The Mask Comes Off: Israeli minister threatens "Holocaust" in Gaza

The future of Palestine?

From the Times (UK):

Read more »

Surely What's Good Enough For Britain's Queen Elizabeth Is Good Enough For America's Senator Barack Hussein Obama ?

So why such a farcical fuss about United States' Senator Barack Hussein Obama's middle name?

Why Is Obama's Middle Name Taboo?

Do we Brits a have a bloody heart attack or bust a bleeding blood vessel whenever we see something super-surprising about our own Queen?

Of course we don't.

Since we in the main are adults. And as such, ever eager to further our education and better understand our (widely and completely understandably), much coverted heritage.

Anyway ...

thanks to one of our super-special cyberspace soul mates, the unarguably extremely intelligent and immensely well informed, extraordinarily enlightened/educated, much travelled, amazingly multi cultured and wonderful worldly wise Sophia, at 'Les Politiques' - for this truly telling Juan Cole/Informed Comment hat tip.

Here's a taste of what the man wants to tell us all.

''It is little known by the British people that the blood of Mohammed flows in the veins of the queen.

However, all Moslem religious leaders are proud of this fact.''

Read the remarkably revealing rest of his revelations.

*(Cross posted at Appletree)

Jack Kingston Is Even Stupider Than Bush

Obama is once again having his patriotism questioned because he doesn't wear the right jewelry

Representative Jack Kingston (R-GA) says that Barack Obama is unpatriotic because he doesn't wear an American flag lapel pin. So imagine how surprised MSNBC's Dan Abrams was when Kingston showed up for an interview about Obama's patriotism and didn't wear a lapel pin. Here's the hilarious video:

Read more »

Prince Harry:Front Line Fighter In Helmand, Afghanistan ...

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Well, surprise, surprise.

Have you seen what we've seen?

Prince Harry in Taleban fighting

Prince Harry has been fighting the Taleban on the front line in Afghanistan, the MoD has confirmed.

Harry, 23, who is third in line to the throne, has spent the last 10 weeks serving in Helmand Province.

The prince joked about his nickname "the bullet magnet", but said: "I finally get the chance to do the soldiering that I want to do."

It seems to us that young Harry's a Prince who likes his little laugh.

Here's another of the lad's little jokes. (Ha, bloody ha. How highly and mightily hilarious, your Royal Highness - that you should make the butt, the great unwashed.)

"I haven't really had a shower for four days, I haven't washed my clothes for a week.

"It's very nice to be sort of a normal person for once, I think it's about as normal as I'm going to get.

Read the rest of this remarkable revelation.

( N.B. While we're still (sort of), firing on a single cylinder ourselves, posts will probably stay pretty short & sweet.)

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On 'The Onion', Diebold, US Presidential Election, John McCain, Mind Blowing And More ...

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Hold the front page ... while we prematurely rise from our sickbed.

"ONION" World Scoop.

Electronic voting machine manufacturers 'DIEBOLD' accidentally announce 2008 US presidential election results too early.

JOHN McCAIN WINS WHITE HOUSE !



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21st Century Turkey: An Extra Step In The Right Religious Direction ...

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Expected to expire in 24/48 hours.



(The sickness certificate -- not us!)

In the meantime, we strongly suggest seeing this brand new, moderate modern Muslim message.

Turkey in radical revision of Islamic texts.

It seems to us that so many fundy/faux/counterfeit Christian countries (such as the US), could learn a hell of a lot from this super-sensible story, fresh from (secular)Turkey.

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Clinton/Obama Photo Furore: Seriously Hilarious Or Sickeningly Serious?

Surely, this whole sordid slagging-fest's just a sick joke.

Right?

Right??

Clinton Fury Over Obama Photo Claims

At least mad old McCain's got a good excuse -- senile decay started setting in some time ago.

And as for ....



... oh, never mind.

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Brits Beware : Be Careful With Your Cash ...

