That's the way to do it #267

/
Rachel from north London (who got married last Saturday) has been doing sterling work today popping up on radio and TV in the wake of the terrorist convictions to press her, and other 7/7 victims' demands for a public enquiry:
I have just been carried over the threshold of our house by my gorgeous husband, put down my bags of wonderful wedding presents, jumped into a suit and am off to do interviews in ten minutes. You can see me and some of the other survivors and families on BBC News 24, ITN, ITN Special investigation tonight, C4 News, Newsnight, BBC London early evening news programme, Panorama, CNN, BBC Breakfast, various radio stuff, and you'll see us all again tomorrow, when the stakes will be raised.
I've just seen her performance on Newsnight and Paul 'Guido' Staines she was not! :)

Congratulations and well done!



I say a little prayer for you

/
The Village Voice: The Bush Beat
Ex CIA boss George Tenet tried to rewrite his own role in history by going on TV and calling the Iraq invasion "a national tragedy" that even he knew four years ago was unwarranted and unjustified.

On February 5, 2003, Colin Powell made the Bush regime's case for war at the U.N. Security Council, even (straight out of Jonny Quest) showing slides of cartoony drawings of mobile WMD labs racing across the Iraqi desert.

The next day, February 6, was the National Prayer Breakfast, where the blood lust was palpable.
Tenet spoke at the prayer breakfast... The CIA director walked to the podium and, with no introductory remarks, intoned his own cartoonish view of the world:

God teaches us to be resolute in the face of evil, using all of the weapons and armor that the word of God supplies.

In chapter six of Paul's letter to the Ephesians, we're told, Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stance against the devil's schemes.

Our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the principalities, against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Therefore, put on the whole armor of God so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground and after you have done everything to stand, stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of justice in place and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes with the gospel of peace.

Take up the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, and pray at all times.


Yes. I think that's clearly a dissenting voice. If only they had listened...






The answer is in your wheelie bin

/
Great Dustbin Debate exposes flawed politics
Janet Daley:

Why is rubbish collection (specifically the reduced frequency thereof) of such huge significance to voters? Because it is a totemic symbol of the Great Public Services Scam in which you are consistently charged more and more for less and less. Because the efficient removal of household waste should be the most minimal expectation of a competent society, given our modern understanding of hygiene and communal health. Because it is one more facet of the political tendency to make people feel guilty for things over which they have no control (in this case, the amount of superfluous packaging they must dispose of) and to use this putative guilt as a ruse for raising tax revenue through additional charges. Rubbish is, in other words, the final straw: it is the ultimate outrage which captures the essence of what people feel to be wrong about the way they are governed.


Get yourself a Turkish minder

/
Temperama: Legacy Latest: Blair's Defensive Strategy
Yes, yes, very neat. What he's essentially saying is that he really, really has made society much better but there are a few bad people who don't know how to behave in it and what can you do except get tough with them? Well, maybe. But you see, Tone, some of us think that your antisocial behaviour legislation isn't really getting tough at all - it's just acting tough, which isn't the same thing.
Now Tony, this is tough:
Via NothingToxic

Lies and cover-up in shooting of 92 year old

/
2 officers plead guilty in 'drug raid' death

I remember this case when it was first reported. Now, after a long investigation the full story has emerged and it ain't pretty.

The Atlanta-Journal Constitution has published over 80 articles about this story and has been a leading light in bringing the corrupt police officers to book. You can read a summary here.

Via Drug War Rant


We're all going on a summer holiday...

/
Dying to Go on Vacation - The Smirking Chimp
The Bush administration's stated reason for the surge is to create the kind of order and relative peace in Baghdad so that the Iraqi Parliament can get about the business of addressing the sectarian issues that divide the country. And, according to the Bush administration the surge will be in full force by this summer – as in July and August.  Okay, so are you sitting down? Guess what? The Iraqi parliament refuses to cancel it's two-month long annual summer recess (vacation.)  When? July and August.  While this outrage has gone largely unnoticed and almost completely unreported in the US, it has not been lost on Iraqis or the Iraqi press...
addthisicon

Hubris

/
Blair: Labour has transformed Britain

Tony Blair claimed today that Britain had been transformed beyond recognition by the Labour government as he prepares to mark his 10th anniversary in power next week.

In a letter to his party's MPs - which was accompanied by a 25-page dossier on the Blair legacy - the Prime Minister insisted Labour had overseen remarkable changes in our hospitals and schools, in law and order and in the economy.



Read the letter: