A social code for humans?

I heard a most interesting Radio 4 programme today. Something about Countryside Safari. The presenter met with a beekeeper and they discussed the social customs and organisation of honey bees. Seems the hive contains three main groups - one Queen, some large number of drones and a very large number of workers. Main job of workers is to collect the base materials for honey. The Queen is there to lay eggs - some 2,000 per day at the peak time of the year. This is necessary to keep worker levels up as they die in high numbers. The drones are there as - it seems to me - insurance. If a virgin Queen comes into the hive, the drones will mate with her and start her off on the path to the 2,000 per diem. They are not needed after the original defloration of the new Queen.
Now, wake up at the back there! This is the bit I like. After copulation, the drones, who are also male virgins, lose their sexual organs and then die. No explanation was given as to why the drones only blossomed once and then died. This topic confused me - why? Everything else we heard seemed to have a good basis in the running of a well organised community that could have benefits for us humans. I then came up with the idea that exposure to sexual congress was confusing to the drone and might encourage it to seek to mate with others apart from virgin queens so as to satisfy it's new-found sexual urge. Only likely other target would be other drones. This is where this all might get a bit non-p.c. or prejudicial so I give the standard Islamic response - if you don't like it, go away.
The life style of the drone is obviously to ensure that there are no gay drones. They have straight sex and then - end.
I saw a parallel for humankind. Not quite so severe as we are of a higher order. However, what came to mind was idea that human homosexuals should lose their sexual organs so as to keep them on the straight and narrow.
Please note - tongue in cheek really. However, might be of interest to someone. I am sufficiently inspired from this short programme to learn more of the social structure of the honey bee.

If talent was dynamite she couldn't blow her nose.

Never saw anything like this in any honky tonk I visited. Mind you, I'm not one of the Dukes of Hazard either.

Sweeties anyone?

As a bit of a treat after all my whinging, here is something interesting to read. Not only interesting, but indicative of why so many 'civilians' (those not of the police) get annoyed when they are informed of a negative result on some complaint they have made. This tying of police hands was surely never discussed in any proper open forum. So long as we can trust those who draft and review legislation, this lack of discussion would be acceptable. It is just this sort of procedure that alienates 'civilians' and police and must surely be some sort of 'Human Rights' that has gone too far. Just imagine the tamasha if this sort of thing gets into the events of 21 July. Blogged by this guy who is always worth your time and attention.

I.D. ISSUES
When investigating any crime, it is important to establish that the person you have under arrest is the person who committed the crime. Establishing what is known as “continuity” of identification evidence is vital before any case goes to court. For example: someone might report being punched in the face by a man wearing white trousers and a black T-shirt. Five minutes later you might see a male wearing white trousers and a black T-shirt who looks shifty and is slightly out of breath. Is the man you are looking at the same man who committed the earlier offence of assault?If you suspect he is, you could arrest him and interview him when he sobers up in the morning. Let’s say the description of the offender given by the injured party is excellent and there is CCTV of the offence taking place and let’s also say there is an independent witness who saw the offence and then followed the offender until he was picked up by the police and arrested. Now that’s good continuity: the person who committed the offence is clearly the same person who was arrested, so, even in the absence of further evidence (like DNA or an admission by the offender on interview) you might think you have a good case.You’d be wrong.In these cases (where the offender is denying the offence on interview) you have to seek CPS advice. If you interview the offender outside officer hours then you have to release him on bail (without charge or O.R. as you say in the US) so that you can get written CPS advice. The CPS will say you have to run an identity parade.Identity parades are run on DVD, and these days are called VIPER, which stands for Video Identification…something…something. Anyway, you have to “invite” the offender to attend (it’s entirely optional) at a suitable time both for him and for you, then you have to arrange a time for the injured party to attend, then you wait for the results to come back. If the only evidence you have is going to be from a VIPER and the offender decides he doesn’t want to turn up, there’s nothing you can do about it. VIPER is run for the most insignificant offences and most of the time it’s used as one more obstacle to prosecution.I suspect that defence solicitors know how unlikely it is that offenders get picked out of a VIPER and that’s why they are all in favour of them. The CPS will not run a case unless it’s watertight, and why should they care if patrol officers spend whole mornings on the telephone trying to organise a VIPER for a case which is pretty much open and shut? Naturally, we have a whole department dedicated to running VIPER, but the responsibility of ensuring they are arranged and the people turn up falls to…the officer who made the arrest.

Another take on doctors...

Hope I’m not getting a fixation. This popped up today whilst I was doing my ‘Next Blog’ click game. It is from here.

a conversation I had with my mom recently - We were talking about a world in which people, mutually respectful of one another, seek help from others whose expertise outstrips their own in some way- I go to the plumber, knowing he can fix the pipes. He is respectful of my knowledge in other areas, and is appreciative of the fact that I have sought him out, supporting his way of life.I feel like it should be similar with doctors.. I am a person, going to another person, seeking help through their knowledge/expertise. It should be a respectful transaction, with each party recognizing the other's intellect and individual knowledge.Too often, in today's world, one party or the other screws this up. Patients are at times wheedling, disrespectful, cheap, dishonest, unprepared, blameful, etc. Doctors can be paternalistic, arrogant, and all the same things as the aforementioned patient. Or simply forgetful of the fact that their patient should be on equal footing with them- person to person.Not just in medicine... As humans, I think we all too often forget that we're in this together. (this being life, politics, economics, everything!) The doctor helps Joe today, next week Joe the engineer revolutionizes medical technology.Hell, the cleaning lady may have a lot more to offer than meets the eye.

Just in case I’m turning into a boring bstard. I will steer clear of inspirational little sayings for a while………………….

That old black magic

"In addition to my other numerous acquaintances, I have one more intimate confidant . . . My depression is the most faithful mistress I have known — no wonder, then, that I return the love."
Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) Danish philosopher

Though I’ve read a bit of Kierkegaard – generally when in the grip of The Black Dog – I had not come across this thought until today when it popped up in something I was reading. Yesterday was one with a fairly high level of depression for me. Maybe this was due to the feisty doctor and what I saw as her dismissive attitude. She agreed that the erratic ticker increased the risk of stroke but, poor thing, could have no knowledge of how much I fear that very disease which can lead to one being a wilted cabbage relying on machines. I seek to be more positive than merely saying that we will wait and see what happens. How will I consult with her in a month’s time if I am brain dead and physically immobile?

I have had Black Dog moments since I was in my mid-twenties. I think I know what started them. They come and they go like some sine pattern. They seem to come when I start to brood about the very fact of depression and go when I start something that diverts my mind. In that way they are exactly as the Dane describes them. They do attract. As a sort of challenge. If I dive in that deep and weed-filled pool, will I surface? Perhaps they are allied in some way to my addiction to adrenaline that causes me to go down the fight road far more often than choosing flight and beating a diplomatic retreat. My faithful devotion is not abated by exhortations to ‘snap out of it’. It needs me to change a mind-set to put the dog back in the kennel. I know that. I know how to do it. Inasmuch as I keep my despondent state to myself, I have no benefit of sympathy or understanding.

Well, that’s enough of that I think. I have to go and listen to some of my Leonard Cohen records and keep my chin up.

Title of this has reminded me of time when Norma and I were in London to see some stage play or other. She decided to get some chocolates whilst I was parking the car. Newspaper shop she went into was run by very very big and shiny black African man - filed incisor teeth and everything. She asked, 'Do you have Black Magic?' We paid for them and ran away.

Got my eye on you

With thanks to Baldermort (#1 son) for technical help.

Random (very) thoughts

Well, the Americans have got the shuttle back safely; what good news. It does seem that this was the last time we will see that massive piece of engineering in flight.
I have always been fascinated by space travel. Not so much for what they were deemed able to add to our information but for the sheer technical excellence. The totally calm way in which the crew speak with ground control. That echoey sound of the voices. Something one never got when reading an Isaac Asimov novel. Truth is not only stranger than fiction – here it is vastly superior.
This interest and admiration exists even though I can see absolutely no benefit from the whole exercise. There is always that thing about finding signs of life out there and how our earth was created. I’m quite sure we would end up killing anything extra-terrestrial and the God-botherers would never change their minds anyway. Certainly, there have been tremendous benefits as an off-shoot of the programme but targeted science would have brought those forward at far less cost. My doubts as to the value of conquering space were strengthened after the loss of a crew. I regarded it all as an ego trip for FFK though why he should need such a thing after the background to Happy Birthday Mr President from Marilyn Monroe I cannot think.
These anti-terrorist initiatives seem to be getting beyond a joke. The government law-drafters seem to be trying to implement the 'game is over' measures B Lair wants only to get them chucked back in their briefs by the senior Judges. I am all for seperation of law and the state but something has got to give. We already have the farcical situation where people against whom extradition process has been initiated remain in custody for many years whilst the dry-as-dusters say they cannot be thrown out because of some legal point. Come the day when I'm am made President For Life, I would form some form of Review Committee from these do-nothing-unless-its-legal todgers and give them a directive to come up with laws they will enforce that meet the needs now facing us. If they cannot - their legal ability must be suspect and we de-robe them and get others. If they will not - same story. If it is a question of my being blown up in bed or having a bit of tough love law, I'll have the law please.
Although, take 'up' out of that sentence and I might have a changed desire.
Thouught it was nice of the NASA HQ to let the 'plane go round one more time while the pilot checked on her make-up.