When at first we were hit by the following hair-raising headline in this morning's 'Mail' we were shocked. Shocked, we tell you.

Now the taxman can bug your home and phone calls to catch payment dodgers

And here's how the story continued.

Tax inspectors have been given wideranging new powers to bug people's homes and private phone calls.

They also have the go-ahead to intercept emails and plant listening devices in suspects' cars and offices.

The move is the latest expansion of surveillance powers which, until recently, were only available to the police and intelligence services.

But, hey. Stop sweating and please don't panic - since the same startling story soon went on to say ...

A spokesman said: "These powers will not be used in routine cases ...

Aha, we see. That's different then. Now we understand. In Brown's post Blair Britain now every thing's really okay. Freedom still holds sway.

We mean, if it's an official announcement made by an entirely trustworthy, H.M. governmental department, then that remarkably reassuring statement is certain to be true.

You know, all above board, completely transparent and right on the money. After all, such a civilized set of fine upstanding finance fellows wouldn't fib.

Well, would they?

Read the rest of the report to see if you think the same way we do.

Jasmina Tesanovic:Chaotic Kosovo/Serbia Situation Seen Through One Celebrated Serbian's Eyes

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Our photo below shows some protesting Serb students marching through the streets of their country's capital city, Belgrade.

Though this particular march took place some time prior to the current Kosovo chaos', from our past personal experiences (in the former Yugoslavia), in our own opinion the banner pretty well sums up in a few words the mentality of the majority of Serbs we've ever encountered.



That big banner brags that "Belgrade Is The World."

While we've obviously not met every single Serb (nor will we ever), we were never stupid enough to believe that all Serbs are the same.

And Serbian political and peace activist, committed feminist, film maker, translator, writer cum diarist Jasmina Tesanovic is living proof.



Here's a tasty teaser to tempt you, from one of this lady's most recently published and world-widely read works.

On the morning of Thursday, February 21, there was silence in the streets. Even some schools were closed because of the rally that had been planned for later that afternoon.

Buses from all over Serbia came to Belgrade, the capital city. Transportation on the buses and trains were free and had been organised by the government for people to come and perform at the big "Kosovo is Serbia" rally.

[Editor's note. Kosovo has long been populated mainly by ethnic Albanians.]

This is the motto that has been constantly broadcast on national TV channels.

My friend from inner Serbia wanted to come to Belgrade to have coffee with me and then go back home on one of these free rides.

"But then, maybe better not to be seen around you," he later said.

"You are a notorious Woman in Black, somebody might hurt you.

See the rest of this report to see the current Kosovo/Serbia situation through one internationally respected Serbian's eyes.

Then look at the latest MSM releases from both Britain's BBC, and America's YAHOO News site.

*(Cross posted at Appletree)

Obama, Clinton And McCain: All You Ever Wanted To Know But Were Way Too Scared To Ask

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Tonight we're shooting straight from the hip - so what's new? - and at the same time we're sticking with our 'sick' theme



We are sick, sick sick - and tired, tired, tired of seeing and hearing all of the hype, spin and so on that is still surrounding all of the above.

Hence, it came as such a welcome and refreshing change to find such original takes on the three US Presidential hopefuls pictured above, as were recently presented by regular reader, lovely lady and fellow (ex-pat) ageless Brit, 'Twilight'. Who, incidentally, we've increasingly come to think of as our very own, resident astrological expert.

So ...

Start by seeing Twilight's 'take-with-a-twist' on Hillary Clinton

Then there's this unique offering relating to Barack Obama.

Followed by a similarly specialist and interesting insight into John McCain.

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Shlomo Benizri : Barmpot Extremist Jewish MP Blames Israel's Gays For Earthquakes

Suffering Sodom and Gomorrah, Batman!

Oy, vey, Rabbi Robin!

By the blooming, big flowing beard of Abraham, lo and behold, etcetera -- yet another fundamentalist, zealot politician flips his flaming lid.

And here we were being led to believe that the promised land was the perfect land, and (practically) totally loony-fundy-free.

