Wallybrane's Martian Adventures

2003-10-23T12:22:00.000+01:00

Well, I've just about recovered from my unemployment and from my appearance on Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

More later.

2003-10-09T10:52:00.000+01:00

IBM Emancipates 8,000 Wage Slaves

NO! *I* AM SPARTACUS!

2003-10-09T09:53:00.000+01:00

Divorce lawyers must tell of tax dodges

Well, here's a pretty pickle and no mistake. By making lawyers report their suspicions of tax evasion, this judge has done two things. Firstly, practically every case they handle they will instantly pass over to the NCIS - because lawyers are lazy and avaricious. They don't want to spend their own money doing any investigation. Secondly, it will stop a lot of rich people getting divorced in this country - because most rich people have avoided some tax in their time. How do you think they got rich ;-)

The implications for the NCIS don't bear thinking about. Yes, they will get a lot of new leads on criminal activity but at the price of a huge increase in staff and the lawyers will demand a very rapid turn around time.

2003-10-08T16:09:00.000+01:00

Stop Oppressive Gardening

Well, you have to support a good cause, don't you. Not sure I agree with their policy on using force to liberate a captive Gnome though.

Think Gandhi.

2003-10-08T12:39:00.000+01:00

Time to condemn Dame Shirley, Tories told, as Europe upholds gerrymandering charge

Old news, I know but still relevant as one of the architects of the "Homes for Votes" scandal has just addressed Tory Conference. Fancy Lady Tesco being worth only £300,000 - nowadays you need to be worth at least half a mil just to join!

Labour MP and former Westminster councillor Mr Peter Bradley said the Tory party should recognise she had lost her fight: "Not one single senior Tory has ever condemned Dame Shirley; here is a golden opportunity for Iain Duncan Smith to break with the Conservative past."

Read those words again. Dame Shirley Porter, fined £40,000,000 for the worst vote fixing scandal in recent memory has yet to be condemned by the Conservative Party.

I think, perhaps, they should.

2003-10-08T10:32:00.000+01:00

More Fair And Balanced reporting from the BBC this morning - the presenters were talking about the Rio Ferdinand affair and they mentioned the fact that the squad were completely behind Rio. Then they offered to scab on the players. Yes, it was meant as a joke - but far too many of these BBC presenters do not take union activity seriously. Far from being dangerously left wing, as the conservatives allege this is the organisation that gave us Marmaduke Hussey and Tara Palmer-Tomtiddletomtom and that dreadful woman with the teeth, used to be a Rambler, now wants to be a Tory MP - and gave us David Icke. All Conservatives. And, if memory serves, probably had a documentary on those Hamiltons. The Hamiltons for goodness sake! He had to stand down for misdemeanors! How long before Archer has his own chat show on the Beeb - like that dreadful man who used to run the Politics show, what's his name? He's a Tory too.

Later, I will compile a list and name and shame all the Tories connected with the BBC, now and in the past. It will be a long, long, long list and probably start with Reith.

2003-10-07T17:26:00.000+01:00

Barry Legg says that the Tories should be even nastier

What, nastier than fixing elections and making council house tenants live in asbestos filled dwellings?

Well, he should know. How can we trust a single word this man says, and more to the point, has he ever paid fines or served time in jail for endangering the public? If not, why not?

And just to remind any Tories that happen to have got lost and ended up on my blog, this is the article outlining the report on how he fixed elections together with Shirley Porter who still owes us the taxpayers £40,000,000 - or about £2 for every family in the country. Nice.

Discuss Barry Legg is a bad man

2003-10-07T14:14:00.000+01:00

Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Sex, Freud and Folly: The Truth About Psychotherapy

As my loyal readers are aware, I don't often have book reviews on my site as I regard literary critics as somewhere below estate agents in the food chain. On the other hand, I do like Allejandro's review.

Read, and see what comes to you.

2003-10-06T17:25:00.000+01:00

Unconscious Mutterings Home

Borrowed from Victoria's LWCA

Week 35

I say … and you think … ?

Coat:: Mink
Allowance:: Americanism
Mist:: Red
Disorder:: Order
Scheme:: of Things
Dick:: Cheney
Homework:: Spanish
Milton:: Keynes
Shampoo:: Hindi
Z:: A
Discuss Word Association

2003-10-06T16:11:00.000+01:00

More must be done to curb light pollution, say MPs

Quite right too! And about time. In many parts of the country (mine included), people have never seen the wonder of the Milky Way or even some of the less bright stars because of light pollution.

And I'm not just posting this because our bastard neighbours over the road have the equivalent of a searchlight that shines into my bedroom. Knock it off guys!

2003-10-06T16:05:00.000+01:00

Answers please, Mr Bush

Well, here's a sample question.

5. Why are you protecting the Second Amendment rights of potential terrorists?

Mr Bush, in the days after September 11, the FBI began running a check to see if any of the 186 "suspects" the feds had rounded up in the first five days after the attack had purchased any guns in the months leading up to September 11 (two of them had). When your attorney general, John Ashcroft, heard about this, he immediately shut down the search. He told the FBI that the background check files could not be used for such a search and these files were only to be used at the time of a purchase of a gun.

I suggest you read all the questions, and see if your answers differ from Michael's and why.

2003-10-06T14:38:00.000+01:00

Latest news from the Tories: tired of just giving government subsidy to the defence industry, the Tories now want to subsidise Private (sic) healthcare. So instead of everyone using the NHS, and paying for it, people who decide to defect from the NHS will actually get a bribe to do so!

What's that? Bupa gives money to the Conservatives so that they can implement these harebrained ideas? Is that bribery? Is it corruption or just payment for services rendered? Who can say?

Also, why is the nuclear industry still retaining Bernard Ingham? I can't think of anyone more likely to put the backs of the present government up than a former press officer for Thatcher.

2003-10-03T17:25:00.000+01:00

UN calls for Keynesian injection

Well, now that the US has belatedly come around to how good the UN really is, here is another good idea from the UN.

It won't come a minute too soon for the poor world.

2003-10-03T16:24:00.000+01:00

Spy pictures of suffragettes revealed

Nice to see that at last the secrets of police covert activity on suspected "terrorists" have been revealed - only 100 years after the event!

Votes for Women! Even though they vote Tory...
Actually, that is the sickener for me. The Labour party finally gets elected into a minority government and implements votes for women in the face of huge opposition - and then Emmeline Pankhurst stands for the Conservative party.

You know, the one which opposed votes for women tooth and nail, and most of their supporters were fiercely opposed also?

In fact, right up until 1997 women were more likely to vote for the Conservatives at every election than men. Emancipation? Please.
Discuss Ewomancipation

2003-10-02T16:13:00.000+01:00

Pressure grows on White House over CIA disclosure

Well, well, well. Conflicts of interest, revelation of spies, the White House in a spin. There's a film plot in the making here, mark my words!

I can imagine the title now "The Traitorous President's Brain".

2003-10-02T15:05:00.000+01:00

Well, I've been asked the question so I will attempt an explanation of why I think humans weren't meant to sleep alone (in the Biblical sense). Firstly, humans are very sexy animals. Women are in season practically all the time, and they even have concealable menses so that their partner remains bonded. In terms of number of sex acts, possibly only the bonobo engages in more activity among us primates.

Menstrual cramps. Well, let's examine that. Women get cramps because they aren't pregnant. Sex relieves the cramps. Before contraception, women would only get menstrual cramps if they weren't having sex. So let me put this as clearly as I can - it is painful for women if they do not have sex.

Obviously, this theory falls down a bit because childbirth is painful but this is easily understood in terms of the huge and relatively sudden growth in our brain capacity on an evolutionary scale.

Male penis design - in common with many other animals (it has to be said) male humans have a coronal ridge on their penises. This is to facilitate the removal of rivals' sperm from a female human's vagina. In tests with rubber models, they found that up to 90% of a rivals sperm was removed by just one thrust.

Scary. Now, clitorises. Apparently a lot (all?) of female mammals have them, and for the same reason men have nipples - because in the womb, all foetuses are built on the same model. Women have clitorises because men need penises, and men have nipples because women need them.

I hope that has cleared a few things up. Finally, any ancient civilisation that may have practiced celibacy I don't think we will have heard about - because they have died out.

I can see you laughing and shaking your head. Go on then - look at what happened to the Shakers. A religious group, nowadays well known for their furniture. Less well known is their adherence to strict celibacy. The last Shaker died in the 20th century, and of course there are no little Shakers to take over the reins (or build the chair, depending on your choice of metaphor)

Any questions please stay behind and ask me later. Class dismissed!
Discuss Human Sexuality

2003-10-01T14:31:00.000+01:00

Now, as an official Supergrass for the Language Police, I'd like to grass up Sean Bean. Here is a man with only one letter difference in his first and surnames. So it should either be "Shaun Borne" or "Seen Been". You can't have it both ways Shaun (or seen).

Consider this an official first written warning. Any further infractions (like naming your daughter Siobhan and expecting everyone to pronounce it Sheevaughn) will be dealt with severely.

I blame the parents.
Discuss Seen been?

2003-10-01T13:54:00.000+01:00

Well, the BBC is picking up and running with the White House traitor story as detailed on this site a couple of weeks back. Things are looking up, and Bush is looking increasingly like a lame duck President who lied about the reasons for going to Iraq.

The biter, bit!

2003-09-30T17:29:00.000+01:00

Thanks to Making Light again...

The Ideal Scientific Equipment company sounds wonderful, and I'm going to be sending off my order for a dozen magnetic monopoles tonight to work in this perfect dynamo I am creating!

Discuss Ideal Science Equipment

2003-09-29T16:28:00.000+01:00

Well, it is the start of Conference and I hope everyone enjoys it. It would be nice if there was a change of heart and direction by the cabinet into being more activist friendly - losing PFI and PPP, trying to deliver more for our core constituency.

2003-09-26T11:47:00.000+01:00

"Return to your constituencies", he said, "and prepare for Government!". Ahh, dear, dear, dear old small David who I will always remember as the small puppet on Spitting Image. He was wrong then. And Kennedy is wrong now - there won't be a Lib Dem breakthrough because they haven't convinced any Conservatives of their policies. If they want to position themselves as a new party of the right, then they will have to do difficult things like stop being all things to all men and start making difficult political and economic decisions.

That will alienate about half their activists, to start with. Mostly Lib Dems are happy when they don't have to stand *for* anything. But to live, as they say, is to take sides. The Liberals natural base is well meaning middle class people who don't like socialism ("too grubby"). We will always be able to outflank them on the left, and Conservative support is melting away slowly as they die out. Will the Lib-Dems be able to turn the pro-European Tories onto themselves, or is their current support just a blip caused by an unpopular decision made by a popular government? Time will tell. I think Brent East was a bloody nose for the Blairites, and a warning that you can only drag Labour supporters so far to the right. We have reached that point now, and a new balance needs to be made.

2003-09-25T15:28:00.000+01:00

Here's a nice extract from a new book by an ex-member of the Clinton Administration - here

Just a taster to whet your appetite:

"...The heralded transition of ex-communist countries to a market economy, which was supposed to bring unprecedented prosperity, brought unprecedented poverty.