Hello friend

My design guru and blog mate poses an interesting question in her contribution for today. My remarks and thoughts are too big for a comment on her spot and relevant to more than just her wide circle of friends - hence this. Go read what she has to say. I have extracted some of the bits she wrote and they are in italics below:
From experience I would have to say that it is perhaps possible to get to know someone via the internet more closely and with greater speed than face to face. Human beings have a strange ability to not be quite so upfront when face to face, give us the first line anonymity of a keyboard and suddenly we become braver about what we will tell one another in the first instance. I defy any one of you to deny that you have spoken of things to someone online that you would find harder to say if you where physically sat front of one another.
My comment on this is that I certainly find it very much easier to communicate with strangers by way of the net. One can review the written word in a way not possible with spontaneous speech. I have issues with getting involved with large groups of people - "I get on with individuals; it's people I hate" but the web allows me to focus on just one person. A minor benefit for me is that if I choose to treat someone as 'people' person, I have only to click in the top right hand corner and they are gone. In direct contact, it is likely that I would have expressed my opinion in a forceful and offensive manner.
I have met friends and a far wider diversity of individuals online than I suspect I would have had the opportunity too face to face.
This certainly true. I have been lucky to have travelled widely around the world but I have been in friendly contact with dozens of people I could never have met in my wanderings.So what prompted this post? An email from a friend yesterday. A guy who I hope considers me a friend and who strangely is probably the most likely person I am to meet 'for real' because coincidentally he isn't thousands of miles away. The guy in question has lent me some very helpful advice and support over the last few weeks one way and another and despite living close by I doubt we would have met other than on the internet.....even if we had it is unlikely we would have done more than pass the time of day, let alone become friends.
Hi! friend. Even at my advanced age and state of decline, it's unlikely that I would have stopped at 'passing the time of day' where a good looking woman is involved.

Be still my aching heart

Doctor duly seen. Looked at recent ECG and said, "That's not unusual. Lot of people have fibrilliation problems"
Ho. Ho. Ho. Hello bull - I am Red Rag. "It is me that has it - not someone else. It is unusual for me. So what can be done?"
Step off on wrong foot. Certain amount of verbal sparring. She is basically saying 'no sweat' but not very well. Seems nothing to worry about right now (but what about it sometimes causing stroke?). I advised her that I was not going to ignore something that could require me to be plugged into 13amp socket like some condom vending machine.
AGREED. Increase dosage of beta-blockers and go back in one month.

Non p.c - weightism

Suppose it could also happen to a cat?

DILLIGAFF

Just received a email with DILLIGAFF in it. Have established that it means Do I Look Like I Give A Flying Fcuk. I suppose this is 2005 - progress and all that.
I'm tempted to just reply WTFDYNWP - maybe not yet in Google but goes something like Why The Fcuk Do You Not Write Properly
WWIAE - where will it all end.
Any others my aged brain should be aware of other than the standard ROFLMA etc.?

My B Liar turn-around

Letter in today's Sunday Telegraph.

Blair has spun me.Although I have never been a fan of Tony Blair, I must admit that he has managed, since 1997, to spin my life-time held views through 180 degrees - today thanks to Blair I am now pro-Shami Chakrabarti, the Director of Liberty, pro-Ian Paisley, pro-John Humphrys, pro-Jeremy Paxman and pro- (well almost) George Galloway. I am now anti-American, anti-EU, anti-police, anti-regional government and instinctively anti of any statement and regulation cobbled together by his Government.
Brian Christley, Abergele, Conwy

What more can one say?

This is from a site where people add remarks they have overheard on the street. As one might imagine - there are some real hoots.

Man #1: I love my iPod. If it were a woman, I'd marry it.
Man #2: You've got some serious issues, man.

--Jane Street Coffee Shop

Not quite the real thing......

This guy is a hard nosed reporter in New York who spends much of his time with police patrols working in the bad areas. His site is always worth visiting but a recent piece on Community Policing (latest item in 'Fred's Columns') is especially relevant now that it is being proposed by President B Liar as the latest panacea (also known as snake-oil which cures everything. I quote extracts from the article but I recommend you read the whole thing (and drop in on some of his others as well).

An advantage, or disadvantage, of having been in the news racket too long is that you see the same nostrums proposed again and again. One of these, “community-based policing,” was briefly popular during my long and fascinating years on the police beat for the Washington Times. I hear noises on the web to suggest that it may be returning. A few thoughts:
Community-based-policing is a well-intentioned cure-all for crime. The idea is that the police should mingle with the people, and come to be loved, so that the people help them to fight crime. Instead of those intimidating, remote, paramilitary, and ninja-clad Robocops in cruisers, you have Officer Krupky the kindly Irish cop (all right, O’Krupky) who knows the people, understands their culture, is part of the neighborhood, and so on. CBP has the advantage of appealing to the desire of nice people for niceness. It charms people with terry-cloth minds, and conservatives who want to be thought insightful. Unfortunately it works best in neighborhoods that don’t need it.
The police are terrible at hearts-and-minds just as soldiers are, and for the same reasons: They are incorrigibly authoritarian, clean-cut blue-collar believers in personal responsibility and self-discipline who find themselves shepherding anarchistic, often ethnically disparate people who don’t care about anything the cops believe. Drill instructors and hippies. The two come to hate each other.
To understand this you have to know, as many white Americans do not, just how segregated the United States really is. In large parts of big cities, in LA, DC, Chicago, Boston, on and on—you can ride for eight hours with a cop and never see a white face. In the highly segregated satellite towns around Chicago, the police cite figures of eighty-five percent unemployment. The baby carriages hold the fourth consecutive generation on welfare. Selling drugs is the only industry, often regarded as no more criminal than copyright piracy.
These places amount to Kenya and Tijuana distributed in pockets across a European nation. They see the cops as an occupying force. The police are always carrying the young men off to jail, usually on drug charges. I can’t count the times I’ve watched young black males leaning against cars and being searched. The locals know that whites in the suburbs use drugs and don’t get into trouble. The locals know that if they drink a beer in the front yard or roll dice on the hood of a car, here comes a cop. They feel…occupied.

His comment on the alienation that is caused is very easily transposed into the recent claims of justification for dissent and violent action from young Islamists. We too have our ghettos where races gather together. Oh, by the way, he speaks of police officers in a Community role - our idea is to have rentacop quasi-pensioners and disaffected ex. school-crossing ladies with hardly any powers beyond dealing with people who do not clean up after their dogs.

OMG

Sitting here a bit bored yesterday and got into that stage where you start looking for things to do. This is sometimes where one wanders into 'regedit' but I am well aware of the horrors that lie in wait there. Don't know how many blogspot'ers have noticed it but at the top right hand side of the page it says 'Next blog'. Game for a laugh, I pressed this offer.
I think I have been around the block a bit. Dealing (police professionally) with ladies of the night and vice in cities where no holds are barred. Hong Kong, Tokyo, Korea, Port Said, dock areas in Germany. Brothel raids. Anti-vice re STD. I'm sure you get the picture. Including the activities of the brutal and licentious soldiery. However, the blog next to me was very explicit. Not just versions of missionaries actions but exploitation of just about every human orifice. It didn't turn me on, off or pending but I wondered if some bored young kid were to hit the next blog key on their page? Apparently, the 'next blog' is not constant but is a random page. As a grown-up who derives nothing from porn or such, I have no view on censorship but if there are many more such pages out there, my view could change inasmuch as it applies to kids.
Seems I have a very high level reader - of my blog re moving computers and my luck changing anyway. Had a small knock on my security door this morning with repeat of the neck spasm and some other funny things just as I had right before they did the bypass. Saw the doc. and there is some irregular heart movement so I have to sit out the line dancing and carry a nitro-glycerine spray until I can see the regular MO on Monday. There is a wikipedia article on Atrial Fibrillation for those who demand gory detail - Anyway, all is well now. SWMBO is prepared to reduce the level of required discipline, the medical services here are bloody marvellous (the emergency doctor has just rung me to check if I'm OK!) and I've been down this road before.

This comes from a guy who can always be relied upon to have something interesting and/or funny to say. I can't imagine that the Capital of Peachtrees has snow at this time of the year but whoever got it - well spotted.

