A particularly mendacious lie by Danny Alexander puts the institutional start-up costs of Scottish Independence at £1.5 billion. That is a cool half billion pounds cheaper than Scotland’s share of the costs of the Iraq and Afghan wars, even on the Westminster government’s blatant under-estimate of the war costs.
So Scotland can afford criminal invasions killing hundreds of thousands to ‘bring freedom’, but cannot afford the smaller cost of its own freedom!!!
The £1.5 billion estimate is mendacious in two ways. Firstly, it is a simple recycling of a Canadian lie at the time of the Quebec independence referendum, apportioning with no argument 1% of GDP to startup costs.
Secondly, as nearly all the money will be spent in Scotland it is not a loss at all, but actually an increase to GDP, as any but the most nutty neo-con would be forced to acknowledge. And it would be the precursor of government money spent annually in Scotland rather than England for ever thereafter.
Thankfully Alexander won’t have a job much longer – and if he thinks a penny of Scottish public spending is going in future to support his huge arse and deceitful mouth, he is very wrong.
Troll @.1.23pm
‘1/. I have already given readers the lowdown in the Californian “Global Research” outfit. Suffice it to say that they are hardly disinterested and that they manage to perform the unlikely feat of making our regular commenter “Ben Gadfly” sound almost sane and balanced.’
Wrong on several counts. Global Research is based in Canada. .ca at the end of a domain name stands for Canada not California. Duh! The site owner is Professor Michel Chossudovsky, son of a Russian émigré, the career United Nations diplomat and academic Evgeny Chossudovsky (1914–2006). Michel is highly intelligent, widely travelled and extremely well informed. He is also a very nice human being.
This is the obituary he wrote for his father.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/evgeny-chossudovsky-writer-with-a-distinguished-un-career/1955
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Chossudovsky
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/05/freedom-cheaper-than-iraq-war/comment-page-2/#comment-459410
As I said, puerile.
Lovely stuff here, The sweaty BLiar being repeatedly asked about Bilderberg?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyWN5knSqUk
~~
Something rotten in the state of Denmark. The head of the serpent etc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI50FhrygPI
Goodness, self-determination of peoples going from strength to strength lately
http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.be/2014/05/speech-of-hezbollah-secretary-general.html
Oh HabbyPloppyFlubby.
That limerick is so fiendishly clever!
And you writing it sitting there in your string vest too!
Top o’ the class for you Habby,let none doubt it!
As there are many Scottish readers of this blog – and a fair number of Nationalists among them – I take great pleasure in bringing a few verses of Anthony Powell’s “Caledonia” to their attention.
When reading, think back to some of the comments about independence on here. All comments welcome if in verse. SKN : this is how proper pastiche is done…
Enjoy.
“Pacing with Bag-Pipe in a bosky Square,
One morn a Piper rent the vernal air,
Dispelling by his savage, baleful Strains
That Freudian Pageantry, which Night-tome gains.
(He wore a garb deprived of all amenity,
Save fir vile jest and Smoking-Room obscenity.)
And heark’ning to the Pibroch’s raucous Note,
Bursting as if from tortur’d porcine Throat,
To Reverie did errant Fancy yield,
Of Pinkie, Solway Moss and Flodden Field,
And of a Race, whose Thought and Word and Deed
Have made a new INFERNO north of Tweed,
Where they can practise in that chilly HELL
Vices that sicken; Virtues that repel.
Did they remain among such unthaw’d Latitudes,
And Scot with Scot alone exchanged his Platitudes,
Travellers but few would mark their stinted Bonhomie,
And smile to see each finicking Oeconomy.
Alack! They ever stream through ENGLAND’S door
To batten on the Rich , and grind the Poor,
With furtive Eye and eager, clutching hand
They pass like Locusts through the Southern Land:
And line their purses with the yellow Gold,
Which for each Scotchman, London’s pavements hold,
And in return, no matter where you find ’em
They brag of Scotland, now left safe behind ’em.
What are this Race whose pride so rudely burgeons?
Second-t-rate Engineers and obscure Surgeons,
Pedant-Philosophers and Fleet Street hacks,
With ev’ry Quality that Genius lacks:
Such Mediocrity was ne’er on view,
Bolster’d by tireless Scottish ballyhoo-
Nay! In two Qualities they stand supreme:
Their Self-advertisement and Self-esteem.
………
………
etc
“Wrong on several counts. Global Research is based in Canada. .ca at the end of a domain name stands for Canada not California. Duh! The site owner is Professor Michel Chossudovsky,
___________________
Yes, of course you’re right. My apologies, but it is often diffcult to distinguish between the inmates of the asylum.
Royals sent on PR trip to Scotland.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-27618396
Are they ‘in it together’ and/or ‘better together’ perhaps?
