5 Dec 2007

You Can't Make This Stuff Up #321

According to The Times of the UK:

The BBC funded a paintballing trip for men later accused of Islamic terrorism and failed to pass on information about the 21/7 bombers to police, a court was told yesterday.

Mohammed Hamid, who is charged with overseeing a two-year radicalisation programme to prepare London-based Muslim youths for jihad, was described as a “cockney comic” by a BBC producer.

Mr Hamid denies providing weapons training, five charges of soliciting murder and three of providing training for terrorism. The other men deny a series of charges related to training.It becomes downright bizarre, as if someone was trying to parody the perfect genteel, clueless BBC leftist twit-of-the-year. The Times reports on the BBC producer, Phil Rees, take on Hamid, the terrorist trainer:

He said: “I think he had a comic touch and he represented a strand within British Muslims. I took it as more like a rather Steptoe and Son figure rather than seriously persuasive. I saw him as a kind of Cockney comic.” Mr Rees, who now works for the Arabic TV station al-Jazeera, gave Mr Hamid a signed copy of his book "Dining With Terrorists".

27 Nov 2007

Hollywood Drops Bombs

Very good news that Hollywood's latest bout of nasty anti-American, pro-terrorist movies are totally bombing at the box office.

Brian dePalma's "Redacted" which naturally won rave reviews and awards from the chatterati, Hollywood flakes and Euro-wimps (standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival, Gold Medals in Venice etc) is typical. It cost $5 million and depicts US soldiers as thugs and beasts - it's wildly anti-troops ( whilst pretending to "support them") theme has so far , after weeks of major release and publicity, brought just just $23,000 total box office. It's delightful to learn the scumbag producers of this shit-flick have lost 99.5% of the millions they spent slandering those who defend their right to show offensive garbage.

On the other hand, "Outside The Wire", a hand made documentary by an ex-Marine depicting an hour of true footage and stories by vets cost $35,000 and has made back $27,000. It's only available on DVD via the internet but it's managed to out gross the hugely advertised multi-theatre showing of "Redacted".

Also bombing at the box office are "Rendition", "Lions for Lambs" (Redford and Streep no less) and "Valley of Elah" - all on the same theme of USA= Al Qaeda and what's the difference between a US soldier and a terrorist ( basic answer, none). These have collectively lost the Hollywood set tens of millions of dollars.

When I was in the angry 60's Bob Dylan had a wonderful line in one of his best songs that sums it all up: "Something is happening, but you don't know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?" It seems the majority of America does know but Mr. Jones is stuck in Los Angeles.

31 Oct 2007

Euro Arrogance

In a chilling display of the elitism that drives European politics, Giscard d’Estaing, author of the EU constitution that was roundly rejected by French and Dutch voters (and would have been by the British) has claimed the new EU reform treaty the EU leaders have slipped through the back door of Euro politics is exactly the same thing. The fact that he can baldly state this when centre right parties are crying 'foul' over the new treaty and demanding a people's vote on it, shows the cocky insulation he feels from the reality of democracy. He can bypass in having bypassed the popular will and brag of it. Read the whole frightening interview here.

Americans, apart from Europhiles who make up segments of the Democratic Party, have long viewed European politics as an Old Boys club , as tight and tangled as the rotten aristocracies it replaced. For all of Europe’s scoffing over the rare American political dynasty like the Kennedy or Bush family, politics of the elite is the norm in Europe. Whilst Europeans laugh at the Schwartzenegger phenomenon of a Hollywood star rising to governor and never stopped deriding Ronald Regan, they forget that it is virtually impossible to get elected in Europe unless one is an insider – Sarkozy being the first modest crack in this edifice.

True to form, d’Estaing states to the BBC with breathtaking arrogance that cosmetic changes were made to the EU reform treaty to "head off any threat of referenda" and that the drafters have made the new document "a catalogue of amendments" that is impenetrable for the public. So much for the voter. Such is the traditional contempt of Europe’s rulers, from kings to dictators to democrats, for the people.

6 Oct 2007

Mullahs Meet Modern Medcicine

Pretty sad story here about Muslim clerics in Nigeria who opposed the use of a polio vaccine campaign because they claimed the drug was designed to "sterilize" them. This ended up with too few children being vaccinated, which can cause the virus to reappear, as it did killing many and spreading to neighboring countries.

What happens when modern medicine meets the medieval mind, in the form of the gross ignorance so many mullahs display? The results are tragic.
"Convincing the Nigerians to take even more of this vaccine will be a tough sell," said Dr. Samuel Katz, an infectious diseases specialist at Duke University and co-inventor of the measles vaccine.

Fiji Orders It's Priorities

Hmm, our friends in the MSM never seem to get the right end of so many stories. Here the BBC misses the point totally. How can Fijians gather in large raucous crowds, get drunk, stay out late and party when their beloved rugby team has made it to the quarter finals of the Rugby World Cup and play the Springboks on Sunday? There is one way:

Last Updated: Friday, 5 October 2007, 07:41 GMT 08:41 UK
Fiji to lift state of emergency



Fiji's military-led government says it will lift the state of emergency it imposed last month when deposed PM Laisenia Qarase re-entered politics.

A military spokesman said that the measures would end on Saturday because there was no threat to the nation.

