As I've been on the wine I'm going with: Recruited, being trained but unfortunately in too much of a cum coma to notice.
You know Rihanna, big celebrity. Having checked Wikipedia I can confirm that she does exist therefore Britain hates her. Obviously it would be undiplomatic language to say this outright but fortunately her inclusion on the 2009 Jay Z track "Run This Town" which proceeded the release of her "Rated R" album provided Britain the perfect opportunity to label her a CIA agent. Unfortunately rather the issue a straight denial the CIA were so well aware that the demographic time bomb of a well educated, young, unemployed population would lead to some revolutions somewhere in the middle east that they were already slipping random references to pretty much every MENA location in to TV exports so they would be well placed to take the credit. So when Tunisia and Egypt went up the legend of Rihanna being a CIA agent was born. Sadly this led to everybody treating Rihanna as a CIA agent forcing the CIA to protect Rihanna like a CIA agent. After almost two years of what has been an incredibly expensive operation the CIA decided that they needed some payback for their expenditure so decided to turn Rihanna into a CIA agent.
Anyway turns out I've run out of clever words to finish this post. Did I mention it feels like I've got cataracts. Seriously I must phone an optician tomorrow.
00:05 on 1/12/12.
Friday 30 November 2012
Yeah My Grandmother Won't be Dying Tonight.
Although she's been without food or water for approx 4.5 days a local G.P came in Wednesday and prescribed morphine. Normally that would speed the process along. However in my grandmother's case they already tried that for about two years. Therefore I can only conclude that the higher ups have realised that the amount of pain that she is in will hasten the end. As such they've decided to take that pain away to make sure that any funeral doesn't interfere with my brothers vitally important trip this week to India to host debates on opening domestic markets to foreign supermarkets and alcoholism. As for the local level they're still trying to work out why a stroke in the left side of my grandmother's brain has cause total paralysis in the left side of my grandmother's body.
I feel I should issue a warning to care home et al though by explaining that if they go bankrupt without their initial assets being transferred over to me it won't count as a peace deal.
23:25 on 30/11/12.
I feel I should issue a warning to care home et al though by explaining that if they go bankrupt without their initial assets being transferred over to me it won't count as a peace deal.
23:25 on 30/11/12.
Well I've Got a Hazy Week Ahead of Me.
Probably something to do with the fact I've broken my glasses. Well I actually broke them about three years ago but being unable to afford a new pair I've fixing them. That fix has now terminally failed so although I've got a spare pair the lenses are scratched to hell. As a result at some point over the next week I'll either have go to a metal stamping place for a new part or go to an opticians for a replacement pair. Either way it's going to put the issue of my eyesight onto the agenda for the second week on the COP18/CMP8. Personally I'm going with "If you grew up in my life you'd want to go blind too." Seriously I managed to escape my life for a few years and my eyesight actually improved.
As for the US you can throw around as much vinyl chloride as you like it's not going to distract from the fact that Pershing's actions were deliberate to show loyalty to hosts by accusing the UN youth program of paedophilia and promoting discussion about the use recording devices in closed meetings. Seriously it might be time for the delegation to leave because I'm not sure it's up to the high level segment.
15:55 on 30/11/12.
As for the US you can throw around as much vinyl chloride as you like it's not going to distract from the fact that Pershing's actions were deliberate to show loyalty to hosts by accusing the UN youth program of paedophilia and promoting discussion about the use recording devices in closed meetings. Seriously it might be time for the delegation to leave because I'm not sure it's up to the high level segment.
15:55 on 30/11/12.
Thursday 29 November 2012
Britain Say Something Relevent Shocker!
As it is the basket in which the US has put all it's eggs the me, Rihanna, Chris Brown love triangle is still going on. The happy couple are currently together in Germany and Rihanna is using Twitter to invoke possibly every rumour you've ever heard about her. So in the interests of openness and fairness I should give a quick review of Rihanna's "Diamonds" video. The references to drug use and the invocation of the riot imagery from the "Run This Town" video are quite obvious. However the duelling horses are supposed to be a metaphor for me and Brown - a comparison I only find 50% offensive. I suppose at a stretch you could use this to discuss Stalin's attitude to the Stakhanvoite miners using the Boxer character from the George Orwell novel "Animal Farm" but let's be honest it's hardly Wagner.
For their part Britain's Health Protection Agency (HPA) today published it's annual report into HIV/AIDS which according to media reports shows an 'alarming' rise in infection rates. As I'm sure you're all aware it is the fact that I am drunken, drug addicted, schizophrenic, AIDS-riddled, Islamic extremist who sends people to stalk hairdressers in revenge for bad haircut that means I have to endure all the restrictions placed on me. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the Brits want me to work for them without them even paying me a piece-rate or allowing me the freedom to earn my own money. However if you get into the HPA report you'll find that the reason why HIV infection rates are rising in Britain is because people with HIV are simply not going on to develop AIDS or die meaning that there are simply more of them walking around. The situation in less developed nations (I think the term 'third world' is still relevant) such as sub-Saharan Africa is wildly different though. There poverty means that a lack of access to anti-HIV drugs, condoms and well food means that HIV infection is still most certainly a death sentence and the fact that a large number of people are dying in what should the prime of their professional careers is making that poverty much worse.
With major players including the Qatari hosts intent of making the whole thing about the so-called 'Arab Spring' especially Syria there is absolutely no expectation that the COP18/CMP8 will result in some big agreement to tackle global warming/climate change. In fact the time scale that everybody is working towards doesn't expect a deal on cutting greenhouse gas emissions to be reached until 2015. However there is some hope that some faint progress can be made on the areas of green development and adaptation covered by things like Nairobi Work Program, the Green Climate Fund and the Clean Development Mechanism. This is an area where the differences between the economically developed world and the less economically developed world seen in the HIV/AIDS issue are repeated. For example when a hurricane hits somewhere like New York in the USA the government can afford to house the homeless, give out free food and clothes and rely on generous charitable donations. However when the same hurricane hits a place like Haiti all that happens is their crops get destroyed and they starve. So adaption to climate hazards does need to be a priority especially as the expiry of Kyoto means that the frequency of climate hazards is going to increase and the collapse in the price of carbon credits means that one of the main mechanisms to help less economically developed nations adapt to those climate hazards is in danger of bankruptcy. However I think it would be much easier to reach an agreement by discussing the problem in terms of adaption to climate hazards rather then in terms of HIV/AIDS.
I should also mention the new twist in love triangle is that after been alluded to in yesterday's conviction of Melrose Place actress Amy Locane-Bovenizer in the US for vehicular homicide US actress Lindsay Lohan was yesterday arrested on an assault charge in New York following a fight in a nightclub. Today she has been charged in Los Angles over a car crash that occurred six months ago. This all relates to an incident in May 2007 when Lohan was arrested after a car crash during an alcohol and cocaine fuelled rampage. In order to make someone laugh on the Internet I may have said something along the lines of "Well we've all been there." Sadly the Judge in the case took this seriously and gave Lohan an incredibly lenient sentence. This led to Lohan believing that she was somehow above the law and since then it's been one disaster after another with the last I heard being she's now having to take charity off Charlie Sheen. So it says something worrying about the LA Court system that when I make an off the cuff remark they take it as gospel yet when I give them a carefully considered opinion backed up by evidence and they simply ignore it. Or to put it another way it looks like I'm going to have to keep my hand in on this one but the rest of the international community can feel free to ignore it. That's because Brown's tour ends in Paris, France on December 7th (7/12/12) and will be returning the the US shortly after so we can judge them by their actions then.
20:25 on 29/11/12.
For their part Britain's Health Protection Agency (HPA) today published it's annual report into HIV/AIDS which according to media reports shows an 'alarming' rise in infection rates. As I'm sure you're all aware it is the fact that I am drunken, drug addicted, schizophrenic, AIDS-riddled, Islamic extremist who sends people to stalk hairdressers in revenge for bad haircut that means I have to endure all the restrictions placed on me. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the Brits want me to work for them without them even paying me a piece-rate or allowing me the freedom to earn my own money. However if you get into the HPA report you'll find that the reason why HIV infection rates are rising in Britain is because people with HIV are simply not going on to develop AIDS or die meaning that there are simply more of them walking around. The situation in less developed nations (I think the term 'third world' is still relevant) such as sub-Saharan Africa is wildly different though. There poverty means that a lack of access to anti-HIV drugs, condoms and well food means that HIV infection is still most certainly a death sentence and the fact that a large number of people are dying in what should the prime of their professional careers is making that poverty much worse.
