I have a guilty political secret. I do not detest Gordon Brown. That is such an unfashionable opinion that I don’t really expect any comments at all to agree with it. And yes, I do realise that he went along with the Iraq War and all the other horrors of the Blair era. Interestingly, I don’t remember the question of what Gordon Brown really thought about Iraq ever being discussed; he deserves condemnation for having not tried to stop it, and perhaps he was indeed an enthusiast. And I am well aware that the Private Finance Initiative is a terrible disaster, and that he oversaw creeping privatisation in the health services, and – worst of all – the introduction of tuition fees.
And yet I cannot dislike him. Probably because I just know too many people who have known him through decades, who are themselves good people, and who like him. Around Edinburgh and Fife you will find it hard to find people who actually know him who share the hatred and contempt he seems to arouse among the political and media classes of London.
As a general rule I do not like or dislike people according to their politics, but rather according to the sincerity of their political beliefs and the goodwill with which they hold them. I am sure Anders Breivik is sincere in his political beliefs, but those are lacking in goodwill. Sincerity is not enough – humanity and inclusiveness are also important.
There are one nation Tories who seem to me perfectly decent people, genuinely trying to do good. I don’t hate them because their political conclusions on the best way to do good are different to mine. Gordon Brown I put rather in the same category – I feel he was trying to do good for ordinary people, he just got it wrong.
Blair is in a whole different category again – insincere, absolutely focused on attaining personal power, and with a Messianic belief that what is good for him must be good for the World. The Guardian is publishing some emails around the Blair Brown rivalry this week. I don’t care and won’t read them. But while I see Blair as quite properly damned for eternity to the seventh pit of hell, I don’t think Brown deserves anything worse than North Queensferry.
I have been in Ghana the last 20 days living in a house with no internet connection and working (extremely hard) in an office with virtually no internet connection – not enough to load WordPress. I hope to get more chance to blog shortly.
@ Emmpey,
Q: What is it with politicians and smiling?
R: Forgive me in taking the liberty to assume you are British [if not,I sincerely apologize. I survived saying to a Scot ‘So, you’re from England,’ once and hope my 9 cat lives will suffice in this case]
I, personally, refer to this phenomenon as the ITBGR [‘Involuntary Ted Bundy Gag Reflex’]. It is a state of mind in which ‘we’ believe sexual monsters and predators look like toothless, unshaven hillbillies called Billy Ray and can be spotted miles away.
I talked to a [retired] detective once and he couldn’t believe the ‘red carpet’ treatment this ‘law student’ got once rounded up. He [TB] smiled all the way, up until Ol’ Sparky snuffed him out.
John Goss
Yes you are obsessed about the Rothchilds – the video you linked to contained at least half a dozen lies to my knowledge – lets just take a couple
It was said that the Rothchilds controlled the London Bullion Market Association – well if you look here http://www.lbma.org.uk/pages/index.cfm?page_id=9&title=about_the_lbma you will see it manages to do so without even being a member of having a reprsentaive on its committeed
It was also said that it controlled Reuters – well since 2008 it has been Thomson Reuters which is 53% owned by the Thomson family in Canada – who I think you will find have no connection to the Rothschilds family.
I could go on – but I doubt it will have the slightest impact on your views which are based on prejudice rather than facts – and where the facts don’t fit you will invent a conspiracy theory as to why they don’t. On other occasions you tell us to question why those in authority are telling us what they do – strangely enough the same logic never applies to those who supply you with your dogma. Why is it those who have pretty obvious anti semitic views such as Daryl Bradford Smith are telling pretty obvious lies to you. I am still trying to work out if you are their fellow traveller or their useful idiot?
@ Glenn_uk,
Q: glenn_uk – 21 Sep, 2013 – 2:47 am
R: In that case I have to apologize [to you] for CP-ing Villager’s reply verbatim without consulting you. I assumed he [Villager] spoke the truth.
@Mary
“Yes Anon. WHY was Kanye West wearing a Kabbalah bracelet?”
