Antony Worrall Thompson Caught Shoplifting

So TV chef Antony Worrall Thompson has been caught shoplifting from Tesco's.
 

"The 60-year-old said he was “devastated” by his “irresponsible actions” and that he would seek treatment after security staff caught him stealing cheese and wine.

Worrall Thompson was arrested and given a police caution after he was captured on camera not paying for items at a self-service checkout at the store in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire" 

Of course this led to countless jokes being created and spread throughout Twitter and jokes website "Sickipedia."

 "The Anthony Worrall Thompson diet, cheese and wine .....followed by porridge."


"There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Unless you're using the Anthony Worrall Thompson recipe book."

 And finally:

 "I went to see Ready, Steady, Cook the other day. It was fantastic.

Antony Worrall Thompson absolutely stole the show."


 Not to mention referring to his show now as "Ready, Steady, Crook."



Source:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/9002376/Antony-Worrall-Thompson-Shoplifting-from-Tesco-was-stupid.html

 http://www.sickipedia.org/subcategory/view/3451

Oooh Ah Cantona say Oooh ah (President) Cantona

So former professional football player Eric Cantona wishes to run for President of France. He is currently seeking the required amount of signatures to be endorsed so he can move on with his campaign.

"The footballer, who would need the backing of 500 elected officials by the end of February to run, has sent a letter to French mayors describing himself as an "engaged citizen" and asking for their support.

"This engagement obliges me to speak, more earnestly than usual, but also with a keen sense of my responsibility, at a time when our country faces difficult choices which will be decisive for its future," said the letter.

In his letter, printed in the Liberation newspaper, Cantona denounced the limited opportunities for young people in France and social injustices which were "too numerous, too violent, too systematic", the newspaper said."

But even if he was to get he five hundred signatures required, in April the first round finishes and from what I understand only two candidates go through to the next round.
   Then again if a former Hollywood actor was able to become President of the United States then who knows, perhaps a former footballer like Eric Cantona could go all the way. I must say I  am very interested in what his policies would be and what people's reaction to him will be.
   Time will tell.

And if his election campaign goes bad.....

Source:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/9003925/Eric-Cantona-announces-bid-for-French-presidency.html

Divide and Rule for Diane Abbott

Diane Abbott surely is making more work for herself.
   Last night on Twitter she made a comment which one might either mistake for sarcasm and humour or a rather misguided comment.

  It began with Bim Adewunmi, another Twitter user, commenting on the use of the term "Black community" on the news.

"I do wish everyone would stop saying 'the black community' though. WHICH ONE?"

And then:

"I'm saying that the use of 'black community' in media is often lazy way of generalising."

Then shortly after she posted:

"Clarifying my 'black community' tweet: I hate the generally lazy thinking behind the use of the term. Same for 'black community leaders'."

Cue Diane Abbott's response:

DA: I understand the cultural point you are making. But you are playing into a "divide and rule" agenda.
BA: Maybe. I find it frustrating that half the time, these leaders are out of touch with black people they purport to represent.
DA: White people love playing "divide & rule" We should not play their game #tacticasoldascolonialism

White people love playing divide and rule? Is that even true? Either she was being incredibly ironic or she was trying to use and absurd comment to make a point.
  She then went on to say:

"Ethnic communities that show more public solidarity & unity than black people do much better #dontwashdirtylineninpublic"

So she's clearly trying to make a point about the black community and integration and it's relationship within London and around the country, however she did it badly.
  I still am confused as to what she meant by saying what she said. Of course she deleted the tweet but not before it had been retweeted by someone I follow.
  "White people love playing "divide & rule" We should not play their game." What does that mean, can anyone tell me? Also, can someone please explain what her intention was with that statement?

Anyway she's now trending at #dianeabbot if you wish to follow the drama.
  Enjoy!

Sources:

https://twitter.com/#!/HackneyAbbott

Exit right Michele Bachman?

It is getting pretty close to crunch time for those who are running to be nominated Republican candidate for the US Presidential election. The two who came out top were Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, the former winning by the narrowest of margins.
   At the bottom however things were very different. Michele Bachmann only gained 6,073 votes, which was only about 5%.
  From the Financial times:

"Ms Bachmann did not signal any intention to bow out of the race following her poor performance."

The overall table of results looks like this:

Iowa caucus result

Candidate	Number of votes
Mitt Romney	30,015 (25%)
Rick Santorum	30,007 (25%)
Ron Paul	26,219 (21%)
Newt Gingrich	16,251 (13%)
Rick Perry	12,604 (10%)
Michele Bachmann	6,073 (5%)

So as you can see, Romney only beat Rick Santorum by eight votes. A photo finish, but very important nevertheless.
  But it's not really a great result for Michele Bachman. In fact it's so bad even Sarah Palin thinks she should "call it quits." When the air headed "hockey mom" Sarah Palin thinks you should call it quits you know it's an uphill struggle.
  Frankly I have little sympathy. Michelle Bachman is a conservative buffoon, and most importantly she is a homophobic and so is her husband. The pair shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the White House purely for that very reason.
  Needless to say, I am very glad to see that she is doing poorly. I look forward to hearing she has dropped out of the race.

