The United Police States of the UK and USA

Here's a handy do-it-yourself, dot connecting demonstration.

Start, by defining - in your own time and in your your own words - the meaning of 'police state'.

Then, if you live in either the US or UK, try truthfully telling This Old Brit that your own country isn't already just such a state.

Try telling anyone for that matter. But show no surprise should they snigger.

Because - and you'd better believe it - from the first day George Bush and Tony Blair bonded, all regular Americans and ordinary Britons were well & truly buggered -- as far as genuine democracy and/or personal freedom was concerned.

The United States and the United Kingdom are both now fully fledged police states.

To attempt to deny it any longer is merely to declare most definitely that one is a downright dimwit. Be it by accident or by design.

Ask yourself the question[s].

Apart from a police state, where else would such worthy and worldly-wise, frail old men be manhandled in the manner which Walter 'Wolfie' Wolfgang was at Brighton -- for voicing one single simple word of dissent at New Labour's latest mutual admiration society's shameful, sycophantic shindig?

Incidentally, Walter's latest own words are well worth reading, here: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article316115.ece

And where else would GW's storm troopers so easily be able to segregate thousands of law abiding citizens behind wire fenced, caged in 'arenas' classed as free-speech areas -- whenever the cowardly so-called Commander in Chief condescends to come calling, in any American city?

And where else would those cages in question be carefully constructed so far away from the 'emperor's' prescence - or even his miserable massive motorcade's proposed path?

And why else would so many special British police powers be being brought into force, almost by the bloody hour?

Similarly, why should it also be so in the States?

And where else other than a totalitarian police state would a perfect gentleman of a veteran, traditional Labour politician like Great Grimsby MP, Austin Mitchell, have his camera snatched and his perfectly harmless pictures deleted -- by the police -- other than in a state where they hold such sweeping sway?

Read Mr Mitchell's personal report here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4291424.stm

Moreover, where else would so many long suffering souls be incarcerated in so many 'detention camps' - for so long - without any adequate access to proper legal advice or representation? And why else would so many of said enslaved, still be stuck in in actual shackles?

And why else would today's Guantanamo Bay still be the obscene scene of such serial mass starvation -- by so many already driven half mad, hunger-strikers?

What in the world , one can't help but wonder, will it take to awake some people from their current comatose state?

A barrel full of bullets in the brain?

A fate as sickeningly savage as the one so recently suffered by a perfectly innocent young Brazilian, in the carriage of a London tube train?

Eh?

At this particular point, it's perhaps appropriate to point out that This Old Brit is far from alone in how he sees our shared trans-Atlantic, present predicaments.

See this scorcher of a story from today's daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=363946&in_page_id=1770

Also today, even the UK's own Attorney General Lord Goldsmith issued warnings to his old pal Tony's ministers - regarding their increasingly alarming further plans & plots.

See what he said for yourself, courtesy of the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4299114.stm

However, in the final analysis it's perhaps only fair and balanced to point out that maybe we are all 'guilty as charged' -- that is -- as proven aiders & abetters.

Just as the pre WW2 German people once did, for better or for worse, we all watched it coming for a while -- and now it's arrived, we're accepting it.

Fait accompli ?

I fear it may be.

GOD HELP US ALL - WATCH THIS AND WEEP ..

I still can't quite believe it -- even though I witnessed it with my own eyes.

I'm ashamed of what I saw.

My blood is still boiling.

My heart is still pounding.

My stomach is still churning.

My palms are still sweaty.

My rage is unrestrained.

I simply can not remember when I last felt so angry.

So fucking, fighting-angry!

Such is the state that I am still in, I can hardly stop shaking as I struggle to type.

So let the BBC's words and pictures of today's shameful spectacle at Blair's New Labour's Brighton conference, speak for themselves.

An 82 year old, ex-refugee from Hitler's Nazi germany was today treated to a taste of what might have been, if he'd remained there all those years ago.

And, what was this frail, old man's crime?

As Jack-the-shit-Straw, prattled on about the illegal Iraq war, he dared to shout 'nonsense'.

So no more of This Old Brit's comments or observations.

See the utter, bully-boy brutality of Blair's New Labour Britain today, for yourself.

But before you do, be warned.

It will disgust you.

It may even drive you to the very depths of despair.

This video footage is a MUST SEE - and hear !!!!!

Watch it and weep.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolavconsole/ukfs_news/hi/nb_rm_fs.stm?nbram=1&news=1&nbwm=1&bbwm=1&bbram=1&nol_storyid=4292108

Next, read this.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4291388.stm

Then read this, too.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4291424.stm

God help us all.

Great Britain's gone under.

New Labour's 'Great' Britain ?

On the day that phony Tony's bunch of New Labour B-liars begin their party's annual conference in Brighton, Gordon Brown blows away any remaining beliefs anyone may have harboured that he might have had the makings of a more honorable head honcho than our current creep in charge.

Because, be it sooner or be it later, whenever Blair finally does eff off, Gordon-the-gobshite Brown's going to give the bulk of Brits nothing better than more of the same old shit.

And as sad as he is to say it, This Old Brit believes beyond a shadow of doubt, that the 'Great' has finally gone right out of Britain -- for good.

The truth is that we'd be better off being honest, and re-branding these once 'sceptered' isles of ours as, Bolloxed Britain -- and/or the Blighted Kingdom instead of the United Kingdom.

From the very first day day that Blair and Bush became brother's in blood, almost everything truly British about today's UK has been slowly but surely, supplanted by American Republicanism, run-riot.

Talk about tripe. Take a look at this.

Labour 'should learn from Bush'

Can Labour learn from George Bush's campaign?

Labour should turn to George Bush's Republican party for inspiration about how to boost party membership, Europe Minister Douglas Alexander has argued.

He said the success of the Republicans had been largely down to improved organization and motivation. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4283652.stm

Oh, really? Well, This Old Brit argues this; work your abysmal argument up your arse, Alexander.