With major players including the Qatari hosts intent of making the whole thing about the so-called 'Arab Spring' especially Syria there is absolutely no expectation that the COP18/CMP8 will result in some big agreement to tackle global warming/climate change. In fact the time scale that everybody is working towards doesn't expect a deal on cutting greenhouse gas emissions to be reached until 2015. However there is some hope that some faint progress can be made on the areas of green development and adaptation covered by things like Nairobi Work Program, the Green Climate Fund and the Clean Development Mechanism. This is an area where the differences between the economically developed world and the less economically developed world seen in the HIV/AIDS issue are repeated. For example when a hurricane hits somewhere like New York in the USA the government can afford to house the homeless, give out free food and clothes and rely on generous charitable donations. However when the same hurricane hits a place like Haiti all that happens is their crops get destroyed and they starve. So adaption to climate hazards does need to be a priority especially as the expiry of Kyoto means that the frequency of climate hazards is going to increase and the collapse in the price of carbon credits means that one of the main mechanisms to help less economically developed nations adapt to those climate hazards is in danger of bankruptcy. However I think it would be much easier to reach an agreement by discussing the problem in terms of adaption to climate hazards rather then in terms of HIV/AIDS.
I should also mention the new twist in love triangle is that after been alluded to in yesterday's conviction of Melrose Place actress Amy Locane-Bovenizer in the US for vehicular homicide US actress Lindsay Lohan was yesterday arrested on an assault charge in New York following a fight in a nightclub. Today she has been charged in Los Angles over a car crash that occurred six months ago. This all relates to an incident in May 2007 when Lohan was arrested after a car crash during an alcohol and cocaine fuelled rampage. In order to make someone laugh on the Internet I may have said something along the lines of "Well we've all been there." Sadly the Judge in the case took this seriously and gave Lohan an incredibly lenient sentence. This led to Lohan believing that she was somehow above the law and since then it's been one disaster after another with the last I heard being she's now having to take charity off Charlie Sheen. So it says something worrying about the LA Court system that when I make an off the cuff remark they take it as gospel yet when I give them a carefully considered opinion backed up by evidence and they simply ignore it. Or to put it another way it looks like I'm going to have to keep my hand in on this one but the rest of the international community can feel free to ignore it. That's because Brown's tour ends in Paris, France on December 7th (7/12/12) and will be returning the the US shortly after so we can judge them by their actions then.
20:25 on 29/11/12.
Well Someone's Not Keeping PaperSmart
Today the Leveson report has been released and it comes four volumes covering over 2000 pages and comes in comes in it's own cardboard box. Therefore it will take sometime before all the details emerge and are fully considered. However the reports main recommendation is for a new voluntary system of press regulation to be decided on by the press itself. There is though a threat that if the government does not like what the press agree on the TV and Radio broadcast regulator OFCOM could be given statutory powers to also regulate the print media. With this conclusion it will be very difficult for Parliament to attempt to introduce statutory regulation of the press in the foreseeable future so with a bit luck everything should soon return to normal and Max Mosley's little tantrum will soon be forgotten.
One thing that has been interesting about the days reporting is the focus on the reaction of the family of murdered school girl Milly Dowler. One of the main things that fuelled the public anger that led to the Leveson Inquiry was a claim that the News of the World (NotW) newspaper had deleted Milly Dowler's voicemails during the time that she was missing leading her parents to believe that she was still alive. The only problem is that this has since been found to be completely untrue. At the time of Dowler's disappearance in 2002 data storage was far more scarce and expensive as it is now so the cell phone provider actually deleted the messages as a routine way to save space. So while this was incredibly difficult for Milly Dowler's parents the police really should have provided a properly trained Family Liaison Officer (FLO) to keep them informed about this sort of thing. The failure to provide an FLO was hardly the police's only mistake in the Dowler case though because the man who carried out the murder - Levi Bellfield - was suspected of the murder of Marsha McDonnell, convicted of the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy and convicted of the murder of Amelie Delagrange. At the time he killed Milly Dowler he was working as a police informant and therefore was being protected by the police for all four crimes. So without the pressure that has been brought to bear by the press I honestly believe that the Milly Dowler murder would have remained unsolved to this day.
15:55 on 29/11/12.
One thing that has been interesting about the days reporting is the focus on the reaction of the family of murdered school girl Milly Dowler. One of the main things that fuelled the public anger that led to the Leveson Inquiry was a claim that the News of the World (NotW) newspaper had deleted Milly Dowler's voicemails during the time that she was missing leading her parents to believe that she was still alive. The only problem is that this has since been found to be completely untrue. At the time of Dowler's disappearance in 2002 data storage was far more scarce and expensive as it is now so the cell phone provider actually deleted the messages as a routine way to save space. So while this was incredibly difficult for Milly Dowler's parents the police really should have provided a properly trained Family Liaison Officer (FLO) to keep them informed about this sort of thing. The failure to provide an FLO was hardly the police's only mistake in the Dowler case though because the man who carried out the murder - Levi Bellfield - was suspected of the murder of Marsha McDonnell, convicted of the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy and convicted of the murder of Amelie Delagrange. At the time he killed Milly Dowler he was working as a police informant and therefore was being protected by the police for all four crimes. So without the pressure that has been brought to bear by the press I honestly believe that the Milly Dowler murder would have remained unsolved to this day.
15:55 on 29/11/12.
Wednesday 28 November 2012
It's Leveson Time!
You may remember that back in 2006 two journalists working for the News of the World (NOTW) newspaper were jailed for hacking the voicemail of Prince William. They went to prison, served their sentences and were released. Then in 2008 the NOTW revealed Formula 1 supremo Max Mosley - who despite being the son of wartime fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley is a respected Establishment figure - liked to engage in Nazi themed S&M sex parties with prostitutes. Apart from revealing that a serving MI5 officer's wife worked as a prostitute this caused huge problems with Britain's Gulf allies and forced Mosley to leave the world of F1. So in 2009 British police launched an absolutely massive investigation into phone hacking. This led to vast number of celebrities whose careers were on a bit of a downward spiral suing News International which owns the NOTW for damages and the NOTW being closed down. Then in July 2011 a Judge led Public Inquiry (the Leveson Inquiry) was launched to examine the issue putting immense pressure on the British news media and effectively wiping actual news off the agenda for about a year. The report of that Inquiry is to be published later today. There is genuine debate about what action this report will lead to but progressives in the Labour Party, the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrat are pushing for statutory regulation of the British print media. Effectively this means putting in place a government run censor to tell Britain's newspapers what stories they can or cannot publish putting Britain towards China/North Korea end of the spectrum.
In order to soften the public up for this the narrative Britain (and Rihanna) had been hoping for from the me and Rihanna saga was of a story of innocent young love cruelly torn apart by pressure of keeping a celebrity relationship out of the tabloid press. The problem is that having being born with an intelligence file and suffered years of surveillance, harassment and character assassination far above and beyond what the press go in for I know it's p*ss easy to avoid the press. The only problem was due to her own issues the celebrity in question didn't want to go along with it meaning I'm inclined to say the celebrities only have themselves to blame.
I suppose if we are trying to salvage something it could be spun to act as an allegory for this progressive/totalitarian mindset that is held by politicians such as Hillary Clinton and Susan Rice which is giving government's across the developed world ever more power to bug, eavesdrop and spy on their citizens. You see Rihanna could continue to regulate those who disagree with her world view by cutting them off, isolating herself from them or trapping them on a Boeing 777 for hours on end. Alternatively she could just accept that maybe there is something wrong with her world view. For example Rihanna's current war with the NOTW's sister paper The Sun was the result of her posting a Twitter picture showing her on an IV drip effectively hospitalised after over doing it. The Sun re-published this picture and dared to suggest she might be working too hard. For that they were banished. I don't think they helped their cause by then publishing a photograph of her vomiting on a nightclub table in Las Vegas though because she really misinterpreted that.
00:15 on 29/11/12.
