In the week they took hundreds of pounds from people in severe poverty, MPs and Lords claim up to £3,750 each to return from their luxury holidays to spout off in honour of Margaret Thatcher. Meantime the media are busy classifying any potential protest or expression of opinion at the taxpayer funded funeral jamboree as “potential terrorism”.
Whether protest at the funeral is tasteful or not is a fair question. But there is no question it is perfectly lawful. There is virtually no understanding of the very notion of civil liberty in the mainstream media.
Lysias at 9.39 pm. Amber Lyon is telling us something most of us have worked out long ago, and I thanks her for it. I often wonder how some of the newsreaders can keep their faces straight when they have to read some of the crap on the autocue. She’ll probably never work again in MSM but we need more people like her to ‘spill the beans”. Perhaps even at this late stage NATO invasions of other Middle Eastern and African countries can be averted.
Steve Bell
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cartoon/2013/apr/10/margaret-thatcher-funeral-steve-bell-cartoon
No mention, as yet, of her cementing of the relationship with the US in one of the last acts of the Cold War when it is said (though not in Wikipedia!) that she gave the OK to the US to invade Grenada, a Commonwealth country, without the knowledge of the Queen. I heard the Queen was decidedly not amused (like her ancestor) and carpeted she that used the Royal ‘we’!
Perhaps you know if this is true or not, Craig.
Craig, I’m an admirer of yours, but your encouragement of these unpleasant, untrue and fatuous comments about Margaret Thatcher don’t do you any good.
At the very least, given your brave stand against the use of torture, you should give her credit for one thing: She refused to countenance the use of evidence gathered under torture. (As you know this doctrine was reversed by Blair.)
Madame Pinochet was probably trying to avoid the legal costs of torture connected to the UK. She certainly supported it as a form of rendition.
“When General Pinochet overthrew Salvador Allende’s democratically elected government in September 1973 the women were student activists aged 20 and 22. Ms Godoy-Navarrete was arrested shortly afterwards. Hundreds had already been killed, but she was comparatively lucky, released after being beaten and given electric shock treatment. Ms De Witt escaped the first wave of arrests.
But with the creation of the secret police force, Dina, and their specialist torture centres came a new sweep. Ms Godoy-Navarrete was picked up in December 1974 and Ms De Witt a few months later. They ended up in two of the most notorious of the torture houses, Jose Domingo Canas and the Villa Grimaldi. Their families did not know where they were. Ms Godoy- Navarrete’s husband, Roberto, also wanted, was in hiding.
Prisoners at both centres were subjected to electric shocks, severe beatings, suspensions from ceilings until their wrists tore, and rapes.”
Ms Godoy-Navarrete recalled: “The torture took place daily. We would be blindfolded, strapped to beds and then it would begin. There were electric shocks administered to all over our bodies, and then there would be a rape.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/victims-of-pinochets-police-prepare-to-reveal-details-of-rape-and-torture-1183793.html
Mary, at 22h25, says about me
“Stealing my script now. ‘Pathological’ That is exactly the word I used to describe the condition of the Resident Interrogator some weeks ago following his barrage of unsavoury and persistent posting about me.”
There must be a misunderstanding here.
Surely the last few words should have read “…following his barrage against the unsavoury and persistent postings from me”?
Richard Walker…another Troll Joins…. Stroll along Asshole
Arsalan: “Would it be tasteful to turn her grave into a public urinal?”
The Lady is not for turning – except that is, when we throw her into the Thames.
Hi Richard Walker
Don’t mind the ‘trollslaying’ its a virtual craze.
It would be best if you could correct or at least point out some untrue comments, rather than just declaring there are too many in your view.
I see a problem with protesting at people who see themselves as taking part in a patriotic funeral. Shields make a very positive impression on those who for whatever reason happen to find themselves behind them.
Protests at how uncivil and unsociable this national icon was, over her death, could be her last contribution to class distinction.
I think if campaigning on the day, any shields should be best left as redundant as possible.
If this is true of Miliband, he is appalling. NuLabour is now Blue Labour.
Margaret Thatcher debate mixes discord amid the tributes
As parliament pays respects, revelations emerge that Speaker originally rejected recall of MPs and Foreign Office caused anger by issuing funeral dress code
‘Many Labour MPs remain furious that her death is being turned into a near state military funeral when other prime ministers, apart from Winston Churchill, were not afforded such pomp and ceremony. Labour figures that stayed away from parliament included Lord Kinnock, Lord Hattersley and Gordon Brown. It was notable that younger Labour MPs with northern constituencies absented themselves.
