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December 31, 2004

Eclectic link dump #2

How to fix your Mom's computer. You know how it is; all us drivers are mechanics, right?

Every end-of-year list you are likely to need and some good news from FOXNews. I'm sure it's all true.

Technorati - New Year's Resolutions 2005: Read blogger resolutions and add your own.

Photos and Videos from the aftermath of the Asia Tsunami

Eyewitness accounts via Guardian Unlimited

Briton in Sri Lanka: I surfed the tsunami

Comparing the death count from the Tsunami to the deaths at the World Trade Center

Westboro Baptist Church: "Thank God for Tsunami & 2,000 dead Swedes"

Won't somebody please think of the (white) children?

Gadflyer - WSJ, Washington Times capitalize on tsunami tragedy: Note how 'stingy' is in quotes in the first graph and 'the United States and other Western nations' is not. That's because Egeland referred to 'wealthy states' and 'donor states,' but at no time did he single out the United States. In fact, when a reporter asked Egeland to name the countries he believed to be "stingy," he pointedly declined to do so (you can stream the 48-minute press conference with RealPlayer and see for yourself).

Note also how the dreadfully wounded and maligned Bush administration is forming its own aid coalition, as the U.N. obviously can't be trusted to run the show.

New York Times - Are We Stingy? Yes: The American aid figure for the current disaster is now $35 million, and we applaud Mr. Bush's turnaround. But $35 million remains a miserly drop in the bucket, and is in keeping with the pitiful amount of the United States budget that we allocate for nonmilitary foreign aid. According to a poll, most Americans believe the United States spends 24 percent of its budget on aid to poor countries; it actually spends well under a quarter of 1 percent.

Independent - Blair refuses call to convene G8 summit: Mr Blair's support for the UN is in marked contrast to President George Bush's announcement yesterday that a core group of donor countries - the US, India, Australia and Japan - would co-ordinate the effort. The US belatedly added the UN to that group last night.

Oh my God! Do I actually spy a pair of testicles? (Aaaand moving Right along...)

Guardian - A state of chaos: George Bush has purged the last of his father's senior advisers, handing over control to his neocon allies.

Greg Mitchell - Some Readers Want to Lock Up Al Neuharth: Apparently, it is now an act of treason to offer an editorial opinion on the Iraq war that goes against the conventional wisdom.

Curse the liberals and their callous attacks on magnetic ribbons!

OK, I'm done. Avery Ant and his One Minute Rant should carry you over into the New Year. If not, the following should keep you out of trouble...

Stuff:
De-metricate some road signs
Help to sabotage some IKEA posters
View some photographs from the Arkansas State Prison (circa 1915-1937)
Psst! Wanna buy a watch?

Music and Video:
Dancing Transformers!
Narcolepsy explained in song
Get jiggy and downright weird with Darth Vader
I Am a Liberal (read more about this last movie here)

Posted by Manic at 9:56 AM | Comments (1)

Carriers & Barriers - Condoms, AIDS and the HIV Virus

Thanks to this reworked tract by Jack Chick and this pamphlet from 'Truth' For Youth Teh Kids now 'know' that the AIDS virus is so small that it can pass through teeny-tiny holes in latex condoms.

Summary:

- The assertion that AIDS/HIV can pass through latex condoms is a false one; a lie based on cherry-picked/misinterpreted science, pseudo-science and - in some cases - studies that simply don't exist.

- A life-or-death medical problem is clearly being used to push a moral agenda.

- Studies focusing on science are being suppressed; education based on religious belief is being pushed.

- Granted, abstinence is the only 100% effective way to avoid STDs, but this 100% figure is based on the assumption that abstinence itself is totally reliable. Catholic priests have trouble with abstinence; teenagers are far more prone to a breakdown of willpower.

- Abstinence-only education results in teenagers not being educated in the correct use of condoms, so when a willpower-failure occurs, condoms are used improperly or not at all.

- There is no proof whatsoever that condoms allow passage of HIV/AIDS. Granted, there is the possibly of imperfections, but the risk of not using condoms or using them improperly is far, far greater (see above).

Further Reading:

Pros & Cons - Voices on the Church's Condoms Policy
Bush on Condoms and AIDS
The Silver Ring Thing - The Lies of Denny Pattyn

Guardian - Vatican: condoms don't stop Aids: The Catholic Church is telling people in countries stricken by Aids not to use condoms because they have tiny holes in them through which HIV can pass - potentially exposing thousands of people to risk... In Lwak, near Lake Victoria, the director of an Aids testing centre says he cannot distribute condoms because of church opposition. Gordon Wambi told the programme: "Some priests have even been saying that condoms are laced with HIV/Aids."

BBC - Sex and the Holy City: Panorama has travelled across four continents to talk to those directly affected by the Pope's conservative teachings on sex. The team has discovered that the Catholic Church - contrary to mainstream scientific opinion - is claiming that condoms have microscopic holes in them which allow the HIV virus through. The World Health Organisation has condemned this view as dangerous.

LA Weekly - Bush's War on the Condom: But in May (2002), at the U.N.'s Special Session on Children, Bush formed an unholy alliance with Iraq and Iran - you remember, two-thirds of the "axis of evil" - to successfully eliminate from the official declaration any references to the right of the world’s children to "reproductive health services and education," including condoms for HIV prevention... Bush (also) threatened countries with trade and aid reprisals if they didn't toe the no-condoms, abstinence-only, anti-abortion line in the vote to weaken the U.N.'s commitment to providing life-saving information to those young women... And, here at home, Bush - under the direction of political commissar Karl Rove - has been systematically placing HIV-prevention efforts into the hands of the Christian right - which is pushing the censorious line that abstinence before heterosexual marriage is the only permissible form of HIV-prevention education - and putting condom opponents i

Posted by Manic at 9:39 AM | Comments (4)

December 30, 2004

Climate Change, Tsunamis, and The Rapture

Oh, you are so going to love this...

From Joel Makower: A neocon climatologist... has condemned "environmental experts busily creating links between the recent tsunami and global warming" (thought no such claims are being made). Others are busy blaming a lack of an early-warning system (see also) on a funding drain caused by - you guessed it - those same global warming fantasists.

Louis Hissink: This is due to presumably a lack of funding to earthquake science etc, since most science funds are being directed to "Global Warming". So in an extremely peverse way, one could blame the death toll on the Global Warming lobby and the IPCC... In Short, the tragic loss of life from this latest natural catastrophe, would have been far less if funding for the geosciences, in preference to climate, had been greater. Putting it bluntly, the Greens and their fellow travellers must accept responsilibility (sic) for the loss of life on December 27, 2004 from the tsunamis of that day.

Louis also suggests that "a meteor impact off Sumatra" may have been the driving force behind the tsunami. Presumably because this ties in cosily with your average Rapture theory concerning big-ass rocks falling from the sky (more here, here, here and here).

Not that big-ass rocks falling from the sky don't fit into my own world-view. I blogged a small concern about them just yesterday. But I can tell you 100%-of-fact-and-for-true that a meteor did not cause this tsunami. Not because I'm so arrogant that I think I can predict God's every move, but because I know the difference between a meteor and a meteorite.

I won't insult these people quite so much as to insist that creationism is a fantasy... but I would like to point out that they're creating fantasists out of thin air. But why is so much effort going into the painting of environmentalists as fantasy-driven nutbags? Well...

Bill Moyers: Remember James Watt, President Reagan's first Secretary of the Interior? My favorite online environmental journal, the ever engaging Grist, reminded us recently of how James Watt told the U.S. Congress that protecting natural resources was unimportant in light of the imminent return of Jesus Christ. In public testimony he said, 'after the last tree is felled, Christ will come back.' Beltway elites snickered. The press corps didn't know what he was talking about. But James Watt was serious. So were his compatriots out across the country. They are the people who believe the Bible is literally true - one-third of the American electorate, if a recent Gallup poll is accurate. In this past election several million good and decent citizens went to the polls believing in the rapture index. That's right - the rapture index.

Grist Magazine - Christian-right views are swaying politicians and threatening the environment: Today's Christian fundamentalist politicians are more politically savvy than Reagan's interior secretary was; you're unlikely to catch them overtly attributing public-policy decisions to private religious views. But their words and actions suggest that many share Watt's beliefs. Like him, many Christian fundamentalists feel that concern for the future of our planet is irrelevant, because it has no future. They believe we are living in the End Time, when the son of God will return, the righteous will enter heaven, and sinners will be condemned to eternal hellfire. They may also believe, along with millions of other Christian fundamentalists, that environmental destruction is not only to be disregarded but actually welcomed - even hastened - as a sign of the coming Apocalypse.

Remember; it's the scientists who are fantasists. Quite possibly evil ones, at that. (PS - This recent tragedy is all part of God's plan as predicted in Revelations. You can track this and other new items that relate to Bible prophecy here.)

Bush cannot survive on fundamentalist support alone. Indeed, he would be royally screwed if people took the time to absorb just how much of a fundamentalist he is and what the possible consequences might be...

Guardian/Observer - Now the Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us: Climate change over the next 20 years could result in a global catastrophe costing millions of lives in wars and natural disasters. A secret report, suppressed by US defence chiefs and obtained by The Observer, warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a 'Siberian' climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world... The findings will prove humiliating to the Bush administration, which has repeatedly denied that climate change even exists. Experts said that they will also make unsettling reading for a President who has insisted national defence is a priority.

Please do note that Bush's version of national defence involves the illegal invasion of a country with no links to terrorism (until the US went charging in thereby creating a terrorist's playground). And a road-map to peace in the Middle East, of course...

Village Voice - Bush White House checked with rapture Christians before latest Israel move: While the language of apocalyptic Christianity is absent from George W. Bush's speeches, he has proven eager to work with apocalyptics - a point of pride for Upton. "We're in constant contact with the White House," he boasts. "I'm briefed at least once a week via telephone briefings... I was there about two weeks ago... At that time we met with the president."

Guardian - Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power: What makes the story so appealing to Christian fundamentalists is that before the big battle begins, all "true believers" (ie those who believe what they believe) will be lifted out of their clothes and wafted up to heaven during an event called the Rapture. Not only do the worthy get to sit at the right hand of God, but they will be able to watch, from the best seats, their political and religious opponents being devoured by boils, sores, locusts and frogs, during the seven years of Tribulation which follow. The true believers are now seeking to bring all this about. This means staging confrontations at the old temple site (in 2000, three US Christians were deported for trying to blow up the mosques there), sponsoring Jewish settlements in the occupied territories, demanding ever more US support for Israel, and seeking to provoke a final battle with the Muslim world/Axis of Evil/United Nations/ European Union/France or whoever the legions of the antichrist turn out to be.

Of course, these articles come from evil leftists (see: 'fantasists') who support the terrorists, so the information is not to be trusted.

Posted by Manic at 8:58 AM | Comments (2)

December 29, 2004

Murdoch: Fox-watching and Xmas Xtras

Come the New Year, I'll have to get around to building the early stages of The Anti-Murdoch Network. The Sun-watching blog may be held up by the general election, but I appears we already have some worthy Fox-watchers in place...

News Hounds - We watch FOX so you don't have to!

More on the War on Christmas...

Bob Ben from Insert Joke Here has a close-to-final round-up of War on Christmas links which leads us to A Suggestion for the Season and Bob Piper notes here that Ann Coulter has the following message on her webshite: To The People Of Islam: Just think: If we'd invaded your countries, killed your leaders and converted you to Christianity YOU'D ALL BE OPENING CHRISTMAS PRESENTS RIGHT ABOUT NOW!

BNP Chairman Nick Griffin takes the ball and runs with it on his Christmas video, blaming "Neo-Marxist political correctness and Islamic fundamentalism" and stating that the (obviously very real) attack on Christmas has been getting worse year-on-year, and that this year has been "particularly bad" - so much so that "we are becoming dhimmi in our own land."

He goes on to state that Council Tax and mortgage schemes unfairly benefit Muslims and warns you that his people "see what's going on at the low level, in the streets and in the martial arts class.... and there is a significant section of the young Muslim population preparing for war against the people of this country" (and unless it's nipped in the bud, it could lead to civil war).

Posted by Manic at 9:44 AM | Comments (4)

Rumsfeld's Flight 93 slip

World Net Daily - Rumsfeld says 9-11 plane 'shot down' in Pennsylvania, contradicts official story: Ever since Sept. 11, 2001, there have been questions about Flight 93, the ill-fated plane that crashed in the rural fields of Pennsylvania. The official story has been that passengers on the United Airlines flight rushed the hijackers in an effort to prevent them from crashing the plane into a strategic target - possibly the U.S. Capitol. During his surprise Christmas Eve trip to Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld referred to the flight being shot down - long a suspicion because of the danger the flight posed to Washington landmarks and population centers.

The full transcript is here, just in in case you want to check that your tinfoil helmet is functioning properly.

Latest:
Moonie Times - Rumsfeld sparks conspiracy theories
CNN - Pentagon: Rumsfeld misspoke on Flight 93 crash
More

Related:
MSNBC - The Final Moments of United Flight 93
How Did United Flight 93 Crash?
More

Posted by Manic at 9:37 AM | Comments (1)

The Asian Tsunami

When something global happens, turn to Blogdex. Today it's full of useful quake/tsunami references, the bulk of which are presented here alongside a few extras I found along the way:

Someone has already set up a blog at tsunamihelp.blogspot.com with "news and information about resources, aid, donations and volunteer efforts."