And here's another example of Britain's social back peddling, via the terrible treatment of it's poor old age pensioners.

Prison for tax protest pensioner

Sylvia Hardy arrived at court in Exeter with a packed bag

A retired social worker from Devon has become the first woman pensioner to be jailed in England for refusing to pay part of an increase in her council tax.

Sylvia Hardy, 73, from Exeter, was jailed for seven days after missing a deadline to settle arrears of £53.71. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/4280040.stm

And here's more on the current miserable plight of so many British pensioners.

Women's low pensions a 'scandal' http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4281928.stm

David Blunkett has pledged welfare reformPensions Secretary David Blunkett has told the Labour party conference that a solution is needed for the "scandal" of low pension provision for women.

Mr Blunkett said the government's Pension Commission would recommend on how women's pensions could be improved.

Many women miss out on a full state pension because they have time off work to look after children or relatives.

Separately, help for those who lost their pensions when their company scheme collapsed will also be reviewed.

The Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS), worth £400m over 20 years, has been roundly criticised for not being large enough to pay the pensions of an estimated 60,000 scheme members.

Balderdash. It's simply Blunkett doing what he does best -- lying through his bloody teeth.

Saying one thing but actually doing an entirely different thing -- which is usually, nothing at all.

See what shame some of our senior citizens are reduced to succumbing to, as they try to show up the two faced twits responsible for our welfare, for the arrogant asses they are.

On Monday, members of the Pension Action Group protested by stripping off their clothes on Brighton beach to draw attention to their claims that they have had little help from the government after they lost most or all of their pensions when their company schemes failed.

Blair & Co have had years & years to sort out such shambles as these, yet still they haven't honoured even half their original, pre-election promises.

Neither do Blair & co show any more respect for the dead, than they do for the aged and infirm.

Read this revolting revelation, regarding the recently deceased and so rightly respected, Robin Cook.

Read it and weep.

Cook's Legacy: Debate on former foreign secretary's views is vetoed

By Ben Russell, Political Correspondent -- Published: 26 September 2005

The Labour leadership has been accused of "jealousy" after vetoing a debate on a grass-roots motion dedicated to the memory of the former foreign secretary, Robin Cook.

Twenty local parties had backed the motion, which threatened to embarrass Tony Blair by highlighting Mr Cook's resignation over Iraq and his rejection of many Blairite reforms, including the expansion of the role of private companies in public services.

The motion made a sideswipe at the invasion of Iraq, arguing that "our interests are best protected not by unilateral action but by multilateral agreement and a world order governed by rules". It also challenged the increasing role played by the private sector in public services such as the National Health Service, calling for "the defence of public services and the public service ethos", including renewed efforts to "make the ideological case for health and education as a public realm in which citizenship is more important than market power".

The motion was ruled out of order by the party's conference arrangements committee, which controls the selection of emergency resolutions for debate at conference.

David Clark, Mr Cook's former special adviser, criticised the decision yesterday not to allow delegates the opportunity to debate the motion. "Robin was not just a valued colleague and friend to many at conference, he was a political force in his own right and that is how his friends wanted to remember him," he said.

"This shows a certain amount of paranoia. There is nothing in the motion that Tony Blair would disagree with. The very idea somebody in the Labour Party can have an autonomous personality that people identify with is a taboo for the party. It suggests a certain amount of jealousy, which isregrettable." http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article315138.ece

New Labour? What a laugh.

But what's the alternative?

Compassionate Conservatism?

As represented by lunatics like this Tory, tw*t ?

THIS HEARTLESS TORY DESERVES THE CHOP http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tonyparsons/

26 September 2005

JUST when you come to believe that all political parties are the same, a raving nutcase emerges to prove you wrong.

Tory councillor and deputy mayor Owen Lister has suggested that severely disabled children should be "guillotined" to save the NHS a few bob.

This is not a sick joke that went wrong. This is not a man being quoted out of context. The loathsomeLister says they were throwaway remarks but he is quite happy to defend what sounds like his final solution for cutting NHS waiting lists.

A Tory councillor has actually suggested at a a meeting to discuss funding for severely handicapped kids that they should be put down.

Perhaps at this point in the proceedings it's becoming plain why This Old Brit's saying that this old Britain is now well and truly buggered.

Tony Parsons, the Mirror writer who wrote the report, also says this.

I can't imagine how the words of this heartless bastard make you feel if you are struggling to bring up a disabled kid.

Well, This Old Brit can.

Because, along with his wife, for many, many years he did struggle to bring up a severely, physically disabled daughter, Helen.

She was born with severe, Spina Bifida.

( No intention of going into details here -- but you know what? It was well worth the struggle. )

Helen is over 40 years old now. Moreover, she always has been - and remains - an absolute inspiration to her parents, and an excellent example to others, far too numerous to mention.

What's more, as human beings go, she's worth more than a million little Hitlers like this Mister-loser-Lister.

And here's something else you should know.

It would have been all too easy to include another dozen or so similarly sick, British news stories which made it into our UK mainstream media -- in just the last 24 hours. Really, it would.

But who the hell in their right mind wants to be depressed any further?

Still think 21st century Britain, under the boots of Blair and Bush is 'great'?

And with that rhetorical question, This Old Brit thinks now's the time to take his break.

Thank God for Twinnings and Tetleys - and their truly, traditional British tea. Eh?

The Real Revelations re: Hurricanes Like Katrina & Rita ...

As hurricane Rita roles remorselessly toward Texas, This Old Brit asks that one thing about today's blog entry be understood, straight from the start.

The overwhelming majority of the world's civilised citizens, sincerely send their sympathy in advance to all those regular Americans, soon set to suffer from the coming storm, in some way or another.

Make no mistake though - there will be a misguided minority of mindless bigots who will almost certainly, somehow seek to show that any ensuing misery is simply some sort of summary justice.

