Thursday, December 27, 2007
Fox News, These Are Your Children...
I have now received three student papers that discuss Iraq's attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11...
Meanwhile, the tragic and brutal assassination of Benazir Bhutto does mean that her supporters don't need to worry about her apparent cosying up with Pervez Musharraf (trying to ingratiate herself with someone she saw as remaining the main power in Pakistani politics, or ingratiating herself in order to persuade him to step aside?) and forget about all the corruption that happened last time she was in power.
Meanwhile, the tragic and brutal assassination of Benazir Bhutto does mean that her supporters don't need to worry about her apparent cosying up with Pervez Musharraf (trying to ingratiate herself with someone she saw as remaining the main power in Pakistani politics, or ingratiating herself in order to persuade him to step aside?) and forget about all the corruption that happened last time she was in power.
Labels: 11/09/01, Fox, Iraq, Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, The War Against Terror
Friday, July 06, 2007
One of those things that Patrick will dismiss...
Labels: 11/09/01, climate change, George 'Shrubya' Bush, Iraq, journalists, The War Against Terror, United States, YouTube
Monday, September 11, 2006
So, I've heard that today's some kind of anniversary yeah? Wait, don't tell me, let me guess... It's your birthday right? Hey, looking good, not a day over... not a birthday? Wedding anniversary? Between Tony Blair's face and George Bush's arse? Hmmm, five years, I believe that's wood... Not a wedding anniversary? But I'm getting close right?
So, yeah, September the 11th 2001, or 'niynellevun' as the USians would have it. Grief's a weird thing, I didn't feel anything when my Nan died, my sister was almost hysterical at the end of the service and a few years ago refused to hear any conversation that included the inevitability of our parent's eventual demise. I suspect it's part and parcel of being a moody bugger, I don't tend to go much lower when something genuinely bad happens.
Of course, there's other reasons to distrust public mournathons. The wailing and gnashing of teeth following the death of Princess Di wrongfooted me as much as it did the royal family, I didn't understand how anyone could devote so much of their time to following someone else so intently, 'were they crazy?' I thought, 'I wouldn't do something like that'. The fact that many many times the number of people who died in the Twin Towers on that September day in 2001 have died in the rest of the world since, both those against the American imperialists, those for, and those unfortunate to have been caught in between. The Independent's figures make grim reading.
When passion drives policy it's a bad thing. Thomas Sutcliffe wrote an insightful article in the Independent in March 2000 asking why the parents of Leah Betts or Stephen Lawrence should be allowed to influence policy. When a situation exists where you think the passion is manufactured to drive policy it's worse. The Sun fakes passion as a matter of course. The overwhelming feeling I felt on the 11th of September 2001 was a sinking one that Bush and the neocons around him were going to use these poor dead people as an excuse to kill a hell of a lot more, I couldn't believe they genuinely felt sorrow, but knew that they couldn't show their smiles publicly.
So, sure, let's remember those who died on this anniversary. But let's remember all of those who died, Americans, British, Israelis, Palestinians, Lebanese, Iraqis, Afghans. Those that died in the Al Qaida attacks on this country, Spain, India and other parts of the world. Let us remember those who no longer walk upon this earth and those who do: Osama Bin Ladin; Ayman al-Zawahiri; Mullah Omar; Tony Blair; George W. Bush; Richard Cheney; Donald Rumsfeld.
So, yeah, September the 11th 2001, or 'niynellevun' as the USians would have it. Grief's a weird thing, I didn't feel anything when my Nan died, my sister was almost hysterical at the end of the service and a few years ago refused to hear any conversation that included the inevitability of our parent's eventual demise. I suspect it's part and parcel of being a moody bugger, I don't tend to go much lower when something genuinely bad happens.
Of course, there's other reasons to distrust public mournathons. The wailing and gnashing of teeth following the death of Princess Di wrongfooted me as much as it did the royal family, I didn't understand how anyone could devote so much of their time to following someone else so intently, 'were they crazy?' I thought, 'I wouldn't do something like that'. The fact that many many times the number of people who died in the Twin Towers on that September day in 2001 have died in the rest of the world since, both those against the American imperialists, those for, and those unfortunate to have been caught in between. The Independent's figures make grim reading.
When passion drives policy it's a bad thing. Thomas Sutcliffe wrote an insightful article in the Independent in March 2000 asking why the parents of Leah Betts or Stephen Lawrence should be allowed to influence policy. When a situation exists where you think the passion is manufactured to drive policy it's worse. The Sun fakes passion as a matter of course. The overwhelming feeling I felt on the 11th of September 2001 was a sinking one that Bush and the neocons around him were going to use these poor dead people as an excuse to kill a hell of a lot more, I couldn't believe they genuinely felt sorrow, but knew that they couldn't show their smiles publicly.
So, sure, let's remember those who died on this anniversary. But let's remember all of those who died, Americans, British, Israelis, Palestinians, Lebanese, Iraqis, Afghans. Those that died in the Al Qaida attacks on this country, Spain, India and other parts of the world. Let us remember those who no longer walk upon this earth and those who do: Osama Bin Ladin; Ayman al-Zawahiri; Mullah Omar; Tony Blair; George W. Bush; Richard Cheney; Donald Rumsfeld.
Labels: 11/09/01, Afghanistan, Fox, freedom, George 'Shrubya' Bush, Iraq, News International, personal history, The Sun, The War Against Terror, Tony Blair, United States, Weapons of Mass Destruction
Senator Thatcher from Kesteven comes back from the dead to warn us not to go wobbly.
First, the picture in this news report, can we be absolutely sure Maggie Thatcher hasn't died already? Can we bury her now, just in case? And why have the Americans invited her and not Tony to their five-years-on scaremongering wing-ding?