An interesting article in "The Washington Post" is titled "Where did Michele Bachman's Mama Grizzlies go?" In it, it describes the highs and lows of her campaign thus far to be elected Republican nominee.

"There’s no question why a liberal woman would not care for Bachmann, or at least her policies. She is aggressively pro-life, promises to abolish “Obamacare,” and has called for the military to draw up war plans to bomb Iran. But why aren’t conservative women supporting one of their own?
Iowa voters-- both men and women-- told the Des Moines Register that they just don’t see Bachmann as up to the job, no matter her gender. Bachmann was considered the least knowledgeable on the issues of any candidate running for president tied with Gingrich in the Register’s latest poll on the question of who would be least likely to bring real change."

And another quote:

"But more detrimental to Bachmann than the prominent GOP women who are not endorsing are the everyday Republican women who say they’re not voting for her. In Iowa State University’s latest poll of likely caucus-goers, Bachmann was again polling in the single digits, with slightly fewer women (7.2%) supporting her than men (7.3%). Ron Paul, on the other hand, had a huge gender gap, with far more women (31%) supporting his candidacy than men (22%.)"

It's an interesting article and worth reading:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/post/where-did-michele-bachmanns-mama-grizzlies-go/2012/01/03/gIQA7Ot4YP_blog.html

Interestingly though some still believe she wouldn't be suited to the role as President because the country is not yet ready for a female president. An interesting sentiment, I wonder what the national attitude would be to such a thing. I personally do not see why in this age such a thing would be counter productive.

All this is food for thought, however one thing I am sure of is that Michelle Bachman is definitely not the sort of person who should be President of the United States. So I hope to see her dropping out of the race very soon.

Sources:


http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/70821a32-362a-11e1-a3fa-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss#axzz1iUtnftRB

Justice for Stephen Lawrence?

After eighteen long years, justice has finally been done for Stephen Lawrence. Two of five men who have been accused of his murder for almost as long or perhaps for longer than he's been alive have finally been found guilty and sentenced.
   David Norris was sentenced to 14 years and three months. Gary Dobson to 15 years, two months.

Because the defendants were not yet eighteen when they committed the crime they had to be still tried as juveniles, however the parents of Stephen Lawrence seem very understanding, even going so far as to say they understand that "the Judges hands were tied."

"A totally innocent 18-year-old youth on the threshold of a promising life was brutally cut down in the street … by a racist, thuggish gang. You were both members of that gang. I have no doubt that you fully subscribed to its views and attitudes."
Addressing Dobson, he said: "You are now 36. At 17 years and 10 months you were very nearly 18 when you murdered Stephen Lawrence."
The judge said under rules at the time of the killing in 1993 he must sentence both men as juveniles to be detained at her majesty's pleasure with recommended minimum life terms.
In Dobson's case he sentenced him to a minimum term of 15 years and two months. Dobson stood with his hands behind his back and stared at the judge as he made his remarks.
To Norris, 35, the judge said he would impose a minimum term of 14 years and three months.
Under the current law which is encompassed in the Criminal Justice Act 2003, if the crime had been committed today, both men could have expected to receive a minimum term of 25 years as juveniles committing a racist knife murder."

But there are still doubts about their guilt:

"But Dobson's mother continued to protest that her son was innocent. Speaking at the front door of her home in Eltham, south-east London, after arriving home from the Old Bailey after the verdict, Pauline Dobson, said: "He's innocent. We are absolutely devastated as a family – devastated.
       "My son is innocent and one day we will prove that.
I really don't know what we are going to do but we will find a way to prove he is        innocent. Ask all the police who have been involved in this case – every single policeman says Gary never did it."

 The case was revived from being a cold case after forensic evidence which previously had been missed or overlooked had been found and deemed acceptable to use in a trial. There are of course doubts about this evidence with some saying that the evidence could have been tampered with, however I believe that without proof that it actually has been tampered with, the theory that it could have been tampered with simply isn't enough in my eyes.

"The prosecution had relied on new forensic evidence after an earlier case was dropped and a private prosecution by the Lawrence family against three men - including Dobson - failed.
Scientists conducting a review of the case in 2007 found a tiny bloodstain on Dobson's jacket that could only have come from Mr Lawrence. They also found a single hair belonging to the teenager on Norris's jeans. The scientists recovered the material from evidence the police had held all along using advanced techniques which were not available to the original case scientists.
   Dobson and Norris denied murdering Mr Lawrence and said their clothing had been contaminated as police mixed up evidence over the years. Detectives spent months establishing the movements and handling of the exhibits since 1993 - and the jury were told that contamination was implausible."