As he says - "this dick in a truck pulled over in front of me"

Jonathan Livingstone Seagull

Down at the beach this morning I was confronted by a large gull. I say confronted as it showed no sign of flying away or being alarmed until I was almost on top of it. As it soared into the sky with just a lazy flap of it's wings, I suddenly had this recollection of Jonathan Livingstone seagull. This was a very popular story in - I think - 1970. To know the hidden meaning and message of Seagull was very important; it generated a lot of debate when talking to the more serious sort of woman at those boozy parties where the staircase seemed to be the posh persons salon.
Synopsis is basically that most gulls don't bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight--how to get from shore to food and back again. For most gulls it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight. Flight is the metaphor that makes the story soar. It is about the importance of seeking a higher purpose in life, even if your flock, tribe or neighbourhood finds your ambition threatening. By not compromising his higher vision, Jonathan gets the ultimate pay-off: transcendence. Ultimately, he learns the meaning of love and kindness.
I have absolutely no idea what dragged this story out of the 'filed' section of my brain and allied it to this morning's confrontional gull. I cannot recall having made any reference to Seagull since those days but I only had to do a small Google to set out the synopsis above. Now, if only I could recall that blonde girl's walk into the woods with me in 1953 - I'd be a happy man. But then, none of that is on Google.

I think I should go check the insurance - my luck cannot last.
SWMBO wanted to set up an extension of her quilting empire. OK. Problem was she had set her eyes on the room where Mr. p.c. ruled. I managed to squeeze a quick foxtrot oscar out through her grip on my neck but it was clear that her mind was made up.
So, unplug zillions of wires and cart kit and caboodle down to my study. Connect everything in what seemed to be some sort of logical order. Power connected to all the things that need it. Pushed the little button whilst looking out of the window in case I put a curse on it by watching. It all worked - and I've got some cables left over. The old p.c. room I left for my lady to clear up and I've made a note in my Palm thingy to tidy up my study.
The good Lord will strike soon - there is too much going my way. Keep this up and I could cut the depression tablets down to maybe a dozen a day!

General knowledge is not general

This sort of propoganda is all over the media

Hazel Blears, the home office minister responsible for counter-terrorism, visited Oldham this week to talk to Muslim
communities about their concerns following the London bombings.
She met leaders from the community at Oldham Civic Centre on Tuesday. "I have
met young Asian men from a wide range of backgrounds, and young women too, not just the usual kind of community leaders who usually talk to me," she said at the end of the meeting

What the lady needs to understand is that Asian males have absolutely no respect for anything said by those of the female sex. Their mothers? - maybe. Her - no way

Cartoonist Laureate

What is it about this guy that makes him so good?

(Stolen from Daily Telegraph 4 August)

Safety first

Some of the interviews we get with police representatives sound surreal. We had the boss of the Serious & Organised Crime Unit on yesterday who told us in his deep brown voice that crime rates now were far far higher than 50 years ago He attributed this to lower levels of honesty and a change in attitudes. Hello? Speak to the hand! I do not seem to remember many mobile telephones back then. I was not a happy child but I was not materially deprived so where was my MP3 player then? Our TV was of a size that needed a fork-lift truck to move the case enclosing a 9" screen. I do not have the benefits of his education but I do know of an economic theory called availability increasing demand. Oh well, perhaps it doesn't matter as he is in charge of Serious and Organised Crime and none will ever know just how much of that goes on.
Another idea from 'way back then' was the method of storing fine wines. There were few available, they were expensive and consumption was restricted to a few what we called toffs. However, I was never instructed to handle wine in the manner shown on Big Brother. Mind you, I'm only going on the reports - I'd rather penetrate my eyes with scorpion stings than watch such tripe. I lived in a Big Brother-world called Medway Towns so have no need to tune in.
After drama of no computer, I wasted no time on sorting my iPod and matching it with the iTunes library. Amazing - it all installed first time and everything is working beautifully. I need to adjust the way it runs - 42 Willie Nelson tracks all after one another get me into such a laidback state I'll get bed sores on my bum. Only hiatus was when it asked for serial number of the player. Using my strongest glasses I managed to see where such a thing might be. Adding two magnifing glasses to the specs meant that I could read what I needed. Obviously engraved for teen-age eyes.

Why cultural tolerance cuts both ways By David Davis(Filed: 03/08/2005)

The full article is in the Telegraph here. However, these extracts seem to set a sensible agenda from the Man Who Would Be King.

Rather than setting communities against one another, the bombers' actions have united all faiths in facing down this new breed of terrorism. Political parties have also been united in their resolve to defeat the threat - a lesson learnt from Spain, where the political response to the attack on Madrid played straight into the terrorists' hands. The most important thing British politicians can do is to remain united and avoid knee-jerk responses. Any other response would be grossly irresponsible, and could easily encourage more attacks.
The Government has responded over the past month with sensible proposals to tighten existing legislation. Our task is to ensure that these new laws will be effective and workable. The Government has to get them right first time. There is no room for mistakes. But this does not exempt us from a constructive critique of some of the Government's plans. We have reservations about proposals to extend the time-scale of detention without trial, for example. Ministers should also give clearer backing to the police's policy of stop and search, which, while controversial in some quarters, is obviously sensible. Nor should the prevailing political climate stop us proposing extra measures to increase Britain's security without sacrificing fundamental freedoms.
There are five things the Government could do that would gain our support. Firstly, it must secure Britain's porous borders. A new border control police force should be set up to ensure that every major port is manned day and night, to stop people entering the country illegally. Secondly, the Government should urgently review the process by which citizenship is granted. It is totally unacceptable that one of the alleged bombers was given a British passport despite having received a jail sentence and having a long record of bad conduct. British citizenship is a privilege, not a right. Thirdly, the Government should allow evidence from phone-taps to be used in the courtroom, making it easier to convict would-be terrorists and stop future attacks. Fourthly, the Government should appoint a Minister for Homeland Security to deal with the terrorist threat. Finally, ministers must show they are prepared to look again at whether the Human Rights Act stops them from ensuring that Britain is as safe as possible. This should include advocating its repeal, if necessary.
But the terrorist threat will not be beaten by security measures alone. Searching questions now have to be asked about what has been happening inside Britain's Muslim communities, and how the perverted values of the suicide bomber have been allowed to take root. Britain has pursued a policy of multiculturalism - allowing people of different cultures to settle without expecting them to integrate into society. Often the authorities have seemed more concerned with encouraging distinctive identities than with promoting common values of nationhood. The chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality has called multiculturalism "outdated". He is right. We should learn lessons from abroad - from the United States, where pride in the nation's values is much more prevalent among minorities than here. Above all, we must speak openly of what we expect of those who settle here - and of ourselves.
Let us be clear. Non-Muslims have obligations to their Muslim fellow citizens - to strive for equal opportunities for all, to accept the mainstream version of Islam as a part of society, and to reject the vile racism of the BNP and its like. But Muslims in turn have obligations: not simply to condemn terror, as one Labour MP put it, but to confront it.
In the past month, the vast majority of Muslims have queued up to denounce the outrages unleashed upon London. Senior Muslim leaders such as Dr Zaki Badawi, of the Muslim College, have spoken courageously and eloquently. But their thoughtful contributions are undermined by men such as Mohammad Naseem, the chairman of Birmingham's central mosque, who chose to focus his anger on the Government and security services, not on the men who set out to kill Londoners. People such as Mr Naseem do no favours to the Muslim community. After all, Muslims too are in the sights of the Islamic extremists.
Al-Qa'eda's long-term ambition is to eliminate moderate Islam altogether. It is therefore in the interests of moderate Muslims to support such measures as the extension of stop and search, the closing down of websites which support terror, the barring from Britain of clerics who support terrorist activity, and the licensing of visiting clerics.
Religious leaders have a special responsibility when those who commit crimes claim to be motivated by religion. We must acknowledge that there are good imams and bad imams. Most preach the true Muslim faith in a manner consistent with the society in which they live. Others, though, do not represent Islam properly and fail to understand the conventions of British society. Indeed, their aim is to destroy it. The Government must do more to encourage good imams to train here in Britain. Muslims themselves should help root out the bad ones.
Britain has a proud history of tolerance and respect towards people of different views, faiths and backgrounds. But we should not flinch from demanding the same tolerance and respect for the British way of life.

There is another Telegraph article which directly refers to that Shadow government fool I wrote of recently.
"Even more crass was the comment by Dominic Grieve, junior home affairs spokesman for the Conservatives, on the same programme: "I have to say that I find the suicide bombings totally explicable in terms of the level of anger which many members of the Muslim community seem to have about a large number of things." So will you commit mass murder and blow yourself up, Mr Grieve, when you reach a certain "level of anger" about a "large number of things”?

