My break from blogging continues. I have not been posting in or reading the comments sections. I am told some people have been worried by some posts there purporting to be from me. They are not from me, I am in good health and have not discovered any “bugs” or phone taps – someone is posting nonsense comments in my name.
Anyway here is a photo of my bed, to help explain why I am taking a break.
And here are some pictures of the rest of the house, which had been illegally converted to bedsits and substantially trashed.
Here is Ingo working on reinstating an original mable fireplace and open fire. Unfortunately by the time I took one this one the plaster dust had got into my Blackberry as it has got everywhere else.
We only have a few weeks left to get the house habitable for the family. We work from dawn to dusk. We haven’t got television or the internet or indeed, much of the time, electricity and water. It is simply not practicable to blog sensibly at the moment so I am concentrating purely on the building work until we are past the worst of it.
“Angrysoba, being an efficient insert, has linked to Gilligan’s attempt to divert the doctors’ request to get the truth on David Kelly’s death.”
Did you actually read Gilligan’s article? He said he was in favour of an inquest as the level of nonsense has risen to such a clamour.
Actually, I agree with him on that, but honestly, it won’t stop the conspiracy theories.
Somebody – ‘Angrysoba, being an efficient insert, has linked to Gilligan’s attempt to divert the doctors’ request to get the truth on David Kelly’s death. Likewise Mangold and Aaronovitch on Newsnight plus Mangold all over the place. Who would you rather believe – a cornoner, a pathologist, the ex President of the Royal College of Surgeons, surgeons, physicians and so on?’
Well, seeing as the chap has never spoken an ounce of bullshit in his life it would have to be Aaronovitch that has my unshakable trust :-0.
41 more dead in Iraq this morning. Over a hundred injured. And some ‘correspondent’ called Sykes on BBC said “Al Quaeda are even targetting traffic policemen now”. Sounded like he’d been talking to them and knew all about it.
Thanks Dreolin. I was sorry to hear about your friend and hope the recovery is going well. Have you been hearing of the outrage about last night’s Panorama about the flotilla?
My comment from Viva Palestina was
‘Simple fact. Jane Corbin is an Israeli shill. Yet again, the Palestinians have been betrayed by the British Broadcasting Corporation.’
At first it was moderated but now like many others it is being subjected to ‘further investigation’.
34. At 10:06pm on 16 Aug 2010, viva palestina wrote:
This comment has been referred for further consideration. Explain **
as have many of the over 100 comments!
**’Sometimes, a comment may be referred for further investigation to a supervisor, host, editor or the Central Communities Team, who are responsible for moderation across all BBC services. Your post will be hidden while a decision is pending and the time taken to make this decision will depend on the investigation necessary.’
Perhaps one of the thought police from the Central Communities Team will be round to arrest me!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/panorama/2010/08/death_in_the_med_-_join_in_the.html
Notice the likes of Sebastian get as much space as they like to shill for Israhell and propagate the lies.
Almost all the suicide bombings in Iraq have been orchestrated by C.I.A. black ops. I’m sure Larry the Lamb will clarify this for me.
“Have you been hearing of the outrage about last night’s Panorama about the flotilla?”
No, and I’d love to have seen that programme! But it probably would have made me very angry (given some of the comments I’ve just seen).
What was the gist of what Panorama was saying? Poor Israeli soldiers had the right to defend themselves? What were they implying about it not being an aid convoy?
———————
My friend has brain damage and is now expected to be in neurological rehab for quite some time. He’s a long-time peace activist and he wouldn’t lift a finger to anyone. He was attacked at random and left for dead. I can’t go to see him as he’s thousands of miles away. I still can’t quite believe it.
They’ll be blaming Al Quaeda for the weather next.
So sorry about your friend Dreoilin. Can only hope and pray if you have a faith. I heard this this morning from a friend –
Couldn’t agree more ……, the same here, angry letters will be sent by us. There was no context, sickening having to endure it all. Saw Osama Quashoo (a friend of our daughter ….) on the boat in the beginning of the programme. Poor guy, he was classed as the ‘ringleader’ on the ship, by the Israeli commandos, and treated very badly, he has had a blood clot on the brain and passed out last week, apparently a delayed reaction to his ‘treatment’ at the hands of the Israeli commandos, luckily he is alright now with aspirins etc. but needs more medical treatment We mustn’t despair but it’s hard not to.
