Spin gone mad

Just watched the John Pilger movie 'The war you don't see.' 

Of course it will really make no difference because nobody cares that we murdered all those Iraqi kids in cold blood. Why learn about the world when you can watch Eastenders and X Factor and pretend Blair is anything less than a mass murderer, immune to accountability through our collective indifference. 

By way of explanation:

In the mid 80's I met Kaveh Golestan, the fabulous Iranian photo journalist who covered the Iran/Iraq war for many major publications including Time magazine.  Over the next several years we enjoyed a good friendship. From 1980 until the end of the war in 1988 Kaveh would spend 6 months of the year in the war zone and 6 Months back in his Eton Terrace home, where I would join him and his lovely wife Hengameh for coffee, endless cigarettes and long conversations about the circumstances of his experiences on the Iranian front line. As a participant in war myself, I found our conversations to be especially insightful and rewarding. It was he who first made me aware of the Iranian military tactic of Human wave child sacrifice. Mothers so demented by the heady cocktail of Islamic belief and Nationalist rhetoric that they would drive their children to the front line to deliver them to certain death. (For a Paradise Key.)

One day in 1989 I found myself sitting in Kaveh's Eaton Terrace apartment when he asked me to review a book he intended to present for publication. I was seated in a drawing room and presented with a folder containing  some180 Black and white pictures. These were to form a pictorial record telling the story in a way no words could ever do. Kaveh's photos had featured regularly in the worlds leading publications reporting on the war and he had perhaps the most extensive photographic record of that war, having invested 8 years of his life in pursuit of that very thing. Over the course of an hour, I turned page after page, reviewing the pictures he had chosen to tell the story of the Iran/Iraq war. By the time I reached the end I felt I had seen the most powerful and insightful record of war and the horror it represents  that I had ever encountered. All told through the device of black and white photographs.

I was reminded of Lloyd George's famous quote to the Guardian editor during WW1.  

"If people really knew the truth the war would stop tomorrow. But of course they don't know and cant know." 

Unsurprisingly despite his enormous reputation and the incredible value of his work, Kaveh was not able to find any publisher willing to take on this extraordinary record of war.

"Nobody wants to know" is how he put it to me. And thats the sorry conclusion that I take from Pilger's excellent movie. Who cares. We live in an age where mass murdering ex-leaders collect tens of millions for consultancy whilst never being brought to account - because  "Nobody wants to know."

Our collective dumbness - designer dumbness emanating from a highly evolved scientifically designed psychological model for mass manipulation by media - the success of which can readily be demonstrated by the popularity of dumb-market television like X Factor - means the likelihood of anything changing toward making criminal leadership accountable and working towards a better world for all - is somewhere between very low and lower still. Where there is no will its hard to see the way, and through the mind-numbing mind-altering techniques emanating from Edward Bernays onward, the will to think has been steadily eroded. 

Designer delusion based on the understanding that a thought-disempowered conformist, living in fear of an almighty and under crippling economic pressure, cannot properly exercise independent thought which might challenge the controlling hegemony. 

17 Million British people invest an emotional hour of their lives watching this X Factor show - but, outside of a very small minority, none care enough about Iraq and their complicity in events there to even bother finding out what really happened. I doubt even 1% of that number will watch Pilgers challenging documentary. Blair remains free and happy to party with Cliff Richard, who, we must assume is equally indifferent to the brand of christian fair play Blair visited on the lives of an entire generation of Iraqis.

Thank heavens for John Pilger.

Remembrance day

The 11th minute of the 11th hour of the 11 day of the 11th Month this year leaves me with more mixed feeling than any previous year.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
 
Anyone familiar with this ceremony will recall the phrase 'The War to end all wars.'
   Surely the point of remembrance of this war is that we do not forget the mistakes of History thereby repeating them.
   The so called Great War is where men empowered by privilege and social position gave orders to men, from less fortunate backgrounds, forcing them to commit acts that fly in the face of every natural instinct.
What happened at locations such as the Somme truly beggars belief - where young boys standing in rotten feet in rotten boots with lice offending every orifice had to watch the first wave go over the top into 100% certain machine gun scything down death - and then follow orders as a second wave to do the same. And then a third wave. All of whom knew beyond all reasonable doubt that the orders they were following were lunacy. And those who refused were simply shot by their own officers.

These are not Fallen Hero's. These are victims of social crimes. Class crimes. Empowering unqualified men of unconvincing intelligence to knowingly execute hundreds of thousands of unfortunate victims of their callous disregard and respect for life.

There were many voices at the time pointing out the ridiculous aspect to paying for a few miles of front line with hundreds of thousands of lives. No one listened then.
The lesson we should take away from all of this is that War is horrible. It debases everyone involved.

There is no need for war at all but for one exception. When a country comes under attack from another bent on military destruction. In no other circumstance is War superior to diplomacy and the tools available to the diplomat, most notably through economic manipulation.

I have been horrified and fascinated by the WW1 stories in equal measure. The only sense that can come from remembering the sacrifices made on the bloody battlefields of the Western Front is that through their deaths we learn something to ensure that we don't repeat the same mistakes.

That we continue to make war since the sorry reflection following WW1 is self evident however my umbrage at this time of year lies with the hijacking of a noble memory - remembrance of victims of callous cruel execution in the name of an ideal not of the choosing of the vast majority - who were led sheep like into the conflict without the opportunity to exercise choice.
Translating their tragedy to muster support for the current wars is quite clearly in my view, revolting.

They were not fallen heroes who died to inspire a new generation to follow in their footsteps.
They were tragic victims of failed leadership. Duped by circumstance and by deliberate targeting along class lines into a slaughterhouse that should have given rise to many criminal charges, instead of the medal count that the likes of Hague went on to enjoy.

My remembrance on 11/11/11 this year, as it is every year, will be a moment of misty eyed silence for the victims. I will not be buying the fluffy Tommy doll with a string you pull that makes him say 'Over the top' or the ridiculous sound of silence CD that is as much an affront to the environment as it is to basic common sense. Or even listening to speeches by the social inheritors of Hague's mantle, like silly Prince Andrew in his ridiculous hat playing soldiering that has no connection or appreciation of the real tragedy that remembrance day represent.
The execution of almost an entire generation of youth in service to the vainglorious idiocy of a deluded few.

Christianity and Biko

Stephen Biko died almost exactly 33 years ago. I am reminded that not much has changed since. The nature of man to behave with basic decency remains afflicted by the consequence of reliance on delusional belief as much today - with a child molesting pope swanning around London - as it did 33 years ago.
Once delusional belief is accepted - through the vehicle of blind faith - any instruction can be followed in the same way.