The transition turned out to be such a disaster that by the summer of 1999, the New York Times was asking, "Who lost Russia?" And even if Russia was not ours to lose, the statistics were sobering: with efficient capitalism replacing moribund and decadent communism, output was supposed to soar.

In fact, output declined 40% and poverty increased tenfold. The results were similar in the other economies making the transition who followed the advice of the US treasury and the International Monetary Fund. Meanwhile, China showed there was an alternative path of transition which could succeed in bringing the growth that markets promised and reducing poverty.

Clearly, something had gone wrong in the way we were leading the world into the new international order. At the very least, we had not addressed the fundamental problems of instability. There was enormous talk of reforming the global financial architecture but no real action."

Extracted from The Roaring Nineties: Seeds of Destruction, Joseph Stiglitz; published by Allen Lane, October 2; £18.99 Copyright Joseph Stiglitz 2003

It looks like an interesting book, and probably deserves to be more widely read than it probably will be.

Discuss US foreign policy - justified or wrong?

2003-09-24T10:40:00.000+01:00

Well, I've had a few thoughts since my recent blog break but one of the most recent is: where do the right wing get off on criticising political correctness? They have been doing it for years, and are still doing it now. It isn't killing your allies it is "friendly fire". You aren't sacked you are "downsized" or "let go" or "reorganised". Killing unarmed civilians is "collateral damage". Killing people is "termination". Rich people getting richer and poor people getting shafted is called "capitalism" or "free trade".

To call a black person a person of colour doesn't seem such a stretch really, does it?

2003-09-19T09:36:00.000+01:00

I bet there are a lot of shocked people in Brent East today. Obviously the Lib Dems, shocked to have won and wondering what the heck to do next. The voters, who just wanted to register a protest vote but never expected a different party to get elected. The Conservatives, who must be gutted they didn't at least get second and finally the Labour party. Wondering why a Blairite right-winger from Surrey didn't take off in socialist Brent East. Crikey, I would have been a better candidate - at least I used to live in Brent and have an idea of the area.

Anyway, among all the lies that were told in the election broadcast last night some of the most creative came from the Lib Dems, as usual. They were brought to power on a wave of anti-war sentiment, which has always been strong in Brent ever since the 80's and CND. By cynically claiming they were anti-war, they were giving themselves a status they do not deserve. They will come unstuck when they have to sell that policy all over the country (and especially in Aldershot!)

I'm going to write more about this until it is out of my system. I'll publish the results later when I regain my temper.

Discuss Brent East - hope for Old Labour or Lib Dems unstoppable

2003-09-18T12:53:00.000+01:00

Here is an extract of a great piece by someone who should never have been driven out of the Labour Party - Ken Livingstone.

Voters must beware of Lib Dem lies - full article

"...After the Lib Dems won power in Sheffield, services were slashed and privatisation accelerated, despite promising the electorate they were opposed to such measures. In Kirklees, the Lib Dem council was widely condemned last year for a costly private finance initiative deal for schools with the rail maintenance company Jarvis. Since controlling Milton Keynes, the Lib Dems have raised charges for meals on wheels and home care for the elderly by 11%.

In London, the new Lib Dem regime in Islington has closed community centres, pensioner clubs and summer playschemes, accompanied by attacks on the workforce, describing residential caretakers threatened with redundancy as "skivers". Southwark Lib Dems have shut eight day-care centres for the elderly, slashed £1.5m from adult day-care provision and cut early years and nursery provision.

Far from being a safe place for Labour supporters to cast a protest vote, the Liberal Democrats in power do not reflect their cuddly national image. Their electoral campaigns in the inner cities have evolved into a systematic assault on Labour's values in order to hoover up Tory votes.

The Lib Dems could root themselves in the radical and progressive centre, based on firmly anti-Tory principles. Instead, they seem to be moving in a different direction. Voters should beware - in many local authorities up and down Britain, the Liberal Democrats have fought Labour with the gloves off in order to govern from the right, not the centre-left."

The beginning of the article is also full of good advice. Well worth a read, if you wonder (like me) why the Lib Dems are popular.

2003-09-17T15:56:00.000+01:00

Supermarket pasta sauce in health scare

Americans can look away now as it doesn't concern them. They have enough to worry about with poisonous levels of selenium in the soil and arsenic in their water. Not to mention GM in their food!

Here's the story - link

Why I'm posting this story is because food was adulterated with an illegal colouring agent in India. This is the place where we (or rather the company I work for) is outsourcing its support. The same high standards that you get in the US and Europe simply do not apply in India. I'm sure the people are friendly and very well educated, and it's great that multinationals are finally waking up to the potential of the poorer Southern half of the world (I know India is above the equator but you know what I mean) - but my concern is that the infrastructure of India will not be able to cope with the new strains placed upon it by multinationals.

It could be power cuts, water shortages, transport and logistics problems, banking difficulties - but I feel that without huge investment the problems of the multinationals and indeed of India herself will only become enhanced. It's not as though a multinational will go to India and think "Why, yes, of course I will co-operate with the local unions to ensure fair pay and conditions for all my staff" is it? More likely the traditional pattern of exploitation will take over. I can't blame India for wanting more investment but at what cost?

2003-09-17T11:16:00.000+01:00

Now, here is something amazing and fascinating from Pen-Elayne

"The "jumbled letters meme" has spread all over the blogosphere like wildfire. [Pen-Elayne] got it from Julia H. It goes like this:

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe. ceehiro.

Julia has "Cmabrigde" substituted for "Elingsh" but it's essentially the same meme. I was fascinated because English and linguistics were my two majors in college and because Robin and I have discussed the phenomenon of people reading words as essentially shapes, so it seemed to make sense-- only, curiously, a Google search fails to pinpoint the actual source of this particular bit of research. Language Hat points to Uncle Jazzbeau who thinks he might have found the source. I'd still love to see Snopes nail it, though."

I think this is amazing, and makes you think about how you read. I realised a long time ago that I don't look at every single letter in a word, and I seem to be able to read words at a gestalt, but I didn't realise the shape of the word was so important, rather than the letter order. Fascinating research.

What do you think about jumbled letters?

2003-09-16T12:16:00.000+01:00

Just for Cleophas and others who requested it, at the bottom of this page I have added somewhere to put your comments. Originally I withdrew it because of lack of interest but if I get more than one comment every month or two I will consider keeping comments.

So, dear visitors, use it or lose it!

Discuss this blog - is Larry trying too hard?

2003-09-15T10:34:00.000+01:00

Lovely weekend, lots of sunshine and I've nearly finished my wall now too - which is a shame in a way because I've sort of enjoyed bashing the bricks and cleaning away the mortar, even though it plays havoc with my manicure.

Meanwhile, Conference season is upon us soon. This, while being of absolutely no interest to the majority of non-political people in this country is of all-consuming interest to us politicos. It is the equivalent of our Cup Final but with more fouls and worse feeling between the teams. The manager is lionised if it has been a good season, and jeered if it has not.

At the moment, the Labour party is in poor shape. Yes, the Government is riding high and sweeping all before it but unless they want a hollowed out party which will die within a few years, they need to re-engage the activists. How? Throw them some socialist red meat. Reverse the privatisations and PPP's and PFI's. Take back the railways and run them properly. Institute a new property tax based on sound socialist principles. Announce a referendum on the future of the monarchy - that should keep people talking while we win the next election.

2003-09-12T14:42:00.000+01:00

Life is so ridiculous. I know that I'm being given the push, but I'm still working as hard as I normally do at work. Perhaps even harder! So I really should kick back and relax more. I mean, it isn't as though anyone else is working hard - the new members of our team seem to regard work as a nasty disease and don't want to catch it, and the members being made redundant are understandably not keen to get sweaty.

Still, I had a phone call from an agency today which asked me if I wanted a permanent position in the company I work for. You have to laugh.

2003-09-11T10:15:00.000+01:00

Well, not good news on a lot of fronts really. Not happy with what the Government is doing or the direction in which it is headed (though I could be wrong) and the company I work for has decided that I and many of my colleagues' services are no longer required.

Pity. Their shares were doing well.

2003-09-08T15:45:00.000+01:00

Overall, a pretty satisfying weekend. I knocked more of my wall down, and fitted a latch to the gate. Another few weekends and the hard landscaping in that area will look fine. I also noticed today that the Labour party's poll ratings were still high - even after the setbacks and the bad press we have received. Mostly I think it is down to the silence of the Tories, but really who can blame them? The whole raison d'etre of the Tories is naked power - and there's no point in being in the Tories if you aren't in power. Also, if they did speak up, people would realise what dreadful policies they have - so they are trying to keep their policies secret so they can run a dirty campaign against the Labour party in 2005/6. If I were a Labour press correspondent, I'd already be stacking up the rapid responses against Tory slurs, and briefing my Labour MP's accordingly.

Next year will be the Euro elections. With any luck the fact that the Tories are not only sceptical about Europe but positively hate it will mean their supporters don't bother turning out for the Euros. Good. We need people who are committed to the idea of Europe to run the European Parliament for the good of all the people of the UK. As a loyal Labour supporter for nearly 20 years, I've always supported Europe and PR, even when the rest of the party didn't - and it galls me that the Lib Dems think they have the monopoly of the idea - even though they have gone off the boil on PR, if you ask me - certainly none of their councillors have resigned to ensure proportionality on any of their councils. And this, of course, is the crux of the matter. The Lib Dems of any persuasion have never resigned over a matter of principle, as far as I know. This fact alone speaks volumes.

2003-09-05T12:53:00.000+01:00

"US battles for Iraq resolution - full story

Some at the UN want to accelerate the handover of power to Iraqis
The US is facing stiff opposition at the UN Security Council to its plans for a multinational force in Iraq."

But surely, with all the friends around the world the US has at the moment, she won't have any trouble at all getting agreement? There's Germany and France. No, the US has annoyed them with threats of sanctions. There's India - but no, the US has supported Pakistan. Turkey - again, she was annoyed at the prospect of US bases and won't be in a hurry to help the US.

And finally, the UK. Obviously since the invasion PM Tony Blair has had nothing but praise heaped upon him - but at least with a UN resolution it might mean we get some British troops back home. So we'll probably go along supporting the US resolution, no matter how damaging it might be to long term British interests, so long as it gets our armed forces out of the role of an occupying army.

2003-09-05T09:55:00.000+01:00

Well, there is already doubt being cast on the Karl Rove/traitor story so I guess I'll issue a warning about it: the story did not come from my usual reliable news sources but is largely a matter of conjecture - please note that the facts have not yet been checked. But when it breaks in the mainstream media, you read it here first ok?

2003-09-03T15:22:00.000+01:00

This is so fantastic, I don't know where to start. Many thanks to Blue Bus from where I have shamelessly ripped this off.

EXPLOSIVE - The Ambassador Wilson Affair
The End of Karl Rove – And George Bush?

This is the hottest and most explosive story behind the scenes in Washington in terms of how it could affect the Bush administration.

