Today is National Unicorn Day, when we celebrate the mythical creatures by sticking a horn on our pets, taking pictures of them on our mobiles and uploading them to facebook.
Of course Unicorns are the stuff of fairy tales and made up stories which brings us neatly to the Bible, where tales of Unicorns are abundant.
Now us atheists use this as a another stick to beat the religious with, scoffing that the Bible is a book of nice fairy stories but we shouldn't be so quick to judge, maybe there really was horned horses frolicking about the Middle East 2000 years ago.
The explanation comes from the Rev Hanz who explains that when they say 'Unicorn', they actually mean 'Rhinoceros' and i agree that it is easy to mix up the two animals, the amount of times i have sat watching a David Attenbrough programme and wondered if that 1.5 tonne animal stomping across the screen was a horned horse or a rhino.
I guess if you are willing to believe that a talking snake told a woman to eat an apple or that a man and his family managed to fit two of every kind of animal on a boat then you would swallow the 'we said Unicorns but we meant Rhino's' explanation.
Carry on.
Monday, 10 April 2017
Sunday, 9 April 2017
Syrian War In A Nutshell
Syria wasn't supposed to be like this, it was meant to be a case of hijacking a popular protest, hand the protesters a few tonnes of arms and when it all turns violent, use the violence as a pretext for another 'humanitarian intervention' which includes bombing the Government into submission, install a western friendly puppet government and sit back and mop up the rebuilding and oil contracts.
Obviously Libya went wrong, as did Iraq and Afghanistan but Syria would be different but the West didn't anticipate Russia being in the mix.
Hot on the heels of the Arab Spring in 2011, a small revolt broke out in Syria, a protest that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad brutally put down but actually had the opposite effect of increasing the anger against the Syrian Government.
Now al-Assad has some friends that the West are not particularly fond of so they saw a chance to oust him and bring in their own more friendly Government so they began shovelling funds and arms to the protesters hoping they would do the regime change bit for them.
The Syrian Government retaliated with the military so the West sent even more arms and funds to the 'rebels', only the 'rebels' included remnants of Al Queada, now calling themselves Islamic State, who had popped across the border from Iraq.
Now armed with heavy weapons, the 'rebels' said thank you very much and not only fought against the Syrian Government forces but popped back across the border back into Iraq where they over-run the north of the country.
America, disturbed that the same people they have given the arms to had used them to attack cities in the country that America had spent a decade fighting for, they found themselves in the ludicrous situation of arming and fighting against the same group of people depending on which side of the Syrian/Iraq border they were stood on.
Al-Assad said he was fighting terrorists, Russia agreed and joined the frey by bombing the 'rebels' while the West watched on until a chemical attack in 2013 which the West blamed on the Syrian Government and made all sort of threats about removing al-Assad but the British Government voted against military action, mainly because the intelligence was that action against the Syrian Government would only benefit Islamic State and without Britain taking it's usual position by it's side in a war, America decided they couldn't justify it either so it went back to the Western backed, heavily armed 'rebels' fighting the Russian backed, heavily armed Government.
Then, a chemical attack in the past fortnight and America decided that the Government forces killing thousands with conventional weapons is one thing but using chemical weapons is beyond the pale and fired 59 missiles at the Syrian airport where the Americans believe the attack originated from.
That then brings us up to date in the Syrian civil war where Russia and Syria face off against the West and their rag tag band of rebels fighting for democracy and freedom/terrorists bringing death and mayhem depending on if they are doing their thing with the weapons the West handed them in Iraq or Syria.
I'm sure it will all work out fine in the end though like it hasn't in Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya...fifth times the charm.
Obviously Libya went wrong, as did Iraq and Afghanistan but Syria would be different but the West didn't anticipate Russia being in the mix.
Hot on the heels of the Arab Spring in 2011, a small revolt broke out in Syria, a protest that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad brutally put down but actually had the opposite effect of increasing the anger against the Syrian Government.
