Having a bit of a problem selling the Afghanistan war, Blair and Bush wheeled out the wives to make the case for Afghan women.
Cherie Blair said: "The women in Afghanistan are as entitled as the women in any country are to have the same hopes and aspirations for ourselves and for our daughters - a right for their voices to be heard."
Laura Bush piped up with "The plight of women and children in Afghanistan is a matter of deliberate human cruelty carried out by those who seek to intimidate and control".
Okay, we get it, the invasion would mean a positive step in rights for the downtrodden and brutalised women of Afghanistan.
Skip on 8 years and Afghanistan has quietly passed a law permitting men to deny their wives food and sustenance if they refuse to obey their husbands sexual demands, grants guardianship of children exclusively to their fathers and grandfathers, requires women to get permission from their husbands to work and allows a rapist to avoid prosecution by paying 'blood money' to the girl if she was injured when he raped her.
Considering that we made the country what it is today, the question begs to be asked.
Afghanistan. Still worth fighting over?
Saturday, 15 August 2009
Friday, 14 August 2009
Debate, American Right Wing Style

The general feeling among his detractors there is that if Obama gets his way, the American health system will be as bad as the British one and nobody wants that.
While they are saying that, we are saying if the Tories get their way the British health system will be as bad as the American one and nobody wants that.
It seems that we are both pointing at each others as examples of terrible health systems.
As i have never stayed in an American hospital, i couldn't possibly comment on how good or bad the treatment is just as i guess the vast majority of those shouting loudest in America have never been treated in a NHS hospital here. All we both have to go on is what he hear and what i hear about present American Health care is it is fine but you have to pay through the nose for it. What that boils down to, in my mind, is you get the treatment if you can afford it. If you can't then that's tough.
There is a famous scene in Micheal Moore's 'Sicko' film where a patient has to decide which one of his fingers to be reattached to his hand as he can't afford to pay for both.
The UK Government have said that they don't want to get caught up in a domestic fight but they are 'quietly correcting the misinformation about the NHS being put out'. They should be screaming from the rooftops that those slandering the NHS are lying, not quietly correcting it and point to the World Health Organisation league table of Health Systems where the American Health System is ranked 37th, fully 19 places below our own.
What amuses me the most though is the way it is the conservative right screaming Christian values and doctrine one week (abortion and gay marriage) and the following week attacking universal health care, therefore condemning 46 million of their fellow Americans to prolonged suffering because they can't afford health care.
I do find the 'i'm alright and to hell with you if your poor and ill' attitude perplexing but when i hear about death threats to Obama and swastikas being daubed on walls with pictures in the press of of gun toting protesters holding placards with slogans used by white supremest groups, it does make me think that things have taken a crazy, and very scary, turn over there.
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
Solutions To The Imminent Food Shortage
Experts are warning that the era of cheap food could be over as by 2050 there simply won't been enough land to feed the world's population and carrying on as we are isn't an option.
The Government has invited producers, supermarkets and consumers to suggest how the food system should look in the next few decades.I see four reasons why we are facing a food shortage.
1> Overpopulation. The obvious and most unpalatable answer is that there are just too many of us. How we go about solving that problem is a minefield and nobody is going to want to tackle that one.
2> Biofuels. As demand for biofuel increases, fields of crops are being rerouted from stomachs to engines. As we have seen already, the cost of basics like bread have increased as less crops are grown for consumption, therefore nudging the staple diet of many out of their reach. Arable land is being given over to fuel production instead of feeding people.
Unbelievably there is something called a set-aside subsidy where EU farmers are paid not to grow anything. There is an astonishing 9.4 million acres of land standing idle in Europe.
3> Imports. In my local supermarket there are apples from New Zealand, 11,600 miles away. Carrots from South Africa, 6070 miles and carrots from France, 612 miles away. Why are we importing food that we can grow here? Put to one side the carbon footprint of dragging fruit and vegetables from the other side of the world to our shelves, it is obviously going to be more expensive than bringing in a truckload from a local supplier. It also takes food away from countries such as the case in Ethiopia where it is exporting grains while 12,000,000 of its population barely survive on humanitarian food aid.