Ambassador Joseph Wilson has been turning up the heat in this situation. He revealed on Friday August 29 in a symposium in Washington the person in the Bush administration, who had leaked it out to the Washington Post that Wilson’s wife is a CIA agent of 26 years. As a consequence of this leak, her entire team of overseas assets were liquidated.

The leaker, it turns out, was none other than the notorious Karl H. Rove, Bush’s so-called White House advisor. Ambassador Wilson identified him as Karl Roverer, with the umlaut over the “o.”

According to reliable sources, as well as our own Al Martin Raw.com investigation, Karl Rove is, in fact, the grandson of Karl Heinz Roverer, the gauleiter of Mecklenburg, who was also a partner and senior engineer of Roverer Sud-Deutche Ingenieurbüro AG. They built Birchenau, the concentration camp in Nazi Germany.

So Karl Rove has been identified as the leaker responsible for the deaths of more than 70 CIA assets overseas (See previous story “Will the Real Chemical Ali Please Stand Up? The Curious Case of Ambassador Joseph Wilson)

When Ambassador Wilson was asked how he knew it was Rove, he had documents in his possession identifying Rove as the leaker from a secret investigation of the State Department’s Internal; Security Unit. It was a from a small clique, four Clinton holdovers in that department of the State Department that were sympathetic to what had happened to Wilson.

These investigations could not have possibly been made without at least the tacit acquiescence of Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Wilson has announced that he will have his private attorneys petition the Department of Justice demanding that Roverer a/k/a Karl Rove be prosecuted under the 1982 Intelligence Identity Protection Act . This law specifically supposed to prevent what has happened in this case and that is the Bush administration attempting to retaliate against a senior government official who tells the truth about that administration by revealing the identities of intelligence members within their own families.

This is a law that was specifically designed to prevent this from happening. It is a law that was proffered by the Democrats in 1982 that the Republicans fought and could not defeat. The law carries an automatic mandatory 10 years to life imprisonment as punishment.

And where would Rove go? Karl Rove, it should be noted, is a dual citizen of the United States and Germany. Because of his position he has special diplomatic status. The idea is that if its absolutely necessary he could go to Switzerland where he couldn’t be extradited.

The law specifically states in this case (and this depends on how much Secretary of State Colin Powell is prepared to get involved, if he signs a formal complaint from the State Department, then the Attorney General has no choice but to prosecute. He is required to prosecute, even if he doesn’t want to do so.

This is very explosive and what makes it so explosive is that this Intelligence Identity Act, if it can be proved, and Rove can be successfully prosecuted and if Rove reveals that the president George Bush told him to institute this leak, then the President's automatic shield of immunity is removed and the president himself can be prosecuted for murder if any deaths of any US intelligence agents or assets resulted from the leak. This is the only legal statute that has this provision.

The Bush Administration is exerting enormous pressure on Colin Powell because he is the real linchpin. They are exerting pressure on him NOT to proceed to file a formal complaint with the Department of Justice.

Wilson’s problem is that he has no greater legal standing than that of a private citizen. The Department of Justice, unbeknownst to anybody, has had a lot of communications with Wilson’s attorney and they’re claiming that Wilson has no special status, that he's just an everyday citizen, so that any demand he would make for prosecution would carry no more weight than a private citizen or OFU.

(OFU is George Bush Senior’s term to describe the average American citizen. It stands for “One Fodder Unit.”)

Wilson is saying, however, that when Rove leaked this out, he was still formally employed by the State Department. Wilson, it should be remembered, was the former ambassador during the Clinton Regime, was formally rehired, and he received a paycheck from the Department of State. When these leaks took place he still had another three weeks left on his contract. Therefore he was still a United States Ambassador and that apparently is also a key legal point.

When this goes before the US Court of Appeals in Washington and if the court agrees that Wilson was a formal ambassador at the time, then Colin Powell can not refuse to formally petition the Department of Justice for the prosecution of Karl Rove and to open an investigation into the president’s and vice president’s role in the affair.

Was Rove really the source of the leak? The investigation held thus far by the State Department’s Internal Security (ISD) has stated that Rove did indeed leak the information out about the Ambassador’s wife, CIA agent Valerie Wilson, to the Washington Post. Apparently they have an affidavit from the reporter he leaked it to.

The way the Bush Regime is trying to quash it is to slow it way down by exerting so much pressure against Pro-Bush Media. Please note that you have not heard one word about this on CNN or MSNBC or Fox News And not one word about this on ABC, CBS, or NBC.

If there is no public attention, there will be no steam behind it. Some of the congressmen are trying to push this into higher quarters. They’re trying to get Howard Dean to talk about it since he’s getting so much press coverage

It’s been said that Dean is himself frightened to start talking about it because it would diminish the press coverage he’s been getting. The Bush Administration has let it be known to the Democratic National Committee that any Democrat who tries to push this will find press coverage severely limited.

When the Democratic presidential selection process filters out (since there are now nine declared Democrats) and when there is one Democrat that everyone is behind, who’s going to be the contender, then they won’t be so frightened.

But this is a story, which should be more widely known, since the treatment of Ambassador Wilson and his family (not to mention the US intelligence assets who were liquidated overseas) is certainly one of the most egregious abuses of power yet perpetrated by the Bush administration.

Yet. However, who knows what they might do tomorrow?

It is the day after -- Happy McLabor Day in the Land of Bushonomics.

As reported by CNN --

* 9 million unemployed in the US, and increase of 6 million since election of Bush-Cheney

* 4 million high paying tech jobs permanently lost

* Another 3 million tech jobs to be exported overseas in next 15 years, but the good news is that 3 million new minimum-wage food-service jobs will be created in the US over the same time period. Happy McLabor Day!

2003-09-03T10:38:00.000+01:00

Here's a thing. Soon, my wife will be able to call me Tonto. Why? Because she wants to become an independent financial advisor. A loan arranger.

I won't give up my day job, I promise.

Also, thanks to Theresa Nielsen-Hayden for this: LL YR VWL R BLNG T S

Laugh? I nearly cried.

2003-09-02T15:19:00.000+01:00

Well, well, well. Eugenics is alive and well and being Government supported in America.

Selling sterilisation to addicts

By Clare Murphy
BBC News Online

To its critics, Project Prevention or Crack - an American organisation which pays drug addicts and alcoholics to be sterilised - is a terrifying throwback to the neutering of "defectives" during the 20th Century.

Full article

2003-09-02T09:52:00.000+01:00

Eliza over at Fembat.net kindly consented to ask me five questions and here are her questions, followed by my evasive, shifty answers.

Questions:
1. You've been given the opportunity to implement your ideal political framework here in the UK. Describe how you would proceed in brief.
2. Stranded on a desert island a lone man approaches and claims to the the son of God. What is your response?
3. Still on the desert island theme, if you were allowed to take one thing with you what or who would it be and why?
4. Why do you blog?
5. Where do you see yourself ten years from now?

Answers:

1. Wow, so much to do, so few words to describe it. I think the only idea that makes any sense is to imagine Britain as she is now, then send everyone to sleep. Imagine making all the changes, then wake everyone (and this is the clever bit) so that they could end up as anyone else.

For instance, rich people would most likely end up poor, women could end up as men, and you could end up in prison, hospital or disabled. The trick is to maximise the happiness for everyone, regardless of who they wake up as. Then proceed from there. Any ideas that make people happier should be considered. Although I'm a socialist, I don't think you can be too prescriptive.

2. Hello, how are you? What do you eat around here? The way I look at it, most of us tell stories to ourselves most of the time and so long as it doesn’t interfere with his functioning, why not? After all, he could be.

3. A means of getting off the island or a ferry timetable. On a more serious note, it would have to be female company because I need someone to talk to, and I like sex.

4. Partly because I think everyone is entitled to my opinion, partly because I can but mostly because I like the idea of not forgetting everything all the time.

5. In Spain, living in an old farmhouse with my family around me and olive and orange trees in the garden, working hard enough to pay the bills but no more so. House paid for and a few creature comforts.

2003-08-29T12:35:00.000+01:00

Hello people of the blogosphere! I've decided to give out an ICQ number, which will be in use until it is abused. Here we go: twofivefoursevenohseventwothreenine.

Hopefully it won't get picked up by those pesky robots either.

2003-08-29T09:52:00.000+01:00

London suffered it's own mini-blackout, New Yorkers will be gratified to hear. A circuit blew and 250,000 people were plunged into darkness...for 35 minutes. Obviously, this is front page news.

It turns out that it was all down to that very American idea of Privatisation. Last year, the tube which kept running through the Blitz, had it's independent power supply shut down and privatised to some fly-by-night power company or other.

This year, the biggest power failure on the tube ever. Co-incidence? No. When will this Labour government realise that privatisation is rubbish and stop doing it?

The Government isn't terribly popular at the moment. Perhaps they could stop privatising and at least make themselves more popular with their supporters?

2003-08-28T09:28:00.000+01:00

Well, now the Government is proposing identity cards, again. Where did it all go wrong? Identity cards are a rotten idea, almost as rotten as privatisation or PPP or PFI or whatever they are calling it this week. This isn't what I voted for and I'm fed up. The Government went into Iraq despite practically all their supporters being against it, and look at the mess, which was predicted from the start.

The worst thing is, I understand that the identity cards are being introduced so we harmonised with Europe. It is such a pity our defence policy doesn't. Privatisation is intrinsically a bad idea - the NHS was turned into a monopoly because the old system wasn't working. To break the monopoly only creates a private oligopoly which can price fix. That is in no-one's (except the fat cat directors so created) interest.

2003-08-26T09:30:00.000+01:00

Cobwebs. That's what I'm faced with this morning. It's been so long since I've posted I think I've forgotten what my url is. More soon.

2003-08-22T14:29:00.000+01:00

Many thanks to Plunky Punk for her excellent discovery

BUILD YOUR OWN HELL - link

Lib-Dems
Circle I Limbo

Bill Gates
Circle II Whirling in a Dark & Stormy Wind

Rednecks
Circle III Mud, Rain, Cold, Hail & Snow

Conservatives
Circle IV Rolling Weights

Iain Duncan Smith
Circle V Stuck in Mud, Mangled

River Styx

Republicans
Circle VI Buried for Eternity

River Phlegyas

Creationists
Circle VII Burning Sands

George Bush
Circle IIX Immersed in Excrement

Margaret Thatcher
Circle IX Frozen in Ice

Design your own hell

2003-08-22T10:44:00.000+01:00

I've been away and all those things I was going to blog about have completely gone out of my head. Yesterday we took our son to get his Hib vaccination - you know, the one developed by the Cubans. Amazingly, I don't see the Americans blockading this one. Funny that.

One of my friends is going to Cuba again soon - she loved it and had a wonderful time. It's remarkable really how rich it is, considering that it's nearest neighbours are dirt poor, and there has been a continuous naval blockade around it for years.

It must be the US base in Guantanamo Bay, siphoning money into it...

2003-08-19T14:34:00.000+01:00

Statesman or Skatesman?

A website dedicated to politicians on children's locomotive toys...as the author says on his website

"How it all started......

