On this day in 1753 King George II gave royal assent to the bill establishing the British Museum. By the way the Greeks still want those statues back!
07 June 2008
So when are England playing again?
Euro 2008 kicks off today. Who do England up against first?
What the hell am I going to do for the next month? I reckon, given the amount of time I spent working there, I'll have to support the Dutch. Do I look good in orange?
What the hell am I going to do for the next month? I reckon, given the amount of time I spent working there, I'll have to support the Dutch. Do I look good in orange?
Standing up for independence
Resistance to the US Iraq (not really a) defence treaty that would see the Republic of Iraq ceding sovereignty over much of its defence and military to the United States continues to grow as this opinion piece in The Independent by former finance minister Ali Allawi demonstrates. With any luck the voice of Allawi and others will put an end to this neo-imperial "agreement" and Captain Codpiece's beloved "Freedom Agenda" will be the better for it!
1,000 reasons John McCain shouldn't be President
Number 40: Flip flops are bad for your health and given The Aged One's age that's the last thing he needs!
I smell another rich folks tax cut coming!
Captain Codpiece is said to be exploring new ways to stimulate the US economy which is not, I repeat not, either in recession or crisis!
Welcome to Sex Chester
It seems as if, for now at least, the battle over a lingerie shop in West Chester PA is over but I'm sure that the forces of darkness reason will be back and this time they'll be angry.
A tale of two cities
Yesterday in Berlin (the real one in Germany not the one in New Jersey) the Bundestag passed a climate change law targeting a 40% reduction in CO2 emissions from 1990 levels by 2020. Meanwhile in Washington DC Senators didn't even get a chance to discuss a woefully inadequate climate change bill because Republicans didn't want to. Somehow Senators such as Boxer (D - CA) and Lieberman (Republi-dent - CT) tried to spin this, unsuccessfully I think, as a victory.
Has anyone seen the moral high ground?
There used to be a time that the United States could stand proudly on its record as regards freedom and human rights, sometimes justifiably and sometimes not, but now that is frankly impossible. Yesterday a panel of experts from the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child severely criticised the US for its continued detention of minors as "threats to security" at the Guantánamo Bay Beach and Leisure Resort and elsewhere as well as the recruiting campaigns run by the US military that specifically target underage and disadvantaged youths. US officials have, as yet, failed to respond to the criticism.
How the mighty have fallen.
How the mighty have fallen.
Walk softly and carry a big (if borrowed) stick
Occasionally one is pleasantly surprised by events in American politics. Yesterday provided one of those moments as 95 year old Charles Edwards travelled over three hours by car to see Barack Obama speak in Virginia. He is a retired black coal miner who, in his own words, "was afraid [there]would not be [a black President] in [his] lifetime". He got to meet Senator Obama and gave him his stick which Barack promised to use to "whoop" Congress if they vote against his health care package. More of this and he just might win.
Fucking kids!
Oil leaps 10 dollars a barrel in one day setting yet another new record. The Dow Jones index drops nearly 400 points. The US jobless rate jumps 0.5% in a month, the biggest one month jump in over two decades.
What is the reaction of Captain Codpiece and his evil and incompetent minions? Everything is OK. The jobless rate only went up because of a bunch of useless (and unemployed) teenagers. Fortunately a financial reporter on CNN calls them out on this and notes that the US economy, if not technically in recession, is certainly in crisis.
What is the reaction of Captain Codpiece and his evil and incompetent minions? Everything is OK. The jobless rate only went up because of a bunch of useless (and unemployed) teenagers. Fortunately a financial reporter on CNN calls them out on this and notes that the US economy, if not technically in recession, is certainly in crisis.
See what you get with socialised medicine?
The world's worst state, an enemy of freedom and imagined sponsor of terrorism, Cuba is to allow free sex change operations for its citizens. Isn't it vastly superior to live in a country where only the omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent invisible hand of the "free" market can decide if you have to stay a man (or a woman) or you live or you die? Really. It is.
Loony as can be Islamaphode Daniel Pipes predicts a war crime
According to the pseudo-thinker Captain Codpiece will attack Iran if Senator Obama defeats The Aged One in November. And this from a man who was once a temporary employee of the euphemistically named "Institute of Peace"!
06 June 2008
Breaking news!
There may have been time before the Big Bang. (Just as long as it wasn't more than 6,000 years ago!) So this would mean that our universe isn't really a uni-verse then, right?