The Panorama programme is on 2 You Tubes beginning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXrzF0IOQYE
This friend also told me that Mohammed Omer is in the Hague now. He is the young Palestinian journalist who won the Martha Gellhorn Award for Journalism and after receiving it from John Pilger in London, made his way home to Gaza. At the Allenby Bridge he was arrested and beaten up by the Shin Bet and ended up in hospital. After three years and much medical treatment he is on the mend and is studying International Politics and Economics in the Hague at the International Institute of Social Studies in the Hague. Good for him. He is a fine young man.
Dreoilin,
I’m really sorry about your friend. I hope he improves in rehab.
Somebody,
I’m sorry about Osama Quashoo, too.
Thank you ‘somebody’ and Clark. It’s very shocking what can happen out of the blue.
I’m just going off to watch Panorama on YouTube now. [Thanks for the link.]
That’s scary stuff about Osama Quashoo and Mohammed Omer. I’m glad to hear they’re both on the road to recovery — or almost, in the case of Osama.
Funny how Israeli commandos collapse in fear when they find themselves in the hands of Kenneth O’Keefe.
What thread is the post that gives details about what happened to your friend on dreoilin? I can’t see any specific details on this thread and just wondered what had happened.
Jaded,
I just made a brief reference, probably on the previous thread. He was found outdoors with massive head injuries, and airlifted to hospital, barely alive. Police treating it as an assault, but they have little or no information. At the moment he doesn’t have speech.
Best wishes.
“A leading suicide expert has questioned the finding that Dr David Kelly took his own life.
Colin Pritchard, emeritus professor at Southampton University’s School of Medicine, said there was nothing in the evidence given to the Hutton Inquiry to suggest Dr Kelly had any ‘intent’ to commit suicide.
Without this, a coronor would struggle to reach a suicide verdict.
Prof Pritchard’s intervention adds to the clamour for a full inquest into the death of the government weapons inspector, who was found dead in an Oxfordshire copse in 2003.”
“The fresh doubts come after Dr Kelly’s cousin, Wendy Wearmouth, broke the family silence this week to voice fears he was assassinated.
A growing list of doctors have already questioned whether Dr Kelly could have lost enough blood to die from a wound to his wrist.
A Daily Mail poll earlier this week showed that just 20 per cent of the public believe the official verdict that Dr Kelly took his own life.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1303959/There-slither-evidence-suggest-killed-Now-suicide-expert-adds-voice-doubts-Dr-Kelly-verdict.html
A leading pro-Iraq war apologist has today criticised experts who called for a proper inquest into the death of Dr David Kelly.
Daffyd “the only righteous person in the village” Arsehole, who has previously argued that just because WMD weren’t found only proves they were very well hidden, said, “These experts know nothing. They’re all voodoo quacks and conspiraloons from outer space”.
Daffyd, a renowned Friend of Fatness, rejects accusations that he is totally full of shit.
Man who sold soul to devil tries to buy it back on the cheap.
A man who sold his soul to the devil for approx £60 million, yesterday tried to buy it back for £5 million.
Chris Marlowe, a spokesman for Faustian Enterprises the devil’s PR company said, “Yeah. They all try that, though mostly they pay way way more than they received and do good works until they die. This guy isn’t even in the foothills of serious”.
Marlowe denied rumours that Faustian was negotiating a deal with the man’s wife to “buy one get one free”. “She hasn’t any assets in which the devil would be interested”, said Marlowe.
Louis B Cypher: indeed, the fellow’s got a nerve. I read about a man who reportedly made over £10 million out of public speeches, and offered to give away £5 million, which is at least a substantial percentage. A well-known charity for injured soldiers accepted the money. But he can claim a third back as tax relief. And what’s more, he will continue to make millions yearly as a consultant to big business and receive a six-figure sum every time he delivers an after-dinner speech. Disgusting, I know. Honestly, some people have all the luck!
Angrysober,
I have respect for Andrew Gilligan. Without him the British public might not have become aware of the lies inside a ‘dodgy dossier’ and the changes made by the controlling hand of Alastair Campbell.
Even Andrew was “very, very surprised.” “He didn’t strike me as the suicidal type.”
At the time we remember the Government’s response was to ruthlessly to publish his name, in the hope that he would knock the story down. It did not, it empowered David to furiously work on his book on germ warfare.