To illustrate the point I am making - that delusional belief in invisible forces corrupts the innate humanity of the individual by acting at odds with the basic intuitive means by which the individual connects with his own morality - and is therefore unhealthy at best and murderously dangerous the rest of the time, here is a tale of two christians. Church going believers of the highest order.

Gideon Nieuwoudt and Harold Snyman.

In August of 1977, relying on a law devised by christians of the highest order - The Terrorism Act no 83 of 1967, which gave practicing christians (and only practicing christians) the legal right to arrest and detain anyone without any accountability, these chaps in their uniforms of the South African Police picked up former medical student Stephen Biko - a 30 year old writer, consciousness leader and atheist. Biko was interrogated in a police cell (6-1-9) for 22 hours hours, wherein he was pummeled senseless. His skull cracked leaving him in a coma state. Obviously no contradiction here with christian belief. Beaten to an inch of his life, the biblically named Gideon and his buddy Harold then thought it a good idea to drive the battered Biko 750 miles to a Police hospital. Clearly they had good reason to not take him to a nearby Hospital in Port Elizabeth, which might have taken all of 5 minutes, so they put him into the back of a land rover, naked, a nice christian touch in the circumstances, and bleeding with a major head injury for a 750 mile  across the country. Anyone who has been in the back of a police land rover in the 70's will know the degree of discomfort represented here. Its little more than a metal box with virtually no shock absorbers.

Biko died of his injuries shortly after arriving at the Hospital in Pretoria. The Land Rovers speed of around 50 miles an hour means the journey would have taken at least 17 hours. A crucifiction would have been a considerably more christian way to kill a man, but not for these christians.

I struggle to imagine the nature of a man that would put another man into the back of a metal box - a man already beaten to an inch of his life with a cracked skull - and drive him across a country, naked, knowing and rejoicing in his  experience of the most dreadful agonies before his certain death. What kind of belief system could turn any man so against the natural order as to make him debase his humanity in this way?

To demonstrate that delusional belief in one thing encourages it in another, these devout christians when called on the explain why this chap was dead, said he had killed himself by going on hunger strike. Not even honest enough to stand up and express the truth of their actions.

In the subsequent Police inquiry the Attorney General of the Eastern Cape, another devout practicing christian, ruled that there was no case to answer for officers involved in the arrest and detention of Biko. During the trial it was claimed that Biko's head injuries were the result of a self-inflicted suicide attempt, not those of any beatings. Believe one delusion and its so easy to carry on in the same vein.

So that was that. Black atheist kills himself. His own fault. Nothing to see here.

This is one small illustration of why delusional belief is not a harmless right to be enjoyed free from any persecution.

And on a happy note of conclusion, Harold Snyman died in 1997 of lung cancer. He is now in heaven where all christians go for eternity in paradise, many with an option on virginal pleasures. Meanwhile Steve Biko continues to rot in the fiery pits of hell that is the christian message to all non-believers.

You have just got to love the christian way.

God is the truth.

My reply to a Faithbook message from Ursela advising me that 'God is the truth'. 

If god is almighty and the creator of everything and is responsible for the placement of everything in the celestial order; then he made all the little animals. And all the people too. And he made cancer. And he made the mosquito. And he made Sara Palin's brain. And he made mutating illnesses that paralyze and leave people howling in pain for years as they scream their way to sorry death. And if god see's everything and he has almighty powers to do anything. Then god willingly and knowingly allows catholic priests to serially bugger little boys in his name. Its not as if he doesn't know about this stuff because he knows everything and its going on in his own house, which could not come to pass without his approval. Otherwise it wouldn't be happening. So this almighty god is clearly responsible for a lot of nasty stuff. Whereas. I am not. I differ from your god in a few small but significant ways.

I am a happy little sailor through the universal hand that I have been dealt by complete random evolutionary procedure where I may or may not become the best human being I can possibly be. That's what I try to be on a daily basis. I don't require anyone to endorse my belief. And I don't seek to recruit anyone to conform to my will. I don't threaten anyone who fails to bow to my will with a life of damnation and I don't insult anyone's basic intelligence by claiming to be all around and omnipotent. If 'I see my brother standing by the road with a heavy load' I will always try to show kindness. 

These few qualities quite clearly place me many layers above this malicious and unkind god of which you speak, who is responsible for atrocities so gross even speaking about them diminishes me.

I understand the need for a god. The key is 'need.' Your need to believe in a god. And I can see the temptation arising from the promise of a heavenly ever after. But really this arrangement only works with blind faith. Once common sense breaks through - the argument falls over. 

Historically god is a coping mechanism invented by man in times of uncertainty as a one size fits all placebo. Sadly this basic need and its remedy has developed into a sinister underworld where the church and its believers have become little more than an exploitative mafia - preying on the needy and vulnerable for the benefit of the few. The only thing shielding any believer from this realty is. Blind Faith. And its not called Blind Faith for nothing.

And in reply - Ursela advised me that  I was wrong. God didn't make all the bad things, that was the Devil. Which reminded me that I had forgotten that the devils stuff was still being used in the agenda, but replied none-the-less.

Ursela. I don't mean to alarm you however I can assure you that I can make up far more credible tales of good and bad demonstrating the duality of human nature and a set of rules to live by than the bible or the quran. And this is not a skill unique to myself. There are many writers above a certain level who can invent infinitely superior story lines to those two books. 

Consider L. Ron. Hubbard. The most published writer in the world. Gets divorced - needs some money quick - writes a book called Dianetics - identifies that people need answers - so he sells in a designer model - and presto. New religion with Millions of people paying in their money and believing the fairy story. Supply and demand. There is a need for a solid belief. And that demand is serviced- cynically and with an ever decreasing degree of credibility by big religion.

The fairy story about the devil and the other guy is not well constructed. Any informed debate looking to prove the mechanics of the argument will fall on its face trying. Its full of holes - from the garden of eden apple story, to the virgin birth, to the idea of original sin. There simply is no devil just as there clearly is no god. There are avenues of belief which convince individuals that god exists and that a devil exists. This is a response to a need but is not  a logically realistic proposition. 

There is no need for any argument to prove something doesn't exist. That would be ridiculous. Proof of somethings existence relies on proof that it exists. 

I cant say to you - there are fifteen fairies at the bottom of my garden - and expect you to believe that, unless I can service the burden of proof. The onus is not on you to disprove the fairies in my garden. That would be ridiculous. If I make an assertion without a shred of tangential evidence in support - then it is a delusion. I am attempting a deceit. I am trying to make you believe their are fifteen fairies at the bottom of my garden and in so doing I am attempting to deceive you. It follows that if I am prepared to deceive you on this matter - I would attempt to deceive you on any other number of matters - because I rely on delusion to promote my belief. This is one of several dangerous elements that allowing blind faith to lead you to belief in an invisible god/devil introduces. If you believe that delusion - you have agreed a process of acceptance of things based on delusion and this means you will believe more or less anything. It is dishonesty at its most cynical because it requires you to actually believe the lie.

