As long term readers know, I love the Eurovision Song Contest. It is just so much fun and so resoundingly daft. Graham Norton’s comment last night, “it’s like the gay wedding I’ll never have”, summed it up rather well. We also learnt that Danish humour is impenetrable. Having once spent a week there living with Danish friends, I guess a country that seems to live on raw fish and raw eggs will forever shimmer beyond my comprehension. Like Hamlet’s mind – impossible to understand completely, but marvelous.
I was however saddened by the audience booing of the two young Russian girls. That was really nasty and unfair. They were scarcely more than children, for goodness sake. Putin is not their fault. That booing was an exhibition of racism; nothing else you can call it. If people wanted to make a point, they could have screamed for the Ukrainian girl – they didn’t have to boo the young Russians.
People always complain about political voting, but I think that’s half the fun. I always enjoy the voting far more than most of the singing. Last night, I think, was political voting in a wonderful way. It was a joyful expression of approval for the idea that human beings can and should be what they want to be. It wasn’t the first time either – I remember a similarly gender challenging singer from Israel winning some years ago. What was even better this year, was that another stereotype was also challenged, in that Conchita swept up much support from Eastern as well as Western Europe. Let it be said that she had a damn good song too.
We voted for the Polish girls. I thought the honesty of their approach was brilliant, and reminded me of so many happy days in Warsaw in my youth. Good to see women doing the washing too.*
All in all, great fun and a life-affirming evening. Now to clear away all the mess – why did I stick all those empty Prosecco bottles on the front garden railings?
*Private joke for my friends at Russia Today media (formerly trading as Indymedia).
From the Sky report of the Rolf Harris trial –
‘The woman also told the court her mother had told her “never to trust a man with a beard”.
Now what about a woman with a beard like Ms Wurst?
Exclusive: Tory MP complains that ‘trendy intellectuals’ voted for ‘transvestite’ to win EurovisionPinkNews Exclusive.
Tory MP Gordon Henderson has posted a rant about Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst, claiming that “trendy intellectuals” voted for a “transvestite” to win.
Drag artist Conchita Wurst, played by Tom Neuwirth, was crowned the winner of yesterday’s contest, winning 290 points despite causing controversy in Eastern Europe.
The Sittingbourne and Sheppey MP wrote on his Facebook page: “Some questions about tonight’s Eurovision Song Contest.
“How can a bearded man with a rubbish song from a ‘second divison’ EU country dressed as a woman win?”
“Why is it that the UK with the best pop industry in the World always do so badly? Does anybody care?”
/..
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/05/11/exclusive-tory-mp-complains-that-trendy-intellectuals-voted-for-transvestite-to-win-eurovision/
He spends a lot of time filling in questionnaires.
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/regmem/?p=24828
Otherwise Tory lobby fodder. http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/24828/gordon_henderson/sittingbourne_and_sheppey/votes
but the non Tory politician he most admires is Farage! That will not go down very well at Millbank Tower.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Henderson_(politician)
Sexual orientation is not important I repeat sexual orientation is not important.
Further more many things are important I repeat many things are important.
Human rights because of sexual orientation are important.
Sexual orientation is not important!
Environmental and welfare is animals and plants included equally.
Or Mary.
“A man with a beard has something to hide.”
Yes, his chin.
Actually the Russian word for chin is podborodok (Подбородок) which literally means ‘under the beard’. Whereas chin (чин) in Russian means rank, as in degree, rather than smell. Interesting but useless fact, unless you have a use for it. 🙂
Talking of voting –
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/10824674/Benjamin-Netanyahu-tries-to-cancel-Israeli-presidential-poll.html
His wife makes the decisions, allegedly. We wondered.
Mary
Yes, Tory MP Gordon Henderson sounds almost as nasty as Russian vice-premier Dmitro Rogozine and red-fascist leader Vladimir Jirinovsky, doesn’t he.
The difference being that he doesn’t have any bands of fascist thugs at his disposal, ready and eager to beat up (or worse) gays, lesbians and transgender people.
Thank God we live in the UK.
Although not a LGTG, I love the UK!
As opposed to some, who “hate” the UK 🙂
and don’t mess with Mrs Netanyahu.
‘Rivlin appears to have suffered a similar fate to others who expected major promotions from the prime minister only to get on the bad side of Sara. I’ve recounted a number of times how this happened to Yitzhak Ilan, who expected to be named Shabak chief, only to lose out to the eventual victor, Yoram Cohen. Madame LaFarge also got her revenge on Rivlin as this news account notes (Hebrew and English):
Rivlin alluded to a cabal presided over by Bibi’s wife, and Avigdor Lieberman which worked to drive him from the Knesset speakership. “Seems to me there were only three people who didn’t want me to have the job. That is the chairman of Yisrael Beitenu and the prime minister.” Rivlin didn’t mention Sara Netanyahu by name, but referred to her as “the person always in the center of things but always behind the scene. I don’t go into gossip and such things.”’
