Prime Ministerial bullying!

Our parliamentary democracy and free speech of the people is seriously under attack. This excellent article by a Labour MP illustrates the problem we face!


Our PM is nothing but a bully - just ask old Walter
By Bob Marshall Andrews

An extract from the article

Behind these violent and ugly displays of rank bullying lies a profound irony which exposes the true pusillanimous nature of New Labour and its prime architect. In their analysis of the party's electoral failure the high priests of New Labour identified party indiscipline as a root cause.
As part of the cure, therefore, intellectual challenge and dissent were to be ruthlessly expunged. Rule books have been amended to emasculate conference, and sanitise debate. The parliamentary power of patronage has been ruthlessly employed to advance quiescent minds, placemen and transparent cronies to protect orthodoxy and order. As a result, party membership has plummeted by 50 per cent. The price of Blairite "success" has been the near disintegration of the most valuable and influential democratic party of the 20th century.

Sums it up so well!

http://www.opinion.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2005/09/30/do3003.xml&sSheet=/opinion/2005/09/30/ixop.html

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Iraqi Anglicans under attack!

Whilst most people are aware of the struggle between the two/three sides of Islam in Iraq, not a lot is said of Iraqi Christians. Whilst Saddam Hussein was a monster with regard to his stranglehold on government, he kept the lid on ethnic/religious tensions. Now things are different.

Today, we hear that the entire lay leadership of the Anglican church in Iraq is missing and feared dead after being attacked on a dangerous road west of Baghdad. How difficult it is to be a Christian in such lands. Do we remember Bishop Hassan Dehqani Tafti of Iran and his troubles? This from a sermon by Kenneth E. Bailey, author and lecturer in Middle Eastern New Testament Studies, Canon Theologian of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh

One of the greatest unsung heroes of the 20th century, in my opinion, is my friend, the now retired Episcopal Bishop of Teheran, Iran, his Grace Hassan Dehkani-Tafti. Bishop Hassan began his life as a Muslim. As an adult he discovered the full revelation of God who is merciful and compassionate in the face of Jesus Christ and he became a Christian. Answering a call to ministry he became an Episcopal priest and, in time, was selected as the Bishop of his church.
Shortly after Khomeni and his followers took over Iran, the revolutionary guards came to the Bishop demanding that he turn over to them all the pension funds for all the employees of the church’s schools and hospitals. He refused. In the night they returned to assassinate him, and in the darkness their bullets missed. For his own safety the church community insisted that he leave the country. With great regret he did so. Initially he was with us in Beirut and, like Moses, his face was shining but he didn’t know it. He continued on to Cyprus for regional church meetings. During those meetings the Bishop’s son, a journalist back in Teheran, was murdered. Having failed to kill the father, they killed his son.

It puts it into perspective for Western Christians. Now is the time for us to rally round, after Katrina and Rita and other problems, both great and small, to allay our fears of our neighbours and the dispossessed and to create united communities.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4293802.stm
http://www.farsinet.com/ChristInPersianPoetry/
http://www.westminster.edu/Acad/dean/bach2002.html

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Heckling - Is it Still a British Artform?

The treatment of Walter Wolfgang has stunned the nation. This from the BBC's website shows how well New Labour has misjudged the mood and desire of the country.

This is just one contribution -

Mr Blair's time would be better spent re-establishing democracy and free speech in the UK instead of Iraq. The day that open debate is considered to be the act of a "terrorist" is a sad day for us all.
Laurence Anderson, Edinburgh, Scotland

One after another people line-up to say how they feel this episode to be a travesty of British democracy! Heckling is part of the British way! It is a sorry state of affairs that the New Labour clique has almost destroyed it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/4292918.stm

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Pulpits, Preaching, and Panties!

The Church of England is often described as a "broad church" meaning that it encompasses the beliefs and opinions of a wide spectrum. Since the Church decided to allow female clerics a lot of new ideas have come into the melting pot. Much is on an evangelical setting. Jan Harney, from Manchester, is keen to explore the idea of panties parties, where Christian women mingle with other women on a "get to know you" basis.

She said that she wanted Christians to relax, have fun and to get to know people before trying to convert them. "I have not conducted a lingerie party myself, but when Bridget Jones was all the rage I know that some Christian groups were holding knickers parties," she said. "To be honest, I am not sure what happened at those. Nobody has told me. But I have held chocolate parties, at which a group of us might watch a film on the theme of chocolate, or make chocolate sweets or play chocolate-inspired games. I also like pamper parties, when we can enjoy a massage or a manicure or try beauty products. I will always end the party with a five-minute period of reflection, a sort of thought for the day. It is a way to get to know people who will never normally go near a church."

Now I never want people to think that Christian people are boring, staid, or don't have fun! My only concern here is that people may get a jolly sort of view of the Faith. For me, as a traditional orthodox Anglican, Ms. Harney's evangelical expression of faith could lack the entirety of Catholic doctrine. The old adage is that the Catholic faith is caught not taught!

However, she gets a lot of browny points for trying!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/09/29/nchrist29.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/09/29/ixhome.html

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Blair apology to ejected heckler!

Tony Blair, obviously shaken by yesterday's events, has now said sorry for the brutal assault on Walter Wolfgang. The prime minister told BBC Breakfast, "I am really sorry about it, it shouldn't have happened." Mr Blair said "it is difficult for stewards who are volunteers" when someone is interrupting a speech. But, he told the BBC, there had to be better training for stewards in the future to ensure such incidents were handled sensitively. Umm!? No mention of the right of free speech. He seems so hell-bent on his terrorism laws and his control of the party that he cannot bring himself to state categorically that there will be no more of this kind of activity. Shame, I say!

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Oil? What Oil?

Jack Straw, the British Foreign Secretary, speaking at the Labour Party conference (as mentioned in posts below), said "We are in Iraq for one reason only - to help the elected Iraqi government build a secure, democratic and stable nation." So that confirms it! Not interested in the oil at all. The only reason is securing democracy in a stable nation!

So if we hear of any British official sniffing around the oil fields for information, what should we make of it? That this sole democratic reason needs to be monitored constantly as wandering from the path of building democracy would be against Mr. Straw's emphatic statement!

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Conference Handling - People not Policies!

If ever there was a day of bad publicity for the New Labour fantasy project, then this was one of them! The family of Jean Charles de Menezes, the young Brazilian gunned down in London as a "suspected terrorist", arrive to turn up the heat on the shoot-to-kill policy of the Met. Then there is news of the slowest UK GDP growth in 12 years! Takes the shine off Gordon Brown's future, maybe? And Labour lose vital conference motions on health and pensions! It's all going a bit pear-shaped.

