Getting off the fence

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I've made fun of John Redwood in the past but I have to hand it to him. He now gets blogging. He has posted regularly right through the Christmas period and, whether you agree with what he publishes or not, you have to admire his commitment.

The crashing silence of Mr Obama
The worry I have had about an Obama Presidency is twofold. Someone who was so good at persuading many that he is on their side will not find it easy to come off all the fences he has been elegantly astride. Being in power means taking sides and making decisions.Someone who put the case for change without specifying what changes will struggle in practise to differentiate what he is doing from what his predecessor was forced to do as he saw it by circumstance and by the mighty high spending Washington machine with all its vested interests.

With Mrs Clinton as Secretary of State it is difficult to believe there will be much change over Middle East policy. With Mr Obama himself wanting to intensify the war in Afghanistan it is difficult to believe there will be much change in policy. With the present Secretary for Defence staying in office it is difficult to believe there will be much change of policy. Yet surely, if change is needed, it is above all needed in the US approach to the Middle East?

Gaza

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Bush Winks at Israel’s Slaughter in Gaza, While Obama and Clinton Are Silent

Gaza Massacres Must Spur Us To Action:
 “I will play music and celebrate what the Israeli air force is doing.” Those were the words, spoken on Al Jazeera today by Ofer Shmerling, an Israeli civil defense official in the Sderot area adjacent to Gaza, as images of Israel’s latest massacres were broadcast

Israel to mount emergency international PR effort in wake of savage attacks on Gaza:
Livni instructed senior ministry officials to open an aggressive and diplomatic international public relations campaign, in order to gain greater international support for Israel Defense Forces operations in the Gaza Strip.

Israel launches air strikes on Gaza: Image gallery




Comeuppance

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Peter Hitchins - Peek inside our schools and shudder... for this is the future
The police have admitted (under Freedom of Information laws) that they were called to violent incidents at least 7,000 times in English schools last year.
Yeah, things have definitely got worse. I don't ever remember coppers being called to violent incidents at my school. Not when the chemistry teacher hit us all over the head with a ruler. Not when I used to get caned for being late. Certainly not when pupils were humiliated, bullied and belittled by teachers who wouldn't have dared say boo to an adult.

So teachers are getting a dose of the medicine they had doled out to children for generations. Oh dear, never mind.



Hey, while you're at it boys, slap a teacher for me, please.





Zapping Zac

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The Zac Goldsmith gagging order is now doing the rounds: 

Even mentioning its existence can get you thrown in the Tower but there is no law (as yet) against rehashing old news stories. This is from The Daily Mail, 27 September 2006:

Is womanising in Zac Goldsmith's genes?

The glamorous young multimillionaire and ecologist who advises Tory leader David Cameron on Green issues and is A-listed for a Parliamentary seat, is said to have paid professional gambler Willie 'The Dice Man' Tann £50,000 to teach him to play poker well.

Who knows, perhaps Goldsmith was passing on his newly acquired expertise to Alice Rothschild (left), scion of another billionaire family?

He insists that, during those four-hour afternoon visits to her home that have been going on for some weeks, the pair were simply organising a charity poker tournament that took place last night.

Of course, the moral climate in which the political world operates these days is very, shall we say, relaxed. In pursuit of a safe seat, the fact that handsome Zac's wife Sheherezade apparently knew nothing of these meetings will hardly stand against him when he exercises his laid-back charm on the selection committee.


"Zac plays the ordinary guy wanting to be like everyone else, but he's acutely aware of who he is and the effect this has on people," says one of his oldest friends. "He has a lot of his father in him - he's always saying he was the most fascinating man he's ever met."

His father was the late Sir James Goldsmith, the much-married half-French, half-Jewish billionaire who founded the anti-European Referendum Party but remains more famous for his observation: "When you marry your mistress you create a job vacancy."

But while Jimmy Goldsmith displayed his blatant, jaunty roguishness with complete frankness, his son Zac "wouldn't dream of saying anything like that, even as a joke - he wants the world to see him as a complete gentleman," says the friend.

"He wants to impress and he wants to be liked by ordinary people. He would hate to be seen as a rogue."

Sheherezade was doing her bit to maintain her husband's gentlemanly image and reputation by planning to accompany him to the charity evening he and Alice spent so many days planning.

Surprisingly, Alice had decided not to go.
I've emailed the priapic Zac asking for his views on censorship. I await a reply.


This is the BBC and here is the latest Zionist statement

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BBC: Scores die in Israeli air strikes
Israeli F-16 bombers have launched a series of air strikes against key targets in the Gaza Strip, killing and injuring scores of people. Medical staff and Hamas officials said at least 140 people were killed when missiles hit security compounds and militant bases across Gaza.

The strikes, the most intense Israeli attacks on Gaza in recent times, come after the expiry of a truce with Hamas. Israel said it was responding to continued rocket attacks from Gaza.

Palestinian militants frequently fire rockets against Israeli towns from within the borders of Gaza. In a statement, Israel's military said it targeted "Hamas terror operatives" as well as training camps and weaponry storage warehouses.
What a disgraceful description of what is really happening in Gaza from the wonderfully unbiased BBC.

Oh, and don't bother to email me or comment. I long ago accepted that any criticism of Israel automatically made me an 'anti-Semite' and if that is really the case I'm proud to be one.


Iraq: Survey says...

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As Usual, NYT Ignores Iraqi Opinion
The New York Times failed spectacularly in its coverage of Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction, helping lead the country into war and only much later (5/26/04) publishing a half-hearted mea culpa. As the near-apology acknowledged, the paper’s failure resulted in large part from its lack of skepticism regarding its sources, most notably exiled Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi.Despite the mea culpa, though, the Times continues to mislead on Iraq, particularly on the issue of whether or not Iraqis want the U.S. military to exit their country. Once again, that journalistic failure seems to be rooted in the same fundamental problem of overconfidence in the paper’s sources and ignoring the obvious contradictory evidence.

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.