Message to Michael Martin, Speaker of the House of Commons : You've had a good run. Now, Resign!

Our message today to the now completely discredited Mr Michael Martin, Speaker of the House of Commons, is short, sweet and straight to the point.

As an alleged man of "honour" you should set a good example. Moreover, you should be seen by all & sundry, to set such an example.

So, for God's sake man, why won't you simply sod off? Why won't you just get up and, in words of a single simple syllable, GO! And when we say GO, we mean go NOW!



Here's what the BBC's political editor Nick Robinson has to say on this sorry score, in his own (extremely), excellent blog. [See also what some of Robinson's readers/commenters are saying.]

Jaqui Smith : Should she simply "sod off" as soon as poss?

Pictured above: Jacqui Smith, British Home Secretary in Gordon Brown's government.

(snip)

To many voters she's a minister "on the take" who is not satisfied with a fat salary, a chauffeur and two homes but also claims more by employing her husband, calling her family home her second home and submitting bills for porn films.

The gap between the elected and those who elect them has rarely been wider. It is in all our interests that that gap is closed.

Read the rest of an ultra bright Brit bloke's excellent entry ~~ at the popular blog of Nick Robinson, BBC political editor.

Incidentally, for our none-Brit readers who may not be too familiar with this particular Brit bloke's face, here's a reminder of a couple of his 'close encounters' with the ogre aka George W. Bush, which most of the world witnessed ~ and probably enjoyed, as immensely as ourselves.

(snip)

Robinson got a very hard stare from George W. Bush when he asked him if he was in denial about the situation in Iraq (since the most Bush had said about the situation was that the increase in attacks was "unsettling"). Bush replied "It's bad in Iraq. Does that help?".

Nick Robinson had another run in with George Bush. At a press conference featuring Bush and Gordon Brown, Bush said to Robinson "you should cover up your bald head, its getting hot".

As Bush walked away Robinson replied "Didn't know you cared", to which the President said "I don't".

Learn a little more regarding Nick.



Almost as an afterthought we realised that even some Brits may not yet be fully aware of the latest 'accusations of fiddling' affair that Smith's become embroiled in.

So, see the latest sad & sorry Smith story.

George Galloway's recent heroic humanitarian cross country 'Gaza-Aid' convoy accomplishment

Abject apologies at the outset for not posting this piece somewhat sooner but ... oh never mind, who the hell's interested our own recent personal problems? Especially, since, as this old Jewish gent named Albert Einstein once so famously said : "Everything is relative."

( Btw, don't ask, 'coz we won't tell. )

Anyway, remember good old George Galloway?

You know - the man who so many of his lousy lying critics love to hate? Even though the majority of them aren't fit to lick his boots.



The fact is that if we weren't such serially, seriously avowed agnostics we'd almost certainly be cheering & chanting out aloud. You know the sort of thing(s) we mean. Something such as :God bless George Galloway.



How's this for an honestly heroic accomplishment of almost epic proportions, by such an elderly (and so often slandered) individual of true integrity?

Official history of Iraq reconstruction reveals incompetence on a Mugabean scale

(click to embiggen)

From the New York Times:

An unpublished 513-page federal history of the American-led reconstruction of Iraq depicts an effort crippled before the invasion by Pentagon planners who were hostile to the idea of rebuilding a foreign country, and then molded into a $100 billion failure by bureaucratic turf wars, spiraling violence and ignorance of the basic elements of Iraqi society and infrastructure.

The history, the first official account of its kind, is circulating in draft form here and in Washington among a tight circle of technical reviewers, policy experts and senior officials. It also concludes that when the reconstruction began to lag — particularly in the critical area of rebuilding the Iraqi police and army — the Pentagon simply put out inflated measures of progress to cover up the failures.

In one passage, for example, former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell is quoted as saying that in the months after the 2003 invasion, the Defense Department “kept inventing numbers of Iraqi security forces — the number would jump 20,000 a week! ‘We now have 80,000, we now have 100,000, we now have 120,000.’

Mr. Powell’s assertion that the Pentagon inflated the number of competent Iraqi security forces is backed up by Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the former commander of ground troops in Iraq, and L. Paul Bremer III, the top civilian administrator until an Iraqi government took over in June 2004.”