Whilst wanting, whole heartedly, to distance themselves from such creeps as are sure to surface shouting sickening slogans like 'Nya, nya, told ya so' and 'What ya gonna do now, start a war with the weather' -- the eminently more enlightened amongst us will, none the less, have to be heard.

Wake up, America -- or worse will be on it's way.

So many signs have, for so long, been there for all to see. Global warming is already wreaking havoc across the greater part of the planet. The irrefutable and ever increasing evidence that's already emerged is inarguable. It's a fact of life - whether on not certain factions still steadfastly refuse to face it.

The polar caps are, and have been for years, melting. By the year, the month, the week, the day and indeed, even by the very hour. One can either believe it or deny it, but one can not escape it.

Unheard of heatwaves throughout Europe continue to kill more & more people each passing year. Record breaking and rapidly rising high temperatures are repeatedly being recorded. That too, is an irrefutable fact.

Vast swathes of the Indian sub continent and Asia, along with ever increasing areas of Europe are now regularly flooded - including many regions of the UK. And that's not fantasy, friends, that's yet one more fact.

This Old Brit knows it -- because he sees it -- for himself.

The forever more ferocious forest fires, now witnessed on a regular basis, in places as far apart as Portugal - part of the Iberian peninsular - and Australia at the other end of the globe, bear witness to worse things yet to come.

And come they will.

Unless, that is, those holding the power to prevent the planet's life-supporting-system's irreversable decline, decide to impliment immediately the urgently required appropriate action.

America's hurricanes draw their energy from the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico - that's a proven scientific fact. And as the earth's temperature rises relentlessly, so does that of the sea.

Inevitably, the extra energy available for feeding hurricanes' forces, proliferates proportionaly. Period.

By far the greatest contributing factor to this super-stupifying state of affairs, is the ever increasing emission of carbon dioxide into our life supporting atmosphere. Again, it's an unarguable part of science's repeatedly proven formula. Not to mention so many sensible folk's self evident, personal observations and experiences.

The United States of America is, and has been for many years, the undisputed, world champion polluter when it comes to carbon dioxide emissions.

The incumbent, indifferent ignoramus inhabiting Washington's once so well respected White House -- accompanied by his current, criminal-cabal-crew, continues encouraging all his country's diverse communities to ignore the inescapable.

Put plainly, in layman's language - serial denials 'R them.

So please, wake up America, while you're still able. Don't let a lousy lot of lying leaders change your cherished American Dream, into a nightmare.

May God bless, help and save every decent, honest American. They deserve so much better than Bushco.

And may he take care of Texans at this traumatic time, too.

Here endeth the lesson.

Liberal-Democrats' Kennedy, Blasts Blair and Bush ...

CHARLES KENNEDY


Liberal Democrats' leader Charles Kennedy, turned on the tough talk today at his party's annual conference at Blackpool. And boy, did he blast Blair and Bush.

Here's how the BBC began their online report re; today's tirade on Tony, by Charlie.

Kennedy says Blair costing lives

Tony Blair's pride and his "blind support" for George Bush are costing lives in Iraq, says Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy.

Mr Kennedy told the Lib Dem conference in Blackpool the presence of UK troops in Iraq was now part of the problem.

And he claimed the "war on terror" had increased the threat of terrorism.

Abso-sodding-lutely!

As anyone with an IQ over eight would have difficulty in disagreeing with, says This Old Brit.

So, what further flames came forth from the fiery headed, Lib-Dem-Celt-in-Command?

The speech saw the Lib Dem leader harden his rhetoric on Iraq as he derided Mr Blair's attempts to "move on" from debate on the Iraq war.

He said: "You cannot move on, when the prime minister remains in denial.

Then, like a terrier with it's teeth deep into a T-bone, he tore another one in Tone.

"You can't move on when people are dying every day. And you cannot move on when our British troops are still in the firing line.

"After this week's events in Basra we cannot sustain the myth that Iraqis see coalition troops as liberators. What they see is an occupation.

"The prime minister's pride should not get in the way of finding a solution for the people of Iraq.

"His blind support for George Bush is continuing to cost lives - Iraqi citizens and coalition soldiers.

"It's time he laid out before Parliament a proper, structured exit strategy for the phased withdrawal of British forces from Iraq."

Three cheers for Charles, eh?

Mr Kennedy said British troops had "served with distinction, courage and great skill" but made a personal appeal to Mr Blair to bring them home.

"Please listen, as you didn't before, to millions of people in our country, who are asking louder and louder as every day goes by - 'when can our troops go home?'

One can't stop a canny Scot like this, once he's started.

Hoots mon! Make my day!

And he said George Bush and Mr Blair's "so-called war on terror has been so badly implemented that it has actually boosted the terror threat not diminished it".

Kapow, Mr Kennedy. Keep it coming. Carry on.

Turning to the government's proposed anti-terror laws, he accused Mr Blair of playing politics with the leaders of the opposition parties by appearing to include them in discussions, then attempting to "spin" the outcome.

( snip )

Mr Kennedy received loud applause when he pledged not to transform the Lib Dems into "another Conservative party".

And how could one one not love this last little lambasting?

He also spoke up in favour of proportional representation, saying Mr Blair's "final defence" on Iraq was that the war would "help establish democracy".

That argument, Mr Kennedy, said "would have been a damn sight more persuasive if he had started here in Britain first."

Damn right, my mate.

You can read the rest of the Beeb's report at the first link -- and follow the full text of the speech at the second.

1./ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4269622.stm

2./ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4271902.stm

Remember Dan Rather ?

Sheesh.

I'll certainly have to ensure such sloppy, slacking stops.

Reuters ran a rather revealing Dan Rather related report on Monday, and This Old Brit took until today to get to grips with it. That's two darned days, damn it.

But better late than never -- so here's said story's header :

Emotional Rather blasts 'new journalism order'

September 19, 2005 22:11:20

By Paul J. Gough

NEW YORK
(Hollywood Reporter)

Former CBS News anchor Dan Rather said Monday that there is a climate of fear running through newsrooms stronger than he has ever seen in his more than four-decade career.

