Autumn seems to have flashed here and gone. The trees went through the yellow to red phase very quickly – I suppose it was a dry summer though it did not seem like that at the time.
I’ve been digging down into my hit counter again. Seems that I got found by Google quite a few times. Mostly for what would seem extreme reasons – “naked girls Scotland” is one that comes to mind. Looks as if one could seed the actual blog with strange choices so as to attract those who look for exotic phrases. I’m going to try with a few so real readers can stop here – what follows is for Google and Co.
Sex. Dogs. Goats. Big fish. Ducks. Partners of disparate sizes. Quadriplegic. Self abuse. Verbal abuse. Big bed. Wet bed. Anally retentive. Marbles. Marbella. List of losers. List of winners. List to starboard.
That is enough for now.
Saturday, 15 October 2005
Friday, 14 October 2005
TGIF
Sorry about yesterday's deprivation of wit, scandal and provocative chatter.
Truth is that I went through the whole day in some sort of mixture of trance and complete lack of any sense of motivation or responsibility. It was quite nice really - sort of spaced out. Cannot think what inspired it so it looks as if I'll not be able to get back to it.
I've also been having some really weird dreams. Not the night horrors but ones where two or more situations that I have actually lived through get all mixed up together and I cannot work out what to do - in my dream. Cannot be cheese late at night as I have dumped cheese as part of the idea of eating a little bit more healthily. After the fluttering-heart thing they increased my statin drugs so it might be something to do with that.
Is it only me or does anyone else think we are going over the top a bit with this earthquake thing? Surely we know that an earthquake makes buildings fall down. It is not too much to deduce that if a building falls on top of people, the people suffer. After a while, suffering turns into death. Still we have the TV anchor man running the news from the scene of the disaster and telling us that buildings have fallen and that death have resulted. The exact figures cannot be established but it is difficult to comprehend the sort of disaster they are tring to get across to us. Repitition does not make it easier.
Truth is that I went through the whole day in some sort of mixture of trance and complete lack of any sense of motivation or responsibility. It was quite nice really - sort of spaced out. Cannot think what inspired it so it looks as if I'll not be able to get back to it.
I've also been having some really weird dreams. Not the night horrors but ones where two or more situations that I have actually lived through get all mixed up together and I cannot work out what to do - in my dream. Cannot be cheese late at night as I have dumped cheese as part of the idea of eating a little bit more healthily. After the fluttering-heart thing they increased my statin drugs so it might be something to do with that.
Is it only me or does anyone else think we are going over the top a bit with this earthquake thing? Surely we know that an earthquake makes buildings fall down. It is not too much to deduce that if a building falls on top of people, the people suffer. After a while, suffering turns into death. Still we have the TV anchor man running the news from the scene of the disaster and telling us that buildings have fallen and that death have resulted. The exact figures cannot be established but it is difficult to comprehend the sort of disaster they are tring to get across to us. Repitition does not make it easier.
Thursday, 13 October 2005
Blank
Well, that's got to be a first. Gone through the whole day without finding anything to blog about.
Wednesday, 12 October 2005
Not in our back yard!!
This from a Bahraini blogger. Hope it is something I wrote that upset them!
Saudi blocks Blogger and Flickr
Tue, 04 Oct 2005 21:18:56
In a country that is renowned for censorship, I fail to understand why people make it easier for authorities to switch them off. That's truly like putting all your eggs in one single basket.
No wonder really then that the Internet Services Unit, the only internet supplier in Saudi has switched off both popular services, and I really really doubt that they will switch them on again no matter how much entreaties and "pressure" is applied. Saudi is a bit more remote than Mars, so authorities don't give a tinker's cuss what the "world at large" think of them or their practices.
But, in the spirit of applying judicious international pressure in order for someone up there sits up and takes notice, here goes nothing:
Reporters Without Borders today called on the Internet Services Unit (ISU), the agency that manages Web filtering in Saudi Arabia, to explain why the weblog creation and hosting service blogger.com has been made inaccessible since 3 October, preventing Saudi bloggers from updating their blogs.
“Saudi Arabia is one of the countries that censors the Internet the most, but blog services had not until now been affected by the ISU’s filters,” the press freedom organisation said. “The complete blocking of blogger.com, which is one of the biggest blog tools on the market, is extremely worrying. Only China had so far used such an extreme measure to censor the Internet.”
Reached by Reporters Without Borders, the ISU recognised that it had blocked access to blogger.com but did not give any reason.
Reporters sans frontiers
hat tip: Global Voices
Saudi blocks Blogger and Flickr
Tue, 04 Oct 2005 21:18:56
In a country that is renowned for censorship, I fail to understand why people make it easier for authorities to switch them off. That's truly like putting all your eggs in one single basket.
No wonder really then that the Internet Services Unit, the only internet supplier in Saudi has switched off both popular services, and I really really doubt that they will switch them on again no matter how much entreaties and "pressure" is applied. Saudi is a bit more remote than Mars, so authorities don't give a tinker's cuss what the "world at large" think of them or their practices.
But, in the spirit of applying judicious international pressure in order for someone up there sits up and takes notice, here goes nothing:
Reporters Without Borders today called on the Internet Services Unit (ISU), the agency that manages Web filtering in Saudi Arabia, to explain why the weblog creation and hosting service blogger.com has been made inaccessible since 3 October, preventing Saudi bloggers from updating their blogs.
“Saudi Arabia is one of the countries that censors the Internet the most, but blog services had not until now been affected by the ISU’s filters,” the press freedom organisation said. “The complete blocking of blogger.com, which is one of the biggest blog tools on the market, is extremely worrying. Only China had so far used such an extreme measure to censor the Internet.”
Reached by Reporters Without Borders, the ISU recognised that it had blocked access to blogger.com but did not give any reason.