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/2014/05/12/sara-netanyahus-machinations-to-prevent-rivlin-from-winning-presidency/
Palestinians don’t hate the geography of Palestine, just because it’s controlled by fascists in disguise. The land hasn’t done anything wrong in the UK either.
Mary
“…and don’t mess with Mrs Netanyahu.”
________________
Your point is….?
OT but hilarious. US shitheads explaining our complex modern world.
http://www.les-crises.fr/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/ukraine-pakistan-erreur-cnn.jpg
AlcAnon yesterday 3.29pm
The voting really was strange.
Eurovision voting figures show juries and public clash
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-27371264
I noted that in the UK viewers had to phone in with their votes. No using the app. Lovely jubbly for BT and the other providers.
Habbabkuk (La vita è bella) !
12 May, 2014 – 11:17 am
“Possibly because it wasn’t a case of false accounting (fraud) this time?”
Well Habbabkuk, I just wondered why, with his history of criminality, the police were not asked to investigate.
Of course it could all be down to a misunderstanding of the “rules” or a “clerical error” an “oversight on his part” or a “memory lapse”
“Lord Hanningfield claims he had to fiddle expenses to look after his Chickens”
http://www.news.nom.co/lord-hanningfield-claims-he-had-to-9291226-news/
In my book that’s fraud.
If he has committed fraud he should be back behind bars.
Don’t you agree Habbabkuk?
Amazing how The Guardian Journalists perceive Thon J. Clarkson Rhyme scandal… more outrageous than.. the Illegal Slaughter we have engaged in… these last several years… a great response to it By the Guys at Medialens
” ….And this is the great lie of the Guardian, that it is not also the ‘pumping heart’ of the establishment, that it has not itself played a key role in facilitating the devastation of democracy at home and wars of aggression abroad. The lie is that the Guardian is offering us hope of something different, when in fact it supplies more of the same, or worse.
Writer and researcher Alice Bell, who has appeared regularly in the Guardian since 2010, also joined the bandwagon suggesting to her Twitter followers:
‘If you haven’t complained to the BBC about Clarkson, but think you’d like to, this is the link http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/‘
We asked Bell:
‘How many complaints have you suggested for BBC journalists who helped make war possible in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya?’
Bell replied:
‘there are many things the BBC have done that piss me off that I haven’t bothered to tweet a link to the complaints page for.’
Bell, it seems, ‘bothered’ to tweet about Clarkson’s ‘eeny, meeny’ scandal but not about her government’s responsibility for some of the great crimes of modern history.
This is a common and disastrous theme in contemporary society. As long as we are willing to perceive, or deem ourselves responsible for, only one small part of our world, the suffering of the world as a whole can be overlooked, or declared beyond our job spec: ‘I’m an oil executive, it’s not my job to protect the climate.’ ‘I’m an arms manufacturer, it’s not my job to prevent people killing each other.’ ‘I’m a science writer, it’s not my job to comment on my government’s war crimes.’
As Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote:
‘We have physicists, geometricians, chemists, astronomers, musicians and painters in plenty, but we no longer have a citizen among us.’
Good piece here @
http://medialens.org/index.php/alerts/alert-archive/2014/764-eeny-meeny.html
Habbabkuk (La vita è bella) !
12 May, 2014 – 11:48 am
“A respectable continental newspaper reports as follows (my translation):”
Which respectable continental newspaper Habbabkuk?
This is not the first time you mentioned “a respectable newspaper” and failed to give a link to it. I think the last one was a French paper.
You didn’t link to that paper and you again translated it yourself.
We don’t need you to translate anything Habbabkuk; just give us the link.
I for one don’t trust the veracity of your postings, as your poor record in dealing with facts indicates.
However, if what you say is genuine you could provide the link.
Mr Scorgie
“If he has committed fraud he should be back behind bars.
Don’t you agree Habbabkuk?”
______________
I do indeed, Doug. The operative word being “if”.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Well Habbabkuk, I just wondered why, with his history of criminality, the police were not asked to investigate.”
______________
Keep wondering, Doug, and come back to us once you’ve found the answer. With links, of course! 🙂
Mr Scorgie
“However, if what you say is genuine you could provide the link.”
___________________
You’ll just have to take my word for it, I’m afraid.
What do you think about Messrs Rogozine’s and Jirinovsky’s utterances? Do you agree with them? I’ll let you speak for yourself, of course.
Regime change in Venezuela still on US agenda?
“Venezuelan Policeman Killed by Sniper While Clearing Protest Barricade in Caracas”
May 9th
“Yesterday at noon, Rafael Celestino Albino Arteaga, 44, Vargas state chief of the Venezuelan Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN), was shot dead by an unidentified male assailant in a shopping mall in the western city of Maracay.”
“This marks the second murder of a Venezuelan intelligence officer in recent weeks, the first being Eliecer Otaiza…”
May 11th
Habbabkuk (La vita è bella) !
12 May, 2014 – 7:25 pm
“You’ll just have to take my word for it, I’m afraid.”