Broken heart

Serious consternation this morning. Went to check overnight e-mail and found pc was 'Off'. We leave it running but it sometimes confuses itself when downloading new virus signatures or Windoze updates so not great problem at that stage. Pressed right buttons and wandered off to 'ablutions'
When I got back the damned thing was demanding a password! Totally new development but I'm game for a laugh so I tapped in the usual set of letters and numbers. Rejected. Little more attention to case and finger poking but still no joy.
By this time my services were being demanded as chauffeur to The Shopping Queen. I blamed her for what had happened so that meant there was no idle conversation on the way to Haddington. No conversation of any sort actually. When we got back, full search of the disks and documentation which is where we note down any unusual passwords. Zilch found.
By now I was beginning to grasp the full significance of what might lay ahead. None of this, no e-mail, no wandering around the blogs of others, no Google Roulette. All my music was on the damned thing - how would I ship it to my iPod; I knew I should not have kept from doing this until my official birthday. Finally, phone call to #1 Son asking for help when he got home.
Then sat in front of keyboard and thought about it. Hah! Zen he say if there is no password that works, then maybe there is no password. Back to sign-on, leave pw space blank, enter. Hello nice music! End of heartbreak.

Can you hear me through this hat?

My family always voted Conservative. During my service life, I did not vote as I was mostly out of the country. When I was working as a civilian, the area in which I lived was excessively Tory and I did not bother to add my endorsement.
I heard much good comment on Thatcher from Americans with whom I worked and I appreciated her style, However, since she was got rid of. I have seen the party sink lower and lower. The - what can I call it - tone of the party as set by their spokespersons seems so out of touch with the way the world is organised today. An example I saw today is just the latest - this from the Shadow Attorney General:

Shadow attorney general Dominic Grieve has welcomed the plans for the
meetings, Hazel whatnot (Blears?) with Muslim leaders) but said he did not believe they would resolve the problems in Muslim communities. He told the Today programme: "I have to say that I find the suicide bombings totally explicable in terms of the level of anger which many members of the Muslim community seem to have about a large number of things. "I don't quite see how we are going to tackle that. I don't actually think that simply by going round and visiting community leaders you are going to get to some of these underlying issues."
And he said the anger within Muslim communities stemmed from a
"tension between their world view and the world they live in". "I'm sure that something like the Iraq war contributes to it, because after all it is about the intervention of Western countries in a state that is seen as being essentially Muslim and a part of the world - the Middle East - which has a great cultural history which frankly at the moment is poorly reflected in the current state of these countries," he added.

When they live in their world, they are unconcerned about world views. My interpretation of his point is that the indigent occupants of this country should make more concessions to Islamic forces. He cannot see that multicultureism is dead and just needs burial. Even if he was just trying to make some sort of 'yah boo' party political point, he is talking rubbish. I look forward to him getting rifted by Howard but I suspect it will be shuffled under the carpet - or prayer mat.

Kiss me goodnight sergeant major

The wonders of a good sergeant major - as demonstrated in the Wonder of Life by the Monty Python team.

General: Well, of course, warfare isn't all fun. Right — stop that! It's all very well to laugh at the military, but when one considers the meaning of life, it is a struggle between alternative viewpoints of life itself. And without the ability to defend one's own viewpoint against other perhaps more aggressive ideologies, then reasonableness and moderation could, quite simply, disappear! That is why we'll always need an army, and may God strike me down were it to be otherwise.

[A lightning bolt destroys the general. Cut to outside, where the Hand of God rises into the clouds. A sergeant major stands before his troops.]

Sergeant Major: DON'T STAND THERE GAWPING! LIKE YOU'VE NEVER SEEN THE HAND O' GOD BEFORE!

Big Ears

I think I am pretty well focussed at hearing what other people are saying as I walk amongst them. So, why is it that I do not hear things such as this?
Maybe it's because the community here is much less idiotic.

I have never been able to bring myself to read the Guardian newspaper on a regular basis. Why? - I cannot say with any definable reason; just that it does not attract me. But then, neither does it cause me any heartache by it's very existence. Maybe part of my reverse-apartheid stance on things that I sense would offend me if I did associate.
However, it seems that I might have to get to read it. Things such as this going on where we see more of that conniving non-democratic way B Liar runs things. I am not so naif as to believe that all international politicking should be done at an official and accountable level, but, where some sort of undercover approaches are being made, they should be kept secret.
Perhaps their online version is some sort of Guardian Light?

Farewell

I had gone back to see what the latest was on the suicide of J Hunter Thompson. Based upon a small variance in the facts related by his wife, a small parcel of conspiracy theories had formed. He had been working on a 9/11 story and thought he had uncovered something that would get him killed. The theory, it seems, is still there; uncancelled and unimproved.
My poor old bi-polar mind then went wandering off into suicide in general. In the Army I had what is, I suppose, a fairly general young-persons attitude. What a waste, why didn’t they try and get help, what can ever get so bad as to make someone want to do such a thing. Basically though, it was the usual Army stress formulae – shit happens. Move on.
I left the Samaritans because I could not accept their way of doing things. They are non-judgemental and, unless given a lead by their telephone caller, will not intervene. They will still be talking – more listening really – until the voice at the other end fades away or there is a bang. I must have changed since my service years as I could not fit into this listening pattern. I sought to talk callers out of this very final step. I now accept completely that their way is the best answer but is not for the man in the street who is suddenly confronted by someone who might be suicidal. There is a master-class on the web. There is another useful resource here.
The aftermath of suicide amongst relatives and friends may well be guilt or self-recrimination. Did I, should I, could I? Generally, the now-deceased will have gone past seeking help or signalling distress well before the final act. Indeed, it is that 'what the hell can I do' attitude that leads them into fatal self-harm.
I've blogged this because I feel that suicide is so little understood by those who have not themselves walked near to the edge. It is increasing and will sooner or later touch very many people who have never given the subject a moments thought. Do a bit of reading. Try your theories against the research.
Oh - and NO. This is not a cry for help from me so no need to get the Samaritans SO19 abseiling through the study window thank you very much.

This is from the Washington Post.

The Truth About Abu Ghraib
Friday, July 29, 2005; Page A22
FOR 15 MONTHS now the Bush administration has insisted that the horrific photographs of abuse from the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq were the result of freelance behavior by low-level personnel and had nothing to do with its policies. In this the White House has been enthusiastically supported by the Army brass, which has conducted investigations documenting hundreds of cases of prisoner mistreatment in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but denies that any of its senior officers are culpable. For some time these implacable positions have been glaringly at odds with the known facts. In the past few days, those facts have grown harder to ignore.
The latest evidence has emerged from hearings at Fort Meade about two of those low-level Abu Ghraib guards who are charged with using dogs to terrorize Iraqi detainees. On Wednesday, the former warden of Abu Ghraib, Maj. David DiNenna, testified that the use of dogs for interrogation was recommended by Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, the former commander of the Guantanamo Bay prison who was dispatched by the Pentagon to Abu Ghraib in August 2003 to review the handling and interrogation of prisoners. On Tuesday, a military interrogator testified that he had been trained in using dogs by a team sent to Iraq by Gen. Miller.
In statements to investigators and in sworn testimony to Congress last year, Gen. Miller denied that he recommended the use of dogs for interrogation, or that they had been used at Guantanamo. "No methods contrary to the Geneva Convention were presented at any time by the assistance team that I took to [Iraq]," he said under oath on May 19, 2004. Yet Army investigators reported to Congress this month that, under Gen. Miller's supervision at Guantanamo, an al Qaeda suspect named Mohamed Qahtani was threatened with snarling dogs, forced to wear women's underwear on his head and led by a leash attached to his chains -- the very abuse documented in the Abu Ghraib photographs.
The court evidence strongly suggests that Gen. Miller lied about his actions, and it merits further investigation by prosecutors and Congress. But the Guantanamo commander was not acting on his own: The interrogation of Mr. Qahtani, investigators found, was carried out under rules approved by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Dec. 2, 2002. After strong protests from military lawyers, the Rumsfeld standards -- which explicitly allowed nudity, the use of dogs and shackling -- were revised in April 2003. Yet the same practices were later adopted at Abu Ghraib, at least in part at the direct instigation of Gen. Miller. "We understood," Maj. DiNenna testified, "that [Gen. Miller] was sent over by the secretary of defense."
The White House and Pentagon have gotten away with their stonewalling largely because of Republican control of Congress. When the Abu Ghraib scandal erupted, GOP leaders such as Sen. John W. Warner (Va.) loudly vowed to get to the bottom of the matter -- but once the bottom started to come into view late last year, Mr. Warner's demands for accountability ceased. Mr. Rumsfeld and other senior officials have never been the subject of an independent investigation. A recommendation by the latest Army probe that Gen. Miller be reprimanded for his role in the Qahtani interrogation was rejected by Gen. Bantz Craddock of Southern Command.
The only good news in this shameful story is that a group of Republican senators, though resisting justified Democratic demands for an independent investigation, are attempting to reform the policy of abuse to which the administration still adheres. Six GOP senators led by John McCain (Ariz.) and Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) have backed an amendment to the defense operations bill that would exclude exceptional interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay and ban the use of "cruel, inhumane and degrading" treatment for all prisoners held by the United States. The administration contends that detainees held abroad may be subject to such abuse. Attempts by the White House and Mr. Warner to block or gut the legislation failed, and on Tuesday the GOP leadership pulled the defense bill from the floor rather than allow a vote. The administration probably will spend the next month trying to quell this rebellion of conscience and good sense. The nation would be better served if President Bush instead accepted, at last, the truth about Abu Ghraib.
Now, it is not for me to comment on the truth of these reports. What does strike me is the difference between the way the US goes about things and the way our politicians treat British army personnel. If there were these alleged transgressions in a UK military setting, all concerned would be guaranteed a first class seat to the International Criminal Court. Obviously, the Yanks knew what they were doing when they exempted their forces from international war crime legislation.