In order to soften the public up for this the narrative Britain (and Rihanna) had been hoping for from the me and Rihanna saga was of a story of innocent young love cruelly torn apart by pressure of keeping a celebrity relationship out of the tabloid press. The problem is that having being born with an intelligence file and suffered years of surveillance, harassment and character assassination far above and beyond what the press go in for I know it's p*ss easy to avoid the press. The only problem was due to her own issues the celebrity in question didn't want to go along with it meaning I'm inclined to say the celebrities only have themselves to blame.
I suppose if we are trying to salvage something it could be spun to act as an allegory for this progressive/totalitarian mindset that is held by politicians such as Hillary Clinton and Susan Rice which is giving government's across the developed world ever more power to bug, eavesdrop and spy on their citizens. You see Rihanna could continue to regulate those who disagree with her world view by cutting them off, isolating herself from them or trapping them on a Boeing 777 for hours on end. Alternatively she could just accept that maybe there is something wrong with her world view. For example Rihanna's current war with the NOTW's sister paper The Sun was the result of her posting a Twitter picture showing her on an IV drip effectively hospitalised after over doing it. The Sun re-published this picture and dared to suggest she might be working too hard. For that they were banished. I don't think they helped their cause by then publishing a photograph of her vomiting on a nightclub table in Las Vegas though because she really misinterpreted that.
00:15 on 29/11/12.
Morsi Got His Photoshoot Then.
On or around November 17th (17/11/12) it became apparent that the US is simply beyond reason on the Rihanna/Contra Mundum issue making it incredibly difficult for anything else to get done. As a result Israel decided to shut down their Pillars of Cloud operation against Gaza and were just ready to hand Hamas a ceasefire. However because there are things going on internally within Israel such as the upcoming election they needed Hamas to make some small concessions in order to sell the ceasefire to the Israeli public. The main problem though was Egyptain President Morsi who being horrifically out of his depth wouldn't allow the ceasefire to take effect until he'd proved himself to be a world statesman by being seen to have meetings with the United Nations Secretary General and the US Secretary of State. As a result the ceasefire was delayed until November 21st (21/11/12) and around 100 people were killed needlessly as Israel attempted to increase the pressure on Morsi by intensifying the levels of violence involved. The US were of course happy to have this happen in the hope that Hamas would reveal the extent of their weapons stores because the US is still trying to calculate the volume of weaponry that fell into the hands of terror groups far worse then Hamas following the Libya conflict.
In order to keep busy while Morsi fiddled Israel twice bombed a media building used by Al-Asqua TV and foreign media outlets. This was a direct reference to an incident during the 1999 bombing campaign of Serbia in which the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade was bombed by US forces killing three journalists amid allegations that the building was being used as a spy base. It was also during this conflict often wrongly dubbed the "Kosovo War" that a US F117 Nighthawk stealth fighter was shot down by Serb forces and the wreckage was passed to China to help them develop their own stealth aircraft program. Therefore the Israeli bombing of the TV station was an attempt to promote discussion about the issue of Intellectual Property Rights as it relates to the Green Climate Fund set up through COP/CMP negotiations. It was actually the Chinese who brought the issue up initially with the unveiling of their J-31 stealth fighter on November 8th (8/11/12) which looks suspiciously like the US' own F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. However as the US' reaction to this discussion - the crash of an F-22 Raptor in Florida - was the diplomatic equivalent of a vacant stare it needed restating not once but twice.
On a related note tomorrow the United Nations General Assembly will vote on allowing Palestine full UN observer status. This looks like it will pass off without out too much trouble because there seems to be a general consensus that it is the right thing to do because while it stops short of statehood which the PLO are not ready for it is an important step in getting them ready.
16:20 on 28/11/12.
In order to keep busy while Morsi fiddled Israel twice bombed a media building used by Al-Asqua TV and foreign media outlets. This was a direct reference to an incident during the 1999 bombing campaign of Serbia in which the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade was bombed by US forces killing three journalists amid allegations that the building was being used as a spy base. It was also during this conflict often wrongly dubbed the "Kosovo War" that a US F117 Nighthawk stealth fighter was shot down by Serb forces and the wreckage was passed to China to help them develop their own stealth aircraft program. Therefore the Israeli bombing of the TV station was an attempt to promote discussion about the issue of Intellectual Property Rights as it relates to the Green Climate Fund set up through COP/CMP negotiations. It was actually the Chinese who brought the issue up initially with the unveiling of their J-31 stealth fighter on November 8th (8/11/12) which looks suspiciously like the US' own F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. However as the US' reaction to this discussion - the crash of an F-22 Raptor in Florida - was the diplomatic equivalent of a vacant stare it needed restating not once but twice.
On a related note tomorrow the United Nations General Assembly will vote on allowing Palestine full UN observer status. This looks like it will pass off without out too much trouble because there seems to be a general consensus that it is the right thing to do because while it stops short of statehood which the PLO are not ready for it is an important step in getting them ready.
16:20 on 28/11/12.
Syria's Got Noisy Then.
Yesterday (27/11/12) members of the Saudi and Qatari Irregular Army (SQIA) managed to shoot down a Syrian helicopter gunship for the first time using one of those infamous MANPAD shoulder launched anti-aircraft missiles we keep hearing so much about. Today the SQIA detonated two car bombs in the suburbs of the Syrian capital Damascus killing at least 29. Combined these two things are designed to turn the COP18/CMP Summit into yet another summit on Syria specifically to give the impression that the Syrian government could fall at any moment in order to get nations to agree to supply the SQIA with the weapons they need to overthrow the Syrian government.
The main effort to turn the COP18/CMP8 into a summit on Syria though has come from France with their plan to exhume and carry out an autopsy on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat amid suggestions that he was poisoned with Polonium. Back in 2006 a Russian dissident by the name of Alexander Litvinenko was killed in London using Polonium. So while the French are claiming to be investigating the possibility that Arafat was murdered by Israel they're actually trying to put pressure on Russia over Syria. Unfortunately the Russians quite quickly acted to put a stop to this by joining the Arafat investigation themselves. France has responded to this by having a bit of a crisis first with a complex leadership scandal involving the right wing UMP party which seems to be France asking the world if they're viewed as fascists and by today announcing that a decision whether or not to drop criminal charges against Dominique Strauss-Khan (DSK) will be delayed. DSK is of a euphemism for the drugs gang connected to the Whitgift Estate who were responsible for most of the destruction during Croydon's August 2011 riot.
For their part Britain and the US are still pushing the Rihanna angle. Britain has today arrested in excess of 240 people in a crack down on domestic violence while the US is forcing tobacco companies to admit they misled consumers over the dangers of 'smoking' in an effort to suggest that Rihanna's heavy marijuana use might be the root cause of her problems. That is of course nonsense. Chris Brown is the root cause of Rihanna's problems although her marijuana use does seem to be preventing her from realising that. So the only question that remains is why Brown still hasn't been arrested for multiple probation violations but I think hat question has just answered itself.
The big joke of the day though has been the US wading into an argument about new Chinese passports by saying the inclusion of a map showing disputed islands as Chinese territory "does not help the environment." So maybe it's the Onion that's been missing the satire all along.
10:20 on 28/11/12
The main effort to turn the COP18/CMP8 into a summit on Syria though has come from France with their plan to exhume and carry out an autopsy on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat amid suggestions that he was poisoned with Polonium. Back in 2006 a Russian dissident by the name of Alexander Litvinenko was killed in London using Polonium. So while the French are claiming to be investigating the possibility that Arafat was murdered by Israel they're actually trying to put pressure on Russia over Syria. Unfortunately the Russians quite quickly acted to put a stop to this by joining the Arafat investigation themselves. France has responded to this by having a bit of a crisis first with a complex leadership scandal involving the right wing UMP party which seems to be France asking the world if they're viewed as fascists and by today announcing that a decision whether or not to drop criminal charges against Dominique Strauss-Khan (DSK) will be delayed. DSK is of a euphemism for the drugs gang connected to the Whitgift Estate who were responsible for most of the destruction during Croydon's August 2011 riot.
For their part Britain and the US are still pushing the Rihanna angle. Britain has today arrested in excess of 240 people in a crack down on domestic violence while the US is forcing tobacco companies to admit they misled consumers over the dangers of 'smoking' in an effort to suggest that Rihanna's heavy marijuana use might be the root cause of her problems. That is of course nonsense. Chris Brown is the root cause of Rihanna's problems although her marijuana use does seem to be preventing her from realising that. So the only question that remains is why Brown still hasn't been arrested for multiple probation violations but I think hat question has just answered itself.