I think you will find that they are also worn by Hindus – or at least I had a good Hindu firend he wore one on many occaisions. I’m told they are also worn by Buddhists. But having teenage daughters I also know that they also wear red pieces of strings and all sorts of other colours – so I expect Kanye West was just trying to get down with the kids. So having answered your question perhaps you might want to answer mine (and Anon’s) question as to why Kabbalah might be of any relevance whatsoever?
Obambi’s friends.
Obama’s FSA Freedom Fighters in action part II!! Beheading priests, executing truck drivers and young boys for FREEDOM!(EXTREMELY Graphic video).
Will anyone in his security detail be kind enough to do the right thing and POTUS over the head with his Nobel
PiecePeacePricePrize?Justice in a nutshell. Ha!
Empey
1 minus for the silly avatar – you remind me of a rather dim kid I knew at school who thought it was cool to draw swastikas on his exercise books to rile the Jewish kids in our class.
‘and hit POTUS over the head…’
@Chris Jones
“On another fairly relevant note, Resident dissident fails the basic human decency exam by the flawed referral to a singular holocaust. As a human race we should be sickened and angered by all holocausts, whether it be the horrible and deliberate starving of up to 10 million Ukrainians by the Russian/Jewish Bolshevicks, the 20 million Russians killed under Stalin, the tens of millions of Chinese killed under communist China,the 30 million murdered under the British Raj in India or the millions of Jews, Gypsies and others murdered by the German sociopaths in the European holocaust of world war 2”
And I think you may have failed the basic literacy exam and owe me an apology for jumping to such a ridiculous conclusion. First of all I was referring to the Jewish Holocaust under the Nazis (note the large H) and I never claimed that that was the only holocaust in human history, and indeed my family has lost rleatives in at least one of the other holocausts yor refer to. If you bothered to look at what I have said in the past you will see that I recognise many other holocausts, and have made a number of comments on the Holodomor and the Gulag, and argued for the universality of human rights. I also start from the position of respecting the rights of the victims of the holocaust to cal the damm things what they want. Others may want to engage in gruesome game of holocaust Top Trumps – I will not be joining them.
I <3 Israel.
Ardent devotees of the Apartheid State who are still capable of supporting its heinous crimes against humanity by bending over backward without breaking their spines, should be applauded and genetically tested to enhance the survivability of mankind as a whole.
Komodo
Deatails of the fake Stormfront posting in Mary’s name and how I came across it can be found at the comment below and in subsequent discussion – as might be expected some thought/inferred that I was the instigator, or at least seemed to be more interested in pusuing me than in finding out who was responsible – it was genuinely nothing to do with me and I actually thought it should be brought to the board’s attention (but given its nature that is the only proof I can offer). I and Jon share your distastes for Stormfront and that is why JOn made the link non clickable.
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2013/07/feile-an-phobail-belfast/comment-page-16/#comment-425054
Rouge
21 Sep, 2013 – 5:46 pm
Thanks for posting that link on that Indian farm video. I’m part-way through it. Initially i wasn’t going to bother, anticipating ‘knowing’ the stuff in it. Fortunately i saw Mercan Dede in the credits for music. He’s a Canadian-Turk that does ‘sufi electronica’ and i’ve seen his act live a couple of times — very creative. Perhaps Suhayl will watch it too now, but i’m certainly going to see it through as it is very grounding and revealing. We must nurture our earth.
___________
Resident Dissident, hats off to you for educating our resident morons.
___________
Glenn, i could’ve got it wrong, i was speaking from memory from your comments when censorship was originally, recently introduced here. Perhaps Jon can check it himself from the back-end, not that its important. I’m happy to assume responsibility. He has undoubtedly damaged the freedom of speech here and been undoubtedly balanced. Hope its only temporary — all things must pass, thats life.
Sorry ‘undoubtedly balanced’ should read ‘undoubtedly biassed’. No Freudian slip that.
@ Mevermind,
Off topic.
A lesson [I think] in how to wrap bad news in almost good news.
“Fukushima nuclear plant will be turned into a training base, said TEPCO, according to Japanese media. The company also discovered loose bolts in a storage tank which are believed to have caused the daily leak of 300 tons of toxic water into the ocean.” LINK.