Cats on a hot tin roof

I've heard the sayings that 'love is blind' and 'opposites attract' but just what got these two together in the manner described cannot be imagined. Looking at the woman in the case, I would have thought he should have been charged with 'driving while under the influence'.

Little Duns

Don't wanna rabbit
Wanna Italian lawyer

Mamma mia!!

Just promise me that if I am ever in Rome and need a lawyer, I will get this lady - with her nighty over her bra just like this.
What is it about these terrorists? Maybe it is a plot to show him what he missed by messing up his bomb - no 72 virgins for him then!

Cherie Booth QC 0
Antonietta Sonnessa 15

Better than MeMe

Sitting here, waiting for dawn as one does, I put a quickly dreamed up phrase into Google. The words I used were "politically correct version". I've put extracts of some of the results below but it occurs to me that this might be an alternative to the MeMe syndrome. Find your own phrase and see what comes up. If it works we could call it Google Roulette?

Red Riding Hood
"Many people believed that the forest was a foreboding and dangerous place, but Red Riding Hood knew that this was an irrational fear based on cultural paradigms instilled by a patriarchal society that regarded the natural world as an exploitable resource, and hence believed that natural predators were in fact intolerable competitors. Other people avoided the woods for fear of thieves and deviants, but Red Riding Hood felt that in a truly classless society all marginalized peoples would be able to "come out" of the woods and be accepted as valid lifestyle role models

Answer phone
I can't come to the phone now because I have amnesia and I feel stupid talking to people I don't remember. I'd appreciate it if you could help me out by leaving my name and telling me something about myself. Thanks.

Sleeping Persun of Better-Than-Average Attractiveness
Long, long ago, there lived a king and a queen, two equal partners in life who shared everything-- including the fervent wish to have a baby. (This was much easier for the king, of course, since he would never have to endure the upheavals of pregnancy, the pain of childbirth, and the miseries of postpartum depression. You could rightly call his wish more vicarious than hers.) But as many times as the king would inflict his baser instincts on the queen, they (or, more accurately, she) remained childless.
One day, as the queen bathed in a nearby river, a frog leaped onto the lily pad next to her. Then, to her amazement, the frog cleared its throat and spoke.
"Although it's probably not a good idea to bring another human being into the world," said the amphibious messenger, "I know of your conception problems and would like to help. If you follow my advice, you will soon be with child."
"Oh, such joyous news!" trilled the queen. "What must I do to prepare myself, frog?! What must I do?! Tell me!!"
"Your best bet is to go the natural route, and for pity's sake, learn to relax! Get some regular exercise, eat more greens and grains, and eliminate animal fat from your diet. later, if you need one, i can recommend a good lactation consultant."
So the queen did as the frog directed, and on the next full cycle of the moon, her body was colonized by the seed of the exploitative monarchy.
Nine months later (not to minimize the physical strain on the queen in the interim), a healthy pink pre-wommon was welcomed into the castle. Many gender-neutral names were considered for her, such as Connor, Tucker, and Taylor, that might have lessened any sexual discrimination she would encounter on her career path (for, while she was born a princess, her parents would never presume to limit her future to one of mindless leisure and privilege). After talking to a few image consultants, they decided to give her the name Rosamond.

The Nativity
Two women began to argue fiercely. One said she objected to Jesus' birth "because it privileged motherhood." The other scoffed at virgin births, but said that if they encouraged more attention to diversity in family forms and the rights of single mothers, well, then, she was all for them. "I'm not a single mother," Mary started to say, but she was cut off by a third woman who insisted that swaddling clothes are a form of child abuse, since they restrict the natural movement of babies.
With the arrival of 10 child advocates, all trained to spot infant abuse and manger rash, Mary and Joseph were pushed to the edge of the crowd, where arguments were breaking out over how many reindeer (or what mix of reindeer and seasonal sprites) had to be installed to compensate for the infant's unfortunate religious character

Oh yeah - I've found a neat definition for MeMe:
meme: (pron. 'meem') A contagious idea that replicates like a virus, passed on from mind to mind. Memes function the same way genes and viruses do, propagating through communication networks and face-to-face contact between people. The root of the word "memetics," a field of study which postulates that the meme is the basic unit of cultural evolution. Examples of memes include melodies, icons, fashion statements and phrases.

Can we say "White cliffs of Dover"?

Have to admit that it was the name of this guy's blog that drew me to him. However, after reading his stuff I can see he is a man after my own heart - critical in a nice easy-reading sort of way. Maybe if I study hard I could rite like wot he duz.

I second that!

Crutch flossing is not something that attracts or interests me - even when said thong is just below a natty tattoo.

Those who have eyes to see....

It really does seem as if one positive thing that has come out of the attacks is realisation that the reasons/excuses advanced for the traitorous attacks launched by those within our society are just not tenable. Look at this which is fairly typical of those who have dropped the scales from their eyes.

I spent the first 10 minutes of last night’s Question Time Special believing I had been transported back to the post-9/11 edition of the same program, a program so utterly beyond the pale that it made me feel ashamed to be British.
The way we started, one could have been forgiven for thinking that everybody, but everybody was responsible for the 7/7 atrocity, apart from the fanatics who actually carried bombs onto trains. “We need to understand why these young men felt so detached, blah, blah…” Self-hating Brits, I’d call them. Well, I’m sorry, but I’m just your ordinary Joe: wife and kids, mortgaged up to the hilt, unfulfilling job, not enough money, etc., etc.. It’s a hard enough slog as it is without some one-step-removed apologist insisting that I take partial responsibility for the irrational actions of people I’ve never met, never hurt, but who would, given half the chance, slaughter me and everyone else I love. Its not my fault, see, and I resent being asked to contemplate the possibility it might be. In fact, it makes me quite angry.
Which is my problem in these sorts of public meetings. I tend to spend more time with my head in my hands than I do with my hand in the air. So when I hear people whose most important decisions each day are what to play on the iPod lecturing the country’s most senior policeman about the rules of engagement for suicide bombers, telling him how his men are “executioners” (these being the officers who ran towards, not away from, a man they suspected of being half a second from committing mass-murder), I want to be sick, have a shower, scream……do anything in fact, but speak.

The media are now gathering together some good accounts of all the factors and events. Obviously, the thick Sunday papers will be big on analysis and opinion so they will go into the bundle I have of contemporaneous media – alongside Diana’s death, 9/11, tsunami and other odds and sods of events.

Left over

This is left over from the shoot where I got the owl. Didn't post it to the photo blog as that would have overloaded things with bird pictures. Had intended to spend time at the show but the weather was just no good at all. Funny thing is that I have noticed another personal change there. I used to be perfectly happy out in the worst weather the Lord could throw at us. Out in the hills and dales with no worries; I had proper kit, good navigational toys and was fit enough for what I did. Now, even a misty rain makes me want to scuttle for cover. I know that I'll end up with aches and pains I suppose and that is what makes me chicken out - I think. I've still got the kit and the toys so it must be the fit bit that has gone tits up.

