Tuesday 2 November 2010

Autistic Pupil Was ‘Caged’

Below is an enclosed play area that the Western Isles Council (Comhairle nan Eilean Siar) constructed as a safe play area for a teenage pupil with learning difficulties and autism, at the Nicolson Institute in Stornoway, on Lewis.
Described as a "cage" by local SNP MSP Alasdair Allan, it has since been removed.

The pupil's parents, who raised funds to help cover the costs of a safe outdoor area which they hoped would include decking and play equipment, said they were "deeply upset" to see what had been constructed.

The Council said that it wanted to apologise unreservedly to the family.

Constructed from old barriers and bog-standard fence-posts he admitted that it represented “a failure on the part of the council to consider this young man's needs."
And then, in an attempt to deflect criticism, Mr Allan went on to say that the pupil's parents were full of praise for his teachers.

This excuse was further extended by councillor Norman MacDonald, vice chairman of the policy and resources committee, who said that the enclosure was the result of a communication breakdown between staff and the supplier over the specifications of what was needed.

But here's the thing.
Mr Allan also said: "Some months ago, the parents were deeply upset to see what had been constructed.”

"Some months ago”!!!

The enclosure was taken down over the past two weeks. But unfortunately for the Council it has made the news.

There is absolutely no excuse for this. Distressing to the family, and an affront to human dignity, this council wants to have a good look at itself.

This is the sort of thing that is only too common within local authorities where the culture of incompetence seems as rife as ever.

Plants Shall Talk Unto Plants

Just watched a BBC news item on talking to plants and how the ‘Scouse’ accent is the most successful.

Most successful for what?

Plants do not grow better if you talk to them!

Why would they? How could they?

Seriously – think about it.

The thing is that there are plenty of numbskulls out there, encouraged by twats such as Prince Charles, who actually believe in this pish. And if they can believe in this – they can believe anything.
They really shouldn't be encouraged. It's not the plants that need talking to.

If I was conspiracy theorist I would say that they're putting something in the water or spraying us with something from planes.

Anyway, off to watch Sky’s absolutely brilliant ‘History Channel’ that is showing a programme about how UFOs are alien spacecraft. A veritable feast of pseudoscience, conspiracies, delusion and downright lies...  

Woman Dies as Ambulance Technician Chose Not to Respond to 999 Call

An ambulance technician chose not to respond to a 999 call about a woman having what proved to be a fatal heart attack 800 yards from his depot in Moray because he was on a break.

The Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) said the emergency in Tomintoul was instead answered by a crew based 21 minutes away in Grantown-on-Spey and an air ambulance was also scrambled.

However, 33-year-old Mandy Mathieson died.

The SAS have pointed out that the technician has been suspended while an investigation is carried out.

The Scottish Government said that it expected the investigation to examine whether procedures were properly followed and if there were any lessons to be learned.

But, here's the thing …  

When a paramedic refused to cut short his tea-break to attend a woman suffering from a heart-attack two years ago in Fraserburgh, a spokesman for the Scottish Ambulance Service told us:

"Under the rules of the UK Government's ‘Agenda for Change NHS’ pay modernisation programme, ambulance crews are entitled to a break during their shift and cannot be disturbed during that period.

"All ambulance services in the UK must comply with these rules, unless staff choose individually to be interrupted during their break."

So, the ambulance technician on duty in Tomintoul was on a rest break and chose not to respond. And in doing so, did nothing wrong.

But, let's face it you wouldn't have the aforesaid agreement in place if you couldn’t provide adequate cover – would you?

Obviously – if you're the SAS - you would. And the result is that people are getting a service that puts lives at risk. 

Incidents like this reflect badly on the SAS and undermine what is otherwise an excellent service that we take for granted and, unfortunately, only appreciate when we use it.  

The problem here is an ill-thought out agreement with the unions, along some people who are perhaps in the wrong job.

Time to get rid of both.

More Action – Less Talk Required From Ofcom

TalkTalk and Tiscali have been threatened with fines for aggressively billing customers for services that had been cancelled and payment of bills they did not owe.

After receiving more than 1,000 complaints this year, Ofcom has finally got of it’s arse and told them get their act together.

TalkTalk, which has been trying to collect the non-existent debts, including in some cases using debt collectors and threats of legal action, blamed a new billing system introduced after it bought Tiscali in June last year.

If the company fails to comply by December 2nd it may be fined as much as 10% of its annual turnover.

"Ofcom is determined to stand up for consumers and take action against companies that break the rules," said Ofcom's director of consumer affairs, Claudio Pollack.

The people at Ofcom must surely be the only ones in the country that accept the sort of pish that the people offer it as a defence for their actions. 

They are either ‘at it’ or not fit to run a company.

Or perhaps a bit of both?

Monday 20 September 2010

Hitler, the Nazis and Christianity. The Fallacy of Nazi Atheism.

Ratzinger compared me to a Nazi. Why? Because I choose not to believe in his God. Yet he is the product of the very same conservative German Christianity that allowed the Nazis to come to power. 
Then, the Catholic League demanded that I should apologise for Hitler. Why? The evidence shows that he was a Christian.

"I am now, as before a Catholic, and will always remain so"
(Adolph Hitler, to Gen. Gerhard Engel, 1941)

There is an erroneous, if popular, belief that the Nazis were fundamentally anti-Christian while devout Christians were anti-Nazi.