Last Christmas my Dad and me had a big argument. He'd found a picture of Enoch Powell on a pogo stick and claimed that politicians weren't as interesting as that any more.

I'm doing politics A level and thought that he was wrong. So I wrote to lots of them to ask them what they thought, and whether they had ever been on any of the following..."

The website (courtesy of Tom Watson MP's blog)

2003-08-19T14:22:00.000+01:00

Science fiction becoming science fact in my lifetime.

It has happened so often now that one could become almost blase about it. But I still get a kick from it. This is what happened to the "flying lamp" that was so beloved of a certain sort of sort of science fiction.

Space probe paves way for European moon landing - full story

Ion drive will propel £77m Smart-1 on journey to find out what Earth's companion is made of

Tim Radford, science editor
Tuesday August 19, 2003
The Guardian

A space probe the size of a washing machine driven by a Star Trek drive no more powerful than a puff of breath is about to explore one of the solar system's oldest mysteries and pave the way for a European landing on the moon.
Smart-1, a £77m European Space Agency probe carrying a British instrument which will settle questions about what the moon is made of, will be launched aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, in French Guiana, on September 3.

Once in high orbit, its array of solar panels will unfold like the wingspan of an albatross, to collect the electrical power for an ion drive propulsion system. This will fire a stream of electrically charged xenon atoms to provide a push of no more than a few grams - the weight of a postcard or sheet of paper. Think of an ion drive as a neon lightbulb with one end removed, says Manuel Grande, of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, and one of the principal investigators for the mission.

But ion drive has a huge advantage over chemical rockets. A stream of xenon ions shoots away from the spacecraft at 10 times the speed of any rocket. So an ion drive spaceship can go 10 times as fast - or set off with one tenth of the fuel.

2003-08-18T10:40:00.000+01:00

Being the aspirational middle class person I am, I'm going to be trying a bit of mosaic within Chez Wallybrane. So far I've done some preparation of the panel I'm going to decorate, and cut up some pieces of tile to tessalate. There will be reguar home decorating updates from now on. This weekend we finished painting the lounge, so it already looks better and we took down the dreadful curtains so there is a lot more light in there now. At the moment the stairs are still uncarpeted but I'm hoping to persuade Mrs W soon to allow me to do something about it. I think she is still holding out until the extension gets built.

In five years time.

2003-08-15T11:38:00.000+01:00

A friend of mine who works for Save the Children sent this to me

Liberia Crisis appeal

Eleven of Britain’s leading aid agencies, including Oxfam, Christian Aid and Save the Children have come together under the umbrella of the Disasters Emergency Committee to raise vital funds for the suffering people of Liberia.

The actor Ross Kemp launched our Appeal this week and thanks to the public's generosity we have already raised an estimated two million pounds. There are one million people in need of fresh water, shelter and food in Liberia. This means we have raised £2 per person in need, but we still have a long way to go.

Our appeal hotline number is 0870 60 60 900

Donations can also be made by visiting our website www.dec.org.uk or by visiting any high street bank or post office.

Please give generously!

Thank you!

2003-08-15T09:27:00.000+01:00

At the present time, there is a power cut over a large swathe of the US and Canada with around 50 million people being affected. New York and Detroit have no power, and in Detroit power is not expected to return until Sunday. At the moment terrorism is not suspected but a fire took place in a power station.

Sources: radio, TV, internet news sources.

2003-08-14T12:05:00.000+01:00

Well, I know the blogstream has almost dried up here at Chez Wallybrane so I thought I would just start writing and see what turned up. Something usually does. Mars is at it's closest approach to the earth on about the 26th or 27th and there are Perseids around at the moment, I'm told.

Reading other people's blogs - Jezebel has finally been reset (see her blog for more) and mostly the rest of blogdom is settling down into the holiday season - light blogging, little blogging, ahhhh.

I'll still be adding my comments to other people's blogs but I was wondering what other people would think of me mirroring my comments on here too?

2003-08-12T15:40:00.000+01:00

Interesting question on Tom Watson MP's website - should there be more public holidays. I wouldn't have thought a socialist would even need to stop and think about that one. Of course we should! We should have at least as many as the great economies of Europe - Ireland, Spain and Italy. These economic powerhouses have up to seven days extra a year compared to us.

Also, there should be a public holiday for elections, and fixed election days. The public holiday might even encourage some people to engage with democracy, rather than rush around after work trying to get to the polling station and then forgetting.

2003-08-11T12:59:00.000+01:00

Next time someone tries to con you with right wing economics, here's what they are really trying to sell:

Right-Wing Ideology in a Nutshell

from the Blue Bus - full article here

When you cut right through it, right-wing ideology is just "dime-store economics" – intended to dress their ideology up and make it look respectable. You don't really need to know much about economics to understand it. They certainly don't. It all gets down to two simple words.

"Cheap labor." That's their whole philosophy in a nutshell – which gives you a short and pithy "catch phrase" that describes them perfectly. You've heard of "big-government liberals." Well they're "cheap-labor conservatives."

"Cheap-labor conservative" is a moniker they will never shake, and never live down. Because it's exactly what they are. You see, cheap-labor conservatives are defenders of corporate America – whose fortunes depend on labor. The larger the labor supply, the cheaper it is. The more desperately you need a job, the cheaper you'll work, and the more power those "corporate lords" have over you. If you are a wealthy elite – or a "wannabe" like most dittoheads – your wealth, power and privilege is enhanced by a labor pool, forced to work cheap.

Don't believe me. Well, let's apply this principle, and see how many right-wing positions become instantly understandable.

Cheap-labor conservatives don't like social spending or our "safety net." Why. Because when you're unemployed and desperate, corporations can pay you whatever they feel like – which is inevitably next to nothing. You see, they want you "over a barrel" and in a position to "work cheap or starve."

Cheap-labor conservatives don't like the minimum wage, or other improvements in wages and working conditions. Why? These reforms undo all of their efforts to keep you "over a barrel."

Cheap-labor conservatives like "free trade," NAFTA, GATT, etc. Why? Because there is a huge supply of desperately poor people in the third world, who are "over a barrel," and will work cheap.

Cheap-labor conservatives oppose a woman's right to choose. Why? Unwanted children are an economic burden that put poor women "over a barrel," forcing them to work cheap.

Cheap-labor conservatives don't like unions. Why? Because when labor "sticks together," wages go up. That's why workers unionize. Seems workers don't like being "over a barrel."

Cheap-labor conservatives constantly bray about "morality," "virtue," "respect for authority," "hard work" and other "values." Why? So they can blame your being "over a barrel" on your own "immorality," lack of "values" and "poor choices."

Cheap-labor conservatives encourage racism, misogyny, homophobia and other forms of bigotry. Why? Bigotry among wage earners distracts them, and keeps them from recognizing their common interests as wage earners.

The Cheap-Labor Conservatives' "Dirty Secret": They Don't Really Like Prosperity

Maybe you don't believe that cheap-labor conservatives like unemployment, poverty and "cheap labor." Consider these facts.

Unemployment was 23 percent when FDR took office in 1933. It dropped to 2.5 percent by time the next Republican was in the White House in 1953. It climbed back to 6.5 percent by the end of the Eisenhower administration. It dropped to 3.5 percent by the time LBJ left office. It climbed over 5 percent shortly after Nixon took office, and stayed there for 27 years, until Clinton brought it down to 4.5 percent early in his second term.

That same period – especially from the late forties into the early seventies – was the "golden age" of the United States. We sent men to the moon. We built our Interstate Highway system. We ended segregation in the South and established Medicare. In those days, a single wage earner could support an entire family on his wages. I grew up then, and I will tell you that life was good – at least for the many Americans insulated from the tragedy in Vietnam, as I was.

These facts provide a nice background to evaluate cheap-labor conservative claims like "liberals are destroying America."In fact, cheap-labor conservatives have howled with outrage and indignation against New Deal liberalism from its inception in the 1930's all the way to the present. You can go to "Free Republic" or Hannity's forum right now, and find a cheap-labor conservative comparing New Deal Liberalism to "Stalinism."

Cheap-labor conservatives opposed virtually all of the New Deal, including every improvement in wages and working conditions.

Cheap-labor conservatives have a long and sorry history of opposing virtually every advancement in this country's development going right back to the American revolution Cheap-labor conservatives have hated Social Security and Medicare since their inception. Many cheap-labor conservatives are hostile to public education. They think it should be privatized. But why are we surprised. Cheap-labor conservatives opposed universal public education in its early days. School vouchers are just a backdoor method to "resegregate" the public schools.

Cheap-labor conservatives hate the progressive income tax like the devil hates holy water. Cheap-labor conservatives like budget deficits and a huge national debt for two reasons. A bankrupt government has a harder time doing any "social spending" – which cheap-labor conservatives oppose, and . . .

Wealthy cheap-labor conservatives like say, George W. Bush, buy the bonds and then earn tax free interest on the money they lend the government.[Check out Dubya's financial disclosures. The son of a bitch is a big holder of the T-bills that finance the deficit he is helping to expand.] The deficit created by cheap-labor conservatives while they posture as being "fiscally conservative" – may count as the biggest con job in American history.

2003-08-08T15:43:00.000+01:00

For those of you budding cosmologists out there (and I know quite a few read this site!) here is some of the very latest research courtesy of Silflay Hraka.

Adventures in Science! presents: Giant Cosmic Sperm

Big snip

"...However, controversy still rages over the details of the theory, as the projected path of the newly discovered sperm takes it directly into the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. If, as Einstein theorized, every sperm is wanted, every sperm is good, that every sperm is needed in the galactic neighborhood, then why is this one headed, seemingly hell bent, towards a non-reproductive end?...
"
Full article here

2003-08-08T11:35:00.000+01:00

As regular readers will know, I have a taste for the quirky and downright odd. Heck, I joined the Labour party when Neil Kinnock was leader!

Here are a few of the recent seaches which have thrown up this hallowed blog:

Yahoo - sextillion july 2003 scum
Yahoo - gaetano proposed to abby
Yahoo - tory chinese symbol
Google - oliver letwin mi6
Google - big brother africa gaetano pictures
Google - ruby slippers template
Google - classified used camera private sellers in washington dc
Google - gatecrash prince pictures
and finally, but least surprisingly on Google: 'larry lurex'

2003-08-08T09:22:00.000+01:00

John O'Farrell and I have lead somewhat parallel lives, but he is a year older. We both joined the London Labour Party about the same time, but I joined Brent and he joined Battersea. I went along to a few Anti-Apartheid marches and I think he said he didn't but other than that our political lives were very similar. It sounds like it is continuing to be - full article with the link.

Why I can't leave Labour

John O'Farrell
Friday August 8, 2003
The Guardian

Either we are now living under the longest ever Labour government or it just feels like it. Many people whom I respect have resigned their membership of the Labour party recently. Others have chosen to remain, while a third group have sent off their angry letters of resignation but forgotten to cancel their direct debit. "I quit in protest at this government's incompetence! Oh, hang on, I'm still a member apparently."