MeMe but not Me

I got stuck with this by Gemmak. It is one of those things that I regard as chain letters or pyramid calls. I did once think of one where you sent your wife to the guy at the top of the list and, in due course if the pyramid were not broken, you would get 5,227 wives sent to you. Problem was that I was happy with the one I had and the problem after dividing 5,227 by - on average - 28 days left me totally disenchanted by my 'reward'.
I will always respond to those sent me but retain discretion as to further spreading of the virus. I know, I am just an anti-social old git only slightly better than the Victor Meldrew guy but that is it.
List ten songs that you are currently digging ... it doesn't matter what genre they are from, whether they have words, or even if they're no good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying right now. Post these instructions, the artists, and the ten songs in your blog. Then tag five other people to see what they're listening to.And the answers in no particular order.......
Ten songs is a bit of a problem. I do not have sessions where I listen to music. It is generally playing in the background so it is mostly artists rather than tracks. That said, here goes:-
1 Mahler's 9th Symphony. Berlin Philarmoniker conducted by Von Karajan.
The last 15 minutes get listened to properly. Von K. is a particular favourite of mine and I have a lot of his interpretations.
2 Angel flying too close to the Ground - Willie Nelson. Again, this is the best of Willie and again I have loads of his work. It is just his nature of doing his own thing that gets me with him.
3 It wasn't God that made Honky Tonk angels - Kitty Wells. Takes me back to time spent in Austin checking out what made honky tonks so attractive. (Yes m'Lud. It was the Angels!)
4 He stopped loving her today - George Jones. Just the 'over the top' of it. I like those 'wife has left me, dog's died. pick-ups busted and horse is lame' sort of songs. What Tammy went through with this bloke gets to me.
5 That ex-Army guy Blunt. Don't know why as he is quite new to me but I find myself humming his tunes. Don't like his BGs style all the time so he may drop out.
6 Johnny Cash. Don't know the name of the song and it is just one line that gets to me. He is thinking of leaving home and sings, "You can give my other suit to the Salvation Army" Had I ever walked away, that would be my finale, encore and all that. It is the sense of freedom - just one suit going with him.
7 Me and Bobby Mgee by Kris K - I cannot spell it. Again, the idea that one can just drop out and do it on the thumb really appeals to me as a way of life. Also, that something good hardly ever lasts and can get on another road just like that.
8 When you are in love with a beautiful woman by Dr Hook. Takes me back to a time when I was really really happy - in my life, friends and work. Anything from these guys gets me that way.
9 Scotland the Brave by anyone who plays bagpipes. Norma and I started our courting on a troopship that took 9 weeks to get to Singapore when the Suez Canal was closed. There was a soldier on board and all he could play was this damned song - all day, all evening and all night. I was the ship's policeman but very nearly paid some of the crims on board to toss him over the side. All those nights under the stars were the only things that calmed a savage breast.
10 A very obscene Army song about the harlot of Jerusalem. Not recorded - I hope - but I know almost all of the 30-odd verses anyway and I sing it - under my breath - as it soothes me. Four kids were brought up with this as the ultimate sleep-inducer even after the warm milk and brandy failed. Yes - I know there is a version on the web but that is the Rugby version and much tamer than that sung by the brutal and licentious.

Happy Days

With sites like this one around, who can fail to be just a little, teensy-weensy, bit depressed?

Anyone for a hero?

My very able blog technical hero writes about heroes on 28 July posting. Sparked off by a programme about how well the London emergency services acted in the face of the latest attacks. I don’t meet/don’t know many 100% civilians but it was reading her entry that brought home to me just what professionalism and discipline mean. Whilst my experience of these qualities was predominantly in a military context, I worked alongside police and emergency services enough times to see how they performed under stress and I also had close contact with medical professionals.
My translation of professional is someone who is not content with just the basics of their job. A professional goes much deeper with the desire to be the very best at what he does. This attitude and knowledge gives them the attitude and ability to confront any problem that confronts them. “I’m better than this challenge”.
Again, in my alternative wikki, discipline means sticking to the task despite many good and valid reasons to give up. One has signed on to do something and has been well taught how to do it so that it becomes almost impossible to give up. One does not need to be an Old Soldier; even relatively inexperienced individuals can exceed everything one might expect from them. I only ever had good knowledge of one person who was decorated for gallantry. The citation was along the lines that despite working for long hours and in dangerous situations, he kept on doing his job time and time again. Even when he was very well aware of the risks, he faced them over a long period of time. That was someone whose professionalism supported him – along with family joke that his mother had not raised him just to die in Ireland and his discipline meant that he got on with the task and role he had signed up to.
As the average civilian has never been exposed to the training and situations that create discipline and professionalism, it is unfair to expect them to be much other than headless chickens in an emergency. Fire drill in IKEA, B & Q or some such does not equate.
None of my ramblings here should be interpreted as taking anything away from those people Gemmak commented upon. Rather, I aimed to show that, given the training and opportunity, almost any one of us could turn out to be a hero. Perhaps that is what differentiates one race from another?

Stop this sort of thing

Well, that is the easy bit over. Excellent work by the police has garnered all four known would-be bombers from the 21st effort. I say police as I cannot think that the intelligence resource did an awful lot given how flat-footed they were caught on the killings of the 7th July. I imagine that the police have found information as they raid houses that leads them onto the next house. What has to be done now is to tie up all the loose ends but that will require long hours of interviewing and statement recording. Documenting the forensic stuff will keep a small team going for a good while. The coppers get a shafting in normal times from smart alecs going on about speed cameras and arrests for saying police horses are gay but when push gets to shove they are better than most. Well done the lads!

New player to the table

We seem to be having a bit of a problem in UK understanding how someone who has a fine set of religious instructions (the Koran), can end up - literally - killing other human beings. One of the themes of Islam is that the death of one is the death of us all.
So I was interested to find this blog. I've had to cut and paste as there is a problem with the URL and I cannot do it as an imbedded link (if that is the sort of thing I mean anyway). See if it helps.......

BABY, I DON'T CAIR
A caller to the Hewitt show said that the silence and inaction of mainstream Muslims towards Islamic-inspired terror was “the elephant in the room,” and my immediate thought: elephant? More like a mule. It just looks like an elephant because it’s wearing a bulky coat.Hugh had on Hussam Ayloush, a California CAIR spokesman. Others have taken him to task for the
first interview, which I too thought was somewhat . . . credulous. Hussam was reasonable and mild for the most part, but he choked when it came to simple questions like the right of Israel to exist. Then he sounded like someone trying to gargle a Mozart aria while choking on a fishbone, thinking that everyone would merely think he had a sore throat. Schooled and prepped in the job of PR, it was as if he still could not grasp the importance of covering up his true feelings on this issue. He was incapable of quality dissembling.It made me realize something, but I didn't quite know how to put it. Yet.Hussam came back the next day, matched with Frank Gaffney, who knows the subject well. Many telling moments, but the one that made me sigh in despair was Hussam’s response to Gaffney’s recitation of an FBI intercept of a meeting of CAIR’s founders. (Details and a transcript will, no doubt, show up at radioblogger.com; say a rosary for Duane’s
blistered fingers) Hussam defaulted to the grievance posture, complaining that all Muslims had to be tarred with this brush, be profiled as terrorists, etc. In the end, you came away with three or four swords embedded in a sea of honey pudding. If, in the end, he cannot say “Of course” when asked if Israel has the
right to exist, cannot condemn the ‘48 and ‘73 wars, and retreats to victim status when confronted about the questionable actions of CAIR members, well, are we required to shrug and point out that at least he brought a nice dessert? Not to say that CAIR represents all Muslims in America. Not to say most Muslims
oppose Israel. Not to say not to say not to say etc., and all rest of the interminable disclaimers one is required to offer while approaching the elephant. Not to say many haven’t spoken up and denounced terrorism – although when the denunciation is followed by “whether it is committed by one side or by the Israelis,” I am less inclined to put that one in the “Condemn” column. And when one lists the numbers of Islamicist attacks over the last few years and is met with “Timothy McVeigh” and “Eric Rudolph” (or Hitler, for Odin's sake) one suspects your interlocutor lacks perspective. As well as facts. Or perhaps there
something else at work. Could it be the old problem of is harmonious fact-sets. Noncontiguous information streams. At the heart of the matter, we may simply lack the terms to forge consensus. a different set of facts . . . and a different understanding of the value of a fact. This isn’t a pleasant thought, because it might mean that rapprochment isn’t likely, and confused, mistrustful coexistance is all we can hope for. (As if most of human history has been different, but that’s another story.) From the comments section of Froggy uminations:Hugh Hewitt is one of the finest talk show hosts on the air today. I love his show. However, like all "respectable" main stream conservatives (Dubya included) he is so desperate to find "moderate" Muslim leaders to display that he had to pull CAIR's wacko spokesman out of the gutter.I wouldn’t go so far with the gutter comment; CAIR is board-room penthouse material, smooth and polished. But I understand what the commenter
meant; there’s a deep and almost anguished desire to find moderate Muslims who are indistinguishable from Unitarians. And find them by the millions. But alas.When defenders like Hussam make the standard dismissal – they are not acting in the name of Islam, because Islam forbids such things – they makes a strategic mistake. No one really believes him. Islam may forbid it here, but it may well permit it over here. A preacher may forbid it in Michigan mosque, but he may well demand it in a Saudi one. In short: the denials ring false. Most of them, anyway. When I hear the spokesmen and apologists I cannot shake the feeling that they’re holding something back. Not telling the whole story. Not saying something that might be true but is inconvenient to admit to the occupants to the House of War.What might that be?Googling around tonight, I found this simple description of Islam: at submission.org1. What is Islam?That is the most misunderstood Word. It simply means submission. Anyone submitting to the one God is practicing Islam and is a Muslim or a Submitter. (Quran 3:19, 3:85, 21:92)2. One God? Which God? Allah?Yes, but Allah is simply an Arabic word meaning 'The One God', that being the Creator of the Universe. (Quran 2:255). Arab Christians and Jews also use the same word (Allah) for God.A verse in The Quran says "Such is God your Lord, there is no god except He, The Creator of all
things. You shall worship Him alone..." (Quran 6:102). This is The same God that Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad worshipped.3. So anyone who submits to Allah or God is a Muslim?Yes. Again Islam means submission. Anyone
who submits to the One God, believes in the Hereafter and leads a righteous life is called a Muslim or Submitter. (Quran 2:62)By this logical construction, all Christians are Muslims. Of course the hardcore death-cult sects believe that you have to be a Muslim to be right with Allah, you have to pray five times a day,
you have to accept shar’ia, and you have to ululate with joy when the head of a Jew gets sawed off on general principle. Leave them aside for a moment, if you can. What if the heart of moderate Islam consists of a frustration with the stubborn refusal of the People of the Book to realize that they are really
Muslims, and just don’t know it yet?Before we all got into the big messy incoherent debate about Islam – before the Towers thundered down, in other words – most Christians regarded Islam as another path to God. Mistaken, of course, what with their ideas about Christ getting off the cross and all that. But the devil’s in the details; nobody here but us monotheists, and we all in the end yearn towards the same God. If some wanted to move Muslims to Christianity, though, it involved a change in fundamental attitudes, to say the least; it meant a different channel to God. Dial back, forget about Mo, dig this dude from
Bethlelem. Christianity is the proper route; Islam is a latter detour.That’s different from believing that Christianity is a rutted road running parallel to Islam, which after all came later and thus filled in the gaps, answered the questions, nailed it down. The final prophet has spoken. Imagine you’re a spokesman for a religion, and you have to appeal to the People of the Book, set their minds at ease. You could never tell them that they’re already Muslims. It would be impolitic and counterproductive to tell them what they so dearly need
to know, because you suspect that when you tell a Christian that he’s really a Muslim, he might not react well. O the frustration. But what do I know. I had long conversations about Islam and Christianity with cabbies in DC, and they always ended with happy faces and salaam and go in peace. I’ve no doubt millions
and millions of Muslims are content to let the Christians go about their errant path, content that in the end a just God will say okay, you crazy lug, you’re in. Just as millions of Christians are willing to say Koran, Shmoran, you’re just and upright and believe in the One Big Guy, meet you at the Old Country
Buffet in the sky. Bacon bits on my side, hummus on yours, whatever. But when you have your Clash of Civilizations, people retreat. MOOOON GODDDD! Oh yeah? Cough up the dhimmi tax, kaffir! The point is not to get to that point. We are
seriously need in live-and-let-live juice applied globally by aerosol spray, the sort of thing that makes people swallow big chunky doctrinal differences and concentrate simply on the idea of a God who is out of the smiting business for the time being. Take that as your daily verse: smite not. And the first one who
says “but” gets sent howling down to hell? Smite not. Tomorrow, smite we might. After a day of not smiting we might actually refocus and agree who is smite-worthy, who truly profanes God’s gifts. But today? Smite-free.It was a good start when President Bush had a revered Imam speak at the National
Cathedral after 9/11. Now it would be nice for the Saudis to invite the Pope to speak at Mecca. Ball’s in your court, guys.

