I had excellent news from my cardiologist yesterday. Ready to think about other things now. I am horrified by the continuing stream of ” royal” baby hype on television. Truly pathetic – is this 1313 or 2013? Who buys into this nonsense?
I thought the Lib Dem take on Trident missiles was hilarious. This small group of islands does apparently need to retain the ability to wipe out one third of the urban population of humankind, as a defence against something undefined – possibly people we invade getting too annoyed about it – and in order to increase our “influence” in the World. As we plainly have less influence than the Germans, who don’t feel this need for the power of obliteration, I do not quite see how this works. Nor do I see Pakistan, which does have nuclear weapons, as very influential. Nor do I quite understand how our influence can be increased by possessing something under effective American control. But there you are.
Anyway, the Lib Dems have come to the intellectually scintillating conclusion that we do need this world shattering power, but we don’t need it on Wednesday or Thursday afternoons or on Saturday mornings, which will be cheaper. Brilliant, and plainly does not dodge any big ethical or practical questions at all.
The monarchy is safe for generations to come.
I hope it shares your unfounded complacency, lol. It could ensure its survival still more by indulging in ostentatious displays of its unearned wealth, and if it doesn’t mind, ma’am, it might also coin a few phrases along the lines of “let them eat cake”. Another wheeze for remaining central to the hearts and minds of its devoted subjects, or inferiors, if you prefer, would be to encourage Charles to go spectacularly bananas so that Liz – or a realistic bionic simulacrum – is still reigning over us at the age of 120, when the needle-like sharpness of her intellect and her ability to ask almost anyone who doesn’t smell too bad what they do, may well be in decline.
NR -lol. Sort of a portmanteau word there, I think. Thanks, agree.
“Seventy-one inmates at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, captives will get parole-board-style hearings at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba, the Pentagon said Sunday, refusing to say when the panels will meet, whether the media can watch and which of the long-held captives will go first.
“The disclosure followed a flurry of emails sent after 10 p.m. Friday by Pentagon bureaucrats notifying attorneys for some of the 71 captives that the government was preparing to hold the hearings ordered by President Barack Obama years ago.
“Retired Rear Adm. Norton C. Joerg, a senior Navy lawyer during the Bush administration, advised the lawyers that the new six-member Periodic Review Boards will not decide whether the Pentagon is lawfully imprisoning their captive client.”
More
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/07/21/197247/71-guantanamo-captives-to-get.html#.Ue5XgqyfibQ
Abe Rene. 10 56am
What special kind of dumbness does it take for a population to accept a hereditary kleptocracy when, at 122 times less cost, it could elect by ballot a human rights advocate and poet like Irish President Michael D Higgins?
‘scuse me a minute, gotta…UUURRRGGHHHH!… URGH… koff…spit.
That’s better. Let me share it with you:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4408553,00.html
See? Not ‘the State of Israel’. It’s ‘the Jewish State’. Narrative, chums.
“The royal gift is making its way to the United Kingdom, where the night-long celebrations of the heir’s birth continue. The card and the gift will be given to Prince William and Kate by Britain’s Ambassador to Israel Matthew Gould.”
“The [UK] Government is at the centre of a row over plans to abolish the right to challenge extradition proceedings, ending the protection of vulnerable suspects like Asperger’s sufferer Gary McKinnon.
“Ministers are using a clause ‘slipped’ into an anti-social behaviour Bill to scrap the automatic right of all UK citizens to go the High Court to fight extradition to face trial in another country. The move has been described as a ‘betrayal’ of those facing extradition to countries where prosecution evidence may be weak.”
via CLG
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2372092/Ministers-accused-betrayal-plans-automatic-right-Britons-challenge-extradition-abroad.html
‘Edward Snowden may leave the Moscow airport he’s been holed up in by this Wednesday, his Russian lawyer told Reuters on Monday.
‘The former National Securtity [sic] Agency contractor has applied for asylum in Russia, a process that may take up to three months to process. In the meantime, the NSA leaker will be allowed to pass through customs based on the initial response to his request, Reuters reports.’
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/07/edward-snowden-asylum-moscow-94551.html
Russians hint at Snowden asylum
‘Moscow: Russian officials have complained that the United States routinely disregards extradition requests by the Russian government, the latest in a series of public statements that seem aimed at laying the groundwork for granting asylum to Edward Snowden, the former intelligence contractor on the run from US authorities.’
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/russians-hint-at-snowden-asylum-20130723-2qfs2.html
Nice shit for a change, Sofia. I have an old similar one sitting in my mail somewhere and will dig out later to see if anything to add. Suffice it to say as inside, so outside — it is we as in you and I that have created this whole shit.
PS be careful to get into this fashionable trap of Buddhism and be free of every ‘ism. Again time-permitting more later. Enjoy this beautiful gift of a day!
Now, this is the kind of research project I like.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/06/how-much-are-the-nsa-and-cia-front-running-markets.html
A lot of potential there for putting the cat amongst the pidgeons.
Dreoilin on Gitmo, i couldn’t figure out whether this is more delay tactics or does it mean that things are moving? Anyone have a deeper insight whether Obama is actually intent to deliver on this?
“What special kind of dumbness does it take for a population to accept a hereditary kleptocracy when, at 122 times less cost, it could elect by ballot a human rights advocate and poet like Irish President Michael D Higgins?”
Or either of the two women before him, Mary Robinson and
Mary McAleese.
Been wondering that for years!
Sofia, 11.07am
I always liked this one: Buddhism: What is the sound of one hand shitting?
Very zen.
“Who buys into this nonsense?” Baby hype that is.
It’s actually all who have a television and pay a licence fee. You cannot turn on BBC without seeing a load of loyalist royalist shit and I heartily sick of it.