On one hand, this is a denial based on the argument that no true Christian could do or advocate such things. Therefore they were not true Christians and their crimes cannot be attributed to Christianity. This argument could be extended to all the crimes committed by Christians over the course of history. 
This is known as the ‘No True Scotsman’ fallacy, because it relies on shifting the definition of "Christian" to match whatever conclusion a person prefers.
On the other it  is an Ad Hoc argument, as explains away endorsement of Christianity   Hitler and the Nazis as a political ploy which In private, the had no intention of promoting it in reality.

There is no credible evidence that the Nazis were anti-Christian. Indeed the evidence suggests otherwise. Private and public remarks made by the Nazis on Christianity were the same, indicating an intention to act as they claimed.

While many Christians today struggle with the idea that their religion had anything in common with Nazism, they need to accept that it was conditioned by the culture around it. There was much common ground to be found between Christianity and the Nazis.

"For how shall we fill people with blind faith in the correctness of a doctrine, if we ourselves spread uncertainty and doubt by constant changes in its outward structure? ...Here, too, we can learn by the example of the Catholic Church. Though its doctrinal edifice, and in part quite superfluously, comes into collision with exact science and research, it is none the less unwilling to sacrifice so much as one little syllable of its dogmas... it is only such dogmas which lend to the whole body the character of a faith."
(Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf" Vol. 2 Chapter 5)

Roman Catholic Priests giving the Hitler salute at a Catholic youth rally in the Berlin-Neukolln stadium in August 1933

Nazi condemnation of everything modern was the key to their popularity with German Christians. The Weimar Republic was regarded by German Christians as godless, materialistic and secular. They felt it had betrayed Germany's traditional values and religious beliefs. They believed that the social fabric of their community was unravelling and in attacking godlessness, homosexuality, abortion, communism, liberalism, prostitution, pornography, obscenity, etc, the Nazis promised to restore the old order. Atheist and Freethinking groups were outlawed in 1933.

"ATHEIST HALL CONVERTED"

Berlin Churches Establish Bureau to Win Back Worshippers
Wireless to the New York Times.

BERLIN, May 13. - "In Freethinkers Hall, which before the Nazi resurgence was the national headquarters of the German Freethinkers League, the Berlin Protestant church authorities have opened a bureau for advice to the public in church matters. Its chief object is to win back former churchgoers and assist those who have not previously belonged to any religious congregation in obtaining church membership.
The German Freethinkers League, which was swept away by the national revolution, was the largest of such organizations in Germany. It had about 500,000 members ..."

(New York Times, May 14, 1933, page 2, on Hitler's outlawing of atheistic and freethinking groups in Germany in the Spring of 1933, after the Enabling Act authorizing Hitler to rule by decree)

In Germany at the beginning of the 20th century Christianity was often profoundly anti-Semitic and nationalistic.
An important aspect of the Nazi state is that they did not invent anti-Semitism. Rather, the centuries of Christian anti-Semitism and extensive anti-Semitic theology in Germany’s Christian community produced the ground which the Nazis found so fertile for their own ideology. German Christianity even fostered a denial of the Jewishness of Jesus.  Nazi Christians didn’t abandon basic Christian doctrines such as the divinity of Jesus. They didn’t follow an idiosyncratic version of Christianity. Nor was it “infected” with hate and nationalism. Everything about Nazi Christianity already existed in German Christianity.
Like the Nazis, German religious leaders believed that Jewishness was more than just a religion, a position reinforced when they supplied the Nazis with baptismal and marriage records to help identify converted Jews for extermination.

Page from the anti-Semitic German children's book, "Der Giftpilz" (The Poisonous Mushroom) "When you see a cross, then think of the horrible murder by the Jews on Golgotha."

Although not true of everywhere in Germany, it should be recognised that Protestants were more attracted to Nazism than Catholics. But there was common ground between Nazism and German Catholics in anti-communism, anti-atheism, and anti-secularism.

The Christian church's ‘resistance’ to Nazism seldom extended beyond that which threatened it’s own activities.  They tolerated widespread violence against Jews, military rearmament, invasions of foreign nations, the banning labour unions, the imprisonment of political dissenters and the detention of people who had committed no crimes. The Nazi's euthanasia policy - the Aktion T4 program was the sole example of an action by the Nazi regime which provoked large-scale protests from the Christian Churches and the public.
Even before the Nazis came to power, the German eugenics movement had an extreme wing, led by Alfred Hoche and Karl Binding, who as early as 1920 had advocated killing those with lives judged to be "life unworthy of life" (lebensunwertes Leben). (Action T4)

They did so because they saw in Hitler someone who would restore traditional values and morality to Germany.