Human nature and the workings of the brain encourage acceptance of that which we most need to believe. The process is driven by the need. We adopt a 'The truth is what I choose to believe' approach. And that becomes 'the truth'. So you believe a powerful omnipresent good god controls everything - and a bad equally powerful other god - who is called the devil - counteracts all the stuff the good one does. And that is your truth. But it is not a reliable truth. Just one that you have elected - through the device of blind faith - to place your belief in. I know people who believe they have fairies living at the bottom of their garden. They believe. They truly believe. But that doesn't make it so.

Your previous comment about scientists implying that evolution means  god was an ape' is best addressed by the all powerful all seeing, quite brilliant commentator - Frank Zappa. 

Herewith - from the book of Zappa. 
Album: 27. Side: 2. Song:5 
Dumb all over.

Whoever we are, wherever we're from, 
we shoulda noticed by now our behaviour is dumb
And if our chances expect to improve 
it's gonna take a lot more than tryin' to remove 
the other race or the other whatever 
from the face of the planet altogether
They call it "The Earth" which is a dumb kinda name 
but they named it right 'cause we behave the same
We are dumb all over
Dumb all over, yes we are, dumb all over, 
near and far, dumb all over, 
black 'n white, people, we is not wrapped tight
And nerds on the left, nerds on the right
Religious fanatics on the air every night, 
sayin' the bible tells the story 
and makes the details sound real gory 
about what to do if the geeks over there 
don't believe in the book we got over here
You can't run a race without no feet
And pretty soon there won't be no street 
for dummies to jog on or doggies to dog on
Religious fanatics can make it be all gone
I mean it won't blow up and disappear, 
it'll just look ugly for a thousand years
You can't run a country by a book of religion
Not by a heap or a lump or a smidgeon 
of foolish rules of ancient date, 
designed to make you all feel great 
while you fold, spindle and mutilate 
those unbelievers from a neighbouring state
To arms, to arms
Hooray! That's great, two legs ain't bad
Unless there's a crate they ship the parts to mama in
For souvenirs: two ears (Get down)
Not his, not hers but what the hey
The good book says, "It's gotta be that way"
But their book says, "Revenge the crusades"
With whips 'n chains and hand grenades
Two arms, two arms
Have another and another
Our Cod says, "There ain't no other"
Our Cod says, "It's all ok"
Our god says "This is the way"
It says in the book, "Burn and destroy"
And repent and redeem and revenge and deploy 
and rumble thee forth to the land of the unbelieving scum on the other side
'Cause they don't go for what's in the book and that makes 'em bad
So verily we must choppeth them up and stompeth them down
Or rent a nice French bomb to poof them out of existence 
while leaving their real estate just where we need it to use again 
for temples in which to praise our god, 
'cause he can really take care of business
And when his humble TV servant 
with humble white hair and humble glasses 
and a nice brown suit 
and maybe a blonde wife who takes phone calls, 
tells us our god says it's ok to do this stuff, then we gotta do it
'Cause if we don't do it we ain't "Gwine up to hebbin"
Depending on which book you're using at the time
Can't use theirs, it don't work, it's all lies, gotta use mine
Ain't that right?
That's what they say
Every night, everyday
Hey, we can't really be dumb if we're just following god's orders
Well let's get serious, god knows what he's doin'
He wrote this book here and the book says
"He made us all to be just like him"
So, if we're dumb, then god is dumb 
and maybe even a little ugly on the side
Dumb all over, a little ugly on the side
Dumb all over, a little ugly on the side

Andrews Fish Pie recipe.

An easy to prepare meal for 4. About 40 minutes preparation time. And 45 minutes cooking time.

Best prepared whilst playing the '7 Bach Meditations' album which infuses the process with positive energy. (View here)
 
Raw Ingredients:
Fish:           Use 3 different pieces. Try - Salmon, haddock and cod.
Shellfish:    A goodly amount of king prawns.
Potatoes
Onion
Garlic
Bacon
Flour
Butter
Cheddar cheese
Parmesan              
Leek
Shitake Mushrooms
Milk

1.   Chop 4 potatoes into small cubes. Really small. Add to pot of boiling water. Simmer for ten minutes. Drain and put to one side on plate.
2.   Chop one onion into tiny cubes. Clean one entire bulb of garlic and press into crushed pile. Heat frying pan with butter. Shallow fry the onion and garlic until translucent. When ready, add the potato and mix evenly. Place on plate and put to one side. This will form the bottom and top layers of the dish.
3.   Slice shitakes into fillet style pieces. Shallow fry in butter until tender. Put to one side on plate.
4.   Grill four pieces of bacon until very well cooked and crispy. Allow to cool. Chop up into tiny pieces. Put to one side on plate.
5.  Use frying pan with shallow base of butter to heat the prawns. Don't overcook. Just turn in the butter long enough to change color. Just a few minutes. Place on plate and put to one side.
6.   Heat saucepan with enough milk to boil the fish parts. Add the fish to the simmering milk and leave to cook for about 5 minutes - until fish looks reasonably cooked through. Then extract fish in colander while reserving the fishy milk for later use.
7.   Prepare your roux. Butter in saucepan - carefully add flour until you have a nice thick roux. Dont be shy - be sure to make enough.
8.   Into your roux,  carefully introduce some of the reserved fishy milk. Until you have a nice looking quantity of creamy looking fishy smelling off-white sauce.
9.   Grate a pile of cheddar (don't be shy quantity) and a quarter of that amount of parmesan into two plates.
10.   Chop leek (using common sense) and boil for 5 minutes. Place on plate to one side.

And now arrange the ingredients into the Cooking bowl. Use a proper oven bowl of reasonable depth and width for purpose.

1.   I add about 1 third of the potato/onion/garlic to the base of the cooking dish, pressing it down to form a base layer.
2.   Onto that - I place a layer of prawns. About one quarter of the total amount reseved.
3.   Over that Place the milk boiled fish. Spread evenly. Over that place the rest of the prawns.
4.   Over the top of the prawn layer - evenly spread the shitakes and the leek.
5.   Now pour the roux/fishy milk mix into the bowl, covering everything inside until it reaches the level of the mushroom/leek top.
6.   Now mix the chopped bacon into the remaining potato/onion/garlic mush and spread liberally over the top of the dish.
7.   Now spread the grated cheeses over the top of that.

Note: I don't use salt at all at any stage in the preparation. But cracked black pepper goes well with the prawn layer and over the top of the cheese.

Place in oven - at around 170 degrees - and cook for 45 minutes. Top should be browned off.

Serve with a Fresh baguette, a cherry tomato and green leaf salad, and, preferably a chilled white wine.