  They are claiming their innocence however now some might say the odds are against them. Of course some might say that the odds have been in against them for some eighteen years, with various media sources calling them out and accusing them, the Daily Mail in particular. Now the Daily Mail is doing it's very own victory lap, no doubt before going back to reporting on the usual cack they report on.
   What I will say though is that I don't condone by any means the way the media treats suspects. We still have an "innocent until proven guilty" system in this county and yet the media, specifically the tabloids still sometimes portray the suspects as guilty. They should be reminded that it is not up to them to decide who is guilty and who is not, regardless of what information they have. It is down to a court, specifically a judge and jury. This is something that must be remembered.

  That said, I have faith in the justice system when it works or when it is perceived to have work. I have faith in the Crown Prosecution service who decided the DNA forensic evidence was sufficient to go to trial, so I can only hope that it proves to be a correct decision.

Either way, lets hope this brings the Lawrence family a step closer on the arduous emotional road that they are on.

Sources:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jan/04/dobson-norris-murder-stephen-lawrence?CMP=twt_fd

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16403655

Seasons Greetings (Belated)

Hello to all my followers and anyone who reads this!
  I would like to wish you a (rather belated) Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope you all had a very nice holiday season with nice presents, good food, nice drink and general Christmas cheer!

 Alas though it is now over for another year. I'm not sure about you but I'm back to work today.

Nevermind, onwards and upwards!

In other news, a friend of mine has started up his very own blog! He's a politics major so he already has one up on me.
  His name is Matt Dolman and this is his blog:

http://mattdolman.wordpress.com/

So there you go!

Expect new entries to my blog very soon!
Thanks for tuning in!

It's Time - A great video online about marriage equality

I was browsing an Internet forum earlier that I frequent on and I came across this video that someone had posted:

I honestly don't think much else needs to be said.

Source:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TBd-UCwVAY&feature=player_embedded

Farewell Colonel Potter!

Last week the death of the actor Harry Morgan was announced. He had starred in many films and TV programmes during the span of his long career, however many would fondly remember him for his role as Colonel Sherman T. Potter in the TV series "M*A*S*H." It's certainly where I remember him best.
 

"The actor Harry Morgan, who has died aged 96, was best known as Colonel Sherman T Potter, commander of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in M*A*S*H, the wonderfully witty and sharp television series set in an army camp during the Korean war. He played Potter, an expert surgeon and a father figure in the camp, from 1978 until 1983."

 His character had been involved in both world wars and the Korean war. He played his character with humility, grace, and a presence that was kindly but authoritative. I don't think that is necessarily an easy character to play, so I think it's a testament to Harry Morgan that he pulled it off so well and that so many people recognise him and admire him for that.

   From the same article:

"Exuding an air of respectability, Morgan played the tough but reasonable judge in the famous "monkey trial" of 1925, in which a schoolteacher was tried for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution, in Stanley Kramer's Inherit the Wind (1960), and was General Ulysses S Grant in How the West Was Won (1962). Later he played sheriffs in a number of westerns, notably in The Shootist (1976), John Wayne's final film. When Morgan hears that Wayne's ex-gunfighter has cancer, he starts to whoop and laugh. "The day they lay you away, what I do on your grave won't pass for flowers!" he yells.
    
   Throughout the next two decades, Morgan was active in films and on television, including the TV movies The Incident (1990), Against Her Will: An Incident in Baltimore (1992) and Incident in a Small Town (1994), in all three of which Walter Matthau, as a small-town lawyer, and Morgan, as a judge, sparred amiably. But it was his Colonel Potter in M*A*S*H that gave him his widest claim to fame, and won him an Emmy in 1980 as outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series. He also appeared as Potter in the spinoff AfterMASH (1983-85), set in a veterans' hospital in the fictional town of River Bend, Missouri"

Rest in peace Harry Morgan. A great actor, a true gentlemen.

Source:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/dec/08/harry-morgan?newsfeed=true

Rioters Blame Police for August Riots

A study involving interviews of various rioters at the time of the August riots indicate that they blame the police for the events that took place. A collective study of interviews made at the time indicated the following:

"Analysts, who studied 270 interviews with people who took part in the disturbances, said distrust and antipathy towards officers was a key driving force behind why thousands took to the streets.
A complex mix of other political, social and economic grievances also contributed to the unprecedented trouble, according to the research conducted by the London School of Economics (LSE) and The Guardian.
Out of those questioned, 85% said policing was an "important" or "very important" factor in why the riots happened. It was second only to poverty, which saw 86% of rioters class it as one of the main causes of the four consecutive nights of unrest during the summer"

 And then a little further down:

 "Other major factors included media coverage, greed, inequality, boredom, criminality, moral decline and racial tensions, the study found. Poor parenting and gangs were also said to be an important cause of the trouble, which led to the deaths of five people and saw more than 4,000 arrested."