Reporters sans frontiers
hat tip: Global Voices
Try this?
| Your IQ Is 115 |
 Your Logical Intelligence is Below Average Your Verbal Intelligence is Genius Your Mathematical Intelligence is Above Average Your General Knowledge is Exceptional |
Tuesday, 11 October 2005
My dinner party
I think I have discovered a branch of the Government that might be described as a useful asset. Certainly, their PR department works well as it may be a little too soon to assess their actual performance. This probable paragon is The DFID – department for international development. They have been helping out with aid for the South Asian earthquake. All the interviews I have heard figured the Minister Hilary Benn, son of Tony Benn. He obviously reads his brief and gives answers without the usual ministerial guff, waffle and self-glorification. Well done him. I enjoy listening to his father Tony who is able to dredge up something interesting from the past to make or amplify his points but I am not sure about what history will write about Dad’s contribution to the socialist movement. His writings are well worth the time spent on them.
With the time spent driving about with my dog whilst Norma was doing her quilt show thing, I had extra time to think. I usually spend this sort of time planning things I know will never happen or what I would do if I were to win big on the Lottery – something else that will not occur! Once I got past being the only man to survive a shipwreck with a boatload of female film stars, commissioning solicitors to buy the ideal house regardless of whether it were up for sale (send them there with impossibly unreasonable sums of cash in a big suitcase) and having a car, a yacht and a ‘plane individually fitted-out, I got down to my ideal dinner party in my new house. Usual rules about being able to invite anyone, living or dead. Having sorted out the menu, table décor and the wine list, I got down to guests. Norma and me plus eight. Easy bit first – a stone cold banker of an invitation. Sophia Loren. Surely the most beautiful woman around and one who has had a real life and not just some plastic representation. So, that is the lady on my right. Things arranged so that the ladies do not have to withdraw when the men get dirty over their brandy. The males I thought of would be above that sort of thing anyway. There is a place for boasting and rude tales but not at an event of this importance. A second woman would be Eartha Kitt. She had a dreadful start to life and spent much of her time on black emancipation in USA. We here have little idea of what that involved.
The men. My maternal grandfather. He was a warrant officer in the Army in the late 1800s and early 1900s through to the end of the Great War in 1918. Much of his service was abroad on what we would call active service. They were hard times that generated hard men. Next would be my claimed look-alike Orson Welles. He had a dark and brooding presence but a very quick wit.
Rudyard Kipling would have to be there. Not just his story-telling and verse but the fact that he was a very keen observer of our Colonial past and was able to view it from both sides – master and servant.
I was always entranced by Peter Ustinov so he would have to get a seat at the banquet. His range of experiences and skill as a raconteur were unique. I think that the wealth of talents already gathered would need someone to keep them under some form of control. That means Michael Parkinson. Surely the best. Just one place left. I am not sure how this might work but I would like to have one of my great great great grand children there at, say, the age of 25. No demands as to the line of descent. Just to get an insight into the world that far ahead and see how the genes had lasted against dilution.
So, that is it. Quite an early start to things. Drinkies in the ante-room and all that. Gossip afterwards in a warm room with really comfortable club chairs. Continuation of fine wines and incredible cigars. Maybe something short and appropriate to each guest in the way of a film show. Champagne breakfast. Dispersal back to their ethereal and spiritual worlds. Perfection.
With the time spent driving about with my dog whilst Norma was doing her quilt show thing, I had extra time to think. I usually spend this sort of time planning things I know will never happen or what I would do if I were to win big on the Lottery – something else that will not occur! Once I got past being the only man to survive a shipwreck with a boatload of female film stars, commissioning solicitors to buy the ideal house regardless of whether it were up for sale (send them there with impossibly unreasonable sums of cash in a big suitcase) and having a car, a yacht and a ‘plane individually fitted-out, I got down to my ideal dinner party in my new house. Usual rules about being able to invite anyone, living or dead. Having sorted out the menu, table décor and the wine list, I got down to guests. Norma and me plus eight. Easy bit first – a stone cold banker of an invitation. Sophia Loren. Surely the most beautiful woman around and one who has had a real life and not just some plastic representation. So, that is the lady on my right. Things arranged so that the ladies do not have to withdraw when the men get dirty over their brandy. The males I thought of would be above that sort of thing anyway. There is a place for boasting and rude tales but not at an event of this importance. A second woman would be Eartha Kitt. She had a dreadful start to life and spent much of her time on black emancipation in USA. We here have little idea of what that involved.
The men. My maternal grandfather. He was a warrant officer in the Army in the late 1800s and early 1900s through to the end of the Great War in 1918. Much of his service was abroad on what we would call active service. They were hard times that generated hard men. Next would be my claimed look-alike Orson Welles. He had a dark and brooding presence but a very quick wit.
Rudyard Kipling would have to be there. Not just his story-telling and verse but the fact that he was a very keen observer of our Colonial past and was able to view it from both sides – master and servant.
I was always entranced by Peter Ustinov so he would have to get a seat at the banquet. His range of experiences and skill as a raconteur were unique. I think that the wealth of talents already gathered would need someone to keep them under some form of control. That means Michael Parkinson. Surely the best. Just one place left. I am not sure how this might work but I would like to have one of my great great great grand children there at, say, the age of 25. No demands as to the line of descent. Just to get an insight into the world that far ahead and see how the genes had lasted against dilution.
So, that is it. Quite an early start to things. Drinkies in the ante-room and all that. Gossip afterwards in a warm room with really comfortable club chairs. Continuation of fine wines and incredible cigars. Maybe something short and appropriate to each guest in the way of a film show. Champagne breakfast. Dispersal back to their ethereal and spiritual worlds. Perfection.
Monday, 10 October 2005
New kid on the block
'Hip' journalists and other assorted old farts have been earning their money (huh!) by directing attention to the 'new' phenonama of blogging. If one believes their hype, in a short while half the world will be writing blogs whilst the other half will be reading them. Tell that to the people in Kashmire.