In which I answer my own question
Yes, they are putting something in the water in America that they didn't when I lived there.
Do you usually take your saviour with ketchup, vinegar or mayonnaise?
Today's Friday madness is Jesus on (in? of?) a chip. Are they putting something in the water in America that they didn't when I lived there?
Say it ain't so!
The Canadian Broadcasting Company is dropping the theme music for Hockey Night in Canada. Yet another great institution sadly abandoned.
Meanwhile back at the ranch
Whilst the war in Iraq continues (with moderate recent success) and the war in Afghanistan continues (with increasing failure); whilst the price of energy soars and America's (and western Europe's) conspicuous consumption drives global climate change perhaps beyond the tipping point; whilst poverty in America and the world spirals upwards and more and more go hungry my senior Senator, Arlen "Single Bullet" Specter remains convinced that the US Senate should be spending more of its valuable(?) time investigating what the Americans call football. [Sigh]
Finally an edorsement that means something!
American songwriter and rock legend Bob Dylan, who is also my personal saviour, tells The Times that presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama is "redefining the nature of politics from the ground up". Sounds like an endorsement to me.
US officials sacked for incompetence!
Let us hope that the sackings of Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and the service's chief of staff, Gen. T. Michael "Buzz" Moseley, for their incompetence in nuclear affairs is the start of a trend. Just think how much money the government could save if every one of the incompetent officials appointed by Captain Codpiece had their employment terminated. It would probably cover a couple of hours of the illegal occupation of Iraq!
"Well maybe after all this it isn't you money after all"
As I noted yesterday if Iraq wants to remain become a sovereign nation it needs to deliver an emphatic "no" to Washington's "offer" of a defence alliance (not to be confused with a defence treaty) that would see permanent US bases, immunity from Iraqi law for US troops and officials and American control of Iraqi air space. Now I learn from Patrick Cockburn in The Independent that Captain Codpiece and his evil minions are playing hardball with the Iraqi "government" by threatening with seizure around 50 billion USD of Iraqi assets held by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Paging David Horowitz
I am sure that the erstwhile champion of "academic freedom" will be eager to take on the case of Francisco Marroquin University in Guatemala where any left wing thinking is banned and only "free" market economics, Ayn Rand and Adam Smith* are considered worthy of study. I eagerly await his loosing of the attack dogs.
*Adam Smith must however be heavily redacted to eliminate the thread of socialism and government intervention to fight poverty and inequality that permeates his work.
*Adam Smith must however be heavily redacted to eliminate the thread of socialism and government intervention to fight poverty and inequality that permeates his work.
And quite right too!
Presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama, (will someone please tell Hillary Clinton?), was seen to have rather stern words with Senator Joe Lieberman (Republi-dent - CT) on the floor of the Senate yesterday. The conversation came after Connecticut's disloyal ex-Democrat harshly criticised Obama's speech to AIPAC. One can only hope that, should the Democrats pick up enough Senate seats in the autumn to give them a clear majority, Lieberman is stripped of his committee chairmanships and any other perks he has from pretending to be a Democrat.
ABC has video of Obama leading Lieberman away.
ABC has video of Obama leading Lieberman away.
05 June 2008
1,000 reasons John McCain shouldn't be President
Number 39: "If he sees less far than most it is by standing on the shoulders of midgets". (Apologies to Sir Isaac Newton.)
Sydney's happy hookers
Sydney's sex industry is predicting a firm upsurge in sales for 2008-2009 on the back of the Catholic Church's World Youth Day.
Well as long as they don't use condoms I reckon it's OK.
Well as long as they don't use condoms I reckon it's OK.
When they came for the superheroes...
...I did nothing because I was not a superhero. Sadly I have to report that Spiderman has been arrested.
Do you want the good news or the bad news?
The good news is that they have found something that cuts the odds of developing rheumatoid arthritis by about 50%. The bad news is that, as it is drinking alcohol, it is unlikely to make walking any easier.
Is it possible for something with no value to "crash"?
If this Reuters article is to be believed the answer is "yes". The headline? "Zimbabwe's currency crashes, prices rocket". The Zimbabwean dollar is now approaching 1.5 billion, that's right billion, to the USD or about 3 billion to the pound. If you've ever wanted to be stinking rich this could be your big opportunity.
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