I can’t do that Habbabkuk because you have a history of disingenuous posts.
“What do you think about Messrs Rogoziane’s and Jirinovsky’s utterances?”
I can’t say Habbabkuk because you haven’t provided a link to that respectable newspaper.
Is what you said genuine or did you make it up? No-one can be sure with you Habbabkuk.
A link might help clear your name.
” Putin is not their fault.”
What you trying say here? That Putin is somehow more of a war criminal that, say, David Cameron of Tripoli, or Barak Obama of Odessa?
Seems to me Putin is among the more sane national leaders, which is fortunate, since otherwise the US would already succeeded in using Nulandistan to ignite a world war.
from the venerable schoolmaster, usually heard berating others for their mistakes, an easy score for him.
Maybe he would like to use this opportunity to castigate/castrate himself for a change.
“When the Austrian victory was announced, the Russian vice-premier Dmitri Rogozine confirmed on Twitter his poor opinion of Conchita Wurts’ appearance on the show by opining that the result of the Eurovision contest “has given the supporters of European integration a glimpse if what awaits them if they join Europe, ie., a bearded girl”.
So you think that Dmitri twittered ‘ Wurts’ and not Wurst,the correct term for sausage, did you?
You have to show us that he made this mistakes and not you, otherwise you’d look a right charlie, would you not, dear?
Mr Scorgie
“Is what you said genuine or did you make it up? No-one can be sure with you Habbabkuk.”
__________________
The record of the current Russian govt, as well as that of other left-fascists like Mr Jirinovsky, is such that I don’t need to make anything up, Doug; their words are well documented and their opinions well known.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
““What do you think about Messrs Rogoziane’s and Jirinovsky’s utterances?”
I can’t say Habbabkuk because you haven’t provided a link to that respectable newspaper.”
__________________
You’re being evasive, because you were invited to say what you thought about their sentiments. Could you explain how not having the link prevents you from letting us know whether or not you approve of those sentiments?
Failure to give us your opinion would lead to one of the following two conclusions:
1/. You agree with the sentiments expressed by Messrs Rogozine and Jirinovsky
or
2/. You disagree but, for some reason why can only guess at, do not wish to say so.
Your choice, Doug.
Nevermind
“So you think that Dmitri twittered ‘ Wurts’ and not Wurst,the correct term for sausage, did you?
You have to show us that he made this mistakes and not you, otherwise you’d look a right charlie, would you not, dear?”
__________________
Actually, the whole newspaper article (including the bit I quoted) gave the singer’s surname as “Wurts”.
ConSpeccy, re.”Putin is not their fault”
I was wondering too what our host meant.
Here, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts – former US Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy – gives a detailed analysis of the crisis in Ukraine, and an assessment of the Western propaganda war being waged against Russia.
Setting the discussion in the context of decades of US imperialism, and identifying the current crisis as largely agitated by Washington through its NGOs, Dr. Roberts reveals how Ukraine fits into the neocon game plan for world hegemony. But, as he explains, this insane goal for a nuclear “checkmate” by Washington against its geopolitical opponents on The Grand Chess Board is reckless in the extreme; for just like WWI, it could spiral out of control, but unlike WWI, it could lead to Armageddon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k11v8WOVT2U
Prediction of next years winners harmonious farting lesbians?
OK Guff over…
Craig may I ask you to read this.
Huseyin Celil, Serving Life Sentence In China, ‘Forgotten’ By Canada, Says His Wife
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/07/05/huseyin-celil-china-life-sentence-uighur-minority_n_1650283.html
“Prediction of next years winners harmonious farting lesbians?”
From your mouth to Craig’s ears. I think you’ve just titled his next post.
Scouse Billy
It’s interesting to see how a number of commenters on this blog never fail to attempt to give credence to Dr Roberts’ pronouncements by reminding us that he is a ” former US Assistant Secretary of the Treasury”.
May I point out that Dr Roberts was an AS for all of 11 months over 30 years ago and that there were (and still are) around 11 ASs at the US Treasury? Moreover, there are some hundreds of thousands of PhDs in the United States.
It is clear to anyone who follows him on Counterpunch and on other fora that the man is a hayseed and is not to be taken seriously.
Habbacack – you are entitled to your(?) opinion.
All you managed there was an ad hominem and a qualification to my correct representation of him.
I don’t normally engage trolls especially bottom of the barrel species but I am making an exception just this once.
Here’s another respected geo-political analyst, William Engdahl with a very similar take on the Ukraine situation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiBdbm_B9jg
re.”Putin is not their fault”
I was wondering too what our host meant.
Here’s the source of the mindset, probably:
The World According to TIME Magazine
@Scouse Billy: That guy really understands his history!
I’ve been digging around Wikipedia gathering information on Crimea and Eastern Ukraine, but William fills in the gaps and puts it all in context. Can’t repeat the YouTube URL but highly recommended.
Why wasn’t NATO abandoned after the collapse of the Soviet Union?