As owner of an iPod (gloat gloat) I have been listening to verbal blogs - podcasts. Whilst - by their name - these are intended for tiny-sized music players, they can be found, downloaded for free and listened to by anyone who can get music onto their hard drive. Originators range from BBC and major enterprises to Shane and Kristel in Kristel's room. Just as with blogs, quality and content covers just about everything in reproductions from abysmal to medium-fi. Rather more so really, to record a podcast requires absolutely no reedin skils, kompasitun or grmmer. Think back to the days of reel to reel or cassette when we first recorded 'Allo - this is me' and were amazed to hear our voice coming back at us.
That said, I have spent some time in podcast central. Anything you find can be downloaded for posterity. Rather like panning for gold I suspect. 5 drams gold in 10 tons dross used to be thought profitable; it seems that the recovery ratio is about the same for podcasts.
So - instead of worrying if the plod will be able to recover your porn site visits, get ahead of the game and be able to sneer when in a year's time you read 'podcasts take off'. They already have and are halfway to Mars.
As owner of an iPod (gloat gloat) I have been listening to verbal blogs - podcasts. Whilst - by their name - these are intended for tiny-sized music players, they can be found, downloaded for free and listened to by anyone who can get music onto their hard drive. Originators range from BBC and major enterprises to Shane and Kristel in Kristel's room. Just as with blogs, quality and content covers just about everything in reproductions from abysmal to medium-fi. Rather more so really, to record a podcast requires absolutely no reedin skils, kompasitun or grmmer. Think back to the days of reel to reel or cassette when we first recorded 'Allo - this is me' and were amazed to hear our voice coming back at us.
That said, I have spent some time in podcast central. Anything you find can be downloaded for posterity. Rather like panning for gold I suspect. 5 drams gold in 10 tons dross used to be thought profitable; it seems that the recovery ratio is about the same for podcasts.
So - instead of worrying if the plod will be able to recover your porn site visits, get ahead of the game and be able to sneer when in a year's time you read 'podcasts take off'. They already have and are halfway to Mars.
Berufstätige Frau
I have been watching with interest the outcome of the German elections. Seems to me that what they have got is a bit of a curates egg. Both major parties said in the run up to election just what they would do if elected. Now, hardly any of their promises will be kept as both sides will have to compromise now that they are trying to work in harness. It could easily degenerate into a Punch & Judy show.
I had expected to see more inventiveness. They could have put the Chancellor contenders to a real test of performance. Instal one in the old Eastern zone and the other in what used to be the Western. Whoever achieved the best results in, say, nine months gets the job as overall Boss. Best could be decided in percentage terms of - say - reducing unemployment, lifting GDP and other markers of German efficiency.
I am available as a consultant.
What your computer does at night
Don't suppose my machine is very much different from the standard but one thing that really pishes me off is leaving it running perfectly well at night and then coming to it next day to find it all buggered.
Maybe it is because of this?
Maybe it is because of this?
Sunday, 9 October 2005
Bloody cheek!
Have just about calmed down enough to write this.
Norma was on the third day of her Quilt Show today so we were left on our own. Rather than mope about all day indoors we went out for the day. We found ourselves in North Berwick at just about 'late lunch' time. Too late to go for a sit down meal where all that would be available would be something that had been festering in the bain marie since dawn so we decided upon the chippy.
I got a large portion and went back to the car. I sat in the load space and Sable sat alongside me. I used one hand as a plate. She would pick out something to eat and then I would choose something. All very organised and civil.
A marshmellow-shape woman walked past and stopped to watch us sharing our meal. She then said, "Giving a dog human food! Don't you know that there are thousands of people starving?"
At least one thousand retorts ran through my mind in less than a second. All but one contained the f-word and the c-word in quantities. I satisfied myself by replying that I most assuredly would not feed my dog on dog food.
This story will really only be appreciated by those who know me and my qualities of charm and tact but all readers should be assured that I shall remember the woman's face and just hope I meet her again in the area of some road-kill that I might offer her for her starving friends.
Norma was on the third day of her Quilt Show today so we were left on our own. Rather than mope about all day indoors we went out for the day. We found ourselves in North Berwick at just about 'late lunch' time. Too late to go for a sit down meal where all that would be available would be something that had been festering in the bain marie since dawn so we decided upon the chippy.
I got a large portion and went back to the car. I sat in the load space and Sable sat alongside me. I used one hand as a plate. She would pick out something to eat and then I would choose something. All very organised and civil.
A marshmellow-shape woman walked past and stopped to watch us sharing our meal. She then said, "Giving a dog human food! Don't you know that there are thousands of people starving?"
At least one thousand retorts ran through my mind in less than a second. All but one contained the f-word and the c-word in quantities. I satisfied myself by replying that I most assuredly would not feed my dog on dog food.
This story will really only be appreciated by those who know me and my qualities of charm and tact but all readers should be assured that I shall remember the woman's face and just hope I meet her again in the area of some road-kill that I might offer her for her starving friends.
That's OK then
Tomorrow the M(ental) P(atients)s go back to the asylum after their long long holiday. To me, it says a lot that the country has functioned quite well during their absence. Off blagging with their Big Business mates scoring free holidays and, doubtless, female researchers-to-be.
Seems that the major ideas in their collective brain boxes will be two supposedly main new sets of legislation allegedly concerned with anti-terrorism. ID Cards. Detention without charge for up to 90 days. The civil libertarians are against both measures on the claimed grounds that they interfere with our personal freedoms.