TEPCO [private company when $$ were made] has been ‘nationalized’ to ensure all Japanese citizens will pay for whatever costs may arise whenever they rear their ugly head for time immemorial.
I live on a diet of carefully selected, organic fruits and vegetables, but to those of you who indulge in whatever I don’t eat, please be careful.
Given that some here will attach the label Zionist to anyone who would argue against the State of Isreal being driven into the sea perhaps the following may be of some relevance in understanding the type of Zionist that Gordon Brown actually is.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/brown-u-k-a-true-friend-of-israel-will-work-toward-terror-free-future-1.250032
I’m sure that alone is enough to put him in the Satan camp for some here but I’m sure that those who can appreciate shades of grey, and understand that the hope for the future lies in such diversity, may appreaciate the details.
Having had some contact with a wide range of politicians I would counsel anyone from assuming that they aree as one dimensional or as slavish to overall party positions, or as self serving, as some here would like to portray. The assumption is also made that politicians were in full control of events when this is usually not the case.
Personally, I can see both good and bad points to both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown – and I would also add that the relationship between the two also had a number of positives which are often ignored because it doesn’t make good newsprint or fit with the conventional theme.
39 die in Kenya; NY cops beat up anti-Petraeus protestors.
The War on Terror claims new victims, and old liberties.
Off topic:
“In ‘The Wandering Who’ I dealt primarily with those I define as the ‘3rd category Jews’ – those who put their Jewishness over and above all of their other traits. I also referred to Chaim Weizmann’s famous observation that “there are no English, French, German or American Jews, but only Jews living in England, France, Germany or America.” I obviously argue that Jews who fall into the 3rd category are primarily Zionists. In most cases they support Zionism but even when they oppose it, and in spite being ‘progressive’ and ‘secular’, they, for some reason, prefer to operate politically ‘as Jews’. I guess that they must attribute a certain kind of specialness to their ethnic origin – they are ‘Judeo centric.’ 0 Gilad Atzmon.
Personally, as long as MJR doesn’t [or refuses to] address the GTR5 travesty, I keep him at arm’s length [I asked him to do so on Mondoweiss].
And now for our resident Holocaust denier or is it Holocaust liar. (is that strike 3?)
First of all – re your strike 2 comment – however gentle or not it was a threat pure and simple. If any of the dissident elements were to reciprocate in similar terms I’m sure it would get the attention of the moderatoir and the howling mob – but clearly threats against me casue no such difficulty. That said it was pretty meaningless threat given that as far as I’m aware Daniel Rich is neither the moderator or author of this blog – and indeed we have the permission of the author to treat him as a figure of ridicule.
I had a good look at the first of the many videos “Holocaust, Hate Speech etc” to which links were embedded in this blog (I really would ask Jon/Craig as they wish to have such links embedded here given that JOn was none to keen to direct traffic to Stormfront – similarly for the Daryl Smith Bradford rubbish re the rothchilds linked to by John Goss – just have a look as a professional historian Craig) and yep I’m afraid it really is just a rehash of the same old Holocaust denial stuff – which was more than adequately addressed in the Irving v Penguin Books and Lipstadt case here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_v_Penguin_Books_and_Lipstadt
And also in the late great Hitch’s essay here
http://articles.latimes.com/2001/may/20/books/bk-144
First of all the video starts with the reasonable and legitimate argument as to why historians shouldn’t be able to question and look at the details of the Holocaust and conduct normal historical research and how stopping such enquiry is a denial of freedom of speech – but before long this cause mutates into a statement that “the conflict may not have happened if International Jewry had not declared war on Germany” in 1933 which is hardly supported by historical evidence at all (that is apart from a page from that journal of record the Daily Express and then a descent into murkier Elders of Zion type stuff). Then of course, having established (in their eyes at least) the central thesis the Holocaust liars in true conspiracy fashion go back to the details which they can then deal with in their typical one sided fashion and little reference to normal historical method.