 This is interesting, but ultimately I don't buy it. Of course the people who were interviewed were biased. They would think that it was the police's fault, with their stop and search methods and the way that the police that area and others like it.
   Now I'm not saying that the police and their methods are perfect, far from it. I understand that the police might need to review and change some of their policies and methods and that they also need to be careful when dealing with certain communities, however it is also a double edged sword. The police wouldn't have to act that way if they weren't faced with so many obstacles, many of which are put up there by the very community they are trying to police, help, and improve. You can't really blame the police for doing their job, what they are paid to do.
   Frankly I would say that poverty, media coverage, greed, boredom, criminality, moral decline and racial tensions are probably more likely reasons than just the police on their own. Not least of all because all those things are more evident in other such area's around London and the United Kingdom.
   
 I honestly don't think the police can be blamed majorly for something which came about because of a number of different factors. Not just the shooting of Mark Duggan and not only because of how the police operate, but because of social aspects.After all, I don't think the shooting of Mark Duggan and the operational procedures of the police alone could lead to behaviour like this:

Sources:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hjZguGlguhwjnT5Hp8WfPBCEX_bQ?docId=B33803981323058941A00003

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/883848-rioters-blamed-sense-of-injustice-and-anger-at-police-for-summer-riots

New sunset pictures

Here are some new sunset pictures, taken on the 24th of November:

There is a third picture but I can't seem to get it to work. It's not really that great though so it's no real bother. Of the ones above, the first one is my personal favourite. But what do you think?

Get out the pitchforks and torches!!!

It's that time again! A celebrity has made a boo boo and has said something not especially PC or appropriate and so of course there is the usual volley of people whose comments range from the sort you make whilst rolling your eyes to full on rage.
  The celebrity in question is Jeremy Clarkson. No surprise there I suppose since he has said made many a controversial statements, whether it's been joking about the car makers Hyundai "eating dogs" or joking about lorry drivers murdering prostitutes.
  What he said was quite silly and he did act like a bit of a buffoon, however as usual I see a volley of dismissals, condemnation and calls for harsh action.

  First off, here's what he said (just in case you live on the moon or in a cave and haven't seen it)

Not very tactful, that is unless he was being sarcastic or joking.
   Of course there was the usual condemnation not just from average Joe's but from celebrities too.

Sally Bercow, wife of John Bercow, Speaker of the House said:

"Seems that some people have only *just* noticed that Jeremy Clarkson is a steaming bellend.."

 So a resounding criticisms there, although to be honest I rather prefer Jeremy Clarkson any day (even with his foot in his mouth) over an attention seeking harpie who constantly embarrasses her husband.

Now UNISON, the UK’s largest union, is calling on the BBC to sack Clarkson and it is also looking into legal avenues to take against him. What ever happened to freedom of speech?

 "Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary, said:

“Clarkson’s comments on the One Show were totally outrageous, and they cannot be tolerated. We are seeking urgent legal advice about what further action we can take against him and the BBC, and whether or not his comments should be referred to the police.

“Public sector workers and their families are utterly shocked by Jeremy Clarkson’s revolting comments. We know that many other licence fee payers share our concerns about his outrageous views. The One Show is broadcast at a time when children are watching – they could have been scared and upset by his aggressive statements. An apology is not enough - we are calling on the BBC to sack Jeremy Clarkson immediately. Such disgusting statements have no place on our TV screens."

Perhaps it wasn't exactly the most appropriate thing to have him (Clarkson) on live television at that time of day knowing what he is like, however we do have freedom of speech in this country and the presenters of "The One Show" asked Clarkson his opinion and he gave it. To seek legal options because of this is absurd.

   I think Mr Prentis, UNISON, and anyone who thinks further action should be taken against Clarkson should just, well, get a grip. Have a bitch and a moan about him and then move on. Because to take it any further is a waste of time, and quite frankly it's pathetic.


 Links:




http://ht.ly/7KWGD

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEKVUIeAsbA&feature=player_embedded

An interesting video

I came across this video and I thought it was worth sharing.
    The background speech is obviously from the Charlie Chaplin film "The Great Dictator." Then whoever made it added various videos and pictures.

It's pretty interesting.

Blind Great Dane looking for home (oh and it's guide dog!)

In the news is the story of a Great Dane which is currently looking for a new home. This one is special though, because she's blind. Not only is he blind, but she has her very own guide dog. Yes you heard me, a dog has a guide dog.

"Lilly, six, was barely a puppy when she was struck down by a condition that caused her eyelashes to grow into her eyeballs, damaging them beyond repair."

Apparently the pair have become inseparable over the last few years. Sadly their owner could no longer look after them.

"It was after this traumatic event that her relationship with seven-year-old Maddison developed as she took her under her wing.

The best buddies lived together until their owners decided they couldn't look after them any more.

Miss Campbell said:

'With her lack of sight, Lily's other senses have heightened so although we don't split them up often she can tell if Maddison is nearby. 'They curl up together to go to sleep and they are very vocal with each other. 'We haven't analysed their different barks but if Lily wants to go forward and Maddison is in her way, the bark will have a different pitch.

'They are very close to one another and enjoy each other's company'."