The folks behind this have also dumped and sorted a Wikipedia database to enhance the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake entry.

Command Post has collated a list of donation links. Speaking of which:

Asia tsunamis: Red Cross Red Crescent to launch 50-million Swiss franc appeal in largest emergency response in modern time (more at redcross.org).

Preliminary Earthquake Report from the U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center

Animation of the spread of the Indonesian tsunami

Hi-res satellite images of Kalutara, Sri Lanka before and after the tsunami hit

CNN - Donations to tsunami relief 'generous,' U.N. says: The United Nations' emergency relief coordinator said Tuesday that the international response to the tsunami catastrophe in southern Asia has been "very generous" despite earlier comments in which he called some nations "stingy."

Sounds to me like a perfect oppurtunity to attack the U.N. - but please note: The U.S. State Department said an additional $20 million in aid will be added to the $15 million the United States has already pledged for nations hit by the tsunamis.

So that's $35 million in total. Bush's inauguration will cost $30-40 million. Not including security. Stingy? Naaaah....

WorldChanging - What if there were a tsunami and nobody knew?: There's two possible explanations for this story. One is that Myanmar, with 1930 kilometers of coastline, numerous fishing villages and huts on stilts along the coast, and a common border with Thailand - where over 1500 are reported dead - miraculously escaped the effect of the tsunami. The other explanation is that Myanmar's famously secretive military government hasn't wanted to reveal the extent of the tsunami damage to the outside world... and especially to their own citizens.

Also...

Washington Post - Tsunamis' Toll Might Have Been Lessened - Experts Cite Lack of Warning System: The real tragedy, many experts acknowledged yesterday, is that thousands of lives in countries such as Sri Lanka, India and Thailand could have been saved if an early warning system similar to one that exists for the Pacific Ocean had been in place. U.S. officials said that they wanted to warn the countries but that there was no mechanism to do so.

Telegraph India - Experts jolted out of slumber: India could have had two hours’ advance warning that a wall of seawater was heading for its eastern coastline if the Indian Ocean region had a network of stations to predict the behaviour of tsunamis. But no such network exists because scientists believed there was no reason to create it.

*cough*

Asteroid scare exposes flaws in early warning system

First Strike or Asteroid Impact? The Urgent Need to Know the Difference (more here)

Latest News:
BBC Reporters' log: Asia disaster
All related news stories from The Independent
Dead still being uncovered as tsunami toll climbs toward 60,000

Some Blogagge...
Eugenics in a disaster zone
George W Bush to announce War On Nature

Isn't that already underway?

UPDATE - Photoshop: Bush claims tsunami justifies War on Nature

UPDATE - Read this sign. Please note that it doesn't say anything about para-sailing.

UPDATE - Thai newspaper documents government attempt to kill tsunami warning

UPDATE - See also... Climate Change, Tsunamis, and The Rapture

Posted by Manic at 9:23 AM | Comments (0)

December 24, 2004

Last-minute stocking-stuffer

An inspiring true story for those of you who are stuck in the office this afternoon.

Chin up. Things could be worse.

Posted by Manic at 1:51 PM | Comments (0)

A Merry Christmas from Bloggerheads

I thought long and hard about what I was going to post for Christmas (well, 20 minutes at least).

It just didn't seem right to switch my brain off, point to a few happy/ironic links and be done with it. A message of hope also seemed misplaced.

Bush won. And the (by now very confident) right controls the majority of the bandwidth.

Frankly, it's all going a bit tits-up, but us leftist/elitist/secularist/socialist peaceniks - the very model of political correctness gone mad - have been significantly marginalised with the help of media owners such as the lovely Mr Murdoch. (We're all a bit barmy, in case you hadn't noticed. We seem to think that greed, fundamentalism and extremism are the main dangers facing us today. Our problem is that we don't appreciate the complicated nature of world politics. Happily, this can be solved if we approach matters in the simplest terms of Good Vs. Evil.)

So where's the hope when we're so visibly getting our butts kicked?

For hope, we must turn to the terrorists. Their greatest weapon is fear. This fear is further enhanced by governments that wish to exploit the threat for their own ends. These ends they seek and the means they use to reach them increase the threat of terrorism. That's how, with a few planes and bombs, the few have crippled the many.

For hope, we must turn to the Bush administration. They developed and maintained a massive swing to the right by using fears of an equally massive swing to the left.

For hope, we must turn to Tony Blair. He stays in power and is able to enact right-wing policies because he exploits the fear of a return(!) to right-wing government.

Can you see the hope yet? It is in there, you just have to look for it.

These. Machines. Are. Run. On. Fear.

And there's your hope, right there.

You still can't see it, can you? But that's because you're failing to hang onto it. That's because you're failing to use it.

Hope lies in numbers. Using hope can build numbers. And you're looking at the machine you should be using to build those numbers right now.

Obviously we're all heathen scum - so most of us won't have been to church for a while - but you may be familiar with a small fellowship exercise used at many a Christian gathering. Basically, you look to the people around you, find a stranger or two, and shake their hand. Or hug them. It depends on how full of the Holy Spirit you are. (This exercise works especially well at Christmas-time, as there as so many strangers attending church.)

Today, I looked up a few new blogs and I've offering them a hug/handshake via hyperlink. I urge you to do the same.

Meet timx. In this post he explains why he blogs. I was pleasantly surprised to find in this post a link to another blogger who already happened to be on my huggy-kissy list...

Meet Disillusioned Kid. He's a man of strong opinion who peppers his thoughts with links to relevant posts/articles. A technique you may well be familiar with.

Meet Exoplanet. His beliefs appear to be similar to mine, but on his blog he cuts back on opinion and primarily documents news items of interest.

Meet Samir, Eileen, Katie and Leanna. Their blog is kind of like a mid-point between Disillusioned Kid and Exoplanet. There are many news items of interest, but each post is enhanced with an opinion.

Meet Amber. She's currently serving in Iraq. Her moral is low, but she does find time for levity of sorts.

Meet Bizkitz. He works for the disadvantaged and has just returned from serving in Iraq. Recently he has pondered on the unique relationship between Bush and Blair and expressed concern over "aggressive projection of American interests".

So there you have it. I'm all hugged-out.

I wish you all the very best in the coming days, I hope you enjoy your toys and - as always - I would ask that you not consume more than is good for you.

Merry Christmas.

Posted by Manic at 8:19 AM | Comments (3)

December 23, 2004

SWPP crosses the language barrier again

See some nice Turkish people appreciating the Star Wars Photoshopping Project.

Moments like this make me feel this good.

PS - Happy Festivus. We shall now pause for The Airing of Grievances...

Posted by Manic at 6:12 PM | Comments (0)

Torture: 'Bad Apple' defence falls to bits

Washington Post - War Crimes: Thanks to a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union and other human rights groups, thousands of pages of government documents released this month have confirmed some of the painful truths about the abuse of foreign detainees by the U.S. military and the CIA - truths the Bush administration implacably has refused to acknowledge. Since the publication of photographs of abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison in the spring the administration's whitewashers - led by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld - have contended that the crimes were carried out by a few low-ranking reservists, that they were limited to the night shift during a few chaotic months at Abu Ghraib in 2003, that they were unrelated to the interrogation of prisoners and that no torture occurred at the Guantanamo Bay prison where hundreds of terrorism suspects are held. The new documents establish beyond any doubt that every part of this cover story is false.

At this point I would like ot remind you that even Nixon managed a second term, but....

Posted by Manic at 11:54 AM | Comments (0)

White Stuff - last call

You have hours - mere hours - in which to cut, shape and document a tree for White Stuff:
White Stuff White Christmas Competition

Seems to me that it's a perfect use for all those scraps of unused Christmas wrap (or shredded government documents).

(Unless, of course, you've yet to wrap your pressies... or even shop for them. In which case my heart goes out to you and you are officially excused from entering.)

Posted by Manic at 10:52 AM | Comments (0)

Satan Claus strikes again!

The Ultimate Insult brings us another big fan of Santa, who writes: You ever noticed how easy it is to transform "Satan" from "Santa"? Just move the "n" to the end. And presto! "Satan" appears... Hmmm... An internet Google search on "Satan Claus" [not Santa Claus - but SATAN Claus] found over 1,700 hits! Obviously, there are many that tie the two together. The rearranging of letters (called anagrams) to hide secret names or words has long been practiced in the occult.

Posted by Manic at 9:39 AM | Comments (0)

Tony Blair: Choking the memory hole

Guardian - Beith condemns Whitehall email destruction plan: The Cabinet Office has instructed staff to delete all unimportant emails after three months, insisting the move is just "good computer maintenance" and the timing a coincidence.

Independent - Shredded: Hundreds of thousands of government documents: Hundreds of thousands of secret Whitehall files are being shredded before the public gains the right to see them under the Freedom of Information Act on 1 January.

Guardian - FOI reports and resources is likely to be extremely useful if you're thinking about making a request for any scraps that will be left come January.

Posted by Manic at 9:27 AM | Comments (1)

Rupert Murdoch and the 'War on Christmas' Campaign

As with their backing of the illegal invasion of Iraq Rupert Murdoch's media outlets appeared to magically act as one this year with a corporation-wide assertion that The Left were attacking Christmas.

The general thinking is familiar. Murdoch wishes to assure the frightened masses that the only alternative to the current (massive) swing to the right is an equally massive swing to the left - where Christians will be persecuted or assimilated and everybody will take turns to hug Osama bin Laden. Because that's been our evil plan all along. We pretend to care about your liberties so we can destroy them. And we pose as lovers of peace because we're in league with the terrorists. That fact that we hate Jesus/Santa should be proof enough of that. (Oh, and it's those filthy liberals who have a dark agenda and overwhelming control of the media. Never forget that.)

You can be sure that somewhere inside the News Corp machine a memo was circulated in late November prompting what many outlets presented as a spontaneous campaign. (Because, damn it, those all-powerful liberals had gone too far this time!)

I for one would like to see that memo, but for now I'll settle for the creation of a single overview of the campaign.

Below are a few links I've gathered to show that Bill 'Hardcore' O'Reilly was well on the case. Below those are the entries I made when tracking the Save Our Christmas campaign run by The Sun newspaper in the UK.

Essentially, this post is designed to act as a starting point for those researching information on Rupert Murdoch's and the 'War on Christmas' Campaign and as a contact-node for others who were concerned enough to collect data on individual aspects of it.

If you know of any suitable links, comments or similar/better overviews, simply get in touch and email them to me or make a comment below.

Cheers all. And Merry Christmas.

Bill O'Reilly:
FOXNews - Christmas Under Siege: The Big Picture
New York Daily News - Christmas haters have an agenda
Salon.com - The Grinch who saved Christmas
FOXNews - Somewhere Jesus Is Weeping...
Search Media Matters for 'War on Christmas' for more.

The Sun:
Dec 9 - The Sun: All your Christmas are belong to us
Dec 10 - The Sun backs Santa Claus backing The Sun
Dec 13 - The Sun: taking Christmas on tour
Dec 14 - The Sun: staying on-message
Dec 15 - The Sun: 'Tis the season to be sarky
Dec 17 - The War on Christmas is global

Posted by Manic at 9:24 AM | Comments (0)

Banned Aid - a healthy response to Band Aid 20

Banned Aid (moderately NSFW) should bring a little joy to your heart.

I chipped in mainly because I thought "credibility-obsessed Sun journalist Dominic Mohan" should make an appearance.

Posted by Manic at 9:18 AM | Comments (0)

Shameless plug for Paul

Own It - free intellectual property advice for London's creative people.

Posted by Manic at 9:13 AM | Comments (0)

December 22, 2004

ID cards: Don't worry, I'm sure it will all turn out fine

All we have to do is sit back and let our elected representatives do the right thing. Right...?

Europhobia - More on ID: Following yesterday's post, there have been a few more responses to the government's attempts to peer into every aspect of our lives. This will, after all, be dragging on for ages...

Posted by Manic at 5:26 PM | Comments (0)

Eclectic link dump #1

Santa! I want!

Santa? (gulp)

Here's a top-notch Matrix animation, a lovely message from Dave, a page by someone who's Proud to be an American, some classic tobacco ads and a bunch of cool portraits (click on any location to hit the mother lode).

All done? Good. Then let's go outside and write our names in the snow.

Posted by Manic at 5:07 PM | Comments (0)

News Corp declares War on Christmas

Mr Pot? There's a call for you on Line 2 from a Mr Kettle...

Bloody great isn't it? Murdoch's outlets undertake a global attack on the left, who they charge with taking the Christ out of Christmas, but the cards coming out of Wapping say Seasons Greetings instead of Merry Christmas and - instead of having a Christmas Party - News Corp holds a Caribbean Holiday Celebration.

Posted by Manic at 4:57 PM | Comments (0)

Behzti

Ben comments on the play at a Birmingham theatre had to be cancelled following violent protests from Sikhs. This will lead you to this excellent post at Harry's Place and news that the play's writer has gone into hiding following death threats.

Posted by Manic at 10:37 AM | Comments (2)

Budd Inquiry: No favours, just lacking a conclusion

BBC - Calls for fresh Blunkett inquiry: The Tories and the Lib Dems are calling for a second inquiry into the fast-tracking of a visa application for David Blunkett's ex-lover's nanny. Sir Alan Budd found a "chain of events" linked Mr Blunkett to Leoncia Casalme's indefinite leave to remain application, but he could not say exactly how. Tory leader Michael Howard said "many questions" were left unanswered.