Now al-Assad has some friends that the West are not particularly fond of so they saw a chance to oust him and bring in their own more friendly Government so they began shovelling funds and arms to the protesters hoping they would do the regime change bit for them.
The Syrian Government retaliated with the military so the West sent even more arms and funds to the 'rebels', only the 'rebels' included remnants of Al Queada, now calling themselves Islamic State, who had popped across the border from Iraq.
Now armed with heavy weapons, the 'rebels' said thank you very much and not only fought against the Syrian Government forces but popped back across the border back into Iraq where they over-run the north of the country.
America, disturbed that the same people they have given the arms to had used them to attack cities in the country that America had spent a decade fighting for, they found themselves in the ludicrous situation of arming and fighting against the same group of people depending on which side of the Syrian/Iraq border they were stood on.
Al-Assad said he was fighting terrorists, Russia agreed and joined the frey by bombing the 'rebels' while the West watched on until a chemical attack in 2013 which the West blamed on the Syrian Government and made all sort of threats about removing al-Assad but the British Government voted against military action, mainly because the intelligence was that action against the Syrian Government would only benefit Islamic State and without Britain taking it's usual position by it's side in a war, America decided they couldn't justify it either so it went back to the Western backed, heavily armed 'rebels' fighting the Russian backed, heavily armed Government.
Then, a chemical attack in the past fortnight and America decided that the Government forces killing thousands with conventional weapons is one thing but using chemical weapons is beyond the pale and fired 59 missiles at the Syrian airport where the Americans believe the attack originated from.
That then brings us up to date in the Syrian civil war where Russia and Syria face off against the West and their rag tag band of rebels fighting for democracy and freedom/terrorists bringing death and mayhem depending on if they are doing their thing with the weapons the West handed them in Iraq or Syria.
I'm sure it will all work out fine in the end though like it hasn't in Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya...fifth times the charm.
Friday, 7 April 2017
The Wrong Action By Trump In Syria
Well we all said something had to be done but was lobbing 59 cruise missiles at yet another Middle Eastern country really the sensible thing to do?
Trump made much of the dead Syrian babies angle so if he cares that much about dead infants, will he now be stepping up to stop the bombing of Gaza, Mosul, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Afghanistan?
How much was he beating himself up about the 200 dead civilians at the hands of the Americans bombers in Mosul just a week ago? I'm sure there were some babies in that gruesome roll call.
He has such care for Muslim children all of a sudden, but only if the deaths are by Chemicals dropped from on high, killing children by conventional weapons he doesn't seem to have so much of a care about, just don't use gas is the message.
The most suspect aspect is that by attacking the Syrian Government, the largest benefactor is Islamic State and their motley crew of terror groups. Libya showed what happens when we act as their air-force.
After the debacle of Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq and a $20 trillion debt, i wonder how the American people feel about 59 cruise missiles costing $1.6 million each being thrown into Syria, especially the $100 million bill to help the groups they are currently fighting against in Iraq.
We are yet to hear of the effects and any civilian deaths especially as we have been told that not all of the 59 missiles accurately reached their target but Britain was predictably the first to stand by Trump and back his actions but we have long learnt that this Government has little or no morals.
Trump is calling for nations to join him in his Syrian crusade but as he has shown, he is the last person anyone should be trusting to bring peace to anywhere.
All i can see from the actions are Islamic State strengthened, a very annoyed Russia and America being made to continue to look like the warmongering nation it is suspected of being run by a simple man who has little or no idea of the effects of his actions in an already volatile region.
Trump made much of the dead Syrian babies angle so if he cares that much about dead infants, will he now be stepping up to stop the bombing of Gaza, Mosul, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Afghanistan?
How much was he beating himself up about the 200 dead civilians at the hands of the Americans bombers in Mosul just a week ago? I'm sure there were some babies in that gruesome roll call.