Viva Vuvuzela.

Bring me my Vuvuzela  by Julias Malemo.

Firstly, if you look at who is criticising the Vuvuzela you will see it is only one very small sector. And there is a very good reason for that. White people hate anything the Black man does to advance his cultural interests. The Vuvuzela is a part of our culture.

2010 is our World Cup. Africa's first world cup and we are in charge. We call the shots here. Why do you think you can hold the games in Africa and then tell us what to do. Those days are over now. I say to those who criticize our African ways 'If you don’t like you can go. Nobody here is forcing you to watch our games.'

...  It may be true that the Vuvuzela is loud. So loud it causes permanent damage to hearing. Good. It is loud because it is strong.
...  It may be true that the saliva build up in a Vuvuzela will drip out of the end.
...  And it may also be true that this dripping saliva will frequently fall onto the person in front and below.
I wont deny that many of the people blowing Vuvuzelas have AIDS, but it would be discriminatory to object to have AIDS rich saliva dribbled onto you at a football game.

In some Countries where football has been played for many years, the fans of football have devised orderly means by which to register support for their teams as well as means to register disapproval for the opposition. To support their team these fans often use song. Choirs of voices singing well considered musical pieces. To put off opposition they often chant derisory verse, usually with some topical reference that incorporates wit. We in South Africa do not consider this discrimination appropriate. The Vuvuzela deals with this approach to viewing football in two ways. Firstly the Vuvuzela does not discriminate between the teams. Neither the one you support nor the one you oppose will know the difference because one loud constant note is all you get. You see how far ahead of you we are here?
   And secondly, the one loud constant note serves the additional purpose of drowning out any of this singing nonsense whereby smart-ass westerners try and impose some superiority complex on us. They think they are so clever with their singing and so superior. Well - we have the Vuvuzela to put them in their place. I would like to see Liverpool Football club try and sing their song of 'walking on' in South Africa. Then they would understand the power of the Vuvuzela.

Now let us consider these football players, like Ronaldo and Evra, with their disgraceful criticisms of the Vuvuzela. Who do they think they are. It is our world cup and if they don’t like it they should go now. The same is true of the whining managers. If they cant manage properly then they should go now. Not blame the Vuvuzela for their incompetence.

The Vuvuzela is a symbol of our Country. It represents the will of the people and it enables every South African to be equal. It requires no preferential skill to play and it makes the same noise for everyone. Nothing symbolises the new South Africa more appropriately than the Vuvuzela. The great leveller serving notice that the Black man has found his voice in Africa.

Do not bring your Western criticism to our door. Remember you are only here for as long as we let you. You don’t like the Vuvuzela? Then you must go now.

Stadium naming policy

There are 10 stadiums being used for the 2010 FIFA world cup. Two of the stadiums represent contentious naming policy.

Consider the Peter Mokaba Stadium.

Named after one of the renowned sons of the struggle and emancipation of South Africa against the apartheid regime, the Peter Mokaba Stadium holds much  historical significance in South Africa. Peter Mokaba was born and bred in Polokwane and was renowned for his fighting spirit and for his inpirational leadership.

Pete's inspirational leadership is not always regarded with such reverance by those who abhor racism - or by those who believe AIDS is a sexually transmitted disease that kills. According to Jacob Dlamini, a renowned South African journalist writing in Business Day newspaper Mokaba was a "a confessed apartheid agent and a man as corrupt as they came." He was also the man whose business plan revolved around singing  'Kill the Farmer, kill the Boer' whilst simultaneously denying the existance of Aids, despite the fact that it would kill him at age 43. Surely a case of  'dumb and dumber.'

Then there's the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban. Moses of course was a lifelong communist, trained as a terrorist and went on to lead Umkhonto we Sizwe, a terrorist organisation, in a bloody conflict, responsible for many deaths including some of their own members. Whilst these two qualities, communism and terrorism,  may have their historically redeeming merits, surely naming a sporting arena after him is inappropriate, especially if anyone considering playing there should come from a communist/terrorist victim background. How for instance, if America progress in the tournament, would world leaders like Barrack Obama, attend a game at a stadium named after a man whose politics represent such an anti American poisition?

I wonder how many little kids attending games at these stadiums will pause to reflect on the inspirational example shown   
'Mummy when I go grow up I want to be just like Peter - and Kill White  farmers and deny the existance of Aids, or if that's beyond my means can I just be a communist terrorist. Please mum.'

David Cameron

‘Children are our future – teach them well and let them lead the way’ wrote Michael Masser.

I think this sentiment is universal. Any parent would want the best possible education for their children.

Not everyone can afford private education. That's economic reality. I cannot imagine any scenario where a parent unable to afford a top flight private education for their child would refuse their child the opportunity were it presented to them.  Can you?

NO responsible parent would deliberately, knowingly and willfully under-educate their child. Or would they?

Imagine being in a position where funding a private education would not make the slightest dent to your multi-million pound trust fund, but denying your children the opportunity for a better education because it is at odds with your political ambitions.

David Cameron’s ambition demanded that very sacrifice from his state-school children. A man who put his own career ahead of his children’s education.

Whats up with that? If he turns over his own children to advance his career, what do you think he will do with the Prime Ministers office?

Anika Smit.

Today Anika Smit, 17, was buried in Pretoria. Last week, 11 March, 2010, she was killed and raped in her own room. Her arms were cut off from the elbow and taken by the perpetrators. No one has been charged with her murder.

I was so horrified by this story that I sent it to all and sundry. No mention could be found in British press. I wrote to the Guardian and the Daily Mail. With the Soccer world cup looming, there is simply no interest in frightening visitors to South Africa.

Correspondence with South African friends revealed a consistent trend 'This is not news. It happens every day.'

One correspondent told me that racially motivated murder in South Africa since the end of Apartheid exceeds 300,000. More than 45-1 higher than racially motivated deaths during apartheid.

Crime in South Africa is a real and present issue. But the crime in Anika Smits case goes beyond anything that we, outside of South African experience, can relate to. This behaviour is a uniquely South African variant of tribalism enabling sexual incontinence that effectively normalises rape. Maintaining manifestly unhealthy arrangements in the name of tradition is a recipe for disaster which should be a matter for Governmental review, but in light of a Polygamous President with a history of defending rape charges, is not.

Considering these uniquely perverse crimes - raping and hacking body parts off people who are still alive, the better to make muti with - the issue of Apartheid is often presented as a contributory cause. I grew up in Apartheid South Africa and remember well the British approach of 'No normal sport in an abnormal society.' One I wholeheartedly agreed with then as I do now.

This is not a time for the world to be normalising South Africa's collapse into tribal barbarism and lawlessness by enjoying games of football in Stadiums whose cost cannot possibly be reconciled with the decayed lifestyles of South Africa's dispossessed majority even as their falsely elected new class of cuntocrats swan around in the accoutrements of obscene wealth.