I can't really imagine myself ever divorcing the Labour party. Yes, I am angered by some of the things that some members of the government have said and done, while there are plenty of other things I applaud and admire (particularly Gordon Brown's habit of buying his Treasury team my novels for Christmas). But perhaps the main reason that I'd personally find it impossible to turn my back on Labour is because when you are close to it you see ordinary elected activists really making a difference.

2003-08-07T14:29:00.000+01:00

Well, it's like this you see. A lot of firms in Britain which build major headquarters and new roads and such often get the road named after them. For instance, in Brentwood when Hambro (the bank) made a new HQ, the new road was called "Hambro Road". So no shocks there. I was thinking about that as I drove past the old and seemingly disused 3M building in Bracknell today. Now, you know what 3M make - magnetic tape, post it notes and, of course, glues of various kinds.

The road is called "Bond Way".

2003-08-06T17:29:00.000+01:00

This is the biggest news since the invention of the pc:

"Printers produce copies in 3D

It may sounds like science fiction, but the printer you buy in the future could be able to produce a real-life object from images on your computer.

Several companies are working on developing low-cost three-dimensional printers which could eventually find their way into the home.

The machines work by placing layers of a powdery material on top of each other to create a real-life model of a digital image.

"With hundreds and sometimes thousands of layers, we can develop a prototype that works, from coffee cups to car parts, in a variety of textures and colours," said Andy DeHart of the Z Corporation which makes 3D printers. "

This is the humble beginnings of replicator technology, with which you can make almost anything from almost anything else. At the moment they are using plaster, but they have used a plastic. You can make shapes as complicated as you like, and if you could "print" with copper and zinc, you could even build battery powered devices that worked!

You could also "print" electrical transformers, though that would be a bit more tricky.

Trickiest of all by today's standards would be silicon chips. Food, on the other hand, would be a bit of a doddle in comparison.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I want the company I work for to start making them *NOW*.

2003-08-06T12:34:00.000+01:00

A nice piece from The Eye Opener's blog

Bargain Hunting Parents Flock to Gun Shop's "Back-2-School" Sale

BROWNSBURG, INDIANA- Fall is in the air, and Crazy Eddie's House of Guns is once again holding its annual Back-2-School savings extravaganza. Budget conscious parents will be happy to find a large selection of low-priced firearms for today's grammar and middle school students. Most schools issue parents a list of recommended school supplies to help parents shop. Crazy Eddy offers his own list:

one (1) Glock PI-17501
set of six (6) anti-personnel mines
at least four (4) 9mm clips
one (1) set of child-sized ProMax body armor
Shotguns, though helpful in dodgeball and other close combat, are not recommended due to their size and incompatibility with most grammar school cubbies.

A sale like this may have been unheard of a few years ago, but with media reports of school violence on the rise [no one believes government statistics indicating a drop in such incidents], America's school children need to arm themselves just to keep up with their peers.

"Face it, parents these days are worried about the safety of their kids, and they feel even worse knowing that they can't be with them all day. We offer a product that let's them relax in the confidence that their child can defend his or herself. Little Suzie is packin' more than her lunch!"

Discuss Take Your Gun to School Day!

2003-08-05T12:44:00.000+01:00

Chart Singles. If you have been following these Martian chronicles (sic) then you will know I have a bee in my bonnet over CD prices, and single CD's in particular.

In the article, it says that Asda sells between 15 and 20% of all CD singles. You know why? Because they regularly mark down the prices! I bought a CD for 1p a couple of months ago in Asda. Obviously I don't think there was any profit for the store, but most people would be willing to buy CD singles if they cost 99p, even £1.99 if it was good. As the article says, "The price of CD albums has fallen from £14 to around £10 in recent years, whereas the price of a CD single has remained steady at £3 to £4. That makes singles worse value than they were five years ago."

Note, record companies - CD SINGLES ARE WORSE VALUE THAN FIVE YEARS AGO. That's when you last sold lots of singles. Co-incidence? No. People know when they are being ripped off and we are not putting up with it any more. Why should a single cost more than a newspaper?

2003-08-04T11:23:00.000+01:00

Tribune recently has been quite scathing about the Government, and with some cause, I think but recently the editorial made me sit up and think. Instead of the usual "Let's-bash-Tony-Blair" this was a little more thoughtful and revolved around the issue of left versus right within the party and the media friendliness of both sides.

You see, you can be media friendly and left wing. Look at Ken Livingstone - which is probably why he has been expelled than any real reason. Other factors include realpolitik - trying to get rid of American bases will not go down well with any US administration, and they will use any trick to fend off any party which suggests it. Equally, nuclear disarmnament, while a good idea, will not be allowed for similar reasons. But these are not exclusively left wing positions, and should never be a major part of a progressive platform.

However, more flexibility may be allowed in the financial arena and the current craven attitude towards renationalising the railways is causing enormous harm both to passengers and to staff. Perhaps the Government shouldn't run the railways but the private sector has been enormously incompetent and even negligent.

Equally, Foundation hospitals are not going to be as democratic as they should be, which is wrong.

Finally, we are actually being wrong-footed by the Tory Shadow Home Secretary. Obviously he would be replaced immediately the Tories took power (too left-wing) but his focus on civil liberties and Labour's perceived cracking down on liberties (eg more cameras, identity cards, "black boxes" in cars) run against the traditions of both parties. Surveillance and intervention on striking miners by MI5, that is the Tory party we know about.

So, a few suggestions for the best Prime Minister we've ever had:

* Make Foundation hospitals truly democratic - that'll scare them.
* Ensure that freedom (as enshrined in the new Clause 4) shines as brightly as the new responsibilies we now endure
* Make sure the rich pay their fair share of tax - after all, they can afford it.
* Ensure that embarrassments like the Inland Revenue selling their property to a company that operates from a tax haven never happens again by not privatising anything else at all.
* Start listening to the Land Value Tax brigade - Council tax is mean and unfair. It needs reform.
* Leftwingers often have good ideas - a lot of them can be spun into the web of Government without the Daily Mail getting the vapours.
* A cull, or downgrading of civil servants who still try to oppose the Government programme, or actively advocate PPP or privatisation.
* Windfall tax on board members who earn more than 30 times their average employee.

2003-08-01T09:25:00.000+01:00

From the Eye Opener

It's "Oy," not "Om"

This was just too funny to not share - it's Zen Judaism!

Let your mind be as a floating cloud. Let your stillness be as the wooded glen. And sit up straight. You'll never meet the Buddha with posture like that.

There is no escaping karma. In a previous life, you never called, you never wrote, you never visited. And whose fault was that?

Wherever you go, there you are. Your luggage is another story.

To practice Zen and the art of Jewish motorcycle maintenance, do the following: get rid of the motorcycle. What were you thinking?

The Tao has no expectations. The Tao demands nothing of others. The Tao does not speak. The Tao does not blame. The Tao does not take sides. The Tao is not Jewish.

Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkes." [PeteBevin.com, from the book Zen Judaism by David M. Bader]The Shifted Librarian]

2003-08-01T09:19:00.000+01:00

Good news for all you space exploration fans!

Ion engine records nearly five years of firing time
NASA/JPL NEWS RELEASE
Posted: July 30, 2003

The future is here for spacecraft propulsion and the trouble-free engine performance that every vehicle operator would like, achieved by an ion engine running for a record 30,352 hours at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Full story and pictures

2003-07-31T17:41:00.000+01:00

Heads they win: Britain's executives get rewarded for failure.

Crikey, I reckon even I could successfully run a company into the ground and take more than my fair share. £7m a year - that makes them 500 times more "valuable" than the average employee. Really? Are you serious?

Here's the link

and the full list of shame:

Jean-Pierre Garnier
Chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline
The deal: Earned £7m last year and is in line for £22m pay-off if the company is taken over. Even so the company is trying to get him a pay rise, even though GSK shares have fallen, along with its profits, since he took over in 2000.

William F Aldinger III
Chief operating officer of Household International, new US offshoot of HSBC
The deal: £37m pay package over the next three years, including guaranteed annual bonus of £2.5m and free dental care for life for Mr Aldinger and his wife, even if he is fired.

Bob Mendelsohn
Ousted as chief executive of Royal & Sun Alliance last autumn
The deal: Pay-off of £2.44m and annual pension of £354,000 despite a 90% collapse in R&SA shares and 12,000 job losses.

Ian Lumsden
Chief executive of Standard Life
The deal: 26% pay rise to £619,000 and £260,000 performance bonus even though the insurer lost £4bn in its share dealings last year and slashed the value of pension and endowment mortgage payouts.
* Lost £4,000,000,000 and still gets a pay rise? I could do that, gis a job.

Eric Daniels
New chief executive of Lloyds TSB
The deal:£1.6m, including £350,000 relocation allowance and free school fees, even though profits fell 18% and dividend is expected to be slashed.

John Weston
Former chief of BAE Systems
The deal: Weston was ousted last year with a £1.5m pay-off and £3.7m pension pot. The group was forced to issue a profits warning in December and its shares are at a 10-year low

Sir Brian Moffat
Departing chairman of Corus
The deal: Will receive £300,000 a year pension after overseeing a £400m slump into the red, a 99% slump in the share price and 12,000 job losses

Alan Smith
Former chief executive of Somerfield
The deal: Ousted with estimated £600,000 pay-off after issuing a profits warning.

Sir Geoff Mulcahy
Former chief executive of Kingfisher
The deal: Received total pay of £1.4m last year including a £502,000 pay-off. He also gets a £15m pension pot, which will generate £790,000 a year. The shares have fallen from 719p to 200p in recent years.

Helen Weir
Finance director of Kingfisher
The deal: £334,000 relocation allowance to move her home 41 miles from Hampshire to Buckinghamshire, taking her total remunderation package to £910,000.

Ian Harley
Former chief executive of Abbey National
The deal:Received £1.7m, comprising £1.1m in lieu of notice and £560,000 in pension benefits even though the bank turned in a near £1bn loss, had been forced to cut its dividend to save cash and has since done a strategy u-turn.

Michael Dobson
Chief executive of Schroders
The deal: Salary and bonuses of £2.9m even though the company shed 500 staff last year and its shares lost 26%. Dobson is guaranteed £10.5m over three years and his investment company is among those supposed to monitor executive excess elsewhere.
* Obviously doing a good job of curbing excesses in the boardroom.

Matt Barrett
Chief executive of Barclays Bank
The deal: Received £2.7m last year as the bank's profits fell 6%. The main point of controversy is the £5m cheque he will receive if Barclays is taken over.

Sir Phil Watts
Chief executive of Shell
The deal: A 55% pay rise to £1.8m and an additional £1.2m pumped into his private pension pot, at a time when the company plans to lay off 4,000 staff and its share price dropped 27%.

Bart Becht
Chief executive of Reckitt Benckiser
The deal: £5.1m pay deal , but shareholders are more concerned about his pay-off should he be fired or the company is taken over. Then he would get a lump sum of 1.5 times his salary and double his bonus.

