February 2009
0 posts
Home Office plans to force CCTV on shops and pubs... →
shadowfirebird:
‘If you’re planning to buy alcohol in the near future, and prefer not to have your mugshot made available to the local police, best to stock up now. Because, buried deep within the debate around the s.31 of the Policing and Crime Bill are provisions that will allow the Secretary of State to instruct your local corner shop - or pub - to instal CCTV and retain pictures of anyone...
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | U2 play surprise... →
Click the link to view the video
Police Comments
msbadkittie:
fairlyoddmuse:
twothirty:
janieblue84:
These 16 Police Comments were taken off actual police car videos around the country:
#16 “You know, stop lights don’t come any redder than the one you just went through.” #15 “Relax, the handcuffs are tight because they’re new. They’ll stretch after you wear them a while.” #14 “If you take your hands off the car, I’ll make your birth...
"A bill to save our liberties" | Comment Is Free →
shadowfirebird:
The Liberal Democrats are proposing a draft bill. (Logically it doesn’t stand a chance of being voted into law, but as a list of changes in the UK’s basic law system over the last few years, it is interesting, at the very least.)
‘Our first draft of the freedom bill contains 20 measures to restore the fundamental rights that have been stripped away in recent years. We would:
...
Terryblakely,
jmarie3:
My grandmother belongs to a Greek church, and yes, they’re baptists. Unusual I know. She belonged to a Southern Baptist church originally, then the Greeks took over the church (the church is right outside of Boston).
Now my Greek uncle is Orthodox, and my grandmother was raised in the Orthodox religion too. I don’t know how she ended up a Baptist, but she did.
Her minister, when I...
For Robot Heart and her love of Purple
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn’t go and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for...
1 John 3:18-20 (NLV)
jmarie3:
chvnx:
Everyone is entitled to believe whatever nonsense they choose. I’m just trying to see the logic in it and perhaps open the minds of those who refuse to accept modern science and known history as fact, in turn replacing it with the mythology of the Hebrews and the Israelites.
I suppose I’m just trying to understand the mindset of the average theist. For example, I’ve never...
Rome bans horse-drawn carriages →
Animal rights activists have succeeded in obtaining a ban on horse-drawn carriages in Rome’s historic centre following several traffic accidents.
The 44 horse-drawn carriages will be confined to parks during the week, under plans drawn up by the city, and allowed in the centre only at weekends.
They will be replaced on weekdays by electrically-powered vintage cars.
What a short sighted...
“It is a sick, sick world when the confidence and investment of an astute firm of...”
– Irish Times This is just one of a number of exremely negative reviews which Iain Banks insisted were included in the introductory pages of his first novel The Wasp Factory.
It shows an amazing self confidence on the part of the author and he has since gone on to produce some brilliant work as both...
“All our lives are symbols. Everything we do is part of a pattern we have at...”
– PlanetPapers - The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
His first novel - brilliant
robot-heart:
digitaljourney:joshawesome:noahkai:bluddyellmiss: livedeliberate: sinkships:(via abbytoir)
The BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up? 1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (X) 2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien (X) 3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (X) 4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling (X) 5 To Kill a...
Taleban reconciliation 'possible' →
Reconciliation with the Taleban is possible, says Gulab Mangal, the governor of Afghanistan’s troubled Helmand province. But he said it was not possible with the extreme members, who had links to international terrorism. Governor Mangal told the BBC the keys to defeating the Afghan insurgency were reconciliation and better governance. Also, he said, the elimination of the Taleban’s...
“How many Americans know that Jindal boasted of participating in an exorcism that...”
– Max Blumenthal - The Exorcist
It just keeps getting better. (via danielholter)
(via retropolitics)
American politics is like a soap opera, only far more deadly.
'Most unfortunate names' revealed →
What do you call some of the most unlucky people in Britain? Justin Case, Barb Dwyer and Stan Still. It sounds like a bad joke, but a study has revealed that there really are unfortunate people with those names in the UK. Joining them on the list are Terry Bull, Paige Turner, Mary Christmas and Anna Sasin. And just imagine having to introduce yourself to a crowd as Doug Hole or Hazel Nutt. The...
BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | Straw hit by... →
UK Justice Secretary Jack Straw has been the victim of Nigerian fraudsters who sent out hundreds of e-mails in his name asking for money. The e-mails claimed he had lost his wallet on charity work in Africa and needed 3,500 US dollars to get home. Messages headed the Right Hon Jack Straw MP were sent to council bosses, government chiefs and others. The fraudsters are thought to have hacked into...
Turkish plane crash in Amsterdam →
A Turkish Airlines plane has crashed on landing at Amsterdam’s Schiphol international airport, killing nine people and injuring 84, six critically. The plane, carrying 127 passengers and seven crew, crashed short of the runway near the A9 highway. It broke into three pieces, but did not catch fire.
“Israelis tend to see their country as part of the West, and compare it to the...”
– Bar Refaeli in Gaza - Haaretz - Israel News (via lowlife)
I think that the message that Israel is “the West in the East” has been very successful in America, much moreso than it has been in Europe. In America, you see a lot of support for Israel in the face of our “common enemy,” the Musli…oops, I...
I found Christ! →
(via retropolitics)
I didn’t know he was lost, was there a reward?
“The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is...”
– Maximilien Robespierre (via feastingonroadkill)
So what’s the name for spreading ignorance and labelling it education?