The big joke of the day though has been the US wading into an argument about new Chinese passports by saying the inclusion of a map showing disputed islands as Chinese territory "does not help the environment." So maybe it's the Onion that's been missing the satire all along.
10:20 on 28/11/12
Tuesday 27 November 2012
I Really Need to Trust My Instincts.
Yes that's right I'm back from the pub to no obvious signs of break in but let's be honest that's not the story you want to hear from me right now.
This afternoon I decided to return three years of compliments and try to meet up with our dear queen. After arriving in the approximate area of London where Rihanna is staying I quickly realised two things. Firstly my stalking skills have grown somewhat rusty after years of non-use. Secondly I find that area of London really disorienting when I not surrounded by hundreds of riot police. However after having identified the correct address using information in the public domain I decided to waste two hours chasing down a dud lead (also public domain) that took me to that area where the Lily Allen incident happened. Having realised my mistake I made my way to the correct address and entered with a nod of recognition from the door staff. I proceeded to have a short conversation with the reception staff that led to them making a quick phonecall that returned a definite "No." I don't know how far up the chain of command that phonecall went but I hope it went to the top otherwise someone's just added themselves to the naughty list. Anyway I hope Rihanna is soon leaving the UK because since the riots trust me they do not have her best interests at heart.
On a related note my grandmother today moved back to Albany Lodge from Croydon University Hospital (CUH). Proving how bad my level of product on this story is the best I can say is that the nutrient drip was removed at some point yesterday (26/11/12). Therefore I've got £10 on her dying between 02:00 and 03:00 GMT on Saturday (1/12/12). However as a safety bet there is a good chance she's that stubborn she will simply refuse to die until she returns home to Wales.
20:20 on 27/11/12
This afternoon I decided to return three years of compliments and try to meet up with our dear queen. After arriving in the approximate area of London where Rihanna is staying I quickly realised two things. Firstly my stalking skills have grown somewhat rusty after years of non-use. Secondly I find that area of London really disorienting when I not surrounded by hundreds of riot police. However after having identified the correct address using information in the public domain I decided to waste two hours chasing down a dud lead (also public domain) that took me to that area where the Lily Allen incident happened. Having realised my mistake I made my way to the correct address and entered with a nod of recognition from the door staff. I proceeded to have a short conversation with the reception staff that led to them making a quick phonecall that returned a definite "No." I don't know how far up the chain of command that phonecall went but I hope it went to the top otherwise someone's just added themselves to the naughty list. Anyway I hope Rihanna is soon leaving the UK because since the riots trust me they do not have her best interests at heart.
On a related note my grandmother today moved back to Albany Lodge from Croydon University Hospital (CUH). Proving how bad my level of product on this story is the best I can say is that the nutrient drip was removed at some point yesterday (26/11/12). Therefore I've got £10 on her dying between 02:00 and 03:00 GMT on Saturday (1/12/12). However as a safety bet there is a good chance she's that stubborn she will simply refuse to die until she returns home to Wales.
20:20 on 27/11/12
There Must be a COP/CMP Summit On.
Because I've just received a letter from ATOS/DWP requesting that I fill in another questionnaire by December 26th 2012. You would think that with all the flooding going on Britain would be more concerned with the actual climate change at this point. Anyway if anyone needs me I'll be off making a fool of myself again.
12:30 on 27/11/12.
12:30 on 27/11/12.
Sunday 25 November 2012
Rihanna Returns
Well to Twitter at least. Unfortunately I held her funeral on Friday so I'm about as far away from shared consciousness as it's possible to be. However my reading of the situation is that she has accepted that it is time for her to file a complaint with Chris Brown's probation officer. If this happens during the first week of the COP18/CMP8 this will be a brilliant career move. Assuming they're not actually evil (a big assumption) the only reason why the US have been holding off on this much needed move is to avoid appearing as though they support women's/human rights in front of the Gulf Monarchies. So dropping them in the sh*t will be a fantastic way for Rihanna to demonstrate her independence and solve the problem once and for all. Of course making such an aggressive move risks the US being uncooperative but if Obama finally manages to learn that in this life fear only brings you more violence he stands a chance of becoming a much better President.
11:30 on 25/11/12.
11:30 on 25/11/12.
Saturday 24 November 2012
Contra Mundum: What a Waste of Time.
Although it certainly constitutes a breach of probation conditions Rihanna and Chris Brown's reunion in a New York nightclub would test the bounds of submission by coercion under US rape laws. However under Sweden's much tighter rape laws there would be a much higher chance of conviction. So if a restraining order had been put in place and investigation mounted Sweden would have come under extreme pressure to refuse Brown entry to their country in order for consistency on the Julian Assange case. I don't know if the US want to extradite Assange or whether they don't want to extradite Assange but I do know they most certainly want to have the upper hand in the argument.
You may also remember that the Swedish rape allegations against Assange first broke during the COP16/CMP6 Summit where they were intended to inflame an argument between the representatives from Saudi Arabia and well most other delegations over women's rights. Specifically the Saudi delegations tendency to tell much more qualified female delegates to "get back in the kitchen." With the COP18/CMP8 taking place in Qatar and likely to focus very heavily on the situation in Syria which the US is in a very weak position it would have been useful to revisit that issue as a smokescreen to offer the US a degree of protection. Then with the restraining order in place it would have been extremely unlikely that Rihanna and Brown would have reunited during either his or her tours. That meant the rest of his tour would have provided an opportunity for a very gentle discussion between the US and the host nations over the Assange issue, the COP issue and the Syria issue. The discussion with the Republic of Ireland would have been a very useful way for the US to build and allegiance with a nation that it is going to have to work very closely with on the United Nations Human Rights Council. In fact for a few very happy minutes I thought this could be the only possible explanation for why the New York reunion had been engineered.
Instead though the US did not introduce a restraining order and set off to achieve. Well apart p*ssing a lot of people off I'm not sure exactly what they've achieved. Rihanna and Brown did not reunite in Sweden nor did they reunite in London and more importantly no-one even believed that they would. Even the way that the European Union Budget Summit broke up doesn't exactly appear to have achieved the US' objective. Far from breaking up in a disorderly and hostile way the Summit just sort of calmly ended ahead of schedule indicating it was more a case of all the nations simply agreeing that they would not be dancing to the US' tune. There is a sign of progress though with the US tonight announcing that they will not be charging Brown over a June bar fight in New York - another probation violation. This is clearly designed to provoke a reaction to assess how much anger their failure to put their dog back on his leash will provoke. Given the way these things work I doubt they'll get an accurate response but I think if they can't do Brown and his team for a bar fight at this point they've got a good chance of doing him for treason because the other option is to put the rabid dog down.
So while there is a chance I can still clean Rihanna's reputation Brown has been so deep in this for so long there ain't no getting the stench of him.
21:55 on 24/11/12.
You may also remember that the Swedish rape allegations against Assange first broke during the COP16/CMP6 Summit where they were intended to inflame an argument between the representatives from Saudi Arabia and well most other delegations over women's rights. Specifically the Saudi delegations tendency to tell much more qualified female delegates to "get back in the kitchen." With the COP18/CMP8 taking place in Qatar and likely to focus very heavily on the situation in Syria which the US is in a very weak position it would have been useful to revisit that issue as a smokescreen to offer the US a degree of protection. Then with the restraining order in place it would have been extremely unlikely that Rihanna and Brown would have reunited during either his or her tours. That meant the rest of his tour would have provided an opportunity for a very gentle discussion between the US and the host nations over the Assange issue, the COP issue and the Syria issue. The discussion with the Republic of Ireland would have been a very useful way for the US to build and allegiance with a nation that it is going to have to work very closely with on the United Nations Human Rights Council. In fact for a few very happy minutes I thought this could be the only possible explanation for why the New York reunion had been engineered.