Brian Gilbertson
Former chief executive, BHP Billiton
The deal: Was paid £1.9m last year before being fired in January. He is expected to receive an £11m pay-off, even though he was in the job at the newly merged company fewer than six months and is said to have fallen out with the chairman.

Tony Ball
Chief executive of BSkyB
The deal: Basic salary of £743,545 and a bonus, including living allowance, of £1.25m. He has a two-year contract and guaranteed bonus which will be paid regardless of performance. Last year the company made a £1.2bn loss.

John Brock
Former chief operating officer of Cadbury Schweppes
The deal:Received £3m last year, including £701,000 pay-off when he was passed over for the top job at Cadbury. Fifteen days later Brock was appointed chief executive of brewing group Interbrew.

Steve Russell
Former chief executive of Boots
The deal: Likely to receive pay-off of £750,000 after being ousted despite championing a diversification strategy which has resulted in hundreds of job losses and cost Boots £300m.

Graham Wallace
Former chief executive, Cable & Wireless
The deal: Wallace is demanding a £1.5m pay-off, even though when he left C&W shares hit their lowest point for 20 years and the company was fighting for survival after a £10bn spending spree backfired.

Brendan O'Neill
Former chief executive of ICI
The deal: Resigned last month after issuing a profit warning which wiped £700m off ICI's value. Is expected to receive a £650,000 pay-off. Was paid £1.02m last year, including a £361,000 incentive payment. ICI shares fell 75%.

Sir Richard Giordano
Chairman of BG Group
The deal: Earns £490,373 as part-time chairman, but the most controversial aspect is an agreement for him to keep an office, secretary and driver for five years after he leaves.

Tim Byrne
Former chief executive of MyTravel (previously known as Airtours)
The deal: Fired with £1.2m pay-off after "accounting irregularities" resulted in £73m loss. The shares collapsed, up to one in 10 staff are being sacked and the company still faces an uncertain future.

Richard Harvey
Chief executive of Aviva (formerly CGNU)
The deal: Took home £1m in a year when Aviva cut its dividend by 40% and sliced 12% off the value of maturing policies. The share price collapsed, reducing the value of Aviva by £8bn.

John Stewart
Former deputy chief executive of Barclays Bank
The deal: Left with a £1.7m pay-off after realising he was not going to get the top job at Barclays. One month later he popped up as £485,000-a-year boss of National Australia Bank.

Adam Singer
Former chief executive of Telewest
The deal: Banked £1.8m when he left the cable TV company, despite taking the firm to the brink of collapse. The shares crashed from £5.63 to 2p and 1,500 staff lost their jobs.

Steve Morrison
Former chief executive of Granada
The deal: Ousted with a £1m pay-off after a 50% slide in Granada's share price and presiding over the ITV Digital fiasco, which cost the group's shareholders £1.2bn.

Charles Allen
Chairman of Granada
The deal: Received more than £1m last year, despite the ITV Digital debacle. The shares have dropped from 270p to 70p and Mr Allen will get at least £2m if he loses his job as a result of Granada's current plan to merge with Carlton.

Tom Glocer
Chief executive of Reuters
The deal: Received £477,000 relocation allowance, and an apartment in Mayfair. He was paid £1.7m, including a £600,000 bonus in a year when the company reported its firstloss and plans to sack 5,500 staff. The shares fell 80%.

Brian Staples
Former chief executive of Amey
The deal: Earned £460,000 in his last full year at Amey and was awarded £361,000 after being ousted. His strategy had taken the company to the brink of bankruptcy and the shares fell 90%. It has since been taken over.

* The worst thing about all of these is, of course, that they force their staff to count paperclips or worse, lay them off while adding to the problem of falling profits. Why don't they sack themselves (without compensation, natch) and see how they do in a proper job? That way they would save their company millions and actually do something useful.

2003-07-31T16:10:00.000+01:00

Another press release from the socialist lot -

"Achievements sustainable as Labour passes record

This Saturday, 2 August, Labour achieves its longest continuous period in government. The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, marked this achievement at his monthly press conference in Downing Street. He said: "After 6 years in office Britain has the lowest inflation, interest rates and unemployment for decades, half a million children have been lifted out of poverty, there's been record investment in the National Health Service and schools, which have improved results significantly, crime is
falling, and Britain is stronger in the world, so there's an enormous amount still to do, but those achievements are real and I believe will be sustainable." He paid further tribute to public service workers and thanked them for their efforts in working with the government to improve public
services. The transcript of his press conference can be read here:
http://www.labour.org.uk/tbpressjuly03"

Get this: after being in power for about a third less time than the Tories, we have already got the lowest inflation, interest rates and unemployment for decades. The Tories regarded unemployment as "a price worth paying". By whom, and for which purpose we were never told. It is often the poorest and most disadvantaged which become unemployed, and while the minimum wage isn't perfect (the Tories said it wouldn't work. At all) it stops many people falling into a poverty trap.

The Tories represent the rich and the landed. They have untold power over the media in this country, and will even release new magazines to tell us how wonderful they are. Labour represents the other 98%. Whether people realise that, or not, shouldn't matter. But without a Labour government unemployment *will* rise, and things *will* get worse. Worse than you can possibly imagine, if Iain Duncan Smith became Prime Minister. Think Major or even Thatcher was bad? Pah!

2003-07-30T12:01:00.000+01:00

Sorry, not much blogging today. But an item of good news, I've passed the magic thousand mark so somebody (sniff!) must love me.

Thank you to all my readers and to everyone who has made kind comments or allowed me to blatantly rip off content from their site. Most of my best ideas are actually someone else's.

2003-07-29T10:36:00.000+01:00

"Parents should have class webcams" - full article here

No. Parents would not see a lot, and as there was no sound, there would not be any context for their unruly offspring.

Webcams should be all over police stations, and especially in the cells. If webcams are to be anywhere, then the unedited footage *must* start from the places of work of the politicians who suggest it, and the offices of the police and other forces. Allegations of bullying in the Army - send in the cameras. I'm fed up of the people who want to impose cameras on the rest of us getting away without being contantly monitored. What do *they* have to hide?

Personally, I don't agree with cameras anywhere but if we have to have them, then they should be "watching the detectives".

2003-07-29T10:23:00.000+01:00

Well, quite a lot has happened since I last blogged. Bob Hope died. That Tony Martin came out from jail and so did one of his victims. Of course, one of his victims will never go anywhere again.

I'd just like to review the law pertaining to property as it relates to England and Wales. You are not allowed to use deadly force to prevent someone tresspassing on your property. Self defence is allowed, but it is exactly that - defence. No waving of guns and suchlike. No electric barbed wire or landmines outside your property.

One might wonder how such laws came about, as English law is usually pretty draconian. I think it must have started about the time of the various Enclosures acts - the greedy landlords didn't want any legal opposition to their quasi-illegal occupation of common land. If a peasant used violence to defend their land, it was so much easier to cart them off to jail. Unfortunately for the large landowners, that does mean that there is little they can legally do about tresspassers, but as they usually own large tracts of land, the problem was not very pressing for them - and it was usually easy enough for them to dragoon the police into preventing "breaches of the peace". Wouldn't it be nice if the police weren't always being used in a party political way. Hey, I can dream can't I?

2003-07-25T16:52:00.000+01:00

New viral outbreak hits America.

Epidemic Of Good Sense Strikes The US, Republicans Quickly React

WASHINGTON D.C. (NewsHax wire) -- The US Surgeon General, Vice Admiral Richard H. Carmona, held a press conference this morning addressing the Good Sense epidemic. For the past two months, infected Americans have reported experiencing doubt in authority figures, compassion for the homeless, and, in some cases, severe dissatisfaction with the status quo.

"Particularly at risk are Americans who hate reading, drive SUVs, or support war as a means to end conflict, real or imagined," the Surgeon General said. "And that's not just Republicans," he added. (More...)

2003-07-25T12:35:00.000+01:00

Arrrghh!!! Blogger is playing up! I can't stand it! I just can't stand it!

2003-07-25T09:36:00.000+01:00

Having problems with my template - Blogrolled links will be back on the right hand side as soon as I've worked out what part of the previous post is causing the problem.

2003-07-25T09:35:00.000+01:00

Thanks to Brad De Long's Semi Daily Journal for this graph

Partial Graph of the U.S. Income Distribution. The graph represents the population of the United States lined up, left to right, according to income. The height of the graph at any point is the height of a stack of $100 bills equaling that person's income.

Consider this picture:

Imagine the population of the United States stretched across a football field in order of income, from poorest to richest. Now imagine a stack of $100 bills representing each person's income. (A 1-inch stack of $100 bills is $25,000.) The red line represents the heights of those stacks compared to a football field. I call this graph the "L-Curve."

The red line in the first picture is the beginning of the U. S. income distribution. On the scale of the football field the line slopes gradually from zero on the left to less than 2-inches high at the 50-yard line ($39,000), to about 4-inches high at the 95-yard line ($132,000). On this scale the entire graph is less than one pixel high, up to this point. It is not until you are well past the 99-yard line that you hit the $1 million mark: a stack of $100 bills 40-inches high. There were over 144,000 people who turned in IRS returns in 1997 with adjusted gross incomes of $1 million or more.

It is impossible to show the whole graph meaningfully on a single diagram.

More at the L-curve

2003-07-24T16:20:00.000+01:00

Actually, re-reading that Torygraph piece made me wonder about his science education. Obviously he did not receive one as he would otherwise know that metals such as aluminium, magnesium and so on barely interact with electromagnets. Indeed, the iron in one's blood barely registers. The complete list of aluminium, calcium, magnesium, sodium, chloride, fluoride, nitrate, potassium, sulphate, copper, iron - only iron is regularly found with any sort of magnetic effect, due to its lone electrons (high spin d5 transition metal). Also, he bangs on about how dangerous water is - yet cigarettes kill half of all the people who take them up. Worldwide, cigarettes are a major killer. His list of the ingredients of cigarettes - benzene, formaldehyde and cyanide are all known carcinogens. His comments about blowing up the Houses of Parliament are, of course, sedition and he should be arrested with immediate effect.

Ahh, such a humourous piece. Especially since he is likely to die (fifty:fifty) twenty or so years before he should do, due to his cigarette addiction. Sometimes, there is poetic justice.

2003-07-24T15:47:00.000+01:00

Here's a piece that I found thanks to Private Eye, but was originally published in the Torygraph:

"You can see it in the visit that I had at my desk this week from a lovely woman called Daphne, the company nurse. She wanted to make sure that I had the right sort of chair, that my computer screen didn't flicker in a way that would be bad for my eyes and that I was able to tilt my keyboard to make typing comfortable.

The idea of all this was to make sure that I didn't contract what used to be called repetitive strain injury - although I could have told her that nobody with Tory leanings has ever contracted RSI. It is a disease that afflicts only socialists and union activists."

Now, the interesting thing here is that several people working on the Telegraph have recently come down with RSI - some with very bad cases. Also, as the letters page subsequently pointed out, there *are* Conservatives out there who suffer from RSI. But I think we all understand the main thrust of the article - socialists and trade unionists get RSI because they are the only ones who actually do any work.