Mixed interpretations of Budd inquiry

Guardian - Worm in the Budd: The Home Office is either a poorly run department or else a department run by people with poor memories. These seem the only conclusions to be drawn from Sir Alan Budd's primly titled "inquiry into an application for indefinite leave to remain" - aka the David Blunkett affair - which was published yesterday.

Posted by Manic at 10:32 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

50 squid White Stuff vouchers up for grabs

One day left. Get to it.

Posted by Manic at 10:31 AM | Comments (0)

Attack on Mosul

Please excuse me for restricting my comments to a single picture. I may add more links as the day goes on.

Bush insists: 'Life in Iraq is better than under Saddam'
Blair pays surprise Baghdad visit
Reporter's log: Blair in the Middle East
Rocket attack on U.S. base kills more than 20
Hell in the North
Military was building bunker to replace tent hit in deadly rocket attack
Mosul death toll rises to 26
56 Percent in Survey Say Iraq War Was a Mistake
Bush sees hope in Iraqi election
Bush vows to pursue Iraq mission

Ten more years?: And, against a backdrop of continuing carnage, The Independent has learned a cross-party group of MPs has returned from Iraq convinced British troops may have to be deployed there for at least another 10 years.

And so the fight of Good vs. Evil goes on...

Pentagon Interrogators 'Impersonated' FBI- E-Mails: Defense Department interrogators impersonated FBI agents at the Guantanamo Bay prison to avoid being held accountable when they used "torture techniques" on a prisoner held there in the U.S. war on terrorism, according to FBI e-mails made public on Monday. Another FBI e-mail made available in the same package said that President Bush had issued an executive order authorizing a series of harsh methods for interrogations. The White House said no such directive existed and Justice Department and FBI officials echoed the denial. The documents were made public by the American Civil Liberties Union which obtained them under the Freedom of Information Act.

FBI E-Mail Refers to Presidential Order Authorizing Inhumane Interrogation Techniques

FBI Agents Allege Abuse of Detainees at Guantanamo Bay

Washington Monthly comments here.

UPDATE - Oh, go on, then. One more picture for lunch.

UPDATE 2 - Back to Iraq 3.0 - Suicide bombing?!: I'm just stunned that insurgents were able to get inside and do this. This also makes the debate over whether the still-under-construction concrete dining facility was behind schedule moot. A concrete roof wouldn't have made a whit of difference. This was an attack from inside. How was this allowed to happen?

ADDED BONUS - A picture of Donald Rumsfeld actually signing his name and a Christmas message from the White House (nsfw).

Posted by Manic at 9:54 AM | Comments (0)

December 21, 2004

BoyOBoy - Give Me A Weapon Of Mass Affection

Bwhahahahahahahahaha! This is pure genius. (Link goes to official site. 12.7 Mb Quicktime video opens in pop-up window.)

UPDATE - Also worth seeing; the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory trailer.

Posted by Manic at 10:48 AM | Comments (0)

Another big believer

Meet Ray Dickenson. He too wishes to bring to your attention the secret elite behind the BBC.

Posted by Manic at 9:28 AM | Comments (1)

We are now officially in pre-election mode

Myself, I've been in pre-election mode for weeks now... but today it's official. The Telegraph is predicting a snap poll, but the most likely date still appears to be May 5.

Ooh, here's an interesting quote...

Independent - Blair to ditch election campaign battle bus: Mr Milburn said the campaign will be "anchored" in the economy, and will promote optimism over cynicism.

And that nice Mr Campbell will be on hand to help.

FYI, the project I'm working on will most likely go live in early January. I'm sure it will be of enormous help to Mr Milburn.

Posted by Manic at 9:22 AM | Comments (1)

ID Cards, Abu Hamza and welfare fraud

BBC - ID cards plans pass first hurdle: An attempt to derail the government's controversial plans for identity cards has failed in the House of Commons. In the first Commons vote on the scheme, MPs voted by 385 to 93 to give the bill a second reading.

Here we go on the slow but steady sleep-walk to a police state...

Guardian - Voluntary scheme is prelude to compulsion: The new home secretary, Charles Clarke, warned MPs yesterday that the government would bring in compulsory identity cards once a voluntary system had been accepted by the British public.

Independent - Party leaders humiliated by ID card revolt: The huge scale of abstentions by both the Tories and Labour will be acutely embarrassing to Tony Blair and Michael Howard, who both pitched their personal authority behind the ID cards plans.

That may very well be, but - myself - I mostly see a lot of good men doing nothing.

No matter. Tony will get his ID card system, and today The Sun is there to explain why it's so important that he does.

The Sun - Strong stance: It is good to see strong leadership from Michael Howard over ID cards. He ignored the protests of some Tory backbenchers - and the doubts of several shadow ministers - to give his party's backing. By doing so, he spoke for the majority of Tory voters, for a poll shows that 80 per cent of them believe we should have ID cards to combat terrorism, illegal immigration and welfare fraud. Howard says the threat from terrorism is so great that it would be irresponsible to dismiss any plans put forward by the police and security services. The weak willies on both sides of the Commons should take note. New Home Secretary Charles Clarke rightly pointed out that ID cards will help to make each of us feel safer at no real cost to civil liberties. His opponents who talk about human rights forget the most important one of all: The right to live in peace. The question all the doubters must answer is this: Have you got a better way of fighting terrorists?

Yes, well you've got me there. We must make sacrifices in order to show terrorists that they can't mess with our way of life.

And it's just the terrorists, but welfare fraudsters this system is designed to defeat - so it's no surprise to find Sun favourite Abu Hamza on the front page today, as The Sun reports he's milking the welfare system in order to fund terrorists. Or something.

For clarity, we turn to Page 3... where Zoe (23, from London) thinks Muslim cleric Abu Hamza should not get any more handouts. She says: "He has some nerve threatening legal action. Here's a man who is accused of very serious crimes. There would be a public uproar if he got any more cash.

1. Didn't you know? If you're accused of a serious crime these days, you're more or less convicted. If you ever get a trial, that is.
2. Yes. A public uproar. Like the one in January where they managed to get just under 1% of their readership to 'vote' Abu Hamza out of the country.

Now, where were we? Ah, yes. Benefit fraud...

No2ID - FAQ - Will an identity card help eliminate benefit fraud?: The government has not provided evidence to support such a claim. David Blunkett went so far as to dismiss the significance of identity fraud in welfare, advising Parliament "benefit fraud is only a tiny part of the problem in the benefit system". The majority of fraud on the benefits system is through under-reporting of income, or non-reporting of financial and family circumstances. Benefits agencies worldwide agree that false identity is not a key issue.

Posted by Manic at 9:14 AM | Comments (1)

December 20, 2004

Evil, Santa, Evil Santa, and lots about the Interweb

Look, kids! It's Santa.

Michael Jackson's Thriller in Lego. The server is getting a hammering; your mileage may vary.

I took these two ideas and made a picture for you (see right).

Time Magazine's Person Of The Year is... George W. Bush. (Well, he's accepting it on behalf of Karl, anyway.) Also from Time; 10 Things We Learned About Blogs.

Blogs are analysed. Google Suggest is dissected. Gollum is diagnosed.

Prepare the tinfoil: The Real Reason the Government Won't Debate Medical Cannabis and Industrial Hemp Re-legalization.

Prepare to return to earth: A Taste of the System.

Aaaaand, prepare to waste the next 5 hours: The Guardian lists their "100 most useful websites".

Not on Blogdex, but they did catch my eye today:

The 12 days of Christmas Fire Safety is totally compelling. I'm sure the kids will love it, too.

I heartily recommend DEADhost for all your server needs.

And I'm far more likely to use this real estate agent now I've seen all the people they've helped.

Finally...

Conservatives Take on Christmas Cause: Emboldened by their Election Day successes, some Christian conservatives around the country are trying to put more Christ into Christmas this season.

Posted by Manic at 6:09 PM | Comments (1)

Curse us and our woolly thinking

I get emails most days. Some are worth sharing; others aren't.

This one is most definitely worth sharing, and was sent in reaction to I Believe In The BBC:

----- Original Message -----
From: XxxXxxxx@aol.com
To: manicATbloggerheads.com
Sent: Sunday, December 19, 2004 11:19 PM
Subject: BBC
> THE BBC IS AN ELITIST ORGANIZATION,THAT EMPLOY'S ONLY
> FELLOW ELITIST'S(THEY ONLY HIRE IN THE GUARDIAN)
> THEY IMPOSE AN ILLIGAL POLL TAX ON EVERY BRITISH
> HOUSEHOLD.
> THOUGH THEY HAVE A DIVERSE(THOUGH ELITIST)WORKFORCE,
> THERE IS NO DIVERSITY OF OPINION.
> THAT'S ALL YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE BBC.IT
> WILL ALL END ONEDAY

Yes. We are all working class victims of the rich. Curse the elitists and their control of the media!

Posted by Manic at 9:33 AM | Comments (2)

It's hard to imagine a greater nightmare...

Woman charged with killing an expectant mother and cutting 8-month-old baby from victim's womb
Woman in court over baby cut from womb

Is this the kind of thing that happens when there is no governing moral standard? Where does this scant regard for the sanctity of life come from?

Posted by Manic at 9:31 AM | Comments (0)

Better get those FOI requests in quick, boys and girls....

Independent - Civil servants are ordered to delete millions of emails: Tony Blair was savaged over his commitment to new freedom of information laws yesterday as it emerged that civil servants are being ordered to destroy millions of emails less than a fortnight before they will become publicly accessible.

*cough*

Can you say 'memory hole', boys and girls? You can? How joyful. Welcome to my world of wooly thinking.

Posted by Manic at 9:27 AM | Comments (0)

The War on Christmas: How it goes global

A quick answer to an important question.

Posted by Manic at 9:25 AM | Comments (0)

ID Cards: Charles Clarke steps up to the plate

Charles Clarke makes his case via Rupert Murdoch's Times newspaper...

Blair Times - ID cards defend the ultimate civil liberty: I believe that some critics of our proposals are guilty of liberal woolly thinking and spreading false fears when they wrongly claim that ID cards will erode our civil liberties, will revisit 1984, usher in the “Big Brother” society, or establish some kind of totalitarian police state.

Damn it, when will us naive peaceniks and naysayers just try to see things their way? As The Sun points out today; The Government is rightly pressing ahead with the scheme which will cut crime, fight terrorism and curb illegal immigration.

This must be done for our own protection (freedom is slavery) and only weak-minded fools ask questions about it (ignorance is strength). I do wish people would cut it out with Orwellian references, which quite obviously have no bearing here.

Posted by Manic at 9:19 AM | Comments (0)

It puts its bag on its head and it gets into the truck...

Guardian - Ban on hooding of war captives: Defence officials are secretly preparing to ban British forces from placing hoods over the heads of prisoners, a method which became notorious because of the treatment of Iraqi detainees.

Welcome to British custody. Please excuse us as we strip you of your identity; it makes it easier for soldiers to treat you as an object. Now please lie down for your pre-interrogation kicking.

I direct you once again to The World Press Photo Of The Year that almost nobody has seen for some strange reason and Something Funny Happened On The Way To Abu Ghraib.

Posted by Manic at 9:07 AM | Comments (0)

Support the troops!

BBC - Rumsfeld faces Iraq letters row: US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has pledged to personally sign letters of condolence to the families of American soldiers killed in action. He spoke shortly after his admission that he had used a machine to sign letters to relatives of more than 1,000 troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For some reason I'm reminded of this quote from The Simpsons...

"They let me sign checks with a stamp, Marge! A stamp!" - Homer Simpson, Trash of the Titans

Posted by Manic at 9:06 AM | Comments (0)

The 'protection' of our liberties via indefinite detention based on 'reasonable suspicion'

Please excuse the shameless link-dump....

Independent - Severely disabled, mentally ill: the truth about Broadmoor 'terrorist' emerges: He is known to the outside world only as "P". Nearly two years ago, he was arrested without charge and imprisoned as an alleged foreign terrorist - an al-Qa'ida sympathiser who threatens Britain's national security. But P is now in a mental ward in Broadmoor secure hospital, one of four men arrested as suspect terrorists since September 11 who have suffered a severe mental collapse. And he is an alleged terrorist who has no arms.

Guardian - Is a pair of boots all that stands between 11 untried detainees and their liberty?: It all hung on the boots, or more precisely when a boot is simply a boot and when it might be construed as a terrorist weapon. This weekend, with the government still reeling from a judgment by judges in the House of Lords that a key plank of its terrorist legislation is unlawful, The Observer can reveal full details of the allegations, which critics say 'are flimsy' at best, against the 11 Arabs who have been held for three years in Britain's highest security prisons, Belmarsh in south-east London and Woodhill near Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire.

Guardian - QC for detainees quits over terror law: A leading QC plans to resign from the panel of barristers representing terrorist suspects held without trial today, saying last night he expected others to follow suit in protest against a law he called "an odious blot on our legal landscape". "I would be surprised if I was the only one," said Ian Macdonald QC, one of the special advocates given security clearance to represent detainees before the special immigration appeals commission (SIAC).