4 Oct 2007

BBC Goes N-Word

As if any proof were needed, the BBC takes on openly leftist vocabulary for a description of an Australian immigration policy. Misleadingly headlined "Africa Refugee Ban", the piece by Nick Bryant in Sydney states the dreaded "N" word as if it is a plain fact:
"Certainly, there is a nativistic streak in parts of the Australian electorate."
Most Third World countries try to restrict immigration from each other and from the North. Try getting a work permit from the Immigration Department of Kenya, let alone becoming a citizen, even after 30 years of residence. Many countries, like the UAE, forbid people not born of native parents to ever become citizens. In Dubai that precludes any of the over 1 million "guest workers" or their children from ever gaining a Dubai passport.

Would the BBC ever use the word "nativist" against these sorts of policies? That would be upsetting politically correct lexicon. Calling non-white people anything to do with "native" is strictly paeleolithic, racist and colonial. The correct left-think term for anything to do with "natives" is the self-authenticating "indigenous". Except of course for Australians.

Chili Terrorism

Also from the BBC:


"A pot of burning chilli sparked fears of a biological terror attack in central London.

Firefighters wearing protective breathing apparatus were called to D'Arblay Street, Soho, after reports of noxious smoke filling the air.

Police closed off three roads and evacuated homes following the alert.

Specialist crews broke down the door to the Thai Cottage restaurant at 1900 BST on Monday where they discovered the source - a 9lb pot of chillies."

Chili Power

Chilli pepper

A chemical from chilli peppers may be able to kill pain without affecting touch or movement, according to a BBC report.

This might in theory mean a woman in labour could have an epidural without losing the ability to move her legs, or the sensation of her baby being born.

Conventional local anaesthetics affect all nerve cells.

But the researchers Harvard team, writing in Nature, said that with capsaicin, the chilli chemical, they can target just pain receptors.

However, a UK expert said it might be difficult to inject it safely.

Certainly the idea of 5 cc of Tabasco shot into your ham sounds excruciating.

25 Sept 2007

Socialism vs Monks

Lost in all the MSM stories about the protests aimed at bringing down the Burma regime is that the junta oppressing the sad Burmese people is a socialist one. I wonder how the left wing media can easily handle the fact that it is the "reactionary" force of religion, led by Bhuddist monks, that threatens to collapse a "progressive" regime. Not much different to Poland, come to think of it.

That's easy, just airbrush out the nuances. Thus the Guardian reports on "the ruling junta" and "the ruling generals " who resort to "repressive measures". Yes, just like that. They have no ideology, they are just a "military regime ".

Meanwhile the gormless cowards at CNN continue to cringe and call Burma "Mynyamar", the name those "generals" coined for it. Not even the image of the lovely,brave and serene Aung Yang Soo Kyi, one of the few Nobel Peace Prize winners to actually deserve that debased accolade who calls it Burma, of course, can change that.

Global Gobbledegook

More signs of just how confusing and contradictory the "certainty" science behind much of the global warming hype is, the BBC reports:

Amazonian forest 'more resilient'

Terra satellite. Image: Nasa
The Modis instrument scans the Earth's surface every eight days
The Amazon rainforest may be more resistant to rising temperatures than has been believed.

Researchers found that during the 2005 drought, many parts of the rainforest "greened", apparently growing faster.

22 Sept 2007

Mugabe Drags On

"Comrade Bob" continues with the fascism that has ruined one of Africa's brightest countries and regional African leaders continue to give him standing ovations at conferences but the end is very near for this ruinous fool. The price controls imposed on all forms of Zimbabwean industry are, if the evidence of 5000% inflation is not enough, the final attempts to prevent a societal implosion that would sweep him away. Yet given Africans' notorious passivity, partly borne out of a fear of the brutality of African governance, don't expect to see Harare's version of the storming of the Bastille on your TV screen any time soon.

A quarter of the population has fled and the country has obviously sunk to levels that were not even approached in the times of white supremacy. Actually a lot of older Zimbabweans are probably wondering why they bothered to fight Ian Smith & Co at all. Still, Comrade Bob has plenty of supporters in Africa showing that taking self-destructive actions against white people ( even if their are your own citizens) is far more important to many Africans and their leaders than anything else they might do. One would have thought that Aminism in Uganda might have taught some lessons to the continent, but it appears not enough.

16 Sept 2007

Borat At The Rugby World Cup


Questions will soon be asked at this Rugby World Cup why Europeans pay fortunes to watch gelled up, pampered professional superstars prance around the pitch like show ponies when Georgia nearly caused the biggest rugby upset in history by going down 14-10 to 5th ranked rugby superpower Ireland.

 With just 8 rugby pitches in their entire country, the East European unknowns arrived on the pitch looking like stubble-faced Borats on steroids. Only the Irish did not end up laughing. Possessing bewildering names like Dimitri Kalasnikavili and Kav Dzernevshu and wearing what looked like rolled up bicyle shorts only a handful of Georgians were professionals, and those all play in the French 2nd Division. The rest were amateurs. 

To say mighty Ireland were lucky to win this so-called mismatch does not tell half the story. Georgia missed four drop goals by inches and had a winning try held up in-goal. They scored a stunning intercept taken at full sprint, made double the number of tackles to the Irish, took 66% of the territory and close to 70% possession and laid a twenty minute last ditch siege on the Irish line when they went through more than sixty phases of possession. If they lost it was only because they lacked a few finishing touches that should come as second nature to any professional team.

This was one of the most thrilling matches of this or any other World Cup and the entire stadium of 35,000 were on their feet chanting "Georgia, Georgia". They played a style of old fashioned forward rugby not seen for perhaps 20 years, meeting head on the pampered professionals that are amongst Europe's highest paid and biggest stars. And they shattered those pretensions. So far did this game smack of today versus yesterday that Georgia did not bother to go off the pitch at half time. The Irish led 7-3 and hustled off to be attended to by a doctor, three masseurs, two sports paramedics, a nutritionist, a statistician, three coaches and no doubt Father O Reilly, for they were in need of prayers. The Georgians stood on the pitch munching apples and discussing what to do next.

