What would Jesus say?

When the tedious meets the self-righteous...

How not to do schadenfreude

Yes, Dale is a twat. But so what? And who the fuck gives a toss about the 'First Family of Northern Ireland"? Indeed, who gives a fuck about Northern Ireland at all, or the murderous bigots on both sides of the political divide?

As for the Robinsons. Mrs Robinson is a liar, cheat and hateful homophobe who, as a born-again Christian managed to justify her villification of homosexuals by quoting the Bible but had no religious problems with lying on her back with her middle-aged legs wrapped around the neck of a teenager who busied himself fucking her brains out.

We are supposed to feel compassion for her because she attempted suicide. Why is that women 'attempt' suicide so often but just don't seem to be able to manage it? It's not difficult. Express trains, tall buildings, car exhausts, strong medication...  What you don't do is take a handful of Valium and immediately dial 999. That isn't attempted suicide it's attempted snoozing.

I find it offensive that this hateful old bigot and cheat holds any public office at all and the sooner she fucks off the better. If she can manage to bring her husband down with her that'll be a bonus.

He's behind you!

Wootton Bassett: a political pantomime - spiked
The bizarre political stand-off over the proposed Islam4UK march in Wootton Bassett might just be the perfect metaphor for the ‘war on terror’. On the domestic front the ‘war’ is frequently talked up as a clash of civilisations, or at least a battle of values, between decent, liberal, tolerant mainstream Britain on one side and foreign-influenced, Caliphate-building fanatics on the other. Yet the hoo-hah over Wootton Bassett shows that it is no such thing. It is in fact a pantomime clash between fancy-dress Islamic radicals and principle-free politicians and military men, with both sides trying to out-victim each other rather than win a battle of ideas.

Wossy Lossy

Humiliated Jonathan Ross sensationally quits BBC (but insists it's not about the money)
Humiliated Jonathan Ross walked out on the BBC yesterday after it emerged the corporation was ready to axe all his flagship shows.
The controversial star quit as TV chiefs were also planning to scrap his lucrative 'golden handcuffs' contract - leaving him with a 'pay as you go'-style deal. Crucially, bosses had made up their minds last summer not to renew Ross's £6million-a-year contract after the embarrassment of the Andrew Sachs phone calls and pressure over the corporation's vast budget.
Personally, I'm happy to see Ross go. Friday Night Live is little more than a tedious promotional vehicle for the guest that appear on it, pushing their books, films, records or shows. I've never liked him as a replacement for Barry Norman, but I fear we will now get someone (almost certainly female, this time) even worse. But then I haven't watched the programme for years in any case so it won't really affect me. 

Ross say's it's a good time to move on, yet not long ago he replied to me on Twitter saying he was happily staying with the BBC and had recently turned down a much more lucrative offer to move elsewhere. Looks like he should have taken it. I'm sure this isn't a Simon Dee moment for him. He is talented and knows his way around the medium so it won't be long before he pops up somewhere on the schedule. But at least he won't be getting paid millions out of the licence fee.

It's the military-industrial complex

Overspent and Overextended
Why is Washington spending so much on the military?

America spends more dollars on the military today than in 1986 or at any other point since World War II. The numbers are striking. Using 2000 for constant dollars, the U.S. devoted $774.6 billion to the military in 1945, the last year of World War II. In 1953, the last year of the Korean War, military outlays ran $416.1 billion. Peak expenditures during the Vietnam War hit $421.3 billion in 1968.

In contrast, in 2010, before the Afghan surge and other unplanned expenditures, the administration expected to spend $517.8 billion ($700 billion including Afghanistan and Iraq). That is more than during two large, hot wars. More than during a lengthy, often warm Cold War. And two-thirds as much as during the worst conflict in human history.

Whatever

Liberal Conspiracy  -  Iain Dale appoints himself arbitrator of blogs

The first comment (by Tim J) sums the whole thing up:
Sooo… Iain Dale writes a blog post based on evidence that is misinterpreted at best, and downright incorrect at worst. Liberal Conspiracy write a long post saying how shoddy this is. This is a Good Thing.

Left Foot Forward writes a blog post based on evidence that is misinterpreted at best, and incorrect at worst. Iain Dale writes a post saying how shoddy this is. This is a Bad Thing.

Accurate summary?
And Sunny Hundal's response sums up Mr Hundal:
Yeah alright Tim, whatever.

TV Wallpaper next?

LG flat-screen TV gets skinny
A flat-screen TV rolled out Wednesday by LG looked barely thicker than a piece of posterboard.Think your TV is pretty slim? After seeing LG's new television, you may want to put that flat-screen of yours on a diet. The South Korean electronics manufacturer unveiled a television Wednesday that is less than 7 millimeters** thick. The product, which is so new it doesn't have a name, was brought on stage briefly during an LG press event at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. It looked to be not much thicker than a piece of posterboard. A spokeswoman said the TV should be available late this year.
** That's just a bit more than the thickness of a couple of pound coins.

Falling down

Enlarged ImageI wish someone would blow something up. Anything, just so long as it causes a break in this endless, tedious, news coverage about the fucking weather. It's a bit of snow and ice folks, that's all. Put on some woolies and a scarf and shut the fuck up.

I hear that casualty departments and ambulance services are being swamped by cases of people slipping over. Jeez, can't people even manage to put on some decent footware for the duration?

Regular readers will know that I am a huge fan of my cheap, industrial, non-slip, bullet-proof, bomb-proof, waterproof, acid-resistant "Slipbuster" chef's shoes. I don't know how they do it but wearing them I can walk across an oil-covered skaking rink without slipping.

They are now £15.99! Up from £12.99 the last time I bought some. I'll wait for a special offer in the summer and buy another few pairs. 

Oil? Surely not!

"Yemen:  Behind Al-Qaeda Scenarios, a Geopolitical Oil Chokepoint to Eurasia"    
by F. William Engdahl
A picture dated 03 August 2006 shows Yemeni and foreign oil experts working at an oil field in the remote eastern Yemeni Shabwa province, 23 June 2007. A soldier with "emotional problems" gunned down two Asian workers with a major US oil company in a shooting spree in Shabwa today, officials said.In addition to its geopolitical position as a major global oil transit chokepoint, Yemen is reported to hold some of the world’s greatest untapped oil reserves. Yemen’s Masila Basin and Shabwa Basin are reported by international oil companies to contain “world class discoveries.”

10 France’s Total and several smaller international oil companies are engaged in developing Yemen’s oil production. Some fifteen years ago I was told in a private meeting with a well-informed Washington insider that Yemen contained “enough undeveloped oil to fill the oil demand of the entire world for the next fifty years.”