The ID case strikes me as especially weak. We have to have one. We do not have to carry it at all times. No one seems too sure as to when we will be asked to produce it or what circumstances will permit the police to hold onto someone until their identity is proven. So, not having one does not lead to draconian treatment. Given the large number of moonlighters and illegal immigrants who cannot be traced for deportation one can expect that a large number of people will not bother with an ID card. The first few caught and detained will inevitably consist of some who pose absolutely no threat and we will have all the publicity about "£10,00 spent detaining man who let dog off lead in park" There are supposed to be sophisticated anti-forgery measures. If someone has worked out how to implement these, within a very short time someone will have found a way to circumvent them as part of a lucrative trade in forgeries. We are told that identity theft is a major crime. How many valid ID cards will be issued to persons with a false identity?
I heard a lot of hot air on this week's Question Time about the 90 days detention. The talking heads were against it with exception of one who said it should be 100 and 90 days. Noone gave the obvious reason as to why we should allow for the detention. If the police want it in fighting terrorism, that should suffice. It is a bit like telling a PC to arrest a violent drunk but barring him using hand-cuffs, baton or police holds. The 90 days is basically needed to check out documentation which is notoriously tedious work requiring very painstaking efforts. The fact that someone came to police attention meriting arrest justifies the deprival of liberty. If they get it wrong - sue them.
Seems that the major ideas in their collective brain boxes will be two supposedly main new sets of legislation allegedly concerned with anti-terrorism. ID Cards. Detention without charge for up to 90 days. The civil libertarians are against both measures on the claimed grounds that they interfere with our personal freedoms.
The ID case strikes me as especially weak. We have to have one. We do not have to carry it at all times. No one seems too sure as to when we will be asked to produce it or what circumstances will permit the police to hold onto someone until their identity is proven. So, not having one does not lead to draconian treatment. Given the large number of moonlighters and illegal immigrants who cannot be traced for deportation one can expect that a large number of people will not bother with an ID card. The first few caught and detained will inevitably consist of some who pose absolutely no threat and we will have all the publicity about "£10,00 spent detaining man who let dog off lead in park" There are supposed to be sophisticated anti-forgery measures. If someone has worked out how to implement these, within a very short time someone will have found a way to circumvent them as part of a lucrative trade in forgeries. We are told that identity theft is a major crime. How many valid ID cards will be issued to persons with a false identity?
I heard a lot of hot air on this week's Question Time about the 90 days detention. The talking heads were against it with exception of one who said it should be 100 and 90 days. Noone gave the obvious reason as to why we should allow for the detention. If the police want it in fighting terrorism, that should suffice. It is a bit like telling a PC to arrest a violent drunk but barring him using hand-cuffs, baton or police holds. The 90 days is basically needed to check out documentation which is notoriously tedious work requiring very painstaking efforts. The fact that someone came to police attention meriting arrest justifies the deprival of liberty. If they get it wrong - sue them.
Saturday, 8 October 2005
Response
Well, that's a very dramatic response. I'm overwhelmed. Cannot be many places where one can write just about anything that will appear in public and yet no one gives a toss.
Friday, 7 October 2005
Be warned
My blog has a counter. It certainly will not wear out from recording visits if I am to set visits against comments left. Actually, I am not very impressed with the mechanics behind the clicks. It claimed that a nice retired teacher in Welsh Wales was living very nearly as a Russian school hostage taker halfway across the world.
So, I'm going to see if the counter is a valued asset or just a waste of bandwidth (Whatever that means but it seems a very fashionable phrase right now). I wasted some time working out what might attract comments - that photograph of me naked on a lambskin rug perhaps? Spot the difference in a photo of me standing next to King Farouk? Sophia Loren with the sun behind her?
After much time, I realised the truth in that I was looking in the wrong direction. Instead of showing the dimples in my behind, my unsatisfactory attempt at a Muslim moustache or the perfect Body, I needed to provoke people. In this day and age, easy peasy.
So, watch out. Bar the children, get dark glasses and hide the cat in a flower vase. I am working on the repulsion blog to end all repulsion blogs. I shall pose as a gay male with a occasional lesbian personality shift. Stories of haunting childrens' playgrounds with my camera. My powerful binoculars and sixth-form girls on the way home from school in their black tights. Torture of cats and dogs. Lighting bonfires in neighbour's gardens at midnight whilst the washing is still hanging out. Abusing the minimal shelter of telephone boxes for all of my needs and desires. Advising teenagers that bodily fluids are good for spots and pimples.
And that is just the negative side. I shall write in support of wind farms in rural areas of great beauty. Insist that all pigs be destroyed because they offend our Muslim brothers. Set up a Pram Police to arrest and detain those who admire and go coo coo at babies. Big Brother on all TV channels. Wife Swap to be mandatory.
My goodness - I'm beginning to enjoy even the planning.
Remember, it is only your comments that will dissuade me. You might even suggest other topics for my Repulsive Blog.
You have been warned.
This is not a drill.
So, I'm going to see if the counter is a valued asset or just a waste of bandwidth (Whatever that means but it seems a very fashionable phrase right now). I wasted some time working out what might attract comments - that photograph of me naked on a lambskin rug perhaps? Spot the difference in a photo of me standing next to King Farouk? Sophia Loren with the sun behind her?
After much time, I realised the truth in that I was looking in the wrong direction. Instead of showing the dimples in my behind, my unsatisfactory attempt at a Muslim moustache or the perfect Body, I needed to provoke people. In this day and age, easy peasy.
So, watch out. Bar the children, get dark glasses and hide the cat in a flower vase. I am working on the repulsion blog to end all repulsion blogs. I shall pose as a gay male with a occasional lesbian personality shift. Stories of haunting childrens' playgrounds with my camera. My powerful binoculars and sixth-form girls on the way home from school in their black tights. Torture of cats and dogs. Lighting bonfires in neighbour's gardens at midnight whilst the washing is still hanging out. Abusing the minimal shelter of telephone boxes for all of my needs and desires. Advising teenagers that bodily fluids are good for spots and pimples.