No normal sport in an abnormal society. Why did that make sense in 1976 and not now? How many South Africans consider theirs to be a normal society?

Playing games of soccer in the shadow of 17 year old girls being raped and mutilated, whose killer might be the person sitting next to you at the games, smiling and cheering Bafana Bafana, is not the way the issue of barbarous decline in South Africa is best addressed. It maintains the delusional precept of a 'rainbow nation' thriving on 'the miracle of Mandela.'

I imagine all media coverage of South Africa today will be about football games and ticket sales and travel opportunities for visitors, leaving little interest ina story about Anika Smits father, as he buries those body parts of his butchered daughter that the rapists left behind. 

I certainly will find it difficult watching Dave Beckham swish around the England camp promoting football and talking up our chances against Germany knowing how far apart the world his values represent is from the reality of South Africa. This is not a normal society. Leaders like Zuma and Malema are not credible and one can but wonder how the legacy of Mandela arrived here in 16 short years.

Continuing unchecked at this rate, in another 16 years time there will be no opportunity for this subject to be raised again. 

For me these football games will be remembered as The Anika Smit Games. 
.......

Fallen.

'And ye shall know them by their words'.

And here is one great word. 'Fallen.'

Instead of describing the process of taking (mostly) underprivileged young men from low-income under-educated backgrounds and using the bait of three meals a day, free clothing and the opportunity for playing with guns as a device for maintaining an optimal defense budget before putting them in 'harms way' which might involve having a piece of searing hot shrapnel penetrating the left side of the head before turning the brain into a mushy by-product of traumatic impact, or even experiencing the blast of a landmine underfoot as the explosive rips away the bottom half of the body, or indeed any in the number of ways that young men sent to fight wars they don't understand based entirely on words they are fed by unscrupulous agenda driven recruiters serving the purposes of budget driven government ministers on an upward career curve, might find themselves being brutally separated from body parts, if not from life itself, for what it is. Gruesome bloody death, what these young men get in exchange for this 'sacrifice' is the word 'fallen.'

They are not victims of a system that empowers a rich minority by using the lower class as cannon fodder for their various empowerment agendas, but instead they are 'fallen heroes'.

For 'fallen' read 'another victim of the business of war.' They are not fallen. They are brutally killed almost entirely because they come from low income backgrounds.

The implication with this word is that the worst that can happen to a soldier is to become 'fallen.' That doesn't sound so bad now. Does it. And the immediate word association is 'hero. So if perchance you do become 'fallen', you will also become a hero. Another good reason not to worry at all. 

Current lists of our 'Fallen Heroes' show they are almost all of low rank and young.

Beware those who rely on the word 'fallen' to describe KIA.

A nasty piece of work.

'If god did not exist it would be necessary to invent him' said Voltaire many years ago.

Epicurus paraphrased reads;

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. 
 Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. 
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? 
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?

If god does exist and he is the all-powerful all-seeing deity responsible for everything, then it is abundantly clear that he is a pretty nasty piece of work.

The majority of the Earths population live in spirit-killing-poverty. Young men, heirs to millions, choose to blow up their underpants in praise of god. Believers throughout history have done more to defile and debase the human condition than any other single cause. All believing they are created in gods image and serving his will.

Anyone possessed with omnipotence who chooses to destroy and debase the human condition in the way that mankind's record presents as self-evident can only be described as 'a nasty piece of work.' Or a Very nasty piece of work.

 

How fortune works.

This farmer had only one horse, and one day the horse ran away. The neighbors came to condole over his terrible loss.
The farmer said, "What makes you think it is so terrible?"

A month later, the horse came home - bringing with her two beautiful wild horses. The neighbors became excited at the farmer's good fortune. Such lovely strong horses!
The farmer said, "What makes you think this is good fortune?"

The farmer's son was thrown from one of the wild horses and broke his leg. All the neighbors were very distressed. Such bad luck!
The farmer said, "What makes you think it is bad?"

A war came, and every able-bodied man was conscripted and sent into battle. Only the farmer's son, because he had a broken leg, remained. The neighbors congratulated the farmer.
"What makes you think this is good?" said the farmer.

Gauntanamo Bay living memorial.

Andrews Guantanamo Bay business plan.

Objective:

Create a business model to generate $2 hundred million annual turnover using the resource of Guantanamo Bay by identifying existing demand, harnessing that demand and turning it into a functioning business.

The participants:

1. World Heritage organisation.
2. International War Crimes Court.
3. The Guantanamo business fund.

Step one:

Create the 'Gauntanamo Bay living memorial'. Designated as a World heritage site, Guantanamo Bay Living Memorial will be a magnificent glass structure incorporating the current facility - metaphorically demonstrating the importance of transparency in politics. This structure will readily accommodate 2 million visitors annually. An architectural design encompassing 24 glass cells through which a tourist walkway weaves.

Visitors will enter a visitors centre, much like the gateway for Robben Island visitors in Cape Town. The facility will be open 24 hours per day, 365 days per year - metaphorically demonstrating that evil never rests.

In the visitors centre, guests can view informative displays preparing them for the sights that lie ahead. Including statistics demonstrating the extent of the atrocities committed by the inmates as well as the findings of the International War Crimes court.

Upon entering the facility itself, visitors will follow a glass pathway that weaves through 24 cells. They can stop and view the cells in-mates for no more than 5 minutes per cell and will be allowed to take photographs.

The 24 cells will start with the lowest, least well known of the war criminals, working up to the show piece cells at the very end of the tour. These last 2, numbers 1 and 2 in the countdown, will be occupied by what will almost certainly become the biggest crowd pullers. The two B's. Blair and Bush.

Step 2:

While the construction is underway, an International War Crimes Court, empowered for this purpose, convenes to try the most obvious War Criminals of the past decade, those responsible for the Million deaths in Iraq and the atrocities committed against the Afghani people, not to mention the atrocities they have committed against their their own countrymen in America and Britain.

This Court will identify the worst 24 offenders, handing down 24 life sentences accordingly and also rating them from 1 to 24 in terms of the extent of their culpability. Obviously Blair and Bush will compete for cells 1 and 2, although there will be many shoe-ins for others similarly well qualified. Rumsfeld, Cheney and so on.

These top 24 war crims will serve their life terms in the glass cells of Gauntanemo Bay living memorial correctional facility, on display 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Step 3:

With diligent marketing and a little help from the Cuban tourist board, a target of 2 million visitors in year one is entirely realistic. Given the quality of the spectacle, an entrance fee of $100 is appropriate. Door receipts would therefore be some $200 Million in year one, with tremendous growth potential in subsequent years as the Cuban tourist board exploit the associated possibilities of having so many visitors to their Island. An annual Rock concert featuring Queen and friends could further bolster the funds coffers.

