Double Standards

Media Lens

The media reported last week that at least 22 people, including five Palestinian children, had been killed during Israeli ‘incursions’ into Gaza. The Israeli military ‘operations’ were ‘sparked’ by a Hamas ambush that had left three Israeli soldiers dead. Reporting followed the usual script that Israel’s state-of-the-art weaponry is deployed as ‘retaliation’ for ‘militant’ Palestinian attacks.

The latest deaths followed the killing in early March of over 120 Palestinians under a massive Israeli assault on Gaza.  One of last week’s dead was a Reuters cameraman, a 23-year-old Palestinian, killed by a shell fired from an Israeli tank he was filming. Few details emerged of the other numerous victims of Israeli violence.

Talking Bollocks In A Mosque

Brendan O'Neill can be an arse but when he's right you just have to acknowledge it:

It’s official: it is now a crime to be arrogant

There was a time when ‘inciting terrorism’ would have meant convincing and cajoling an individual or a group of individuals to commit a terrorist atrocity. And there was a time when ‘fundraising for terrorists’ would have meant, well, raising funds for terrorists: that is, collecting money and handing it over to a terrorist group for the purposes of buying weaponry, semtex, flying lessons or some other item or thing likely to be useful in the commission or execution of an act of terrorism.

Not any more. In the trial of Izzadeen and his accomplices, there was not a jot of evidence that anyone had been incited to terrorism by their words, or indeed that their words had been intended as a direct form of incitement, or that Izzadeen, his mates or anyone else who listened to their cranky sermons had sent money to terrorist training camps in Iraq. No, Izzadeen was found guilty and sentenced to four years’ imprisonment on the basis of a rambling, incoherent 11-hour ‘protest sermon’ he gave at Regents Park Mosque in November 2004. During the sermon, Izzadeen, who was surrounded by a tiny group of like-minded losers, slated the actions of the American and British armies in Iraq and praised 9/11.

Relentless

Truthdig - Clinton Threatens to ‘Obliterate’ Iran

How proud the Clintonistas must be. They have learned how to rival what Hillary once termed the “vast right-wing conspiracy” in the effort to destroy a viable Democratic leader who dares to stand in the way of their ambitions. The tactics used to kneecap Barack Obama are the same as had been turned on Bill Clinton in earlier times, from radical-baiting associates to challenging his resolve in protecting the nation from foreign enemies. Sen. Clinton’s eminently sensible and centrist—to a fault—opponent is now viewed as weak and even vaguely unpatriotic because he is thoughtful. Neither Karl Rove nor Dick Morris could have done a better job.

Party pooper

Low-level party funding 'a myth'

Political parties have benefited from "huge and ever continuing growth" in hidden state subsidies, says a study. It says parties already receive about £1.75bn of taxpayers' money every four years, including indirect subsidies like expenses and free TV ads. Its author, Michael Pinto-Duschinsky, said it was a "myth" that financial aid to political parties was low.

Dr Pinto-Duschinsky, a political finance expert at Brunel University, calculated the total cost of political parties to the taxpayer over a four-year electoral cycle, in a report for the Policy Exchange think tank. He said his £1.75bn figure was an under-estimate, as costs grew all the time and he had not included benefits like free premises, use of official cars and telephones.

Let's hope Hillary gets 'obliterated' first.

Clinton Would ‘Obliterate’ Iran

Democratic presidential Hillary Clinton has threatened to “obliterate” Iran if it launches a nuclear attack against Israel as she fights for her own political survival. 0422 07 “I want the Iranians to know that if I’m the president, we will attack Iran,” Senator Clinton told ABC News, asked what she would do as president were Iran to launch a nuclear attack on Israel.”In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them.”

What the interviewer failed to ask was what she would do if Israel (which already has a massive nuclear capability) were to launch a nuclear attack on Iran. I think we know the answer.