Then we spotted this hilarious yet nonetheless scary story.

Israeli MP blames quakes on gays

An Israeli MP has blamed parliament's tolerance of gays for earthquakes that have rocked the Holy Land recently.

Shlomo Benizri, of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Shas Party, said the tremors had been caused by lawmaking that gave "legitimacy to sodomy"

Read the rest of the relevant report by Ripley's ... oops, sorry ... by the BBC.

*( Crossposted at Appletree )

Not Funny

This cartoon hit just a little too close to home

(cartoon from xkcd, via reddit)
(cross posted at appletree and Liberal Avenger)

Special: US & UK War Crimes: Sick, Shock And Shame Edition ...

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Here's how we feel right now.



Today, we tried to run before we could walk, so to speak.

You know, we overdid things -- proper post-op recouperation period -- and all that palava.

Crazy couple of creaking codgers -- we should have more sense at our age. After all, we're damned well old enough to know better than to (try) do what we did.

Anyway, the result was a bit of a relapse.

But now, tonight, we're even sicker. And shocked. And ashamed.

Wondering why?

Well, here's one reason why.

And here's another reason why.



So, as we said -- sick, shocked, ashamed.

But enough of us for now.

How are you feeling?

Better or worse than you felt before following our links?

*(Cross posted at Appletree)

Wikileak dot org: Banned? Censored? Wiped Out? Or Worse?

Anyone belonging to the fast shrinking sections of certain Western citizens who still steadfastly refuse to accept the fact that they're living in Big Brother Land -should stop squandering their (mistakenly imagined), valuable time reading this story - right here.

Since we ourselves long ago faced up to the fact that some simple souls neither can nor ever will, see the ends of their own noses on their own faces.

So stuff 'em. That's their problem. We should worry. Not.

However, all those who enter here with open minds, an IQ of at least double figures, are not yet completely brain dead and a still possess any semblance of a thirst for truths -- study these selected snippets.

Whistle-blower site taken offline

The case was brought by lawyers working for a Swiss bank

A controversial[Wikipedia-like], website that allows whistle-blowers to anonymously post government and corporate documents has been taken offline in the US.

Wikileaks.org, as it is known, was cut off from the internet following a California court ruling, the site says.

(snip)

Wikileaks claimed that the order was "unconstitutional" and said that the site had been "forcibly censored".

(snip)

The court hearing took place last week and Dynadot blocked access from Friday evening.

Wikileaks says it was not represented at the hearing because it was "given only hours notice" via e-mail.

A document signed by Judge Jeffery White, who presided over the case, ordered Dynadot to follow six court orders.

(snip)

The site was founded in 2006 by dissidents, journalists, mathematicians and technologists from the US, Taiwan, Europe, Australia and South Africa.

It so far claims to have published more than 1.2 million documents.

Read the rest of this BBC report -- if it's not been blocked nor buggered about with.

*(Cross posted at Appletree)

US Uses Same Torture Techniques As Khmer Rouge

A waterboard used by the Khmer Rouge, with watering can. At right, a painting shows the apparatus being used. (click to inflate)

The folks over at waterboarding.org have some photos from Tuol Sleng Prison, where Pol Pot used to have his thugs torture the enemies of the Khmer Rouge. Not surprisingly, waterboarding and stress positions were among the torturers' favorite techniques.

***

Also, waterboarding.org reminds us that Assistant Attorney General Daniel Levin voluntarily underwent waterboarding and concluded that it is torture under most conditions.

Because of his efforts to ensure that the US didn't employ torture, Levin was forced out of the Justice Department.

(cross posted at appletree and Liberal Avenger)

Old Brit Remembers Old Blue Eyes ...

It's thirteen years this month since Frank Sinatra sang to a live audience - for the last time in his life.

It was February 25, 1995, at a private party for 1,200 select guests on the closing night of the Frank Sinatra Desert Classic golf tournament.

His final public concert performance had been held a mere two months earlier, in Japan's Fukuoka Dome, in December 1994.