Here are some pictures of the two dogs:

I have to say it is a lovely story of friendship.

If you want to read the full story then go to this link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2051780/Blind-Great-Dane-Lily-needs-home-space-HER-guide-dog-Maddison.html


It's worth looking at and passing on!

A Small Corner of The World

Earlier this year I was invited to a music festival by a friend who had won a few tickets. The festival was "Wakefest", a mixture of live music and wakeboarding which I hadn't watched before, nor heard of.

The site was an hours drive from Bangor in Wales, deep in North Wales. The nearest town was (and is) a small picturesque town called Abersoch.

On the second day my friend and I were at the festival We took a bus to Abersoch. It was sunny and warm and the views I saw were extraordinarily beautiful. So I took some pictures and I thought I'd share them with you.

Enjoy!

We all did it for oil you know......

This is a tweet made by American billionaire Donald Trump not one hour ago:

"Why did we spend billions of our money on Libya if we are not going to get any of the country's oil? What do we get out of this?"

So did the USA seek to help the Libyan rebels for the sole purpose of strengthening ties to secure oil deals? Or maybe was it to actually help the Libyans. Even if the USA did involve itself in the Libya conflict purely to strengthen oil deals, that would not send out the best impression. It would portray said country as selfish amongst other things.
  Likewise, by asking such questions it shows a certain selfish desire to put fuel and subsequent profit over the stability and future of a country.

Right now, in the aftermath of the death of Muammar Gaddafi, neither the UK nor the USA should be asking "how much oil can we get out of this?"  We should be asking, "What is the next step for Libya and it's people?"

Another Classy Front Page from "The Sun."

      Most media outlets whether it's television, radio or newspapers probably have a degree of tact and professionalism when it comes to reporting the death of Muammar Gaddafi and the facts surrounding it. You'd think there would be controlled stories where underneath the excitable headlines lay professional, well worded reporting that didn't make it blatantly obvious that his death is a good thing and a long time coming.

Enter the tabloid newspaper "The Sun." Well it's no surprise really I mean the good folks at "The Sun" are about as tactful as a kick in the testicles with a boot that has a metal toe cap. They have shown their laughable reporting abilities with headlines such as "Gotcha" when the Argentine ship "General Belgrano" was sunk during the Falklands War and their disgusting behaviour when they accused Liverpool FC fans of stealing from the dead in the aftermath of the Hillsborough Disaster.

 So once again they show their usual over excitable lack of tact where normal decent reporting and a whole lot of common sense goes right out the window.

Ready for it?

There's so much wrong with this I'm not even sure where to begin.
   The capture and killing of Gaddafi had nothing to do with any of those events. It wasn't done purely because of those events nor in the name of those events, not even in revenge of those events. Those three events were directly involving Brits, but no Brit had anything to do with the capture and killing of Gaddafi.
  This is the typical sort of shoddy journalism people have come to expect from "The Sun." It's the equivalent of hysterical shrieking. Rather than simply reporting his death in a timely fashion they just had to report it in their usual over the top fashion.
   I realise that this is common with this particular newspaper however once in a while they exceed themselves and I just can't help passing comment. Especially when it's as absurd as this.



Sources:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2011/oct/21/muammar-gaddafi-national-newspapers?newsfeed=true#

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3884974/Thats-for-Lockerbie-Gaddafi.html

Morning Sunrise

As I was on my way to work this morning I saw in the distance an incredible sunrise. One upside to the mornings in winter (to counter the fact that it's dark when you get out of bed) is that you sometimes see the most incredible sunrises, and of coures sunsets too.
I have posted them on twitter (SoulStealer2011, follow me if you like) however I am, of course posting them here too because they are worth sharing. So here goes:

So there you go. I hope you enjoy them!

Eamonn Holmes apologises after he uses the "R word."

 Eamonn Holmes has apologised after he used the word "retard" to describe or just directly at a guest presenter.
  I find it baffling sometimes that a person who is intelligent or claims to be intelligent chooses to use that word to describe someone who they think is either stupid or being stupid or daft.
   The word "retard" is now defined as:

"A mentally handicapped person (often used as a general term of abuse)."

Actually what it should only be is a description for a mentally handicapped person, however the use of it has become so common that it is now deemed acceptable as a term of abuse. The English language is vast, there are so many words that could be used but instead Mr Holmes, like many others have chosen to use "the R word."

  I would say that to use such a word in such a context is inappropriate to say the least, and that an apology is necessary in cases like this. Furthermore I think it's absurd that people think it is acceptable to use such a word in such a way. It shouldn't be deemed acceptable socially.
  A great campaigner on this issue is the actor John C. McGinley, star of the show "Scrubs." His son has down syndrome and because of the frequent misuse of the word "retard" he has become an avid campaigner to stop the word being used in such a way.
  

   

  He said it a lot better than I ever could. Here is another one:

 If someone wants to avoid controversy and if they generally want to avoid coming across as an insensitive tool that is unable to be use words that aren't insulting and disrespectful, they should probably try to avoid using words like "retard" or "retarded" when describing something they think is stupid.
   