Duh, Dan!

As dear a darling man and genuine good guy, as you may well be, that's not exactly news to those in the know.

But maybe this is.

Addressing the Fordham University School of Law in Manhattan, occasionally forcing back tears, he said that in the intervening years, politicians "of every persuasion" had gotten better at applying pressure on the conglomerates that own the broadcast networks. He called it a "new journalism order."

He said this pressure -- along with the "dumbed-down, tarted-up" coverage, the advent of 24-hour cable competition and the chase for ratings and demographics -- has taken its toll on the news business. "All of this creates a bigger atmosphere of fear in newsrooms," Rather said.

Aha! That's much more like it, Mr Rather.

As is this super snippet.

Nevin asked Rather if he felt the same type of repressive forces in the Nixon administration as in the current Bush administration.

"No, I do not," Rather said. That's not to say there weren't forces trying to remove him from the White House beat while reporting on Watergate; but Rather said he felt supported by everyone above him, from Washington bureau chief Bill Small to then-news president Dick Salant and CBS chief William S. Paley.

Well darn it Dan, don't you dare stop speaking out now -- 'cos this is the sort of stuff that should certainly be aired & shared.

"There was a connection between the leadership and the led . . . a sense of, 'we're in this together,"' Rather said. It's not that the then-leadership of CBS wasn't interested in shareholder value and profits, Rather said, but they also saw news as a public service.

(snip)

Nevins took up the cause for Rather, who was emotional several times during the event.

"When a man is close to tears discussing his work and his lip quivers, he deserves bosses who punch back. I feel I would punch back for Dan," Nevins said.

Rather praised the coverage of Hurricane Katrina by the new generation of TV journalists and acknowledged that he would have liked to have reported from the Gulf Coast.

"Covering hurricanes is something I know something about," he said.

"It's been one of television news' finest moments," Rather said of the Katrina coverage. He likened it to the coverage of President Kennedy's assassination in 1963.

"They were willing to speak truth to power," Rather said of the coverage.

And Dan the man, also said this.

"I gave it everything I had, I didn't hold anything back. I did the best newscast we were capable of doing," Rather said.

Ready to read the rest?

Right you are then.

Remember the drill?

Assume the position. Make with the mouse. Line up the link. Now click and go!

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/reuters/0,24012,1106952_10_0_,00.html

Prince William and Kate: a Royal romance ...

Had a belly full of Bush and Blair?

Weary of the war?

Pissed with the politicians?

Had enough of hurricanes?

Tired of TV tripe?

Fed up with Fox fabrications?

Good!

Now, got some time for a good old gossip?

Ready for some real romance?

Right. Relax, and read This old Brit's most recent 'Royal' revelation.

20 September 2005

EXCLUSIVE: WILLS LOVES KATE: IT'S OFFICIAL

Prince and his girlfriend to 'come out' on first public date

By Nathan Yates, Royal Correspondent

PRINCE William and his girlfriend Kate Middleton are to step out together at an official public occasion for the first time.

They are planning to "come out" as a couple after becoming frustrated with the secrecy surrounding their relationship.

Exciting, eh?

Here's some more from this morning's Mirror.

A Clarence House insider said last night: "William has grown weary of the cloak-and-dagger operation surrounding his girlfriend.

"He wants her to be acknowledged as an important part of his life. He is planning to appear in public with her as a statement of intent and commitment to her.

He has lost patience with his girlfriend being kept hidden, as if the family is ashamed of her.

Aaaaaaaah, eh?

Then there's this from this morning's Mail.

Is Kate getting ready to join the Firm?

by REBECCA ENGLISH,

Daily Mail 08:49am - 20th September 2005

Kate Middleton: joining the Queen's 'Firm'?

Prince William's girlfriend has had a series of private meetings with the Queen, it has been revealed.

They include two intimate dinners in recent months - raising speculation that Kate Middleton, 23, is being groomed to join the Royal Family.

Sources say the Queen, who is very fond of her grandson, has developed a 'warm and relaxed' relationship with his girlfriend, regarded in court circles as a future royal bride.

Starting to sound sort of serious, eh?

'The fact that Kate has met with the Queen several times and has dined with her privately should not be underestimated,' an official said.

'The Queen takes a loving interest in her grandson and heir and she is delighted he is so happy with Kate.

Oooooooooh, eh?

Okay, okay -- I know. I'm a terrible tease.

So grab a glimpse of this -- then I'll let you loose on the links below.

The claims about her meetings with the Queen come after the Mail revealed she had been secretly receiving media training with senior Clarence House officials.

William is said to be keen for her to be well prepared for the inevitable onslaught of press attention. One of the key lessons has been on how to handle the photographers who have started to follow her.

The Palace's approach shows courtiers have learned from the mistakes of the past.

Other royal newcomers - notably William's mother Diana - have complained about a lack of guidance.

1./ http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16150754&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=exclusive--58--wills-loves-kate--it-s-official-name_page.html

2./ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=362912&in_page_id=1770&in_a_source=&ct=5

Bring our boys back from Iraq ...

Gathered around our current Queen's grandfather King George V, as he lay close to death , those present put on their best of British brave faces in an effort to ease his expected imminent expiry.

"You'll soon be up & about and back in Bognor, sir," they lied. They referred of course to Bognor Regis, the King's favourite British holiday haunt.

"Bugger, Bognor!" the monarch managed to mumble -- then promptly passed away.

And so it transpired that a further set of famous last words had found a place in Britain's history.

Right now, many British soldiers are expressing equally, easily understood emotions en masse.

From Asia Minor's ancient Mesopotamia, the message we're beginning to hear from our brave boys in uniform could hardly be more clear.

It's "Bugger, Basra!"

Witness what one squaddie had to say to the Sunday Mirror.

Our brave troops, largely forgotten amid the July terror attacks and New Orleans floods, will stay as long as they are told to.