And that is just the negative side. I shall write in support of wind farms in rural areas of great beauty. Insist that all pigs be destroyed because they offend our Muslim brothers. Set up a Pram Police to arrest and detain those who admire and go coo coo at babies. Big Brother on all TV channels. Wife Swap to be mandatory.
My goodness - I'm beginning to enjoy even the planning.
Remember, it is only your comments that will dissuade me. You might even suggest other topics for my Repulsive Blog.
You have been warned.
This is not a drill.
Useful stuff
The way this world seems to be going, you may one day be very glad I showed you the way to this skill. Note there is further information at the bottom of the page for those of you interested in what bears do in the woods.
Thursday, 6 October 2005
Used to
I don’t feel exhaustion
Like I did before
Instead of pushing through it
I crumble to the floor
I used to be the master
Of a thousand sleepless nights
But now I am the servant
To the disappearing lights
I used to think my body
Was impervious to pain
Now my heartbeat thunders
Underneath demanding strain
I used to think that temperance
Was only for the weak
But those who crave dependence
Know of which I speak
I used to be immortal
And death I did not fear
Now I feel her shadow
As she whispers in my ear
Now my life it teeters
On a stack of vertigo
Just waiting for disaster
To kick out the bottom row
Like I did before
Instead of pushing through it
I crumble to the floor
I used to be the master
Of a thousand sleepless nights
But now I am the servant
To the disappearing lights
I used to think my body
Was impervious to pain
Now my heartbeat thunders
Underneath demanding strain
I used to think that temperance
Was only for the weak
But those who crave dependence
Know of which I speak
I used to be immortal
And death I did not fear
Now I feel her shadow
As she whispers in my ear
Now my life it teeters
On a stack of vertigo
Just waiting for disaster
To kick out the bottom row
Saudi Jihad propaganda
Here’s an interesting bit of news. Whilst I personally hold a very jaundiced view of any Middle Eastern country, the people and the religion, I suppose many in England thought that there was some sort of sympathy within Saudi for the problems spread by their co-religionists. They provided facilities in GWI and appear to take a hard line in their actions against dissidents in their own country. Not so it seems.
Senate to probe Saudis' jihad propagandaAs the Senate prepares an investigation, the U.S. State Department is demanding Saudi Arabia account for its distribution of hate-filled, jihad propaganda through American mosques.
The developments are based on a yearlong study by a Washington human-rights group asserting the government of Saudi Arabia is disseminating propaganda through American mosques that teaches hatred of Jews and Christians and instructs Muslims that they are on a mission behind enemy lines in a land of unbelievers.
The 89-page report by Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom, "Saudi Publications on Hate Ideology Fill American Mosques," concludes the Saudi government propaganda examined reflects a "totalitarian ideology of hatred that can incite to violence."
The report says the fact it is "being mainstreamed within our borders through the efforts of a foreign government, namely Saudi Arabia, demands our urgent attention."
In response to the report and the Saudi Arabia Accountability Act of 2005, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold hearings Oct. 25, the New York Sun reported.
The Accountability Act, introduced in June by Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., sharply criticizes the Saudi regime for its support of terrorist activity and, citing the Freedom House report, its part in spreading the radical Wahhabist ideology shared by Osama bin Laden and the 9-11 attackers.
Specter has held Judiciary Committee hearings into Saudi financing of terrorism and Riyadh's role in injecting ideology into textbooks for Palestinian Arab schoolchildren, the Sun said.
In March, 15 senators responded to the Freedom House report with a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice demanding the Bush administration take stronger action against Riyadh.
Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, were among the signers of the letter, which called for the U.S. to define its relationship Saudi Arabia more clearly.
Schumer stated: "It is a massive contradiction that a country we call an ally could be both so regressive in their own country and so brazen in its propagation of anti-American, anti-women, anti-Semitic books, publications, and practices. American security is undermined as the Saudi government exports these hateful commodities to millions beyond its borders, planting the seeds for new generations of terrorists and totalitarian Wahhabi leaders."
Collins said the report "raises some disturbing concerns about the spread of extremist materials in American mosques and Islamic centers."
"If we are going to win the war on terrorism, these types of actions cannot be tolerated," she said. "It is important that the Saudi Arabian government join us in this fight and stop supporting the spread of ideologies that promote hatred and intolerance around the world."
The Freedom House report cited samples of more than 200 books and other publications from American mosques used to educate its members that preach a "Nazi-like hatred for Jews" and "promote contempt for the United States because it is ruled by legislated civil law rather than by totalitarian Wahhabi-style Islamic law."
One highlighted document, distributed through the Saudi Arabian Embassy's Cultural Department in Washington, is a fatwa against the taking of American citizenship by Muslims and thereby "acquiescing to their infidelity and accepting all their erroneous ways."
Senate to probe Saudis' jihad propagandaAs the Senate prepares an investigation, the U.S. State Department is demanding Saudi Arabia account for its distribution of hate-filled, jihad propaganda through American mosques.
The developments are based on a yearlong study by a Washington human-rights group asserting the government of Saudi Arabia is disseminating propaganda through American mosques that teaches hatred of Jews and Christians and instructs Muslims that they are on a mission behind enemy lines in a land of unbelievers.
The 89-page report by Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom, "Saudi Publications on Hate Ideology Fill American Mosques," concludes the Saudi government propaganda examined reflects a "totalitarian ideology of hatred that can incite to violence."
The report says the fact it is "being mainstreamed within our borders through the efforts of a foreign government, namely Saudi Arabia, demands our urgent attention."
In response to the report and the Saudi Arabia Accountability Act of 2005, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold hearings Oct. 25, the New York Sun reported.
The Accountability Act, introduced in June by Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., sharply criticizes the Saudi regime for its support of terrorist activity and, citing the Freedom House report, its part in spreading the radical Wahhabist ideology shared by Osama bin Laden and the 9-11 attackers.