"Today Christians ... stand at the head of [this country]... I pledge that I never will tie myself to parties who want to destroy Christianity... We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit ... We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theatre, and in the press - in short, we want to burn out the *poison of immorality* which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of *liberal excess* during the past ... (few) years."
(The Speeches of Adolph Hitler, p. 871-872]

It was also important to the Nazis that education was founded on a strong Christian base. It was also a matter of utmost importance to the Catholic hierarchy, and agreed to by the Reich Concordat between the Nazis and the Vatican. Hitler went on in this chilling observation:

"Secular schools can never be tolerated because such a school has no religious instruction and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith. From our point of view as representatives of the state, we need believing people. A dark cloud threatens from Poland. We have need of soldiers, believing solders. Believing solders are the most valuable ones. They give their all. Therefore we will maintain the confessional schools in order to train believing people through the schools, but this depends upon having truly believing teachers, not by chance Marxists who do not stand fully by their religious faith, as teachers." (Helmreich, p.241)

Traditional evaluation of Christian complicity in the Holocaust and other Nazi crimes - and to what degree Christians allowed themselves to be used for Nazi purposes, presupposes a distinction between Nazis and Christians which didn’t exist. Most Nazis were devout Christians and believed that Nazi philosophy was animated by Christian doctrine and as such they supported the Nazi agenda.
The actions of Hitler and the Nazis were as “Christian” as those during the Crusades or the Inquisition.

In a speech celebrating Germany's exit from the League of Nations, Hitler again maintained that the Third Reich was actively implementing a Christian agenda:

“Along with the fight for a purer morality we have taken upon ourselves the struggle against the decomposition of our religion. We have therefore taken up the struggle against the Godless movement, and not just with a few theoretical declarations; we have stamped it out.”

Several leading Nazis who preferred a neo-pagan theistic religion, a position never officially endorsed either by the Nazi Party or Adolf Hitler. Alfred Rosenberg favoured the creation of a new religion, but Hitler went so far as to threaten to take action against his book ‘Mythus’, which was banned by some lower-ranking party organizations. Himmler was obsessed with ancient Germans, which Hitler dismissed as ridiculous — and even Himmler insisted that Christian viewpoints be respected within the SS.
Pagan Nazis however, never pretended to be anything else — they never took a pro-Christian stance in public in order to win approval. When Nazis were pagan, they were unabashedly and enthusiastically so, without apology.

The churches of Germany on a Sunday morning were not filled by anti-Nazi Christians.

Hitler signing autograph for a Catholic nun

The Attempt to Refute Hitler’s Christianity

There were many Nazis who were anti-clerical rather than anti-Christian. And there were certainly non-Christian Nazis. Martin Bormann for example, was vehemently anti-Catholic. Yet it is Bormann who, in the main, those denying Hitler’s Christianity turn to for evidence that Hitler was ‘in fact’ an atheist.

It should be pointed out here that unlike primary sources such as “Mein Kampf”, his recorded speeches, proclamations, and letters personally written and signed by Hitler, this evidence is second hand.
It comes as quotes from ‘secondary sources’ such as the "Secret Conversations with Hitler", "Hitler - Memoirs of a Confidant", Albert Speer's “memoirs” and "Hitler's Table Talk” (also referred to as "Private Conversations"). And it is mostly from "Hitler's Table Talk” that opponents find ‘incontrovertible evidence’ that he could not have been a Christian. It is the only source where one can find Hitler, allegedly, denouncing religion to such a degree. The source usually comes from the English translation (from a French translation) edition by Norman Cameron and R. H. Stevens, with an introduction by H.R. Trevor-Roper

The veracity of any secondary sources should always be considered when weighing up any evidence. This is not to say that the evidence is in anyway corrupt because of it’s nature. Rather, that the nature of such evidence is open to corruption.
If, when balancing the evidence, primary and secondary sources conflict then weight must be given to the former.

As a secondary source notwithstanding, the evidence in the Cameron and Stevens edition of "Hitler's Table Talk” should be treated with caution.

There must always be question of reliability of multiple translations, in this case from German to French to English.
But, there are more serious questions that can be raised about this source. The English translation that was taken from Genoud’s French translation conflicts with the original German version.


The Historical Background to “Hitler’s Table Talk”.

It was Bormann's idea to record Hitler's thoughts. Hitler, who had previously refused to admit any mechanical recorder into his private room, reluctantly allowed Bormann to appoint two stenographers to record his thoughts during 1942–42.

They were: Heinrich Heim, a civil servant in the Reich Ministry of Justice, who recorded from 5th July 1941 to 20th March 1942 and, from 21st March 1942 until 31st July 1942, Dr. Henry Piker.
The record, whether taken by Heim or Picker, was passed to Bormann, who made two copies of his record. One was kept in the Fuhererbau in Munich and was burnt at the end of the war; the other was sent to the Berghof at Berchtesgaden and came ultimately into the hands of Genoud. It is this second copy of which the volume of Hitler's ‘Table Talk’ was translated.

In a facsimile written after the last of Hitler's recorded ‘Table Talk’s’, Bormann wrote a directive that stated:

"Please keep these notes most carefully, as they will be of very great value in the future. I have now got Heim to make comprehensive notes as a basis for these minutes. Any transcript which is not quite apposite will be re-checked by me."

Dr. Picker regarded his own recording as authentic and insisted that "no confidence can be placed in Bormann's editing of it." Indeed, he writes rather testily, of "Bormann's alterations, not authorised by me." (Trevor-Roper, p.viii)
Unfortunately, as far as is known, no unaltered version of either Dr. Picker's or Heim's recordings remain. All that there are the copies that were filtered by the anti-Catholic Bormann which may well reflect his bias.


Hitler’s Table Talk”.

In his introduction, Trevor-Roper, in arguing against Hitler's Christianity, provides a rather dubious reason for accepting “Hitler's Table Talk”:

"We must go direct to Hitler's personal utterances: not indeed to his letters and speeches-- these, though valuable, are too public, too formalised for such purposes-- but to his private conversations, his Table-Talk. Table-Talk, like notebooks, reveal the mind of a man far more completely, more intimately, than any formal utterance."