Independent - More lawyers threaten to quit over Belmarsh: The constitutional crisis provoked by the Government's refusal to withdraw anti-terror laws is expected to deepen this week with the resignation of more lawyers appointed by ministers to represent foreign terror suspects at secret hearings. Five barristers are considering following the lead of Ian Macdonald QC, who declared yesterday his intention to step down from the 19-strong panel of special advocates in protest at the Government's failure to recognise the House of Lords' ruling that indefinite detention without trial is unlawful.

Guardian - Labour must act on Lords verdict : The law lords declared this unlawful. 'Indefinite imprisonment... on grounds not disclosed is the stuff of nightmares,' said Lord Scott. Lord Hoffmann's excoriating analysis was: 'The real threat to the life of the nation... comes not from terrorism but from laws such as these.' Lord Bingham believed the act, in effect, discriminatory. In short, Mr Blunkett had overturned core principles of human rights. The government is now required to bring the prisoners to trial, which it says it does not want to do because of the sensitivity of the evidence, or release them.

Maggie Thatcher's Underpants - Try or Release Belmarsh Inmates: The government claims its about security yet we are not at war and there is no imminent threat - certainly no more so than when the IRA were blowing up buildings in London. Internment and the violation of personal freedoms is only justified under the most extreme circumstances and life in Britain today is far from that.

Peter Gasston - Grand Hypocrisy: Eight out of nine of the most senior law lords in Britain say the law is illegal - the boneheaded Blair government says it is not. They say the law is there to protect Britain - but isn’t our very own Guantanamo Bay a grand hypocrisy and an incitement to attack?

LNR - Law Lords damn New Labour's appalling terror laws: It's all so terribly odd. Here we are, ruled by the Labour government that we craved as respite from the Tories, only to find that it has morphed into an anti-democratic, insensitive, bulldozing, preening, Republican-lite oligarchy of shits.

Posted by Manic at 8:56 AM | Comments (0)

December 17, 2004

BBC funding crisis hits photoshopping output

Jeebus - these are dreadful!

UPDATE - Fool that I am, I thought I could do better.

UPDATE - Oh and B3ta's new comp challenges you to make greeting cards. I made this for Sun-readers.

Posted by Manic at 12:55 PM | Comments (1)

White Stuff Competition - only 6 days to go!

The White Stuff White Christmas Competiton is ticking over nicely.

The idea is that you create a tree (ideally from cardboard and not abandoned railway sleepers) and send in a photo. That's it, really.

If you want to join in, you have until next Thursday to check out the full competition details, create your tree(s) and send in your entry.

There are three 50-squid White Stuff gift vouchers up for grabs and - as always - I've set this up so I have nothing to do with the judging, so Bloggerheads regulars are welcome to enter without fear of favour.

Posted by Manic at 12:11 PM | Comments (0)

Bush to invade Canada?

You've already seen this, yes?

OK, please don your tinfoil hats.... now.

Posted by Manic at 10:47 AM | Comments (2)

The War on Christmas is global

The Sun has backed off on their Save Our Christmas campaign. Perhaps Ben was right and the whole thing was meant to occupy minds that otherwise would dwell on the Blunkett affair. Or perhaps they're simply running out of ammunition. The best they can manage today is vandals who cut down a Christmas tree and some schoolchildren who have been banned from wearing tinsel around their neck. Instead, they're using a lot of space demonising Kimberly Quinn/Fortier (there's a large 'Fatal Attraction' centre-spread, casting her as a "wicked witch" out to destroy his career) and laying the grounds for Blunkett's triumphant return.

Then again, this link from Peter suggests that this is a seasonal - and global - event designed to use Christianity's greatest PR asset to demonise the left:

Metafilter - Annual airing of grievances

Then-then again-again, it could be both. Rebekah Wade isn't beyond multi-tasking in her role as Willing Servant of Evil.

More: Christmas with the Murdochs

Posted by Manic at 9:27 AM | Comments (2)

Detention without charge or trial: it stops you getting blowed up. For true.

"The greatest danger of bombs is in the explosion of stupidity that they provoke." - Octave Mirbeau

Independent - Law lords condemn Blunkett's terror measures: Controversial anti-terror laws championed by David Blunkett in the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 attacks were dealt a devastating blow yesterday in a historic judgment by the House of Lords. Just hours after he resigned as Home Secretary, Mr Blunkett had to suffer the fresh humiliation of seeing one of his flagship policies being dismantled by the law lords.
They ruled that Mr Blunkett's determination to suspend the Human Rights Act and imprison foreign terror suspects without charge or trial was the "real threat to the life of the nation". The law lords' opinion, delivered by an eight-to-one majority, leaves the Government little option but to rethink its key policy on terrorism.

The key quote from Lord Hoffmann had me cheering at my television yesterday. Here it is in full:

"The real threat to the life of the nation, in the sense of a people living in accordance with its traditional laws and political values, comes not from terrorism but from laws such as these." - Lord Hoffmann

The response from the government is that the law has been legitimised by lower courts, but this ruling by the Lords is irrelevant because - in the end - it is for parliament to decide. How joyful it is, then, that parliament is not weighted in favour of the man driving this hayride to hell and that MPs are free to decide and not prone to pressure from the whips. Or constituents whipped up into a fearful frenzy by the press.

Speak of the devil... here's the response from Rupert Murdoch. And by that I mean the unofficial response from Downing St. Please note that it yet again casts anybody who opposes Blair's policies as being crazy...

The Sun - Loony Lords: Day One of his new job and Home Secretary Charles Clarke finds out exactly what he's up against. Eight Law Lords make a ludicrous ruling that the anti-terrorism law passed after 9/11 is wrong. Lord Bingham declares that the law contravenes human rights because it discriminates against foreigners. It has clearly escaped his notice that al-Qaeda is largely made up of Saudis, Iraqis, Syrians, Jordanians and Afghans, not people born in Bolton, Bedford or Bournemouth. He then declares that holding terrorist suspects without trial is "disproportionate to the threat it is meant to counter". Is he potty? How could it be disproportionate to the destruction of London with a dirty bomb, or a chemical or biological attack that might kill thousands? Lord Hoffman makes the disgraceful claim that the real threat is not terrorism "but laws like these". Our new Home Secretary knows better than to listen to this piffle from the Lords.

Yes. I'm in total agreement. And when I grow up, I'm going to Bovine University.

Note the ever-present invocation of 11/9 (and please note correct formatting of date). Note that the threats they claim make draconian measures such as detention without trial totally proportionate have themselves been blown out of proportion by this government and by newspapers under the control of Rupert Murdoch.

But... but.. but.. have we forgotten that these men can go home at any time?

Go home to what? The threat of persecution, torture or perhaps death?

Sure. They deserve it. They're terrorists.

Oh, really? And where's your proof?

Guardian - Who are held, and why?

Here I should point out that you should not fall into the trap of saying things like; "I suppose the intelligence that condemns these men is as reliable as the intelligence that told us Iraq had weapons of mass destruction"... as the real issue over said intelligence in that case was that it was not the intelligence at fault, but the US and UK governments corrupting, shaping, interpreting and cherry-picking intelligence to come up with the 'evidence' they required.

But...

This same corruption of intelligence can now lead to us receiving intelligence that appears direct, undiluted and reliable... but may very well have originated from the attachment of a car battery to a man's carefully oiled genitals.

Don't forget that evidence obtained under torture is admissible in our courts. Should these men ever get anything approaching the appearance of a trial.

Blair bleats constantly about the only justification he has left for the illegal invasion of Iraq... the importance of bringing democracy (and therefore stability) to the Middle-East. Presumably via the process of proximal osmosis.

Meanwhile, at home, civil liberties, justice and democracy are subverted for the greater good. But only to a point. Tony Blair knows this is a slippery slope he's on, but he's confident that he can control matters.

And I'm sure we'll all sleep better knowing that.

SIDEBAR - You may have read through all of this and agreed with it, but still held the notion that at least Britain doesn't torture people. You may need to abandon that notion one day.

UPDATE - Lotsa discussion on this over at Europhobia and a charming follow-up outburst here.

UPDATE 2 - BBC - Anti-terror ruling: Your reaction (be prepared to weep in places).

UPDATE 3 - Independent - Belmarsh: a new affront to justice: The Government's refusal to withdraw its anti-terror laws has left Britain on the brink of a constitutional crisis that threatens centuries of hard-won civil liberties, it was claimed last night. Ministers were warned that their unprecedented defiance in the face of a clear ruling by the country's highest court has set the executive on a collision course with the judiciary.

Posted by Manic at 9:25 AM | Comments (4)

December 16, 2004

The best defence is to be downright offensive

Independent - Australia to impose 1,000-mile 'terror exclusion zone': In a controversial and possibly illegal step, Australia plans to intercept and board ships on the high seas if it believes them to be a terrorist threat.

What a clever idea. It's bound to ensure the safety of Australians and foster goodwill with neighbouring countries. That's why Johnny is George W. Bush's faaaaaaaaaayvrit deputy.

Posted by Manic at 11:28 AM | Comments (0)

Kerik spills his evil seed at Ground Zero

New York Times - Apartment Said to Have Been Scene of a Kerik Affair: An apartment in Battery Park City that former Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik secured for his personal use after Sept. 11 was originally donated for the use of weary police and rescue workers who were helping at ground zero, according to a real estate executive who has been briefed about the apartment.

Independent - Bush ally used Ground Zero rescue crew flat as a love nest: The murk surrounding Bernard Kerik, whose nomination to be homeland security chief by President George Bush fell apart a week ago, thickened yesterday amid reports he used an apartment that had been donated for use by exhausted 11 September rescue workers for conducting his extra-marital liaisons.

New York Times - Mystery Woman in Kerik Case: Nanny: One secret after another has tumbled out since the collapse of Bernard B. Kerik's nomination as homeland security secretary - an undisclosed marriage, clandestine love affairs, unsavory business ties and unreported gifts.... Yet six days after Mr. Kerik withdrew his nomination, citing "questions about the immigration status of a person who had been in my employ," the figure central to the scandal - the nanny - remains a complete mystery.

But you can be certain the nanny exists. Just as you can be certain that it's far better Kerik go because of a minor irregularity over an employee than for anything else he may have done.

Posted by Manic at 11:07 AM | Comments (0)

David Blunkett resigns... and topless women weep

Ahahahahahahahahaha! I knew it... I knew it!

Today, Page 3 lovely Katie (19, from Liverpool) gets her funbags out to express how utterly devastated she was to hear that David Blunkett had quit. She says: "I think it's terrible that a man who has done so much for the country has felt it necessary to leave public office. Blunkett was one of the few Home Secretaries prepaed to get tough on issues that matter to ordinary people - asylum, terrorism and law and order."

I agree. It's a great tragedy. Surely Tony Blair has established that it's not a resigning matter to inadvertently or (ahem) subconsciously influence civil servants and accidentally get the desired result.

No matter. The Sun is already busy building the rep of "crime-fighter Clarke" as they go about the messy business of the autopsy. The results of which are as follows:

David Blunkett was a man who cared too much. Loved too much. He was also a brilliant home secretary who tackled The Issues that matter most to Rupert Murdoch the public. Sadly, he had struggled through adversity only to be brought down in flames. Not because of any impropriety on his part, oh no... but all because of the vindictiveness of a bitter and twisted woman. One can't help but draw parallels to the story of the biblical hero Samson etc. etc. etc.

Posted by Manic at 9:18 AM | Comments (5)

December 15, 2004

Charles Clarke is the new home secretary

Guardian - Clarke goes to home office: Tony Blair moved quickly this evening to fill the political vacuum created by David Blunkett's resignation, appointing Charles Clarke home secretary and Ruth Kelly education secretary.

*sigh*

Oh well. I may as well get started...

(Posted to B3ta.)

Posted by Manic at 10:56 PM | Comments (0)

Shark attack!

Rarrrrrgh!

Also released today: Kitty Racers

Posted by Manic at 5:53 PM | Comments (0)

David Blunkett: it's all going tits-up

It seems such a shame after such a well-managed outing, but things don't look good for our loved-up (and beloved) home secretary.

Guardian - Blunkett tells how love affair 'went very badly wrong': David Blunkett yesterday broke his public silence on the affair that threatens his political career as concern grew among Labour colleagues that his short-term survival in office may be overshadowed by long-term damage to his reputation for sound judgment.

Independent - Blunkett is unbalanced and should quit, says Labour MP: David Blunkett appears "quite seriously unbalanced" and should resign as Home Secretary, a Labour MP said today. The call followed reports that under-pressure Mr Blunkett stunned Labour MPs by singing Fred Astaire's Pick Yourself Up at a Christmas party. Bob Marshall-Andrews joined fellow backbenchers in urging the Home Secretary to go after claims a second visa for his ex-lover's nanny was "fast-tracked".

(Cheers to Joe for the latter link.)

BBC - Blunkett sings of starting over: And veteran backbencher Gwyneth Dunwoody suggested the home secretary might ask if he was doing the job he was paid for properly... The pressure is certainly building on Mr Blunkett on a number of fronts... There is now widespread speculation in Westminster that next week might, one way or another, be crunch time for the home secretary.

1. I'll field that last one. I quote: "When a man loves a woman (he) can't keep his mind on nothing else."
(This is, of course, a double negative... so technically - in the view of Percy Sledge at least - Mr Blunkett isn't unable to keep his mind on the job.)