But, for the first time, officers and squaddies are thinking the unthinkable. They are saying out loud that staying in Iraq is no longer making things better.

One soldier speaks for many when he says: "It's time to get home.

There is no point in anyone else dying here. We are past the time that we are needed here in Basra. We have done enough."

Note that it's not just the rank & file who are fed up either, fine fearless fellahs though they be.

In private, senior officers are growing exasperated by the lack of any clear exit strategy.

And I can see why. For the past two weeks 6,000 British troops have been in virtual lockdown in Basra.

It seems the brass are becoming as pissed off as are the privates. Eh?

Some platoon commanders now make their displeasure plain.

Why, platoon commanders ask, should they take unnecessary risks with their men's lives for a cause - trying to maintain security - which is now almost lost?

Then there's this.

The Commanding Officer of 1 Coldstream Guards battle group, Nick Henderson, says he has asked for more Warrior armoured vehicles for his soldiers because they are the only vehicles strong enough to ensure his troops will get back home alive when their tour ends in five weeks.

When even the Commanding Officer of the Coldstream Guards wants to wade in with his own words of war-wisdom ....... well ...... what can one really say?

Surely, silence is supposed to be golden where such seniority is concerned. But when it isn't, one can't help but wonder what other surprises may soon be in store.

The truth is, our own troops have finally figured out for themselves, the absolute futility of the whole farcical affair.

Thanks to the boy blunder Blair, they're well & truly bogged down in an impossible position.

Continued involvement in any Iraq occupation is quite simply no longer in our own nation's national interests. Blair & Bush's illegal war has become our unarguably, unwinnable war.

Let's face it, Tony Blair bought a pig in poke -- and it was George W. Bush - his blood brother - who sold it to him.

But it's other poor buggers who are paying the price. Every day. In blood.

So This Old Brit suggests we should all shout out together.

Bugger, Basra. Bugger, Baghdad. Bugger, Blair. Bugger, Bush.

And bring our boys back from bloody, Iraq.

* See what else the Sunday Mirror says on the subject.

http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/news/tm_objectid=16143821%26method=full%26siteid=62484%26headline=the%2dmessage%2dfrom%2dour%2dtroops%2din%2diraq%2d%2dit%2ds%2dtime%2dto%2dcome%2dhome-name_page.html

UN Report Reveals US "3rd World" Hidden Health Horrors ...

In between the UN big boys' current get together in the Big Apple, the international press expose/coverage of the pitiful plight of the poor caught up in the chaos of Katrina and, the continually escalating carnage in Iraq -- an unbelievable UN health related report was released.

But as is all too often the case, the story of the shocking and scandalous situation in the United States' regarding many millions of poor and underprivledged American people's plight, seemed to simply slip US mainstream media's mind. Whether the brushing under the carpet of such a shameful state of affairs was by accident or by so called intelligent design remains to be revealved.

Here's one of the horrendous, heartbreaking headers heralded across the world by the UK's Independent, a few days ago.

UN hits back at US in report saying parts of America are as poor as Third World

By Paul Vallely

Published: 08 September 2005

Parts of the United States are as poor as the Third World, according to a shocking
United Nations report on global inequality.

Claims that the New Orleans floods have laid bare a growing racial and economic divide in the US have, until now, been rejected by the American political establishment as emotional rhetoric.

But yesterday's UN report provides statistical proof that for many - well beyond those affected by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina - the great American Dream is an ongoing nightmare.

Astonished? Alarmed? Astounded? Ashamed?

All of the above?

Thanks to Democrats dot com, who captured the Independent's piece from the pay-to-read portion of their online edition, the full article is now avaiable for all to see -- for free.

But be prepared for the possibilty of puking when perusing the appaling paragraphs below.

Including paragraphs pointing out frightening figures of the iniquitous, inequalities of the laughingly labeled 'health care provision' in the 21st century, United States' so-called civilised society.

Along with paragraphs pointing out pathetic percentages aplenty, like these.

* 13% of US national income is disbursed disproportionaly on healthcare for whites.

* Baby boys of America's top richest 5% families live lives lasting 25% longer than boys born to the poorest 5%.

And here's the BIG one.

* The US infant mortality rate is now every bit as bad as the 3rd world's, Malaysia.

Then the catalogue continues.

* While 13 % of white Americans remain uninsured, an amazing 21% of black citizens and an horrendous 34% of Hispanics suffer similarly.

* Child poverty rates in the US currently include more than 20% of it's young population.

* Over 40% of uninsured inhabitants of America have no regular place to recieve medical treatment.

* In excess of 33% of this same section of citizens claim that in the last 12 months at least one unfortunate member of their family missed out on much needed medical care, including prescription drugs, pimarily due to their offical poverty stricken status.

None-plussed? Numbed? Nauseated?

One certainly should be.

Compassionate conservatism? Huh. Much more like indefencible and icorrigable indifference, thinks This Old Brit.

Read the rest of this recent UN report's revelations.

http://www.democrats.com/node/6079#comment

Bubble-boy Bush Pleads With Poodle Blair ...

Almost indecently soon after abandoning Britons to the tender mercies of the chaos & carnage which was Katrina - along with Australians, Canadians and hundreds of thousands of his fellow Americans - the philanderer-in-chief suddenly, can't cozy up quickly nor close enough to the British Premier.

But as per usual, there's method in this man's madness - though it's difficult to determine where the shrub comes by such shameless cheek.

Bare faced bloody gaul?

Read this remarkable report re; the beleaguered bubble-boy.

Sunday Mirror - 11 September 2005

SAVE ME!

Bush begs Blair for support over Katrina

By Vincent Moss

EMBATTLED George Bush is begging Tony Blair to "pull him out of a hole" by backing his handling of the New Orleans crisis.

Well, they do say every dog has it's day.

But a president ... pleading with his poodle ?

Nonetheless, pathetically pitiful though it appears, it certainly sums up GWB's current self inflicted, sad-sac situation.