First, the picture in this news report, can we be absolutely sure Maggie Thatcher hasn't died already? Can we bury her now, just in case? And why have the Americans invited her and not Tony to their five-years-on scaremongering wing-ding?
Labels: 11/09/01, Margaret Thatcher, The War Against Terror
Saturday, September 02, 2006
I may have drunk a little before writing this...
Much as there are various levels to how terrified the Government would like us to be*, ranging from flacid to ejaculating with terror! should there not be some similar scale to Tony Blair's sanity, if not for us, then for the benefit of his MPs? Perhaps it could range from Clause 4 was outdated to I can tell which children are going to be troublemakers before they're born using my brane! What exactly is the Labour party up to? I've seen lemmings who've just been fired from their jobs as kamikaze pilots with better self-preservation skills than this shower of muppets. By encouraging a cult of personality Labour can confidently blame their current poor opinion poll figures on one man, Tony Blair. But presumably it's the memory of those dismal 1980s that's stopping them from kicking him off the throne before he takes to carrying a handbag and announcing "we are a grandmother", they're worried that if Blair leaves at any time other than of his own choosing then they are dooming themselves to another generation in Opposition. However, the harsh truth of politics is that Labour are now in a position where they could announce they've discovered a cure for eternal life and everyone will just moan "great, all that money I wasted on a pension scheme" while reading a four page colour supplement on the Leader of the Opposition drowning kittens.
But I'm torn as to why exactly Tony is hanging on, and I suspect Blair is too. He's now given up on any Earthly authority agreeing with him that invading Iraq was a good idea (I've heard that when he dies he wants his ashes blown into space as, considering the universe is infinite there'll be something out there with the power to bring him back to life and say "you were right") so he's now concentrating on what's really important: Fucking up Gordon Brown. He seems to have two options for doing this which are, unfortunately, fairly exclusive. However, Tony is not one for avoiding a decision when he can just take two paths. The first plan is to find a protege who could fight Brown and win. They've come and gone (Steven Byers) but generally it's whoever is wearing the number three jersey. He'll be very happy with how John Reid saved us all from terror over the summer* and the fact that people were more interested in the idea of John Prescott in a cowboy hat and very little else in June rather than the Chancellor's second son. And someone from John Reid's team was on Newsnight on Thursday to deny her boss had any ambitions for the top chair so that's about as clear as you can get: John Reid knows how to kill a man without leaving a mark, Gordon Brown should watch which alleyways he walks down.
Tony Blair's second plan is scorched earth, when he leaves Number 10 he'll also be leaving British politics, so with the Labour party having outlived it's usefulness to his ambitions he's quite happy to have it in such a parlous state that should Gordon Brown be leader he'll be so busy fighting fires in his own backyard that it'll make the Major years look like a model in how to run a tight ship. If Blair cannot prevent Brown becoming Prime Minister he certainly doesn't want him winning elections as well.
Blair stopped (even the pretense of) running this country for the benefit of the British people some time ago, 11th of September 2001 as memory serves. But now he's not doing it for the Americans or even Newscorp any more**, now he's doing it purely out of spite*.
* And how confident do you feel that, at the time of writing, the crisis level has not changed since the 14th of August?
** Both Blair and Reid have made recent pilgrimages to kiss the ring of Rupert Murdoch. Does anyone know the last time Gordon Brown made the necessary genuflections?
But I'm torn as to why exactly Tony is hanging on, and I suspect Blair is too. He's now given up on any Earthly authority agreeing with him that invading Iraq was a good idea (I've heard that when he dies he wants his ashes blown into space as, considering the universe is infinite there'll be something out there with the power to bring him back to life and say "you were right") so he's now concentrating on what's really important: Fucking up Gordon Brown. He seems to have two options for doing this which are, unfortunately, fairly exclusive. However, Tony is not one for avoiding a decision when he can just take two paths. The first plan is to find a protege who could fight Brown and win. They've come and gone (Steven Byers) but generally it's whoever is wearing the number three jersey. He'll be very happy with how John Reid saved us all from terror over the summer* and the fact that people were more interested in the idea of John Prescott in a cowboy hat and very little else in June rather than the Chancellor's second son. And someone from John Reid's team was on Newsnight on Thursday to deny her boss had any ambitions for the top chair so that's about as clear as you can get: John Reid knows how to kill a man without leaving a mark, Gordon Brown should watch which alleyways he walks down.
Tony Blair's second plan is scorched earth, when he leaves Number 10 he'll also be leaving British politics, so with the Labour party having outlived it's usefulness to his ambitions he's quite happy to have it in such a parlous state that should Gordon Brown be leader he'll be so busy fighting fires in his own backyard that it'll make the Major years look like a model in how to run a tight ship. If Blair cannot prevent Brown becoming Prime Minister he certainly doesn't want him winning elections as well.
Blair stopped (even the pretense of) running this country for the benefit of the British people some time ago, 11th of September 2001 as memory serves. But now he's not doing it for the Americans or even Newscorp any more**, now he's doing it purely out of spite*.
* And how confident do you feel that, at the time of writing, the crisis level has not changed since the 14th of August?
** Both Blair and Reid have made recent pilgrimages to kiss the ring of Rupert Murdoch. Does anyone know the last time Gordon Brown made the necessary genuflections?
Labels: 11/09/01, Gordon Brown, Labour, The War Against Terror, Tony Blair
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
ARGH!!!!!!!
30% of Americans polled couldn't say what year the 11th September attack on the World Trade Centre happened. I suppose that the word 'polled' should be emphasised, and we have to hope that the smart Americans were too busy working to answer the phone to the pollsters who had to go to the ill-educated daytime soap crowd instead, but Jesus. It shows why Shrubya got elected that one time...
Labels: 11/09/01, The War Against Terror, United States