Great Grimsby MP Austin Mitchell is furious at what he believes is the unnecessarily tough security at the Brighton conference centre. He has attacked as "mad and over the top" the way he was treated after his camera was seized and pictures deleted. Mr Mitchell, a keen amateur photographer, was taking photographs of the queues when stewards demanded to know what he was doing. He said: "The police were called over and asked if they could look at my pictures. I said of course they could but I did not want the pictures deleted. I kept repeating that I did not want the shots deleted and the police officer said it was alright because he didn't know how to use the camera. After he handed it back to me I found he had deleted every picture. This is security gone mad. And what's the point. The party has given the security staff absolute carte blanche and they have gone mad. It's completely over the top."

And over the top it certainly was for the pensioner, Walter Wolfgang, who is 82, and who was grabbed by two security officers and removed from the main hall. As a follow-on from the post below, it is now known that Walter fled Nazi Germany, has been a Labour parliamentary candidate, and is well-known as a dissenter of the Iraq war. No way to treat him, though, by getting these goons to man-handle him. One security officer seemed to take pleasure in hauling the old guy up from his seat. When confronted by the BBC this "security man" was stuffing cake into his mouth "Nice piece of cake" he spluttered with a certain sarcasm, as he walked briskly into some ante-chamber!

Mr. Wolfgang tried to re-enter the hall but was detained by the police under the new Terrorism laws! Is this New Labour gone control-freak crazy? If ever we get ID cards, watch out for the police and the Terrorism laws! The police now seem well locked into the New Labour fantasy project. Democracy! And Tony Blair is selling himself to the Iraqis as the democrat-in-chief? What a hypocrite!

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We must rid our country of the Dictator Blair!

I have just seen distressing scenes of an elderly man being manhandled, bullied, and finally ejected by the goons that New Labour employs as "security staff" at its Conference which purports to represent democracy! Heckling is banned! Democratic rights are impugned! The elderly man said "Jack has his right to speak. I have mine". This cut no ice with the overweight bullies, but this degrading scene, shown on BBC News24 and probably to be repeated during today, highlights most graphically the rapid descent into a control freak society for all of us, dominated by the twisted minds of people like Alastair Campbell who have manipulated Blair since day one of his premiership!

Today, North Wales police are investigating Blair for his vulgar use of expletives aimed at the Welsh! Is it any wonder people are wanting to heckle. George Brown, Michael Foot, and Harold Wilson all knew heckling was pat of the democratic process. Heckling is a democratic freedom. But not in Blair's controlled fantasyland! He lets the Iraqis have heckling, but not ageing Labour supporters! What a hypocrite!

He should go now and let someone more civilised take over!

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/newspolitics/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4288968.stm

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Don't disrespect me! I'm your protector!

Charles Clarke is over-zealously taking liberties from us on the one hand in the name of protection and failing to provide the number of police on the other to address vandalism, anti-social behaviour and general yobbery on the other. He said, at the Labour Party conference, that "responsive local policing" was the key to "tackling lack of respect in our communities".
"Neighbourhood police teams will be able to respond quickly to local concerns about anti-social behaviour. "Their local knowledge will enable them to focus rapidly on troublespots and troublemakers, nipping problems in the bud before they take hold." All well and good if they are there in the first place. Most calls to the West Midlands Police at present don't even nip things in full bloom!

If he gets these "neighbourhood police teams" then I'll be the first to congratulate him, but he will need to be careful with Gordon Brown's treasure chest. I hear the chest has not been filling up so well lately!

And Charles Clarke will have to be a bit more "neighbour-friendly" if he wants to succeed in promoting respect in the community. I suggest a quiet listen to Charles Penrose's Laughing Policeman. That should make him more avuncular than carbuncular!

The Laughing Policeman
http://panavox.panaserve.net/index.php?q=module:article,action:view,id:449

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And yet more police probing!

Now it appears to be what we wear! Headline News! Police arrested a 20-year-old gamekeeper for wearing a “Bollocks to Blair” T-shirt at a game fair last weekend.

If this is so offensive, what about all the slogans and vulgar banners that the Labour Party have come up with. Anyone remember "Ditch the Bitch" which was a reference to Labour's view of the Thatcher government?

The police will have to come clean soon as to whether they are being politicised by the New Labour apparatchiks!

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/competitionnews/392/68779.html

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Rupert Brooke! Where are you?

All over the United States patriotic people fly the Stars and Stripes. It is all part of the fabric of society. From little one-bedroomed houses to the largest mansion. Immigrants as well as the Daughters of the Revolution! It is all so American and shows to the outside world how the people feel.

In England it is considered bad form by the powers that be in Blair's New Labour paradise. Good folk are pilloried for flying the Union Jack. Read this little piece from the BBC Message Boards!

Keith says - "I have recently arrived home, in Leeds, from work to be confronted by two Police Officers, who according to neighbours have been calling back and forth most of the day and at one point sat outside my door for over an hour during which time a number of neighbours were quizzed as to my whereabouts and "what sort of person I am".Many of whom thought that perhaps I had commited some heinous crime.Had I killed a child, robbed the local bank at gun point or held Membership to an International Drug Cartel? The answer to that question is a resounding NO. My "crime"? I have flown the National flag of England on my property for the past two years since we bought this house, and I have been told, in no uncertain terms, that I risk arrest if I continue to do so. It appears that someone who walked past my house over the weekend has reported that she finds seing the National Flag of this Country "uncomfortable" and has surmised that I am clearly a Racist and should be stopped from doing so."

Join the link to read more. Can you imagine that these dozy coppers had time (over an hour) to waste on this? Leeds police should hang their heads in shame!

Anyone reading this in America please note. Blair's Britain is getting worse by the day! He's not as nice as you think!

http://www.bbc.co.uk./dna/mbradio2/f1242824?thread=1097097

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Rumsfeld's Poetic Prose!

George W. Bush is well known for mangling his words and using incorrect phraseology. It seems an obligation in the Bush administration to speak like some Victorian cleric with a word deficiency. The Reverend Spooner comes to mind! Donald Rumsfeld is in print - "Pieces of Intelligence: The Existential Poetry of Donald H. Rumsfeld"

He uttered this at a Department of Defense news briefing Feb. 12, 2002!

The Unknown
As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know.

and this beauty, also to a Defense Department briefing (now we know what de-briefing is supposed to do!)

Clarity
I think what you'll find,
I think what you'll find is,
Whatever it is we do substantively,
There will be near-perfect clarity
As to what it is.

And it will be known,
And it will be known to the Congress,
And it will be known to you,
Probably before we decide it,
But it will be known.