Oh, the irony of it all. A turd asks a turd for assistance -- with, of all things, an excrement extraction exercise.

Priceless, eh ?

But back to Vincent Moss, in the Mirror.

The Prime Minister flies to New York on Tuesday for a United Nations summit where he will meet the US President.

Mr Blair's allies are desperately urging him to avoid publicly supporting Mr Bush who has faced an avalanche of criticism over the bungled relief operation after Hurricane Katrina.

But the White House is determined to use the huge respect Mr Blair commands in the States to bolster Mr Bush by supporting his stewardship of the disaster.

Officials at Number Ten were this weekend trying to find a solution to the diplomatic minefield.

One senior Government source admitted: "There is pressure from America to pull Bush out of a hole over New Orleans."

But what about the best bit ?

"But is very difficult to pour praise on a relief operation which was so clearly flawed. It would make us look ridiculous."

Sadly but probably not surprisingly, This Old Brit hasn't yet been asked [officially] how he sees it -- neither by Blair personally nor indeed by any of his New Labour, band of brothers.

What a pity they don't realise Richard has a ready made, reply-on-a-plate for the pratt.

And while it's by no means original - as Bush's callous and criminal co-conspirator, Cheney can quite confidently confirm, it is a fast becoming, famously fashionable phrase.

For if This Old Brit were Blair, here's what he would say.

Go fuck yourself, George.

More from the Mirror, at the link.
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/news/tm_objectid=15955399&method=full&siteid=62484&headline=save-me--name_page.html

Bush, Brown, Body Bags and Begging Bowls ...

This Old Brit had already begun today's blog when the news about Brown being booted - albeit belatedly - was beamed across the Atlantic.

God job Brownie. Bad job Brownie. You're booted Brownie.

But what's the difference really?

The dead didn't rise again. The lost remain unrecovered. America's still stuck with Bush. Cheney's still in charge. Halliburton's still set to make millions. And the entire globe goes on being gobsmacked.

Whenever Brits begin berating an awful organiser, one of the first things they're bound to claim of the culprit's complete incompetence is that "He couldn't organise a booze-up in a brewery."

And right now, in every English pub and indeed anywhere else where more than half a dozen ordinary working people meet and chat, the bumbling bubble-boy Bush, is invariably being described as the perfect example of just such a pathetic plonker.

Also right now, in all other recent US disaster related conversations across the globe, This Old Brit bets his bottom dollar that similar sayings are being repeated ad nauseum.

Not only did dumbo-dubya not have a damned clue about what to do when disaster first struck, but even after such a considerable time since, the lame brained cretin quite clearly still can't cope.

As evidenced for example via these excerpt from the UK's Mail.

Why Bush should be ashamed to ask for help

by ESTHER SWALES -- Mail online

Devastated: New Orleans

Mail online comment:

It is a humiliating admission that the world's richest nation cannot cope with a natural disaster.

The horror that we have watched unfold in New Orleans has been feared for years and could have been avoided on such a shocking scale.

But now the Bush administration has been forced to beg the rest of the world for help amid chaotic scenes.

And remember that this editorial comment comes from a conservative, compact broadsheet.

As does this.

America has already spent a staggering £186billion on the Iraq conflict, yet is now unashamedly turning to Europe and the UN with requests for anything from nappies [diapers] and baby milk to forklifts and veterinarian supplies.

And of course the world has been quick to offer help. Friends and foes have rallied to the cause, shocked, naturally, by the terrible images of desperation and grief beamed around the world.

The latter paragraph's pronouncement is perfectly proper; that's obviously as it should be. While the former rightly reminds readers of W's wanton waste of US taxpayers' hard earned personal dollars on completely avoidable, costly conflicts a world away from their once so happy, homeland.

Strong allies including Britain, Australia, Israel and Kuwait have leapt to help, but so have those nations demonised by the Bush administration.

Sworn US enemies such as Cuba and Venezuela - which have come under intense criticism from the Bush camp - have raced to assist with offers of doctors, aid kits and medicines. Even Iran, of Axis of Evil fame, has offered humanitarian aid.

Romania, not yet a member of the EU, is also sending two teams of medical experts.

Then there's this too, on taking aid from the poor.

But it is a disgrace that the US should accept offers of help from the poorest nations who are barely able to cope with their own disasters.

Heartbreakingly, tsunami-battered Sri Lanka and Thailand have been generous in coming forward with donations despite struggling to feed and house their own people.

Even Americans joining the debates on the Mail online message boards have voiced their disquiet at accepting aid from other nations.

It's important to note that none of this criticism is cast in the direction of the American people themselves, and nor should it ever be construed to be. Rather, it's a direct indictment of their once proud country's cannibalistic crew of criminals who five years ago commandeered the White House in what wasn't much short of a coup.

And such an indefensible indifference to their own citizens trials & tribulations ever since - in the minds of most - most deservedly merits such severe critical censure -- and maybe more.

Across the British political/press aisle, the Mirror makes no bones about offering it's two-penneth too.

9 September 2005

HURRICANE HELL 25,000 BODYBAGS

Finding all city's dead will take 90 days

From Aidan Mcgurran In New Orleans

A GRIM consignment of 25,000 bodybags has been sent to New Orleans as the task of recovering the dead gets under way.

The official death toll from Hurricane Katrina stands at 83 in the city, including 30 elderly people found in a flooded nursing home.

Officials estimate the final figure will top 10,000, but there are fears that it will be much higher.

The body count will only emerge when the long process of pumping out the stagnant floodwater is finished in about 90 days.

As well as the bodies in the water, many more people are thought to have died trapped in attics without enough fresh water.

A temporary morgue in St Gabriel, about 70 miles from New Orleans, has been set up to prepare to handle 5,000 corpses.

Small consolation then, that the bogus bastard Brown is finally flung out on his arrogant arse.

Meanwhile, criticism of the speed and scope of the Government's response has been growing.

