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.
“@Dreoilin, did you see my post to you on the previous thread a little earlier ?”
Don’t think so, Macky. I’ll have a look after I’ve eaten.
“Pixelation error at BBC gives UKIP leader Nigel Farage ‘Hitler’ moustache”
“Except on Farage it looks no more menacing than Charlie Chaplin’s”
True!
Wonder what Mr Broon will make of this in his upcoming Speech, His cohorts are just so blatantly at it now – breaking they Law looks like
From i what i reckon to be a rational wee site – Wings over Scotland – they are persistent at calling out Media dissinfo on the Yes campaigne Check this out
http://wingsoverscotland.com/a-serious-allegation/
Gorgeous George is another mixed up British Nationalist. He spouts out volumes of words on the rights of peoples to govern themselves, apart from his country of birth.
The Westminster money machine has deep pockets.
Every despot has a court jester.
Galloway left Dundee with only the cash in his pockets. There were rumours of the local Labour party accounts being quite low after he left. Maybe they missed his money gathering skills? Mention the name of Galloway in a Dundee pub, and you’ll often be met with a wry chuckle and a wink.
Despite never having worked a day in his life, he seems to be rather well off.
How would Obama fare by this standard?
The Sickening Israeli Bully, thugs are Fucking untouchable
THE WORLD must DO Something
Photo: French aid convoy diplomat dragged on ground by Israeli soldiers
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/photo-french-aid-convoy-diplomat-dragged-ground-israeli-soldiers
Thanks Macky. Replied to you now on the other thread.
“THE WORLD must DO Something”
It would be a start if the French did something like, I don’t know, have a word with the Israeli ambassador perhaps?
There is a precedent; when Kevin Rudd was incensed that Aussia passports were used by Mossad in the murder of a Palestinian in Dubai he called in the Israeli ambassador for a carpeting.
I’m sure Rudd’s speedy exit from power following the vicous media campaign led by Murdoch’s “Australian” shortly after was totally unrelated.
“Plenty of money for weapons in Syria, little for refugees
Oxfam reports that many countries are far short of their expected humanitarian contributions for Syria, with Russia and Qatar providing only 3 percent.
By Nigel Wilson, Correspondent / September 19, 2013
Throughout the conflict both Russia and Qatar have reportedly provided arms for opposing sides of the conflict – Russia to the government, Qatar to Islamist rebel factions. But international aid agency Oxfam found that the two have committed just 3 percent each of their fair share to humanitarian appeals for Syria, measured as a proportion of national income and overall wealth.
(A table summarizing Oxfam’s findings is at the bottom of this story).
Qatar has promised to channel $2.8 million in humanitarian aid through the UN, while Oxfam estimates its fair share at $78.7 million. Russia has promised $17.8 million in humanitarian aid, against a fair share calculation of $620 million.”
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2013/0919/Plenty-of-money-for-weapons-in-Syria-little-for-refugees
Emmpey
Not sure it would make one iota of a difference if all the ambassadors from the Aid effort Countries have a word.
Diplomats from France, Britain, Spain, Ireland, Australia and the European Union’s political office, turned up on Friday with more supplies. As soon as they arrived, about a dozen Israeli army jeeps converged on them, and soldiers told them not to unload their truck.
At at least they did’nt get shot in the back of the head this Time ( The Mavi Marmara )
Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/20/us-usa-agriculture-food-idUSBRE98I16720130920
RIP Deep Impact. Quite a coincidence it failed now.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch/newsfeatures.cfm?release=2013-287
The bastard entity that to date has been kept above all laws, above all that is holy, and immune from any criticism. Yet again is helped to continue stockpiling A Bombs, and H Bombs, whilst IAEA as impotent as ever sits idly by letting it all happen.
This fucking sickening state of affairs exists, because justice, decency, morality, and integrity have long been buried and there is only a world of fucking shit left in their wake.
West blocks draft resolution against Israel’s nukes at IAEA
Fact that a bunch of crazed ziofuckwits, whom relentlessly and without exception have attacked all their neighbouring countries at one time or other. These blood thirsty, emotionally unstable wankers are left hanging on to their nuclear weapons stockpiles, with only eight votes. Forty three countries voting for the resolution, and thirty two countries going for a beer when the voting was under way.
Another fucking triumph for the carpetbaggers, pimps, and cunts.
Ref Farage. I hold no candle for him. Was the pixelated moustache a ‘mistake’?
The gangsters in charge are rather worried at UKIP’s growing popularity I reckon.
See this about Ch 4 ‘News’ from a Medialens contributor.
