23 Sept 2005

GLOBAL HOT-AIR

Here is some breathless news from The Guardian re Hurricane Rita

"This is the third warning in three weeks that global warming could be moving to a point of no return."

Hmm, since the world has been continuously warming up since about 30,000 years ago, sometimes extremely rapidly and cooling as fast, as in the 'Little Ice Age' in Europe a few hundred years ago, it's hard to know just what sort of "point of no return" The Guardian has in mind.

20 Sept 2005

THE NEW RACISM

Now a major American news network (NBC) has just had to issue an apology and correction for a false report, complete with video of weeping local leader , that said during Hurricane Katrina a 92 year old hospitalized mother called for help until her neglected death many days after the hurricane. The problem? The whole story was false - the victim died immediatly in the storm. The husband and wife owners of St. Rita’s nursing home in the New Orleans suburb of Chalmette have been charged with homicide in the case. Amazing, not President Bush this time?

NBC, a once respected news organization, calls this "an emotional moment and a misunderstanding" and their false report merely "skewed". Who broke the lies behind this story? Well of course, bloggers like you and me. The mainstream media has little place to hide these days.

So far, the total number of victims in Louisiana,Missippi,Florida,Georgia and Arkansas combined, in the most vicious storm to hit the USA in 100 years, are merely 800 . The media spun and fabricated projections of 10,000 dead in Louisiana alone during Katrina. What is typical in all this is how every scrap of "evidence" ( rather hearsay) that the world media could use to demonstrate hatred of America, was used....... and damm the consequences.

In Aug 2003, 1000 elderly French people died in a single heatwave in Paris and over 3,000 nationwide. Worse, many lay in morgues rotting since their relatives did not want to interrupt their annual holiday and bury them. Recently in Europe, the river Danube and others burst banks after swelling for weeks and many people drowned as in hurricane Katrina, despite weeks of warning.

The question is, did we see world media headlines about the 'heartless French'? Did magazines do covers called "The Shaming of France"? Was the matter treated as evidence of the rotten, uncaring nature of French society? Was Chirac ridiculed and called to blame?

Here is a sample of Katrina coverage in England: ".....behind the veneer of civilization most Americans barely have the brains to walk on their back legs.” (The Sun, Sat 10th Sept). Yes, that's why they land on the moon, invent the PC and win most Nobel Prizes.

In Belgium, a pop song soars up the radio charts called "I Hate Americans" - and this from the people whose colonial policies helped bring about Rwanda's Radio Mille Collines, and for whom thousands of American died defending Belgium from Hitler. Asante ya racist ni teke, I guess. Just how far from jail would the author of a German song called "I Hate Turks" remain, one wonders?

Substitute the word African or Arab for 'American' in the above and there would be lawsuits, resignations, perhaps arrests and huge outrage. The racism would be so raw and palpable as to be utterly indefensible.

Was the clear evidence that authorities had weeks to prepare for the recent European floods used for a media witch-hunt in which Europes' values and pretensions were ridiculed, it's people called all sorts of epithets?

For that matter it appears around 100 black immigrants have died in Europe from arson in past months, yet it's hard to find the media drooling over 'European racism'.

None of this bias excuses any neglect of certain New Orleans communities, if there was. Neither can it gloss over failures of local especially or federal government, as there were. Yet it's a hallmark of racism and bias that such lose all balance and shift from grey to black and white, in this case literally.

It's an aspect of racist thought that people don't think they are being racist. They believe they are expressing a common opinion and thus a 'truthful' one. They are always in total denial about accepting alternative evidence to their racist attitudes and beliefs. Being an American today, especially the more than 50% who are moderate centre-right, is fast becoming the new African, Jew, Christian in a Muslim society and other traditionally discriminated categories. A lot of folks, especially educated ones, should be deeply ashamed of that.

19 Sept 2005

CHAR-BROILED WILLIE?

It has been reported that some Palestinian suicide bombers wrap their penises in aluminum foil before the mission, the better to preserve them for the Paradise that awaits. They will have endless virgins to deflower, whose hymens are instantly restored by Allah, so they can be deflowered again. Have they been reading books on barbeque? It seems a novel use for the old chef's trick for a perfect grilled sausage.

Elsewhere columnist extraordinaire Mark Steyn has a perfect one liner to the headline: FRENCHMAN LIVES WITH DEAD MOTHER TO KEEP HER PENSION. Comment:" Europe in a nutshell: welfare over demographics".

15 Sept 2005

BACKWARD PROGRESS


Kenya's new ultra-expensive constitution is about to enter the referendum stage. Though a bit modified from the version discussed here, Anthony Covington's classic Nation article that caused so much furor in 2002 is worth checking out.

Sample

"The world population generally divides into two political groups. There is a group on the Left. They think government should get bigger, as it can do wonderful things for everyone. Then there is a bunch on the Right. This lot swears government should be kept small, as it can do very little for anyone. Ironically the Right often gets elected - and by its performance, always proves its premise is correct.

The National Constitutional Conference (NCC) seems to emanate from the Left. They want increased government so it can do more - especially the things it dismally failed to do from 1962. African socialism of the 1960s could not produce the Uhuru promises: water for all, food security, schooling, health-care and the rest."


The final 2005 draft presents many bad provisions: It's a divisive, wordy and occasionally absurd document. Presidential powers are enhanced to imperial proportions. Medievalist religious courts are multiplied, reckless sops to radical socialists like "Hero Committees" , "National Culture Day" and "maximum and minimum landholdings for all" are inserted, employers (and thus business) are granted no powers vis a vis "workers", the aspect of Government is enhanced and the whole document is hardly friendly to the engines of freedom. These are capital, enterprise, growth and innovation.

It is also near impossible to change once implemented, a foolish rigidity. The entire process has generated to farce with politics ruling and an issue of grave national import looking like a standard election campaign, Kenya style. It's pretty ugly stuff. Voting will be in November and one hopes it's a "no".

14 Sept 2005

HURRICANE BUSHINA

Ho-Hum, so Pres. Bush is being "blamed" by the overwhelmingly leftist world media for Katrina. Well, let's see we have had the 911 Bush, where was basically blamed for the New York attacks, (30% of Germans to this day believe that the US military "engineered" these), then there was Tsunami Bush, where ditto got blamed for the Indonesian tidal wave. The BBC carried a "news" item (see earlier post) on the Tsunami that asked listeners to opinionate if they thought the USA had used some sort of sinister eco-weapon to start the Tsunami. With nut cases like these lamestream media types around, it's no wonder it's all Bush's fault, again.