The president of Oxfam America, Raymond Offeneiser, said the situation "amounts to a massive institutional failure".

He added: "Before Katrina, we reserved our emergency response for countries that lack the resources of the United States. If we've got this kind of failure at home, how can we expect poor countries to do better?"

President Bush's response to the crisis was rated "bad" or "terrible" by 42 per cent of Americans in a survey, compared with 35 per cent who said it was "good" or "great".

(snip)

The disaster is expected to cost American taxpayers £100billion.

It is estimated that 400,000 jobs could be lost and the nation's economic growth slashed by up to one per cent.

It also poses a huge problem for cities across southern America, which are struggling to cope with the large number of evacuees. The government has begun handing out £60million worth of debit cards to thousands of survivors.

At the Houston Astrodome, where 16,000 New Orleans evacuees are being housed, long queues formed for the £1,200 cards.

Meanwhile, conmen have been detected on some of the 2,300 websites set up to help the relief effort.

One wonders if Pat-the-rat-Robertson is included in the conman category. For surely he should be. However, you can bet the farm he won't be. It's equally certain that even if he were, he wouldn't be booted too.

Enough already. Methinks we doth digress too much.

Read how Blairbritain perceives Bushamerica's present predicament - via links to both The Mail and The Mirror below.

1./ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=361375&in_page_id=1770

2./ http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=15948511%26method=full%26siteid=94762%26headline=hurricane%2dhell%2d25%2d000%2dbodybags-name_page.html

New Orleans - More true tales of trash ...

My neighbouring Merseysiders the Scott family, who I quoted in my last blog entry, have arrived safe and well back home in England.

Unfortunately, they're the bearers of even sadder and more sickening stories of the on-the-ground realities of the New Orleans' nightmare.

Police officers had taken "souvenir" photographs of stranded people begging for help, he added.

Distasteful? Definitely. But that's nothing. Note the following.

The handling of the relief operation had been "horrendous", Mr Scott added.

So true Mr Scott. However, the whole wide world's already aware of that.

But I doubt all have heard of - or ever even imagined - incidents of such utterly indefensible acts of inhumanity as described next.

He said at one point a group of girls was standing on the roof of the hotel lobby and called to passing rescuers for help.

"They [the authorities] said to them 'well show us what you've got' - doing signs for them to lift their t-shirts up. The girls said no, and they said 'well fine', and motored off down the road in their motorboat.

Talk about trash. Talk about filth. Talk about the unfathomable and downright depths of degrading depravity to which some souless shits seem to sink.

If this is how indescribably inhumanely a certain section of America can treat fellow Americans - at any time, let alone at a time of such dreadfully dire need - then perhaps it is finally time to substitute the words 'God Bless America' with 'God Help America'. Perhaps even 'God Forgive America'.

How in hell could such miserable excuses for men be expected to help any visitors [including terror stricken and traumatised small children] be they from Australia, Canada, Britain or indeed anywhere else -- if that's how they treat their own?

(Richard's reminder to self:- Try to avoid the use of such useless rhetorical questions as that last one.)

But to continue with the Scotts' story which is now being spread across the UK via mainstream media. And rightly so.

Mr Scott added: "The only information we got from anybody in authority was if a policeman came past and we shouted to them out of the windows.

"The only information we ever got off them was negative, 'Do not go here. Do not go there'.

"There was no, 'Are you OK? Are you safe? Have you got water?'.

"Most of the time they would ignore us."

Thankfully, not all Americans are as animal-like. For it was some of America's genuine finest, who eventually saved my fellow scousers, the Scotts.

When they were finally rescued it had been by Louisiana game wardens, who had entered the hotel with rifles and fixed bayonets, Mr Scott said.

So God bless those game wardens and God bless all the civilised Americans they represent.

Witness some similarly sincere sentiments which Mr Scott aired through the columns of our local Liverpool newspaper, The Echo.

Mr Scott said: "The American people were fantastic, they couldn't do enough for us.

I wish I could say the same for the American authorities.

Amen to that, Mr Scott.

Links below are to the BBC -- and to the Liverpool Echo.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4217022.stm

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=15934112%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26headline=we%2dlooted%2dto%2dlive-name_page.html

New Orleans' Black & Brit Trash ...

You're on your own, Britain's victims told

Mark Townsend

Sunday September 4, 2005 The Observer

British families trapped in New Orleans last night claimed that US authorities had refused to evacuate them as Hurricane Katrina approached the city.

Nice, eh ?

Allies, eh?

On a day that Britain has flown over more than half a million 'canned rations' to help. Eh?

Special relationship, eh?

Friends, eh?

On a day that young Brit soldiers are still fighting, suffering, being maimed and dying in the US inspired, illegal Iraq oil-turf war and occupation. Eh?

Shoulder to shoulder, eh?

Coalition, eh?

Although assistance was offered to US residents, British nationals were told they would have to fend for themselves.

According to those who remain stranded in the stricken city, police had visited hotels and guest houses on the eve of the hurricane offering to evacuate Americans, but not Britons.

Still, one shouldn't be so be surprised I suppose. After all, many of America's own citizens were literally left like trash -- to rot, starve and/or die of thirst -- in the world's largest open sewer, which was once a city called NewOrleans.

The order meant UK holidaymakers without cars were left helpless in the face of the hurricane. Some have been trapped in hotels and guest houses since the hurricane struck at 7am local time last Monday.

What? No car? Duh!

Poor - black - bloody Brit-twit - or any other foreigner -- what's the difference? Eh?

To coin a phrase - " They didn't fucking vote for us."

So let them all sink or swim in the same shit, eh?

One family from Liverpool, trapped in a flooded section of the city, told relatives yesterday of their bewilderment when they realised US citizens would be offered preferential treatment.

Gerrard Scott, 35, spoke to his brother Peter from the Ramada Hotel in New Orleans where he has been stranded without assistance with wife, Sandra, 38, and seven-year-old son Ronan for the past six days. 'Those that didn't fit their criteria were told to help themselves.