And we found it on video.



In one way we were glad we were actually able to watch (and listen to), some genuine musical history in the making ...

... yet at the same time ... and on second thoughts ... we're no longer so sure ...

Understand what we're saying?

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Tough Talking Putin Lays It On The Line ...

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At the time of typing we've not seen much coverage by America's mainstream media of Russian President Putin's recent personal portrayal of bare knuckle politics.



Examine these examples extracted from the man's marathon 5 hours (plus), performance:

Vladimir Putin's nuclear threat to the West

Vladimir Putin has delivered perhaps his most menacing tirade against the West yet, repeating threats to train nuclear missiles on Europe and warning of unspecified retaliation if Kosovo declared independence.

Addressing his last press conference as Russian president, Mr Putin mounted a defiant display that demonstrated more emphatically than ever the widening gulf between Moscow and its former Cold War rivals.

Vladimir Putin used the language of the Russian street in his tirade
In a vintage performance, the former KGB spy laced almost five hours of invective with crude insults, threats and admonitions often expressed in the argot of the Russian street.

Reserving his greatest ire for the United States, which he accused of harbouring a colonial mentality towards Russia, Mr Putin again said that Europe would pay the consequences for a Washington-backed plan to erect a missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.

"Our generals, our security council, consider these moves a threat to our national security," he said. "We asked our partners to stop but no one listened to us. So if they continue we will have to react appropriately by retargeting our missiles."

(snip)

Although he did not elaborate, Mr Putin gave warning of retaliation once Kosovo broke away - a threat likely to chill Western leaders. "We have a ready-made plan and we know what we are going to do," he said.

(snip)

Encouraged by enthusiastic applause from his audience, Mr Putin often resorted to crude rhetoric to condemn his critics.

Read the rest of this 'Telegraph' report.

*(Cross posted at Appletree)

McCain Votes For Torture

From the New York Times:

Read more »

Saudia Arabian King Abdullah & Famous Friends : Special Sentimental Valentine Day Execution Edition

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Birds of a feather?

Good ole boys?

Thick as thieves?

Partners in crime?

Takes one to know one?

You scratch my back?

All of the above?



















And to think that some simple souls still swallow such fairy stories as the 'Spreading Freedom and Democracy' and 'Government of the People, by the people, for the people' sagas -- and similarly, absolutely stupid shit.

Meanwhile, here's an example of how things really are (even in these 'enlightened' times of the 21st century), for so many unfortunate 'real people'.

Dateline: Valentine's Day: 14th February 2008

The Saudi Arabian king today faced international outcry over the planned beheading of a woman accused of being a witch.

Fawza Falih turned two men impotent, a court heard in the ultra-religious state where “performing supernatural occurrences” is considered an offence against Islam.

Judges were also told she cast a spell to bring about the return of a divorced man's ex-wife.

But international charity Human Rights Watch said King Abdullah's religious police [The Mutaween] had forced a confession out of her.

Read the rest of this revolting report.



We don't know about you, but we believe we've always been able to judge most people (pretty accurately), by the kind of company they keep.

*(Cross posted at Appletree)

Lord Paddy Ashdown On Our Global Security Threat(s): Is The BBC Biased?

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Increasingly, it seems that no matter how much truth and/or sense anyone any longer speaks, be they 'known' (like Lord [Paddy] Ashdown) or not, it matters not to much of mainstream media.

Especially when it concerns something 'the establishment' considers (even the slightest bit), sensitive.



Here's a clip from an item published today by (the often, much maligned), AOL.

Global threats to national security

The battlelines in the fight to maintain national security need redrawing, taking urgent account of increased threats from climate change, disease, poverty and energy insecurity, a think-tank has warned.

The left-leaning Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said a security strategy based only on preventing military or terrorist attacks was redundant.

(snip)

Intended to inform a report from the commission later this year, it identified five key factors in the new security landscape. These were - globalisation and power diffusion, global poverty and failed states, climate change, the growth of political Islam, and socio-economic vulnerability.