2. I'll save Private Eye the trouble: "To fast-track one visa may be regarded as a misfortune... but to fast-track two seems like carelessness."

3. This is all very strange. People who are on Blair's team aren't normally fitted up for a jacket with buttons in back. That treatment is reserved for people who leave his team. Like the 'somewhat peculiar' Robin Cook and that 'rather unstable' woman, Clare Short.

Are we watching Mr Blunkett implode before our very eyes... or have the liberal journalist scum learned a trick or two from our Great Leader?

UPDATE - Stick a pitchfork in him. He's done...

BBC - Blunkett quits as home secretary

Posted by Manic at 5:24 PM | Comments (6)

The Sun: 'Tis the season to be sarky

Today Page 3 girl Ruthie (19, from Kent) is outraged to hear a Christmas fan had been sent hate mail for putting up decorations. She says: "It should be every person's right to celebrate whatever religious festival they want, however they want - as long as it doesn't infringe on others."

A good thing she added that last bit, as this report eggs on those who may wish to celebrate Christmas by shooting PC leftists: The Sun warmed the hearts of locals yesterday with a Nativity scene - in Cold Christmas. The tiny Hertfordshire hamlet saw The Sun's Save Our Christmas campaign with a poignant play celebrating the birth of Christ. It was another blow to jobsworths who want to kill off our traditions. Resident Bill Parkes, 53, said: "The Sun's doing great. If politically correct officials try to impose anti-Christmas policies here they'd be sent away with a shotgun!"

What was that I was saying yesterday about Sun readers being unlikely to do anything stupid?

No matter. Let's get back to what is so obviously an incitement to religious hatred.

The online report is kind of light, so I'll also be quoting from the print version: A poison pen nut has bombarded a string of families with hate mail - blasting their taste in Christmas decorations. The anonymous critic, who signed himself The House Doctor, posted letters to five households, taking issue with their festive lights. He wrote: "Your neighbours have to look at this crap - have some dignity. We don't want to look like a council estate." The families, all on the Mickledales estate in Redcar, Teeside, received the identical notes last weekend. In them, their lights are branded "cheap, tacky Poundstretcher crap."

They finish by appealing for the House Doctor to come forward. I refer you again to yesterday's post for an idea of how that's likely to turn out.

You have to read between the lines to see the anti-religious sentiment, but what stares you in the face here is the evil of elitism (which lives right next door to leftism, don't you know).

Here, Ben is left wondering what this latest Sun campaign is supposed to distract us from but, myself, I see this as more of a seasonal opportunity. A made-up story designed primarily to boost flagging sales. And demonise (cue dramatic sting) The Left.

Posted by Manic at 9:15 AM | Comments (4)

Merry Christmas Virus - WORM_ZAFI.D

I just got a copy of this new worm in my Inbox, and even the latest update hasn't detected it as a virus. Do watch out for it.

UPDATE - BBC - Virus poses as Christmas e-mail

Posted by Manic at 9:12 AM | Comments (1)

There's one trial missing...

... but it's yet to take place, so that's OK.

Famous Trials (link via The Ultimate Insult).

Posted by Manic at 9:09 AM | Comments (0)

For the dedicated followers of facism

I want to share the following from an exchange in this Fark thread about a New York art exhibition that was closed because one of the works featured a George W. Bush portrait composed of monkeys. GoodDamon's comments need to be more widely read, IMHO.

cthu1hu kicked it off by providing:

The 14 Defining Characteristics of Fascism

1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism.
2. Disdain for the importance of human rights.
3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause.
4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism.
5. Rampant sexism.
6. A controlled mass media.
7. Obsession with national security.
8. Religion and ruling elite tied together.
9. Power of corporations protected.
10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated.
11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts.
12. Obsession with crime and punishment.
13. Rampant cronyism and corruption.
14. Fraudulent elections.

GoodDamon responded with this:

Here's my take on how this applies to America at the moment, point by point:

1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism.

Absolutely describes the current state of affairs. Right now, the neoconservative movement has successfully associated disagreement with the government with hatred for America, and prods the Republican masses (most of whom are far more liberal than they realize, on an issue-by-issue basis) into frenzied shows of nationalism.

Point one: Check

2. Disdain for the importance of human rights.

The disregard of the jingoists in the United States for the plight of the Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prisoners (even going so far as to just call them "detainees") has been shocking. Worse, when either atrocity is mentioned, the people who would prefer not to think about them respond - almost without exception, in my experience - with "well, at least we're not cutting off heads."

The logical fallacy required to make that leap is also shocking, maybe moreso. Simply put, explaining away one bad thing by accusing someone else of something worse in no way negates or mitigates the first morally and ethically unsound act. Torturing people is wrong, and no amount of severed heads will make it right. Imagine the very worst, most vile thing the enemy soldiers in Iraq could do to other human beings, and it still will not excuse torture on our part.

Point 2: Check

3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause.

In some ways, we now have the ideal "enemy" in terrorism. Terrorism never ends, it only abates. An enemy like that is, by its very nature, undefeatable in the military sense. If you can successfully unify the people of a country against such a nebulous enemy, and convince them that military responses are the only means to effectively dealing with said enemy, then you have a war that can functionally continue forever (at least until the people rebel, which historically speaking is almost inevitable).

Point 3: Check

4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism.

The constant push to "support our troops" (which in practice translates into "support the civilians who sent them there") isn't worth expounding on much. It's become so prevalent in today's America.

Point 4: Check

5. Rampant sexism.

Sexism, while still a problem, was on the downswing until recently. Unfortunately, with the ongoing efforts to undo Roe vs. Wade, and the stances against birth control, the pendulum looks like it's beginning to swing the other way again.

Point 5: Check, but only conditionally. It's not as bad as it's been in the past yet.

6. A controlled mass media.

The greatest coup the neoconservatives won was in convincing the people that the corporate-owned, corporate-managed, and corporate-controlled media was somehow liberal. Imagine for a moment that the voting irregularities in Ohio and Florida had garnered the kind of widespread coverage that the flawed Ukraine vote was exposed to; Ohio's electors could never have voted, and Florida would currently be auditing and testing all their optical scanning machines. Heck, at the very least the fact that today was the day the Electoral College voted would have been mentioned somewhere prominently in the newspaper, and would have been a lead story all over TV. Instead, we were subjected to the Peterson trial.

Point 6: Check

7. Obsession with national security.

Oddly, the obsession seems to go hand-in-hand with an inability to actually do anything about national security. A lot of noise (and color-coded charts) are being made about this all the time, but if anything were actually done, anything effective, people would stop being afraid.

Point 7: Check

8. Religion and ruling elite tied together.

God help us (heh), for the first time in our history the religious nuts have a monopoly on all three branches of our government.

Point 8: Check

9. Power of corporations protected.

By any community standards, I cannot, as an individual, dump billions of pounds of industrial waste into my local water table. I would rightly be thrown in jail. Corporations can do this with impugnity, because the perceived harm to our economy if we stopped them would be so great as to devastate the country.

This is an artificial situation. The current corporate structures allowed in the United States are given the legal status of people without suffering the legal repercussions a person who acted in a similar manner would face. You cannot arrest a corporation, and our government has proven quite unwilling to use legal remedies that are available to it. I can count on one hand the number of large corporations that have been banned from doing business (jail time) or disincorporated (death penalty).

Point 9: Check, big time.

10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated.

As with sexism, things aren't as bad as they once were...yet. The efforts underway to dismantle the unions are starting to have an effect, though. We all know unions aren't perfect and are open to corruption, but they're the best solution we have right now, and we're beginning to lose them.

Point 10: Check, conditionally.

11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts.

This one makes me want to scream. How, how, how could the people of the United States, even a significant minority of them, have been convinced that intellectuals (smart people) are their enemies? I've heard several farmers on television decry the "intellectuals" who don't know what it's like to work out in the "real world." These people wear clothes manufactured using a smart person's methods, wear eyeglasses that a smart person created (and another smart person fit to their eyes), use cars and other internal combustion engine-powered vehicles invented by smart people (and in the case of Francois Isaac de Rivaz, inventor of the first reciprocating internal combustion engine, French-sounding smart people). They eat pop-tarts, use microwaves, and watch television. They wallow in the wonders that intellectuals have brought them, while deriding them for being smart.

Point 11: Check (and AAAAAAAAARGH!)

12. Obsession with crime and punishment.

This is pretty traditional for the modern Republican party. The only major development recently is the push towards Biblical crime and punishment. It's an odd thing when more people appear on television to rant and rave about men making love to other men than to decry the current levels of violent crime.

Point 12: Check

13. Rampant cronyism and corruption.

Two words: Tom Delay.

Point 13: Check, and 'nuff said.

14. Fraudulent elections.

Point 14: Check, and now I'm crying.

That's all of them. Two of them conditional, the rest... Well, I'd say we're currently living under a mild fascism. I say "mild" because none of the points above have reached the more extreme levels, yet. And most importantly, I'm still free to make this post, still free to hold these opinions, and even to scream them as loudly as I can. It's not to the point where dissent results in disappearance.

Of course, if I don't make any more posts tomorrow, you'll know that maybe we're past that point, too. ;)

Posted by Manic at 9:04 AM | Comments (1)

Torture: It starts with a bag on the head

Independent - Who killed Baha Mousa?: Baha Mousa, 26, was working as a hotel receptionist in Basra 14 months ago when British troops surrounded the building and arrested seven men. They were taken to a British base and were reportedly hooded and beaten. Two days later, Mousa was dead. His family was given $3,000 in compensation and rejected a further $5,000. What they wanted was justice. Yesterday, after more than a year of official stonewalling, his relatives won a 'historic' ruling to force the MoD to hold an independent inquiry. Will the truth now be known?

This article requires subscription, but if you keep an eye on robert-fisk.com, you'll see it appear in full there later today or eraly tomorrow.

UPDATE - You can now read the full article here.

Posted by Manic at 8:53 AM | Comments (0)

December 14, 2004

The Sun: staying on-message

Yesterday it was revealed in The Guardian that The Sun - currently championing the clause (ho-ho) of Christmas - has itself watered down and de-Christ-ified their own Christmas cards with a politically-correct "Season's Greetings!"

Hypocrisy? From The Sun? Never!

Surely there's been some mistake. Or perhaps a simple misunderstanding... the kind of misunderstanding that led to their grouping of the outrage over the commercial stunt by Madame Tussauds with attacks on the religious aspects of Christmas.

I can see how that kind of thing could happen. Why only yesterday they had a report on the attack on this same 'nativity' scene and adopted their usual hard-slog investigative technique by including this: Do you know who attacked Posh and Becks’ waxwork doubles? Call the Sun Newsdesk on 0207 782 4104 or email exclusive@the-sun.co.uk

Well, they got a result. While the online version of this 'story' neglects to mention how they came by the information, they do reveal in the print version that the source was a phoned response to their appeal for witnesses. A man called claiming to have wrecked the Madame Tussauds Nativity display "because it insulted Christianity".

So, here's a man who appears to be responding to their campaign of moral outrage (as they dare to stand up to the politically correct crowd who wish to take the Christ out of Christmas). He called them at their invitation. And they turned on him, labelling him a 'yob' and a 'lout' and passing on the details of the phone conversation to the police.

See? A perfectly understandable misunderstanding.

Here's another (and by now you will have noticed the large image to your right)...

Today they provide a big picture of a rather evil-looking Santa (complete with the Sun logo) for you to cut out, cone up and place on top of your Christmas tree. In place of the traditional topping such as a star or an angel (both of which appeared to herald the arrival of Christ our Lord).

See? Another perfectly understandable misunderstanding.

Had you not read today's entire paper, you might be under the impression that The Sun were themselves attempting to displace a major religious aspect of our great and glorious Christmas traditions. But you would be wrong, for here they are, doing the Lord's work not once, but twice on the same day...

The Sun - The Sun stars in the East: The Sun blazed the way to champion the tradition of Christmas last night by recreating the magical story of the Nativity outside our East London HQ. We defied the politically correct brigade by building a giant 15ft stage, lit by floodlights, at our Wapping nerve centre to celebrate the birth of Christ for thousands of commuters travelling home.

The Sun - Playing fair over Nativity: Defiant head teachers joined The Sun's Save Our Christmas campaign last night - warning politically correct meanies: "Hands off Nativity plays." More than 195 primary school heads across the UK voted to keep traditional festive fun in a poll. And 95 per cent of schools quizzed said they were determined to celebrate the birth of Christ with a Nativity play this year. It came after we told how Nativity plays, religious cards, lights and even Santa have been axed in case they offend non-Christians.

And people who don't believe in Santa, of course.

You see, it's a terribly complicated issue, but I'm sure that the support from "Christmas-loving readers" will continue to "flood in" and readers will be aware that what's most important is the very real need to stand against the near-to-overwhelming forces of evil (and by that, I mean The Left)... without actually getting carried away and breaking anything, of course.

After all, Rebekah Wade is a highly intelligent person who knows how to appeal to a very level-headed sector of our community. It's not as if her readers are going to go out and do anything stupid.

Posted by Manic at 6:07 PM | Comments (0)

Knives out for the lads!

Today Neval (21, from London) gets her jubblies out and backs calls to give anyone caught carrying a kife a five-year jail term. She says: "The Knives Destroy Lives campaign speaks for itself. It's time the law was changed because violent crime is out of control. The government needs to let the public know it's doing something about it."