Amortised over a ten year period this revenue should be more than enough to underwrite the cost of the trial and the building of the 'Gauntanamo Bay living memorial' or the GBLM as it will be branded.

Once the 'Big 24' are made accountable and put on display in this way, it will be a lot harder for future politicians to get away with the dreadful abuses of power that characterise this sorry lot.

The music franchise:

Each cell will feature powerful surround sound speakers connected to a Juke-box front end, where visitors will be able to pay a fee to choose a song. For an additional fee they will be able play the song louder. In this way viewers can provide a suitable soundtrack for their experience in the knowledge that they will be helping the inmates karmically redress the weight of the sinful past. For instance, visitors to Mr. Blairs cell could elect the Sex Pistols 'Your so pretty' and have it played at super loud volume during his prayer time. A family whose infant son might have been incinerated by one of Mr. Bush's Iraqi missile's could play Don Macleans 'Wonderful Babies' each time they visit, ensuring the point is  made to Mr. Bush regarding the connection between his decisions and dead children.

The musical directors position would go to a renowned musical authority, versed in popular song as well as karmic balance, whose appointment would establish a library of music per Juke-box, per cell, to cater for any specific visitor requirements and make the experience the best it can be for all parties. This office would rotate on an annual basis to ensure the inmate to not become overly familiar with any particular musical trend.

A family day out:

For children, visiting GBLM will provide a living History lesson as well as an insight into how the world decided to start making mass killers who hide behind God and profit driven political-office accountable for their actions. An important lesson for any youngster looking at the world today.

Visitors will be able to see the look of remorse - or not as the case may be - on the faces of the inmates. Seeing this might provide a nice degree of closure for the family members of the Million plus dead because of Bush and Blairs ego.

Would you visit Cuba and pay $100 to see that?

My Telegraph subscription.

For the past 20 years I have renewed an annual subscription with the Telegraph. Its delivered to my door at around 7.20 am every day by arrangement with the local newsagent. For many a year now I would start my day with a bath at 7.30 am where I would read the sport pages of the Telegraph, migrating from there for the morning cappuccino where I would read the main section of the paper. 30 minutes each day of worthy time investment.

There would always be some piece of journalism that would make me remark on how excellent the Telegraph was. Some story that made me the richer for knowing and enabled me to enjoy the pleasure of sharing with others in the knowledge that I was disseminating information for the betterment of all. An emissary for the highest good if you will. In many a conversation whilst traveling abroad I would refer to the standard of writing in the Telegraph as one of the great things about living in Britain.

But in the past few years I have become aware of change. Change for the worse. The stories frequently appear to me no longer the product of independent thought. Rather I began to notice a trend. An absence of what I felt were the big news items in the world and a preponderance of trivia. Yes MP's expenses are interesting - but not nearly interesting enough to fill page after endless page with whilst making no reference to far more serious abrogations of Ministerial responsibility - like those MP's responsible involving Britain in sick cruel and costly wars with Countries who represent no threat to Britain - or indeed anyone other than themselves. I am far more interested in Blair's accountability as a hypocritical lying Bush-licking war-monger than some nobody-MP-from-nowhere fiddling a mobile phone call.

In a nutshell - the Telegraph no longer presents news that holds my interest. In cow-towing to prevailing commercial and political pressures, the editor and his team have distanced themselves from my interest whilst simultaneously offending my sense of fairness in regard to misrepresenting what is important. Upgrading trivia in the name of PC and commercial interest over real and relevant issues of the day.

Why then should I sign up for another year of paying the £300 plus that it costs for me to see the Telegraph appear in my hallway each morning? If I cant change the way they operate with my words at least I can change it with my consumer dollar - the most powerful force for change known to man.

All that remains now is the familiarity argument. For so long now I have loved the morning paper that the thoughts of waking up to find the hallway without that image - the folded broadsheet, is a little unnerving. But my decision is made. And the deadline for renewal is today.

The Telegraph do not miss a trick though, and someone there noticed my failure to send in the annual payment. Yesterday a well spoken young lady called to remind me that the renewal deadline was fast approaching. I explained that I was not renewing because I was 'disenchanted with the news.'
Information which blunted her sales pitch considerably.

So an era for me has ended. No more Telegraph delivered to my door. I don't imagine this separation will be easy. We have been so close for so long, but I stand determined. My place in the relationship has been taken for granted and I have become no more than a patsy. Something has to change and this is it.

I will let you know how things work out.

Scientific proof that Evolution is a lie

I received an e-mail directing me to a page that offered 'Scientific proof that Evolution is a lie' the conclusion of which proves the existence of a great and merciful God. The sheer weight of ignorance that accompanies the argument prompted me to post a message - which I enjoyed writing so much I thought I would share it here.

.........

Is this the same gracious and merciful God who created dinosaur fossils to test our faith or the kind and benevolent deity who created Sarah Palin in his image so that the terminally retarded can experience the certainty of superiority, or just the one you rely on to prolong your inability to become self accountable. Stop being lazy. Learn how to read and then start reading and learning. Stop deluding yourself that the divisive and harmful belief system you promote is anything other than a failed and exposed device by which the greedy enslave the ignorant to serve their purposes.
Belief in your 'one and only God' has killed more people on this planet than any other single cause. It is not a charitable system that offers upliftment for the dispossessed or peace and brotherhood to all. It is a philosophy that guarantees death. Death by the Billion since the onset of the age of religion.
Enough already. Its one thing to be so desperate that you have no where else to turn and in your vulnerability become susceptible to the cynical overtures of Religions salesmen with their promises of 'Eternal life' and 'Hellfire for non believers for all eternity' but it is quite another to maintain this foolishness past early adolescence. The only excuse is plum laziness. Too darn shiftless to get your brain working. Here's a simple road map.

God = division = condemnation = persecution = war = death. Therefore God = death.

Promoting belief in a omnipotent-omniscient yet invisible God is akin to waging war.
Isn't it time you allowed the evolutionary process to help your brain enable escape from the shackles and bonds of your moronic denial based belief system?
Its not that hard. Just look around you, at all the beauty the surrounds you. Life is beautiful if you choose life. Beauty is everywhere. The world is a beautiful place and it would be better still if you would cease and desist your misguided efforts in fomenting war and conflict by disseminating the same exposed nonsense that has been plaguing the planet since the onset of blind faith and in this way you will eventually become a human-being worthy of being called human as opposed to carrying on your praise of ignorance in the Church of the dumb fuck.