He has such care for Muslim children all of a sudden, but only if the deaths are by Chemicals dropped from on high, killing children by conventional weapons he doesn't seem to have so much of a care about, just don't use gas is the message.
The most suspect aspect is that by attacking the Syrian Government, the largest benefactor is Islamic State and their motley crew of terror groups. Libya showed what happens when we act as their air-force.
After the debacle of Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq and a $20 trillion debt, i wonder how the American people feel about 59 cruise missiles costing $1.6 million each being thrown into Syria, especially the $100 million bill to help the groups they are currently fighting against in Iraq.
We are yet to hear of the effects and any civilian deaths especially as we have been told that not all of the 59 missiles accurately reached their target but Britain was predictably the first to stand by Trump and back his actions but we have long learnt that this Government has little or no morals.
Trump is calling for nations to join him in his Syrian crusade but as he has shown, he is the last person anyone should be trusting to bring peace to anywhere.
All i can see from the actions are Islamic State strengthened, a very annoyed Russia and America being made to continue to look like the warmongering nation it is suspected of being run by a simple man who has little or no idea of the effects of his actions in an already volatile region.
Thursday, 6 April 2017
Stalemate In Syria
It is heartbreaking to see what is going on in Syria and the scenes of the victims of the gas attack rightly caused outrage around the World and quite rightly something has to be done, the question is what can anyone do?
Donald Trump made a speech about crossing a red line and Russia defended the Syrian President Bashar al Assad while 80 people lay dead in a morgue, but Syia is such a basket case with so many countries fighting on either side that it is hard to see how anyone can do anything without sparking off a war amongst nations.
America have been trying to oust the President from the first day but Russia have been backing him so America can't attack the Syrian Army as they are under the protection of Russia.
The Syrian Army are fighting the rebels and Islamic State so any attack on the Army would benefit IS as well which nobody wants.
The Kurds are fighting on the side of the rebels but Turkey are attacking the Kurds as they deem them terrorists and Israel are becoming more involved against the Syrian Army but they are allied to America so Russia won't be attacking them.
Stalemate all around but why the big boys argue over who is to blame and spit out pointless rhetoric, the poor Syrians stuck in the middle continue to bury their dead.
Something has to be done but it is such a mess that it is hard to see exactly what anyone can do but for certain more military intervention will not make things any better.
Donald Trump made a speech about crossing a red line and Russia defended the Syrian President Bashar al Assad while 80 people lay dead in a morgue, but Syia is such a basket case with so many countries fighting on either side that it is hard to see how anyone can do anything without sparking off a war amongst nations.
America have been trying to oust the President from the first day but Russia have been backing him so America can't attack the Syrian Army as they are under the protection of Russia.
The Syrian Army are fighting the rebels and Islamic State so any attack on the Army would benefit IS as well which nobody wants.
The Kurds are fighting on the side of the rebels but Turkey are attacking the Kurds as they deem them terrorists and Israel are becoming more involved against the Syrian Army but they are allied to America so Russia won't be attacking them.
Stalemate all around but why the big boys argue over who is to blame and spit out pointless rhetoric, the poor Syrians stuck in the middle continue to bury their dead.
Something has to be done but it is such a mess that it is hard to see exactly what anyone can do but for certain more military intervention will not make things any better.
Wednesday, 5 April 2017
Kurt Cobain 23rd Anniversary
Unbelievably, today is the 23rd anniversary of the death of Kurt Cobain, the Nirvana singer who took his own life after a battle with drugs, depression and his fame.
Widely revered as the father of Grunge in the early 90s, the legend continues and t-shirts bearing the Nirvana legend continue to adorn teenagers today who were not even born when the band picked up pop music by the scruff of the neck.
With one amazing album, 'Nevermind' and a couple of average ones, 'Bleach', 'In Utero' and 'Incesticide', Cobain and his band do seem to have endured the years on the strength of a handful of great songs although those few songs did inspire a whole generation of musicians.