Ch4 News speaks truth to power
Posted by Sherwoodian on September 20, 2013, 7:51 pm
Ch4 News really laid into UKIP and Nigel Farage in particular, following on from yesterday, esp concerning the crimes of racism and sexism. All very good.
BUT! Contrast that with how they deal with real power and those commiting far worse crimes, the supreme war crime and crimes against humanity.
They have the bite of a dead sheep when confronted with the likes of Blair and the eternally mendacious Campbell, then they are the picture of Uriah Heep.
What a bunch of hypocrites.
Perfectly stated, S (nom)
Posted by John Hilley on September 20, 2013, 8:03 pm, in reply to “Ch4 News speaks truth to power”
http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/thread/1379703068.html
I agree.
Cheers for the link Fedup
Even with a Simmering tinderbox in the east Med, they still stick two fingers up at Peace, bet some Bribery / threats were involved
usually are
to me the final nail in U.N coffin was Libya, were our same terrorists did horrendous crimes to innocent civilian’s,( of ALL Ages, Same as Syria ) and African Worker’s. All based on more Lies, All of it Fermented by we, in the west.
Turns the Stomach
Two good pieces on Dissident Voice
Israel’s Chemical Arsenal under New Scrutiny
A plan to inspect and destroy Syria’s chemical weapons has focused new attention on Israel’s undeclared WMDs
by Jonathan Cook / September 20th, 2013
Israeli officials are reported to be increasingly nervous that international efforts to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons might serve as a prelude to demands on Israel to eliminate its own, undeclared weapons of mass destruction.
Israel maintains a posture it terms ‘ambiguity’ on the question of whether it possesses either nuclear or chemical weapons. But Israel is widely believed to have a large arsenal of nuclear bombs, concealed from international scrutiny, and there are strong suspicions that it has secretly developed a chemical weapons programme.
/..
http://dissidentvoice.org/2013/09/israels-chemical-arsenal-under-new-scrutiny/
and
How Shlomo Sand Ceased to be a Jew – or Did He?
by Gilad Atzmon / September 20th, 2013
Sand’s latest book, How I Ceased To Be A Jew, (translated from Hebrew) is a tragic testimony made by a morally awakened Israeli Jew who comes to realise that his spiritual, cultural and political existence is contaminated with Judeo-centric exclusivism and is fuelled by ethno-centric racism. Shlomo Sand decides to stop being a Jew – but has he succeeded?
Sand, as we all know, is a wonderful writer; witty, innovative, poetic and fluent, his voice is personal, at times funny, occasionally sarcastic and always genuinely pessimistic.
/..
http://dissidentvoice.org/2013/09/how-shlomo-sand-ceased-to-be-a-jew-or-did-he/
Ben
Thanks for The link
After losing contact with the spacecraft last month, mission controllers spent several weeks trying to uplink commands to reactivate its onboard systems. Although the exact cause of the loss is not known, analysis has uncovered a potential problem with computer time tagging that could have led to loss of control for Deep Impact’s orientation. That would then affect the positioning of its radio antennas, making communication difficult, as well as its solar arrays, which would in turn prevent the spacecraft from getting power and allow cold temperatures to ruin onboard equipment, essentially freezing its battery and propulsion systems.
ALL very Fishy
Considering they were able to fix Voyager 2’s stuck Platform, as it raced towards the Uranus, and Neptune systems, and a good thing too, for the foto’s from out there at the last two gas giants
Israel is a mad dog, no doubt about that, it is the image that they cultivate. They are getting even madder by the day now that Iran is receiving positive noises from the EU and US following the election of Rouhani and the tentative reproachment with Russia/Syria.
The fact that Israel, a nuclear armed nation with multiple delivery systems, is “warning the West” about Iran’s “imminent” (six months Netanyahu said recently) acquirement of a nuclear device should be treated for what it is, a thinly veiled threat against the West (The Samson Option), especially in light of the continued insistence from Iran that they have not been seeking a nuclear weapon since 2005 (when they ended weapons research which had been started by the Shah under US approval), which is also backed up by the IAEA who have conducted the most detailed searches possible and have not found a single atom of weapons grade fissile material.
A nuke going off in Europe or the US is a nightmare that certain religous psycopaths of all types would love to see as it would also herald the start of WW3 aka the second coming of Jesus/the first coming of the Jewish Messiah/the return of the moslem Mahdi*.
This is the danger of prophetic doomsday religions – given enough time and followers they become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Unfortunately one only has to look at Jonestown as an example of where this sort of thinking ultimately ends; that many people would rather face certain death than face an unknown fear.