It also emerged that staging a day of tributes before the funeral and requiring an expensive recall of parliament was the idea of the prime minister and involved him in a lengthy wrangle with the Speaker’s Office. John Bercow felt there was no need to recall parliament, and was taken aback by the request. His office thought the tributes could be paid next Monday in line with precedent for previous deaths of party leaders.
At one point, Cameron had to enlist the support of Miliband to overcome the opposition, and Labour sources said they felt faced with a fait accompli and did not want to risk being seen as failing to show Thatcher due respect. In a measure of the significance of the occasion for Cameron, after speaking in the Commons he went to the bar of the Lords to listen to some of the 5 hours of speeches from a string of senior civil servants and former Conservative cabinet ministers, including Lord Waldegrave, Lord Forsyth and Lord Lamont.’
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/apr/10/margaret-thatcher-debate-discord-tributes
Agent Cameron was Lamont’s bag carrier of course.
The son Mark is as pathetic as ever. Operation True Blue! Indeed.
‘Whitehall officials proposed the presence of Argentine officials at a meeting of the committee which is organising the funeral, code-named Operation True Blue.
The Telegraph understands that Lady Thatcher’s children, Sir Mark and Carol, believe that such protocol would be “inappropriate”.
Sir Mark, who returned to Britain from Barbados on Tuesday, will attend a meeting of the Operation True Blue committee tomorrow to represent his mother’s interests.
The committee, which is meeting on a daily basis, is planning to make the liberation of the Falkland Islands a central part of the ceremonial funeral on Wednesday.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/9985743/Margaret-Thatchers-funeral-Family-veto-Argentine-officials-at-service.html
O/T The telling of fiction continues, as does the persecution of Bradley Manning.
WikiLeaks: Bin Laden Raid Member Can Testify
Prosecutors say the witness, presumably a US Navy Seal, has evidence that Osama bin Laden obtained secrets leaked by Pfc Manning.
http://news.sky.com/story/1076449/wikileaks-bin-laden-raid-member-can-testify
“No mention, as yet, of her cementing of the relationship with the US in one of the last acts of the Cold War when it is said (though not in Wikipedia!) that she gave the OK to the US to invade Grenada, a Commonwealth country, without the knowledge of the Queen. I heard the Queen was decidedly not amused (like her ancestor) and carpeted she that used the Royal ‘we’!
Perhaps you know if this is true or not, Craig. ”
It isn’t. Thatcher opposed the invasion and made this clear to Reagan. He assured her the US wasn’t planning to invade even though the invasion force was already on its way.
Richard Walker
The solidarity of the bought! Do you not think that the solidarity of the bought ( like you ) is not equally matched by a solidarity of the free?
Do you actually think these disgusting ideas of Mrs Thatcher’s and her crew ever convinced the people of the UK of their legitimacy? Without the betrayal of the people in the last election by the Liberal Democrats these disgusting ideas would never have reappeared in this country again.
What this tells us is that if the right wing of the Tory party combines with the other right wing forces in UK politics, including the pushy, right wing forces inside the UK Muslim community, like Baroness Warsi, then Fascism can re-surface again even in Britain. We are going to see 8 million quids worth of it on Wednesday.
“It is really surprising that, in an interview with The Jewish News, Archbishop Welby, who is scheduled to visit Israel in June, now says he should have voted against a General Synod motion that endorsed the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), which was passed by the Synod last year (News, 29 June 2012, Synod, 13 July 2012”
Before and after the leadership vote, you gotta be a step ahead of the goyim. Cryptos, cryptos everywhere and not a drop of kedem to drink in The Anglican Church!!
@Kempe
Thanks … surprised that Reagan had the guts to take any duplicitous decision by himself but it wasn’t him all by himself, was it? Who knows where rumours come from? As if there weren’t enough reasons to despise her politics and policies without making one up!
My pleasure. I thought at the time that Reagan had seen what the Falklands war had done for Thatcher’s popularity and invaded Grenada with the expectation that it would do the same for him.
Read this, preferably with all the lights on and a crucifix handy –
http://www.amazon.com/The-Fall-House-Bush-Believers/dp/074328075X
…to understand the perfect continuity between Reagan’s policies and advisors and Bush 43’s.
This is also illuminating:
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0318-14.htm
Both presidents were the abject tools of a process they didn’t understand.
A quick Google came up with this:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/reagan-grenada/
Wouldn’t normally be my first website of reference for historical questions but what the heck!
It does confirm that the administration needed something that they could spin for all that it was worth before the ’84 election.
Poor little Grenada served their needs.
Devil’s advocate here. From beyond the grave, this.
http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/109427
@komodo
Thanks for the links.
With regard to the link to Thatcher’s memoirs I think I’d take her at her word … I can’t see that she had anything to gain by supporting the invasion; anti-Communist rhetoric and sentiment always went down so much better with an American audience when the bogeymen were on their own doorstep.