Cobain on the other hand, was the epitome of cool, the long blonde hair, the piercing blue eyes, the languid 'don't care' approach and the downplaying of his and his bands own place in music history.
The album 'Nevermind' was the bands highwater mark and 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' is as great a song as has graced the charts and although they never hit those heights again, and the Unplugged album released just before he committed suicide split Nirvana fans who either loved or hated it, such was the influence of that album and the four songs from it, that Nirvana and Kurt Cobain will be remembered long into the future.
Widely revered as the father of Grunge in the early 90s, the legend continues and t-shirts bearing the Nirvana legend continue to adorn teenagers today who were not even born when the band picked up pop music by the scruff of the neck.
With one amazing album, 'Nevermind' and a couple of average ones, 'Bleach', 'In Utero' and 'Incesticide', Cobain and his band do seem to have endured the years on the strength of a handful of great songs although those few songs did inspire a whole generation of musicians.
Cobain on the other hand, was the epitome of cool, the long blonde hair, the piercing blue eyes, the languid 'don't care' approach and the downplaying of his and his bands own place in music history.
The album 'Nevermind' was the bands highwater mark and 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' is as great a song as has graced the charts and although they never hit those heights again, and the Unplugged album released just before he committed suicide split Nirvana fans who either loved or hated it, such was the influence of that album and the four songs from it, that Nirvana and Kurt Cobain will be remembered long into the future.
Should Have Gone Straight To DVD
How bad does a film have to be to sell just one ticket in its opening weekend, as bad as Man Down it appears.
The film starring Shia LaBeouf is about a US soldier suffering from Post Traumatic Syndrome and grossed a grand total of £7 and the mystery viewer watched in Burnley.
The film now ties with the 2004, Polish effort, My Nikifor, which also sold 1 ticket and grossed the same £7 during its entire run.
Man Down opened at the Venice Film Festival last year to boos and walkouts from the audience and took a savaging at film sites with words such as 'confusing' and 'irredeemable' not likely to appear on the advertising blurb anytime soon.
The film starring Shia LaBeouf is about a US soldier suffering from Post Traumatic Syndrome and grossed a grand total of £7 and the mystery viewer watched in Burnley.
The film now ties with the 2004, Polish effort, My Nikifor, which also sold 1 ticket and grossed the same £7 during its entire run.
Man Down opened at the Venice Film Festival last year to boos and walkouts from the audience and took a savaging at film sites with words such as 'confusing' and 'irredeemable' not likely to appear on the advertising blurb anytime soon.
Tuesday, 4 April 2017
Whoring Out Britain For Trade Deals
From the self confessed sex fiend in the White House to the head chopping regime in Saudi Arabia, Theresa May is on a one woman mission to whore Britain out for trade deals and mixing it with some very gruesome regimes as she does it.
When questioned about bringing up the subject of human rights to the Saudi Arabians, she gave a patronising claims that she was going as a female role model and quickly moved on to avoid tough questions on pounding Yemen with British bombs in one of the world’s greatest humanitarian crises.
Then there was a visit to Turkey which is fast degenerating into dictatorship with journalism being curtailed and opposition figures jailed. We did sign a lovely £100m fighter jet deal with them though.
Not forgetting the World's worst neighbour, Israel, who has been expanding the illegal settlements at an prodigious rate but our Prime Minister May forgets to mention to the human rights-abusing Israeli government So there is Brexit, whoring ourselves out to the racist Donald Trump, dictatorial Saudi Arabians, Thuggish Turks and Israeli human right abusers all for the promise of a trade deal.
What isn't apparent is just what the nasty regimes we are mixing it with are demanding in return for their money or just what Theresa May is promising to compromise in desperation to offset the EU losses but it will all become apparent soon.
When questioned about bringing up the subject of human rights to the Saudi Arabians, she gave a patronising claims that she was going as a female role model and quickly moved on to avoid tough questions on pounding Yemen with British bombs in one of the world’s greatest humanitarian crises.