Bu, he fails to give a reason why this gives a more intimate look at a person. But more damaging to his reasoning is that they were not private. Hitler was aware that the scribes were there to give an account of him for future posterity. These were as public as any of Hitler's letters and pre-written speeches. It is unclear as to what sense these 'loose' conversations reveal more than letters and speeches?

Another reason to question the “Hitler’s Table Talk” is that the anti-Christian quotes do not appear in the German text. They are found only in the translation by Genoud, from which the English translation comes from. To ascribe this to error would be more than generous. They have to be considered as fabrications by Genoud.

Genoud was a Swiss banker who committed suicide in1996. He was a Nazi spy who laundered money for the Third Reich and a self-professed neo-Nazi even up to his death. He was a voracious purchaser and profiteer of Nazi archives, and an admitted financer of terrorists. It should be noted though, that he was not a supporter of the holocaust.

In a related incident, Genoud gave the World War II historian, David Irving, a copy of a complete typed manuscript. This was the alleged document of “Hitler's Last Testament” and supposedly a part of the “Hitler’s Table Talk”. Genoud later admitted to Irving that the entire typescript was his own concoction, saying: "But it is just what Hitler would have said, isn't it?"

If Genoud was prepared to pass off “Hitler's Last Testament” as genuine and more pertinently, as part of “Hitler’s Table Talk”, then this, along with the conflict between the German text of ‘talks’ and his translation, throws his work into serious doubt. It quite simply cannot be relied on. Any serious historian would be justified in considering the so called anti-Christian quotes in his translation to be fabrications.
There is more than hint of 'confirmation bias' in Christians accepting this evidence as proof of their assertions about Hitler.

What can be seen in the publications purporting to show that Hitler was anti-Christian is in fact criticisms of Church and various Christian dogmas.
He rails against the idea of a physical resurrection, favouring of a spiritual one, and takes a very cynical view of Catholicism. But he is voicing many of the same criticisms one might hear from a candid (and perhaps bigoted) Protestant. But, he makes it clear that he believes in God, Christ, the immortality of the soul, and divine providence. For instance, on 27 February 1942 Hitler is quoted as saying: "The most marvellous proof of the superiority of Man, which puts man ahead of the animals, is the fact that he understands that there must be a Creator,"


The reasoning of apologists, in regards to the “Hitler’s Table Talk”, seems to be that because Hitler spoke against organised religion, then he must therefore be anti-Christian.
A Christian is simply a person who believes in God and Jesus in some form or manner. To imply that criticism a particular denomination of Christianity is to be anti-Christian is a false implication that nullifies the argument.
If simply speaking against a Christian religion were enough to oust one from Christianity, then some of the most influential Christians would have to reside with Hitler.

"The papacy is truly the real power and tyranny of the Antichrist.... As beautiful as it was to keep a state of virginity, in the early days of Christianity, so abominable has it now become, when it is used as a means of eliciting Christ's help and grace.""
Martin Luther (Luther's Confession, March 1528)

We maintain that the government of the Church was converted into a species of foul and insufferable tyranny.". 
John Calvin (The Necessity of Reforming the Church, 1544)

If we used the logic of the apologists against Hitler, then we should remove Luther, Calvin, and many other prominent people from membership of Christianity.

What can be seen in “Hitler’s Table Talk”, and what people such as Ratzinger and Donahue consciously avoid is Hitler’s confirmation of his Christianity.
It cannot be used as evidence for his anti-Christianity.

When he expresses his views on the future he says:
“I envisage the future, therefore, as follows: First of all, to each man his private creed. Superstition shall not lose its rights. The Party is sheltered from the danger of competing with the religions.”

Nor can it be used to argue for an atheist Hitler:
“We don't want to educate anyone in atheism.” (p. 6)

Nor can the Table-Talk be used to argue for a pagan Hitler:
“It seems to me that nothing would be more foolish than to re-establish the worship of Wotan. Our old mythology had ceased to be viable when Christianity implanted itself.” (p. 61)

Hitler greets Müller the "Bishop of the Reich" and Abbot Schachleitner


Secondary Sources

As mentioned, all of this is evidence from a secondary source. But if that is acceptable to those who deny Hitler’s Christianity there are more:

“If anyone can lay claim to God's help, then it is Hitler, for without God's benevolent fatherly hand, without his blessing, the nation would not be where it stands today. It is an unbelievable miracle that God has bestowed on our people.”
Minister Rust, in a speech to a mass meeting of German Christians on June 29, 1933 (Helmreich, p. 138)

Even the Cardinal Faulhaber of Munich who visited Hitler at his mountain retreat in Obersalzburg confessed:
“Without a doubt the chancellor lives in faith in God. He recognizes Christianity as the foundation of Western culture”. {Helmreich, p.279}

And on Hitler's allegiance to his "true" Christian spirit:

“I do not remember even a single occasion when Hitler gave any instructions that ran counter to the true Christian spirit and to humanness.”
(Wagener, ”Hitler- Memoirs of a Confidant, p.147)

Christians may not like acknowledging that Nazi actions might have anything to do with Christianity, but Germany saw itself as a fundamentally Christian nation and millions of Christians in Germany enthusiastically endorsed Hitler and the Nazi Party in part because they saw both as embodiments of both German and Christian ideals.