   Don't you think?

Sources:

http://www.metro.co.uk/tv/877980-eamonn-holmes-apologises-after-calling-jonathan-wilkes-retarded

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2046718/Eamonn-Holmes-apologises-calling-Jonathan-Wilkes-retarded-This-Morning.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Woman charged with murder for cutting fetus out of woman's body

A chilling story from the United States of America. A woman for whom the term "disturbed" isn't nearly enough is unable to have children.
   A quote from the news article:

"Morales-Rodriguez told detectives her boyfriend wanted a baby boy but she was unable to get pregnant, then feigned a pregnancy and panicked when it was time to have the baby, authorities said.
She drove around her neighborhood, locating the victim outside a public agency frequented by pregnant women, and offered her a ride to a local drug store, according to the complaint.
Morales-Rodriguez then told the pregnant woman she needed to stop at home to change her shoes. While the victim was inside using the bathroom, Morales-Rodriguez struck her in the head several times with a baseball bat, the complaint said.
Court documents said she then strangled her and taped her mouth, hands and feet with duct tape before trying to cut out the fetus.
"She cut at the bikini line attempting to duplicate the process she had seen on the Discovery Channel, depicting a caesarean section birth," the district attorney wrote in the complaint.
Morales-Rodriguez then called the paramedics to report that she had just given stillbirth to a child in the shower, the complaint said.
"She said that she had just given birth and the baby was not breathing," Police Chief Ed Flynn said during a news conference over the weekend.
The baby was pronounced dead at the scene and Morales-Rodriguez was taken to the hospital by paramedics.
Police later learned that the woman was not the mother of the child. Investigators returned to Morales-Rodriguez' home where they discovered the mother's body in the basement by the hot water heater."

Chilling, disturbed, disgusting, none of these do the story justice. To take not just one life but two and in such a gruesome and inhumane act is beyond belief.
  This goes beyond simply wanting a child, it's a psycotic unbalanced determination that is dangerous. There is of course a chance that she will simply plead insanity and be shipped off to a place that has padded cells. If so then it would be unlikely she will ever truly face consequences for those gruesome actions.

  I personally hope she is made to answer for the horrific crime. It would be somewhat of an injustice if she isn't.



Source:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/11/us-crime-wisconsin-fetus-idUSTRE79A0CR20111011

Idiots of the week

Sometimes there are few things sweeter than the mixture of idiocy and irony.
   The Westboro Baptist Church, those fine upstanding community who picket the funerals of soldiers and who look like they have been inbreeding for three generations, have decided that they wish to picket the funeral of Steve Jobs.
  The best thing about this is the way they announced it. They announced it via Twitter using an application....on an iphone. There is a thin line between ignorance and stupidity (although they do sometimes overlap) and to say that the people of the Westboro Baptist Church are flirting with it would be a great understatement.

But then I'm not really surprised considering how inbred they look.

Source:

 http://www.examiner.com/top-news-in-san-francisco/westboro-baptist-to-picket-steve-jobs-funeral-says-via-iphone-photos-video

Rest in Peace Steve Jobs

Whatever you may think of Steve Jobs there is no denying the impact he has had on the world. His company has taken leaps and bounds in technology over the last three decades no less. The innovative devices developed and released by his company from the computers released in the late 70's to the Ipad in 2010 have changed the way people use technology and the way people connect with each other online.
   He was in many ways a humble man, rarely speaking about the illness which eventually made him step down from his position and which eventually claimed his life.
  I have never really owned many Apple products, in fact the only product I have owned and do own is an iphone 3GS.
  Say what you will, but I personally believe that Steve Jobs and his company has contributed a great deal over the last three decades, so I think it goes without saying that Steve Jobs will be greatly missed. That much is obvious by the tributes of him that are coming from all around the world.

May he rest in peace.

I have, for a good while, been skeptical of modern art. I honestly don't see it as creative and imaginative. People seem to look into inanimate objects and see things that aren't there. Much of modern art is created from strange objects to create "art" which doesn't look anything special and often doesn't seem to represent a great deal.
  It is a far cry from the great painters of a century or more ago, and the great sculptors.

So when a piece of art by Bob Law was revealed and when it was revealed that it was going to auction I was quite astonished. I was astonished because it is a white piece of canvas with a black border drawn around it.
   The piece is titled "Nothing To Be Afraid Of", and here it is:

Yes, that's really it. Honest! It is blank canvas with nothing on it except a border and a date. Now I'm no artist, in fact I cannot draw or paint or do anything artistic to save my life but if I knew a blank canvass with a border was all it took I would become a professional artist.
   David Law, who died in April 2004, has been referred to as a "minimalist artist" and quite frankly I can see why. The most absurd part of this whole story is that this is being auctioned for £60,000.

Astounding.