Those phony numbers would help Bush win a narrow victory in 2004. Just as the Department of Homeland Security would issue a new terror alert whenever the president's poll numbers began to sag, so the Department of Defense would issue a rosy new progress report whenever events in Iraq indicated that the situation was spiraling out of control. In fact, it appears that from the beginning of the occupation, the White House saw the appearance of progress in Iraq as a means to an end, the end being the re-election of President Bush:
Read more »

A Little Bit About Lehman Brothers' 'Horrible' Richard Fuld ...

What we see above is what we've got.

He's a poxy, predatory opportunist prick called Richard Fuld.

He's been robbing the poor to give to the rich.

And so far, it seems this ghoul's going to get away with it.

So what we want to know is why?

How the hell can this sort of shameful stuff be allowed to happen?

Lehman Bros head took home $300m

The head of failed US investment bank Lehman Brothers has told Congress that he took home about $300m in pay and bonuses over the past eight years.

Richard Fuld, whose firm went bankrupt last month, made the statement during testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

(snip)

Mr [Henry] Waxman also criticised Mr Fuld for requesting multi-million dollar bonuses for departing executives just days before last month's collapse.

"In other words," he added, "even as Mr Fuld was pleading with [Treasury] Secretary [Henry] Paulson for a federal rescue, Lehman continued to squander millions on executive compensation."

Still, not to worry too much though. We suppose things could be worse.

After all, this fat-cat, Fuld f*cker, did have the decency to declare ....

"I feel horrible about what happened,"

Read the rest of this outrageous report right here.

Then hope as hard as we're hoping that before long we'll be able to switch the shot of the shyster shown above, to the shot shown below.



But, beware of holding your breath.

No matter who replaces G.W. Bush as president of the US.



*(Cross posted across at 'appletree')

Wherein: We Fart Full in the Faces of Fannie Mae Fat-Cat Faeces ...

Today we cut out the crap and cut straight to the chase.

Mortgage forgiven for woman, 90, who shot herself

AKRON, Ohio - Mortgage finance company Fannie Mae said it is forgiving the mortgage debt of a 90-year-old woman who shot herself in the chest as sheriff's deputies attempted to evict her.

Addie Polk's plight was cited by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, on Friday before the House voted to approve the $700 billion financial rescue package. Kucinich voted against the plan.

Fannie Mae announced later Friday that it would dismiss its foreclosure action, forgive Polk's mortgage

(snip)

Countrywide Home Loans [who, some swear, positively sucks] filed for foreclosure last year, and Polk's home was sold to Fannie Mae at a sheriff's auction in June

Read the rest of the heartbreaking report right here.



*(Cross posted across at 'appletree')

The Current Cash and/or Credit Crisis ~ For Dummies ...

Next, we strongly suggest taking a look at a brother old Brit blogger's personal take on this topic.

And hear you'll learn where increasing numbers of countries are increasingly laying the bulk of the blame for this unforgivable financial fowl up.

*(Cross posted across at 'appletree')

Some Special Messages We Want to Send to Some Certain Shmucks...

We've always been big believers in fairness, equality, honesty, free speech and straight talking.

So, after recently citing Israeli ogre Olmert, today we want to pass on a message to politicians in general and to British politicians in particular.

"If the cap fits, fellas ... flippin' well wear it."

And here's an even stronger message for the same conniving, cretinous crew of crooks, via the great British public at large.

Our priggish, parasitic, politico plonkers should ignore it at their peril, since pretty shortly absolute 'masses' of people will once again be voting with their votes.

(snip)

An annual analysis of perceived corruption showed the UK had dropped from a score of 8.4 out of 10 to 7.7 out of 10 in the last 12 months - the first time it has ever fallen below 8.

(snip)

The score put the UK joint 16th on Transpancy International's latest 'Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI)', alongside Ireland but one place above the USA.

Read the rest of this revealing report to see how some other supposed civilised democracies are perceived by their own citizens.



(Cross posted at 'appletree')

Israel's Shamed Shyster Ehud Olmert Finally 'Formally' Effs Off Out Of It

And so another one bites the dust.

Olmert formally submits his resignation to Peres

By Mazal Mualem, Shahar Ilan and Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondents, and The Associated Press

Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert arrived at the President's residence in Jerusalem Sunday evening to formally submit his resignation to President Shimon Peres after almost 33 months in office.

Olmert earlier announced his decision to step down at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, held in Jerusalem.

But let us, at least, be honest -- what's so sodding new?

It seems to us, and has done for many years now, that being a 'bent' politician is almost mandatory for those seeking and/or holding high office in modern day Israel.