"I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so"
[Adolph Hitler, to Gen. Gerhard Engel, 1941]

The evidence shows that Hitler was a Christian. But it would be ludicrous to demand that Christians should apologise for his and the Nazi's actions. Only those who commit crimes and those who aid and abet them to escape punishment should apologise. Smokescreen tactics such as such as those of Ratzinger and the Catholic League only highlight the problems within their Church.

The Christian churches of Germany were not empty on a Sunday. Neither were they filled with anti-Nazi Christians.
But, one things for sure. They were not filled with atheists. 


Was Catholic Hitler"Anti-Christian"? On the Trail of Bogus Quotes By Richard C. Carrier
Pope Benedict XVI: A Biography of Joseph Ratzinger, John L. Allen Jr.

Thursday 16 September 2010

UK is a "Third World country" Says Persecuted German Cardinal

Cardinal Walter Kasper, 77, one of the Pope's senior advisers has pulled out of the papal visit to Britain, after reportedly saying the UK is a "Third World country" marked by "a new and aggressive atheism". He made the remarks in a German magazine interview.

The Vatican curiously said the cardinal had not intended "any kind of slight", and was referring to the UK's multicultural society.
So, he arrives at Heathrow, sees a lot of black people and thinks: “For fuck’s sake this looks like the third world’
According to the Vatican, what he was actually doing was associating ethnicity with economic development. Perhaps this sort of racism shouldn’t surprise us, whether it comes from a 77 year-old German or his apologists in Rome.

In my experience, “Third World” countries are recognisable, not so much by the ethnic make-up of the population but rather, by the power wielded in those countries by religion.

Perhaps Kasper might want to visit the favelas of Brazil, a country where there is a nominal devotion to his church of 74% of the population. There he will be spared the “aggressive atheism”. Thus allowing plenty of time to ponder the success of his Church in keeping the rich in power and vast majority of it’s followers locked in a hopeless life of grinding poverty with the promise of pie in the sky when they die.



Christ the Redeemer on the Corcovado mountain rises above a favela, or slum, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil  Photograph: Douglas Engle/Australfoto
Whoever Christ is redeeming from his lofty perch above Rio de Janeiro, it’s certainly not those in the favelas.

He also was reported to have criticised British Airways, saying that when you wear a cross on the airline "you are discriminated against".
In what way, I wonder, does this manifest itself?
Do the stewards in ‘Business Class’ actually say things like:
“You’re getting fuck-all champagne, because you’re a Christian.”
He has to tell us more. Lest some amongst us think that he is going down the old road of validation through persecution, a staple of religion.

Alas, Kasper will not now be visiting the UK. We are told that he has gout.
Now there are many reasons why one can have gout. But, there are some things the good Cardinal can do to relieve the symptoms.
Cut out the rich food and fortified wines. And exercise his body a bit more than he does his brain.

The term ‘Third World’ was actually coined by French demographer, anthropologist and historian Alfred Sauvy in an article in the French magazine L’Obsevateur, in 1952, as a ‘Cold War’ reference to those countries that were not aligned to either the NATO/capitalist  ‘first world’ or the Warsaw Pact/communist ‘second world’.
Today the term is used colloquially to describe the poorest countries in the world.

See more of Douglas Engle's photographs here.

Monday 6 September 2010

Blair: A Prophet without Honour in His Own Land

The journey of the 'Blessed Anthony of Blair', Patron Saint of Liars and the Lord of Delusions, has clearly been one that has left him without any capacity to reason at all. Moaning about Scotland in his latest epistle to the gullible he says:
"I always thought it extraordinary; I was born in Scotland, my parents were raised there, we had lived there, I had been to school there, yet somehow - and this is the problem with nationalist sentiment unleashed - they (notice the 'they'] contrived me to feel alien."

Now, in Scotland we wouldn’t dream of applying Norman Tebbit’s ‘cricket test’. We do though; have the ‘football test’.
Blair told us that he would support Scotland as long as they were playing anyone but England. And the oil-slick made this crystal clear when telling us all that, he would be supporting England when they played Scotland in the 1996 European Football Championship.

Whether or not he came to this decision after consulting his god is not known.
It might be that there was more political mileage in going with England. Labour tends to take their support in Scotland for granted.
Maybe he wanted to be English.
Either way, he made the choice. To blame the feelings of the Scots towards him on some rising tide of nationalism is yet another example of this man’s inability to take responsibility for anything. Remember he prayed to his god before committing the country to war with Iraq. So his imaginary friend will have to take some of the blame for that one.
A lot of Scots didn’t like you because they saw through you and recognised what you really stood for.
There has never been any great clamour in Scotland to claim this man as one of their own. And I’m pretty sure the English never wanted to make such a claim either. 

So, cut out the bollocks Tony and bugger off back to the country which you really love the most. The USA.  