Sources:

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/877093-blank-banksy-canvas-set-to-fetch-60-000-at-auction

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2043217/Bob-Laws-minimalist-painting-containing-just-artists-signature-worth-60k.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Dinosaur Egg Goes on Auction

Last week it was revealed a dinosaur egg that is 75 million years old will be going on auction.
  From the news article:

"The 75million-year-old Jurassic egg is to be auctioned at Hasons Auctioneers by its anonymous 80-year-old owner, who bought the historic artifact while visiting Asia in the 1950s.
The egg was discovered by an archaeologist and historic artifact collector who identified it as belonging to the Therizinosaur reptile, a land dinosaur that stood upright and had an extended neck.
With a weight comparable to a bag of sugar, there has been much care taken to preserve the egg's condition. Auctioneers only handle the egg with special gloves on.
The dinosaur egg will be bid for alongside the owner's other pieces of history from his timeless collection."

I find this fascinating. If I had the money spare I would be very tempted to buy this after which I would donate it to the Natural History Museum in London. An item like this does not belong in a persons personal collection where it could easily be stolen, damaged or God forbid broken.  Nor could archaeologists pour over it to study it.
   Whatever happens, I hope it eventually makes it way to a museum of some sort, and in one piece.






Source:

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/876998-75million-year-old-dinosaur-egg-makes-it-to-the-auction-house-for-200

The Death of a Legend

Last week it was with great sadness I heard David Croft had died. Croft was a script writer who was jointly behind such fantastic shows as "Dad's Army", "Allo Allo" and "Hi-De-Hi."
   I myself am a big fan of "Dad's Army." I enjoyed watching it when I was a child and now the older I have gotten the more I have come to appreciate it. The humour, the stories, and the way it was written. Those style of comedies are long gone now, replaced by slightly more obtuse and obvious humour that doesn't require as much thinking or sophistication.
    Here are some classic scenes from two of my favourite creations of his, "Dad's Army" and "Allo Allo."

It's humour like that which still makes me laugh. I am very glad they still show episodes of "Dad's Army" on Saturday nights here in the UK.
    One last video, and it's of the late David Croft himself talking about my favourite episode, his favourite episode, and Arthur Lowe's favourite episode of "Dad's Army."

Truly a great comedy legend has passed away, may he rest in peace.

European Womens Lobby tackle prostitution

The European Women's Lobby (EWL) have begun a campaign to eradicate prostitution from Europe.They seem to think they have the moral right to judge people who work in the worlds oldest profession, and they seem to think they know best.

Their webpage, which is http://www.womenlobby.org/spip.php?rubrique187&lang=en,    has two videos in which they put across their argument.

Here is their first video:

This video is full of gross exaggerations and false portrayals. At the end of the video the voice says "Prostitution is a form of violence and oppression." This is a blanket generalisation, the sort you might hear from a person who is entirely uninformed and who is full of bias and prejudice, and who probably believes such things because of a lack of education and understanding. Perhaps also because of religious indoctrination.
   Women who choose to do that job, willingly. Who set out their own rules and who manage to cope, and those who also enjoy it are not oppressed. Of course there is a risk of violence in that job but there are indeed many who have been fortunate enough to not experience such a thing. To label this as "violence and oppression" and to simplify it as they have done in that video shows ignorance.
  
This is the second video:

This video isn't quite as bad, however what it does do is portray all prostitutes as "a piece of meat in the window" and it does portray many of them being reliant on drugs when that is not especially true or accurate.
      Of course they have  to have someone from the flip side of the coin, and indeed they do. At the .34 second mark in the video above they have have a man identified simply as "sex entrepreneur in the Netherlands." The clip of him is short and is simply of him saying how he hopes to expand to five hundred clubs and brothels. Of course there is no guarantee that he provided an explanation as to why he is in that business and why he thinks it is OK, but I think it's safe to assume that even if he had they would not have included it.  I think it's safe to assume that they edited that clip in especially to show him and people like him as callous and uncaring with a lack of morals. In a negative light.
  
 At the 1:14 mark the words "It's so glamorous" appear followed by a clip of a specially arranged parking lot for prostitutes to service their clients. Each parking space is separated by walls of corrugated iron. Of course this must be the only way prostitutes service their clients right? Right?

   I think it's quite clear what the objectives of this campaign are. It is first and foremost a campaign to tackle prostitution in Europe but it is also, it seems, a campaign to tar all those who work in that industry and who hire people from that industry, and they have done so in a cavalier way.

   Quite distasteful I believe.

Trial or Error?

    Whilst watching the YouTube channel "The Young Turks" whose segments I often watch, I came across a video of theirs in which they discuss a conversation between Michael Moore and Elisabeth Hasselbank on a show called "The View."
   Now most of you might know who Michael Moore is but you might not know who Elisabeth Hasslebank is or what "The View" is.
  Elisabeth Hasslebank is a TV personality over in the US and general television presenter. She more often than not represents Conservative views and has been outspoken more often than not.
  "The View" is the USA's version of "Loose Women" except in the former they have proper debates and conversations with some fairly serious people as opposed to "Loose Women" which is mostly celebrities and celebrity chatter with a bit of debate on the side.