The police said they were evacuating Americans, and took away the majority.

How many times have we heard that bombastic little bastard Bush ask: "Why do they hate us?"

Well, try this for size shrub - I'm a Brit and I was born, bred and brought up in Liverpool. And there are several hundred thousand more like me. So, go on smart arse, ask us again. Eh?

'The British who were left all thought the police would come back, but nobody has. They have just been left,' said Peter Scott last night.

Other Britons are, apparently, stranded in the hotel. However, contact with the outside world remains haphazard.

There is a payphone in the hotel lobby, but US operators have been refusing to accept collect calls from stranded Britons.

'Some of them are just hanging up even after they have explained they are trapped in New Orleans. It's like - what emergency?' said Scott.

But you know what makes me mad, the most? Eh?

Neither Bush nor Cheney, nor any other big time movers & shakers in their crooked cabal were in New Orleans in police uniforms. Nor where any of them working as phone operators.

Those cops and phone operators were, what are so fondly referred to as 'regular' Americans.

Just following orders, eh?

One nation under God? Seems more like one nation under sedation, these days

Right now I'm neither cool nor calm enough to comment further.

I'll simply leave a link.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1562517,00.html

FEMA Directs Disaster Donations Toward Pat Robertson ...

I write today to say:

President Bush's, Michael Chertoff's, Department of Homeland Security's, FEMA -- " ... is working 24/7" and "doing a great job".

Or so GWB's public pronouncement, proudly proclaimed today.

But being the canniest kind of old cynic and cautious old coot that he is, This Old Brit decided to do some detective work.

So he began by visiting the Department of Homeland Security's official FEMA website.

Then he read down the right hand column. Not too far down mind you. In fact, just down enough to spot the blue bullet-pointed "Volunteer or Make a Donation" line -- then once thereupon, he casually clicked -- and Bingo!

A page appeared announcing a list of associations engaged in alleviating an assortment of afflictions caused by the current catastrophe, called Katrina.

Perhaps not at all unexpectedly, the American Red Cross came first. Secondly and really rather aptly, came America's Second Harvest.

Next ............. came Operation Blessing ........ part of the [in] famous Pat [pseudo pius] Robertson operation.

This Old Brit couldn't quite believe it at first. Well, maybe not for a mere mega-second or so.

But he soon saw the light.

He's sure you will too, by following the same simple route described above.

And he's kept it simple, by straightway setting you on the right path, so to speak, via the main link.

See if you see the light.

Just click & go: http://www.fema.gov/

As Bush sows, so others reap ...

To claim the current Bush maladministration could be personaly blamed for the hurricane that has brought so much death, deprivation and destruction to New Orleans would obviously be way over the top.

Even bearing in mind how he and his henchmen have repeatedly refused to accept the virtual tidal wave of findings of most of the world's experts on global warming - and it's catastrophic, coming climate-change consequences.

However, to imply that he and his insanely, indifferent and ignorant ilk are absolutely and entirely responsible for the following, as written up by Will Bunch for America's oldest journal covering the newspaper industry - Editor and Publisher - is unquestionably, undeniably, utterly unarguably, accurate.

Here's the article's header.

Did New Orleans Catastrophe Have to Happen?

'Times-Picayune' Had
Repeatedly Raised Federal Spending Issues

By Will Bunch Published:
August 31, 2005 9:00 PM ET

Shocked and saddened as some may well be to see such a story, should anyone be really surprised? After all, the Bush oil-war wouldn't be able to continue if a constant flow of 'oh so easily' sequestrated US citizens' tax dollars wasn't readily available for such outright, astonishing abuse.

I mean, ask yourself the questions. If the needless and illegal Iraq war and subsequent occupation hadn't been engineered and implemented on the basis of a tissue of lies -- could Carlyle & Co be continuing to 'coin it' for the crooked crony-cabal in charge?

How otherwise could Cheney's Halliburton honchos have hoped to help themselves - almost effortlessly - to so many mega-millions of dollars as their cut of this putrid war-profiteering plot?

What else could have provide such super, platinum plated opportunities for the good ole' oil-boys to grow so much bigger, fatter, uglier and richer - at such supersonic speed?

For the umpteenth dozenth time most of the world wonders, as one, where the average American's outrage is. Because surely there can never have been a time in their - once justifiably proud - nation's history when apparently, absolute unaccountability went so unaccountably unchallenged.

Read this and rage.

Newhouse News Service, in an article posted late Tuesday night at The Times-Picayune Web site, reported: "No one can say they didn't see it coming.

... Now in the wake of one of the worst storms ever, serious questions are being asked about the lack of preparation."

In early 2004, as the cost of the conflict in Iraq soared, President Bush proposed spending less than 20 percent of what the Corps said was needed for Lake Pontchartrain, according to a Feb. 16, 2004, article, in New Orleans City Business.

Then read on and rage again.

On June 8, 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; told the Times-Picayune: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq ...


Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."

Also that June, with the 2004 hurricane season starting, the Corps' project manager Al Naomi went before a local agency, the East Jefferson Levee Authority, and essentially begged for $2 million for urgent work that Washington was now unable to pay for.

What kind of a compassionate conservative crew is it - that actively orchestrates and oversees such a shameless, sickening shambles?

That particular question is rhetorical of course.

The actual answers to the rapidly rising numbers of real and present problems presenting themselves to the vast majority of decent living, law abiding, honest hardworking and ever more alarmed Americans - must be extracted from their philistine, phony politicos - by themselves alone.

More than enough poor innocents both inside and outside the US have already suffered more than enough - in more than enough different ways. So heaven forbid that another horrendous hurricane hits anywhere else on the Southern coast in the foreseeable future.

If it did - then surely it's a certainty that the current crappy crew couldn't possibly hope to cope.

Can -- nay, are -- the American people prepared to bet otherwise; quite possibly staking their very lives ?

Read the complete catastrophe-query article via the underlined link, underneath.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001051313