(snip)

"Terrorism is a very real threat but we must not allow it to dominate discussion about national security.

Read the rest of this well balanced report.



How different does the same story sound when read in the well watered down form as released by dear old 'aunty Beeb'?

Imagine how much impartial information those of us relying solely on supposedly trusted proffesional sources such as the BBC would be denied (be it by accident or by design), if it weren't for our ability (and desire) to ferret about the internet a bit, for the benefit of both ourselves and others.

Read the rest of the BBC's so obviously biased-by-ommission, offering.



Well, what do you think?

* (Cross posted at Appletree)

Hilarious McCain Parody Video

Here's the original video, inspired by Obama's "Yes We Can" speech

After Obama's "Yes We Can" speech, inspired fans set it to music and put together an inspirational video. Now some of McCain's fans have put together a version for him:

Read more »

Completely Uncalled For Religious Controversy Caused By Rowan Williams Speaking Before Thinking Things Through

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Although ardently agnostic and freely admittedly against the agendas of all 'organised' religious organisations, we genuinely doubt there are many people more truly tolerant, empathetic and liberal than ourselves. That's why, at the time, we saw more good than harm in the meeting pictured below.



However, there are always some misguided souls that we sincerely believe are liberal to the point of plain and simple silliness. Silliness such as needlessly (and pointlessly), causing controversy where none had existed prior to the opening of some big gobs before the engagement of some befuddled brains.

All of which may offer a clue or two as to why we'd decided to produce a piece appertaining to the recent, amazing abberation of Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury and elected leader of the protestant Church of England.

That is, until we found that a fine fellow Brit blogging buddy, R.J. Adams had beaten us to it.

Here's a couple of clips from R.J.'s admirable and highly illuminating article on aforementioned topic.

An Archbishop’s Folly

Once in a while, the strain of leading a large group of individuals intent on believing the unbelievable, becomes too much to bear. Mental lethargy and incompetence take over and the mind conjures weird, twisted, ideas better left to slink and suppurate in the dank, dark, cellars of the subconscious.

Britain’s Protestant Christian leader, the “Very Reverend” Archbishop Rowan Williams, known more colloquially as the “Mad Welsh Druid” or “Merlin’s Dad”, has, to put it kindly, recently flipped his lid by proclaiming Sharia law would inevitably become a part of the British judicial system.[1]

(snip)

One result of the Archbishop’s folly has been to highlight a little known fact about certain aspects of British justice - it doesn’t apply to Jews. Suddenly, the working people of Britain have for the first time been made aware of Battei [Beth] Din,[2] Jewish courts covering civil issues as diverse as business and divorce. They’ve been around for centuries, but until now most Brits had no knowledge of their existence.

What’s good enough for Jews, quoth our good Archbishop, is equally relevant to Muslims.

Read the rest of R.J.'s remarkably revealing piece posted at his own place -- "Sparrow Chat"

*(Cross posted at Appletree)

Can Great Britain's Greatest Athletes Be 'Commanded' To Kow-Tow To China?

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I suck. He sucks. She sucks. You suck. They suck. We suck.

And so it goes, and goes, and goes.

Such statements seem commonplace nowadays, especially in the states. And while we freely confess that we can cuss, curse & swear as well as anyone can, we don't - and never did - have much time at all for those particular expressions.

However, there's always an exception to every rule.



Kow-towing, most certainly sodding does suck!

As does this shocking snippet of a sad state of current affairs news item published in today's 'Mail on Sunday'.

Britain kow tows to China as athletes are forced to sign no criticism contracts

British Olympic chiefs are to force athletes to sign a contract promising not to speak out about China's appalling human rights record – or face being banned from travelling to Beijing.

The move – which raises the spectre of the order given to the England football team to give a Nazi salute in Berlin in 1938 – immediately provoked a storm of protest.