Dr Charles McEvoy from Ripon, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom gave this review to Amazon Books. "I have little interest in politics, and would probably not have picked this book up if I had not been given it, but it is one of the funniest short books I have read.It comprises short extracts from speeches and interviews given by Donald Rumsfeld, presented as 'discovered poetry', and it refrains entirely from poking fun, mocking or making political points of its own.You could read it in a few minutes, but will want to go back and read it again - and it could change the way you listen to political speeches on the odd occasion we are allowed to hear more than the three second soundbite."

Sounds like a good read!

What would George Washington make of modern day literature?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743255976/qid=1127774088/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_10_3/026-6678986-9255621

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Singing the Blues!

These days it is not unusual to hear of people complaining about youngsters making a noise, especially with amplified music. So it is very surprising to find that in the leafy suburbs of Birmingham elderly Tories are whooping it up to the sound of karoake singing and late-night discos! Down at the Erdington Conservative Club it is considered young to be 50 as many members are in their 80's, making the club's average age 65. It's a sort of retirement pleasure venue. However, the local residents were not so keen on these ageing revellers.

When the club came to extend its license for serving alcohol to midnight, they thought it would be agreed without any problem. But they had reckoned without 21 letters of complaint. It seemed the residents were objecting to loud use of microphones and the habit of taxi drivers sounding their horns to alert fares of their arrival! Well, with elderly Conservatives some may well be a bit deaf, so loud use of amplification could be a benefit to them.

The quick thinking Tories held a meeting with the concerned residents and it has been agreed to introduce noise limiters on the hi-fi equipment and microphones and the taxi drivers are announcing themselves sotto voce style!

Who would have thought the Old Conservatives could be so noisy? Some years ago the Young Conservatives were wound up due to lack of discipline. Could the same be on the cards for their pensioner brethren?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/4273098.stm
http://www.toryclubs.co.uk/content/index.html

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Spinning won't top this!

I always thought Tony Blair was the least suitable man ever to occupy No 10 Downing Street. I always knew I was not alone. There was the Conservative Party, the LibDems, Gordon Brown and most of Old Labour! Now it appears the ranks have been swelled by cabinet ministers, Catholic clerics and Her Majesty the Queen. Oh, and most of Iraq! It only needs the Army to get thoroughly hacked off with him and his days are completely numbered!

His big mistake was to spin truth rather than to speak it. He has always seemed to be fearful of anyone going "off message" and he used the rather odious Alistair Campbell as his bully boy and spinmeister! Well, now two books are out. If we believe only half of what is in The Spin Doctor's Diary Blair comes out looking like the man who is prepared to corrupt the British political system for his own advantages.

Lance Price, a natural New Labour supporter, and no journalistic greenhorn has seen Campbell and Blair in action, as he was one of their team. Price portrays Blair as a spiteful individual, launching into a foul-mouthed tirade against a senior Catholic cleric who dares question his wisdom. And Blair, Price makes clear, is at the very heart of a mendacious culture of deception and spin. So do we know anything new. Not really, I think. Most people in Britain have this opinion now, and it is a very sad fact that we are where we are! I will read Price's book and I suggest others should too. It will crystallise what we have grown to know and resent.

In another book, we are told that his wife denounces Princess Anne as a "bitch" and regarded Princess Diana as 'an airhead'! Cherie Blair is distinctly anti-monarchist and appears to conceal nothing of her views when a guest of the Queen. Author Paul Scott makes the claims in his book Tony & Cherie: A Special Relationship.

What have we done as a country to deserve all this? No other occupants of No. 10 have ever behaved so discourteously to both Monarch and Nation! Mr. Blair does have the talent of appearing electable and of being elected, but at what cost? None of his election victories have been ringing endorsements! It has been a divided opposition that has allowed this to happen! Only 21.6% of the eligible voters actively supported Blair this year in May.

One senior civil servant told The Mail on Sunday, "Officials in No 10 met last week and decided to go for Price's jugular by claiming he is a liar and fantasist. They know he isn't, but they have read the book and are horrified at what people will think."

We need a system to save us from all this web of deception!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/newscomment.html?in_article_id=362728&in_page_id=1787 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=362908&in_page_id=1770

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Have It Your Way Jihadist!

Have we heard it all now? Burger King got a request, or , more correctly, an implied threat from a young Muslim who was upset with the advertising design on their ice cream dessert packaging. According to a certain Rashad Akhtar the offending symbol looked a bit like an Islamic religious inscription purporting to represent Allah. It's a bit like those Where's Wally pictures! Akhtar must be the most sensitive man in the land. One would be hard pressed to make the link as the shapes are not totally similar and require a good second look to consider any similarity!

The whole thing here is that Burger King have made themselves look foolish in the face of a threat from this man. He said "This is my jihad" and proceeded to force Burger King to withdraw the packaging, no doubt at a considerable cost to the company. After all, Burger King did say "The design simply represents a spinning ice-cream cone." Precisely, I would say the same thing, especially as it was on a carton of ice cream!!

I would like to know if Charles Clarke is going to investigate the language used here, inciting a situation where Burger King were blackmailed into changing an innocuous piece of packaging. It seems we are being held to ransome by the slightest complaint. And I would say the same for any Christian that thought an advertising symbol used in a particular way vaguely depicted a religious symbol. We have had people saying pieces of toast looked uncannily like the Virgin Mary!

Mr. Akhtar would have done best by keeping his mouth shut! All he has done is make people feel uncomfortable about the way some try to use Islam as a controlling element in our society.

http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=1951292005
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005430136,,00.html

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Glorification - now that's what I mean!

The Blair government is seeking to outlaw the "glorification" of terrorism. One definition of the word is "To cause to be or seem more glorious or excellent than is actually the case". But how does one judge this overdoing of the excellence with regard to terrorism? It has often been said that one man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter. Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland secretary once "glorified" what the South African government thought was the ANC's "terrorism". Mr.Hain will no doubt line up to vote the Blair way! Present and past Israeli governments have been represented by people the British used to define as "terrorists". The US government has a history of CIA involvement in Central and South America helping "freedom fighters"!

Words! Have we been here before?

'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone,' it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.'
'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.'
'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master - that's all.'

Tony Blair will find himself up against juries pondering the same things as Alice. By being like Humpty Dumpty he is making the law into a fool's paradise! There are enough laws already to convict people if they are involved in terrorist activities. Sweeping up those who make strong comments by enacting badly drafted laws will do us no good at all!

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article313204.ece

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BBC and Katrina

So Tony Blair thinks that the BBC's coverage of Hurricane Katrina was 'full of hatred of America' and 'gloating' at the country's plight. Interesting that he should have burbled these comments to one Rupert Murdoch, the Brit-hater in chief! Murdoch's grasp of the British media is fairly well known. At times it seems like it is in his stranglehold. Blair has cozied up to Murdoch in the hope that good things will be reported.