Posted by Manic at 5:29 PM | Comments (0)

Bloggerheads - Year Three

Bloggerheads was born at 10:02 on Friday, December 14, 2001. On the first anniversary, I crunched a few numbers. Last year, I crunched and compared. This year, we crunch and compare yet again. (Next year, some comparisons may be a little trickier, what with the recent update to MT and all.)

Number of Posts

2002 - 2,375 posts, approx 8-9 posts each weekday, 1.61MB of raw .TXT data
2003 - 3,055 posts, approx 10-11 posts each weekday, 3.11MB of raw .TXT data
2004 - 2,437 posts, approx 12-13 posts each weekday, 3.15MB of raw .TXT data

The above approximation takes into account a month of near-breakdown time and a month of near-leisure time.

So, more posts during operational days, but two dirty-great breaks. However, the end result was more raw data. And - to be brutally honest - far less sleep.

Number of Images

2002 - 762 photoshopped images
2003 - 379 photoshopped images
2004 - 498 photoshopped images

Looks like I'm getting back on track in the photoshopping game, but many of you will have noticed that - since about mid-2003 - there's been far less nonsense and far more comment in these pictures. In fact, many of these pictures were created as part of a campaign or part of a Flash show that was part of a campaign.

Picture Of The Year has to be this one of Tony Blair. A close second is this one of George W. Bush. Thanks to the mighty Rasterbator, I was able to do giant versions of these and other images and put them on display during the Peace March in erm, March (see images here, here and here).

There's also a range of images that I've produced over the last few weeks that I'm not allowed to show you yet. These are even better. Hang in there.

Number of Visitors

2002 - 101,302 unique visitors to the core weblog
2003 - 294,442 unique visitors to the core weblog
2004 - 449,201 unique visitors to the core weblog

On an average weekday, the core weblog reaches 1200-1700 people. Peak traffic hasn't reached the dizzy heights of 15,000 in a day (reached in early 2003) but there have been more peaks at about the 7,000-8,000 people/day mark. Three notable peaks were:

- July 7th (8,871 unique visitors) when The Parting Shot was doing the rounds and I popped my head up to make one important post.
- September 1st (7,002 unique visitors) following the release of the Page 3 page and during the RNC.
- September 20th (6,703 unique visitors) following the release of Something Funny Happened On The Way To Abu Ghraib and the day Boris made his first post.

The Army of the Core Faithful - visiting every weekday without fail, usually more than once - has grown in number from 90 (in 2002) to well over 200 (in 2003) to just over 300 in 2004.

As usual, daily peaks took place at around 09:30-10:00 GMT when the bulk of bloggage goes live (but this may change as I get a little looser with the freedom of MT) and just after 13:00 GMT when lunchtime kicks in here in the UK and folks start to wake up over in America.

Last year there were approximately 500 unique visitors who accessed the site via the gsi.gov.uk or parliament.uk servers. This year, there was roughly the same number of visitors from gsi.gov.uk but - overall - there were 1,892 unique visitors who work for the US/UK government and 1,782 unique visitors who work for the US military.

Referrers

The biggest referrer last year was Google (with the most popular search query being 'mustard man', closely followed by a series of queries relating to Tony Blair's email address and then 'star wars'). Fark.com and B3ta.com followed. In all, there were 10,782 websites that sent traffic this way in 2003.

This year, the community site dasheep.de is the biggest referrer (62,005 referrals), thanks to a long-running feature of JPEG Baby. Google.com and Google.co.uk work together to come a close second with 59,158 referrals (compared to 29,362 in 2003). Other notable referrers include Bored at Work, Milk and Cookies, Masturbate for Peace and B3ta.

The Top 10 search queries of the year were:
mustard man
bum
page 3 girls
star wars
south west trains
viral marketing
jpeg
star wars images
bbc
religion

2002 Projects

In 2002, a few campaigns and fun pages were cut loose, including Can Weblogs Reach Ronald Scelson?, which reached 16,994 people in that year. The M*A*S*H Quiz - which reached 45,231 people in 2002 and 37,788 people in 2003 - reached yet another 32,940 people in 2004.

2003 projects

JPEG Baby reached 93,745 people in 2003. This year, it reached 148,892. A significant climb that proves it has staying power. And still no record deal. Ho-hum.

The Star Wars Photoshopping Project reached 42,279 people in 2003 and 50,103 in 2004.

Tony Blair's Email Address didn't fare quite as well, as visitor numbers plunged from 51,946 in 2003 to under 5,000 in 2004. Still, its work is done. Bare Your Bum at Bush also went from 'active' to 'archive' (down from 50,780 to 17,964).

Top Projects from 2004

The Happy Poster Project
60,863 unique visitors
Sure, it looks harmless, but if you actually try to put a poster up in a shop window that has no commercial or political purpose, you're bound to discover several interesting things about the 'local' businesses in your High Street. The page is currently 7th in Google.co.uk for the single search query 'happy' and 3rd for 'poster'.

Page 3 - Model Propaganda: The Sun, The Girls, The Truth
40,137 unique visitors
Currently 3rd in Google for 'page 3 girls' and enjoying all sorts of juicy model-specific searches. Its purpose is clear and it's out there doing its job on a daily basis.

I Believe In The BBC
38,544 unique visitors
This is more of an archived campaign. For the most part it's a time capsule of the moment when the BBC was vulnerable and the people saw fit to stand up and defend it. But it now also serves as an excellent reference point for anybody searching for information relating to Rupert Murdoch and why he is so hostile toward the BBC.

Also... in 2003 I launched the first weblog by a Labour MP, and in 2004 I launched the first weblog by a Conservative MP.

Boris Johnson
28,717 unique visitors
Boris is obviously a busy man, but a lot of his article content is now driven through the blog, allowing people to comment on it, and Melissa is great at taking up the slack. Normally, posts by staff would be sneered at, but Melissa made her bones when the whole Liverpool thing exploded. Speaking of that and other matters, I'm willing to bet that - had Boris known what was coming - there is no way he would have approved of a website that allowed comments from web users... but just look at what happened. Feedback during both incidents was overwhelmingly positive. Hooray for Boris, and hooray for weblogs.

That's it for this year. Still no front page, still no novel, still no record deal, and I'm only 3 chapters into my SEO book. But just you wait until next year....

Posted by Manic at 12:44 PM | Comments (4)

War, games, ideas and me, me, me.

Why bring back the draft when there are so many perfectly serviceable meatbags of 'retirement' age?

Violent video games winning war on crime!

2004: The year in ideas.

And now, on with the Self-Absorption Challenge:

Another 'best weblog' competition! (Ooh, look - and yet another one!) Want to play? Then start a winning weblog! After all, this could be you!

It's all terribly exciting, isn't it? My, I wonder who links to me...

(Actually, I shouldn't make fun. I may make use of that last link shortly.)

Posted by Manic at 9:39 AM | Comments (0)

Aznar: what an amateur

When in doubt; deny everything. When you're seriously up shit creek; Ctrl+A Delete.

Posted by Manic at 9:33 AM | Comments (0)

Flash: Loving Life and Loving Death

Juicy Panic - You drive me oh oh oh - absolutely mad and totally Japanese.

You'll have to dig for I Love Death at Lodger.tv, which has some shocking mystery-meat navigation. (You will have seen Doorsteps before; I'm pretty sure I blogged it a while back.)

Posted by Manic at 9:04 AM | Comments (0)

December 13, 2004

Art for Jesus!

These are some Bible-rific images! The images are huge, so they download kind of slow... but do make time to check out this classic. The curly red hair on Mary is the icing on the fruitcake.

Posted by Manic at 2:25 PM | Comments (0)

New look for Yahoo, UK-force for Google

Yahoo has a new partner-weighted streamlined look. You can take a tour here.

Also, Google has - for the first time - started forcing UK users of their search engine to Google.co.uk (although I have a dim memory of them doing this on a trial basis at least once before).

If you live in Ireland, you're already familiar with this technique (fair enough, I'd say... as adding 'ie' to a search isn't likely to bring many Ireland-specific results forward) but it's going to be hard going for UK-based purists who insist on using Google.com and adding 'uk' to their queries at their leisure.

Good news for me, though. The amount of traffic my clients get for UK-specific queries (of the 'not-adding-uk-but-clicking-the-button' variety) is about to increase dramatically.

Posted by Manic at 12:17 PM | Comments (0)

Star Wars Photoshopping Project Prints now discounted

OK, here's how it works... you bitch; I listen.

The Star Wars Photoshopping Project Prints have been greatly discounted. You can now pick up an A2 print for 20 squid and still get it delivered in time for Christmas (if you order before this Friday).

Why should you do this? Well, it's quite obvious really. You should do it (right now!) to show those killjoy leftists that they can't kill the spirit of giving!

Posted by Manic at 12:12 PM | Comments (2)

The Sun: taking Christmas on tour

The Sun continued it's Save Our Christmas campaign on Saturday with a FREE (if haughtily branded) nativity poster and news of an attack on the age-old tradition of celebrating Christmas via the conspicuous consumption of electricity.

Vic Moszczynski's 8ft Father Christmas sits among thousands of decorations illuminated by hundreds of lights and sings Jingle Bells and We Wish You A Merry Christmas, while ten snowmen sing Santa Claus Is Coming To Town. Sadly, an environmental health officer and a policeman are tried to silence these voices of hope.

The Knapps of Gotherington, Gloucs, fared little better with their simple string of lights when an anonymous neighbour (obviously a leftist) dropped a letter through their door that said: "Your dull, ugly front garden fails to reflect our village image."

Well, the problem there is obvious. They need more expensive lights. And some mirrors.

Today, coverage slips off the front page, but there's news of another light display under attack and the wider campaign continues as they take the nativity on the road. Rock and roll!

The Sun - The Nativity on tour: The Sun has hit back at politically correct meanies - by defiantly taking the famous Christmas Story out on to the streets. Our mobile Nativity scene bought seasonal joy to hundreds of Christmas shoppers and tourists across London. It was the latest move in the Save Our Christmas campaign against meddling jobsworths who want to kill off festive traditions. The tableau recounting the story of the birth of Christ was mounted on the back of a lorry - which made its first stop yards from the Houses of Parliament. Onlookers burst into applause as The Sun's Three Wise Men paid tribute to a newborn baby Jesus.

Such defiance! These days, you can get arrested for promoting the nativity.
Such resourcefulness! Who knew there were three wise men working for The Sun?
Such sensitivity! If you look carefully at the pictures, you'll note that they've been careful not to grace Baby Jesus with a Sun name-badge.
Such a response! Hooray for spontaneous celebrations and demonstrations.

This tour ties in closely with the very origin of Christmas, when Mary was transported to Bethlehem on the back of a donkey, only to be turned away at the inn. Mary gave birth right there in reception as the three wise men arrived, and the decision was made to prepare their camels and her donkey by strapping a platform onto their backs, get on board, and take their joyous news from town to town. To enjoy the many spontaneous celebrations, obviously.

In doing so they developed world's first flat-bed truck over 1,500 years before Leonardo da Vinci claimed to have 'invented' it. A glorious achievement, even if the whole set-up was - in every sense of the word - decidedly unstable.

UPDATE - Scotland has obviously been overrun by loony lefties....

Scotland on Sunday - So this is Christmas?:The signs of a new awakening to the spiritual meaning of Christmas are emerging. Last week, The Sun, Britain's most popular red-top newspaper, launched its own campaign to save Christmas. It didn't have to look too hard for the forces of politically-correct, joy-killing darkness.

Sunday Herald - Campaigns to put the Christ back into Christmas are misguided: what we need is a shorter, saner Yuletide: It is not only in America that cudgels have been taken up against those who would take Christ out of Christmas. Our own dear Sun newspaper has launched a campaign to save Christmas. We can rest easy, knowing that the baby Jesus is safe in the hands of Rupert Murdoch. We had vaguely imagined old redtop Rupe as something of a Herod figure, but he now stands revealed as the fourth wise man.

(Image posted to B3ta.)

Posted by Manic at 11:59 AM | Comments (3)

Dr David Kelly: the lack of blood 'mystery'

I don't see what the big mystery is, myself. It's pretty obvious that Mackinlay and Campbell had sucked him dry.

Posted by Manic at 11:08 AM | Comments (2)

Today, class, we look through the round dog-flap...

Teaching assistant who served preschoolers dog food is placed on paid administrative leave.

Posted by Manic at 11:04 AM | Comments (0)

Some help for the mobile phone addict in your life

Timely intervention. You know it makes sense. (Links directly to PDF file.)

Posted by Manic at 11:02 AM | Comments (0)

Saddam Hussein: one year on and still no trial

BBC - World still waits for Saddam trial: The original plan had been to bring Saddam and his henchmen to a relatively quick trial - possibly within six months. That date has repeatedly slipped, due in part to the lack of experience amongst the Iraqi investigators who have to sift through tonnes of documents, and due also to deteriorating security, which is severely hampering their work. The latest advice from the interim government is that the trials will take place in the first half of next year, but not before elections on 30 January.

Curiously, the leftist scum at the BBC have not taken their usual step of sticking the boot into America at every opportunity. They've clearly failed to point out that a carefully stage-managed an open trial cannot take place until after the elections because at the moment Saddam can claim that the invasion was illegal and those in authority were placed there by the illegal invaders, therefore he is still the rightful leader of Iraq.