4> Supermarkets. Britain's largest supermarket, Tesco, have recently posted profits of more than £3bn Sainsbury's, Britain's second, made a £543m profit and Asda, the third largest, made £422m. All this despite the Worldwide recession. The secret behind such massive profits is the obscene mark-up supermarkets place on their produce. Obviously the cheaper they can buy from producers and the more they can get from consumers, the more money they make in profits. The greed of supermarkets is pushing the prices of food up and reducing the ability of customers to buy the staples what they need.
So my answer would be to stop the obscene practice of paying farmers not to grow food, invest in other forms of powering our cars and vans that doesn't sacrifice our food, tax food from outside of the UK and subsidise locally produced food and whack a huge windfall tax on supermarkets that post massive profits.
It really isn't that hard to work it out.
The Government has invited producers, supermarkets and consumers to suggest how the food system should look in the next few decades.I see four reasons why we are facing a food shortage.
1> Overpopulation. The obvious and most unpalatable answer is that there are just too many of us. How we go about solving that problem is a minefield and nobody is going to want to tackle that one.
2> Biofuels. As demand for biofuel increases, fields of crops are being rerouted from stomachs to engines. As we have seen already, the cost of basics like bread have increased as less crops are grown for consumption, therefore nudging the staple diet of many out of their reach. Arable land is being given over to fuel production instead of feeding people.
Unbelievably there is something called a set-aside subsidy where EU farmers are paid not to grow anything. There is an astonishing 9.4 million acres of land standing idle in Europe.
3> Imports. In my local supermarket there are apples from New Zealand, 11,600 miles away. Carrots from South Africa, 6070 miles and carrots from France, 612 miles away. Why are we importing food that we can grow here? Put to one side the carbon footprint of dragging fruit and vegetables from the other side of the world to our shelves, it is obviously going to be more expensive than bringing in a truckload from a local supplier. It also takes food away from countries such as the case in Ethiopia where it is exporting grains while 12,000,000 of its population barely survive on humanitarian food aid.
4> Supermarkets. Britain's largest supermarket, Tesco, have recently posted profits of more than £3bn Sainsbury's, Britain's second, made a £543m profit and Asda, the third largest, made £422m. All this despite the Worldwide recession. The secret behind such massive profits is the obscene mark-up supermarkets place on their produce. Obviously the cheaper they can buy from producers and the more they can get from consumers, the more money they make in profits. The greed of supermarkets is pushing the prices of food up and reducing the ability of customers to buy the staples what they need.
So my answer would be to stop the obscene practice of paying farmers not to grow food, invest in other forms of powering our cars and vans that doesn't sacrifice our food, tax food from outside of the UK and subsidise locally produced food and whack a huge windfall tax on supermarkets that post massive profits.
It really isn't that hard to work it out.
Sunday, 9 August 2009
Unfair Dinkum Bruce
I've always thought that if you want to kill an animal, you should not use a high powered rifle from a safe distance, you should go cavemen and kill it with your bare hands. Gives the animal a fighting chance and may the best man/tiger win.
Obviously a human taking on a wild animal fairly is not going to happen, so they hide away and shoot it from a safe distance instead.
Man has taken it one step further and now the warriors are taking to shooting the wildlife from helicopters like the plan in Australia to wipe out 650,000 camels from up in the air.
So why has this animal been singled out as prime to be culled?
'They compete with sheep and cattle for food, trample vegetation and on a number of occasions they have scared residents' explained one Government official.
Scaring residents? Australia is the home of the jelly fish, crocodiles, sharks, poisonous spiders and snakes but the Aussies are most afraid of Camels?
Tony Peacock, CEO of the University of Canberra's Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Center, said: "To be shot from a helicopter is actually quite humane, even though that sounds brutal. If I was a camel, I'd prefer to just get it in the head."
I would wager that if Tony Peacock was a camel he would prefer not to be shot through the head at all. I'd even say it was a fair bet that he would prefer to be left alone and not have some beered up Aussie trying to mow him down from the safety of a helicopter.
Come on Aussie hunters, get out of the whirlybird, down a few tinnies, channel the spirit of Ned Kelly and see if you can take out the scary camels with a few kicks and well placed uppercuts.
Let nature decide who gets culled, the Camels or the Australian men without the security of a rifle while being 100ft up in the air.
Steve Irwin, who was always up for a scrap with anything as long as it was deadly, would be disappointed in the lot of you.