The BBC has reported basically similar things to Sky News (Murdoch's British version of his Fox News in the USA). The only difference is that the reporting is without the simpering smiles and tabloid type commenting that Sky News excels in. The truth was hard to hide whoever was reporting - CNN, BBC, ITN, Sky, and CNBC! The federal government of the USA was caught napping! Karl Rove was having his kidney stones attended to!

Also, there is ghastly poverty in the New Orleans area, or was until Katrina, and this was glaringly exposed for all to see. American broadcasters have traditionally been self-censors in order not to upset "The Hill" and the White House. Katrina has revealed these cosy arrangements with a vengeance.

Blair thinks that any comment that the BBC makes that reveals unpleasant truths will be unhelpful to his crusades. I don't think the BBC is that biased. Both conservative and left-leaning politicians have felt the BBC was not on their side. The BBC should not be on their side. The BBC should be on our side reporting the truth.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/media/story/0,12123,1572747,00.html

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Greedy Bankers!

Does honesty pay today? Not if you're involved with the banks! They seem to have adopted an attitude based on avarice rather than honest service. They try to sell us loans, mortgages, and insurances in ways that are not always for our good. We are seen as useful sources for taking more of our money for their purposes!

A certain Mr. Smith of Aberdeen, Scotland was in his bank branch collecting some money for his taxi business. Perfectly natural day for him! He asked for £60,000 and duly went to put the cash in his office safe. Wow! He found the bank had made a mistake and given him an extra £40,000! It was too much he thought, an error, so he would take it back! Good man!

What was his reward for his honesty? He wasn't looking to make out of it, but he expected better than a cheap meal! Where was this meal to be had? In a greasy diner frequented by underpaid bank clerks?

Now these actions raise further questions. The bank, the Royal Bank of Scotland, seemed to take the view that it was of no consequence. They had already written it off as a bad debt. A very fast bad debt!! It would seem that they had impugned Mr Smith's character by privately thinking him to be a dishonest moneygrubber! They also appeared disinterested in finding out what had happened! "When I went back to the bank, the woman said she couldn't believe I was coming back in with the cash because they had written it off as gone," Mr Smith recalled.

Money! When you've got so much what is £40,000! Small potatoes, no doubt! And the RBS made pre-tax earnings for the year to December 2004 of £6.9bn ($13.1bn).

Captain Mainwaring, where are you?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4252280.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4293167.stm http://home.btconnect.com/howejam/dadsarmy/bios/characters/da_gm.htm

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If looks could.......?

This picture is priceless! Tony Blair looks like he is about to come unspun at any moment. His face is transfixed to that of Bob Geldorf's and he is just hoping that nothing embarrassing, damaging, or compromising is going to be said by Geldorf.

It sums up what Blair is all about. Control freakery and spin management. At the UN summit in New York, with Geldorf at his side it must have been a nightmare for the master of New Labour protocol! Afterwards Blair made a rambling comment about going forward on Africa by not forgetting all that has been achieved! Africa is waiting!

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Happy Birthday, Prince Harry!

Today is Prince Harry's birthday and the British press is awash with the details of the interviews that he has given. A modern day prince is at the mercy of the press, as is anybody they feel needs commenting on. Nearly all the papers appear surprised that he should have such a good opinion of the Duchess of Cornwall, who has herself been traduced mercilessly by the hacks. (Remember Spitting Image's depiction of a Fleet Street reporter as a pig wearing a trilby hat with a betting slip stuffed in the hatband?)

Camilla Parker-Bowles, as she was, has been given the step-mother from hell treatment. Actually, she is good fun and has a personality capable of showing affection and concern for others. Hopefully Harry has dispelled the nasty remarks. What the hacks don't seem to appreciate is that Diana's sons can love their father's wife for being a "wonderful woman" who made Prince Charles "very, very happy". "William and I love her to bits. To be honest with you, she's always been very close to me and William... but no, she's not the wicked stepmother. I'll say that right now." So there we have it, straight from the prince's mouth. No ambiguity there!

And he was quite right to say that his relationship with his girlfriend was a private matter! It seems the press is always keen to know of other people's goings-on which is why we are apparently so obsessed with soap stars and footballers' wives!

Thank goodness we have two princes who have common sense and generous hearts!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4246518.stm
http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/521377/index.html

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Words of Comfort?

- Harold Macmillan

George Bush must be wondering why he's suddenly going into freefall as far as his poll ratings are concerned. Why are folk turning on him? Well, he might like to consider the remarks of former British prime ministers. One Conservative PM who knew how to deal with the day's problems was Harold Macmillan. When asked what he thought was the most serious thing to happen to him, he said "Events, dear boy! Events!" and this understanding is true today as it was 50 years ago! Harold Wilson, the Labour PM of the sixties and seventies, was just as canny. He remarked that "a week in politics is a long time", meaning that people tend to forget the detail.

The difficulty George Bush finds himself in is one of an event that may overwhelm him. The US constitution requires a president who is separate from the congress, which is wholly different from the parliamentary system of the Westminster style. An American president is above the fray but can be seen as isolated in difficult times. There is no facility for direct questioning of a president in a chamber or forum. A prime minister faces the opposition within a chamber.

This tends to give prime ministers a way of honest answering or deflecting the truth. However, a president has to stand alone in the arena of the White House and this can mean withstanding a whispering campaign, or speaking directly to the nation, or being seen in action! Whichever it is, the "buck stops with him"!

So in order to stop events taking over, Bush should come clean with all that has happened with regard to spending and logistics in respect of Katrina and Iraq. That way an independent report can be commissioned to quash all the causes for ongoing trouble. Then a week in his politics will be a long time!

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No Brownie Points for Bush!

The trouble with putting your friends in jobs that they are not suited for is that time has a terrible way of paying you back! Bush probably had no cause to think that his pal Michael "Brownie" Brown would screw up on the job in the role as director of FEMA. But then he never thought a huge hurricane would ever hit the southern shores!

The euphemism for these job placements is "political appointee" which just about sums it all up. The American press has done a good job in alerting Americans to the problems that these placemen and women can create.

The disaster here was that Brown had given the impression he knew about disaster management. The truth is nearer to the fact that he was only a minor player in the handling of the handling of disasters. That is a disaster in its own right!

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Gas guzzling greed!

"Motorists are being urged not to panic-buy ahead of planned fuel tax protests, as queues of up to an hour are reported at some petrol stations." That's what we're being told. I've just been out at 11.30pm and the queues on the Stratford Road going into Birmingham are full up with late night fuel fiends!

Don't these idiots know that they are helping to RAISE the price not pushing it the other way round. Up to 60 cars outside one filling station, nearly all burning petrol as they wait! And the waiting probably hacks them off, then they'll get a bad night's sleep and probably cause an accident in the morning due to grumpiness!

Human nature certainly has some peculiar manifestations!