Arbed, your link above shows clear evidence of insider dealing with the security services at the forefront. Even if caught out few get prosecuted, and those that do can afford to pay the fine. Sadly, with the current state of affairs nothing can be done about it.
Arbed, the version i have reads “What is the sound of shit happening? ” (Zen) And BUDDHISM: Shit happens, but pay no mind.
Villager, on Gitmo,
I suspect they want to be seen to be ‘doing something’. The hunger strike and force feeding is getting them bad publicity.
Otherwise, I doubt if Obama gives a shit.
Another landing mishap, this time at New York LaGuardia
People seem to have got away with a few bruises
‘Sparks fly as plane ‘nosedives’ on to runway at New York LaGuardia airport after landing gear collapses’
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/sparks-fly-as-plane-nosedives-on-to-runway-at-new-york-laguardia-airport-after-landing-gear-collapses-8727254.html
@Dreoilin. 11 47am
Thanks for the late inclusion of Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese. I left them out only because my one sentence post was already getting too cumbersome.
Two more reasons for my jaw to be dropping when I see all those images of hysterical union jack draped monarchists.
In summary, [Tech Savage and I -K} seem to be saying two things:
1/. there is an established body of thought (or an ethos, if you wish) on every blog
Yes. Bikers’ blogs tend to be about bikes, Guido Fawkes has his own (often amusing) sub-fascist agenda, etc. No point in having a blog unless you have a point of view, eh?
2/. comments which deviate from that body of thought or ethos are intrinsically disruptive
Where did I say that?
3/. dissenters should go away and start their own blog.
I didn’t say that, either. I suggest however that unless you are intent on stirring the shit there was very little point in your staying here. I wouldn’t expect you to have the nous to start your own blog.
The conclusion which must be drawn from that summary is two-fold:
Must be? All three premisses are untrue. I really don’t see the point of your existence.
1/. Some people on this blog (I call them the Eminences) are allergic to having their claims and comments tested (never mind contested)
I am happy to note your inferiority complex, which befits an excrescence. And you never supply independent evidence in support of your assertions, which I guess makes us quits.
2/ Those same people feel more comfortable in an environment where let us say a dozen or so people simply post to one another in order to mutually reinforce a set of common beliefs/prejudices.
You too might feel more comfortable among friends. If you had any.
Sofia
Apparently Ireland is the only country to have two female heads of state in succession. 🙂
to have elected two female heads of state in succession, I think
Dreoilin, i’m afraid i think you’re right. That would be consistent with past noises but little action. God what hardened human beings they are to ignore their plight.
Glenn_uk 23 Jul, 2013 – 3:09 am
You might have missed this.
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2013/07/all-law-is-gone-naked-power-remains/#comment-416339
whoops… read: two out of three premisses are untrue. Credit where it’s due, you got one right.
@Dreoilin. 12 12pm
Since “The Gathering has now taken over “Craig’s Blog, let me add that Ireland was the only country to produce Dave Allen. A seer of unplumbed depths who could illustrate the problem of true believers .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxo81Ok9Urk
Anon
22 Jul, 2013 – 3:20 pm
“…why do you never post on, say, India’s theft of water allotted [sic] to Pakistan on its way from the Indian Himalaya to the Indus basin…?”
You cannot justify Israel’s theft of Palestinian resources by saying “well other countries do it.”
That is typical Zionist deception and distraction.
India is in violation of the Indus Waters Treaty and should be condemned but the West puts no sanctions on India as they put no sanctions on Israel.
However, the Israeli’s are not only stealing water and other resources, like minerals, but they are constantly stealing land (the most fertile land); tearing down Palestinian homes and destroying Palestinian crops and olive groves.
Oops!
Damn those Wandering Italics.
“The Gathering”
John Goss
I’ll take the liberty of re-posting what Craig said, at the link you provided:
“Will EVERYBODY please tackle the arguments commenters make, and not refer to their motives for making them – which you cannot know – or that people are paid, or their personality traits, or somebody else.
“What interests me is the arguments people put. I think most of the imputations made on all sides are probably inaccurate, but even if they were accurate they are irrelevant. A man or woman may be a one-eyed former contract killer with a cocaine habit in the pay of the state of Israel, but may still make an argument that is absolutely correct. Please address the argument, not the person. Posts which fail to do this will be deleted when seen.”
(Reminds myself, as well as everyone else)
“God what hardened human beings they are to ignore their plight.”
Yes, Villager, and if the report from Al Jazeera is correct, what two-faced double-dealing hypocrites – but we know that. Democracy my arse.
“democracy assistance” = pushing U.S. interests.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
I’ll go and have a cup of tea now
“The Gathering”? One of my favourite CD’s ever. Buy one. (And they’re Israelis)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUydnU4pvs4
Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!)
22 Jul, 2013 – 7:22 pm
“Well, as I rather suspected, an embarrassed silence from the Eminences in the face of my thought, posted at 13h52, on whether (as an example) millions of people living in the Brazilian favelas and the huge cities of India and some African countries aren’t rather worse off than the inhabitants of Gaza.”
Perhaps it is your obvious Trolling that make people ignore you.
“Would someone like to furnish comparative figures (say from various UN agencies) on indicators such as schooling/literacy, infant mortality, per capita GNP, govt spending on health care, etc, etc,..as between Gaza and, say, Brazil, India, Pakistan, Kenya, South Africa, and any other African state you might like to throw in?”
Why don’t you furnish the comparative figures Habbabkuk? Then people might discuss your interpretation of those comparisons.
But you won’t because you might lose the argument. You would rather other posters here produced figures and interpretations so you can attack them.
Come on Habbabkuk give us your views, don’t be shy.