He had warned Blair according to Robin Cook that Iraq possessed no WMD weeks BEFORE the illegal (Kofi Annan) strike on Iraq.
The pressure is building inexorably behind this story. There can be no doubt now that there has to be a full Judicial enquiry with evidence taken under oath, no offers of immunity and the possibility of prosecution for Blair, Straw, Hoon and Campbell for lying to Parliament and conspiring to pervert the course of justice.
This cancer at the heart of Government remains and must be excised once and for all. Lord Hutton must NOT be given a free pass on any of this either.
ERRATUM
Angrysober,
I have respect for Andrew Gilligan. Without him the British public might not have become aware of the lies inside a ‘dodgy dossier’ and the changes made by the controlling hand of Alastair Campbell.
Even Andrew was “very, very surprised.” “He didn’t strike me as the suicidal type.”
At the time we remember the Government’s response was to ruthlessly to publish David Kelly’s name, in the hope that it would knock the story down. It did not, it empowered David to furiously work on his book on germ warfare.
He had warned Blair according to Robin Cook that Iraq possessed no WMD weeks BEFORE the illegal (Kofi Annan) strike on Iraq.
The pressure is building inexorably behind this story. There can be no doubt now that there has to be a full Judicial enquiry with evidence taken under oath, no offers of immunity and the possibility of prosecution for Blair, Straw, Hoon and Campbell for lying to Parliament and conspiring to pervert the course of justice.
This cancer at the heart of Government remains and must be excised once and for all. Lord Hutton must NOT be given a free pass on any of this either.
IRAN
Apparently Russia and China signed the latest sanctions against Iran with the intention of excluding Western companies from competing for the lucrative business opportunities in Iran. The UK arrogance in rubbing it in their faces with additional sanctions ,outside of the UN agreements, might have angered them. Add Turkey to the mix, and Iran still has two sources, including Russian to supply gasoline to the Iranians. The Russians and the Chinese, and now the Turks don’t take orders very well. When Israel gives us orders we comply. Wonder how many S300 missile systems Iran has? Hard to spot them in their underground bunkers. Better still how many Israeli pilots are they willing to lose to find out? I guess none when the Americans are sent out to do the dirty work. Will Hilary remind us, like Condi that mushroom clouds threaten us if we don’t start another war. Has anyone ever lost betting on the stupidity of the American citizens.
They will be able to find work soon, although they might have to wear a uniform.
Adapted from GSierra1 – with thanks for your insight.
Mark, re. the death of David Kelly, I think that what one might expect to see over the next few weeks is the variegated character assassination of his first cousin, Wendy Wearmouth and possibly also of Prof. Pritchard along similar lines to the character assassination of assassinated electrician, De Menezes.
I entirely agree that the matter of David Kelly’s death needs to be pursued.
However, I think it unlikely that the UK state would ever admit to systemic complicity in individual assassinations especially on its own soil (within seventy-to-a hundred years of the date of the occurrences) as this would completely and publicly destroy the legitimacy of the state in general, of the crucially necessary social contract (?delusion) which is underpinned by the unspoken assumption that whatever its failings and errors the liberal capitalist democratic state acts with benevolence towards its citizens, and of elected government in particular.
This is no reason not to pursue the matter to its end – and to the ‘ends of the earth’. Indeed, it may be very good reason to do just that.
Dedicated to Robin Cook RIP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnV_pNe_BB0
“the liberal capitalist democratic state acts with benevolence towards its citizens”
Sometimes it has tried to, I think. Abolishing the death penalty, no?
Otherwise absolutely disgusting piece by Toby Young in this week’s Spectator, thrashing a book about inequality called ‘The Spirit Level’ (haven’t read it) with patent illogic and concluding, among other things: “Suppose we accept, for the sake of argument, that inequality does cause various forms of ill health. That doesn’t mean we ought (in italics) to equalise incomes…For most conservatives a certain level of dysfunction is an acceptable price to pay for our social and economic freedoms’.
Says it all, really. Sometimes I do wish that these people would lose all their money and contacts and have to work as cleaners. Could hardly bear to type the last bit.
“absolutely disgusting” – I mean, of course, that I was disgusted by it.
Odd word. I wonder if the antonym is ‘gusted’.