It’s the Unionists That Have Been Running Scared

It’s hard to see how it is the SNP that are running scared. Apart from Wendy Alexander who, when she Labour leader for five minutes, challenged the nationalists to “bring it on” and got a right bollocking from London, all the Unionist parties have continually said that they don’t want this referendum.
Various reasons have been given over the years. The latest from Iain Grey is that, thanks to the Labour Government’s catastrophic mishandling of the UK economy, there are more important things to be getting on with. Previous to this it was some other problem caused by Labour. Never has the reason been given that the Unionist parties might actually be scared of losing that referendum.
And this is strange.
One would imagine that the combined might of the Unionists: Labour, the Tories, the Lib-Dems, the BNP, the Orange Order, the Daily Record, the Scotsman, the BBC, etc, etc, etc, might actually be enough to give Alex Salmond a run for his money.
So why not put their money where their North British mouths are.
After all, when it comes to the Scottish Elections, all the forces of the Union are wheeled out to defeat the SNP.
Ah, but it didn’t work last time.
Tory bedfellows, Lib-Dems have said fighting the election on the grounds of independence would be "welcome territory".
Methinks that they will have more to worry about – having to somehow climb out of the grave they dug for themselves when they joined the Tories in the coalition.
Had they voted for the referendum and then won, it’s hard to see how this could have done anything to help the nationalist’s position.
Losing the vote aside, what really worries the Unionists is that unless can deliver a crushing defeat to the Nationalists in a referendum then they can’s win. A narrow victory would show the country split and force the likes of Grey and Scott would to admit that that Union might not be all that they say it is.

And that’s why they’ve been running scared.

Tuesday 24 August 2010

Bloody Miracle

Thousands of pilgrims have flocked to a small church in Yerba Buena, Argentina, after reports of 'blood' running from Christ's crown of thorns in a mural.
Samples of the red liquid have been sent for tests on it’s authenticity.
Local priest Fr Jorge Gandur urged worshippers to exercise prudence and caution and not to jump to conclusions, adding:

(Wait for it..)

“As a priest, at no time have I wished to create false expectations.”

3D Pregnancy Hazard

US military man Erick Johnson came home from a stint in Iraq to find his wife Jennifer was pregnant. She claimed this had happened because she watched a 3D pornographic film. The Johnsons are white, but the baby turned out to be black. Jennifer explained that this was because she had been ogling a black porn star. The husband actually accepted her explanation. "With today's technology," he said, "anything is possible."

No it’s not.
That’s why we have the word, ‘Impossible’.

Still, it’s reassuring to know that the standards required to enter the US military are so high.

Man’s Best Friend

The next time someone tells you that their dog is clever – knows what your saying, knows what your thinking, can read and write, etc; here’s one to remind of just how smart the arse-sniffers really are.
A Labrador that ate a beehive containing pesticides and thousands of dead bees won an award on Monday that recognized the most unusual pet health insurance claim in the United States. Skip related content
Mind you she was up against some stiff opposition, beating a border collie that ran through a window to get at a mailman, and a terrier that bit a chainsaw.
Man’s best friend? Maybe.
Good for a laugh? Definitely.

Monday 23 August 2010

Piss-Head State of Mind

This is the face of a woman who urinated on a war memorial in Blackpool and performed a sex act nearby.

This is the face of Wendy Lewis, 32, of Princess Street, Blackpool

As she arrived at the court, she was barracked by veterans, whom she swore at, and then done a runner before her hearing began.
Lewis was last week convicted in her absence of outraging public decency.
A warrant has been issued for her arrest.

Her lawyer, said: 'She had been drinking but now realises how much offence she has caused the public and what she has done.'
Yeah. She must have been well  pissed when this picture was taken.

A few months pissing in a pot might be in order.
You can blame the drink for a lot of things. But in this case, there’s something that just isn’t working here.

Thursday 12 August 2010

A Wee Bevvy for Jimmy Reid

Former Glasgow shipyard union leader Jimmy Reid has died at the age of 78.

Jimmy led the successful work-in at the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders (UCS) in 1971 which thwarted Ted Heath’s Tory government in it’s attempts to close the yards.
The campaign attracted widespread public support, with a series of fundraising events being held for the workers and celebrities including John Lennon giving their backing.
The government finally relented in February 1972.
A one-time Communist Party, he unsuccessfully stood for Labour in the 1979 election. He later became a respected journalist and broadcaster.
He lost faith in Nu-Labour as he saw the party move further and further away form it’s once held philosophies.  He joined the SNP in 2005.
Jimmy was a true working class hero. An intellectual from the grime and sweat of hard labour. A world apart from Heath’s yahoo Henrys.
He won the day with reasoned argument that up show the Tories for what they were – a party of the past that thought by dint of old school tie they could ride roughshod over the lives of working people and proved that organised workers could defeat an unthinking government and a culture of big business that sees people as profit fodder.
  
There will be no hooliganism, there will be no vandalism. But there will be a wee bit of bevvying as we remember Jimmy.

Floods, Fires and the Price of Food

The devastating flooding in Pakistan has destroyed crops and led to a surge in food prices in the country.
It’s good to see that no matter what, the free market economy that allows profiteering from misery is as healthy as ever.
Elsewhere, food supplies have been severely disrupted in China, pushing up prices where the country is battling with its worst flooding in a decade.

At the other extreme, Russia's worst heat-wave on record has parched crops with prices having soared by more than 50% since June..

However, you might be glad to hear that the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization says that fears of a new global food crisis - similar to that of three years ago - are not justified.
That crisis was one that was manufactured by the markets for profit. There was never any shortage at all.