Instead though the US did not introduce a restraining order and set off to achieve. Well apart p*ssing a lot of people off I'm not sure exactly what they've achieved. Rihanna and Brown did not reunite in Sweden nor did they reunite in London and more importantly no-one even believed that they would. Even the way that the European Union Budget Summit broke up doesn't exactly appear to have achieved the US' objective. Far from breaking up in a disorderly and hostile way the Summit just sort of calmly ended ahead of schedule indicating it was more a case of all the nations simply agreeing that they would not be dancing to the US' tune. There is a sign of progress though with the US tonight announcing that they will not be charging Brown over a June bar fight in New York - another probation violation. This is clearly designed to provoke a reaction to assess how much anger their failure to put their dog back on his leash will provoke. Given the way these things work I doubt they'll get an accurate response but I think if they can't do Brown and his team for a bar fight at this point they've got a good chance of doing him for treason because the other option is to put the rabid dog down.
So while there is a chance I can still clean Rihanna's reputation Brown has been so deep in this for so long there ain't no getting the stench of him.
21:55 on 24/11/12.
Gas Panic
Throughout the COP/CMP process Britain has never accepted the possibility that climate change/global warming could be the result of increased greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activity. However they have been very keen to use the process as a metaphor to discuss a host of other issues. In order to keep the ruse going they have been forced to make a lot of gestures to make it look as though they're open to the possibility that humans are causing climate change. Chief amongst these has been making sure that Britain met it's Kyoto emissions cuts by switching electricity production from dirty coal fired power stations towards cleaner gas fired power stations. As a result Britain's power generating infrastructure is now very heavily dependent of natural gas. As Britain doesn't really have it's own supplies of natural gas this makes Britain very dependent on imports from other countries which represents a strategic weakness. Although Britain has very good relations with natural gas exporters such as Qatar the free market system means that rather then being transferred on a government to government level Britain's natural gas supplies are actually traded through the private wholesale market which Britain has much poorer relations with. So in order to increase it's control over the wholesale gas market on November 12th Britain launched a big inquiry into the industry. Britain has been aided in this goal by the United States through the Hewlett Packard (HP)/Autonomy scandal and rigging the Billboard 100 chart to make sure Rihanna's "Diamonds" some eight weeks after it's release. Of course that last part also served to give Rihanna the false confidence to go ahead with the Chris Brown reunion which their handlers hoped would draw focus onto the relationship and allow the US to control one of the major themes of the COP18/CMP8 Summit.
Apart from being an enquiry about the recent Israel/Gaza conflict yesterday's (23/11/12) natural gas explosion in Springfield, Massachusetts was the US conceding that the Rihanna operation is now in ruins and needs to be terminated. However the fact that Massachusetts is where Mitt Romney used to be Governor indicates that they will not be terminating the operation and instead try and draw everybody into the belief that there is some sort of power struggle going on within the US establishment over the Rihanna issue. I think that's a shame because China have already laughed the US out of the door on the matter and judging by the breadth and depth of "WantsDiamondsWorldTour" hashtags going around Twitter like the invasion of Iraq the Rihanna issue looks like it's going to become an open sore reminding everyone how much they hate the US and how undeserving of favours it is.
15:15 on 24/11/12
Apart from being an enquiry about the recent Israel/Gaza conflict yesterday's (23/11/12) natural gas explosion in Springfield, Massachusetts was the US conceding that the Rihanna operation is now in ruins and needs to be terminated. However the fact that Massachusetts is where Mitt Romney used to be Governor indicates that they will not be terminating the operation and instead try and draw everybody into the belief that there is some sort of power struggle going on within the US establishment over the Rihanna issue. I think that's a shame because China have already laughed the US out of the door on the matter and judging by the breadth and depth of "WantsDiamondsWorldTour" hashtags going around Twitter like the invasion of Iraq the Rihanna issue looks like it's going to become an open sore reminding everyone how much they hate the US and how undeserving of favours it is.
15:15 on 24/11/12
Friday 23 November 2012
Well if the Wife's Out of Position it's Her Own F'king Fault
Because I come bearing bad news. I can confirm that the United States of America (USA) has so far failed to issue an Interpol Red Notice or an extradition request to Germany for a one "Christopher Maurice Brown" AKA "Chris Brown" (5/3/89) for multiple breaches of probation conditions. The next question is of course will Poland deny him a visa. I feel that without at red notice or an extradition request the answer will be "No."
Sorry just been hit by a sudden urge to make a "Let US look at what you could have won!" post.
Until then I'm going to need a few minutes to work out exactly how much money it's going to take for me to wake up in the morning and wipe Obama's a*se one more time.
00:05 on 24/11/12
Sorry just been hit by a sudden urge to make a "Let US look at what you could have won!" post.
Until then I'm going to need a few minutes to work out exactly how much money it's going to take for me to wake up in the morning and wipe Obama's a*se one more time.
00:05 on 24/11/12
Grandmother Update.
In case you missed my quick Twitter update yesterday (22/11/12) on Saturday (17/11/12) my grandmother suffered an ischemic stroke most likely brought on by raised blood pressure due to the physical stress untreated psychosis combined with it being her son's birthday. Unfortunately the staff at her care home either didn't notice this or didn't think it was worth bothering with. So by the time she was admitted to hospital on Tuesday (20/11/12) the front 25-30% of the left hemisphere of her brain had be destroyed. As a result she has no voluntary movement and only seems to be responsive to pain. As she cannot swallow she is being kept alive by a nutrient IV. Once that drip is removed she will be dead in three days. Sadly the hospital are choosing the prolong her suffering by delaying the removal of that IV in order for her death to take place during the COP18/CMP8 Summit for maximum dramatic effect.
On the plus side the local health authority have now agreed to to fully fund her care. As a result her house will now not have to be sold in order to pay for her care. This means the last faint flicker of victory the Brits could have claimed from the last six years has now been extinguished while the criminal changes will remain. I'm sorry if this sounds cold but you have to remember that it was at this time last year I watched my grandmother's death warrant being signed so I've had plenty of time to grieve since then. With luck it may also serve as a timely reminder to certain people of what it truly means to live in my world.
So in short I've won although it sure as hell doesn't feel like it at the moment.
14:50 on 23/11/12.
On the plus side the local health authority have now agreed to to fully fund her care. As a result her house will now not have to be sold in order to pay for her care. This means the last faint flicker of victory the Brits could have claimed from the last six years has now been extinguished while the criminal changes will remain. I'm sorry if this sounds cold but you have to remember that it was at this time last year I watched my grandmother's death warrant being signed so I've had plenty of time to grieve since then. With luck it may also serve as a timely reminder to certain people of what it truly means to live in my world.
So in short I've won although it sure as hell doesn't feel like it at the moment.
14:50 on 23/11/12.
I Really Must Meet Rihanna.
Seriously since she's forced herself into my life it's been a relentless assault on me and everyone and everything I value. That's despite me purposefully ignoring her in order to stop her getting dragged into my world and on the one time when the Chris Brown beating forced me to comment I even tried to run interference. So I really want to speak to her to see if she can explain where this deep hatred of me comes from.
Oh who am I kidding everybody knows it's Chris Brown she really despises. It's just growing up with a violent father she was conditioned to believe that is love and when you start tugging on that thread the whole thing will unravel. So no this isn't some great mystery. In fact if you work with abuse victims this is just another day at the office. Heck there isn't even any doubt left as to why Chris Brown's probation officer still hasn't done their job.
On the plus side though not going to the effort of biting my tongue means I'm feeling less stressed.
11:35 on 23/11/12.
Oh who am I kidding everybody knows it's Chris Brown she really despises. It's just growing up with a violent father she was conditioned to believe that is love and when you start tugging on that thread the whole thing will unravel. So no this isn't some great mystery. In fact if you work with abuse victims this is just another day at the office. Heck there isn't even any doubt left as to why Chris Brown's probation officer still hasn't done their job.
On the plus side though not going to the effort of biting my tongue means I'm feeling less stressed.
11:35 on 23/11/12.
Wednesday 21 November 2012
7 Gigs, 7 Nations, 7 Days.
And very nearly one hell of a resignation letter.