*delete as appropriate according to the geographical location in which you were born.
Thanks Brian, you are certainly correct, Libya was the war that never was. However the war in Libya proved beyond any shadow of a doubt, that any kind of an agreement or alliance entered into with the US, et al is a worthless enterprise, that awaits collapse, and nullification.
Gaddafi was the kind of a dancing bear that obliged his captors and went along with the Lockerbie extortion and paid out billions, signed over the oil exploration concessions, and even went so far as playing up the nuclear weapons (wmd) dog and pony show of handing over the “Nukes” he never had.
Notwithstanding any of the above, ended up with “rebels” poking sticks up his butt, humiliating him and killing him. Fact is Gaddafi despite playing along had out lived his usefulness and his end was sought;We came, we saw, he died
The pleasure in the psychotics bitch’s face says it all.
Fact that here we have a known rouge entity in zionistan, that has in its possession at least four hundred nuclear bombs and hydrogen bombs, with the relevant delivery vehicles. This is not considered any fucking WMD, and is not thought of dangerous. Hence the defeat of the resolution in IAEA to even acknowledge the fact that this bastard entity needs to be reigned in.
Christ, Fedup, I’ve just clicked on that link. I’m speechless! What a cow!
Thanks for that EI link Brian.
RT have it too.
EU diplomats manhandled by Israeli troops in West Bank
September 20, 2013 16:33
Israeli soldiers detain a Palestinian during scuffles following an attempt by European diplomats to deliver goods to locals in the West Bank herding community of Khirbet al-Makhul, in the Jordan Valley September 20, 2013. (Reuters/Abed Omar Qusini)
http://rt.com/news/eu-diplomats-manhandled-israeli-147/
To say these actions by the IDF are egregious would be to use an euphemism.
Nothing on OUR corporate media though. I even wonder if ZBC have any reporting from Israel these days. Jon Donnison is now in Australia and Jeremy Bowen is concentrated on Syria. Katya Adler was speaking from the London newsroom the other day so it seems she is out of it.
“many people would rather face certain death than face an unknown fear”
Not sure that’s what Jonestown proves,
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/JFK/JohnJudge/Jonestown.html
Are there any holocaust liars out there? Holocaust, Hate Speech & Were the Germans so Stupid?
Let’s here it…
Are you a true Friend of Israel?
Aka Article 19 vs. 20.
And the modest: ‘You shall have no gods before me…’
RIP GC
Ben, Brian,
Voyagers are nuclear powered. They won’t die if they are pointing the wrong way. Unlike Deep Impact which is/was solar powered. Lose sun point for too long and you’re dead.
From reading the NASA statement about time-tags I have a suspicion they may have transmitted a bad command to it during the ISON instructions uplink.
Curiously before they lost contact with it controllers had announced that due to low staff levels they might not be able to instruct it to image ISON in the first place. They seemingly overcame that difficulty only to then almost immediately lose the spacecraft. So my best guess at the moment is that they accidentally killed it. Or possibly someone intentionally transmitted a fatal sequence to it I suppose.
Leonid Elenin’s website did the memorial for Comet Elenin, AlcAnon. As you know there were many suggestions about the intent and origin of that heavenly body.
http://spaceobs.org/en/2011/12/19/the-long-long-journey-has-ended/
Deep Impact was never intended for long operation times, but when will Hubble bring us Images of ISON? (blackout from May to October)
LADEE seems an abrupt mission. NASA does not cite the mission conception date. But there was this…….http://news.msn.com/science-technology/meteoroid-strike-on-moon-triggers-giant-explosion?ocid=ansnews11
“The strength of a democracy can be measured by the way it treats its dissidents. Free speech zones are not the lungs of liberty, they’re straitjackets from corporate hell.”
Can give you a link, but I won’t [for obvious reasons].
Seeing this story repeatedly is reassuring..
Disintegration of Comet ISON Would Pose No Threat to Earth
Space.com – 12 hours ago
While a breakup would be bad news for skywatchers hoping for a great show from ISON — which was billed as a “comet of the century” …
Even a behaving badly Comet ISON would pose no threat to Earth
NBCNews.com – 2 hours ago
Break-up of Comet ISON would be no danger to Earth
Yahoo! Malaysia News (blog) – 6 hours ago
More criminal activity from our friends (evening lads) at GCHQ
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uks-gchq-blamed-for-cyber-attack-on-belgian-telecoms-company-8830123.html
Do as I fucking tell you and don’t fucking do as I do! Hypocrisy abound, it is followed by the proviso; diseased lobsters are diseased ……