Work, for Tories, is something someone else does. Who needs to work when you own most of Hampshire (for instance)? For all they bleat on about being the party of business, the simple fact is that they destroyed much of our manufacturing industry while in power, and spent our oil money on tax breaks for their friends.

Discuss I'm a Conservative and I work quite hard, actually

2003-07-24T11:46:00.000+01:00

Many thanks to Pen-Elayne for drawing my attention to this wordsmith:

(Speaking about the supposed virginity of Britney Spears)

"And now, the void. The abyss. The waiting. The tragic lack of someone to fill her Astroglide-stained ruby slippers, a nubile grinning gyrating blank-faced pop-icon canvass onto which we as a perpetually sexually perplexed culture can project our odd double-edged need for innocence and virtue and sweetness coupled with debauchery and heat and mad throbbing desire. You know?"

Read the whole article here - if you dare

2003-07-24T10:45:00.000+01:00

So, a painting by Raphael has been "saved for the nation". That will be the famous Bert Raphael, who used to paint in Billericay in the middle ages then. What? He wasn't even British? And all that money £11 million, thank you very much, won't be going to a good cause but to an already incredibly wealthy landowner?

To top it all, there is the possibility that it is a cheap fake, only worth £6,000.

This is a travesty of a farce of a travesty. Yes, its an interesting painting. But the country has countless interesting paintings - mostly in private collections getting tax relief.

Art is a luxury and should be taxed as such.

2003-07-23T17:33:00.000+01:00

Politics makes strange bedfellows, they say. I never thought I would end up agreeing with Hunter S Thompson.

This piece is stolen in full from the Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

Quote for the day

Yesterday I came across the following quote from Hunter S. Thompson. After some investigation I discovered it is from an essay in his latest book "Kingdom of Fear : Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century".

We have become a Nazi monster in the eyes of the whole world--a nation of bullies and bastards who would rather kill than live peacefully. We are not just Whores for power and oil, but killer whores with hate and fear in our hearts. We are human scum, and that is how history will judge us....No redeeming social value. Just whores. Ge out of our way, or we'll kill you.

Well, shit on that dumbness. George W. Bush does not speak for me or my son or my mother or my friends or the people I respect in this world. We didn't vote for these cheap, greedy little killers speak for America today--and we will not vote for them again in 2002. Or 2004. Or ever.

Who does vote for these dishonest shitheads? Who among us can be happy and proud of having all this innocent blood on our hands? Who are these swine? These flag-sucking half-wits who get fleeced and fooled by stupid little rich kids like George Bush?

They are same ones who wanted to have Muhammad Ali locked up for refusing to kill gooks. They speak for all that is cruel and stupid and vicious in the American Character. They are the racists and hate mongers amon us--they are the Ku Klux Klan. I piss down the throats of these Nazis.

And I am too old to worry about whether they like it or not. Fuck them.

-Hunter S. Thompson, 2002

The essay in full is here.

2003-07-23T11:18:00.000+01:00

Stolen from Velvet Rut

2003-07-22T16:38:00.000+01:00

Go through the window of the Total Perspective Vortex and you get this.

Neil Kinnock, who is now so unfashionable it hurts once said (and I paraphrase) get involved in your local democracy. It doesn't matter which party you join, as long as it isn't a fascist one, get involved. Things aren't right - don't complain about it. Do something about it.

I'd also add: always, always vote. You have no moral right to complain if you didn't even try to make your voice heard. People who say "I never vote because they are all the same", listen to yourself. No-one cares what you think because you don't vote!

For instance, I wouldn't even knock on your door so you could complain about Labour policy because we know who voted last time. Not how you voted obviously (unless you tell us), but even then we make educated guesses. Rude people tend to be Tories, pot smokers Lib Dem, nice people Labour, in my experience. The man in a soiled vest shouting the odds and drinking heavily is, in my experience, a Conservative. The harrassed mother with children and two jobs tends to be Labour. Yes, there are exceptions. But years of canvassing do give you an insight into democracy. Try it some time. You will be amazed.

Discuss I've been canvassing and you are wrong!

2003-07-22T16:23:00.000+01:00

This is an interesting story "Astronomers count the stars" In it they point out that in our brightly lit towns, we can see maybe 100 stars (or worse, in some towns) and in very dark places you can see about 5000 with the naked eye. With their telescopes, the Australian scientists calculate that there are around 70 sextillion stars. That is 7 with 22 zeros after it. Or, about a tenth of Avogadro's number. So there are as many stars in the visible Universe as there are molecules in about 2 grams of water.

Makes you think, doesn't it? I find it strange that people are about "halfway" between the two extremes - I remember reading somewhere that a star is to a human as a human is to an molecule. It sounds about right. It also makes you wonder about the Total Perspective Vortex.

2003-07-22T15:48:00.000+01:00

From Wis[s]e Words:

"Do it Yourself

An interesting story in the Denver Post about the growing number of pop musicians who move over from the mayor record labels to the independents or self-publishing. Since the major labels aren't interested any more in anyone who sells less then a million records in the US market, a lot of artists feel they're better off elsewhere:

After 18 years, folk-rock singer Natalie Merchant parted ways with Elektra Records (a division of the entertainment giant AOL Time Warner) to start her own Myth America label. On Aug. 12, she'll release a new solo album, "The House Carpenter's Daughter," through her website and select retailers. Her break-even point will be about 50,000 discs - a tenth of the sales threshold the major labels generally require.

"On a major, you might make a dollar a record, and you have to pay back the costs to make that record," Merchant said. "As an indie, you can make $10 a record."
What intrigues me is the way the big labels chase after the million sellers while neglecting what could be the bread and butter artists: people who won't sell millions, but whom you know will sell 50,000 or 100,000, don't need much promotion and whom you can make a reasonable profit from. What if your carefully groomed million seller turns out not to be? It seems so short sighted.

But then, it is short sighted. It's an artefact of the way the stock market rewards hyper succesful companies and is satisfied only by growth, growth, growth. The only way to fulfill the stock market's expectations is to chase after the big money: the million sellers. So you get a climate in which a record company depends on a handful of carefully groomed and promoted superstars and doesn't want anything to do with those who may be still profitable, but not profitable enough. Trouble is, if your big superstar fails, you're in far more danger as a company, because it takes so much money to create million sellers, that you have to sell that many more records to recoup costs and make the profits you need. Hence, if you fail, you fail big --and there are only so many chances you get. All of which creates the record industry's version of the Red Queen's Race: larger and larger companies spending more and more money to get bigger and bigger sales of less and less artists, just to survive.

No wonder so many artists say "fuck that" and do it themselves."

(some edits). The record industry is in a mess. If you make $9 a record and sell a million - that is NINE MILLION DOLLARS pure profit. Goodness knows they have never spent that much promoting artists (at least in this country), and heaven forbid they should *ever* cut prices (Tubular Bells, for goodness sake, is still being sold). Even restaurants don't mark up their merchandise as much as the media companies - and you are free to recreate their meals at home afterwards, if you want. The analogy with take home pizza is actually not bad - they expect you to take the CD home, play it once and then have to buy another one. Meanwhile, you can bake your own pizza for 10p - but if you do, it is illegal. Scary. And you can eat your pizza in public, without falling foul of the laws.

So, come on record companies. Stop being such terrible inspiration sapping money junkies and actually try and do yourselves a favour. Otherwise I may have to start my own label. And that would be trouble.

2003-07-22T14:08:00.000+01:00

A little quizette, thanks to Fembat:

LOVE is your chinese symbol!

What Chinese Symbol Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

How could I disagree?

2003-07-22T12:01:00.000+01:00

Here's a piece from the Pagan Prattle:

Disappointment

"This year's Pride Scotia march went ahead in Edinburgh yesterday. The march would not have happened at all if Tory candidate John Smart had not called for such events to be banned back in April. The march was dedicated to him, and Smart's contribution acknowledged on the website and in the event programme. But, despite his presence at previous marches, armed with Biblical banners, this year the fundie protestors were completely absent.

Posted by Brother Bimbo del Doppio Senso"

As I commented on the comments page, it is so nice to see the Tories sticking up for the right of free assembly, the right of free speech, the right to live free of intimidation no matter what your sexual orientation and the right to protest.

I fully expect him to become the next Tory leader.

Discuss You're the boss!

2003-07-22T10:15:00.000+01:00

Blogger seems to have lost half my links, so I've just reinstated them. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

2003-07-21T17:08:00.000+01:00

Good to know that they didn't just rush into war without making sure they had all the background information. As the Washington Post reports
"Warning in Iraq Report Unread
Bush, Rice Did Not See State's Objection

By Dana Milbank and Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, July 19, 2003; Page A01

President Bush and his national security adviser did not entirely read the most authoritative prewar assessment of U.S. intelligence on Iraq, including a State Department claim that an allegation Bush would later use in his State of the Union address was "highly dubious," White House officials said yesterday.

The acknowledgment came in a briefing for reporters in which the administration released excerpts from last October's National Intelligence Estimate, a classified, 90-page summary that was the definitive assessment of Iraq's weapons programs by U.S. intelligence agencies. The report declared that "most" of the six intelligence agencies believed there was "compelling evidence that Saddam [Hussein] is reconstituting a uranium enrichment effort for Baghdad's nuclear weapons program." But the document also included a pointed dissent by the State Department, which said the evidence did not "add up to a compelling case" that Iraq was making a comprehensive effort to get nuclear weapons."

Link thanks to Maru, again

2003-07-21T15:54:00.000+01:00

2003-07-21T11:28:00.000+01:00

I suppose everyone and her husband is talking about Dr Kelly now. My wife and I reckon there is something more going on that we haven't heard about. The Prime Minister has been blamed, the BBC has taken some responsibility, the view taken so far is that the Commons Committee questioned him too hard. But none of it adds up - why would a Government scientist (who presumably is used to tough questions) take his own life? Surely he would realise that like most of these things, it would all blow over?

It all seems so senseless. I hope this judge can come up with some answers, and not just daft allegations against the Prime Minister. As far as I can tell, Tony has done nothing wrong.

2003-07-18T17:55:00.000+01:00

I know there is a lot of cynicism out there, so please skate on by to this Tesco web page to see what I'm going on about with the price of CD's. On the net - reasonable prices because they know we can get CD's from the US at knock-down prices. Retail? £12.99, £14.99 - I even saw £15.99 for a Massive Attack album. That's $25.42 with the current exchange rate (£1=$1.59)

Now, would US readers tell me, have you ever paid $25 for a single CD album?

2003-07-18T17:43:00.000+01:00

At least, I should be using my proper blogname now...

2003-07-18T17:31:00.000+01:00

Many thanks to Maru at Wi[s]se Words for the link

America's forgotten revolutionary past

Lucy Ella Parsons - website
American Revolutionary: circa 1853-1942
"more dangerous than a thousand rioters" - The Chicago Police department

Lucy Parsons was an African, Native and Mexican-American revolutionary anarchist labour activist from late nineteenth and 20th century America. Emerging out of the Chicago Haymarket affair of 1886, in which eight anarchists were imprisoned or hung for their beliefs, Lucy Parsons led tens of thousands of workers into the streets in mass protests across the country. Defying both racial and gender discrimination, she was at the forefront of movements for social justice her entire life. She sparked rebellion and discontent among poor and exploited workers wherever she spoke, and her fiery, powerful orations invoked fear in authority nationwide.