Specter has held Judiciary Committee hearings into Saudi financing of terrorism and Riyadh's role in injecting ideology into textbooks for Palestinian Arab schoolchildren, the Sun said.
In March, 15 senators responded to the Freedom House report with a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice demanding the Bush administration take stronger action against Riyadh.
Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, were among the signers of the letter, which called for the U.S. to define its relationship Saudi Arabia more clearly.
Schumer stated: "It is a massive contradiction that a country we call an ally could be both so regressive in their own country and so brazen in its propagation of anti-American, anti-women, anti-Semitic books, publications, and practices. American security is undermined as the Saudi government exports these hateful commodities to millions beyond its borders, planting the seeds for new generations of terrorists and totalitarian Wahhabi leaders."
Collins said the report "raises some disturbing concerns about the spread of extremist materials in American mosques and Islamic centers."
"If we are going to win the war on terrorism, these types of actions cannot be tolerated," she said. "It is important that the Saudi Arabian government join us in this fight and stop supporting the spread of ideologies that promote hatred and intolerance around the world."
The Freedom House report cited samples of more than 200 books and other publications from American mosques used to educate its members that preach a "Nazi-like hatred for Jews" and "promote contempt for the United States because it is ruled by legislated civil law rather than by totalitarian Wahhabi-style Islamic law."
One highlighted document, distributed through the Saudi Arabian Embassy's Cultural Department in Washington, is a fatwa against the taking of American citizenship by Muslims and thereby "acquiescing to their infidelity and accepting all their erroneous ways."
Wednesday, 5 October 2005
The Ladies - God bless 'em!!
I have been collecting examples of things that the women in our lives do that annoy us the most. The file is now so huge that I have to release some of them.
Can’t buy food and wait to get home before starting to demolish it. (They open a bag of crisps in the shopping bag to facilitate walking/eating).Pretending to examine the last dress at the door because they don’t want to leave.Asking the time even ‘though they have a watch on.Racing you to the foot of the escalator then taking all day to go up ‘cos it’s too much effort to walk.Rain is made of Sulphuric Acid necessitating a taxi home.“It’s FREEZING in here!”Inability to ask a question then wait for an answer but feel the need to suggest all known alternatives then walk off before you’ve finished answering.Just HAVE to examine whatever item a male is standing in front of to make them move.Don’t look where they are going even ‘though they have zero spatial coordination.Ignore tired screaming toddler so they can examine essentials like costume jewellery at 2100hrs.All conversations with pals must be at 108 decibels so everyone else can hear.
Will go out of their way to walk into you and say “sorry” in a totally empty shop.If there are a group of them then each one asks a bit of the question, known as Shared Brain Syndrome btw.Suck the face off partner when halfway up an escalator. (Look at me I have a boyfriend).Wearing daft high heels, texting and listening to iPod then wondering why they got mugged.Stand in a queue for 5mins to buy a packet of chewing gum.Unable to tell the difference between Navy Blue and Black even ‘though they can see more colours than men.Stopping to look at stuff without telling male partner/children leading to “I’ve lost my husband/children”.Old ladies turning up at lost property looking for their walking sticks...think about it. Shouting “Mum”. Looking round when someone totally unrelated to them shouts “Mum”.Reading out signs to male partner and telling him which shop they are in.
Carrying on an argument once she/you has left the room. Starts of as something simple , which she blows out of all proportion, then drags stuff in from a minor offence from 5 years earlier. You think the argument has finished and leave the room, then they decide to carry it on, and accuse you of not listening when they are speaking to you and you’re 4 rooms away
She asks you a question, you tell her the answer, she flies off the handle. What’s that all about?She has a three week sad on with you, but you’ve no idea why or what you’ve done, and she won’t tell you. Apparently you are supposed to ‘think about it and work it out’. (So you think about it, and walk.)
Why do they have so many pairs of shoes, when they only have 2 feet?Why do they drag you around town for hours at a time just to return to the first shop and buy the original dress?Why do they always think there fashion sense is better than your own?I even knew a woman once who brought a car because and I quote ‘ The colour matches My Jacket’ even though the car cost her loads of cash to keep it running!
Asking a question to which they already know the answer. Asking a question and not listening to the answer. Not asking a question but expecting you to answer it.Talking. They do it way too much, and see it as a sign of emotional maturity, which makes them feel superior to blokes, who, because they don’t talk even half as much as women do, are see as emotionally retarded. When in fact we all know the opposite is true.Coming in from work. They park the car, slam the door, rattle their keys in the front door, slam that, put down their bag and take off their coat, with all the accompanying noises. They then come and find you, look at you for a minute, and say “Well, I’m home.” The inverse is true whenever they get home before you do, except they say “Well, you’re home.”Arguments. They are incapable of looking at something objectively, or from your point of view. Whatever you say, they are just going to spout the same few sentences at you until you give up, interspersed with insults.
