After years fighting legalised racism, they do this

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The shame of Thabo Mbeki
By failing to condemn Robert Mugabe's murderous dictatorship, Mr Mbeki has done more than any other outsider to keep him in power. He has also perpetuated the flood of Zimbabwean refugees who now comprise three fifths of South Africa's foreigners. They seek shelter and livelihoods in an economy burdened further by systemic corruption and sharply rising food prices. The results include lynchings and looting that have left one Johannesburg district looking “like a war zone”. For Mr Mbeki to announce the creation of panel to study the causes of the lawlessness, as he has, is fiddling while Rome burns...

In the twilight of his power, Mr Mbeki has shown himself almost as detached from reality as Mr Mugabe. He can claim some credit for presiding over robust economic growth of about 5 per cent per year. Yet he has failed spectacularly to channel its proceeds to the townships where xenophobia now threatens to take root...

See also: "Flames of Hate" at Times Multimedia. Disturbing images of the latest wave of xenophobic violence.

Once again, they get it wrong

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Research on HRT risks 'flawed', say experts
Millions of women have shunned hormone replacement therapy that could have eased the symptoms of their menopause on the basis of flawed scientific research, experts report today. A coalition of the world's leading menopausal health experts say that the latest research proves that HRT is safe for women in their 50s. Instead of raising the risk of heart disease, it may actually protect the heart from damage, they claim.
First it was eating eggs, now its HRT. Debunking more piss-poor research that led to scare stories.



More Tory lies

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Tories distorted abortion study, say scientists
Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, cited to MPs last week a landmark report by David Field, professor of neonatology at Leicester University who is president of the British Association of Perinatal Medicine. Field was lead author of a study published in the British Medical Journal into the survival of very premature babies which Lansley used to justify his call for a cut in the abortion time limit.

But Field said last night he could not see how Lansley could draw this conclusion, because his report made clear there had been no change in the evidence in recent years. "It is a terribly simple paper: at 24 and 25 weeks there is no doubt that survival is improved. At 22 and 23 weeks we found no evidence whatsoever. Survival at 23 weeks in the first six years (of my report 1994 to 1999) was 18.46% of those who admitted to a neonatal unit. In the second period (2000 to 2005) it is 18.52% ... It was almost as identical as you can get it. There is no change."


Why vote for Hillary?

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Fafblog Interviews Hillary Clinton
FAFBLOG: Wow, Hillary Clinton, right here on our little blog! Well, we don't want to waste your time so let's cut to the chase! Why should we vote for you for president?

HILLARY CLINTON: One word, Fafnir: experience. I have thirty-five years of experience working for change, building a list of accomplishments so lengthy and impressive no one else even knows what they are. Why, I could go on for hours just about the policies I advanced as First Lady, from critical legislation like the Mumble-Something Act to my efforts to bring peace to the troubled region of Upper McDonaldland.

FB: And millions of Americans still enjoy the benefits of your successful health care plan in some distant parallel universe!

CLINTON: That's right, Fafnir. No one has more experience failing to fix health care than me. I worked in the White House for eight years failing to fix health care, and as president I'll make failing to fix health care my number one priority.

FB: Well that sounds pretty good, Hillary Clinton, but what if I wanna vote for someone with even more experience, like John McCain or Zombie Strom Thurmond or Andrew Jackson's collection of antique spittoons? Those spittoons have been in the White House for a long time an I hear they got a formidable command of foreign policy.

CLINTON: Ha haaa! Well you know, anyone off the street with a scary black pastor can talk about change, but it takes a fighter to fight for change. And I'm a fighter. I'm tough. And if you lived my life you'd be pretty darn tough too...

Read the whole interview


Sieg Heil in a kilt

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Drug Tests Urged For Public Sector Staff
All public sector workers should be subject to random drug testing, according to the head of one of Scotland's most influential police bodies. Chief Superintendent Valerie McHoull, president of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents, yesterday called for testing to try and curb demand for illicit drugs. Last month, senior police officers revealed random testing is to be introduced to Scotland's eight police forces to try to eradicate substance misuse. "This is not just a police issue, this is a societal issue and it is something that you might consider progressing across the whole public sector.

"If all organisations, public and private, including ultimately universities and sports clubs, introduced testing perhaps we could make more of an impact in the war against drugs - from the demand end rather than supply. "Had the private sector had mandatory or even possibly optional drug testing a decade ago then the proliferation of cocaine use among young professionals might have been averted."


Those bloody memoirs

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Rod Liddle: C’mon Cherie: even Goering stuck up a bit for Hitler
At the heart of all these outpourings, of this quick march to the lucrative confessional, is the thing which was at the very essence of Blairism — an infinite, consuming and unquenchable narcissism and vanity. Was there ever a man more vain than Lord Levy, and with so little cause to be so? Well, Peter Mandelson, perhaps. Or maybe even Cherie. Or Alastair Campbell. When push came to shove, any notion of loyalty and decorum and reserve was thrown overboard so that they could make as much money as possible from their badly written, tawdry memoirs and, if possible, exculpate themselves from any lingering allegations. Ask not what you can do for your country, ask only about the size of the advance.


Pot, kettle, black man.

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Obama attacks Bush over Iran barb 
"Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals," said Mr Bush in his speech. "We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is - the false comfort of appeasement." The White House has denied that the remarks - from a speech to the Israeli parliament - were aimed at Mr Obama.
And some, like Bush's grandfather, just preferred to make profits from the Nazis.

After all, Hillary is married to a black man, isn't she?

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No racism in the presidential election?
Some white Americans are turning themselves inside out to come up with excuses for why they're not supporting Obama. It seems like just yesterday that these folks were arguing there is no racism in the immigration debate, and now they're insisting there is no racism in the presidential election.

Some want to know why it isn't racist when 70 percent of African-Americans vote for Obama but it is when 70 percent of whites vote against him. The answer has to do with history. Over the decades, black Americans have had plenty of opportunities to vote for white people for president. And they have done so. But this is the first time that white Americans have a chance to vote for an African-American with a shot at the presidency.

And what are they doing? Many are responding quite well. Obama won the votes of many, to borrow a phrase , "hardworking white Americans" in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and Wyoming. But, elsewhere, as Obama said in a recent interview, people may need to get their head around the concept of an African-American even seeking the presidency, let alone winning it.


Well of course not!

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No drug charges for Amy Winehouse
Singer Amy Winehouse will not face charges over a video that purported to show her smoking a crack cocaine pipe, police have confirmed. She was interviewed under caution by police in east London after the footage was posted online in January. "The Crown Prosecution Service has now reviewed the case and no further action is being taken," a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said.
Here we go again. This happened to Kate Moss in 2006 and I said at the time that she should tell the police to go fuck themselves. You see the police need something rather essential for a conviction of drug use...the drugs! A picture or video of someone snorting or smoking something isn't enough. I've given plenty of greedy, pissed, partygoing freeloaders big fat lines with no drugs in them at all. When they really pissed me off I left lines of Wernets denture powder around. That fucked them up for the night! In addition taking drugs is not an offence, it's possession that you get done for, which is why crack dealers swallow their stash when caught.