What we really want to know (really, really want to know), is why this latest in a long line of sickengly slimy, super seedy, shitty self serving shysters took so much time to say so long.

Anyhow, here's the holy land's own 'Haaretz' holding forth.



Who was it who famously said that the eyes are the mirror of the soul?

Whoever it was, it certainly seems to us that they knew what they were talking about.

Well, wouldn't you say so too?

Eh?

(Cross posted at 'appletree')

Sarah Palin's Personally Picked People, Old School Pals' Pay Packets, Pretty Hefty Perks, etc, etc ...

We're sure you can guess how we "see" the sort of stuff that follows.

We wonder how the rest of America and the wider world sees it?

We bet you can guess.

WASILLA, Alaska —

Gov. Sarah Palin lives by the maxim that all politics is local, not to mention personal.

So when there was a vacancy at the top of the State Division of Agriculture, she appointed a high school classmate, Franci Havemeister, to the $95,000-a-year directorship. A former real estate agent, Ms. Havemeister cited her childhood love of cows as a qualification for running the roughly $2 million agency.

Ms. Havemeister was one of at least five schoolmates Ms. Palin hired, often at salaries far exceeding their private sector wages.

Read the rest of this rather alarmingly revealing report.

And then there's THIS.

*(Cross posted at 'appletree')

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

*

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 !



*

Conrad Black Sentenced To Six & Half Years Behind Bars ...

Well, boo-bloody-hoo, awrh shucks and woe is we.

We do declare we're destined for the depths of darkest despair.

Since we're certain we're set to spend several sleepless nights tossing and turning in bed, while weeping & wailing upon our pillow.
NOT!

Black gets six-and-a-half years

Former media tycoon Conrad Black has been sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison.

Read the rest of the report regarding this reprobate.

Then, take some time to take a look at this.

Here's a tiny taste of the tawdry tale it tells.

Lord Black's life of luxury revealed

The 500-page report that media group Hollinger International has filed with US regulators not only blasts former boss Lord Black for removing huge sums of money from the company.

It also lifts the lid on the extraordinarily lavish lifestyle he and his wife, Barbara Amiel Black, enjoyed - paid for, Hollinger alleges, by the company itself.

Sweet, isn't it? Nice work if you can it, eh?

Since it sure beats the shit out doing a decent, honest day's damned work.

* (Cross posted at Appletree)

Ten Million Missing White House emails:Special Conspiracy Coincidence Edition ...

Apparently things are much more appalling than they already appeared to be, regarding the many millions of missing, important White House e-mails. As a matter of fact, at least 100% worse.

Consider the quickly clipped quote below, fresh from the fighting fellahs of the famous Crooks and Liars blog.

... Cafferty: A government watchdog group now says more than 10 million White House emails are missing.

Citizens for the Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) described this massive hole in White House email records last April.

At that time they thought the number was 5 million - Now they say it is more than 10 million emails.

In one of the great understatements of this here Christmas season, the group says that this revised estimate - quote - highlights that this is a very serious and systematic problem at the White House - unquote.

Both CREW and another private group called the National Security Archive are suing the Bush administration to try to get information about all these missing emails. The White House email problems first came to light during special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s investigation into the leak of CIA officer Valerie Plame’s identity.

(snip)

By the way it’s against the law that these emails be destroyed or lost. They are supposed to be saved. The Presidential Records Act of 1978 mandates White House communications be preserved. Another law broken — Another example of nobody doing a damn thing about it.

So, see the rest for yourself.

Now, one quick question before we flit off for our tea-break.

Theory-wise, coincidence or conspiracy?

Remember, Old Brit Richard just reports.

You decide.

(Cross posted at Appletree)

*

US General Ricardo Sanchez: US Politicians Corrupt & Incompetent

So, we've had some (semblance of), sleep.

So, we're not quite too tired to type up something as special as this.

US general damns Iraq 'nightmare'

Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez said the US currently was only delaying defeat

A former US military chief in Iraq has condemned the current strategy in the conflict, which he warned was "a nightmare with no end in sight".

Retired Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez also labelled US political leaders as "incompetent" and "corrupted".

He said they would have faced courts martial for dereliction of duty had they been in the military.

Read the rest of this related BBC report.



Good for you general.

(And btw, we're glad you got that third star).

Though you should have said something even stronger - even sooner.

That way, you may possibly have saved lots of lives; lives of soldiers and civilians.

*