Gods work is done. Mans time has come. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

270 Vs 290. Megrahi VS Rogers III.

Whoever would have thought the release of a sick old man from a Scottish prison could provoke such outrage in America, the basis of which appears to be directed toward the moral character of a man involved in bringing down a plane with 270 innocent civilians on board. 270 innocents whose lives were snuffed out so cruelly in so cowardly and unjustified a manner.

I am reminded of events preceding the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 on 21 December 1988. I refer of course to the other civilian plane crash that occurred just 5 months before, on 3 July, 1988, when 290 innocent civilians, 66 of whom were children, died.

This is the day a guided missile cruiser, the USS Vincennes, fired upon an Iranian Airbus, Flight 655, operating an established route between Teheran and Dubai, while flying inside Iranian airspace.

This event occurred just weeks after President Ronald Reagan assured the Iranian people in a televised address that they would never be allowed to win their war with American backed Iraq. The shooting down of Flight 655 was effective, showing Iran that Reagan spoke much truth, and the 8 year Iran/Iraq war ended shortly after this incident. Clearly those 290 deaths were not in vain.

Reagans Vice President Bush (Daddy of Dubya) said in reaction to the outcry at the time:

"I'll never apologize for the United States of America, ever. I don't care what the facts are"

The author of the Iran Air misfortune was Captain Will Rogers III of the USS Vincennes. The baying for pay-back-blood that accompanied and continues to accompany the Pan Am bombing has been entirely absent from Western media almost from the moment the Iran Air Flight 655 met the sharp end of the US Missile. In fact, the author of that misfortune did not face trial for murder, or homicide, or even military malpractice. Instead he was presented with the Legion of Merit decoration "for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service as commanding officer ... from April 1987 to May 1989", by none other than Americas leading apologist, George Bush senior in one of his first duties as President.

Perhaps Gaddafi's celebrating Megrahi's release is a reminder of the celebrated return offered to Capt Will Rogers III?

It is inconceivable that no link exists between Pan Am Flight 103 and Iran Air Flight 655 and yet in all the miles of newsprint arising from Megrahi's release I have not seen one reference to Iran Air Flight 655.

To recap by way of conclusion on 2 events from 1988:

1. Iranian plane bombed by Americans. 290 dead. American shooter given medal by the President. Compensation paid to victims.

2. American plane bombed by Arabs. 270 dead. Arab fall guy who convinces no one of his guilt must rot in jail until dead or Americans will stop drinking Scotch whiskey at a time when they clearly need it the most.

To paraphrase Borat. 'Thatsa Nyse.'

Megrahi and plane murder.

The newslines are awash with outraged Americans bemoaning Scotland's humanitarian release of the terminally ill Megrahi. A man whose links to the Lockerbie crash are uncertain.

What is certain is that Pan Am flight 103 went down on 21 December 1988.

What is equally certain, but a lot less well remembered is the other event involving a civilian airliner just 5 months before, on 3 July, 1988.

This is the day a US guided missile cruiser, the Vincennes, deliberately fired upon an Iranian Airbus, Flight 655, operating an established route between Teheran and Dubai, flying inside Iranian airspace when it was shot down laden with 290 civilians, including 66 children in an event just weeks after Ronald Reagan assured the Iranian people that they would never be allowed to win the war with American backed Iraq. The shooting down of Flight 655 was effective, showing Iran that Reagan spoke much truth, and the 8 year war ended shortly after this incident.

Reagans Vice President Bush (Daddy of Dubya) said in reaction to the outcry at the time:

"I'll never apologize for the United States of America, ever. I don't care what the facts are"

I don't think its a huge leap of logic to imagine that some of the 290 passengers on that Iranian Airbus A300 flight had relatives and that those relatives were not satisfied with the US payment of 131 Million dollars in compensation, or that USS Vincennes Captain Will Rogers III should not be prosecuted for murder but instead given a hero-medal. Perhaps Gaddafi's celebrating Megrahis release is a pointer to the celebrated return offered to Capt Will Rogers in 1988?

I think it is far more likely that Pan Am Flight 103 was the reply to Iran Air Flight 655. And to imagine that 1 lone Libyan could mastermind and be made accountable for this beggars belief.

Chainism. Holistic discrimination.

Consider a chain. When tested for purpose, it will be as strong as its weakest link.

Consider a belief system that is based on blind faith. Lets use the handsome young Pakistani Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab as an example. A young man so blinded by belief that he chose to go off and machine gun innocents in neighboring India. It may be that our Mohammad has many fine qualities, and I bet somewhere a friend will proclaim how nice and gentle and loving he was - but the measure by which he will be seen where life's achievements are counted - is by this weakness. His blind faith in an imaginary God.

Because by accepting without substance belief in an imaginary being, a precedent is set. You must then accept any number of possibilities that lead on from this irrationality. Mohammad can justify his murderous actions on the same basis as every believer.

Belief in imaginary things places a kink in the chain of possibilities for developing awareness of the life experience.

Chainism is the holistic idea that you consider the value of people by the sum of their weakest and strongest qualities, not solely their most trumpeted strengths.
In military confrontation and even in competitive sport, the effective tactic is to identify the opponents weakness and play off that. Your opponent is as strong as his strongest weakness.

In the discrimination process by which we decide whose opinions and wisdom to believe and be influenced by, it becomes clear that those with the most to offer qualify because they have strengthened the weakest-link in the chain of their self awareness.

An example: Michael Jackson.
Strengths: talented young singer dancer in the 70's.
Weakness: Consumed by drug addiction delusion.

Measure of overall holistic chain strength: Tragic deluded failure. Had some early fun, got to play with Eddie Van Halen, but otherwise missed the point.

Try James Brown:
Strengths: Used compulsive obsessive control skills to bully a funky groove out of underpaid musicians until he established a legendary reputation as the Godfather of soul.
Weakness: Consumed by drugs and became by all accounts a thoroughly nasty piece of work.

Measure of overall holistic chain strength: The funky groove comes from a pretty unfunky and uncool place, so how funky cool can that groove really be. Conclusion. Overall - not the King of Soul at all. Sad deluded control freak mired in narcissistic flatulence.

last example: Keith Richards.
Strengths: Guitar playing songwriter and reliable friend.
Weakness: Well - you try find people to say bad things about Keith. A well liked man.
Measure of overall holistic chain strength: A successful life balanced in self fulfillment, having fun and helping others.

You try some now:

Michael Jacksons children

I am bemused by press suggesting a custody battle for the 3 Jackson children is imminent. What custody battle?

Children are not chattels whose ownership is defined by possession.

So clearly in the case of the Jackson children (The first 2) the fact is Michael is obviously not the (biological) Father and Debbie Rowe is definitely the Mother.

Unless she is so unfit as a Mother that it is clearly in the childrens best interests never to see her, which is on the face of it extremely unlikely, is there any possible argument for the children not to go to her?