Rihanna's 777 tour has now finished. I don't know how it was for you but it very nearly killed me. Therefore a fuller review will have to wait until at least tomorrow because I'm seriously considering checking myself into hospital at the moment. I do though need to comment on the now naked hatred felt by the press over their almost total lack of access to Rihanna during the tour because it is in part my fault. To a certain extent all entertainment is dependent on illusion - for example Hugh Laurie is not really a doctor and Claire Danes is not really a CIA agent. Take it from me that once you peak behind the curtain and that illusion is shattered the entertainment becomes much less entertaining so it was never going to be Rihanna and the media chilling out on the plane watching in flight movies. However I thought more of an effort would have be made with Stockholm being a sort of model to follow. The decision to delay the departure from London from 03:00 to 11:00 with the press already on the plane was indefensible though. It was though quite transparently an effort to make it look like Britain had a really cool secret that everybody wanted to hear in order to drag everyone into Britain's barrage of drivel including but in no way limited to the Church of England's vote on women Bishops, it's report on abuse and sexual exploitation and that Danny Nightingale the jailed SAS sniper saga. The idea was to give Britain the upper hand in negotiations over the European Union (EU) Budget although quite why the Yanks wanted to thank the Brits for all their help in getting Mitt Romney elected President is still a mystery to me.
I think by way of contrition it would be nice for Rihanna to explain what the hold-up was because it's hardly that important and has got to be cheaper then deleting the new album because the "Unapologetic" title is a big joke and sadly it's on her.
20:05 on 21/11/12.
Edited at around 14:55 on 22/11/12 to add: I'm still feeling a bit frayed around the edges so simply popping down the shops is a bit beyond me at the moment meaning that this is unlikely to be my best work. However you don't need to be a psychiatrist (or indeed listen to it) to deduce from Rihanna's new duet with Chris Brown "Nobodies Business" that she is transferring her frustration that Brown will never be the man she wants him to be onto the media. Therefore Rihanna's motivation for the 777 tour was to use it as a punishment beating for the media. The problem is that because of the Brown thing the vast majority of the media have actually been very gentle with Rihanna (using kid gloves is the expression). So the US intelligence community suggested the tour was to provoke blowback from the media which can go as far as a total blackout meaning no airplay, no magazine covers and no reviews. Although Rihanna already has a established fan base this would make her much more dependent on media outlets such as Facebook which have a very close relationship with the US community. Obviously it's too late to recall the hardcopies of the album but I think it would be interesting to see what would happen if iTunes made one copy of the album available with the Chris Brown duet and one without.
Now bring on the cartoons.
15:05 on 22/11/12
Rihanna's 777 tour has now finished. I don't know how it was for you but it very nearly killed me. Therefore a fuller review will have to wait until at least tomorrow because I'm seriously considering checking myself into hospital at the moment. I do though need to comment on the now naked hatred felt by the press over their almost total lack of access to Rihanna during the tour because it is in part my fault. To a certain extent all entertainment is dependent on illusion - for example Hugh Laurie is not really a doctor and Claire Danes is not really a CIA agent. Take it from me that once you peak behind the curtain and that illusion is shattered the entertainment becomes much less entertaining so it was never going to be Rihanna and the media chilling out on the plane watching in flight movies. However I thought more of an effort would have be made with Stockholm being a sort of model to follow. The decision to delay the departure from London from 03:00 to 11:00 with the press already on the plane was indefensible though. It was though quite transparently an effort to make it look like Britain had a really cool secret that everybody wanted to hear in order to drag everyone into Britain's barrage of drivel including but in no way limited to the Church of England's vote on women Bishops, it's report on abuse and sexual exploitation and that Danny Nightingale the jailed SAS sniper saga. The idea was to give Britain the upper hand in negotiations over the European Union (EU) Budget although quite why the Yanks wanted to thank the Brits for all their help in getting Mitt Romney elected President is still a mystery to me.
I think by way of contrition it would be nice for Rihanna to explain what the hold-up was because it's hardly that important and has got to be cheaper then deleting the new album because the "Unapologetic" title is a big joke and sadly it's on her.
20:05 on 21/11/12.
Edited at around 14:55 on 22/11/12 to add: I'm still feeling a bit frayed around the edges so simply popping down the shops is a bit beyond me at the moment meaning that this is unlikely to be my best work. However you don't need to be a psychiatrist (or indeed listen to it) to deduce from Rihanna's new duet with Chris Brown "Nobodies Business" that she is transferring her frustration that Brown will never be the man she wants him to be onto the media. Therefore Rihanna's motivation for the 777 tour was to use it as a punishment beating for the media. The problem is that because of the Brown thing the vast majority of the media have actually been very gentle with Rihanna (using kid gloves is the expression). So the US intelligence community suggested the tour was to provoke blowback from the media which can go as far as a total blackout meaning no airplay, no magazine covers and no reviews. Although Rihanna already has a established fan base this would make her much more dependent on media outlets such as Facebook which have a very close relationship with the US community. Obviously it's too late to recall the hardcopies of the album but I think it would be interesting to see what would happen if iTunes made one copy of the album available with the Chris Brown duet and one without.
Now bring on the cartoons.
15:05 on 22/11/12
Tuesday 20 November 2012
I'm Back From the Pub Early
Due to my grandmother's hospitalisation my father and I went early. Now everyone's just waiting to see if this Gaza ceasefire will take. Personally I doubt it because the Yanks have been trying their hardest to derail it in an effort to spread their cascade of fail across all of Africa. I think that's a shame really because there's never much dignity in war.
19:15 on 20/11/12
Edited at around 19:25 on 20/11/12 to add: The only good thing I've seen in this whole sorry Rihanna saga was the Annie Leibowitz evacuation at the end of the para-Olympics. Unfortunately it was the Yanks who made sure this didn't take and used the fact that Leibowitz is Jewish name (Avital Leibowitz is the IDF spokeswoman for example) to fuel this entire conflict in order to make all parties look like idiots. Now if the Yanks can hold their sh*t together for like five minutes I might get around to explaining the rest of it to them really slowly and with lots of pictures.
19:15 on 20/11/12
Edited at around 19:25 on 20/11/12 to add: The only good thing I've seen in this whole sorry Rihanna saga was the Annie Leibowitz evacuation at the end of the para-Olympics. Unfortunately it was the Yanks who made sure this didn't take and used the fact that Leibowitz is Jewish name (Avital Leibowitz is the IDF spokeswoman for example) to fuel this entire conflict in order to make all parties look like idiots. Now if the Yanks can hold their sh*t together for like five minutes I might get around to explaining the rest of it to them really slowly and with lots of pictures.
My Father's Threat Status Has Changed.
My grandmother is currently refusing food and water and therefore needs to be detained under the mental health act. However my father is refusing because he doesn't want to rock the boat. So sorry for all the drama but he is now representing a clear and present danger to life and limb.
11:45 on 20/11/12
11:45 on 20/11/12
Monday 19 November 2012
The DWP Thing's Done.
I've just finished with my interview with the Department of Work and Pensions. It was all very routine but the only concern is that I'm scheduled to be transferred from contribution based Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) to income based ESA in February 2013. However that's a problem for another day.
14:00 on 19/11/12.
14:00 on 19/11/12.
Saturday 17 November 2012
Operation Pillars of Cloud: Day 4.
In the past 24 hours militants in Gaza have continued to fire rockets into Israel included long range missiles to targets including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem which has never come under rocket fire before. However all of these missiles have either been intercepted by the Iron Dome system or have missed their targets meaning that there have been no fatalities. Israel has massively increased it's Ariel attacks on Gaza and have significantly widened their range of targets to include Hamas' political headquarters, the Cabinet building containing the offices of the Prime Minister, the police headquarters and 5 electricity sub-stations the loss of which leaves around 400,000 people without power. Israel has put a further 45,000 reservists on stand-by and regular army units are massed on the Gaza border said to be ready to move in at one hours notice.
This all means that Israel has now switched the focus of the operation away from degrading militant groups ability to fire rockets and onto attempting to decapitate Hamas' civilian infrastructure. If Israel is simply trying to ensure it's security this is entirely the wrong thing to do because without Hamas Gaza will plunge into anarchy and Israel will come under more frequent attack. However with things like the blockade, the with-holding of tax revenues and heavy restrictions being placed on the Gaza police force this has always been Israels intention - cause chaos in Gaza and then use that chaos as an excuse to treat the Palestinians ever more badly.
Most worryingly of all neighbouring Egypt has seen a horrific accident in which a school bus carrying children aged between 4 and 8 was struck by a train killing 47 children and 2 adults on the bus. It won't be long until people start blaming the crash on either Israel or the Egyptian government leading to public outrage that will pile pressure on the Egyptian government to intervene in Gaza. Something they must resist.