Mary
Any thoughts on “Nie” magazine – cited by Global Research – and on its fragrant editor, Mr Jerzy Urban?
High or low credibility as far as your eagle eye is concerned?
At 1039 0n the 25th, if my lack of Swedish does not betray me, G-CEYL departed Stockholm for Malmo (life’s too short to go looking for umlauts). Where, no doubt coincidentally, Tony Blair popped up again, unreported by the English-language press. –
http://www.sydsvenskan.se/malmo/tony-blair-besoker-malmo-ikvall/
An e-beer to anyone who can tell me what he was doing?
Takk to those Stockholm planespotters, btw.
Sorry, that was May 26, sometime around 1000 hrs. Language problem here.
Mary
29 May, 2014 – 2:42 pm
“BREAKING NEWS:Chilcot Inquiry says agreement is reached to disclose discussions between Tony Blair and George Bush over Iraq”
Don’t cheer too soon Mary:
“The inquiry has revealed that an agreement has been reached on what type of “gists and quotes” will be released from 25 notes and 130 records of conversations between Blair and Bush. However, the inquiry and government have not yet decided exactly which ones will be published. There is also now a deal on releasing a small number of extracts from the most “critical” minutes of more than 200 cabinet-level discussions.”
“The Chilcot inquiry had requested the full content of correspondence between Blair and Bush but appears to have watered down its demands and accepted that the gist of the conversations will be “sufficient to explain our conclusions”.”
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/may/29/gist-tony-blair-talks-george-bush-iraq-war-chilcot-inquiry
We will be none the wiser Mary and the partial release of quotes and “gists” will only lead to conspiracy theories which can then be laughed off as CONSPIRACY THEORIES!!!!!
What’s Sweden’s extradition treaty with the Hague, Ba’al?
E-beer for me?
There was a young gadfly called Habby
Whose views grew increasingly crabby
When asked: Do your henchmen
Oppress untermenschen?
His response was fascisticallly stabby.
” The main theme was Europe, where an engaged Tony Blair announced a “framework for action” in five points. To meet the future ought Europe” (? Which Europe ought to follow?)
Google Translate is my friend. Wonder why he’s selling his globalist snake oil in Malmo?
http://malmoborssallskap.se/
And who the hell are Malmoborssallskap? It seems to be a local business group. But it’s invited Clinton before now…can’t see Scunthorpe Rotarians doing that.
It was a paid speaking engagement, but why the secrecy? Bush/Cheney would follow the same MO, amirite?
More beer please.
Britains got talent, Mike?…;)
It looks like TB and those accused of using information gained for torture seem to determine the extend of what is released by Chilcot, not him.
Is the devil in charge of hells heat, or is it Tony?
meant to say from torture
yeah, nevermind — the “gist” of the talks between Bush and Blair. That simply is not good enough.
“You can live on Soylent alone, Mr. Rhinehart claims, though in practice he said customers would most likely use it to replace just their “staple meals,” by which he meant most of the junk you eat every day to fill yourself up. Mr. Rhinehart argued that Soylent, which costs about $3 per serving, is cheaper, easier to prepare and more nutritious than much of the food that makes up the typical American officer worker’s diet today.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/29/technology/personaltech/the-soylent-revolution-will-not-be-pleasurable.html
I think the brand-name needs some work if it’s gonna sell.
Ha. Yeah, Ben, Soylent does have some unpleasant associations. Surely planet Earth isn’t so overcrowded that we need autophagic assistance.
I think Blair would eat himself if he was made of chocolate. Perhaps we should all partake in the mystic transubstantiation of god made flesh. Or is he the Golden Calf?
Mike; Golden hemorrhoids seems an appropriate affliction for Blair.
http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2012/06/29/more-bible-lolz-gods-golden-hemorrhoids/
“The term “emerods” has been construed variously—boils, “buboes” (the swellings from plague), anal fistulas, and so on, but to me the translation that makes the most sense is “hemorrhoids,” not only because of the similar sound (so that the translators thought that’s what the word meant), but because they’re in the Philistines’ “secret parts.”
Lacking Preparation H, the Philistines asked their priests what to do to rid themselves of their afflictions. The priests tell them to return the ark to the Israelites, but along with it they have to send a treasure: five golden mice and five golden images of hemorrhoids (1 Samuel 6):”
Baal @ 4.12:
“Wonder why he’s selling his globalist snake oil in Malmo?”
Well, we may all wonder, but what really puzzles me is why anybody buys it!
Comments deleted.
Any feedback?
No.
Linking to the UK Electoral Commission is now prohibited?
Yes.
Censored. Muffled. Gagged.
These are the tricks of control to keep the debate, pure. Unspoilt.
Like an unspoilt vote.