A few words create a picture

As a natural (I think) follow-on to the last post, I came across this

(“No To State-Organised Racist Attacks!” Statement of Revolutionary Communist Party
of Britain (Marxist-Leninist), July 14, 2005)

I'm not going to link to it - I didn't even go there myself but just those few words led me to create an image of what it might be. I think I could even write a TV comedy using just the title of the organisation.

Picture worth 1000 words

My old Lab was a bitch but in every other respect this could have been her.

Police shoot another foreigner

A suspect Peruvian wearing a bulky coat and carrying a suspect package has been shot and killed at Paddington Station.The bear was sitting "all alone on a suitcase, behind a pile of mailbags, close to the lost property office" and did not respond to the officers' commands.Chief Constable Knacker said "the fact that the suspect was brown and wearing a bulky coat meant we could take no chances. We bitterly regret this tragedy but other bears may end up getting shot in these dangerous times."The unnamed bear is believed to have entered Britain illegally from Darkest Peru where he leaves behind an aged relative, Aunt Lucy, in a Home for Retired Bears. She is said to be "distraught".The shooting was witnessed by Mr and Mrs Brown, who were waiting at the station for their daughter Judy. Mr Brown said "the officers issued a challenge but the bear did not hear as he was eating a marmalade sandwich.

Sherry Blair's birth control

So, no more five times a night for him then?

Blair's Attack On Terrorists' 'Warped Logic'
The Prime Minister has said Iraq is just an excuse for terrorists, insisting there is no justification for what they do.And he said he wants to "expose the obscenity" of the terrorists' "warped logic".Speaking passionately at his monthly news briefing, he said the roots of terrorism go much deeper than Iraq or Afghanistan."Let us expose the obscenity of these people saying it is concern for Iraq that drives them to terrorism. "If it is concern for Iraq then why are they driving a car bomb into the middle of a group of children and killing them? "Why are they every day in Iraq trying to kill people whose only desire is for their country to become a democracy?" And he asked why they are killing people in Afghanistan, Turkey and Egypt and wrecking hopes of a peace deal in the Middle East. "They will always have a reason and I am not saying any of these things don't affect their warped reasoning and warped logic as to what they do or that they don't use these things to try and recruit people. "But I do say we shouldn't compromise with it. I'm not saying anyone says any of these things justify it but we shouldn't even allow them the vestige of an excuse for what they do."
Mr Blair also accused the world of going back to sleep on terrorism since 9/11. He said: "September 11 for me was a wake up call. Do you know what I think the problem is? That a lot of the world woke up for a short time and then turned over and went back to sleep again. "We are not going to deal with this problem, with the roots as deep as they are, until we confront these people at every single level. "And not just their methods but their ideas." He added: "It is time we stopped saying, 'Okay, we abhor their methods but we kind of see something in their ideas of maybe they have got a sliver of excuse or justification'. They have got no justification for it." Mr Blair also gave an update on the anti-terror Bill being put together by the Home Office, which will create a new offence of acts preparatory to terrorism. He said that an increase in the length of pre-charge detention is a possibility as well as a specific offence of attending a terrorist training camp. And he said the terms of the Bill are being fine tuned and he expects it to be before the Commons in the Autumn.
2.30pm update
Blairs at odds over anti-terror measures Matthew Tempest, political correspondentWednesday July 27, 2005 Cherie Booth, the prime minister's wife, last night warned Britain must not "cheapen" its reputation for civil liberties in response to the London bombings, while her husband called for tougher judicial attitudes. In a speech in Malaysia, Ms Booth told an audience it would be "all too easy" to undermine Britain's "deeply held values" with an unduly hasty response to the attacks. The remarks could be interpreted as a shot across the government's bows as it drafts emergency anti-terrorism measures. Last night in a speech to 1,000 lawyers, diplomats and civil servants in Malaysia, Ms Booth - who uses her maiden name when appearing in her professional capacity as a barrister - said: "It is all too easy for us to respond to such terror in a way which undermines commitment to our most deeply held values and convictions and which cheapens our right to call ourselves a civilised nation." However, she prefaced her remarks by saying: "Nothing I say here could possibly be construed as making light of those horrible acts of violence" - the London bombings - "or of the responsibility imposed on the UK and other governments to keep the public safe, or of the difficult and dangerous task performed by the police and intelligence services." Ms Booth said judges made rulings in a way that taught citizens and government about the "ethical responsibilities" of participating in a true democracy committed to "universal human rights standards". She went on to praise the way the House of Lords blocked recent anti-terror legislation which could have seen foreign suspects detained without trial. "What the case makes clear is that the government, even in times when there is a threat to national security, must act strictly in accordance with the law," she said.

What more is there to say?

I've got a song to sing.

Well, glad that is over. I’ve just finished uploading all my CDs to the machine ready for the day when I can connect to the iPod. Yes – even though I know where the gift I bought for myself is hidden, I’ll not use it until the dread day. Seems I’ve got just over 3,500 songs that would last 9.2 days and they take up 18.95GB. Get that lot loaded and I’ll be set for life I reckon. Now means that when I’ve been two or three days on no nourishment or artificial rehydration, I can get Norma to select the genre Military Music and plug me in so I can fade out in a proper military manner. I’d better get a necklace plaque with that on otherwise she will put me on the rock programme and I will just jump about with staccato movements like a crab on speed.
To Alnwick today to offload a large number of books to the bookshop. Things I would have thrown out were taken in for £80 or so – you know it makes sense. Well, not a lot as I came away with some £45 of stuff to read. Included T E Lawrence’s 7 Pillars of Wisdom which will be interesting in the light of where we are with the Muslim ‘situation’ just now.
The Met are still pulling plums on thumbs out of pies on a daily basis. Well done to them and I can imagine that this is one recent investigation that is not being tied down with political correctness and racial awareness.
Damned dog gets smarter every day. I gave her a leg stretch in Alnwick. Left the car at the bulk fish place and walked down to some waste ground. Sent her in to check it out while I followed. The weeds and grass were shoulder high for me and we lost track of each other. I got back out of the wild patch and waited. No sign of her so I called. No sign. After ten minutes or so, I decided to go back and bring the car to where I lost sight of her. As I turned the corner, there was a pointy-nosed dog sitting alongside the car. Much mutual appreciation ensued.