   Now that's out of the way, to the video itself.
The video is a debate on the TV show on which Michael Moore was a guest. They were discussing the death of Osama Bin Laden. As you are about to see, Michael Moore believes he should have been taken back to the USA and put on trial:

Now in this Moore compares such a trial to that of the Nazi's indicating it would have been the right and moral thing to do. He also claims that "we are no longer at war" (and by "we" he means the USA). This is obviously not true.

 The reason the comparison to the Nazi's and the Nuremberg trials doesn't fit is because that was the aftermath of a world war. The Germans had accepted defeat and the general consensus was that it was right and proper to try those who were responsible for war crimes. There was no real division over the decision to send those people to the Hague to face trial, and there certainly wasn't any objections least of all for religious reasons.

Had Osama Bin Laden gone to trial in New York it might well have caused a certain amount of religious tension and division and could have caused civil unrest in certain parts of the world. Furthermore, had he been captured alive and sent to New York to face trial it could have triggered a spree of kidnappings or murders of Americans in retaliations or in an effort by the supporters of Bin Laden to free him. Any dignitary or person in a position of power both in the USA and abroad (especially in countries where the population is considerably or mostly Muslim) could have been in danger of being taken and held to ransom.
   
   Another person on the panel makes a the valid point that Bin Laden was killed instead of captured alive because the USA did not want to make Bin Laden a Martyr to which Moore replied that putting the Nazi's on trial didn't make them martyrs. However the Nazi's weren't religious fanatics. They were fanatics but not driven by an insane religious brainwashing.

In conclusion, if a democracy puts a person like Bin Laden on trial nine times out of ten, just because they didn't do it once out of those ten times that doesn't make that country any less democratic. Furthermore, I think said countries are allowed to make exceptions, especially in a case like Bin Laden, because Bin Laden and all that surrounded him and 9/11 is no ordinary case.

I believe it was right to kill him, so that all nations effected by 9/11 and the familes can perhaps move on, if indeed that is possible.

The Value of Friendship

I was browsing the Internet recently and I came across a video of habitual idiot Glenn Beck before he left fix...sorry....faux..nope..Fox News.

Watch the video here:

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201105190035

Now the title of the video is:

Beck on Obama's Israel Speech: The President has "Betrayed our last strong ally."

So from that title I was expecting...no...hoping for at least some substantial argument from Beck. A detailed argument of why Israel is a stronger ally than the others, and why it is more valuable than the other allies. Then why Israel is the USA's last strong ally.

But then I watched the video and I was disappointed for all of ten seconds, whereupon I remembered it's Glenn Beck one of the Faux News morons and a logical argument is difficult for them even on a good day.

In the video Beck breaks down the list of allies of the USA. They are (according to him:)

Japan,
Great Britain,
France,
Germany,
Australia,
and Canada.

So his reasoning is;

Japan - Beck says they have been devastated by earthquakes and tsunami’s and perhaps they have. And he says the USA is helping them. Well that might also be true, however Japan is still very involved with the USA in terms of massive trade and no doubt the economy.

France - "Well, where they ever our allies?" Glenn Beck asks. Well loosely I guess, however one of the reasons he gives were the civil unrest incidents. Not really substantial. Sure Sarkozy might not be on best terms with Obama and the USA and neither might his opponents, however I wouldn't call that a substantial argument.

Great Britain - (My favourite one.) He says Britain has been "ravaged by socialism and political correctness" and "is on fire."
I wonder what his reasoning is to think we are being "ravaged by socialism?" And as for the political correctness, well anyone who knows about the media we have here knows that many or most of the stories about political correctness are completely exaggerated and come from the tabloids, many of which are right wing and biased.
The political correctness side is seriously exaggerated and anyone who knows anything knows that it is definitely not a reason to dismiss a nation which frankly has probably given the most as an Ally of the USA.
After all we have, as a nation, fought alongside the USA in two world wars, Korea, two Gulf wars and one in Afghanistan, not to mention many other conflicts around the world.
What do we have to do to be recognised as an equal? Or maybe we should just stop trying. Because frankly, if all that we have done is not enough then nothing ever will be. Especially in the eyes of the Americans, or maybe at least in the eyes of plebs like Glenn Beck.

“God Bless Great Britain but are we really an ally?” Beck asks. Umm, yeah we are. We are involved financially with the USA, with the markets, we have soldiers fighting in Afghanistan fighting alongside the Americans and did so in Iraq before then, and then in the Balkans before that, then Iraq again before that, and Korea before that. Really, does none that mean anything to him?

So at the end of the video he says that Australia and Canada are the only two allies that the USA has left.

Frankly if this is the attitude of Beck and people like him, and those who listen to him (whomever those poor unfortunate misguided people are) then I think it’s time we, as a country re-evaluated our “special relationship” with the USA.