In Spite of Ourselves

I didn't really try but while I was there I found this great song from John Prine:

Madness averted

Baggy Pants Bill Blocked in Louisiana

BATON ROUGE; A state Senate panel rejected a bill on Tuesday that would make it a crime to wear one's pants too low, even as Cajun-country towns around Louisiana have been banning saggy pants from their streets. Sen. Derrick Shepherd's bill would have made it illegal to wear, in public, clothing that "intentionally exposes undergarments or intentionally exposes any portion of the pubic hair, cleft of the buttocks or genitals." Violators would have faced a fine of up to $175 and eight days of community service. Exceptions included thong swim suits and clothing worn in fashion shows.

I wonder if a wheelie bin would hold two bodies?

Father fined for overfilling bin

A father-of-four has been left with a criminal record for overfilling his wheelie bin by four inches. Gareth Corkhill, 26, of Whitehaven, Cumbria, received a £110 fixed penalty notice after Copeland Council staff photographed his raised bin lid. When he refused to pay he was taken to court where magistrates added a further £115 to the fixed penalty.

Copeland Council has defended its actions and pledged to continue to take action against overfilled wheelie bins. Mr Corkhill, said: "First I heard of it was from a neighbour who said someone had taken a picture of my wheelie bin, but I thought nothing of it. Two days later two enforcement officers turn up on my doorstep wearing stab vests, read my rights and then issued me with an on-the-spot fine."

Beanz, beanz, are good for your heart...

Enfield Baby Thrown Out Of Shop For Breaking Wind

A woman was asked to leave an Enfield charity shop after the assistants accused her baby of passing wind. Dr Mine Dogantan Dack, a research fellow in piano music at Middlesex University, claims one of the assistants asked her to leave the British Heart Foundation (BHF) shop, in Palmers Green, on April 12, after implying her 17-month-old daughter had caused a stink. Dr Dack said: "I told them that my baby didn't do a poo or (pass wind) while we were in the shop; and that even if she did they have no right to ask me to leave. "Who gives the BHF staff the authority to act as the 'fart police'?

Dirty Diggers for Boris

The Sun comes out for Boris Johnson | News | The First Post

The Sun newspaper, which has determined the result of a good many elections in its time, has come out for London mayoral candidate Boris Johnson.

Although it hasn't used its front page to announce the news, its support, offered on the editorial pages, is pretty unequivocal. After attacking Ken Livingstone and praising Johnson's policies on crime and transport, it concludes: "Boris Johnson has the energy and imagination to give this great city what it needs."

Spot The Ball

Scots scientist discovers why England can't take penalties

It has been the curse of the England football team and has cost them dear in major championships many times. All too often the English stars have crumbled in the pressure-cooker environment of a penalty shoot-out resulting in the team being sent packing. Now the penalty problems that have dogged the team and reduced some of their top stars to tears after missing a crucial spot-kick have been explained – by Scottish experts.

Researchers at St Andrews and Exeter Universities say success or failure at work, school, or in sport is not always down to lack of ability or incompetence, but because people expect to fulfil a stereotype.

Life is tough without those city bonuses

Soaring debts of the middle class on working-class pay

Rosie Millard was living like a millionairess - without the money to pay the bills. The former BBC arts correspondent's spending ranged from a £4,000 flight to New York on Concorde to a £350 pair of Jimmy Choo shoes worn only twice. She also ran up a £1,000 phone bill while on a cruise and a £50,000 overspend when renovating the family home.

The resulting credit-card shuffle left her £40,000 in debt. "Frankly, London was so full of people on City bonuses that I had forgotten I was not on one myself," said mother-offour Miss Millard, who is married to a TV producer and quit the BBC to become a freelance writer. "Bounced cheques? A daily occurrence. Bank charges? I could have papered a room with the accompanying letters."

Her spending came to a "grinding halt" when she realised that it was not just the mortgage which she could not afford. She was also struggling to find the money for her children's school meals. She has since transformed her lifestyle and borrows books from libraries, never gets black cabs, throws away all mailorder catalogues and eats at home before going out to the cinema or theatre.

A quick squint at our bank statements prove that, in our case at least, it doesn't feel much different being working class on a middle class income :(