Obviously a human taking on a wild animal fairly is not going to happen, so they hide away and shoot it from a safe distance instead.
Man has taken it one step further and now the warriors are taking to shooting the wildlife from helicopters like the plan in Australia to wipe out 650,000 camels from up in the air.
So why has this animal been singled out as prime to be culled?
'They compete with sheep and cattle for food, trample vegetation and on a number of occasions they have scared residents' explained one Government official.
Scaring residents? Australia is the home of the jelly fish, crocodiles, sharks, poisonous spiders and snakes but the Aussies are most afraid of Camels?
Tony Peacock, CEO of the University of Canberra's Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Center, said: "To be shot from a helicopter is actually quite humane, even though that sounds brutal. If I was a camel, I'd prefer to just get it in the head."
I would wager that if Tony Peacock was a camel he would prefer not to be shot through the head at all. I'd even say it was a fair bet that he would prefer to be left alone and not have some beered up Aussie trying to mow him down from the safety of a helicopter.
Come on Aussie hunters, get out of the whirlybird, down a few tinnies, channel the spirit of Ned Kelly and see if you can take out the scary camels with a few kicks and well placed uppercuts.
Let nature decide who gets culled, the Camels or the Australian men without the security of a rifle while being 100ft up in the air.
Steve Irwin, who was always up for a scrap with anything as long as it was deadly, would be disappointed in the lot of you.
Where Was That F**cking Place Again?
Not for the first time, it seems us English speakers have upset the Austrians, or rather one city in particular.
It seems we have been snickering, amongst other things, at their town name, the gloriously named City of F**KING.
The Major of F**KING has been ranting about English-speaking tourists acting out their village's name beneath the sign at the entrance to the town.
First up to defend us as usual is the Germans, with the top knob in the Town of W**K saying that the F**KING Major has got it wrong and he should be grabbing the opportunity with both hands as they do in W**K.
'We have so many visitors coming to W**k' he explained, 'In summer visitors can take hikes up W**k Mountain, or take it easy in the four seater W**k cable car that goes all the way to the peak.'
Local tourism chiefs say they realised that their name was a goldmine when it came to attracting English-speaking visitors and sell plenty of W**K postcards, W**K sweets and ornaments to show their friends and family of the time they came to W**K.
A favourite is the photographer who for a small fee will take your picture beside the 'Welcome to W**k signs.'
The F**KING Major is not taking the advice of the W**K's though and is determined to crack down on disrespectful visitors by installing CCTV to deter tourists from lewd behaviour beside their roadsigns.
'We don't find it funny and just want to be left alone' he grumbled so remember that next time you are in central Europe, you are more than welcome to W**K but make sure you stop before F**KING.
It seems we have been snickering, amongst other things, at their town name, the gloriously named City of F**KING.
The Major of F**KING has been ranting about English-speaking tourists acting out their village's name beneath the sign at the entrance to the town.
First up to defend us as usual is the Germans, with the top knob in the Town of W**K saying that the F**KING Major has got it wrong and he should be grabbing the opportunity with both hands as they do in W**K.
'We have so many visitors coming to W**k' he explained, 'In summer visitors can take hikes up W**k Mountain, or take it easy in the four seater W**k cable car that goes all the way to the peak.'
Local tourism chiefs say they realised that their name was a goldmine when it came to attracting English-speaking visitors and sell plenty of W**K postcards, W**K sweets and ornaments to show their friends and family of the time they came to W**K.
A favourite is the photographer who for a small fee will take your picture beside the 'Welcome to W**k signs.'
The F**KING Major is not taking the advice of the W**K's though and is determined to crack down on disrespectful visitors by installing CCTV to deter tourists from lewd behaviour beside their roadsigns.
'We don't find it funny and just want to be left alone' he grumbled so remember that next time you are in central Europe, you are more than welcome to W**K but make sure you stop before F**KING.
Friday, 7 August 2009
The Breakfast Club
Small article in one of the newspapers today about the death of John Hughes. I had no idea who he was or what he did until it mentioned him being a film director and writer who created some of the most famous films of the 1980s.
There were some good films from that decade and it turned out that he was responsible for one of my favourite film of the 80's, The Breakfast Club.
The film was perfect timing for me because i was in that exam period at the end of my school life and the characters and dialogue just struck a real chord.