Of course, me pointing this out means that I'm suggesting that this excuses all of past crimes. And that I love Saddam and want to have his babies.

And that I would dare to suggest that this represents a bit of a cock-up on Bush's part... well, that's just because I hate America. And justice. And freedom. And little Baby Jesus.

Posted by Manic at 10:49 AM | Comments (1)

13yee joins the diarists

Meet 13yee, who begins his South West Trains diary with a tale of a pretty typical penalty-fare sting.

Posted by Manic at 10:39 AM | Comments (0)

Songs, spyware, slobsessions and suggestions

What's that song? Don't know, don't care.
Will regulation reform the spyware companies? For some strange reason, I have the impression they'll find a workaround.
Alpha-bloggers and digi-slobs... apsirations and reality, really.
No matter. There's no danger of computers doing everything for us.

Posted by Manic at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)

'Lotion' by Greenskeepers

Lotion 8.6Mb Quicktime... see it before they get sued.

See also (if you haven't already): "It puts its bag on its head and it gets into the truck."

Posted by Manic at 9:58 AM | Comments (0)

I pray daily for the death of coalition troops and Iraqi civilians

Well, I would if I believed in God. Which I clearly don't, as I don't believe in George W. Bush's version of God.

Independent - Last week the US lost its 1,000th soldier killed in combat. Why did no one notice?: In the debate over casualties, the only clear-cut figures are those on coalition deaths, because the British and US governments know it would be impossible to suppress them. But as icasualties.org makes clear, the Pentagon "certainly doesn't go out of its way to divulge" the number of losses. "We are told that during the Korean and Vietnam wars, the names and numbers of dead AND injured were available from the government," it adds. "No longer."

These are the people who pat us on the head and tell us poor, naive peaceniks that things are much more complicated than they seem... as they simplify and sanitise matters for the audience that cheers them on.

These are also the people who urge us to support the troops. Speaking of those people; speaking of that audience...

Editor and Publisher - Our readers weigh in on the war reporter who, with a little help from his friends (in the National Guard) put Donald Rumsfeld on the spot: "The duped soldier should be put at the very front of the action, no armor. The cooperating sergeant's career should be over and maybe become MIA. Pitts and all his cronies should be executed as traitors. We are fighting a war, the debate is over, you're either for us or against us, there is no middle ground. I say start executing the leftists in our country, soon."

Charming, isn't it?

Rush Limbaugh would have you believe that us 'leftists' sit at home wishing for further tragedy in Iraq.

Happy. Happy. Joy. Joy.

And you just have to watch this clip from FOXNews (link via Wibbler) where they seriously discuss the invasion/punishment of Canada.

The danger isn't terrorism (a useful catch-all word that blinds people to the obvious); it's extremism. And the Bush administration is breeding it at home and abroad.

Posted by Manic at 9:53 AM | Comments (0)

December 10, 2004

The Colgate President: offering maxium cavity protection

Guardian - President Bush wants 'pro-homosexual' drama banned: Bush is interested in Allen's opinions because Allen is an elected Republican representative in the Alabama state legislature. He is Bush's base. Last week, Bush's base introduced a bill that would ban the use of state funds to purchase any books or other materials that "promote homosexuality". Allen does not want taxpayers' money to support "positive depictions of homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle". That's why Tennessee Williams and Alice Walker have got to go.

Traditional family values are under attack! Traditional family values like... praying to Santa!

Compare this to the treatment enjoyed by the funded-mentalists:
Washington funds false sex lessons
Grand Canyon only 3,000 years old: official

(Link discovered via this bumsexual picture post at B3ta.)

Posted by Manic at 1:31 PM | Comments (2)

I'm such a leftist killjoy...

Happy Human Rights Day!

Posted by Manic at 12:21 PM | Comments (0)

War on Want: Flash competition

Make a Flash show for War On Want and win cash prizes: The brief we would like entrants to address is based on global corporations' lack of responsibility in terms of their attitude towards the exploitation of resources, the environment and workers rights.

Posted by Manic at 11:15 AM | Comments (0)

The Sun backs Santa Claus backing The Sun

The Sun - Wanted: Satan Claus: DO-GOODERS are out to turn Santa into Satan - so today The Sun calls on readers to help save the old boy from the sack. Jovial Father Christmas is HATED by the politically correct brigade. He is demonised and treated like a wanted man. His crime? Bringing joy and wonder to millions of kiddies around the world. The Sun launched its Save Our Christmas campaign yesterday by exposing the Scrooges who ban lights, carols, cards and other traditional festive pleasures. Today we have the Santa sleighers in our sights. Killjoy bosses at the St Elli shopping centre in Llanelli, South Wales, have installed a webcam to spy on their Santa - in case he is accused of being a PAEDOPHILE.

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I see this first bit of 'evidence' of a widespread 'attack' on Santa actually being more of a response to paedo-fear. Now if only I could think of who exactly has been whipping people into a frenzy about this.

And, of course, everybody except for us evil killjoy leftists sees the direct connection between Santa Claus and the start of this campaign, rooted in outrage over 'attacks' on the religious aspect of Christmas.

The Sun explains it thusly: Some critics of Santa Claus say he is a religious symbol. It is true that he is based on St Nicholas, a saint born in what is now Turkey some 1,700 years ago. But to the vast majority of us, Santa is a symbol of the good times and love we share with our families and friends at this time of year.

How true. How very true. The modern version of Santa Claus is the very (consume!) symbol (consume!) of (consume!) peace, love and goodwill to all men. And all of our attacks on him (I think of nothing but how to defeat Santa every day of the week) are based on a pathological hatred for all religions. Unless our unreasoned hatred is based on distaste for his role in introducing children to consumerism. In which case, that's just us reverting to our main role as cynical killjoys.

Indeed, who would dare oppose the pro-Christmas (buy The Sun!) poster (buy The Sun!) campaign (buy The Sun!) that's due to begin tomorrow? This would be an attack on Christmas itself (and can only help the terrorists).

Point out that this is a cynical marketing ploy from a newspaper with slipping readership, and you may as well tell your kids that Santa Claus doesn't exist.

Well, I'm here to tell you that yes (Virginia) there is a Santa Claus, and he is now the property of Rupert Murdoch.

Hands off.

UPDATE - Blood & Treasure: The Sun endorses human sacrifice

Posted by Manic at 11:09 AM | Comments (3)

Bush and Blair: living in their own little worlds

BBC - Butler launches attack on Blair: Former civil service chief Lord Butler has criticised the way Tony Blair's government operates, accusing it of being obsessed with headlines. He also attacked the way the Iraq war was "sold" to the public, with important warnings on the strength of the intelligence left out.

Here's an official response via DowningStSays. We've also had government speaky-peeps coming out with the mantra: "You can't have it both ways."

What this means is that you can't take these comments at face value and call the Butler Report a whitewash (for once, the government is insisting that we cannot hold two conflicting ideas simultaneously).

What a pity this handy sound-bite ignores the narrow remit allowed Butler in his enquiry and that Butler (and Hutton) made very similar criticisms of the Blair government within these constraints.

Guardian - Blair driven by headlines and control, says Butler: In his inquiry into Iraq, Lord Butler said he had not found evidence of a lack of minutes leading up to the war, but criticised the lack of cabinet or committee level decision-making. He renews this charge with vigour in the interview, saying: "I think that what happens now is that the government reaches conclusions in rather small groups of people who are not necessarily representative of all the groups of interests in government, and there is insufficient opportunity for people to debate dissent and modify."

Speaking of dissent (or lack thereof), a very are thing happened this week. A member of the Bush administration was actually asked to account for himself:
DailyKos - Rummy feels their pain
DailyKos - Rumsfeld starts backtracking
DailyKos - One of Rumsfeld's "girly men"

Today, the always-right seek to defend his inability to defend himself with this handy snippet from the ever-reliable Matt Drudge. A reporter (*gasp*) actually dared to (*gasp*) plant the question and deliberately put Rumsfeld on the spot!

Upstarts and dissent! Somebody call the thought-police! This is obviously a last, desperate act by a man who cannot accept that the Bush administration operates best (and is therefore better able to fight the ever-present terror threat) only when reporters are not allowed to ask difficult questions.

Atrios: Remember folks, it isn't the sex, it's the lying...
Washington Monthly on Rumsfeld and what this reveals about his character

Posted by Manic at 10:25 AM | Comments (1)

Britain owes the US... and we're not talking gratitude here

Today in The Sun, Page 3 girl Nicola T (22, from Croydon) thinks people are too keen to forget the help given to Britain by the US. She says: "People are too quick to condemn America. We're indebted to them for the help they gave us in the war. Imagine if they had decided not to support us."

She's a smart girl, that one.

Yes, we owe a great debt to the US. And we're still paying it.

This very month we're due to pay US$145million. Next year we're paying US$142million against the debt. But the end is in sight. In Dec 2006, we make the final payment of US$83 million. Sixty-plus years after the close of WWII.

(This source presents the debt in context and provides two Hansard links.)

Posted by Manic at 9:06 AM | Comments (0)

December 9, 2004

Jump and a half

Yeeehah! (820kb Quicktime.)

Posted by Manic at 5:00 PM | Comments (1)

When the elves take over the highway...

Remember he's on your side.

Posted by Manic at 4:25 PM | Comments (0)

Yahoo 2004 Office Attachment Awards

The Yahoo 2004 Office Attachment Awards contain a lot of stuff you've already seen, one or two things that I missed myself (like this fun game) and quite a lot of vote-rigging.

Posted by Manic at 4:08 PM | Comments (0)

The miracle of punctuation

Zefrank wishes to share the following thoughts on an alternative use for punctuation.

In similar situations I prefer to revert to dripping sarcasm, but I can see the appeal of this simple approach.

(You can access more short films by zefrank via his weblog. Or spend the rest of the day in a garden of your own making.

Posted by Manic at 1:27 PM | Comments (0)

The Sun: All your Christmas are belong to us

The Sun prepares you for a full red mist this morning with a kick-arse front page, letting you know that Christmas is under attack from "meddling politically correct jobsworths." In case you're not sure what this really means, today's Page 3 girl spells it out for you...

Krystle (21, from Manchester) reckons political correctness ruins the Christmas spirit. She says: "Loony lefties who try to spoil Christmas should be banned. They all just seem to enjoy making other people miserable."

There you are. Loony lefties. We hate Christmas, and anything else that brings you joy or comfort. We should be banned. Or perhaps shot.

This Sun story echoes concerns voiced in the Moonie Times, but - because the media is overrun with leftist scum, if you actually take the time to look into this story, you'll see that most other news outlets focus on the celebrity nativity-scene stunt at Madame Tussauds.

Look, here's more at MSNBC!

That's 141 stories to 2, folks. Curse the liberal-media!

But hark! What is this that I see? The loony left are actually voicing concerns that this cheap publicity stunt somehow demeans the religious aspect of Christmas... while ignoring the real threat of political correctness! The hypocrisy is sickening.

Thankfully, The Sun is there to clarify matters. In their article today, they chide Tony Blair for denying his God and enlist the help of Michael Howard in their 'campaign to save Christmas - by turning back the tide of politically correct meddling that threatens to destroy it.'

But they also take the time to point out that: This week London's Madame Tussauds waxworks came under fire for a Nativity scene featuring a celebrity line-up led by Posh and Becks. It is supposed to be fun. But for some people, fun is a dirty word.

Ah, you see? The ever-cunning left are attacking Christmas and everything else that is fun by sneering at a commercial enterprise that makes fun of Christmas. It's all starting to make sense now.

For further clarity, we turn to the editorial, which states that: "Muslims are NOT upset by Christmas and the message it gives to the world. Like Christians, Muslims respect Jesus. Islam teaches that Jesus is one of the greatest of God’s prophets. Like Jews, Muslims do not believe Jesus was the son of God. But the idea that the Nativity causes Muslims or Jews distress is ludicrous. The PC Brigade's big lie is that all religions are different. In fact, they have much in common, not least the universal values of love, peace, forgiveness and tolerance. For centuries, there has been no more tolerant country than Britain. The freedom to worship the religion of your choice was won after a long and often bloody struggle. Christian, Sikh, Muslim, Jew, Hindu and those of every faith live in harmony. It is those who believe in nothing, yet seek to impose their bland creed of uniformity on all, who bring disharmony."

So there you have it. The left has been lying to you. We believe that all religions are different, and have been trying to make everybody the same.

When in truth, all religions are the same. Which explains Britain's long history of religious tolerance. Or something.

And we can rely on The Sun to continue to promote this tolerance. Why, it was The Sun's very own Dominic Mohan who sparked the return of Band Aid, thereby helping to bring a message of Christian peace, love and snowflakes to the starving people of Africa. And now, they plan to fight valiantly to defend Christmas itself from the accursed heathens who dare to attack it in the name of religious sensitivity.

SIDEBAR - A cold-hearted cynic such as myself might draw parallels between their current slogan ("The Sun: We love it!"), these recent efforts, and the efforts of a semi-fictional character who had a desperate need to be loved, while sadly being unable to feel the emotion himself. But to do so would be wrong. (Coughs, splutters and whispers "Rosebud" before breathing his last.)

UPDATE - *cough*

UPDATE - And just take a look at what happens when there is "no governing moral standard"...

