit for themselves.
If the political mind is only interested in itself, its pocket, its status, its chances to carry on gambling, it leads to Coral rather than moral decisions. Get involved now. Free bets on computer generated Heads v. Tails. Get your head drilled in Iraq’s Shi’a prisons or your bottom bottled in Saddam’s jails.
What I see personally is that when political Islam acts as a facilitator and hands over the decision to the Muslims whether to reform themselves or not, and they do also reform, then they are a force for good and the pain turns out to be worthwhile.
@ Phil, A Node, Jemand :
6 pages indeed, but have you noticed the difference between the first four and a half and the last one and a half pages? The latter have seen disagreements (usually polite, though, with the usual exceptions…Crab, etc) but lots of substantive posts and some interesting discussion which managed, by and large, to ststay focussed. Furthermore, none of the numerous distractions and scattergun posts on this, that and everything which we usually get.
Could this, inter alia, be due to the absence, on a short Easter break, of one of our most prolific posters not of the masculine gender…??
Just a suggestion.
@Node the “partyline” on AGW is like the partyline on the peoples NHS, on holding banks to account, on fighting terrorism. The way you keep mixing it up with and ignoring the reality for some reason is frustrating. To convince you in particular, ive made efforts to do more than simply ‘paint your position’, i have gone through as much of the facts and practical arguments as possible in order to remind you of the grave situation. But you just keep painting on generalities. You could do that with and sit on any topic at all, justifying rejection or detatchment of any grave matter. That is mostly what happens, you should quit it.
The film has a powerful message Herbie – the same message I heard in 2013 when Ashleigh Banfield assassinated her main stream career in journalism by describing from fact the other side story , the account from the freedom fighters media branded as ‘terrorists’ in a continuous unrelenting, apocalyptic and insane ‘war on terror’ 21st century paradigm.
These are not the same organizations we’re dealing with. How can you negotiate when you’ re talking about two entirely different meanings? And until we understand — we don’t have to like Hezbullah, we don’t have to like their militancy, we don’t have to like what they do on the side, but we have to understand that they like it, that they like the good things about Hezbullah, and that you can’t just paint it with a blanket statement that it’s a terrorist organization, because even when it comes to the militancy these people believe that militancy is simply freedom fighting and resistance. You can’t argue with that. You can try to negotiate, but you can’t say it’s wrong flat out.
And that’s some of the problems we have in dealing in this war in terror. As a journalist I’m often ostracized just for saying these messages, just for going on television and saying, “Here’s what the leaders of Hezbollah are telling me and here’s what the Lebanese are telling me and here’s what the Syrians have said about Hezbollah. Here’s what they have to say about the Golan Heights.” Like it or lump it, don’t shoot the messenger, but invariably the messenger gets shot.
We hired somebody on MSNBC recently named Michael Savage. Some of you may know his name already from his radio program. He was so taken aback by my dare to speak with Al -Aqsa Martyrs Brigade about why they do what they do, why they’re prepared to sacrifice themselves for what they call a freedom fight and we call terrorism. He was so taken aback that he chose to label me as a slut on the air. And that’s not all, as a porn star. And that’s not all, as an accomplice to the murder of Jewish children. So these are the ramifications for simply being the messenger in the Arab world.
How can you discuss, how can you solve anything when attacks from a mere radio flak is what America hears on a regular basis, let alone at the government level? I mean, if this kind of attitude is prevailing, forget discussion, forget diplomacy, diplomacy is becoming a bad word.
http://www.k-state.edu/media/newsreleases/landonlect/banfieldtext403.html
That is monsterous news about the MI6 involvement in killing of the Lumumba.
Villager @ 11;29
I was bleary-eyed apparently. I don’t know where I got 4 million. It’s been suggested our own Asteroid belt is the remnants of a 10th planet (oops–9th, sorry Pluto) The Oort cloud is the origin of the current comets and this article covers some of the buzz about anomalies in orbits having to do with a faint star which passes through from time-to-time.
So, I was passing the time.
‘So these are the ramifications for simply being the messenger in the Arab world.’
Absolutely not. People think that their presence is neutral. Caveat visitor. I have already bored and offended many people here including in part Craig by describing how my own presence in Asian UK Islam is heavily shadowed by the evils of the British Raj, centuries ago. How can I Western journalist expect to be incognito or invisible in the Arab world at the present time?