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Parking Quango gets tangoed!

Neil Herron seems to have got another victory. Apparently the National Parking Adjudication Service was calling itself a court, which Mr. Herron took them up on. Looking at its website just now they claim to be "an independent tribunal where impartial lawyers consider appeals by motorists and vehicle owners whose vehicles have been issued with Penalty Charge Notices (or have been removed or clamped) by councils in England and Wales enforcing parking under the Road Traffic Act 1991."

Mr. Herron's blog makes interesting reading about yet another dodgy set-up masquerading as a pillar of justice! It seems that these organisations are never quite what they make themselves out to be.

The truth is that this NPAS outfit wouldn't be needed if the councils concerned were offering fair parking facilities rather than “decriminalised parking enforcement”.

http://neilherron.blogspot.com/
http://www.parking-appeals.gov.uk/about/about.asp

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Politics of Sex and Greed!

It used to be said that the Conservatives had a problem with sex and the Socialists had a problem with money! John Major certainly knew all about that when it came to keeping the lid on his ministers' goings-on and trying to keep the genie in his own testosterone bottle. It became a case of telling the nation one thing about decorum and Tory bigwigs consorting with secretaries, prostitutes, other peoples' wives, and, in one case, three women on the trot! No wonder the country felt it had all got a bit sleazy.

Labour politicians on the other hand, apart from David Blunkett, have always had a problem with money. They seem keen to keep their own voters from getting it, but are quick to make it or take it themselves.

Tony Blair heads up this New Labour money machine. Most of his pals are good at blurring the boundaries of probity and proper behaviour. On his recent holiday to the Caribbean (the one that nobody should have known about!) he fetches up with a certain Russell Chambers. Chambers is a financier who has done rather well by knowing what's going to happen when in the New Labour kingdom. In addition, Chambers has secured for his company, UBS Warburg, lucrative advising roles which seem to have come about by just being there!

Christopher Grayling, the Shadow leader of the Commons said "There has to be a real question about whether it is right or sensible for somebody in this position to have such close links with No 10." All too right, I say! When Blair came to power he used the catchy tune "It can only get better" but I think he was referring to the gravy train rather than the implied suggestion that the country required honourable governance.

Mr. Grayling goes on to opine "The really big worry in all of this is that the Prime Minister does not seem to understand the potential conflict of interest here." All too right, again! Blair seems to have a "butter wouldn't melt in his mouth" approach to it all. Basically, he just doesn't get it. That's why we need him to go and take his cronies with him!

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Should Gordon Brown get a free ride?

A lot of commentators seem to think that Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, should get a free ride into the job of Prime Minister. But is this fair or democratic for Labour Party members? I could say, I'm not bothered as I'm not a Blairite, or a Socialist, or Old Labour! But should the brothers and sisters get a choice or will Tony Blair suddenly blurt out "Brownie! You're doing a heck of a job! You take over now". In our dreams, I think.

I'm not so keen to see Gordon get the top job. OK he was promised by Blair in that cheesy compromise in the Granita restaurant that he would "hand over" but Blair reneged and Brown couldn't step up to the plate and tell Blair to go! Brown is appearing more tired and is overseeing a financial timebomb! I'm more interested in seeing others enter the fray.

Jack Straw has a good deal of international experience and political stature.
David Blunkett is a good straight talker who probably wouldn't spin so much.

However, the list is not inspiringly great. But when Blair goes there must be a contest and not a coronation!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/uk_politics/03/the_cabinet/html/default.stm

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Clarkie! You're doing a heck of a job!

On the matter of ID cards and eroding civil liberties, the UKIP Forum has some good threads on the subject. Here are some links that may be of interest!

http://www.ukipforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=5608
http://ukipwoking.blogspot.com/

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MI5 may wish to erode your liberty!

The head of Britain's security service, MI5, has warned that hard won civil liberties may have to be "eroded" to protect people from terrorist attacks. In a speech in the Netherlands, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller said the world had changed and a debate was needed. She said the suicide bomb attacks in London in July were a "shock", and that the MI5 and police were "disappointed we had not been able to prevent them".

I read this and thought it sounded OK. But then I thought, how come she didn't know? How come MI5 had not been able to prevent the attacks? Probably because the security forces are so tied up with PC thinking that it never occurred to them that radical clerics spouting a vitriolic form of Islam might have a perverting effect on marginalised and impressionable young Muslims. Did anyone from MI5 mix with immigrant communities to assess the feelings on the ground? Appears not! Any wonder they get it wrong?

Interestingly by speaking to the Dutch AIVD she was upping the current thinking of spys and spooks that erosion of civil liberties is not a very troubling matter. The Dutch have gone back to having ID cards. Just a thought, but during World War 2 the Nazis had no trouble picking up Dutch Jews because all their details were on ID records. Today, with computerized records immigrants that don't fit the profile can be picked up that much easier! ID cards are very much on the agenda in the UK.

A telling part from her speech!

So how do we respond? Intelligence is key to any successful counter terrorist strategy but it is not enough and I shall explain why not. I want first to say something about the nature of intelligence and its use. What many here will know but is not always well understood is that intelligence rarely tells you all you want to know. I should like to quote from Lord Butler's report into the "Review of Intelligence on Weapons of Mass Destruction". "The most important limitation on intelligence is its incompleteness. Much ingenuity and effort is spent on making secret intelligence difficult to acquire and hard to analyse... intelligence seldom acquires the full story... it is often... sporadic and patchy and, even after analysis may still be at best inferential".

She repeats the point about the nature of intelligence from Lord Butler's report on WMD! This showed the intelligence services passing incomplete and patchy information to Blair's government. I think the truth is nearer to the fact that employing spies is expensive and picking up computerised information from third parties is much cheaper and more convenient!

We need to be watching those watching us in case we get locked up, shot at, or have our personal details passed around at will!

http://www.mi5.gov.uk/output/Page387.html

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Brownie! You're fired!

In recent times, when a British prime minister gave effusive praise about a beleagured colleague, that minister fairly quickly departed the political scene. Margaret Thatcher used to say nice things, so did John Major. Didn't help the hapless minister. The media thought otherwise and the public began to sense a scalp was on its way. Tony Blair thought Stephen Byers was great as a transport minister. Byers went for telling porkies to parliament. The same thing seems to be happening in the USA.

George Bush waxed well with praise for his FEMA friend. "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job!" the president gushed. So what happens. The press go gunning for Michael Brown, who has had a chequered career to say the least (allegations of padding his resume!), and today he goes back to paper shuffling duties!

I think Brownie has done a heck of a job. He has revealed the chaotic way in which the Bush administration invites Congress to support a "jobs for the boys" government. No wonder Chertoff looks like a guy who has sucked on a lemon!