Daft Things to do in a Sauna #1

Competition is a great thing. And humans can make a sport out of just about anything. Whether it’s chasing a cheese down a hill or doing something with a ball on muddy field in the middle of February. Indeed, more spherical objects are employed by sport than for the procreation of the species.
Standing on one leg for a fortnight is pretty impressive and one would imagine, fairly harmless.
In the land of razorblade eating and cobras up the trousers however, some ‘sports’ are an accident waiting to happen.
That’s because they are derived from taking something that was fairly mundane and ‘maxing’ it to the extreme.
Why be the world juggling champion using the aforesaid balls, when you can be the world juggling champion using meat-cleavers, chainsaws or nitro-glycerine?

You might get it wrong. If you do – you won’t get much sympathy.
And, unlike the relatively safe, winning Olympic Gold or lifting the World Cup, very few people will ever be aware of your achievement. 

And so to Finland.

The annual World Sauna Championships in Finland have ended with the death of one of the finalists.

The event, which had over 130 participants from 15 countries, had been held since 1999.
This time round though, it ended in tragedy with Russian Vladimir Ladyzhensky and his Finnish rival, the defending world champion Timo Kaukonen, collapsing after suffering severe burns. Mr Ladyzhensky later died in hospital.

This half-baked – half-grilled competition requires that half a litre of water be added to the stove inside the sauna every 30 seconds, with the participants having to withstand temperatures of 110C (230F) for as long as possible. Last person remaining merely parboiled, is the winner.
The men managed six minutes before judges noticed something amiss.

Ossi Arvela, chief organiser told the press there was no prize other than "some small things".
A few bottles of Calamine Lotion and an ice-lolly surely.

The organisers said that the World Sauna Championships would never be held again.
To be replaced with the annual Sitting Inside a Nuclear Reactor Championships – no doubt.
And, you wouldn’t be surprised when some people applied for an entry form.

Naomi Campbell. Inconvenience and Truth

At his trial in being held in The Hague, in front of a United-Nations backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, Charles Taylor faces 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over his alleged role in the brutal civil war in neighbouring Sierra Leone, where he accused of selling diamonds and buying weapons for Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front rebels, responsible for widespread atrocities and who were notorious for hacking off the hands and legs of civilians during their decade-long war.

Word on the street is that he pretty much did it.

But how many people, in this country, were aware that the trial was taking place. Well, I would venture a guess that, until last week, very few.
But, thanks to the ‘cult of the celebrity’ it suddenly had news value. Naomi Campbell, I believe that she is some sort of anorexic clothes hanger, was subpoenaed to appear as a witness for the prosecution.

The prosecution must now be regretting getting the British supermodel Naomi Campbell, to testify that Taylor had gifted her ‘Blood Diamonds’.
The fact that they had to subpoena her, should have given them an insight into the sort of witness that she would be.

Anyone who has taken the slightest of passing interests in the twilight-zone existence of this self-centred prima donna would not have been surprised by the blasé attitude taken by the reality-challenged Campbell to the proceedings.
She couldn’t even be arsed to turn up on time. And when asked why she hadn't wanted to appear in court, she told the world:

"This is a big inconvenience for me.”

Well, “Fuck Me”!
As inconvenient as having your hands or legs chopped off?
But, I digress.

The media, who have shown scant interest in the trial up till now, swarmed to The Hague. And Campbell even got a judge to rule that the paparazzi would not be allowed to photograph her entering the court.
Font page of the papers. The lead on TV News.
A supermodel. A genocidal dictator. Blood diamonds. Courtroom drama with dodgy and conflicting testimony.
This was the stuff of . . . well . . .
Soap opera.
And sadly, that was is attraction.

The trial will continue. But not on the front pages or as the lead stories at six o’ clock. The truth is that mind-numbing media and the mind-numbed that it drip feeds this rubbish to, are no longer interested.

That is unless; the defence can come up with a dippy celebrity of their own.

Wednesday 16 June 2010

Keep Vuvuzelas Away From the Match

FIFA allowed the vuvuzelas the World Cup after organisers did tests at a match at Johannesburg's 95,000-seater Soccer City after concerns that they could drown out emergency announcements.
Ignoring this, as is the want of a politician who hasn’t been in the news for a while, Lothians MSP Margo MacDonald has called for vuvuzelas to be banned at Scottish football grounds saying that safety announcements could be drowned out.
Big Grumpy, a Hibernian season ticket holder, also went on to moan that the vuvuzelas were "ruining" the World Cup.
She said: “There is no intention on my part to limit the enjoyment of fans.”
Quite right.
That’s the job of Hibernian.

The Sweet Smell of the Sweatshop

Katie Price's perfume has been pulled from Superdrug's shelves because of "ethical" reasons.

It follows a report in The Observer newspaper claiming that workers making the perfume bottles at the Pragati Glass Company in India are paid less than the minimum wage. They get 26p an hour.

A Superdrug spokeswoman said: "As a business, we have a robust ethical trading policy so that our customers can be confident that they are buying products that are made in an ethical way.

In a statement, Price's spokesperson said: "The production of the bottle, its packaging, filling and finishing has been moved from India to the UK and France.
"We would like to reiterate as always that all products manufactured for Katie Price, or third parties working on behalf of Katie Price, have a checking policy that ensures health, safety and ethical trading guidelines are met and in most cases are exceeded.”
Robust ethical trading all round then.
So, how come it takes  the Observer to show that it’s so much bollocks? 