Refusing to come to the table, where the food is going cold, until the dishwasher is stacked and all available horizontal surfaces wipedOverfilling the dishwasher because leaving three dirty plates and a pan out until morning is unthinkableCleaning the whole house from top to bottom ‘so that it will be clean when we come back’ - ignoring the inevitable three week accumulation of dustCruelty to rechargeable batteries in mobile phone, PDA and camera Allergy to all IT, including, would you believe, total inability to get money out of an ATM until three months agoPlanting up huge number of huge pots on terrace while vast, neglected garden borders grow to resemble Matto Grosso or Congo BasinBelieving all available tosh about vitamins, diet, homeopathy, aromatherapy and such like in preference to medicine that works and going into mega sulk when diagnosed as having high blood pressure and having to take proper medicine prescribed by proper doctor rather than pond water brewed by charlatan
Haircuts, why on earth do women pay up to and over 40 quid for a haircut when I can get mine done for a fiver from the bloke at the top of the road. I mean really even when a bloke goes into these salons/strip clubs (see earlier thread on subject) They get charged considerably less for the same treatment. “Oh but we have more hair they say”, balls, its still the same thickness and requires no more actual effort to cut it off.Handbags, Why do women insist on buying a handbag that matches her shoes when nobody actually cares because her handbag is on the table and her shoes underneath it. The handbag in question is something totally ridiculous that they cant fit anything in so the give all their stuff to the bloke who’s with them to carry. They then bugger off for half an hour to the toilet (what they do in there I have no idea) leaving blokey stood there like a spare prick guarding 2 watermelon Bacardi Breezers, 2 sparkly handbags that everyone is laughing at because neither of them match his shoes and the women’s entire money to fund their evening out. However when bloke nips in for a quick lag he gets grief for buggering off with all their stuff.Cars, women and cars. Listen to me car designers STOP DESIGNING CARS FOR WOMEN I mean cars that look “cute” there’s just no need for it is there you can always have a laugh at the guy driving down the road in a pastel blue VW convertible because you know his wife chose his car. Curves on cars do not look good cars are meant to have straight lines that show aggression towards other road users. Oh and 2nd hand cars. Buying a crappy old 1975 shed that will only run if you push it down a steep hill because you think you’ll look dead good driving it and how much would it suit my personality is complete and utter rubbish.Magazines, how much drivel and tripe do they feel the need to publish these days, who cares what the guy who got kicked out of big brother fourth is having for his tea. Men’s interest magazines actually contain an interest like cars, or power tools or building sheds. Women’s interest magazines contain nothing they’re just full of absolute garbage. You buy a pair of shoes (and matching handbag) that you see a celebrity you like wearing in one of these drivel magazines, you wear them once then you never wear them again because you see a different celeb who you don’t like wearing exactly the same pair.Presents A bloke will buy a present for a woman and pout a lot of thought into it. they will either get it right or get it wrong. It’s a 50:50 shot and we accept that and ok the consequences are not right but we know what we’re in for. When a woman buys a present for a bloke she puts about 5 minutes thought into it, buys him what she likes then expects him to like it.Phone calls. Why oh why do you women spend 45 minutes on the phone to somebody then as soon as they hang up they go too see them. What do you talk about how can a phone call last longer than. Hey, Pub, Bye. I mean what is there to say. You phone somebody up while your watching a TV programme who is watching the same programme and talk about it.E4. They watch the drivel they insist on watching every week at 10pm on channel 4 (the shite hour) then at the end of it the voice pops up “if you cant wait till next week to see what happens turn to E4 now for next weeks episode” So off the y pop to E4 and make you sit through another hour of drivel then when next week comes and the same sh1te is on they sit there and complain that they’ve already seen this episode so they grab the phone and off they go to talk to their mate about it again.
Does sleeping with a woman suffering from schizophrenia qualify as a threesome ??????
Can’t buy food and wait to get home before starting to demolish it. (They open a bag of crisps in the shopping bag to facilitate walking/eating).Pretending to examine the last dress at the door because they don’t want to leave.Asking the time even ‘though they have a watch on.Racing you to the foot of the escalator then taking all day to go up ‘cos it’s too much effort to walk.Rain is made of Sulphuric Acid necessitating a taxi home.“It’s FREEZING in here!”Inability to ask a question then wait for an answer but feel the need to suggest all known alternatives then walk off before you’ve finished answering.Just HAVE to examine whatever item a male is standing in front of to make them move.Don’t look where they are going even ‘though they have zero spatial coordination.Ignore tired screaming toddler so they can examine essentials like costume jewellery at 2100hrs.All conversations with pals must be at 108 decibels so everyone else can hear.
Will go out of their way to walk into you and say “sorry” in a totally empty shop.If there are a group of them then each one asks a bit of the question, known as Shared Brain Syndrome btw.Suck the face off partner when halfway up an escalator. (Look at me I have a boyfriend).Wearing daft high heels, texting and listening to iPod then wondering why they got mugged.Stand in a queue for 5mins to buy a packet of chewing gum.Unable to tell the difference between Navy Blue and Black even ‘though they can see more colours than men.Stopping to look at stuff without telling male partner/children leading to “I’ve lost my husband/children”.Old ladies turning up at lost property looking for their walking sticks...think about it. Shouting “Mum”. Looking round when someone totally unrelated to them shouts “Mum”.Reading out signs to male partner and telling him which shop they are in.
Carrying on an argument once she/you has left the room. Starts of as something simple , which she blows out of all proportion, then drags stuff in from a minor offence from 5 years earlier. You think the argument has finished and leave the room, then they decide to carry it on, and accuse you of not listening when they are speaking to you and you’re 4 rooms away
She asks you a question, you tell her the answer, she flies off the handle. What’s that all about?She has a three week sad on with you, but you’ve no idea why or what you’ve done, and she won’t tell you. Apparently you are supposed to ‘think about it and work it out’. (So you think about it, and walk.)
Why do they have so many pairs of shoes, when they only have 2 feet?Why do they drag you around town for hours at a time just to return to the first shop and buy the original dress?Why do they always think there fashion sense is better than your own?I even knew a woman once who brought a car because and I quote ‘ The colour matches My Jacket’ even though the car cost her loads of cash to keep it running!
Asking a question to which they already know the answer. Asking a question and not listening to the answer. Not asking a question but expecting you to answer it.Talking. They do it way too much, and see it as a sign of emotional maturity, which makes them feel superior to blokes, who, because they don’t talk even half as much as women do, are see as emotionally retarded. When in fact we all know the opposite is true.Coming in from work. They park the car, slam the door, rattle their keys in the front door, slam that, put down their bag and take off their coat, with all the accompanying noises. They then come and find you, look at you for a minute, and say “Well, I’m home.” The inverse is true whenever they get home before you do, except they say “Well, you’re home.”Arguments. They are incapable of looking at something objectively, or from your point of view. Whatever you say, they are just going to spout the same few sentences at you until you give up, interspersed with insults.