The surreal moments did not end after the final whistle, as seasoned sports broadcasters spluttered and ran out of adjectives to explain what they were witnessing. When winger Georgi (what else?) Shikinin, looking uncannily like Mr. Bean, was presented with the International Rugby Board's "Man Of The Match" trophy after the game, he spilt a toothy, shy grin, waved at the camera and said cheerily,"Firstly thanks you, I want..like.... I means... I am wanting wish hello to my mummy and nice sister also all my familly.Hello". 

 On a serious note, the IRB has mooted plans to kick out tiny rugby nations like Georgia, Namibia and others from future RWC events and restrict the tournament to 16 "super teams". Yet to many fans and even more commentators, the performances of a number of the unsung nations bring into question just what is happening in Europe when the Big Six of the North have so far played mostly abysmal rugby against countries one cannot locate on a rugby atlas. The minor league teams have gained the hearts of everyone. The only sides to give any thrills to the audience besides the small nations ( as anyone who saw the breathtaking 35-34 win of Fiji over Japan can attest) have been the mighty southern Tri-Nations teams of the Springboks, Wallabies and All-Blacks, assisted by fellow Southerners Argentina. They are actually playing rugby. Established Europe has played rubbish. The IRB should think of ways to cut the salaries of the Six Nations teams and donate the proceeds to the Rugby Unions of Georgia, Portugal, Fiji, Namibia, Tonga, the USA and a few others if they have any idea at all of how to grow the global game.

10 Sept 2007

RWC Shockers


It's hard to read too much from the preliminary games of the RWC which tend to feature minnows vs giants, but the question has to be asked: what on earth has happened to European rugby?

From four years ago, when the gap between Northern and Southern hemisphere rugby had closed to a crack, European teams seem to stare at a with a chasm of class between them and South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.

Starting with the shock of southerners Argentina beating fancied France in the opening RWC game, one watches amazed as rugby powers struggle and stutter against nations that are the equivalent of a Third Division soccer side.

England ground out a 28-10 win over the USA that flattered. The USA outplayed them in the second half. Tiny Namibia with a few thousand players shocked mighty 5th ranked Ireland, holding them to a 37-17 win helped by a blatantly wrong referee's decision. Lowly Canada led Wales at half-time before finally succumbing and debutants Portugul made Scotland labour to win.

Contrast this to the Southern nations. The Australians demolished Japan 90-3, Italy were thumped by the All-Blacks by more than 40 points and Samoa crashed to South Africa's Springboks 52-7. All these wins were classy, error free and decisive. Samoa and Italy are also IRB Top Ten ranked nations unlike the small fry who made Europe's best creak and clank towards the try line like rusty old tractors.

3 Sept 2007

Rugby World Cup 2007


I've just watched the defiantly quaint Springbok send-off gala in Jo-burg, complete with gold trimmed Boy's Own blazers and every squad member wearing his tasseled cap. It was a relief from the Gaygear soccer uniforms they and others will don post Sept 7th. Thoughts naturally turn to who might win the RWC 2007? The town of Paarl on South Africa is not large, which is why you have never heard of it. They have two main schools there, Paarl Gymnasie and Paarl High. I watched as the two school teams slugged it out on Supersport TV. The crowd was merely twenty thousand. If passionate addiction to rugby would bring home the trophy, surely the Springboks would carry it off easily.


I am not sure that will happen. The build-up of the Wallabies and All-Blacks has been enveloped in a dark cloak of secrecy and we know next to nothing of their post Tri-Nations XVs. Ireland, who promised so much, appear woeful and exposed for depth, Wales are a shambles, Scotland awful and the less said about England the better.


The team that has impressed most is home ground France and by the length of a punt at that. Their tough build-up of two games against England and one with Wales were easily won. Everything about them looks complete, polished and even easy. More ominously, they appear complete for the sort of European pitches the Australians and South Africans in particular are not used to. As for depth they have been able to put out close to 45 different players without their pulse rate rising above 72 bpm. Formidable and frightening Frogs would be an apt moniker.


Naturally the Brazil of rugby, the All-Blacks, remains firm favorites. Just like Brazil, they sometimes fail to deliver, are prone to choking and can fall apart. They have problems at centre unless Mauger is fully fit and their line-out does not impress any more than No 10 Dan Carter's 2007 form. They however do possess a great backrow, superb strikers like Rokokoko and perhaps overlooked , the finest bench of impact players of all. Their ability to double the game's tempo in the second half is incomparable. Thus they will be finalists if the rounds go according to form but may have peaked in 2006 when they needed to do so this RWC year.


Their opponents, if they reach the final, are likely to be the Springboks or the French and I tend to think the latter. South Africa has the best scum half in the world (Du Preez), the most lethal winger (Habana), a massive, skilled presence in the second row and, at least until wonder boy Pierre Spies developed embolisms, a backrow of exceptional lethality with Burger and Juan Smith. Their build-up and lack of racial interference from politicians has been smooth and unexpected. What counts against them is a fade-out tendency in the last quarter and an inability to punch attacking holes with their backs. They can poach intercept tries, in this they are masters. Yet with the defensive styles employed in RWC ties, snatch-and-grab opportunities may not be there for them. Will they get past England? Probably. Will they pip the French on a home ground semi? I think not, but unlike the 2003 Boks, they are well capable of beating any team and going all the way. One more problem is that since “nobody has ever met a nice South African”, the refs tend to single them out for decisions in the 50/50 phases.