The truth is that the Homeland Security people were never up to natural disasters at home. The regular hurricane, yes, but not something on the scale of Katrina. They were mainly about keeping out foreigners who may be a threat and then reassuring the public about the Bush government's bold approach to terrorism.

This is from FEMA's own website!

In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed Joe M. Allbaugh as the director of FEMA. Within months, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11th focused the agency on issues of national preparedness and homeland security, and tested the agency in unprecedented ways. The agency coordinated its activities with the newly formed Office of Homeland Security, and FEMA's Office of National Preparedness was given responsibility for helping to ensure that the nation's first responders were trained and equipped to deal with weapons of mass destruction. Billions of dollars of new funding were directed to FEMA to help communities face the threat of terrorism. Just a few years past its 20th anniversary, FEMA was actively directing its "all-hazards" approach to disasters toward homeland security issues. In March 2003, FEMA joined 22 other federal agencies, programs and offices in becoming the Department of Homeland Security. The new department, headed by Secretary Tom Ridge, brought a coordinated approach to national security from emergencies and disasters - both natural and man-made. Today, FEMA is one of four major branches of DHS. About 2,500 full-time employees in the Emergency Preparedness and Response Directorate are supplemented by more than 5,000 stand-by disaster reservists.

If the "billions of dollars to help communities face the threat of terrorism" had actually gone into Emergency Preparedness and Response, then the levees would have been up to strength as had been repeatedly emphasised and, had they been breached, Michael Brown would have been prepared to rush in with a fully funded co-ordinated approach!

Shame the response was slow, muddled, and inept!

http://www.fema.gov/about/history.shtm

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Freesat coming soon!

The BBC and ITV have joined forces to introduce a new satellite service called Freesat. The idea of this is because the government is wanting to switch off the analogue TV signals, region-by-region, by 2012. This is the system the UK currently operates through the mast transmitting system.

Freesat will compete with Sky and cable for viewers. One interesting point is that the existing Freeview service, using the mast system, cannot provide more channels than it is currently doing and 25% of UK homes cannot get the signal anyway. Satellite offers greater channel choice and coverage.

Another thing to emerge from all this is that widescreen TV is apparently more expensive to transmit than 4:3 ratio. This would suggest why so many channels are currently transmitting programmes made in widescreen format in a weird variety of settings based on 4:3! Come on, let's have the real thing!

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Fair Taxation?

Tony Blair is one that will give a vague response to a question that doesn't bother him! Council Tax is one such matter. Today a retired vicar goes to jail for 28 days for refusing to pay his "excessive" council tax increase. For a campaigning pensioner in reasonable health jail is probably no problem! Odd, though, that he is in Woodhill high security jail in Milton Keynes. Is Blair getting dreams about Thomas a Becket and meddlesome priests?

Nearly all the pensioners involved refuse to pay an increase above the rate of inflation. They are NOT refusing to pay the tax or a modest increase. Sounds reasonable. A lot of them are members of the "Is It Fair? Campaign". If loads of pensioners end up in prison, sitting next to child murderers, tattooed bandits, and hardened drug dealers, then our Prime Minister may be left like the Cheshire Cat. Just his grin is left!

http://www.isitfair.co.uk/default.asp

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Immigrant, Foreigner, or Born Abroad?

The BBC has just done a survey of where people who were not born in the UK have come from. Sounds interesting! Today they have been trumpeting the results in news bulletins. However, they don't seem too sure of what these people represent or how to describe them.

Americans working for US military bases are included. I was surprised to hear this and wondered if it was true that 155,000 Americans had emigrated from the USA over the last 10 years! So too with Germans, until it was coyly announced that these were children of British service personnel.

The BBC doesn't seem to know the difference betweem Immigrants, Foreigners and those of us who were born abroad. Spike Milligan had this problem due to being born in India. He wasn't Indian! John McEnroe was born in Germany but I doubt many people think he is German. Many people who were involved in the Colonial service found themselves abandoned to the new strictures of the immigration rules. Large numbers of English people were born in India and Africa, without ever thinking they were Indian or African!

The trouble with all this politically correct interpretation is that it gives a totally meaningless value to the statistics! But the BBC is getting so stuck up a gumtree on this subject and really should allow themselves and their reporters to speak with Common Sense!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/uk/05/born_abroad/countries/html/overview.stm

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Justice or Vengeance?

Saddam Hussein has supposedly confessed to crimes during his regime - including executions - and according to the Iraqi President Jalal Talabani he deserves to die. Mr Talabani told Iraqi state TV a judge "was able to extract confessions" from the ousted leader. "Saddam deserves a death sentence 20 times a day because he tried to assassinate me 20 times," he said.

These comments may all be very justifiable because Mr Talabani has been through much suffering, but unless he wants a repeat version, if only of a different kind, of injustice and fear, then he will keep to a proper system of law. Legal redress should be based on justice and not revenge. Revenge always has a nasty habit of coming back to haunt us in later years!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4221202.stm

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David and Goliath!

Sometimes in England local authorities act like Goliath so we have to be like David a lot of the time! On Midlands Today tonight, one such David was interviewed. He is a certain pensioner Robin de Crittenden who is taking on his council, Sandwell Borough, in order to prove that these paragons of democracy are beyond their legal remit when it comes to summary justice and parking fines.

de Crittenden has suggested that it is his right to be in court to answer a parking violation as the system for fine collection in this country is in breach of the 1689 Bill of Rights, which protects citizens from "fine or forfeiture before conviction". Of course the council is pretending that this is of no consequence.

When it comes to fines, taxes, and duties, English government does a marvellous job in pretending to be absolutely in accordance with the law. Often it is not, but the pointyheads in charge hope for any breach to be quietly forgotten or spun out of existence. When a citizen fights back, they get rattled, but never accept it gracefully.

All power to Mr. de Crittenden, I say!

http://motoring.independent.co.uk/features/article8269.ece

Neil Herron has far more on this and other cases. http://neilherron.blogspot.com/

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Episcopalians offer hope to Katrina victims

The phrase "The Episcopal Church Welcomes You!" has never meant more since Episcopalians have had to come to grips with the reality of those uprooted by hurricane Katrina. The outpouring of offers by Episcopalians to assist in relocating the displaced has been enormous.

More on this........

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_64809_ENG_HTM.htm

Also a link to Christ Church Cathedral, New Orleans (shown above) which has weathered the storm OK!

http://www.cccnola.org/

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Katrina Aftermath

I'm posting two ways I feel people can help if they wish to. First is the Episcopal Church's organisation, which responds to human suffering around the world and provides emergency assistance after disasters, rebuilds communities, and helps children and families climb out of poverty. Try the Bishops' Blend Coffee!