The controversial clause has been inserted into athletes' contracts for the first time and forbids them from making any political comment about countries staging the Olympic Games.

(snip)

From the moment they sign up, the competitors – likely to include the Queen's granddaughter Zara Phillips and world record holder Paula Radcliffe – will be effectively gagged from commenting on China's politics, human rights abuses or illegal occupation of Tibet.

Prince Charles has already let it be known that he will not be going to China, even if he is invited by Games organisers.

His views on the Communist dictatorship are well known, after this newspaper revealed how he described China's leaders as “appalling old waxworks” in a journal written after he attended the handover of Hong Kong.

Read the rest of this sorry story, if you've a strong enough stomach.

Shame?

Sadly, it seems there's no such thing as far as the stupid shitheads at the British Olympic Association (BOA) are concerned.

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'InfraGard ': Lincensed To Kill Americans In America ? For profit? With Impunity?

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Someone, somewhere once said that fact is far stranger than fiction.

So who the hell are we to argue?

FBI Deputizes Private Contractors With Extraordinary Powers, Including 'Shoot to Kill'

By Matthew Rothschild, The Progressive.

Posted February 8, 2008.

The FBI has a new set of eyes and ears, and they're being told to protect their infrastructure at any cost. They can even kill without repercussion.

Sound too far fetched to be true?

Even for 21st century (fast becoming fascist), America?

Judge for yourself.



And if this is the sort of sickening stuff that turns you on ... right now they're recruiting.

*(Cross posted at Appletree)

Bush says Obama and Clinton threaten peace and prosperity. No, it's not a joke.

From the Huffington Post:

Read more »

AIDS Turns Politicians into Thugs, Idiots, and Liars

In 1992, Mike Huckabee stupidly suggested that AIDS patients be quarantined. In 2007, he lied and denied ever suggesting such a thing.

Another day, another AIDS outrage. This time, it's the Egyptian government torturing AIDS patients:

Read more »

US & UK Afghanistan Adventure : Latest On Escalating NATO Rift ...

Today we read that United States secretary of state Condi Rice and Britain's foreign secretary David Milliband have hot-footed it straight from Downing Street to Afghanistan, and that ...

... the brief unannounced visit was not an attempt to show up European nations that have refused to send fighting troops to Kandahar and other southern regions.

The European nations mentioned obviously being several members of N.A.T.O. who appear to already have had enough of the American and British led (and ever increasingly accident prone), bloody Afghanistan 'adventure'.

See the full story here.



On the self same day, we read another report , regarding US defence secretary Robert Gates speaking on the same subject.

Disagreements over Nato's mission in Afghanistan intensified today as the US defence secretary, Robert Gates, criticised some countries for not providing troops that were prepared to "fight and die" against the Taliban.

Speaking before leaving the US for a two-day Nato summit in Lithuania, Gates said: "I think that it puts a cloud over the future of the alliance if this is to endure and perhaps even get worse."

Britain and America have called on countries such as Germany, Italy and Spain to redeploy troops to southern Afghanistan, where there have been fierce clashes with a resurgent Taliban.

Gates said he had written to every alliance defence minister asking them to contribute more troops and equipment, and had received no replies.

Good grief, Gatsey, matey.

No replies?!

No, as in none at all?!

See the second story here.

As for our (cynical) selves and the way we see it ... well ... The (London)Times' clever cartoonist bloke called Peter Brookes seems to sum up our own views in a couple of pictures, far better than we ever could -- even in several paragraphs.

Witness what follows.





Get the picture(s)?

Got the general gist of what we're saying?

*(Cross posted at Appletree)

Gordon Brown And Condi Rice:Absent Afghanistan Allies Angst ...

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Talk about putting on brave faces, eh?



In case you hadn't heard, today in Downing Street, Condi came calling on Gordon. She came quite quietly too.



Seems they're seeking to set up some sort of shop as a couple of Afghanistan super-recruiters.



Okay, so we've shown you the pictures -- now read the relevant report.

*(Cross posted at Appletree)