England retains a formidable pack but outside one J.Wilkinson seem impotent and clueless in the backline. If they don't get by the Boks who seem to freeze whenever they face England, then a dumping in the quarter-finals is their likely fate. To win the World Cup you need world class players. In 2003 they had perhaps four. This year, Wilkinson included, they have none.


With no European nation save France likely putting a hand up, Argentina remain dark horses who could upset any team, starting with France in the opening RWC match on Sept 7th. However, the Argentina team is not as good as it was a year or two ago and the momentum towards the Pumas XV becoming a Top 5 ranked rugby nation has slowed.


Australia has a veteran team and is renowned for their clever and even sly rugby. With George Gregan as the most capped rugby international of all time, his sublime partnership with fly half Stephen Larkham plus the skills of centre Matt Giteau and fullback Chris Latham, Australia will be the equal of anyone. Masters of gamesmanship, sledging and referee tweaking, nobody should underestimate the Australian ability to dominate a match psychologically, even one they otherwise deserve to lose. Their biggest block to a final spot will probably be a semi against the All Blacks but they, like South Africa, have no fear at all of the favorites and could easily swing the upset of the tournament.

Figures Lie, Liars Figure

We are all told endlessly in the media that the USA is a violent and crime ridden society, compared to peaceful Europe. No wonder America remains the overwhelming choice of Kenyans seeking emigration, when we look at the real figures as opposed to media hype.

Here are Interpol 2001 crime statistics (rate per 100,000):
  • 4161 - US
  • 7736 - Germany
  • 6941 - France
  • 9927 - England and Wales

Thus the US has a substantially lower crime rate than the major European countries!

Here are the Interpol 1995 crime statistics (rate per 100,000):

  • 5278 - US
  • 8179 - Germany
  • 6316 - France
  • 7206 - England & Wales

Hence the trend in the US is towards a lower crime rate, while the trend in Europe (except Germany) is towards an increasing crime rate.

Even the USA's higher homicide rate has been dropping dramatically.

However, the homicide rates have been dropping dramatically :

Homicide Rate/100,000 by Date in US:

  • 1980 - 10.2
  • 2000 - 5.5

11 Jul 2007

Flower Power!


The Kenya flower and horticulture industry, long the main forex earner and biggest employer of single women with children in Kenya, continues it's fightback against global-warming Gorons of the "better dead than fed" school. These have tried to have Kenya's exports to UK banned under various absurd "carbon footprint" claims. These aim at the vital airfreight links between Kenya and Europe.


The Standard reports the Kenya Flower Council initiative here:

Kenya has launched a new campaign to protect its UK market against attempts to block its products over environmental concerns.

Horticultural industry players have launched the ‘Grown Under the Sun’ campaign to inform British consumers about the development benefits associated with sourcing fresh produce from Kenya.

Kenya has in the recent past faced major battles to protect its EU market following campaigns by supermarkets in the UK to block its products over environmental concerns.

It seems absurd that wealthy first world consumers have to learn of the obvious benefits of Third World people providing them with flowers and vegetables, when the near collapse of the WTO talks over Western subsidies that work against poor farmers are common knowledge.

At the same time, Kenya is looking forward to the first of it's fuel efficient Boeing 787 Dreamliners for Kenya Airways so that we can benefit from direct flights between Kenya and the USA. This would be a hiuge boost to our tourism and horticulture industries. Right on cue, up popped another Goron on the BBC from the "Environment and Aviation Group" or like sounding busybody to lecture us that environmentalists fear the Dreamliner will make flying more "attractive". Oh yes, the world is going to fly less in future. Let's all bicycle to New York.

20 May 2007

Thicko

The biggest Sicko in Michael Moore’s new movie is fat Mike himself who gives lots of aid and comfort to propagandists. Moore has the bright idea of flying some 911 survivors with health problems to Cuba so they can get “better” treatment than in the USA. No doubt Cuba’s Ministry of Health spared nothing to put one over on the yanquis, including their special show clinics for party members and foreigners only.

Real photos of genuine Cubans hospitals show a different story.

Moore uses all his usual tricks of faux documentary, insert shots and context bending to try and get Americans to buy the idea that their health system should be like the socialized ones of Canada, Britain, Europe and perhaps Cuba.

Of course Canadian and British health systems are collapsing and all the horror stories of US care exist there in spades. Ah, but those countries are not doing health care for profit , so the fact you wait 18 months for a hip operation in UK while doctors and hospital administrators form an elite, rich upper class of Britons is very moral, don’tcha know?

As for the vaunted Cuban health model why should anyone swallow statistics from an unfree society where these can never be checked or questioned?

Every statistic of communists except the count of prisoners in gulags and the numbers of annual executions are propaganda We know after communism's collapse that they lied about food production, educational standards, children’s health, personal wealth, technology, the environment, in fact the lot. Anyone who has visited Cuba will tell you that waiters whisper requests for asprin, paracetamol and sticky plasters. Health care in Cuba is free, if only there were any drugs.

Cuba also has a higher literacy rate than the USA, trumpets Castro. This one I do believe. Marxist dictatorships have high literacy rates is not so individuals can broaden their minds and improve their personal situations. It’s so everyone can read the propaganda. Mass literacy is part of the repressive groupthink modus of Marxism. What is the point of having 100% literacy if all you can read is The Collected Longer Speeches of Comrade Kim Jong Il?