- if only there were her like around today. Mind you, they would probably have been shot by a lone gunman, who has yet to be caught by the FBI.

2003-07-18T11:14:00.000+01:00

Well, it's nice to see one of the good guys winning for a change. A US Conservative idiot said on live TV that if Hillary Clinton's book sold a million he would eat his shoe and tie. Now, the gracious lady has made the pundit eat his words - but in the nicest possible way as she presented Tucker Carlsen with a chocolate cake in the shape of a shoe.

Now, that is style. She has had to take all manner of rubbish and unfair criticism and downright lies told against her - yet she still has a sense of humour. If the Americans have any sense at all, they will make her their President in 2008 or 2012.

Good on you, Hillary!

2003-07-18T11:03:00.000+01:00

Thanks to The Blue Bus again for a wonderful link to the Top Ten Conservative Idiots which this week, at number four stars...Ari Fleisher! Here's what they say "First up, Ari tried to defend his boss last week by suggesting (apparently seriously) that it was up to the people who thought there weren't any WMDs in Iraq to explain where they've gone: "I think the burden is on those people who think he didn't have weapons of mass destruction to tell the world where they are," said he. "

Now, this is old fashioned logic to me, and is rather akin to Christians asking Atheists (Brights) where they think god has gone if he doesn't exist. The whole point is - it was never there.

Personally, I don't know whether WMD were there or not and frankly, I don't really care. I didn't oppose the war because I knew it was inevitable and I don't like lost causes. On the other hand, we were told a lot of bullshit about being only 45 minutes from attack, and how Iraq was positively seething with WMDs. I still think the only good thing to come out of this whole debacle is the overthrow of a vicious dictator but until the coalition forces start making things better, they are going to come under fire from all sides. Frankly, I don't like the fact that all the reconstruction work goes through one US company that is strongly linked with the Republican party. That sounds like bribery and corruption to me. Iraq needs rebuilding now.

2003-07-17T15:31:00.000+01:00

Pretty quiet today. I got my new laser printer working at home last night, it was a dream to set up. So I would like to thank Samsung for a good setup procedure. I managed to download my first pictures from my first digital camera too - that took a bit longer because of all the software they bundled on the CD, but it still went through quite smoothly, if a little slowly. So I was prettty impressed with the technology last night - the digital camera is well cool. I love being able to see the photos before I print them. You can even make little movies - very cool.

I know this is all old hat to you technophiles out there, but it is new to me and I'm really enjoying it. I did surf by to Blogtree, and told them my heritage - the bastard child of Victoria, Scaryduck and Silflay. So it is all their fault.

Discuss You're the boss!

2003-07-16T17:22:00.000+01:00

I know that people come over here to have a look sometimes - I can see the old coffee cups and pizza boxes. If you get a chance, you world weary internet hoppers, do have a look at this wonderful animation. It is about two lovely cats called Snowdrop and Mittens.

Enjoy!

2003-07-16T10:57:00.000+01:00

Are you a Bright? Come out as a Bright, if you think you're bright enough! What is a Bright? A humanist or atheist or agnostic - someone who does not believe in the supernatural. Remember too, that there is no such thing as a Christian child, only a child of Christian parents. You wouldn't talk of a New Labour or Conservative child, would you?

So - you know its right to be Bright.

2003-07-15T12:16:00.000+01:00

Interesting that with polls, it only really matters what questions you ask. Take this poll, for instance. To me, it indicates that a majority of people do not believe the royals can continue as they are. While a "mere" 16% want the royal family abolished, this should be set against the fact that it is still illegal to call for the abolition of the monarchy. Obviously, when the royal lands are returned to public ownership, the Government will never have owned so much land before. House prices could well fall to a reasonable level and first time buyers afford a property.

There's a slogan for you - Abolish the Monarchy, Afford your own home!

2003-07-14T17:53:00.000+01:00

Betty Bowers speaks to US lawmakers:

How to Spot Atheists and Report Them to the FBI

"I don't know that Atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God."
-President George Bush

Unless you're Catholic or have been living in a cave for the last 20 years, you already know that Landover Baptist's Pastor Deacon Fred and Brother Harry Hardwick are the world's foremost Christian experts on the disease, Atheism, and its carriers called, Atheists. Both Pastors have risked infection and death to speak at countless Atheist conventions. Pastor Hardwick recently remarked as a guest on "The No Spin Zone:" "As long as there's twenty-four hour room service and they pick up my first class airfare, I'll give my 18.4 minute inspirational presentation to Lucifer himself! Besides, a relaxing walk through the parking lot outside an Atheist convention can harvest hundreds of car tag numbers for the FBI's computers. And with Mr. Ashcroft paying a dollar a tip, that can add up to a complimentary tour of the hotel gift shop, my friend."

When not bringing financially sound believers to the bosom of Christ, Hardwick and Fred dedicate their lives to ferreting out and publicly exposing hell bound, godless liberal trash. And outside of the demon-possessed folks at the mental hospital who fling their own excrement up your nose, Atheists are the worst kind of unsaved trash a decent Christian will ever have the displeasure of rebuking. Thankfully, there are not that many of them.

"I've got to tell you," says Pastor Deacon Fred, "that from what I've seen in the last few years, there are roughly 300 active Atheists living in the United States. I know that sounds like a lot of godless nuts, but I'm not exaggerating just to get your attention. Atheism is becoming a very serious epidemic because our projections show that within a mere eight years, our country will no longer have prison space to hold all of them. And that's not even taking into account the many folks who don't have the guts to admit at the family dinner table that they are Atheists, but spit in Christ's face in secret by failing to get down on their knees and repeat all the compliments He demands to hear. Most of the uncounted Atheists are in the closet and are too sissified to handle death threats from their Christian neighbors. "They say they don't believe in stuff they can't see, but they are the very same people who tell you that Ben Affleck and that harlot, Jennifer Lopez, have talent!" Brother Hardwick added, "Most of these closet Atheists are so ignorant, it isn't worth even worrying about them. Before they know it, their so-called Constitutional right to run around thinking for themselves will soon be taken away from them. My guess is that once George W. Bush comes through on his daddy's edict, that most of these selfish little renegade Atheist bastards will pick Jesus over Jail in a heartbeat."

"We are no longer talking about that tiresome 'free speech' thing," Mrs. Betty Bowers testified before a closed session of Congress last Wednesday. "The coin of the realm is rather emphatic in declaring, In God We Trust. By denying the Lord, these willful Atheists are rebuffing our nation's sacred currency. I don't know about all of you, but I can't think of anything more un-American than refusing to accept legal tender! Clearly, we have ourselves an issue of national security. As all of you have enthusiastically endorsed by default, we are now waging a Christian war against nations with gods that unfairly compete with our own. How can an Atheist be counted upon to raise a weapon and kill men, women and children for Christ? They can't! That's your answer. Every one of them is just an act of treason waiting to happen. I ask all of you, since our country has taken to killing non-Christian Arabs during interrogations, why have our own domestic non-Christians been allowed to get off scot-free? I can tell by the nodding of your heads that most of you see where I am going with this and I thank you in advance for your courage and faith."

Complete article

2003-07-14T10:33:00.000+01:00

I hear that those record companies are whining again about people copying CD's. I have a simple message for them. STOP RIPPING US OFF ON THE PRICE OF CD'S. Now, for someone like me with access to a CD burner and colour printer can make a very nice CD of my original music for something like 50p each - and that is retail.

I went into Asda yesterday and CUT-PRICE SINGLES cost £2.99. Now, I wouldn't dream of not using the full 74 minutes or near enough on any CD I was going to sell. When full price CD's cost about £14.99 you begin to suspect a rip-off - especially when you realise that US radio stations PAY NO NEEDLE TIME!!!

What is needle time? This is when a radio station pays a small amount for the privilege of broadcasting a CD. Perfectly reasonable, you would have thought. Music helps sell the station, the station can then get additional advertising, everyone is happy.

Instead, the record companies decide to make windfall profits in Europe over their totally overpriced CD's. No wonder people are ripping them off the web - it is better than being ripped off in a record shop or supermarket.

CD singles shouldn't cost more than £1.99, and I think that should be refundable if you buy the album. As someone who bought low quality vinyl for years, I resent having to pay over the odds for my CD's. I think as a goodwill gesture, the record companies should have either a) given away free CD players. b) given trade ins on old vinyl records c) stop making crap records or d) lower prices on CD's immediately. Why is it that CD's, which now cost less to make than the old vinyl records, now retail at a higher price (£4.99 in the old days, £14.99 now).

For crying out loud that is TWENTY US DOLLARS!! You can buy a pair of JEANS for less than a record. Crikey, you can buy a meal for SIX for less!

The record companies are rip off merchants. We deserve better and I refuse to buy any more CD's until they see reason. I urge everyone else to do the same until prices come down.

2003-07-14T09:44:00.000+01:00

Well, I am now officially an old fogey now as today is my big four-oh - 40. Already I can feel carpet slippers slipping around my feet and my favourite armchair luring me. No doubt at lunchtime my head will slump onto my shoulders and a thin line of drool will fall from my mouth. While driving home this evening, I will feel a tremendous urge to wear a flat cap while driving the car and once I get home I will immediately fall into a sleep in my armchair.

So no change there then.

2003-07-10T16:50:00.000+01:00

Here's an idea: abolish agricultural subsidies. For years, British farmers have been telling us how efficient they are - now is their chance to prove it. Without subsidies, they can grow what they like, how they like (with certain commonsense ecological and environmental safeguards) and my shopping gets cheaper. The added benefit of course, is that I stop subsidising the rich. Yes, that's right, it's the old "only 6,000 people in Britain own 70% of the land" thing again. But the plain fact is that most of the current EU subsidy, yes, that is the same EU that the farmers hate so much that they all vote Conservative - goes to the landowners or as you and I know them, the very rich.

Anyway, here's the original article in case you think I make all this stuff up.

Discuss Abolish Subsidies, Aid Third World Farmers!

2003-07-10T14:36:00.000+01:00

File to the "Those Americans Are Crazy" archives

Article in the latest New Scientist magazine:

The US Congress is close to passing a bill giving gun makers immunity from liability for deaths or injuries caused by their products; legislation that would place gun makers in a uniquely privileged position. The move highlights the special place granted to guns in US culture, whereby the heavy toll of death and injury that guns inflict is normally viewed as a social and political problem, in which the need to tackle gun crime and accidents is set against traditional rights and freedoms to bear arms.

Complete article here

But look on the bright side: at least a bit of Darwinism is taking place. People who keep guns in their homes are 72% more likely to get killed by firearms, and are 3.44 times more likely to commit suicide.

What's that? Americans are TWICE as likely to commit suicide than Britons? It really *must* be a better place to live, I shall move right away...