Yes, the social contract, which obviously includes many good things (I’m not arguing that it does not) and which also includes at its heart the assignment of the right to kill exclusively to the state (otherwise murder would be a normal part of everyday life), is a necessary prerequisite for the functioning of the representative democratic state.
But if it became clear, and was admitted by the state, that agencies of the state operate executive, extra-judicial capital punishment (outwith the scenarios of war and emergency policing actions), the numinous yet very real relationship of trust on which the social contract depends would break down. At a very profound level, the state would lose its legitimacy – and for the UK state, that would be a very serious situation indeed and would be one which absolutely would not be allowed to happen.
Therefore, we will never – not in our lifetimes, anyway – see a headline in The Guardian which runs thus: ‘Stop Press: UK state admits it murdered David Kelly’.
After a certain time, it is entirely possible that such information, if indeed it is the case, and this is something which has not been proven, of course, becomes of historical value only, it might seep out. If it became clear, for instance (for the sake of hypothetical argument), that Lord Palmerston ordered the assassination of some or other trade union leader, it would be of immense historical interest and would and would be likely to provide copy for an entire Saturday supplement of The Guardian complete with much liberal posturing and a gallery of grainy photographs of grim Victorian gentlemen, but it would pass with minimal fuss and would not be seen as being of any contemporary political relevance and therefore would present no threat to the aforementioned social contract.
And so, Dominic Grieve can state, “We would like to resolve this in a way that can give the public reassurance. People who have expressed concerns about why Lord Hutton did not tie up every loose end may have a valid point.”
I thought the point of having an inquest was that people want to know the truth; it has nothing to do with people wanting “reassurance”. Reassurance of what? That agencies of the state are not complicit in extra-judicial executions? For that, read, ‘we just want to give people a more effective whitewash so they’ll stop asking awkward questions’.
There is considerable evidence that over a period of years, the UK state did engage in extra-judicial executions in the context of Northern Ireland and other (to quote Professor David Miller, Editor of Spinwatch) “unresolved colonial situations”.
Suhayl
http://bit.ly/byRzko
Thanks, dreolin (at 9:28am), it’s a good discussion to be had.
I assume you refer to my comments on the ‘9/11’ post some days ago.
You see, I don’t feel any need whatsoever to apologise for what someone else does, or constantly to iterate that such-and-such is a ‘religion of peace’, etc., etc. ad nauseam. I’m not interested in that sort of sterile discourse.
Far from being ‘aplogist’ in either sense of the word, my view is that fundamentalist tendencies need actively to be striven against within the communities to which they pertain, whether those communities be, say, some Jewish ones in Israel, some Protestant ones in the West of Scotland or some Muslim ones in Pakistan. It is not easy, because in the last case the Islamists globally have billions of petro-dollars, a set of potent and ongoing causes (‘hot wars’), increasing numbers of adherents and (regionally-speaking) considerable military power.
For example, recently I was in a mainstream mosque in the UK. I will not say which one because firstly I do not want the mosque to become a target, secondly because I do not want The Daily Mail to ask me to ‘lead them to the extremist bookshops’ (they did indeed request this once, believe me!) and thirdly because I have no desire to be threatened with legal action.
Now, in the mosque library was a notice on the wall, not in English and not in Latin script, which purported to explain why “Qadianis [also known in some places as ‘Ahmedis’] are not Muslim”.
Now, this may seem like a boring internal theological dispute of little consequence to those outside the room where ‘angels dance on the heads of pins’. However, in the context of the rise of Islamic fundamentalism during the mid-1970s in Pakistan and all that has happened thereafter, it is of very major significance. Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, acceding to demands from the rising Religious Right (think Sarah Palin), in the mid-1970s declared that the members of this group were officially no longer ‘Muslim’.
A couple of months ago, 70 people were murdered when a bomb exploded in a Qadiani mosque; this is only the latest in a long-running series of such atrocities, the pace of which has accelerated in recent years. There was a demonstration in Pakistan protesting about the lack of outrage in the country following this particularly horrendous attack. It is important to note that Shias and Christians also suffer attacks. I am aware of the power of divide-and-rule tactics, but my argument applies regardless of who commits these acts.