The Guardian (Martin Kettle) points out how W.E.Gladstone’s funeral was conducted in 1898: a civil affair at the height of empire. A stark contrast to the bombastic militarism of our own day.
Perhaps Mrs Thatcher’s funeral is a symbol of our own decline: the weaker we become the more exaggerated our public display of power.
Fascism done properly wirks for the good of people.
Although some times unholy racist to quote a phrse from a “Great.”
David Benedictus; It Stops.
“Tigger,” said Rabbit severely. “what we have to consider here is the Greater Good of the Greater Number. Give me your pebble.
Fascism achieves and does not be unhumanitarian just reasonable.
“For the next few days, while the friends and relations dig a ditch running down hill from the well to Eeyore’s Gloomy Place, enough water was collected to run down the ditch and fill Eeyore’s tin trunk to the brim.
Five Reasons For Parading The Corpse:
1. Message to the Argies, in the absence of credible firepower or international support.
2. Big tourist puller, in the absence of any local enthusiasm for spending money you haven’t got on stuff you don’t need in Oxford Street.
3. Polish the monetarist turd by associating it with a less dismal arsehole than Cameron’s.
4. Distract the public from at least the next four major governmental disasters. Five, if you include “Iain Duncan” (George) Smith.
5. Opportunity to refine police tactics for dealing with public expressions of displeasure with the government, which are inevitable as we* slide into bankruptcy.
* very broadly speaking
And I would still like to know why any civilian is supposed to merit military honours.
Ever been had?
I suppose Thatcher knew absolutely nothing at all about the use of the airport in Barbados by the US for refuelling and onward flights to Grenada!
‘But one of the retired airport manager’s most enduring memories is his sleepless night of October 24, 1983, the eve of the Grenada intervention by United States forces.
“Adams called me at home and told me he wanted me to go to the airport and take complete charge of the operations; it must be kept completely confidential . . . He said he could not give details, but it could be between five and eight thousand military personnel passing through the airport in the morning”.
Sworn to secrecy, he was forced to remain tight-lipped, even when concerned air traffic controllers were asking what was going on when a mysterious plane popped up on their radar. It was the monitoring aircraft in advance of the Grenada intervention operation.
“Suddenly all hell broke loose and aircraft started calling ‘Air Force this, Air Force that’ all descending on Grantley Adams International Airport, the staging point for the Grenada operation. It was just before daybreak on the morning of October 25, 1983, when the world heard a frantic voice on the Grenada airwaves announcing “United States Forces are invading Grenada”.
The whole experience remains deeply etched in Callender’s memory. It tested his ability and afforded the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the best known names in the United States armed forces like Brigadier General Robert Patterson. Some time later, when he was introduced to United States General Norman Schwartzkopf, deputy commander of United States Forces in the Grenada intervention, Callender was surprised when Schwartzkopf congratulated him on his “outstanding role” in Grantley Adams International Airport’s management of the Grenada operation.
http://www.nationnews.com/index.php/articles/view/ex-airport-boss-recalls-cubana-crash/
The name of Stormin Norman yet surfaces again.
‘At 12:30 am Tuesday October 25, on the morning of the invasion, Thatcher sent a message to Reagan: “This action will be seen as intervention by a Western country in the internal affairs of a small independent nation, however unattractive its regime. I ask you to consider this in the context of our wider East/West relations and of the fact that we will be having in the next few days to present to our Parliament and people the siting of Cruise missiles in this country. I must ask you to think most carefully about these points. I cannot conceal that I am deeply disturbed by your latest communication. You asked for my advice. I have set it out and hope that even at this late stage you will take it into account before events are irrevocable.”[29][30] (The full text remains classified.)’
Of course the text remains classified.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Grenada
Reminder: Governments and politicians NEVER lie. 🙂
lysias
10 Apr, 2013 – 9:39 pm
Yes Lysias and the same is true of our “free press” in the UK especially the BBC
The show next Wednesday has all the makings of a North Korean military parade. (I almost called it a funeral).
Mary
10 Apr, 2013 – 10:40 pm
“Funeral will see biggest security operation since Olympics”
‘Ring of steel’ on three-mile route of procession”
I wonder if they will have surface-to-air missile sites installed?
£10,000,000 for the funeral? Surely value for money in these straitened times!
Meantime up here in Scotland, multi millionaire Ian Taylor, who has donated £500,000 to the No campaign on Scottish independence, has taken legal action against a pro indy blog http://nationalcollective.com/category/media-watch/ for pointing out that Vitol, the company of which he is CEO, has been involved in some dodgy deals involving large amounts of lolly.
The blog has been closed down as a result. Democracy- UK style.