Foiled!

I was going to write this when I had settled down a bit but this says what I would have produced anyway. So, retire in sulk.

With one bound....

This is something written over three hundred year ago by William Wordsworth. I first came across it just over fifty years ago but read it again last night in an anthology. Yes - a sad life is being led. Poetry at bedtime - it will be Ovaltine next!

INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY FROM RECOLLECTIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD

William Wordsworth

Shades of the prison-house begin to close
Upon the growing Boy,

This reminded me that I was obsessed at the time by this thought - how could I avoid this shading of the prison-house? As was the custom of those times, the ode was dissected out to the smallest detail and I discovered that it was not a literal fate but rather that the joys of childhood soon gave way to the facts of life as a middle aged adult and then an old person. This did not bother me too much as I accepted - indeed, sought, that maturity had to come but I was still aware of my first scare about the shades of the prison-house being opressive and limiting. How long was one in the prison? How did one escape?

I determined that I would be a growing boy who proved that prison-house was not inevitable. If this needed some Peter Pan syndrome, OK by me. So far as I am concerned, the most serious rigours of adulthood passed me by. I had a considerable degree of autonomy in what I did all through my working life and I was not afraid to stretch the rubber band where necessary.

All that seems to me to have changed. I have as much liberty now as ever I had but I feel the anology of the prison-house. Much of what I enjoyed by expressing my Peter Pan attitude is lost to me by age and nagging infirmity. Even some of the desire to play 'young boy' has left me. So, old William was right after all. All I have done is redefine 'young boy' so I suppose that is something to hold onto.

The same work includes another idea that I also endorse -

The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;--
Turn wheresoe'er I may, By night or day,
The things which I have seen
I now can see no more

And that has nothing to do with eye-tests!!

Now there's a thing.

A new poll has shown that nearly two thirds of British Muslims, 63 per cent, are considering leaving the UK for fear of a backlash against them following the London bombings. The ICM poll in the Guardian also finds that 50 per cent of the public as a whole do not think Muslims are doing enough to prevent extremists infiltrating their community. Four out of 10 felt that the Muslim community needs to do more to integrate in mainstream British culture.

Your move

What's in the knap-sack please sir?

Useless information

Tea for Two?
At the north end of the eastbound Underground platform at Arsenal station, Piccadilly Line, a small staff room, which was formerly the signal cabin, had a kettle on a gas ring for brewing tea. The local station staff kept the kettle full of hot water for the convenience of train drivers, who would run in and fill their tea cans with hot water from time to time. Unfortunately, the room was closed to trainmen many years ago after a celebrated incident in which a driver dashed into the room to fill his can with hot water, only to discover the station foreman and one of the lady ticket collectors "in flagrante" across the mess room table. The driver kept his cool sufficiently to fill his can but the couple were somewhat upset at the interruption and the room was henceforth closed and remained closed forever after.

They are not all bad

Advice from the nice parking attendant.
Now, if I could just find the appropriate advice from the nice man who deals with speeding offences!

Start a new business?

Maybe start a new business selling these to Brazilian tourists to UK. Make them safe with shooters and scare away bombers.

Deeds not words

My posting yesterday included something to the effect that talking serves no purpose in the current internal action against terrorism and its eradication. Given that, it was nice to see an article about this very matter in todays Daily Telegraph. Very ego boosting!
The Met have come back slightly on their shooting incident. They upheld my opinion that they have all the Cockney drives when they reported that the guy they shot was here on an expired visa. "See, told you he was a crook"

Still valid today

This is a World War II poster we bought from Barter Books at Alnwick.
I think it just about sums up what we need to do today and in the future. As in any major project, the investigation will have setbacks but we need to focus on what we are trying to achieve and not get sidetracked on if, why and but. That can be done later; right now there is a much higher priority.
So - stand up straight you lot. Keep Calm and Carry On.

Britannia regained - by John

I said yesterday that I would be looking at what we might do about the Muslim/Islamic situation. This overlooked the fact that the Sunday papers would all be doing the same. I’ve read the Times & Telegraph on paper and cruised the others on electronic editions. There is a range of opinion and solution to suit everyone from humanist to Satanist, all the way from Right to Left by way of liberal and Nazi-clone.
Never the less, I’m going to add my 2P worth.
First thing is that we need to recognise certain facts.
There is no international solution. We still have North and South Korea at loggerheads, we were not really able to do much in Bosnia until too many had been slaughtered and Darfur is just a disgrace on the term ‘international action’. Our route to salvation lies in this country.
It is not going to be pretty. We have gone down a very long road to get to the situation now called Londistan. The multi-everything attitude has taken root in the consciousness of many people. Broad brush methods will be needed as there is no real way to identify and isolate the hotheads and activists from those who are as like as two peas in appearance and ethnicity. From what we know, the families of the bombers on 7/7 were unaware of what their kids were getting up to. Even if they had suspicions, blood is thicker than water.
There will have to be compromise. In order to put into action any solution, we need people to accept what happens and not to add what we do to the imagined or real grievances that cause them to dissent and destroy. The Palestinian solution has to be found. We have plenty of politicians skilled at weasel words so as to achieve what seems to be a valid answer. Iraq was a total nonsense. We have achieved as much as we can in the regime change that has been introduced. We need to get people to cease fighting amongst themselves long enough for us to undertake an orderly withdrawal. What they do once we have gone is immaterial. Think of our leaving India when we knew what would happen between India and Pakistan or Hindu and Muslim. In Aden we got FLOSY and FANY to hold off long enough for us to ship out. They then fought amongst themselves to see who was boss. In Cyprus, we got some 70:30 agreement and that blew out shortly after we had withdrawn to the sovereign bases. Northern Ireland is already sorting itself out as Nationalist vs. Loyalists. If Uncle Dubya wants to stay, bless him and let him get on with it.
OK, so that is what the answer will not be. What should we do then?
Firstly, recover our national identity. Whilst we cannot be total clones we can be versions of the same set of models. Possibly our most resilient period of modern times was the 1950s. We want to regain the ideals and morals we had then. This is not a call for some Luddite review of all we have invented and developed since then but should examine everything ‘new’ and consider it’s value and worth in improving what we had in 1950. Parliament must be more responsive to what the public want. Things that enhance the 50s should be adopted and introduced with vigour. Those that do not should be recognised and abandoned.
The legal system must be revised in the light of how we wish the country to be run. Fraud trials where a jury cannot understand the evidence. Long debate about whether or not McDonalds were libelled. Compensatory culture. In addition to the laws of evidence, the technology of crime trials should be updated to take account of facilities such as word-processing and data transfer pre-trial as well as in court. Rules relating to evidence must be made simpler so that police do not have to work with one hand tied behind their backs. They should be permitted to obtain whatever they consider evidential by whatever means they choose. The Mafia have learnt not to discuss their business by telephone after many successes from phone-tap operations.
These and other measures are designed to bring us back pride in our country and to be jealous of whom we allow to share with us. Strong immigration controls must be produced and strongly monitored. Increasing numbers of countries require to know what benefit an immigrant will bring before allowing them into the country. It is too late to try to control immigration once an individual is here and wandering about amongst others. Asylum seekers should not be allowed to choose where they will end up. If someone from country A gets into country B which has no affiliation to A, that is where they stay. Those lands around despotic rulers will realise that they cannot look after all who come in and they will adopt a more questioning role. People who cause a problem in their country of origin and then run for cover should be refused entry. They knew the consequences of their dissent and should have acted accordingly. This should not include lumbering another place with their support.
Those presently here and who choose to continue their fight must be evicted. Those who seek to stir up dissent should be imprisoned if British or evicted if not. Many of those who are causing the present unrest are refugees from justice in other countries who have asked for them to be deported but we just dilly dally and let them continue their poisonous tirades.

No comment required

Lighten up

I do not subscribe to the 'Bush is a dimwit' school of thought but some of the jokes are quite good.
Worth sharing - I think - is about the woman who was heard to say 'if he were my Bush, I'd shave him off'.

Manna from heaven for some

Met have just announced that shooting guy dead yesterday was a mistook. Enquiry. Police Complaints. Blah. Blah. Whilst one has sympathy for the family and friends of dead bloke, my main thoughts are for the guy who did the shooting. We certainly need a more agressive police service and the new initiative regarding suicide bombers was one I saw as progress. Now what was so simple; suicide bomber = dead man, will be hedged in with more and more conditions such that any officer looking for a long career will hesitate before he gets something like this on his sheet. This delay in turn could lead to deaths if a bomber has enough time to press the tit.
Regardless of the outcome of any enquiry, the radical Islamic groups will seize upon it as another injustice, the people from Islington will say it is all wrong that the police are armed anyway and the human rights and liberty extremists will go on about the suggestion that the bloke never stood a chance because he was Asian.
Mind you - might all turn out far less dramatically if it turns out it wasn't the police after all but guys from Hereford just having an Away Day.