And before we let Mr Rich off too lightly on the basis that he wasn’t his video perhaps he might wish to remember his own words
“Q: “Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the consequence of Japanese aggression. You reap what you sow.”…
R: “Auschwitz and Buchenwald were the consequences of World Jewry aggression [declaring war on Germany in 1933]. You reap what you sow…”
That makes sense, doesn’t it?
Having visited Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Auschwitz and Buchenwald, my personal conclusion is one of great tragedies and the loss of an unfathomable number of innocent lives. It’s all just very sad/saddening.”
So not that different from the central hypothesis of the video ( a trawl of the web can find plenty of similarly obnoxious quotes from Mr Rich)
So how many strikes am I up to now Mr Rich – I also do lots of hits and home runs as well and I am a dab hand at dealing with bunts.
I’m now off to read a good book – Hilary Mantel’s excellent “Bring up the bodies” since you ask the perfect antidote for those who believe that political spin began with Bernard Ingham or Alastair Campbell. Shall not be around much tomorrow or most of next week – so the Emionences can now come out and play their silly games for a while.
Browns is a criminal like Blair – possibly even worse. He voted not from conviction – but because his own career crawl was worth more to him than the lives of thousands. The voting was broadly this:
Libdem – against the only invasion in history that gets called “going to war”
Labour backbencher – against
Labour frontbencher – (only 2 exceptions) voted for their careers.
Tories – nearly all in Friends of Israel, for whom it was all for.
Ironically had Brown opposed the war he might have been PM sooner.
Add my name to the accusation.
Mevermind??? have you missed the sea weed? has it got to you, Daniel?
Sorry, but his is a highly sensitive and pertinent question for human kind.
Do we all trust Shinzo Abe Tepco to pull out these fuel rods and not cock it up? Given that they are too Japanese to ask for international help?
Further, have Japanese companies and financial institutions taken bets on the occurrence that the Olympics 2020 are cancelled, due to an radioactive event? will they financially benefit from a non-event?
Has Shinzo Abe got a plan B, taking a more conciliatory tone to their neighbours South Korea, with a view of sharing the Olympic burden and pride. Would this be beneficial globally to our understanding of the word sustainable? I mean, we can’t blame the thickheads for not realising this and sharing the games with France, but his does not mean the idea is not something positive in a finite world.
And Japan has a good reason to adopt a crash course in opening up and sharing.
Des Res
The significance of the Kabbala bracelet is as you suggest that it is linked to polytheism, and thus to the rejection by the Jews of their prophet Eesa/Jesus pbuh, and thus to the removal of the Jews from custodianship of the religion of monotheism and the destruction of their temple and property, because of their mixing with polytheism.
It is a Zionist symbol signifying hatred of Islam.
RD, the ‘clack’ of your heels smacking together have given you away.
You’re loyalty shines out of of every pixel displayed on our monitors.
Daniel is clearly not German and you have to forgive him for bringing up what he is experiencing, a lot of glorification and bollox has been talked up about this period in time.
Not that you have much of a clue RD, apart from whipping up platitudes, this or that sentiment, you have been quiet limp and feeble trying to run along with the flow.
I leave the night owls to feast on you, off to share my pillow. schlaf gut.
@ Nevermind,
The situation in Japan is far more complex/complicated than my simpleminded reflection of it, but I am tempted to say the IOC’s voting system must be rigged, because the OG are seen as ‘vital’ to Japan’s economic recovery and financial survival.
See Olympic Designs for reference.
They have to be [and will be] held, regardless what’s going on in and around Fukushima.
Japanese PM Abe is the 3rd instalment of a dynasty dating back to WWII, so go figure.
If you collect all the data from a host of news agencies from countries around the globe, a dark and sinister picture emerges of what’s really going on here. Nuclear energy is safe…, yeah, my ff-ing ass!
I really thought [as innocent as I can be] that this 2nd nuclear tragedy [on a scale like this] would be a sign on the wall for every country around the globe to ditch whatever N power plants they have and go green.
The other day I had a discussion with my wife about how we can [and should] try to minimalize our ‘carbon footprint,’ but also realize that we can’t prevent dust from rising up when we move forward or onward through life .