The geek, the popular girl, the waster, the sports star and the cooky one were all real life characters that we all had come across during our time at school and had befriended, hated, avoided or in some way had crossed paths with.
If i had never seen the film and someone told me that it was a film about these five characters thrown together in Saturday detention and just left alone most of the time to work things between them and the dawning that they actually had very much in common, i would probably give it a wife berth but it is the dialogue between the characters that makes it stand out.
Emilio Estevez is probably the only one to have gone on to bigger and better things but although i haven't seen Judd Nelson in much else since, he would have to go some to better his portrayal of John Bender who is the central character and stitches everything together with his cruel taunts and unpredictable swings of temper.
Great film, great characters and brilliant dialogue which takes me back to the 80s and my school days whenever it is on the television.
There were some good films from that decade and it turned out that he was responsible for one of my favourite film of the 80's, The Breakfast Club.
The film was perfect timing for me because i was in that exam period at the end of my school life and the characters and dialogue just struck a real chord.
The geek, the popular girl, the waster, the sports star and the cooky one were all real life characters that we all had come across during our time at school and had befriended, hated, avoided or in some way had crossed paths with.
If i had never seen the film and someone told me that it was a film about these five characters thrown together in Saturday detention and just left alone most of the time to work things between them and the dawning that they actually had very much in common, i would probably give it a wife berth but it is the dialogue between the characters that makes it stand out.
Emilio Estevez is probably the only one to have gone on to bigger and better things but although i haven't seen Judd Nelson in much else since, he would have to go some to better his portrayal of John Bender who is the central character and stitches everything together with his cruel taunts and unpredictable swings of temper.
Great film, great characters and brilliant dialogue which takes me back to the 80s and my school days whenever it is on the television.
Thursday, 6 August 2009
When Did Victoria Beckham Became A Singer?
Simon Cowell, being the man behind Robson & Jerome, obviously knows all about signing up talentless singers so it is no surprise that he has handed a contract to Victoria Beckham to be a part time judge on American idol.
The danger is that young kids not old enough to remember the Spice Girls will think that Victoria was at some point, actually a singer and not just the one who stood at the back pouting and pointing.
I agree that since then she has moved on to walking around LA looking sulky behind ridiculous sunglasses but in the talent pool that she thrives, its a massive step up.
How will the contestants manage to keep a straight face while she gives them advice? It would be like Beth Ditto lecturing people at a weight watchers meeting.
The first person she criticises would be well within their rights to wet themselves laughing.
America has so many female singers to pass on advice, proper singers who actually know what they are talking about and have actually sang, so Mrs Beckham is a strange choice.
Usually contestants have to sing a selection of one artists back catalogue so America can look forward to hearing her classic 'Out of Your Mind' again, the single where her voice was put through so many synths and digitisers that she sounded like Metal Mickey.
Now if Simon Cowell ever makes a show where the idea is to find someone to make money out of no talent, not eating and marrying a rich footballer then Victoria is your woman.
Including her in a show which involves singing is laughably inappropriate.
The danger is that young kids not old enough to remember the Spice Girls will think that Victoria was at some point, actually a singer and not just the one who stood at the back pouting and pointing.
I agree that since then she has moved on to walking around LA looking sulky behind ridiculous sunglasses but in the talent pool that she thrives, its a massive step up.
How will the contestants manage to keep a straight face while she gives them advice? It would be like Beth Ditto lecturing people at a weight watchers meeting.
The first person she criticises would be well within their rights to wet themselves laughing.
America has so many female singers to pass on advice, proper singers who actually know what they are talking about and have actually sang, so Mrs Beckham is a strange choice.
Usually contestants have to sing a selection of one artists back catalogue so America can look forward to hearing her classic 'Out of Your Mind' again, the single where her voice was put through so many synths and digitisers that she sounded like Metal Mickey.
Now if Simon Cowell ever makes a show where the idea is to find someone to make money out of no talent, not eating and marrying a rich footballer then Victoria is your woman.
Including her in a show which involves singing is laughably inappropriate.
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
ESPN Arrives In UK
In the UK a Sport has two options. It can either go with terrestrial television and gain widespread publicity or sell its soul and go to Sky TV and earn buckets full of cash but have a very restricted reach to their fans.