Posted by Manic at 10:09 AM | Comments (5)

December 8, 2004

Limmy.com - creator of Flash music video, video and various other wonders

Limmy makes some great stuff. You may have some trouble with the flash-driven mystery-meat navigation, so if you can't find your way into playthings then please allow me to direct you to straight to this totally bitchin' work of art.

Also check out this off-site video for Slam. It's pretty straightforward stuff, but it oozes charm.

Posted by Manic at 4:36 PM | Comments (0)

Weblog Marketing - a word to the witless

Bloody hell. Take a look at this complete waste of space. (That goes for the web space itself and the dipsquit behind it.)

It's pretty obvious what he's up to, and how little thought/effort has gone into it.

Posted by Manic at 4:10 PM | Comments (0)

Lessons the UK can learn from internet(s) use in the US elections

I went to this event last night:
Online Campaigning: Lessons the UK can learn from internet use in US elections

Here's a write-up by Brian Wheeler.

There were some interesting opinions and some bullshits ones. Some interesting statistics... and some bullshit ones.

The key bullshit statistic came from Professor Stephen Coleman, who crunched quite a few interesting numbers from before and after the US election, but the slide that really caught my attention suggested that television was a primary influencer of voters, but equally influential were emails from - and discussions with - friends/family. Whose opinions were formed by... what, exactly? My guess would be television.

The discussion of websites, weblogs, meetups and fundraisers made it clear that there was also a pattern of raising money online (or via communities online) in order to spend it on... television.

This didn't just involve candidates. Organisations like MoveOn.org and the Swift Boat Liars had their campaigns geared to raising money for broadcast, too.

Still, the use of humour (online and offline) and its overall influence was on pretty steady ground statistically. And my experiences here at Bloggerheads bear that out.

The key bullshit opinion came from... Professor Stephen Coleman.

Professor Coleman doesn't have a weblog himself. He even stated quite clearly that he doesn't spend a lot of time looking at them. But that didn't stop him from assuring everyone present that weblogs take a lot of time to manage.

Oh, really? How does he know?

FFS, this is the kind of disinformation that makes the campaign to get MPs blogging that much harder; I wish 'experts' would stop keeping this myth alive.

Forgive me for repeating myself:
Maintaining a weblog doesn't take a lot of time. It requires a lot of commitment. There is a difference.

Moving right along...

Phil Noble noticed political banner ads getting click-through rates of up to 30% (the average click-through rate for banners is 3%)... so I may have to re-think banner ads in the coming months. While I also work out how to take my meagre budget and gear it towards broadcast output.

Oh, and a lot of people in the audience were aware of (and discussing) this piece from yesterday's Times...

Why Tony Blair should be worrying: Some Labour voters simply want to punish the Government. For some of them, not all, the threat of letting the Tories in is less of a deterrent than it once was. Many of them do not believe that there will be a big enough swing to defeat the Government outright, but that enough will vote to tame the Government. For some of those Labour voters who believe the Prime Minister misled the country over the war, voting for anti-war candidates is fast becoming a duty. I write as someone who supports the war in Iraq and knows that many of my constituents will punish me at the election.

You need to keep the above in mind when you consider what Julia Glidden said right at the end of the event. She was of the opinion that during the UK General Election we wouldn't see a serious level of online engagement from the established parties, but we would see more third parties "smashing monolithic messaging."

She doesn't know how right she is. And she is right. It's not often a revolution is undertaken by the establishment.

UPDATE - Here's the VoxPolitics view. Keep an eye on Slugger; he should have a post up shortly.

UPDATE - Yup, Thar she blows. And the Hansard round-up (a collection of other round-ups, really) is here.

Posted by Manic at 3:47 PM | Comments (0)

Romeo and Juliet (sings) especially for youuuu

This post is dedicated to the lovely publicist for SkyMovies who sent me a plug for their latest amazing online quiz (also available as an Excel attachment) without actually looking at my site first. Bless.

Romeo and Juliet - the personalized romance novel!

Quite possibly the best thing ever. Your own version of Romeo and Juliet, except with the names of you and your life-partner in place of the (former) heroes. And, just in case you have trouble imagining that, they provide you with the following samples:

"Oh Romeo, Romeo Brad, Brad. Wherefore art thou Romeo Brad?"

"But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet Helen is the sun."

It gets better....

You can also choose a 'Happy Ending Version', where "a new scene is added with an unexpected plot twist - the lovers live happily ever after!"

:o)

Posted by Manic at 1:19 PM | Comments (4)

Blogdex: Today's Outrages, Advice and Insights

The moral outrage is driven by a minority. There's a surprise. Now, here are some cartoon characters stripped bare (SFW). Are you outraged? No?

OK, tinfoil time then: In sworn affidavit, programmer says he developed vote-rigging prototype for Florida congressman; Congressman's office silent. But surely this prototype was only used to test the machines, thereby making them more secure?

(UPDATE - More links and much discussion at Slashdot.)

US admits the war for 'hearts and minds' in Iraq is now lost. I am shocked. That such an admission would be made.

Kevin Drum has a few questions for you. My answer to Question 2 is a charter from a few days back:

Guardian - Washington funds false sex lessons: The Bush administration is funding sexual health projects that teach children that HIV can be contracted through sweat and tears, touching genitals can result in pregnancy, and that a 43-day-old foetus is a thinking person. A congressional analysis of more than a dozen federally funded "abstinence-only programmes" unveiled a litany of "false, misleading and distorted information" in teaching materials after reviewing curriculums designed to prevent teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease.

Here I choose to direct you to:
The Silver Ring Thing - The Lies of Denny Pattyn
Beware the deadly trouser snake

Finally, we have this:
Five Mistakes Band & Label Sites Make

Here, I choose to point out the success of JPEG Baby (which shows the correct use of Flash to promote music in a way that the music labels are still resisting) and direct you to the following not-entirely-unrelated article:
Hollywood Sites, Hollywood URLs

Posted by Manic at 1:11 PM | Comments (0)

Iraq, Friendly Fire, Civilian Casualties, and a Total Lack Of Torture

Washington Post - Barrage of Bullets Drowned Out Cries of Comrades - Myths shaped Pat Tillman's reputation, and mystery shrouded his death. A long-haired, fierce-hitting defensive back with the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League, he turned away a $3.6 million contract after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to volunteer for the war on terrorism, ultimately giving his life in combat in Taliban-infested southeastern Afghanistan. Millions of stunned Americans mourned his death last April 22 and embraced his sacrifice as a rare example of courage and national service. But the full story of how Tillman ended up on that Afghan ridge and why he died at the hands of his own comrades has never been told

And one can only wonder why...

Store that bit about Pat Tillman's primary motivation. I'll get back to it shortly.

For now, let's take a look at what else is being hidden from us while we're being asked to support the troops and believe in a humanitarian mission to rescue Iraqis.

BBC - Hold Iraq death probe, Blair told - Forty-six eminent figures including military men, ex-diplomats and bishops have written to Tony Blair urging a inquiry into civilian deaths in Iraq. It comes after a study in medical journal the Lancet said nearly 100,000 died following the invasion. The study, by US and Iraqi researchers, suggested the risk of violent death was higher after the war than before. UK ministers rejected October's Lancet figures, but have offered no alternative estimate of their own.

It was bizarre hearing Jack Straw on Radio 4 a few weeks ago disputing 'questionable' civilian casualty figures by citing the numbers provided by Iraq Body Count.

1. These numbers are based on a comprehensive survey of online media reports. In other words, any death(s) announced by the U.S. Army or witnessed by a journalist. Of course, we can trust entirely the figures released by the former. And the latter can move freely about Iraq in order to bear witness to every incident, large or small.

2. Iraq Body Count exists because the almighty coalition hasn't been doing what is their legal and moral duty...

Allies accused of breaking Geneva Conventions on civilian losses: This is not usual in modern warfare. In most past conflicts, attempts were made to keep a tally of civilian losses. Legal experts say that, particularly in the case of Iraq, it is the duty of occupying powers to do so under the Geneva Conventions. The Pentagon says it is not helpful to keep a "body count". Yet, there is no hesitation in giving numbers of Iraqi fighters, described as "Saddam loyalists" and "al-Qa'ida elements" who have supposedly been eliminated by the Allies.

Jack Straw is now referring to figures from the Iraqi Ministry of Health... which handily only provides figures between April and October 2004. And only counts people/bodies that manage to find their way to a hospital.

But.. wait a mo... let's be fair. The U.S. is keeping a tally of civilian casualties. They're just keeping those figures under wraps. Perhaps they would care to give Jack Straw or Tony Blair a peek at their figures. It may help them to speak with some authority on the subject.

Moving right along....

CNN - Navy: Some SEALs photos show approved tactics - Preliminary findings of a military inquiry suggest that some of the recently published photographs of Navy special forces capturing detainees in Iraq were taken for legitimate intelligence-gathering purposes and showed commandos using approved procedures, a Navy spokesman said. The photos, which have drawn a strong reaction in Arab media, also appear to show Navy SEALs sitting or lying on top of hooded and handcuffed detainees in the back of a pickup truck.

1. Heh. Some.
2. Cruel and inhumane - but approved. I'm a big fan of hooding especially, because its effects are twofold: it's distressing to the prisoner, but it also helps to dehumanise the subject. Wait. Backtrack. Better make that 'object' now it has a bag on its head.

With these kinds of 'approved procedures' alone, the Bush administration has a case to answer over Abu Ghraib. They helped to create a culture of abuse.

Further - and here we get back to Pat Tillman's primary motivation - the lie about the Iraq/911 connection wasn't only fed to the folks at home - it was used to motivate the troops. Are we really surprised that someone is such a situation would want a little misplaced payback?

Even further, deeper and uglier is the culture of lawlessness. The invasion itself was illegal. The detention of men, women and children in Guantanamo Bay and the conscious decision of the Bush administration to migrate detention/interrogation procedures from 'Gitmo' to U.S.-run prisons in Iraq was not only misguided, but extremely irresponsible. At the very least.

And speaking of everybody's favourite illegal detention centre...

We recently learned that 'evidence' gained through use of torture can be used against the detainees in Guantanamo Bay. Allow me to take my Naive Peacenik beanie off for long enough to point out that a man who is being tortured is likely to say any old rubbish. It's an entirely impractical way to gain quality intelligence.

(puts beanie back on)

The Red Cross reporting psychological/physical coercion "tantamount to torture" is one thing. People ignoring it? That's to be expected. They reported the same thing in Abu Ghraib in 2003, but the outrages didn't cease until everybody saw the pictures in early 2004.

Oh., Sorry. Hang on...

New York Times - Iraqi Prisoner Abuse Reported After Abu Ghraib Disclosures: Two Defense Department intelligence officials reported observing brutal treatment of Iraqi insurgents captured in Baghdad in June, several weeks after disclosures of abuses at Abu Ghraib prison created a worldwide uproar, according to a memorandum disclosed Tuesday.

Sorry about that near-inaccuracy. Now, where was I? Oh, yes. The Red Cross reporting psychological/physical coercion "tantamount to torture" is one thing, but for the FBI to report cases of physical abuse and 'intense isolation' at Guantanamo is another. But perhaps not. We've known for quite some time that the FBI and CIA have been infiltrated by liberal nancy-boys. (Phew! Another near-inaccuracy averted. We better wrap this up soon.)

So, in summary....

A. Evidence gained via torture is admissible. But no-one has been tortured.

B. Troops and the folks at home are fed the idea that Iraqis were responsible for 911, and hooding etc. is totally acceptable. Except when its unauthorised, when it's not. But either way, it has no negative effect on the troops themselves. Because...

C. There is no culture of lawlessness or abuse. Even if the whole war is illegal and a blind eye is turned to abuse.

D. The U.S. Army visibly shows its concerns for Iraqis by maintaining a tally of civilian casualties. And keeping it a secret.

E. And it's vitally important that we support the troops. Except for those few bad apples who for no good reason abuse Iraqis and/or treat them like something less than human beings. We know they certainly weren't ordered to do so to aid intelligence-gathering. Even if using the detention process to 'soften up' prisoners for interrogation is/was official U.S. policy. (Go back to A.)

Posted by Manic at 10:45 AM | Comments (1)

December 5, 2004

Tim Ireland: Teh Profile

A new version of my profile has been published here:
Tim Ireland

This will also lead to details regarding search engine optimisation, viral marketing and weblog marketing.

Posted by Manic at 4:56 PM

December 3, 2004

Bloggerheads II now live!

If you're reading this, it means that the DNS change has properly-gated and Bloggerheads II is officially live.

Well, almost. I had to make do with one or two 'coming soon' pages. Some static pages have been slotted in as posts (and back-dated), but for the most part we start anew from this point on. With about 10 exceptions...

Given the lack of comments and permalinks that has stood in our way these past years, I thought it might be nice to start off by opening up some of the juicer posts from last month.

Scroll down and fire at will.

Posted by Manic at 11:56 PM | Comments (21)

Star Wars Photoshopping Project Poster now available!

T-shirts? Pshaw!

The Star Wars Photoshopping Project has now mutated into poster form!

And just in time for Christmas, too!

I know they're a little pricey, but the prints are on photo-quality/thickness paper and won't fade for 100 years. You may not plan on living that long right now, but I'm sure you'll feel better in the morning.

I've got a test print in front of me; it's truly awesome. I plan to put it up in the living room so it can serve as a useful distraction during uncomfortable silences.

Posted by Manic at 5:33 PM | Comments (2)