Cuba also claims an exceptionally low HIV rate. This one is also true. Homosexuality in Cuba is a jail offense and thousands are imprisoned. The Cubans stole the drug patents of Western manufacturers early on in the pandemic. The hard drug trade is export only and controlled by Communists for benefit of the party so narcotics are not around to facilitate infection. Finally anyone HIV positive in Cuba is first locked up in quarantine and then registered and followed by the authorities, restricted socially and forced to take ARVs.

There is a daily ration of food in Cuba that has to be believed as well. The only problem is the calorific and nutritional value of the average Cuban ration (if he can even find it) is lower today than that of slaves in 1842.

The Food Ration in 1842 for slaves in Cuba:
meat, chicken, fish-- 8 oz
Rice-- 4 oz
Starches-- 16 oz
Beans-- 4 oz

Castro Gov. Ration since 1962:
meat, chicken, fish-- 2 oz.
Rice-- 3 oz
Starches-- 6.5 oz
Beans-- 1 oz.

Regrettably Michael Moore has no plans to do one of his tear jerking "documentaries" on this subject or any other which is not cornerstoned in anti-Americanism and fear of capitalism.

7 May 2007

France Revolves

First Germany and now France have swung centre-right. Not because they want to but they simply must become more "anglo-saxon" in their socio-economic outlook in order to survive as competitive nations. Being dragged to a more "American" future explains the strident anti-Americanism that emanates from Europe. The more Europe is forced to abandon it's crust of statism, the more it kicks and screams at successful America. It's rather like a political fit of infantilism.

Europe's flagstone
nations all share a conceit that there exists an more mature, wise and compassionate template of human social order and this is to be found, by some inexplicable and mysterious process, in the roots of European centre-left politics. These of course are merely a modern extention of traditional European statism, hardly a force for social effervescence. The French have finally hit the wall and elected Sarkozy over the predicatable boilerplate socialist, Royal.

Sarkozy is
nothing if not a novelty in the chummy world of eltitist Europolitics. He never attended the ENA ( Ecoles Nationales) schools where 90% of France's hegemonic elite are groomed for power and control. His refreshing response to being elected is to spend the week in a period of reflection before he takes up the job.

Despite
French anti-Americanism, France and the USA share many similarities and one is their strong sense of assimilationism. Thus American's are able to elect an immigrant as governor of California and the French the offspring of a Hungarian immigrant, Sarkozy, as President. It is unthinkable to see the same happening in any other European country, where a more primitive sense of blood politics is the norm.

Although
Sarkozy will diminish strident anti-Americanism (Brits should note this is an extension of traditional antipathy toward "les rosbifs" and thus a backhanded compliment), he will not be a panacea. French national debt, as computed by some, will soon reach the levels of the late Ottoman Empire and presumably confirm France's place as the new Sick Man of Europe. This is the fate Sarkozy, and a belated French electorate, desperatly wishes to avoid and it raises hope in European political realism. France's electorate, like Britain's when faced with Thatcher's hard choices in 1979, finally realise the old game is up. The only problem is they are almost 25 years too late. The parient is comatose and is recovery truly possible?

I watched
in amazement the French Presidential debate, where 10 minutes was spent arguing wether one should work a full 35 hours a week only or have the option to add an extra hour. Only in the fantasy world of Euroland could one expect such an exchange. An excellent longer article on France's sclerosis by Michael Gurfinkiel is to be found here.

What
is ironic is just as America's recent foes in Europe all turn centre-right, America prepares for a leftward swing with the election of the Democrats. Their welcome of Sarkozy has been tepid to say the least. The influential far-left arm of the Dems, which represnts perhaps 30% of their total numbers, is already ranting on about the election of "Sarkozy the fascist". The left wing of the Democratic party is always more comfortable with communist dictators than democratic reformers.

17 Apr 2007

The War Against Something or Other

The British government has abandoned the phrase of a 'war on terror.' It's so Tony, so old fashioned. New Labour is famous being a party of Newspeak and the cherished leftist belief that by language manipulation you can change a core of human or social behaviour.

Orwell made clear Newspeak's basic theory:
if something cannot be said, then it cannot be thought, and if it cannot be thought, it could never be done. If you can manipulate the meaning of words, then you can control the thoughts and actions of others.

Such manipulations by the left range from the gross, as in a North Korean radio broadcast to the subtle, as in the utterances of rising New Labour apparatchik Hilary Benn, son of famed loony-tune radical Tony Benn. To Benn the Younger, a phrase like "War on Terror" is doubleplusungood.

In a recent speech that shows the next generation of New Labour thinking, Benn informs us that if we use terms like "war on terror" we will aggrandize terrorists. Being careful to avoid the "I" word, Benn tells us the current state of world terrorism is not a war or struggle, just most individuals in the world "against",

a small number of loose, shifting and disparate groups who have relatively little in common apart from their identification with others who share their distorted view of the world and their idea of being part of something bigger.

What these groups want is to force their individual and narrow values on others, without dialogue, without debate, through violence. And by letting them feel part of something bigger, we give them strength

Though some might see contradiction between the “disparate” groups with “shared" views, Benn postulates that by invoking a ‘war on terror’, we are actually strengthening terrorists. He does not explain how you combat people who will not debate or indulge in dialogue and only use violence. Presumably, once you have “a majority of people against loose, disparate groups” instead of a “war on terror”, the problem will ameliorate..

