Dream on baby...

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John Pilger - Wishful thinking for 2009:
The good news for the new year is as follows

January:

Tony Blair is arrested at Heathrow Airport as he returns from yet another foreign speaking engagement (receipts since leaving office: £12m). He is flown to The Hague to stand trial for war crimes for his part in the illegal, unprovoked attack on a defenceless country, Iraq, justified by proven lies, and for the subsequent physical, social and cultural destruction of that country, causing the death of up to a million people. According to the Nuremberg Tribunal, this is the "paramount war crime". The prosecution tells Blair's defence team it will not accept a plea of "sincerely believing". Cherie Blair, a close collaborator who has compared her husband with Winston Churchill, is cautioned.

We're forever blowing bubbles

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In Madoff We Trust

Ponzi/Pyramid/Chain Letter schemes are not limited to private fraudsters:
To a large extent, the same concept has driven the major asset bubbles of the last decade. Given the ridiculously high valuations seen by tech stocks and real estate during their respective booms, the only way the bubbles could be perpetuated was if newer "investors" could be found to pay even more outrageous prices (the greater fool). But when these new buyers balked, the whole structure crumbled. Although there was no Ponzi or Madoff to orchestrate these manias, the entire financial and economic apparatus of the country had successfully convinced the public that "investments" in tech stocks and condominiums were bullet proof and that the supply of new buyers was endless.

Unfortunately, the Ponzi economy doesn't stop there. A chain letter is no more viable when run by governments than when run by private citizens. However, government orchestrated pyramids have the advantage of required participation. As a result, they can maintain the illusion of viability for several generations. But the longer such schemes operate the larger will be the losses when they ultimately collapse.

"This is the farewell kiss, you dog"

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President Bush and the Flying Shoes: A Cautionary Tale
The shoe-throwing Iraqi journalist is now a venerated celebrity throughout the Mideast, and his words to the president—“this is the farewell kiss, you dog”—will stand as the enduring epitaph in the region on Bush’s folly, which is the reality of his claimed legacy of success in the war on terror. That and the Iraqi’s devastating follow-up as he threw his second shoe, “This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq,” a reminder that we have used much deadlier force than a shoe in the shock-and-awe invasion once celebrated in the American media as a means of building respect for democracy.




Ve have ways of saving you money

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Transport Dept plan 'incompetent'
A "stupendously incompetent" government efficiency drive designed to save £57m has left taxpayers with an £81m bill, a report by MPs says.  The Department for Transport scheme aimed to cut administration costs by basing payroll, finance and personnel services all on one site in Swansea. But the public accounts committee said it had started late, had not been fully introduced and was set to make losses.The computer system had even issued messages in German, the MPs added. Edward Leigh, the committee's Conservative chairman, said it was one of the worst cases of "project management" the committee had ever seen.

Ooooh, big men!

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Alex Hilton and Johanna Kaschke thoroughly deserve each other.

Dizzy Thinks: The strange going-ons in the Blog Libel War?

The latest from the German bint:
 Now all these big blokes support each other and I am a single woman, only 5 foot 2 tall and all those big strong men have to gang up on me. It's interesting.
And the response from the ex-LabourHome twat:
Due to the references to size and sex, I drew from this the inference that I might be violent to women or that I might gang up with other men in order to be violent towards women.

This is both personally distressing and it is a publication of an untrue inference that would damage my personal reputation. I would be grateful if you would edit this line in a manner so that no such inference can be reasonably drawn.
Jeez. How fucking pathetic.


Why would anyone VOLUNTEER for this?

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"Revellers" swabbed for drug abuse
A device which can be used to detect traces of illegal drugs on people's hands has been used in Tayside for the first time.  Officers used the £25,000 Itemiser on revellers going into pubs and clubs in Arbroath on Friday and Saturday night. People are not legally required to provide a hand swab but many do so voluntarily.
Care for a quick wipe down, sir?  FUCK OFF! 

And I'm sorry but I don't believe anyone in Arbroath could, by any stretch of the imagination, be referred to as a 'reveller'.


Surely not?!

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Official History Spotlights Iraq Rebuilding Blunders
An unpublished 513-page federal history of the American-led reconstruction of Iraq depicts an effort crippled before the invasion by Pentagon planners who were hostile to the idea of rebuilding a foreign country, and then molded into a $100 billion failure by bureaucratic turf wars, spiraling violence and ignorance of the basic elements of Iraqi society and infrastructure.

What a difference a year makes

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Social Services chief's husband was drug-addicted violent terrorist
A Social Services chief who played a key role in the forcible adoption of three children is married to a convicted terrorist with a history of drink and drug abuse. She failed to tell Norfolk County Council about her husband’s violent past when she was appointed head of Social Services in 2002.

Lisa Christensen, director of children’s services in Norfolk, is the wife of Jack Prescott, who was given a 15-year prison sentence for involvement in a bomb attack on the home of a Tory Cabinet Minister.  Prescott, 64 – a self-confessed former heroin addict and thief – was a founder member of the Angry Brigade, Britain’s only home-grown urban terrorist group, which carried out 25 attacks on Government buildings, embassies and corporations.
Firstly, Lisa Christensen was under no obligation to mention her husband's past when she was appointed and Norfolk Council, just like every other council on the UK, is forbidden to ask any questions about an applicant's private life, marriage, childcare arrangements or financial situation for the very simple reason that it is none of their fucking business!

You can't win with the Daily Mail. Usually the criticism of people in Ms Christensen's position is that they are out of touch and don't know anything about 'real life'. Here we have a women who certainly has experienced 'real life' but ends up being vilified by the self-same paper because of it.

Predictably, of course, they bring up the Webster case (which was admittedly tragic) but, as usual, fail to point out that the social services department was acting on medical evidence and that all the decisions regarding the Webster children were made not by social workers but by...judges.

That was back in 2007, though,  when social workers were being criticized for removing children from parents on the basis of expert evidence of neglect or abuse whereas now, as we know all too well, the Daily Mail readers are complaining that not nearly enough children are being removed.

Just for the record, Lisa Christensen also happens to be a bloody good director.


Knock me down with a feather #572

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Methadone 'does not reduce crime'
People on methadone programmes are as likely as other addicts to use heroin and commit crime, according to a study.  The research, involving Glasgow University, said those using methadone took heroin on a fewer amount of days, but they committed just as much crime. The Tories said Scotland was over-dependant on methadone and last month claimed annual costs had risen by 19%.
The methadone programme is a huge con. A scam whereby drug companies have legally and profitably got in on the heroin market, all paid for (at inflated prices) by the taxpayer.