And what kind of Wacko decides its in his (and in this case not even biologically his) kids best interests never to see their Mother.

Must the wacko-ness continue even now, when the deleterious consequences of the wacko lifestyle have become so painfully obvious?

It is very unusual that the children's best interests are not served by being with a biological parent.

Guantanemo Bay

As readers of the BBC web site are being invited to propose suggestions for Guantanemo Bay, here is mine:

Turn it into a tourist monument to illuminate the consequences of corrupt leadership.

A glass cage in which the top ten of the Bush administration would be displayed for 24 hours a day, in orange suits, for the remainder of their lives would be a fitting return for the harm the Bush men have visited upon the planet and a small step towards rehabilitating Americas image within the expedient of transparent accountability.

I think this would attract huge crowds - this living monument to the extremes to which corrupt power was enabled by the greed of a few and the compliant idiocy of another.

Americans could vote on who the top ten who should occupy this cell would be. I am guessing Dick Cheney would be a shoe in.

Chikurubi Prison.

'You judge a nation and its people by the way they treat their prisoners.'

Chikurubi prison lies 12 miles east of Harari. Chikurubi prison is a monument to the relationship between Zuma and the guest of honor at his recent inauguration, Robert Mugabe.
Without Zuma's support for Mugabe it is a certainty that Chikurubi prison would not provide so chilling a testimony to Mugabe's malign influence.

Of the 1,300 inmates at Chikurubi in the past year, more than 700 have died of what is described in the Daily Telegraph as 'revolting conditions.'
The revolting condition most affecting the residents of Chikurubi is the inescapable fact that Zuma and Mugabe's ongoing friendship is directly and unavoidably at the heart of every Zuma/Mugabe sponsored death in Zimbabwe.

In a nutshell - while Mugabe quaffs champagne (Imported from France and not the excellent South African variety) with Zuma - inmates of Chikurubi prison are left to ruminate on how Black African leaders continue to demonstrate their inability to rise above the constraints of the Muntuism that is their legacy.

More than half of those admitted to Chikurubi in the past year are dead.

And the irony is that the same ignorant halfwits whose attitude of 'I didn't vote for the ANC - I voted for Zuma, because he understands us' represent the same demographic as those populating Chikurubi prison. The ignorant deluded poor empowering the morally bankrupt rich leadership to kill off the ignorant disempowered poor.

Go Jacob Zuma. Sponsor of Chikurubi, proving every action has a reaction.

Leonard Cohen.

This is the greatest rhyming couplet I have heard today. I think it will become Barack Obama's theme.

From Leonard's song 'Everybody Knows.'

Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old black joes still pickin cotton
For your ribbons and bows
And everybody knows

Religion, delusion and prison

Here's a great statistic that I came across earlier.
10% of Americans are Atheist (or Agnostic). However .25% of the prison population is Atheist. I checked a registry of UK Prison population and found .2% of the prison population are Atheist, and in the UK the percentage of Atheists/Agnostics is approaching 50%

My conclusion is that the neediness and weakness that leads believers into choosing a value system that is so clearly disempowering, divisive and at odds with basic common sense, as is the case with the major religions, results in the non-accountable delusional belief that accompanies crime of a prison worthy nature.

Atheists on the other hand have accepted personal accountability and do not seek to apportion blame for their personal inadequacies on spurious notions like 'Original sin' and penitence leading to forgiveness. They are therefore more likely to not commit criminal acts because they are not trained to believe someone/something else is responsible for everything they do and will forgive them for the price of a few spoken words.

It is interesting to see the top and bottom list of the Countries by percentage of Atheists:

Most Atheist are:
Sweden. Vietnam. Denmark, Norway, Japan, Czech Republic, Finland, France.

Least Atheist are:
Somalia, Tanzania, Yemen, Western Sahara, Philippines, Romania, Pakistan, Cambodia, Iran

Success in Afghanistan

While American and British forces put in place by the Bush/Blair axis of evil continue consuming Billions of dollars that may or may not be helping fuel the global recession in Afghanistan, I have to admit at this point that I have for some time felt that:
1. Making War without provocation threatening survival is indefensible and should be treated as a crime.
2. People who justify and support war (unless when facing a threat to survival) are not acting for the highest good and
3. Dropping expensive bombs by remote control on poor people and their children, is an open invitation for karmic return that will mean returning as a mosquito - or worse.

So I have been clear from the outset in my disgust at the barbaric abuses of power by the Bush and Blair regimes of terror, especially in their inhumane use of expensive technology to bomb a Country already more bombed than any other. Afghanistan is an almighty mess. As if they weren't buggered enough by centuries of exploitation by the evil cult of submission that mires them in a dark age mentality, requiring the men to grow beards, wipe the poo off their bottoms with their left hands, avoid pork whilst simultaneously praising the deified memory of a 53 year old fellow who had sex with a 9 year old, but is not considered a pedophile. This same fellows book designates all women inferior status to men, requiring them to dress in Burqas and legally sanctions assaults by their husbands at a whim.

Easy then to see why Western conscience would be outraged by stories of Taleban men raping 10 year old boys and committing all kinds of Muslim themed atrocities on defenseless civilians. That outrage was used to raise the Christian Armies of Bush and Blair to go 'teach the Talies a lesson.'
Years have passed and now we can review the outcome of the Blair/Bush zealotry.

Since December 2004 Afghanistan's leader is Hamid Harzai.
We should remember his name as our tax dollars were the cause of his election.

Hamid is a Muslim and so sees nothing untoward about his most recent contribution to Afghani law. A bill which legalizes rape in marriage. The law, which has not been publicly released, is believed to state women can only seek work, education or doctor's appointments with their husband's permission.
Only fathers and grandfathers are granted custody of children under the law, according to the United Nations Development Fund for Women.

Opponents of the legislation governing the personal lives of Afghanistan's Shia minority have said it is "worse than during the Taliban".
Mr Karzai has been accused of electioneering at the expense of women's rights by signing the law to appeal to crucial Shia swing voters in this year's presidential poll.

So in a nutshell. We raised an Army to go teach the Taleban that their Muslim ways were not acceptable. Bush explained how we gave them democracy - out of which came Karzai to give us this new consideration.

Islam. Whats not to love about it?

Burqas have many practical advantages

Those of us who have looked upon the wearers of Burqas with horror, seeing this barbaric assault on that most basic of womens rights, the right to choose a public persona, as yet another instance of how poorly Islam treats its female membership whilst wondering as to the mental state of any woman willingly submitting to this abuse of a life experience, will be heartened by the following insight, told to me by a Security guard employed by Harrods.

He said 'Women in Burkas frequently and happily poo on the floor of Harrods from the safety of their black robes because they do not want to pay £1 for the toilet despite spending a fortune on hand bags.'

Its worth a little ponder.