No doubt, this airbrushing will impact on the “disparate groups” self-esteem, that other beloved Newspeak creation of the left. In this thinking, you don’t have to have achievements or character as a person or group. You must simply believe you are an achiever and have others tell you so, even when you are a total tosspot or wastrel. If this fatuity were true then the reverse holds. Once Islamic terrorists are no longer told they are part of a big worldwide movement, their morale will crumble.

This is like the theory of modern nursery school teachers: if a child does not start every day yelling , “I’m good, I’m clever, I’m meeeeeeee…..” in assembly, they will suffer irreversible socio-psychic harm for life.

You can read all of Benn’s ramblings here. Meanwhile it is comforting to know that Osama Bin Laden in his cave, Hizbollah in their bunkers and Islamic terrorists cells everywhere are discussing surrender or disbandment as they realise they are merely “disparate groups” with “little in common” facing the mighty majority of the world’s people who are armed with “values and ideas”.

With the EU having banned all thoughtcrime phrases like "Islamic terror" and "jihad" from official discourse, and with rampaging Muslims from Sweden to Belgium to Paris now called "youths", the Australians are not to be left out. During the Cronulla riots in 2006 , police were not able to issue bulletins describing Middle Easterners as other than "youths" with a "mullet hairstyle". Where I come from a mullet is something you eat.

Benn's terminology joins this honourable list of descriptors that have so enriched our language. We await the future headline: ' Youthful disparate groups of fish blow up the House of Commons".

6 Apr 2007

ANOTHER CRICKET WORLD CUP SHOCK

LATEST CRICKET RESULT: Iran 896-0 (Ahmedinejad 498 n.o), England 2-10 (Bliar 1,Beckett 1)

England slumped to a disastrous shock defeat at the hands of newcomers Iran, with their new star A.Ahamedinejad scoring a world record for one day cricket of 498 not out, which included 80 boundries (status disputed).

England was not helped by the defection of their entire team, less Blair and Beckett, to the Iranian side. England's start player Faye Turney found the going difficult as she tried to bowl in a full length chador-shemeez and was the first to give up and go over to Ahamedinejad's rampant side.

It is rumoured this is Englands gratest humiliation since they were beaten by one J. Ceasar;s team in 256 B.C.

22 Feb 2007

ITerrorists Use Poison Gas - MSM Yawns

The BBC reports that Iraqi terrorists are using a banned chemical weapon from WW1, Chlorine gas. This it seems only "concerns" them and the rest of the MSM are silent. Can we imagine the outrage if the coalition even released a whiff of Mustard gas, Phosgene and other WW1 horrors? Chlorine gas kills or maims by burning victims lungs. A whole truckload was found wired to go and obviously more is on the way.

Seemingly MSM and The Beeb's bland reporters can't be bothered to look up Wikipedia here.

What's worse is it's use against civilians in Baghdad. Just imagine if they got ahold of Sarin!

13 Feb 2007

Obamania Part 1

Now that Barack Obama has finally announced his precocious candidacy for the US Presidency, sections of the Kenya media will be agog with every development. Many Kenyans understandably have pride in his Kenyan connection via his father but will probably make the mistake of analysing his prospects through the usual lenses employed in local politics. These are always firmly fixed on identity obsessions (i.e. tribalism). Thus Kenyan commentators are already fixating on race identity, gloomily wondering if Americans will ever elect a "black" President.

They will miss the fact that Americans by and large are keen to vote for a black President which would, they hope, finally put the bear of race into a long and perhaps terminal hibernation. What many can't differentiate is that being "black" is not sufficient on it's own. Policies in the USA, unlike simple identity poltics in Kenya, actually count. Colin Powell might well have won the Presidency but that does not mean Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson would. The same holds for Obama, who leans far left of the political spectrum when most Americans are moderate or even centre-right. Americans are not at all against a "black" candidate - the question is, which one and is it a figure like Obama?

Obama may also have a harder time capturing the African-American vote than his formidable rivals like Hilary Clinton. He is not actually a "black" candidate at all, unless one accepts the basic racism inherent in the idea that a white woman can always give birth to a black child, but a black woman can never give birth to white one. Blacks in America appear upset that Obama has had a privileged childhood, exotic and international and not at all one that took in the historical sufferings of African-Americans, as they see it.

How does this likeable young man position himself? He cannot move towards the centre of US political ideas, as that is already occupied firmly by Clinton and other Democratic prospects. To do so would fatally undermine his credibility, as he would find it impossible to explain away his leftist positions on everything from Iraq to healthcare. The possibility will be that he ends up the candidate of the moonbat left, the liberal media and Hollywood elites- already Stephen Spielberg has jumped ship to raise money for him. This is hardly a base which will carry him to the Presidency unless the US veers so far left as to cause the greatest shift in modern political history. That is not going to happen.

Is he ready for prime time? His tasteless jibes at Australia's John Howard, where he attacked and ridiculed a staunch ally of the USA shows in the very infancy of his run that he seems determined to appease America's enemies and insult it's best friends. Asking Australia to "ginny up" and provide a further 20,000 troops to Iraq is just the first error to show his absolute inexperience, beyond a couple of years as a junior Senator. It's early days yet, but the chances are Obama will discover that Americans would be much happier voting for a non-white candidate who shows reliable centrism or even mildly rightist policy ideas than the narrow voter base he is obviously reaching for.

27 Jan 2007

Yankee Come Home

Confirmation about something many suspected and which our blatantly anti-American big media has hardly commented on: the BBC undertook a worldwide sample of some 29,000 respondents showing Kenyans have the highest positive view of the USA of any country surveyed, a stunning 70% rating.