‘Simply’??? If he thinks it’s simple, maybe he should put his helmet on a stick before raising his head over the parapet in this battleground.
@4 million year cycle.
Easy enough to find if the article is at all worth scanning:
“Unlike Nemesis, Tyche (or Nemesis’ good sister), is a hypothetical 1 to 4 Jupiter-mass object that would lie about a third of a light year away, on a very long four million-year nearly circular solar orbit inclined roughly 45 degrees to the plane of our solar system.”
An astronomically interesting possibility, no likelyhood of actuality calculated yet. No overt effects on climate possible, may affect comets and asteroids to some statistically noteable degree.
I dont know where the interest to connect these esotericals to urgent Earth Science Fact comes from – seems like a readiness to complicate or distract, rather than to learn about what most definitely is known to count now.
Herbie thanks for the link – yes – it all seems to point to a wilful refusal to accept the evidence of eyes, ears and intelligence; a deliberate turning the back on truth when it’s staring you in the face.
The behaviour of these individuals is shameful and shocking, especially when years later, they show no evidence of having reflected on the consequences of their actions and accepted proper responsibility; they were either misled or duped by someone more wily or they showed great leadership by doing what they believed was right even though it was wrong. Always some self-serving wriggly drivel that we are expected to swallow.
However the question for me when tempted to fulminate against the wickedness of others is: Would I have behaved any differently in the same situation, given the same background,and the pressure to conform,to turn a blind eye, go with the flow? I would like to think I’d have been brave and clear-sighted enough to risk ridicule, incarceration and possibly death by pointing to the truth, but wouldn’t bet my life on it!
That is why, IMO, people like Bradley and Julian deserve our respect and admiration.
Thanks for reiterating Ashleigh Banfields sense, Mark.
Off course there is a world of difference between Hamas and Hezbullah’s erstwhile humanitarian communitarian deeds, on the one hand, and the self interest of Al Quaeda jihadies, solely concerned with keeping the struggle alive, not necessarily their own brothers and sisters.
but the struggle to keep the war on terror alive, their lack of interest in Israel being a somewhat of a sore point, darer I say that they are not interested at all in their so called arch enemy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas
Finally, after the news has been filtered through the msm, Norfolk readers of the Eastern Daily Prattle are allowed to comment on the issue in hand.
The comments below this story speak volumes, including those of serving police officers.
Its seems that ‘whipgate’ has exposed the Police federation agenda and their self serving ways, is it now time for the police at large to reform the body they so rely on to sort out their legal and public affairs?
Can British police officers afford to be represented by a body that has only itself to account for?
This story will run for a few more days I think.
http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/update_norfolk_police_chief_hits_out_at_officer_attempting_to_sue_thetford_petrol_station_owner_1_1997840
Your words of faith are clear to me Guano; I understand their meaning, I can extract the morality from the morass of fact and subjectivity. My own philosophy had to change, I was drowning in the water you describe. I had to walk with others on a path of spiritual awareness, an enlightenment needed, even gifted, that just might prevent the extinction of future generations, our children and grand-children. That course is an artery with the blood of many visualising an existence bereft of self-authorised political governance, fiat pozi-scheme economy, resource annihilation, geopolitical skull-duggery and secrecy.
Kostas vaxevanis, the greek Journalist who exposed Greece’s tax evaders holding billions in swiss bank accounts has now turned his eye on the Cyprus president who is accused of having given insider information to relatives and friendly companies, who, during mid march, move millions of Euro’s into LONDON bank accounts.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/cyprus-investigating-allegations-of-covert-capital-flight-a-891925.html
London is shining as the fraud capital of the world, it offers comfort and shopping joy to thousands of the most bloodthirsty and despised dictators, banksters, fraudsters and criminals that the world has produced.
For those who are puzzled as to what HSBC means its most likely
Heroin, Speed, Bud, Cocaine.
Its dealerships can be found all around the world, many of them in Mexico, and our police force, which has the powers to investigate and prosecute criminals, even in the City of London and for crimes committed abroad, is sitting on their ‘whipgate’ hands.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-12/hsbc-mexican-branches-said-to-be-traffickers-favorites.html