16:20 on 17/11/12
This all means that Israel has now switched the focus of the operation away from degrading militant groups ability to fire rockets and onto attempting to decapitate Hamas' civilian infrastructure. If Israel is simply trying to ensure it's security this is entirely the wrong thing to do because without Hamas Gaza will plunge into anarchy and Israel will come under more frequent attack. However with things like the blockade, the with-holding of tax revenues and heavy restrictions being placed on the Gaza police force this has always been Israels intention - cause chaos in Gaza and then use that chaos as an excuse to treat the Palestinians ever more badly.
Most worryingly of all neighbouring Egypt has seen a horrific accident in which a school bus carrying children aged between 4 and 8 was struck by a train killing 47 children and 2 adults on the bus. It won't be long until people start blaming the crash on either Israel or the Egyptian government leading to public outrage that will pile pressure on the Egyptian government to intervene in Gaza. Something they must resist.
16:20 on 17/11/12
Friday 16 November 2012
Blimey the Children are Needy Tonight.
Fortunately BBC1 is hosting it's live "Children in Need" telethon tonight to help them. It's like "Comic Relief" only entirely for the benefit of British charities and well sh*t. Fortunately though it's only compulsory if you've got a BBC contract. To add tension to the evening today has seen the release of the results of elections for police and crime commissioners in which only around 10% of eligible voters took part most likely making it the lowest turnout of any UK election ever. Sadly I haven't a clue what a police and crime commissioner is either.
In other news the ill-conceived tour is tonight beginning it's European leg in Stockholm, Sweden. This puts it very nearly in my time zone making it very difficult to ignore. That's a shame because they've only done three trips on that plane and already the hashtag #777murder is beginning to circulate. Well at least it will be when I get around to it.
17:10 on 16/11/12.
In other news the ill-conceived tour is tonight beginning it's European leg in Stockholm, Sweden. This puts it very nearly in my time zone making it very difficult to ignore. That's a shame because they've only done three trips on that plane and already the hashtag #777murder is beginning to circulate. Well at least it will be when I get around to it.
17:10 on 16/11/12.
Operation Pillars of Cloud: Day 3.
Because the English acronym for "Puff of Smoke" was always going to be troublesome.
Anyway Israel's ground invasion of Gaza has not yet taken place due to a visit to Gaza today by the Egyptian Prime Minister. That and Israel are a bit scared of a ground invasion. Probably something to do with the fact they've had to draft 16,000 reservists and put a further 14,000 on stand by in preparation. Rocket and missile fire has continued from both sides but it's probably best I leave that until I'm less stoned because by local standards this is actually quite mellow.
15:55 on 16/11/12.
Anyway Israel's ground invasion of Gaza has not yet taken place due to a visit to Gaza today by the Egyptian Prime Minister. That and Israel are a bit scared of a ground invasion. Probably something to do with the fact they've had to draft 16,000 reservists and put a further 14,000 on stand by in preparation. Rocket and missile fire has continued from both sides but it's probably best I leave that until I'm less stoned because by local standards this is actually quite mellow.
15:55 on 16/11/12.
Thursday 15 November 2012
Operation Pillars of Cloud: Day 2.
Today Israeli air and naval forces have attacked approximately a 160 targets within Gaza. According to Israeli sources 126 of these targets were rocket launching sites and the rest were munition stores. If this is true then the Israeli operation appears to be a surgical attempt to degrade Hamas and other militant groups ability to fire rockets into Israel as opposed to an attempt to decapitate Hamas' political infrastructure or inflict maximum casualties. Special attention is being paid to Farj 5 rockets. These are long range (up to 75km) unguided rockets that have been brought in from Libya in substantial numbers and put Tel Aviv within range of Hamas attack. Today there have been a reported 7 deaths in Gaza added to the 9 killed on Wednesday.
In response militants in Gaza (not exclusively Hamas) have fired at least 250 rockets into Israel. Around 80% of these have been intercepted by Israel's 'Iron Dome' missile defence system although Israel appears to be downplaying the effectiveness of this system in an effort to get the militants to deplete their missile stores. At least one of these missles has managed to get through striking an apartment block in Kiryat Malakhi killing three and seriously wounding three others- all civilians. Most worryingly a rocket (presumably a Farj 5) struck Rishon Lezion around 15km (9miles) from Tel Aviv. With a population of around 400,000 Tel Aviv is very much Israel's second city and is home to an international airport. As a result any level of rocket fire on the area will produce unacceptable levels of damage and civilian casualties that simply will not be tolerated by Israel. Therefore the attack on Rishon Lezion now makes it extremely likely that Israel will deploy ground troops into Gaza either overnight or at dawn tomorrow. Obviously it depends on how those ground troops conduct themselves but this might not actually be a bad thing because attempting to destroy munitions stores in areas with a dense civilian population using air-strikes is incredibly dangerous.
There is a lot of concern over what Egypt's response to a ground incursion will be but I think that President Morsi should do what he always should have been doing and concentrate on his own country rather then trying to whip up support by attacking Israel.
16:50 on 15/11/12.
In response militants in Gaza (not exclusively Hamas) have fired at least 250 rockets into Israel. Around 80% of these have been intercepted by Israel's 'Iron Dome' missile defence system although Israel appears to be downplaying the effectiveness of this system in an effort to get the militants to deplete their missile stores. At least one of these missles has managed to get through striking an apartment block in Kiryat Malakhi killing three and seriously wounding three others- all civilians. Most worryingly a rocket (presumably a Farj 5) struck Rishon Lezion around 15km (9miles) from Tel Aviv. With a population of around 400,000 Tel Aviv is very much Israel's second city and is home to an international airport. As a result any level of rocket fire on the area will produce unacceptable levels of damage and civilian casualties that simply will not be tolerated by Israel. Therefore the attack on Rishon Lezion now makes it extremely likely that Israel will deploy ground troops into Gaza either overnight or at dawn tomorrow. Obviously it depends on how those ground troops conduct themselves but this might not actually be a bad thing because attempting to destroy munitions stores in areas with a dense civilian population using air-strikes is incredibly dangerous.
There is a lot of concern over what Egypt's response to a ground incursion will be but I think that President Morsi should do what he always should have been doing and concentrate on his own country rather then trying to whip up support by attacking Israel.
16:50 on 15/11/12.
Wednesday 14 November 2012
Just When You Thought it Was Over.
Shattering the fragile peace that followed the weekend's fighting Israel has today launched airstrikes against 20 targets in Gaza killing at least 9 including Ahmed Said Kahili al-Jabri - founder member and military commander of Hamas. Obviously this is something that Hamas cannot let pass without a military response so it appears that Israel are deliberately provoking Hamas in order to use Hamas' retaliations as provocation for a much larger assault on Gaza while I'm distracted by this damn tour. That's a shame because having seen a small portion of the vast quantities of weapons Hamas have been receiving from Libya I could actually support Israel efforts to destroy some of their stockpiles. However my fear is that Israel will instead target senior Hamas personnel in an effort to decapitate the organisation. This is a problem because Hamas are the government of Gaza and therefore the ones who keep the peace. If Hamas are weakened that will likely lead to heavily armed chaos increasing attacks on Israel forcing Israel to make life much more difficult for Palestinians.
17:10 on 14/11/12.
17:10 on 14/11/12.
The United Nations Human Rights Council Election.
On Monday (12/11/12) the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) elected members from the western grouping to the 47 member United Nations Human Rights Council. With the Security Council changing in the way that it has the United States really needed to hang on to their seat. However due to their utter refusal to stick a restraining order on Chris Brown there were serious doubts over whether the US could make a fit arbiter of human rights issues. However despite the blatant provocation the UNGA took pity on the US and re-elected them to another 3 year term. I think that this was the correct decision but the US are now seriously getting to a point where they need to learn there is only so far they can push things before actions start having consequences. That of course is what the Yank were hoping for. No doubt they're telling the President it's part of some elaborate ploy to get the Chinese to play a larger role on the international stage by getting the US to play a smaller role.
15:10 on 14/11/12.
15:10 on 14/11/12.