Then there was a visit to Turkey which is fast degenerating into dictatorship with journalism being curtailed and opposition figures jailed. We did sign a lovely £100m fighter jet deal with them though.
Not forgetting the World's worst neighbour, Israel, who has been expanding the illegal settlements at an prodigious rate but our Prime Minister May forgets to mention to the human rights-abusing Israeli government So there is Brexit, whoring ourselves out to the racist Donald Trump, dictatorial Saudi Arabians, Thuggish Turks and Israeli human right abusers all for the promise of a trade deal.
What isn't apparent is just what the nasty regimes we are mixing it with are demanding in return for their money or just what Theresa May is promising to compromise in desperation to offset the EU losses but it will all become apparent soon.
Monday, 3 April 2017
Not Quite Death From Asteroid This April
With the exception of the dinosaurs, who doesn't love a headline that screams we are on a collision course with a massive space rock and this year we are being spoilt because there isn't just one barrelling our way but three in short succession.
First up is 0.6 miles wide asteroid '2014 JO25' which has been slapped with the label 'potentially hazardous' and is due to come our way April 19 and is predicted to be the closest an asteroid has come to Earth in 400 years.
Sounds scary but you may want to postpone booking that trip to the International Space Station just yet though because NASA are predicting it will pass by Earth at a safe distance of about 1.1 million miles or about 5 times further than the moon.
Two other big asteroids, '2003 BD44' expected 18 April and '1999 CU3' on April 19, which are both almost 1.2 miles wide, will also pass by our planet shortly, however they won’t come as close as 2014.
The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs was an estimated 6-8 miles wide and NASA predict that it would take an asteroid just 1.5 miles wide to cause widespread devastation on the planet and throw up enough dust to block out the sun and send humans the same
way as the dinosaurs.
Luckily, the Space Agencies keep an eye on all large space rocks and they have not seen anything yet that size with us in it's path so we can relax and just concern ourselves with people with rocks in their heads running things here on Earth instead.
First up is 0.6 miles wide asteroid '2014 JO25' which has been slapped with the label 'potentially hazardous' and is due to come our way April 19 and is predicted to be the closest an asteroid has come to Earth in 400 years.
Sounds scary but you may want to postpone booking that trip to the International Space Station just yet though because NASA are predicting it will pass by Earth at a safe distance of about 1.1 million miles or about 5 times further than the moon.
Two other big asteroids, '2003 BD44' expected 18 April and '1999 CU3' on April 19, which are both almost 1.2 miles wide, will also pass by our planet shortly, however they won’t come as close as 2014.
The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs was an estimated 6-8 miles wide and NASA predict that it would take an asteroid just 1.5 miles wide to cause widespread devastation on the planet and throw up enough dust to block out the sun and send humans the same
way as the dinosaurs.
Luckily, the Space Agencies keep an eye on all large space rocks and they have not seen anything yet that size with us in it's path so we can relax and just concern ourselves with people with rocks in their heads running things here on Earth instead.
Westminster Attack Aftermath
Within minutes of the attack in Westminster a fortnight ago we had the foghorn voices of the right wing on the media linking it to refugees, illegal immigrants, the EU, multiculturalism and even the repellent Nigel Farage arguing it proved Donald Trump’s racist anti-Muslim policies were correct.
They were revelling in their opportunity to say 'We told you so' as their imaginary fears seemed to have come true as Khalid Masood was dying from a gunshot wound in the back of a London Ambulance, leaving five victims of his madness.
Police swooped and quickly arrested 12 other people in Birmingham and Nottingham under the terrorism act who they suspected had connections to the killer.
The volume went down when it was revealed that the bad guy turned out to be a home grown Brit Adrian Elms from Kent and they are now nowhere to be seen that the Police have released all 12 of the detainees with no charge, say he acted alone and had no connection with radical Islamist groups such as Islamic State or Al-Qaeda.