Not being granted access to relevant information about the Fukushima accident based upon ‘the public might panic’ idiocy, as embraced by Japan’s government, adds insult to injury. I want to be [or demand to be] an informed citizen so I can act accordingly. My gut feeling tells me something is very wrong in how by a mum Japanese government deals with the Fukushima catastrophic accident. Likewise, I also don’t understand how the rest of the world [read respective governments] hums along as if nothing has happened [i.e. allocating the OG to Tokyo 2020].
My guess is [not scientific or based on a wide consensus] that everyone ‘hopes’ everything will be hunky-dory, by ‘looking the other way.’
I hope you [and others] keep a close eye on what local supermarkets serve and from where it originates. Please do take care.
@ Nevermind,
Sorry about the misspelling over your handle [very early in the morning, was still dark, but not really an excuse].
My [taekwondo] sensei once told me: “What I teach you is not so you can hurt other people. What I teach you is so you can protect justice.”
That’s something I always try to keep in mind [but being a fallible jock, I still occasionally needlessly F-up].
And thinking that I was a tough guy only lasted until I ran into 2 Russians [in Canada]. 1 guy 1/2 my size and the other 1 head shorter. After flying all over the place, with black and blue arms and legs, every single muscle in my body hurting beyond believe, I had to admit that Spetnaz was the winner and whatever I had mastered, a profound loser. Sometimes it is good to be reminded of what ‘humble’ actually means.
overof … Could it be?@John Goss/Passerby, yes that was the Kids for Cash case that I was referring to; note there was more than just one corrupt judge in involved, not only imposing mandatory custodial sentences when not warranted, but also handing out longer than normal sentences. Imagine the lives ruined, & the poor teen who took his own life, all because running prisons has been turned into a business; it’s not rocket science, anything & everything that is reduce to the nexus of money because corrupt, from politics to sports etc. John, if you haven’t seen these already, check out these Wiki articles;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison-industrial_complex
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School-to-prison_pipeline
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration_in_the_United_States
Also, I wonder if the increasing use of solitary confinement is also linked to private prisons finding it cheaper to keep prisoners locked-up in isolation.
@ResDes, I see that you’ve quit whining & crying over the recently banned troll, and you’ve decided to step up to the mark yourself, blasting away scatter-gun style. A lot of verbiage, but the profusion of words are not really saying anything apart from painting everything as anti-Semitic, including certain Posters.
Villager: “Resident Dissident, hats off to you for educating our resident morons”
As charming, and as clueless as ever.
I can say this because RD has taken a sabbatical. He’s contrarian, that’s all. He hates following the tide, so he makes his own gravitational pull. I don’t think there is one iota of equivalence found in Hab and RD. He’s George Carlin with a darker persona.
Des Res or is it Res Dis has a rather blinkered perspective and certainly a skewed moral compass.
Tony Blair consented to a preemptive strike on Iraq having lied about threats to the British people.
That missile strike burned to death in 24 hrs – 375 children including babies, toddlers and teens in one district of Baghdad. I know some surviving Iraqi war orphans.
The ‘good’ in this man is capital, deluxe, crack and shipshape. Insight, sympathy, pity and warmth are missing. Same with Gordon Brown although he retained some fragility in his cup of tea.
Olmert is corrupt. Likes to keep his weapon strikes secret, pooh-poohs international law, such as a cease-fire that might have saved 500 children’s lives in Gaza.
Ehud Olmert, Antony Blair and Gordon Brown are war criminals and must be judged as such which, when proven, they must be stripped of all wealth, shamed and self-condemned.
By the power of intention.
What we need on this thread, for completeness’ sake, is some guy who’s as whiny and annoying as Res Dis but who’s constantly up your nose about Neanderthal extinction instead. Because who will speak for the Neanderthals? You ought to be ashamed of your callous disregard for the Neanderthals, I am gravely offended by your ‘Cave man’ hate speech, Why won’t you ever acknowledge that you homo sapiens drove his gentle race into the mountains to die out blah blah blah blah blah blah until you just want to run to Fukushima and kick out a strut and depopulate earth.