When boxer Amir Khan began to close in on a title shot and shifted to Sky and pay-per-view last year, i thought it would be poetic justice if he got knocked out and after 54 seconds of the first round he was on his backside and out for the count. Thank you to whichever God sorted that one out.
Now that Sky's only rival, Setanta, has wrapped up, the new kid on the sporting block is American channel ESPN which began broadcasting in the UK last night.
First show up was baseball and when i switched over to it this evening, it was baseball again with some commentary by some very excitable and shouty commentators.
ESPN, a part of the Disney family, won the right to show 46 live Premier League matches for the 2009/10 season, and 23 matches a season for the following three years, following an auction after previous owner Setanta went into administration last month.
I understand that ESPN cannot fill it's days entirely with UK football but i am unsure how willing UK customers will be to pay £12 per month for one football match per week and the rest of the time filled with American sports. The reason Setanta folded was because it couldn't draw enough of an audience with it's football and boxing coverage to break even so minority sports that have no following here at the best of times is hardly a crowd pleaser. The Baseball on Five show which showed highlights of the MLB on Sunday nights was dropped from the schedules earlier in the year and that was free to air.
Sky Sports has the cricket, rugby, darts, football, golf and boxing all sewn up so it is difficult to see what ESPN has to offer for it's £144 annual subscription (free to XL Virgin customers which is the only reason why we have it) apart from the occasional football match.
Possibly it is willing to take the hit to the pocket and use its financial muscle to grab the rights off Sky for these sports when they come up for auction next time but until then i can see the annoyingly loud commentators shouting to a very small UK audience.
When boxer Amir Khan began to close in on a title shot and shifted to Sky and pay-per-view last year, i thought it would be poetic justice if he got knocked out and after 54 seconds of the first round he was on his backside and out for the count. Thank you to whichever God sorted that one out.
Now that Sky's only rival, Setanta, has wrapped up, the new kid on the sporting block is American channel ESPN which began broadcasting in the UK last night.
First show up was baseball and when i switched over to it this evening, it was baseball again with some commentary by some very excitable and shouty commentators.
ESPN, a part of the Disney family, won the right to show 46 live Premier League matches for the 2009/10 season, and 23 matches a season for the following three years, following an auction after previous owner Setanta went into administration last month.
I understand that ESPN cannot fill it's days entirely with UK football but i am unsure how willing UK customers will be to pay £12 per month for one football match per week and the rest of the time filled with American sports. The reason Setanta folded was because it couldn't draw enough of an audience with it's football and boxing coverage to break even so minority sports that have no following here at the best of times is hardly a crowd pleaser. The Baseball on Five show which showed highlights of the MLB on Sunday nights was dropped from the schedules earlier in the year and that was free to air.
Sky Sports has the cricket, rugby, darts, football, golf and boxing all sewn up so it is difficult to see what ESPN has to offer for it's £144 annual subscription (free to XL Virgin customers which is the only reason why we have it) apart from the occasional football match.
Possibly it is willing to take the hit to the pocket and use its financial muscle to grab the rights off Sky for these sports when they come up for auction next time but until then i can see the annoyingly loud commentators shouting to a very small UK audience.
Monday, 3 August 2009
Stunning
Bonuses Back As Big Banks Make Billions - Sky News
Barclay's profit up to almost £3bn - BBC News
Banks defend bonus culture as profits jump - The Guardian
What is there to say?
They got us into this mess with their arrogance and sheer naked greed, and while the unemployment queue grows, business fail and house repossessions go through the roof, they are back to their same old ways.
The only politician with an ounce of sense, Vince Cabel, described it as "appalling" and said that "Without the taxpayer, many bankers would be without a job let alone a huge bonus."
As far as i can see, nothing has changed at all despite all the talk of tougher regulation on the banks to stop them tipping us over the edge once again.
The only winner seems to be the banks who know that they can do what they want and if they win the gamble then they can clean up with massive profits but if it all goes belly up again, our leaders will be there to bail them out with our money. In the case of Barclay's, prostituting themselves to Middle East businessmen.
If Gordon Brown has one iota of self respect left, he would levy a windfall tax on the lot of them to reduce how much he, or rather the next Conservative Government, will have to raise taxes to scrape back the spiralling national debt.