So, in this context, a statement in a mosque library that the members of this persecuted and completely non-threatening group of people ?” who regard themselves as devoutly Muslim – are “not Muslim” suggests at the very least gross insensitivity, bigotry and a lack of human compassion and at worst (it is arguable) might be construed as incitement to religious hatred. Furthermore, who the hell are they to say who is, and who is not, Muslim? I thought that was for God to decide.
The mainstream mosque in question in essence is controlled by those who are sympathetic to the aims of the Jamaat-i-Islami, a political party and movement in Pakistan but with widespread support among the diaspora in the UK which follows the teachings of the late Maulana Maududi, who was and remains a major figure in Sunni Islamism.
Now, it is entirely legitimate to criticise Western intelligence agencies, the military security complex et al for magnifying the threat of Islamism in the UK/ USA, etc. ?” and historically for fomenting, funding, arming and now also contributing to stoking it ?” and I do make these criticisms all the time, as is obvious on these boards.
But it does not preclude ?” indeed, it ought not to preclude and it is logical not to preclude ?” calls for Muslims to tackle the internal bigotry and ignorant supremacism which seem to have gripped many societies and whose proponents, while by no means always advocating violence (one must acknowledge that most of these folk would not support violence and have stated that they do not) do foster a rubric in which the closing-down of a discourse of tolerance (tolerance, that is, not in the somewhat debased colloquial sense but in the sense meant by Bosnian philosopher, Rusmir Mahmutcehajic) becomes implicit and indeed is exactly what happens on the ground. Inch-by-inch, a Saudi-influenced and financed totalitarian, supremacist mindset gains ground, through de facto censorship, and the alteration, of available religious literature, through peer pressure, through intense organisational activity and eventually also through the manipulated structures of patriarchy.
So I agree that it is tiresome, pointless, irritating and hypocritical for states embarked on war as a geostrategic policy instrument continually to make such calls and to demand loyalty and a re-affirmation against violence as a political tool from a specific (whose patriarchies arguably are alternately demonised and condescendingly feted) segment of society. Each bomblet generates another so-called ‘Talib’.
However, this does not mean that there are not very serious problems internally in Muslim societies which people of Muslim acculturation and/ or belief ignore at their (our) peril and which we all really urgently need to tackle, not least of which is the ongoing destruction of history ?” both physically, as exemplified by the ideological demolition of old buildings dating back to the time of the Prophet in Saudi Arabia, and politically/philosophically, everywhere.
Many people from Muslim communities are extremely angry about these systemic attempts to close-down of thought in their societies ?” a process which has been engineered by sheer power ?” but lack the organisational strength to do anything except moan. The problem, too, is that in the absence of a mass organised Left in the UK or indeed in Pakistan, their struggle risks being co-opted and/or manipulated by Western intelligence. Right now, it’s a lose-lose situation. That’s not to say we must not strive.
We really need a revitalised Left (in the UK too!) and maybe also in Muslim countries a form of ‘liberation theology’ (which was sidelined in ‘Latin’ America partly by an invasion of US-promoted Right-wing Evangelicals loaded with cash) – there have been attempts at this, but it needs to arise from the grassroots, from the urban working classes and lower middle classes of Pakistan – and they have been either wholly captured by toxic ideologies or else have been browbeaten into acquiescence by those same forces – by an alliance of feudal landowners, industrial capitalists and the Islamists – a triangulation (to re-use a much-prostituted term) of power and wealth whose ‘agents’ (adherents, facilitators and beneficiaries) now sit right through the corrupted and chauvinistic military-political power structures of Pakistan.
http://nadeemfparacha.wordpress.com/
“Thanks, dreolin (at 9:28am), it’s a good discussion to be had.”
Obviously it is, and I’m not qualified to get into the details of what you’ve written above, unfortunately. It just makes my blood boil to see attempts to push people into denouncements, but I’m not suggesting that you’ve ever apologised. Not at all. And I do realise that while I made comparisons with the Irish in Britain, there are many, and quite complicated, differences.
I posted the link as a semi-lighthearted thing which nevertheless follows up on what I said on the 9/11 thread.
Some stuff on Twitter today:
“Outrage over plans to build library next to Sarah Palin”
“The US has been building ground zeros near Mosques around the world for decades.”
“Wherever a bunch of Americans got slaughtered, that’s hallowed ground. Other nationalities, not so much.”
Glad to see that there are a lot of angry Americans on Twitter who are appalled at what’s been going on in the US — and very vocal about it.