Compare this to the miserly 16% of Germans who believe the USA has a mainly positive role in the world. The Germans got magnanimity after World War II in the Marshall Plan, and an underwriting for the cost of their defence against communism, allowing them to concentrate on becoming rich and peaceful, thanks to America. Despite the unspeakable atrocities the Germans visited on the world with their war, less than 20 of it’s worst leaders were hung as war criminals. Forgive and rebuild was the watchword. As we say in Kiswahili, asante ya punda ni teke; the thanks of a donkey are kicks.

Here in Kenya, our local newspapers also own TV and radio outlets. The biggest is the Nation Group comprising daily papers, the business tabloid The East African and broadcast media. It’s owned by Muslims, albeit the moderate Aga Khan Foundation. The Standard Group undersells it considerably, and both exhibit unrelenting anti-Americanism from the editors downwards.

Kenyans are bombarded with stories written by Islamists, tranzis and anti-democrats. In the Standard last year, a column on the “only hope” for Iraq was, wait for it, to have the UN reinstate Saddam. Jihadi journalist Salim Lone informs readers in The Daily Nation that “hardly anyone” believes in Islamist plots to blow up airliners and that these are “inventions of Bush and Blair”. The recent collapse of the Somali Islamists (fervently wished for by Kenyans) was greeted with serious media alarm, followed by derision directed at the USA.

This is the normal journalistic meal served up to Kenyan readers, a country where Christians are the overwhelming majority and print is still king. The blogosphere has hardly any readers at all. All the more surprising then that Kenyans have weathered this propaganda effort and still favour the USA.

23 Jan 2007

Gunship Hash Fry-Up

The January 13th issue of The East African editorializes; “US Makes A Hash Of It Again referring to Somalia. Claiming the "US adventure is Somali is going off the rails, raising fears of another Iraq being enacted right here in East Africa", it minimizes the Islamist support o'f Eritrean and foreign mercenaries, the long history of Somali-Ethiopian wars, the massive influx of arms into Mogadishu from mischievous countries and Kenya’s own interests in eradicating terrorists. It’s all Uncle Sam’s blunder, again.

Facts are abandoned. There are no reports, as the editor would have it, of US fighter jets” or Blackhawk helicopters” operating in Somalia. There was a solitary AC-130 gunship that could have done many favours if it had eradicated the Al-Qaeda cell leaders. Their attacks killed hundreds and wounded thousands in Kenya. This nearly bankrupted our tourist industry and entire economy twice. There are a few Special Forces boots on the ground and these, plus the British SAS , have been welcomed by all parties except the Islamists and their allies and dupes in the Kenyan media.

Also, since it does not fit The East African’s favoured anti-American narrative, the paper fails no mention the ICU attacked Baidoa and the TNG on December 16th despite endless international warnings and thus sealed their own fate.

The US has publicly stated it is willing to work with non-Al Qaeda Islami c Courts Unionparties in Somalia – a big shift in policy. It strongly backs an AU force and stays as much in the background as possible – unlike for example Eritrea or Al-Qaeda itself, which called for global terrorists to come to the ICU’s aid. The US has kept it’s military footprint very small. No doubt most regional countries would like to see the irredentist ICU dismantled. Moderate Somalis in Hargeisha and Puntland are whooping with delight.

Rather than “hashing” the job, it is more likely the US has learned valuable past lessons and kept the problem at arm’s length. One is not sure why The East African would want to inflame jihadi passions by asserting otherwise.
Somalia is both an inter-African and regional failure. America is justifiably interested in the capture or death of a limited group of Al-Qaeda terrorists. The US left Somali alone for a dozen years after “Blackhawk Down”. During this time did Africans solve their own problems? Did the EU or UN come to rescue the country? Not at all.

The result was the ICU and more civil war, with the possibility of an Afghanistan- in Africa. This was intolerable to all in Kenya except a handful of Islamists and their mouthpieces like jihadi supporter Salim Lone of The Daily Nation. In truth there is no simple solution in Somalia and making people believe that the American bogeyman is behind all the woe implies it will vanish should the US ignore Somalia for another decade. Nothing could be further from the truth.
A week after this "editorial", which reads more like a shill for the ICU, the moderate leader of the ICU surrendered peacefully to Kenyan authorities and was reported headed for Nairobi for talks with US State Department officials. The real question is, why do Kenyans have to read over and again these hopelessly biased and innacurate anti-American rants, in the guise of "editorials"?

10 Jan 2007

A Massacre Of The Guilty


Is it useful for Kenyan authorities detain 6 suspected Kenyan Islamists allegedly fighting in Somalia ? If they had on them cell-phones with recorded messages to Osama Bin Laden, Idd cards signed by Al-Qaeda leader Al Zwahiri, notebooks detailing intimate conversations between themselves and terrorists in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq and details of suspected targets worldwide, there is nothing whatsoever, besides letting them go, that Kenyan authorities could do. This is because Kenya refuses, in a weird mixture of misplaced nationalism, incoherent anti-Americanism among it's elites and naked Muslim vote-buying in an election year, to pass anti-terrorist legislation.

Every terrorism suspect that has been brought to court since 2001 has been freed. The record of Kenya, a nominally Christian country, in convicting jihadi terrorists is actually worse than most Muslim nations. The former Moi government used to hand over terrorists to the USA and seek the active assistance of American law agencies like the FBI. The chances of the Kibaki government doing the same seems nil. Strident anti-American/pro-terrorist propaganda is staple fare of many in Kenya's news media and readers are delivered daily barrages of articles that are strongly sympathetic to the terrorist world viewpoint. Al-Jazeera is being given a license to operate it's TV programming in Kenya. Kenya is the only nation in the world to have suffered repeated and devastating terrorist attacks without passing a single piece of anti-terrorist law. The majority of Kenyans desire such laws, but the elite and pressure groups have so far resisted passing any.