That the attacker has now been put down to a British man who killed five people because he was a violent psychopath and not due to wanting to kill people who had a different religion to him or because he was an immigrant who hated Britain doesn't play well with the large part of the right wing who are the racist xenophobes so i expect this one will quietly slip away and the wait goes on for the next one where they will be hoping for a better fit for their poisonous rhetoric.
They were revelling in their opportunity to say 'We told you so' as their imaginary fears seemed to have come true as Khalid Masood was dying from a gunshot wound in the back of a London Ambulance, leaving five victims of his madness.
Police swooped and quickly arrested 12 other people in Birmingham and Nottingham under the terrorism act who they suspected had connections to the killer.
The volume went down when it was revealed that the bad guy turned out to be a home grown Brit Adrian Elms from Kent and they are now nowhere to be seen that the Police have released all 12 of the detainees with no charge, say he acted alone and had no connection with radical Islamist groups such as Islamic State or Al-Qaeda.
That the attacker has now been put down to a British man who killed five people because he was a violent psychopath and not due to wanting to kill people who had a different religion to him or because he was an immigrant who hated Britain doesn't play well with the large part of the right wing who are the racist xenophobes so i expect this one will quietly slip away and the wait goes on for the next one where they will be hoping for a better fit for their poisonous rhetoric.
Sunday, 2 April 2017
Brexit Week 1: War With Spain
The EU discussion hasn't got off to the greatest start, first up on the agenda is Gibraltar, with Spain having a long-standing territorial claim on and which has been held by the UK since 1713 and has the status of a British overseas territory.
A quick glance at a map shows that Gibraltar is located in Southern Spain and another quick look at a history book shows how a Dutch-British alliance invaded Gibraltar, booted out the residents and set up a barracks which they have maintained ever since.
A throw back to the days of Empire when the British sailed around the World taking over wherever they docked their boats, it is hard to make a case why a country 1,600 miles away has more of a claim than the country it historically belongs to and is at the southern tip of.
Theresa May and other Government officials have today assured the people of Gibraltar over their status and one overly-excited minister who had obviously eaten too many sweets this morning made a tub-thumping speech about the Falklands and how the British sent a task force half way across the world to defend the freedom of another small group of British people against another Spanish-speaking country.
A spokesman said that Gibraltar would remain British due to the democratically expressed wishes of Gibraltrans which is very reminiscent of the recent vote in the Falklands where the 99% of British folk there were asked if they wanted to remain British or become Argentinian.
The Gibraltans can expect a similar exercise in their democratically elected wishes of whether they wish to remain British or become Spanish with similar laughably predictable results.
Less than a week after Brexit was triggered and already the Government is discussing potential wars with our European neighbours.
A quick glance at a map shows that Gibraltar is located in Southern Spain and another quick look at a history book shows how a Dutch-British alliance invaded Gibraltar, booted out the residents and set up a barracks which they have maintained ever since.
A throw back to the days of Empire when the British sailed around the World taking over wherever they docked their boats, it is hard to make a case why a country 1,600 miles away has more of a claim than the country it historically belongs to and is at the southern tip of.
Theresa May and other Government officials have today assured the people of Gibraltar over their status and one overly-excited minister who had obviously eaten too many sweets this morning made a tub-thumping speech about the Falklands and how the British sent a task force half way across the world to defend the freedom of another small group of British people against another Spanish-speaking country.
A spokesman said that Gibraltar would remain British due to the democratically expressed wishes of Gibraltrans which is very reminiscent of the recent vote in the Falklands where the 99% of British folk there were asked if they wanted to remain British or become Argentinian.
The Gibraltans can expect a similar exercise in their democratically elected wishes of whether they wish to remain British or become Spanish with similar laughably predictable results.
Less than a week after Brexit was triggered and already the Government is discussing potential wars with our European neighbours.
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