(via jhnbrssndn)
Fundamentalism?
retropolitics:
Pink Floyd - Obscured By Clouds
...
Rick Santorum thinks the Qur'an is written in... →
retropolitics:
By Therion
Senator Rick Santorum who has a wire about himself at the best of times, has been putting himself forward as a self-appointed expert on Islam. He recently delivered “a lecture on Islam” no less at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In the course of the lecture he said that the Qur’an is written in Islamic. This is a bit like saying the Bible is written in Christian...
I’ve just been informed that the cost of the compulsory UK Identity Card will be nearer £90.00 (around $60.00) - Crazy shit! My Cyprus one cost me 8 Euro
Straw vetoes Iraq minutes release →
Justice Secretary Jack Straw has vetoed the publication of minutes of key Cabinet meetings held in the run-up to the Iraq war in 2003.
He said he would use a clause in the Freedom of Information Act to block the release of details of meetings in which the war’s legality was discussed.
Releasing the papers would do “serious damage” to Cabinet government, he said, and outweighed...
US to give '$900m in Gaza aid' →
moderndancers:
unburyingthelead:
We finance the attack, then we clean up the mess. Tidy.
In case anyone wondered why there’s a deficit…
“The human brain is made of many parts. Each has a specific function: to turn...”
– Rita Carter, Mapping The Mind (via retropolitics)
I suddenly feel dizzy
Who was the first band you saw live?
msbadkittie:
spytap:
moth:
(This is a question going around Tumblr.)
My first concert: The Cure headlined, but The Pixies and Love and Rockets opened, so I guess the Pixies were the first band I ever saw live. I was fourteen: August 20, 1989, Giants Stadium. The bands had just released the albums Disintegration, Doolittle, and Love and Rockets. Do I win this thread, or what?
[not my...
If a US citizen was arrested and tortured in Britain the outcry from the US administration would be heard on the moon, the ‘special relationship’ would be all but dead and Britain would be threatened with trade and diplomatic sanctions (I dare anyone to deny this). Yet it appears it’s OK as long as it’s all done in the name of freedom, democracy and defending US interests.
...
Binyam case reveals dark moral path →
The case of Binyam Mohamed is the clearest example yet of the dark and dangerous moral terrain that British intelligence walked after 9/11, not least in its relationship to its closest ally. British intelligence was never involved in directly torturing Mr Mohamed nor were they in the room when he was, but they were involved in a wider process that has led to serious allegations being levelled.
Release Binyam torture data - MP →
The US government should urgently release details about the treatment of a British resident who alleges he was tortured, a senior Labour MP has said. Mike Gapes, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said America must reveal information about former Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed. Mr Mohamed, who arrived back in the UK on Monday, claims he was tortured by US agents who...
Failure hits Nasa's 'CO2 hunter' →
Nasa’s first mission designed to measure carbon dioxide (CO2) from space has suffered a rocket malfunction.
A conspiracy theorist’s dream
“Her twin sisters were killed trying to flee Falluja in 2004. Then her husband...”
– nytimes (via abbyjean) (via clothedinsky) (via msbadkittie)
How many Western women can even imagine the sort of trauma that this woman (Nacham Jaleel Kadim) has lived through in only the first 23 years of her life? She is but a tiny part of a much greater story which the American public have yet to...
“Sometimes you gotta step in a bucket of shit to come out smelling like a rose.”
– Another Dad-ism. I don’t really know what it means, but it’s a perfect example of one of those nonsensical aphorisms he’s such a fan of. (via robot-heart)
I understand exactly what he’s saying - a wise man, your dad.
“Civil disobedience, that’s not our problem. Our problem is that people are...”
– Howard Zinn (via rwatuny)
But for how long? Obedience is almost embedded into our genes but eventually everybody rebels. I once read an assessment of why the British empire was so successful which put it down to knowing precisely how far to push a population and when to stop. I fear that modern...
jmarie3:
Thin Lizzy, Suicide
A ‘like’...
“Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have...”
– 1984 by George Orwell
(via grahamgrafx)
Britain faces 'summer of rage '- police →
msbadkittie:
jhnbrssndn:
mudisland:
“Britain’s most senior police officer with responsibility for public order raised the spectre of a return of the riots of the 1980s, with people who have lost their jobs, homes or savings becoming “footsoldiers” in a wave of potentially violent mass protests. Superintendent David Hartshorn, who heads the Metropolitan police’s public order branch, told the...
Dangerous driving in Cairo →
I’ve driven all over the Middle East and if the BBC think Cairo is bad they’ve obviously never tried Karachi. It was so bad there that I didn’t actually drive myself, I hired a car complete with driver and hid in the back seat. I remember one morning being at the front of the latest accident queue and watching someone drag a limp body from the centre of the road to the side...
Is it over yet?
I wish I was in an industry where we could spend obscene amounts of money handing out expensive awards, patting each other on the back and generally telling our paying customers what wonderful people we are and what a simply marvellous (dahling) job we’ve been doing for you all over past twelve months.
NOT!
Bush declines hardware store job →
George W Bush has paid a jokey visit to a hardware store in Dallas, Texas, which offered him a job as a greeter.
“A flight attendant’s comment on a less than perfect landing: “We ask you to...”
– via an e-mail from my dad (via robot-heart)
I once had a really heavy landing at London Gatwick after which the pilot came on, apologised for the landing and told us he was thinking of going back to taxi driving.