An entire Muslim network ( or fifth column) of street demonstrators, mullahs, preachers and "activists " has sprung up to denounce any proposed anti-terror laws, to demand the disbandment of the Kenya Police Terrorism Unit and rail against the USA/Israel at every opportunity. Coupled with the notorious corruption of the Kenya Police and Immigration officers, it is no wonder the Islamists in Somalia have made a dash for the Kenyan border. There is little assurance that dozens will not, and have not already, slipped into the country. The only thing in their way seems to the the AC-130 gunships and special ops forces the US bases in nearby Djibouti.

Todays news of the death of 1998 Embassy bombing mastermind Fazul Mohammed who also plotted the 2002 Kikambala Hotel attack in Malindi and simultaneous attempt to bring down an Israeli airliner at the airport will be more than welcome to the staggering number of Kenyan victims of Al-Qaeda and their relatives. Over 200 Kenyans have been murdered by Al-Qaeda and a shocking 5000 injured, often ghastly lacerations from flying glass after bombings.

The Ethiopians, Somali government and US forces have driven the Al-Qaeda remnants to a no-win penninsula of isolated headlands and rocky islets around Ras Komboni in south Somlia. It is rare for the US to get Al-Qaeda in it's sights in such a hopeless position. Worse for the Islamists, they are cut-off from their bleating supporters in the world media, though the "they are killing only civilians" reports are naturally being circulated. There is every indication the US forces are going to kill or capture all Al-Qaeda trapped on Ras Komboni. The entire event is a complete humiliation of the jihadi juggernaut that claimed such invincibility. Maybe Kenya won't need those anti-terrorist laws at all after a few more days of gunships, Predators and special forces operations.

9 Jan 2007

Preparing The New Kristallnacht

Jimmy Carter is arguably the worst President ever elected in US history. While the MSM, Euro-paranoids and others rant on about George Bush and "fudamentalist Christians" taking over the USA, it's worth remembering that Carter is something of a hardline Christian from the Deep South himself. Presumably because he's a Democrat however, he gets a free media ride. That's why the sinister side to this failed man hardly gets examined. Many Southern Christians basically fall into two camps: those who are anti-Semitic (Jews as Christ-killers etc) and those who, for their own odd scriptural reasons, support the existence of the state of Israel.

Carter's racist new book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” shows him firmly to be in the "Jews -Are-Evil" camp of Christian fundamentalists. Who does Carter most remind one of? A creep like Yusuf "Cat Stevens" Islam who, in a perfectly reasonable and calm voice, can spew out hatred and venom, smiling all the time. Even the liberal media cannot spare Carter. His book has been condemned as “moronic” (Slate), “anti-historical” (The Washington Post)and “laughable” (San Francisco Chronicle).

Carter is of course doing nothing more than many of the worst sort of Christians have done for almost two millennia: demonizing Jews and dehumanising them, to prepare them for killing or persecution. I wonder what it sounds like to the average Israeli, with his memories of the combined pogroms of Europe, this constant stream of racist propaganda directed at his tiny minority? The slow, steady preparation of justification for a new Kristallnacht.

One hears it in the assertions of the left and Arab nationalists who subscribe to the nonsense that the "key to peace in the Middle East is solving the Palestine problem". What they are promising is the illusion of peace, with Israel as the scarifical lamb. If only Israel ceased to exist we would all live in peace and be happy and prosperous. Anyone who believes this of the Middle East is easily duped.

Those who cannot spot the similarity to this racist nonsense and Hitler's assertion that Germany (and Europe) could only achieve the levels of Utopia when cleansed of Jewish "control" needs to think deeply indeed.

It's not enough that Jews be compared to South African racists. When asked whether he believed that Israel’s “persecution” of Palestinians was “[e]ven worse . . . than a place like Rwanda,” Carter answered, “Yes. I think — yes.” ... Thus this disgraceful man, who Americans threw out of office in revulsion, prepares the ancient ghost of debased Christianity: the Jew-devil, the Evil One, the Scapegoat. It is part of a pattern that has been going on in Europe too for a good while.

Many now take it as axiomatic that Israel is the key (or rather obstacle) to all problems in the Arab world - even to Shiites and Sunnis slaughtering each other in Baghdad. World opinion is being softened up for a new Kistallnact and anyone with a Christian heritage should look very hard, with the largest moral magnifying glass they can find, at this latest round of Jew-baiting from the "deeply CXhristian" Jummy carter

8 Jan 2007

Kenyan Athlete Finally Loses

It's hard to feel sympathy for either side in this story:

Authorities have revoked the Bahraini citizenship of a Kenyan-born athlete who ran in an Israeli marathon, the nation's athletic union said Saturday.

Bahraini runner Mushir Salem Jawher competed and won the Tiberias Marathon in Israel on Thursday, ending the race in just over 2 hours and 13 minutes.


Gulf Arab states are all over Kenya getting Christian athletes to defect for huge sums of money, so as to build their athletics programs. And what is so wrong with that, given Kenya has a surplus of runners and high poverty levels? What is wrong is that the Gulf states make the Kenyans abandon their Christian religion and convert to Islam. They are also required to adopt fully Arab names.

Now imagine the outcry if, say, the talented Sudanese basketball players coming to the USA were required to give up their names and convert to Christianity. However as usual it's one rule for the West and another for everyone else.