Friday 11 June 2010

Bampots Lose Out in The Scheme if Things

There’s trouble in ‘The Scheme’, where the stars of the BBC’s hit comedy say their lives have been wrecked by the programme.
The show’s leading lights (approx 1 watt between them), Marvin and Chris have hit out at the producers saying they were made to look stupid. I don’t think they can claim the credit for that.

Train-spotter, Marvin, 30 (No joke - he’s 30), hit out: "The BBC were only interested in showing me make a fool of myself. They wanted a circus and we were the clowns." Well, if the funny hat fits.
In the first episode, Marvin was arrested twice - for drug dealing and assaulting his girlfriend. He also had his house burgled and suffered a drugs overdose. The girlfriend was also convicted of trying to smuggle heroin into the jail where he was banged-up.
And he was really pissed off after being told the reality show is to be screened across Britain - with subtitles for English and Welsh viewers. Uneasy with his new-found international star status, Einstein moaned:
"It's bad enough being made to look like a complete idiot in your own country - now we face the same sort of reaction in England.”

Chris, not to be outdone, was filmed leaping out of his teenage girlfriend’s bedroom window to avoid being arrested by police.
This Riz-la short of a joint also told the country on camera that he owed drug dealers £400 for cocaine he was supposed to sell but snorted instead.
His girlfriend’s mum also told us that Chris smashed up her car after she refused to let him see her daughter late at night.
Chris and the burd now have a seven-week-old daughter, which he struggles to see because his girlfriend's mum, Kay, has banned him from their house.

This has been one of the best things on telly for ages and I look forward to the remaining two episode, the judicial system permitting.
If Marvin and Chris have a problem then they should it up with scriptwriters.

Assassinating Thatcher is Nothing to Joke About

Labour MP John McDonnell has said he was "sorry" if he caused offence with his remarks about former Tory PM Margaret Thatcher.
At a Labour leadership event on Monday he said that if he could go back in time he would "assassinate Thatcher".
The left-wing MP told BBC Radio 5 Live it was meant as a "joke", but he could understand if people took offence.
Lost my  vote then.

Sticky-fingers Gang to go on Trial

The judge has ruled that three former Labour MPs Elliot Morley, David Chaytor, Jim Devine and Lord Hanningfield from the Home for the Bewildered, cannot claim parliamentary privilege to stop them being prosecuted over claims they abused their expenses.
Excellent.
The four all deny charges of false accounting over their expenses, brought under the terms of the Theft Act. In a desperate attempt to get away with it, the Sticky-fingers Gang had their lawyers argue that only Parliament could decide any action against them.
Judge says – “No chance.”
Good.
Now get on with the trial, find them guilty and send them to jail without the possibility of soap on a rope.
Or
As a trade off for this ruling – go through the motions, find them guilty, invent some mitigating bollocks, admonish them and send them on their way with a skelp on the arse. As a warning to others no doubt.

It should be remembered that all four accused are guilty until they get off with it.

Scots as Unhealthy as English.

According to a study, by the boffins at Glasgow University, unhealthy living is almost universal in Scotland, with virtually everyone in the country putting themselves at risk.
They identified five factors which contributed most to disease in richer countries - smoking, drinking, poor diet, physical inactivity and obesity.
The report found that 97% of Scots had at least one of the risk factors.
Some 55% of the population had three or more, while 20% had four or all five risk factors. Poverty was found to increase the risks.
This has been, and will be, rammed down our throat (deep-fried of course) all day long on the London based news. And no doubt BBC North Britain’s flagship news programme ‘Reporting Scotland’ (sic) will be unable to resist an opportunity to tell us what an inferior lot we are.

But before despair has you reaching for another deep-fried woodbine and a Buckfast pie, consider the twat on SKY News who took such delight in introducing the story.
“If you’re from Scotland you might want to cover your ears for our next story.” He grinned.
Alas, it came as a great blow to SKY-man’s smug superiority when he was told by the head boffin that the Scottish results were similar to those in a recent survey of English behaviour.
There was an audible groan from the balloon as he was deflated.

Still, that aside, I don’t think we should kill ourselves just to keep up with the neighbours. 

Thursday 3 June 2010

Buy Now - Blame Somebody Else Later

The NHS in Scotland is forecasting it could lose the equivalent of 3,790 full time staff over the next year. This has given the Job Centre Plus Party another opportunity to remind us that their collective amnesia has yet to be treated.

As she launched the "more Nats fewer nurses" campaign, Labour’s health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie has said: "You simply cannot remove thousands of doctors, nurses and midwives from the NHS without damaging standards of care," she said, adding: "Labour believe (sic) these cuts are unacceptable and we will campaign relentlessly to defend the NHS."
She might want to take that up with the board of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde which has said an investment programme meant it could provide the same standard of care with less staff.
Now, when I last checked, that wasn’t what you could describe as a hotbed of nationalism.

This is the sort of time when an extra £1b would come in handy for the NHS in Scotland.
Funnily enough that’s just a we bit less than is required over the next five years in repayments for privately financed hospitals commissioned when Labour was last in government at Holyrood.
Add that to the cuts we’re seeing as a direct result of the unprecedented mismanagement of the public finances by Labour whilst in office at UK level and you can see why this is the fault of the SNP.