Maybe i'm wrong and the banks will use these profits to help ease the burden on their hard pressed customers but then again i have yet to see the silhouette of a flying pig against a blue moon.
Barclay's profit up to almost £3bn - BBC News
Banks defend bonus culture as profits jump - The Guardian
What is there to say?
They got us into this mess with their arrogance and sheer naked greed, and while the unemployment queue grows, business fail and house repossessions go through the roof, they are back to their same old ways.
The only politician with an ounce of sense, Vince Cabel, described it as "appalling" and said that "Without the taxpayer, many bankers would be without a job let alone a huge bonus."
As far as i can see, nothing has changed at all despite all the talk of tougher regulation on the banks to stop them tipping us over the edge once again.
The only winner seems to be the banks who know that they can do what they want and if they win the gamble then they can clean up with massive profits but if it all goes belly up again, our leaders will be there to bail them out with our money. In the case of Barclay's, prostituting themselves to Middle East businessmen.
If Gordon Brown has one iota of self respect left, he would levy a windfall tax on the lot of them to reduce how much he, or rather the next Conservative Government, will have to raise taxes to scrape back the spiralling national debt.
Maybe i'm wrong and the banks will use these profits to help ease the burden on their hard pressed customers but then again i have yet to see the silhouette of a flying pig against a blue moon.
Men And Face Fuzz
Secretary of State for Defence, Bob Ainsworth, has blamed his moustache for the reason that he is unpopular.
Not because of excessive claims for repairs to his second home exposed during the MP expenses lynching a few months back, it's all down to his follicular sproutings.
I have always thought that unless you are in the Taliban, ZZ Top, a Birds Eye commercial or are actually Santa, men who sport excessive facial topiary are on that slippery slope towards buying cardigans with leather patches on the elbows and becoming Geography teachers.
Men who sport just the moustaches deserve, and often receive, just as much ridicule as those with the full faced fuzz look.
They may have once been associated with power and sophistication but now whatever way you want to style the 'tache, you end up looking like 'a slug balancer' as General Melchett so aptly described it in Blackadder.
You could go for the style of the guy in Village People but you end up looking like the guy from Village People, or the other extreme made famous by Oliver Hardy and Adolf Hilter who apparently once sported a fine Ned Flanders type moustache but kept getting food stuck in it so opted to trim it to the ludicrous moustache that he is as famous for as much as his crimes against humanity.
Especially cringe worthy is the bum fluff 'tache on many of the young men who see it as a sign of maturity and not an obvious sign to everyone else that they have just began shaving and isn't fooling even the most short sighted of barmaid's that they are old enough to buy that snakebite and black.
I blame Tom Selleck who made moustaches seem cool in the 80s but he was also responsible for a short lived fascination with Hawaiian shirts and nobody would be seen dead in one of those now (i hope) but still walk around thinking a hairy top lip is a good look. Go figure.
Not because of excessive claims for repairs to his second home exposed during the MP expenses lynching a few months back, it's all down to his follicular sproutings.
I have always thought that unless you are in the Taliban, ZZ Top, a Birds Eye commercial or are actually Santa, men who sport excessive facial topiary are on that slippery slope towards buying cardigans with leather patches on the elbows and becoming Geography teachers.
Men who sport just the moustaches deserve, and often receive, just as much ridicule as those with the full faced fuzz look.
They may have once been associated with power and sophistication but now whatever way you want to style the 'tache, you end up looking like 'a slug balancer' as General Melchett so aptly described it in Blackadder.
You could go for the style of the guy in Village People but you end up looking like the guy from Village People, or the other extreme made famous by Oliver Hardy and Adolf Hilter who apparently once sported a fine Ned Flanders type moustache but kept getting food stuck in it so opted to trim it to the ludicrous moustache that he is as famous for as much as his crimes against humanity.
Especially cringe worthy is the bum fluff 'tache on many of the young men who see it as a sign of maturity and not an obvious sign to everyone else that they have just began shaving and isn't fooling even the most short sighted of barmaid's that they are old enough to buy that snakebite and black.
I blame Tom Selleck who made moustaches seem cool in the 80s but he was also responsible for a short lived fascination with Hawaiian shirts and nobody would be seen dead in one of those now (i hope) but still walk around thinking a hairy top lip is a good look. Go figure.
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