“Princesses Sahar and Jawaher, daughters of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, have been denied access to food for more than 60 days and have limited access to water. The two sisters have been held under house arrest in Jeddah for more than 10 years by their father, as they are out of favour.”
“I have raised the case with the foreign secretary, William Hague, as well as with David Cameron at prime minister’s questions and in correspondence.”
“…both he and the Foreign Office have subsequently indicated that they are not prepared make representations to the Saudi authorities.”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/28/saudi-princesses-need-uk-support
This doesn’t surprise me. The same was true under Blair and then Brown and the same would be true under Ed Miliband if he became prime minister.
Bastards; every one.
Habbabkuk
Your certificate of sanity seems to derive from an infinite regress of self-diagnosing rabbi shrinks – in psychiatrical terms, that’s the equivalent of taking in each other’s washing, isn’t it?
People who read and contribute to this blog should be very grateful to habbakuk for his higher level of education, superior intelligence and his wonderful ability to correct the misunderstandings that many of us foolishly believe. Without him we would think that Israel’s occupation of Palestine is NOT such a good thing and we wouldn’t know that they care for the Palestinians with such devotion. Those jolly decent settler types even save the Palestinians from the toil of having to harvest their crops.
Believing that the various governments in the world don’t hold its citizens as the number one priority would be dangerous indeed. Of course, finding out that we are all totally wrong, fooled and misguided hurts a little but in the long run we’ll thank him. I even believed that the current Ukraine problem was started by the legitimately elected officials being removed by (western financed) violent extremist mobs.
I’ll go and send some food parcels now to those poor souls, the Syrian rebels who are only trying to persuade the population that an extreme version of Islam will be better for them. Some people are never happy.
His corrections and persistent appeals for compelling evidence to support our crazy notions help focus our minds. His devils advocate mode is particularly impressive.
Thanks a lot habbabkuk, what would we do without your enlightened contributions?
Doug V disappointing on Chilcot. Perhaps I was correct in the beginning by describing it as a theatrical. And what has it cost so far? > £7m?
Report: Israel suspends soldier after Palestinian teens killed
Published today 18:28
A screenshot from video footage showing the killing of two
Palestinian teenagers during a Nakba Day protest.(MaanImages/DCI)
JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel’s army has suspended a non-combat soldier seen firing his weapon during a Nakba Day protest this month in which two unarmed Palestinian teenagers were killed, a newspaper reported Thursday.
The report was published in Haaretz amid a military police probe into footage from two CCTV cameras that appeared to show the shooting of the two teens was unprovoked, taking place during a lull in the clashes.
The shooting took place during a day of protests on May 15 as Palestinians marked the “Nakba”, or catastrophe, in which over 700,000 Palestinians were displaced or forced into exile during the creation of Israel.
Haaretz said the soldier had been spotted on CNN footage released last week, firing “what appeared to be a rubber bullet” at around the same time the first of the two teenagers was shot.
But it said there was no proof his shot was responsible for killing of Musaab Nuwarah.
“The IDF has found no evidence proving that this soldier’s bullet caused Nuwarah’s death,” it said.
/…
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=700919
But nothing will happen. Nobody will be punished and the BBC will issue an ‘Israel says’ version. Note the one ‘suspended’ was a ‘non combat’ soldier.
I did not know that a wreath was laid by the Pope at the grave of Herzl. Disgusting. I suppose his friend, the Argentinian Rabbi Skorka who accompanied him, helped the Zionists to achieve that manoeuvre.
May 29, 2014
Papal Tour a Fizzer – The Fence-Sitting Pope
by VACY VLANZA
When I was a kid we had fun letting off firecrackers. Most had quite an impact – going off with a mighty bang. A few were weak, feeble and fizzled out. We called them ‘fizzers’. The pope’s tour was a fence-sitting fizzer for truth and for Palestinian justice.
Still, Palestinians were warned in advance by the Vatican that the tour had “no political agenda” it was simply a pilgrimage. A pilgrimage, apart from the usual Christian holy sites, to the grave of Theodor Herzl where, flanked by two war criminals, Netanyahu and Peres, Francis, the Vicar of Christ, laid a giant wreath in honour of the mastermind of Zionism that unleashed the atrocities of the Nakba committed by Jewish terrorist militia; the massacres, rapes, looting, demolition of 500 Palestinian villages and the forced deportations and dispossession of 750,000 indigenous Palestinians from their beloved land…a paltry three years after the holocaust.
What a feather in the Zionist cap! A Catholic pope honouring Herzl the Zionist atheist! Francis’ rabbi friend, Abraham Skorka was spot on when he noted that it ‘could be understood as a nod to Zionism’. It was much more than a nod. For the gleeful Netanyahu gang, it was an imprimatur on the expansionism of Greater Israel negating Francis’ two-state solution.
/..
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/05/29/the-fence-sitting-pope/