The second is the Bush Clinton Katrina Fund launched yesterday.

http://www.er-d.org/erd.htm
http://bushclintonkatrinafund.org/

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Noteworthy Blogs!

Just to lighten the content from commenting on Katrina's aftermath and all the oddities of the world, I thought I would post a bit about interesting blogs.

Number 1 is that one from Telford. It's Wonko's World, which will give you all the lowdown on matters English. Wonko, aka Stuart, has another blog called the Insane Ramblings of Wonko the Sane. Both sites are extremely good in digging up information about all kinds of topics. Wonko has a robust way of describing the absurdities of life. Kind of "Anglo-Saxon" in its way! I recommend this as a good read.

Number 2 is that one from Chicago. It's What Happened to Vince? and it is a good diary of events and happenings that Vince is or was involved with. Another recommendation. Interestingly Vince describes himself as a Cafeteria Catholic which implies that he picks out certain things he agrees with from the "set menu" of the Roman Catholic Church, and possibly rejects others. I, on the other hand, agree with most of the Catholic doctrines but am in the Church of England, which has an "a la carte menu" when it comes to conforming to the sacraments! We probably agree on far more than we disagree.

Both are blogs of note! Here are the links, plus Wonko's other sites.

http://www.wonkosworld.co.uk/blog/blogger.html
http://www.wonkosworld.co.uk/
http://blogs.vbcity.com/wonkotsane/

http://www.vince-s-ithaca.blogspot.com/

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Pizzas and Patriotism!

One of the prerequisites of being an EU Commissioner is to be a follower of fanciful ideas! Signor Franco Frattini, the European Commissioner for justice and security, has proposed an “oath of faithfulness” requiring all immigrants to the European Union to swear allegiance to the union. This, of course, will go into the dustbin for daft ideas. But it shows how these people think. It is a constant battle to keep their brains from giving the rest of us perpetual headaches!

British people rightly swear allegiance to the Queen and not to any foreign potentate or politician! The European Union is not a country and that is why many of us have to keep one eye open on constant alert in case one day we wake up to find one of these barmy bureaucrats in full control of our lives! Franco Frattini is in charge of "Freedom, Security and Justice" and it is quite strange that the EU thinks they need to get involved with this. Most of us in the UK are keen to make sure that Tony Blair does not take away our freedoms with draconian laws, does not jeopardise our security with ill-thought notions of invading foreign lands, and does not leave us with inadequate justice by scrapping trial by jury in cases which the government deems "unsuitable" for ordinary jury members!

Franco Frattini would be better placed trying to sort out the economic mess of his homeland and the patent lack of freedom, security and justice currently troubling many Italians!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1761335,00.html
http://europa.eu.int/comm/commission_barroso/frattini/index_en.htm

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Ditching the Deference?

Maybe, just maybe, the American TV media are beginning to realise that asking direct questions to get at the truth is what the public really wants. BBC reporter Matt Wells suggests - "Amidst the horror, American broadcast journalism just might have grown its spine back, thanks to Katrina. National politics reporters and anchors here come largely from the same race and class as the people they are supposed to be holding to account. They live in the same suburbs, go to the same parties, and they are in debt to the same huge business interests. Giant corporations own the networks, and Washington politicians rely on them and their executives to fund their re-election campaigns across the 50 states. It is a perfect recipe for a timid and self-censoring journalistic culture that is no match for the masterfully aggressive spin-surgeons of the Bush administration."

Maybe the good people that populate the towns and cities of America, who work hard, but never get the vast riches that the stereotyping around the world suggests they have, can at last have a true democracy. A democracy where votes mean something and voters feel they are counted as thinking citizens.

The world has watched the tragedy unfolding in the Southern states where the poor have been left to their own devices. Many Americans of all backgrounds, classes, and colour have been deeply troubled by these events of late. Out of disaster good should prevail. Let's hope that good men and women will not let their country fall back on the old ways. A new democracy may yet rise like a phoenix, in this case from floods rather than fire.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4214516.stm

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The Great Letdown of Leadership!

The way the Bush administration's 2nd level minions came to advise the President just shows how frustrating all this "we're on the job" and "we have a plan" talk is! Nearly all those who are capable of helping, such as emergency services, medical aid, search and rescue, etc are being hampered by the bureaucratic non-orders or mis-orders coming from the likes of FEMA and they are going on the airwaves to say so. A fireman from Atlanta has just voiced his concerns on BBC Radio about how he was held back by a bureaucrat! The question must be, is the President really stepping up to the plate?

The law and order situation seems to have gotten out of control by overtired overarmed national guard/police/security firing off and then asking questions. This report from the BBC shows what survivors think!

Fear ratcheted up the tension, with disturbing reports of mistaken identity emerging from the chaos. Police and national guardsmen were accused of killing innocent people. "They killed a man here last night," Steve Banka, 28, told the Reuters news agency before he left on Sunday. "A young lady was being raped and stabbed. "And the sounds of her screaming got to this man and so he ran out into the street to get help from troops, to try to flag down a passing truck of them. "He jumped up on the truck's windscreen and they shot him dead," Mr Banka said.

Most of the police officers of New Orleans realise that their consciences are being trampled on by the crazy policy of getting looters before they help the sick and dying! Two have allegedly committed suicide and many are walking off the job. Does the President still think "Brownie is doing a heck of a job" when this topsy-turvy world is saving the waterlogged inventory of foodstores before they give a sip of water to old folk gasping in the heat?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4213214.stm

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A dog's dinner of a day!

I noticed this blog and feel it needs a little look at! Yellow Dog has found something on "Brownie" as Bush calls him. "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job," the President opined!

Yellow Dog says - Mr. Brown has come under fire from critics of the federal government's hurricane response, who describe him as a political appointee who had no disaster experience before joining FEMA. Though he once worked as a municipal official in Edmond, Okla., Mr. Brown's major previous job was as commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association, from which he resigned under pressure in 2001 after a controversial 10 years.

I wonder whether Mr.Ed was in amongst those horses. Possibly tipped off Brownie that there was a good FEMA job going.

Bush and Blair are twins! I swear it!

http://yellowdog2.blogspot.com/

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Blairy-eyed Boozers?

Tony Blair has got some funny ideas! He has some terribly dangerous ones too, like his Iraq adventure, but when it comes to the yob culture - well?

He has given a lecture about showing respect. Sounds all well and good. Get tough on binge drinkers and louts. So he gets a new unit off the ground and puts in a good pal to look after things. Who is this person? Well, none other than Louise Casey, that intemperent temperance knocker! She is the one who said whilst speaking in Stratford-upon-Avon to a meeting which was recorded and a tape sent to BBC News - "I suppose you can't binge drink anymore because lots of people have said you can't do it. I don't know who bloody made that up, it's nonsense." She went on to say that some ministers might perform better if they "turn up in the morning pissed". "Doing things sober is no way to get things done," she added.