Refusing to come to the table, where the food is going cold, until the dishwasher is stacked and all available horizontal surfaces wipedOverfilling the dishwasher because leaving three dirty plates and a pan out until morning is unthinkableCleaning the whole house from top to bottom ‘so that it will be clean when we come back’ - ignoring the inevitable three week accumulation of dustCruelty to rechargeable batteries in mobile phone, PDA and camera Allergy to all IT, including, would you believe, total inability to get money out of an ATM until three months agoPlanting up huge number of huge pots on terrace while vast, neglected garden borders grow to resemble Matto Grosso or Congo BasinBelieving all available tosh about vitamins, diet, homeopathy, aromatherapy and such like in preference to medicine that works and going into mega sulk when diagnosed as having high blood pressure and having to take proper medicine prescribed by proper doctor rather than pond water brewed by charlatan
Haircuts, why on earth do women pay up to and over 40 quid for a haircut when I can get mine done for a fiver from the bloke at the top of the road. I mean really even when a bloke goes into these salons/strip clubs (see earlier thread on subject) They get charged considerably less for the same treatment. “Oh but we have more hair they say”, balls, its still the same thickness and requires no more actual effort to cut it off.Handbags, Why do women insist on buying a handbag that matches her shoes when nobody actually cares because her handbag is on the table and her shoes underneath it. The handbag in question is something totally ridiculous that they cant fit anything in so the give all their stuff to the bloke who’s with them to carry. They then bugger off for half an hour to the toilet (what they do in there I have no idea) leaving blokey stood there like a spare prick guarding 2 watermelon Bacardi Breezers, 2 sparkly handbags that everyone is laughing at because neither of them match his shoes and the women’s entire money to fund their evening out. However when bloke nips in for a quick lag he gets grief for buggering off with all their stuff.Cars, women and cars. Listen to me car designers STOP DESIGNING CARS FOR WOMEN I mean cars that look “cute” there’s just no need for it is there you can always have a laugh at the guy driving down the road in a pastel blue VW convertible because you know his wife chose his car. Curves on cars do not look good cars are meant to have straight lines that show aggression towards other road users. Oh and 2nd hand cars. Buying a crappy old 1975 shed that will only run if you push it down a steep hill because you think you’ll look dead good driving it and how much would it suit my personality is complete and utter rubbish.Magazines, how much drivel and tripe do they feel the need to publish these days, who cares what the guy who got kicked out of big brother fourth is having for his tea. Men’s interest magazines actually contain an interest like cars, or power tools or building sheds. Women’s interest magazines contain nothing they’re just full of absolute garbage. You buy a pair of shoes (and matching handbag) that you see a celebrity you like wearing in one of these drivel magazines, you wear them once then you never wear them again because you see a different celeb who you don’t like wearing exactly the same pair.Presents A bloke will buy a present for a woman and pout a lot of thought into it. they will either get it right or get it wrong. It’s a 50:50 shot and we accept that and ok the consequences are not right but we know what we’re in for. When a woman buys a present for a bloke she puts about 5 minutes thought into it, buys him what she likes then expects him to like it.Phone calls. Why oh why do you women spend 45 minutes on the phone to somebody then as soon as they hang up they go too see them. What do you talk about how can a phone call last longer than. Hey, Pub, Bye. I mean what is there to say. You phone somebody up while your watching a TV programme who is watching the same programme and talk about it.E4. They watch the drivel they insist on watching every week at 10pm on channel 4 (the shite hour) then at the end of it the voice pops up “if you cant wait till next week to see what happens turn to E4 now for next weeks episode” So off the y pop to E4 and make you sit through another hour of drivel then when next week comes and the same sh1te is on they sit there and complain that they’ve already seen this episode so they grab the phone and off they go to talk to their mate about it again.
Does sleeping with a woman suffering from schizophrenia qualify as a threesome ??????
Tuesday, 4 October 2005
That will teach him
“The father of a pupil who tried to sue exclusive public school Marlborough College for expelling his son has had his case thrown out. A judge at Southampton County Court ruled against Russell Gray, who claimed the school was trying to get rid of his son to boost its league tables”. “[He showed] an almost total disregard for school rules and the failure to understand the effect his behaviour would have on others”
Judge Anthony Thompson QC
Nice to see that maybe, just maybe, we are seeing some sense creep into disputes regarding the right of a school to decide what happens to disruptive scholars. The pupil in this case had a extremely poor disciplinary record. This was not just in minor matters but involved incidents such as being arrested at 13 for being drunk and disorderly and had called a police officer an ‘idiot’. Statements attributed to the juvenile showed that he had a most obnoxious manner and appeared to consider himself to be above normal social rules and expectations. Part of the father’s case was that his son had a good scholastic result in his GCSE. This was revealed as 4 A levels, 3 B levels and 2 at C grade. Given that we now know that 40% marks gained an A classification, the C pass should only require a student to write his name and exam number. If he got both right, he would get a B.
Judge Anthony Thompson QC
Nice to see that maybe, just maybe, we are seeing some sense creep into disputes regarding the right of a school to decide what happens to disruptive scholars. The pupil in this case had a extremely poor disciplinary record. This was not just in minor matters but involved incidents such as being arrested at 13 for being drunk and disorderly and had called a police officer an ‘idiot’. Statements attributed to the juvenile showed that he had a most obnoxious manner and appeared to consider himself to be above normal social rules and expectations. Part of the father’s case was that his son had a good scholastic result in his GCSE. This was revealed as 4 A levels, 3 B levels and 2 at C grade. Given that we now know that 40% marks gained an A classification, the C pass should only require a student to write his name and exam number. If he got both right, he would get a B.
Monday, 3 October 2005
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