This is the woman who, being the former national director of the Anti-Social Behaviour Unit, has so endeared herself and her abilities to Tony! Any wonder that this government is looked upon with such disfavour?

Blair's previous ideas have included hauling yobs off to ATMs for the paying of instant fines. Not an idea endorsed by the police! And using "respect" as the name for his new unit? Will anyone respect him when the drunks say that being intoxicated is the only way they can get things done!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4207050.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4654723.stm

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What is Truth?

Interesting subject truth is! Pontius Pilate was concerned enough to ask the question. In the UK, a party was launched earlier this year to promote truth in politics, namely Veritas! It has since succumbed to terrible infighting and a lot of untruthful things being said about each other!

Tony Blair has been on record as saying that "most people who meet me think I'm a regular kind of kind who is pretty honest and straight". Trouble is that most of the nation that hasn't met him think otherwise! George Bush has a similar problem.

Now there are some things that politicians say that are either "terminoligical inexactitudes" or are considered as being "economical with the truth". Two such hapless characters are Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security Secretary and FEMA boss, Michael Brown. Both are now saying that there was no way anyone could have foretold the amount of havoc that has been wrought. Yet CNN did an expose showing how many times these guys should have read the warnings of eminent scientists, engineers and planners. The truth has obviously caused Chertoff and Brown to have fallen for this strange amnesia illness that's going around!

And to cap it all, many Americans seem to be in total denial of these warnings! This from the BBC site, commenting about BBC reporting -

This article is so wrong-headed, it is hard to even begin to criticize it in a short space, other than to say it is written by an anti-Bush foreigner who has little understanding of America. Bush was right: no-one could have predicted when this devastating storm would hit. I don't blame anyone for the tragedies of nature. David Augustine, Mendham, NJ

Mr. Augustine is seemingly unaware that the world outside the USA is fast picking up the feeling that many Americans will be in denial until something or someone actually knocks them out of their comfort zone of unreality. The one thing that Katrina has done, other than to wreak havoc, is to expose the great fault line between truth-seekers and truth-concealers!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4210674.stm

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Of Hearts & Souls

As Michael Caine is supposed to have said "Not a lot of people know that!" Well, is it well known, I wonder, that the "George" of several generations of the Bush family is given from admiration of the Anglican divine, George Herbert? Probably not.

From an Episcopalian family of good standing, in that they have used their privileged status to assist others through philanthropy, the Bush clan has been the epitome of Episcopal traditions. The High Church position was a guiding path for previous generations. George Herbert was a man who thought deeply about faith, life and the souls of his parishioners. He would have been deeply distressed by the privations now revealed of the poor, disabled and disheartened folk of the Southern shores of the USA.

George Bush strikes me as a man torn between his adopted Texan tough-guy image, good ole boys together, striking out against those who wish to do down the American way of life and keeping his mind on a Christian approach to helping the vulnerable and disposessed. Having moved to Texas, George Bush was considered a young hell-raiser and in need of some form of redemption, which led him away from Episcopal thinking to a more robust evangelical approach to the Christian Life.

I would sincerely like him to lessen his hold on protestant strictures and reclaim some of the thoughts of George Herbert. As a former altar boy at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston when his parents lived there, Bush would have heard of the need to help and assist the poor. Hopefully, by reading and absorbing the works of such as George Herbert, it may make him a better President than his time so far has indicated.

http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/herbert/index.html
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_2004_May_11/ai_n6145022#continue
http://www.stmartinsepiscopal.org/

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Be Prepared! Bush is No Boy Scout!

Being prepared is one thing the boy scouts have always been. Today, on Good Morning America, George Bush limply says that "nobody thought the levees would break". Garbage, hogwash, total rubbish! He knew or should have known. Reports were written by all manner of scientists about the levees around New Orleans only being capable of withstanding a category 3 hurricane. Katrina was category 5!

Bush ignored a plea for funding to bring the levees up to standard. The money was diverted to his "war on terror". Now New Orleans is awash with the most vile concoction of oil, faeces, rotting bodies, chemicals and decaying food! Isn't it a crying shame that the world has to see African-Americans fighting for the good food and drinking water in desperation to keep body and soul alive. Mr.Bush, if I was in New Orleans (and apparently 20 Brits are holed up in the sports dome) I too would go searching for food to survive, wherever it was. Wouldn't you? Then why get the police and militias to concentrate on shooting looters (who may only have their own possessions in a shopping cart!) rather than searching for survivors?

The way this is being handled and the way the Administration has duped the good people of America is very deplorable. Louisiana state Governor Kathleen Blanco said she was "furious" at the growing crime wave. She has asked Washington to send more people to help with the relief mission, to free National Guard troops to concentrate on looters. Is this the way to treat desperate, confused and hungry people? Yes, there may be a few criminals about but Ms. Blanco, there is food stuck in locked storerooms/shops/hotels etc, and people are shocked, starving and distressed.

If this is the prioritising for the rescue mission, then the American people should look very carefully at the type of politician they elect in the future!

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Of Hurricanes and Tornados

Hurricane Katrina has done far more damage than was at first thought. There was a short lull of hope that the greatest winds had missed New Orleans but then a levee broke bringing all the flood waters of the Mississippi into the streets of the wind-strewn city. The scale of this natural disaster is now beginning to be known to the rest of the world. Television news is covering it day and night.

Some human elements emerge. The historic town of Natchez, known for its colonial/southern past is helping out generously. As Natchez escaped the fury of Katrina, the townspeople are opening up to refugees. "They are us." That was United Way Director Kathy Stephens' simple assessment of the Katrina refugees now staying in shelters, hotels, churches and private homes across the Miss-Lou. This action is the first principle of Christian charity.

Another aspect of this catastrophe is the apparent "discrimination" of Katrina in destroying the homes and businesses of African-Americans by greater degree than those of others. Maybe this is because their properties are set in the less desirable parts of town and the flooding was more likely to hit them first. When a tornado (given no name, but now called the Birmingham Tornado) hit the English city of Birmingham recently, it gave a two-minute period of panic in one of the poorest parts of the city. And once it had gone, devastation was left.

A common link is the fact that these places contain people who are either under-insured or not insured at all. This makes the response of friends and neighbours all the more important. But how long can societies continue where on the one side the insurance industry is concerned about the perceived effects of global warming on natural disasters and the response of government which is increasingly asked to pay more for relief programmes?

The results of Hurricane Katrina's destructive force will show how we can help our fellow human beings in distress. But the issues of government assistance and global warming are now beginning to emerge. Perhaps out of disaster will come lasting good, but we have to get it right!

http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/articles/2005/09/01/news/news91.txt
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/4725279.stm

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