Tuesday 13 November 2012
Now There's a Bad Sign
Last Tuesday (6/11/12) I brought a case of 24 Kronenburg bottles AND a case of 24 Budweiser bottles and I brought cans on the way. This Tuesday now I've returned home to no obvious sign of burglary I'm mainly folding up empty cardboard beer cases. And I brought cans on the way.
Even more worryingly I'm now mainly on Twitter (@Sovereignaka) because Google are still insisting on that new interface.
20:10 on 13/11/12
Even more worryingly I'm now mainly on Twitter (@Sovereignaka) because Google are still insisting on that new interface.
20:10 on 13/11/12
The Petaerus Death Spiral Continues.
Driven primarily by Fox News the US is adamant it is going to be pushing ahead with the David Petaerus scandal. The story that already forced the resignation of Obama's appointee as head of the CIA now looks as though it will attempt to expand to force the resignation of Obama's appointee as US Attorney General Eric Holder and the Obama appointed Commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Afghanistan General John Allen. As there is currently an ongoing review into US troop levels in Afghanistan this last one looks particularly damaging. Curiously though the controversy also looks likely to keep Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her post for that little bit longer which is a shame because as I've previously mentioned Clinton sucks so hard at her job I'm tempted to make a really inapporiate joke.
The element of the story about whether Pataerus' mistress divulged classified information and the bit about the FBI agent who became obsessed with the woman are just puff peices attempting to heap pressure on Rihanna ahead of her tour. Without out going into any level of detail I should point out she has nothing to worry about because I've been doing this since she was about 12 years old so I had a pretty good idea what I was getting into before I took the job on.
Seriously though I think it is time for the Yanks to accept the election result, put down the suicide mission and crack on with that restraining order. They won't though because despite all the evidence to the contrary they still believe that by pushing Dianne Feinstein to the fore will sell everybody on the idea that there is some internal power struggle going on over the issue when there clearly isn't. Feinstein would be better advised to stick to state issues at this time though.
11:10 on 13/11/12.
The element of the story about whether Pataerus' mistress divulged classified information and the bit about the FBI agent who became obsessed with the woman are just puff peices attempting to heap pressure on Rihanna ahead of her tour. Without out going into any level of detail I should point out she has nothing to worry about because I've been doing this since she was about 12 years old so I had a pretty good idea what I was getting into before I took the job on.
Seriously though I think it is time for the Yanks to accept the election result, put down the suicide mission and crack on with that restraining order. They won't though because despite all the evidence to the contrary they still believe that by pushing Dianne Feinstein to the fore will sell everybody on the idea that there is some internal power struggle going on over the issue when there clearly isn't. Feinstein would be better advised to stick to state issues at this time though.
11:10 on 13/11/12.
Monday 12 November 2012
The Ill-Concieved Tour Dates are Out.
You'll be glad to know that the dates for Rihanna's 777 tour have been announced. The schedule is as follows;
21:40 on 12/11/12.
- 14/11/12 - Mexico City where the primary objective will be Rihanna's illegal drug use, marijuana legalisation and it's effects on the cartels.
- 15/11/12 - Toronto where the primary objective will be that heavily tattooed Canadian with a penchant for violent men who I introduced you to in the para-Olympic closing ceremony.
- 16/11/12 - Stockholm where the primary objective will be those big billboards they've got up around the city showing the police photographs of Rihanna after she got beaten up by Chris Brown.
- 17/11/12 - Paris where the primary objective will be how Rihanna uses Twitter to communicate with her fans with specific reference to that incident just before the para-Olympic closing ceremony where Rihanna fans caused a mini-riot at a Paris train station.
- 18/11/12 - Berlin where I'm yet to work out what the primary objective is but Chris Brown will be playing a lot of dates in Germany at around the same time on his Contra Mundum tour.
- 19/11/12 - London where the primary objective will be me. Due to US/UK intelligence sharing this is also the date of my re-scheduled Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) interview. So if I was driven by such a mad lust for Rihanna that I just had to try and meet her at any cost this would be quite a stressful day for me. Fortunately though things are looking quite small on the HONEY and big on the TRAP at the moment.
- 20/11/12 - New York which is almost home.
21:40 on 12/11/12.
Oh Look I'm up at a Reasonable Time
That's because I went to bed at a reasonable time. I hope Chris Brown's probation officer is taking note. That's because I would say they've got until 13:00 local to petition the court to re-instate his restraining order while a possible sexual offence is investigated. It's a paper case so he won't need to appear but the ro will be international so if his handlers can't keep him in line they'll have to eat the cost of the cancelled tour.
And yes it will need to be formalised because even the Emirs are saying this flight is over now.
10:00 on 12/11/12.
And yes it will need to be formalised because even the Emirs are saying this flight is over now.
10:00 on 12/11/12.
Sunday 11 November 2012
Whoa That Was a Big Bowl!
It what can only be interpreted as a test of the US President (the script says Romney) yesterday (10/11/12) a group of militant Sunni Salafists fired one of those anti-tank rockets that they'd picked up in Libya from Gaza into an Israeli Defence Force (IDF) jeep wounding four Israeli soldiers one of whom remains in hospital. Then today a group of militant Sunni Salafists fired a mortar from inside Syria hitting an IDF post in Syria. As a result Israel has spent the day raining down more fire then Diwali. Can't really blame them though because if Egypt's been stopping 90% of the stuff getting into Gaza from Libya then the Israeli's have got a very tense future ahead of them. That might prove to be a problem because a tense Israel is an aggressive Israel so it looks like the Israel/Palestine peace process is off for another generation then.
Personally I think that's a shame because the actual Israel and the actual Palestine did their bit on Thursday.
22:25 11/11/12.
Personally I think that's a shame because the actual Israel and the actual Palestine did their bit on Thursday.
22:25 11/11/12.
The David Petaerus Resignation.
On Friday (9/11/12) the director of the US' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) formally resigned about a week after everyone knew he was going to go. Basically the US intelligence community were absolutely certain that Mitt Romney was going to win the 2012 Election. So as Pataerus was an Obama appointment and by all accounts capable of actually doing the job the CIA made up a story about his biographer Paula Broadwell sending harassing emails. This triggered an FBI investigation that uncovered that Petaerus was having an affair with Broadwell forcing him to resign leaving the way open for President Romney to appoint a more pliant person to a role which is really more liaison between the CIA and Washington rather then actually having any influence over how the CIA operates.
The rest of the story is really just noise but the bit about emails and email security was designed to feed into the British scandal about the Schofield list and the BBC. Basically the fundamental and inexplicable (unless you're an MI5 sleeper) mistake the BBC Newsnight program made was to infer that Lord McAlpine was a paedophile without making even the most basic checks on the witness and his story. This proved a bit of a problem because the witness - Steven Messham - had previously cost the Private Eye magazine around £500,000 (USD800,000) in libel damages after making up a similar story and had been labelled by everyone (including his own lawyer) at the initial inquiry into paedophilia at the Wrexham children's home as a seriously unreliable witness. This all feeds back into my grandmother's Court of Protection (COP) case. The plan Britain and the US had cooked up for the COP17/CMP7 was that the first week would be dominated by me going through the hearing and the second week would be dominated by Britain claiming that I'd lost because I was an unreliable witness. However because it turns out espionage agencies aren't really that bothered by things like gagging orders everybody had already seen the case file so could tell that wasn't the case. Britain and the US are still desperate to know how exactly that happened and the Vatican have been going on about little else for the past year through their Popes Butler saga.
So yeah the US is now playing at the same level as the Vatican - a nation whose power and influence in indisputably in free-fall.
16:55 on 11/11/12.
The rest of the story is really just noise but the bit about emails and email security was designed to feed into the British scandal about the Schofield list and the BBC. Basically the fundamental and inexplicable (unless you're an MI5 sleeper) mistake the BBC Newsnight program made was to infer that Lord McAlpine was a paedophile without making even the most basic checks on the witness and his story. This proved a bit of a problem because the witness - Steven Messham - had previously cost the Private Eye magazine around £500,000 (USD800,000) in libel damages after making up a similar story and had been labelled by everyone (including his own lawyer) at the initial inquiry into paedophilia at the Wrexham children's home as a seriously unreliable witness. This all feeds back into my grandmother's Court of Protection (COP) case. The plan Britain and the US had cooked up for the COP17/CMP7 was that the first week would be dominated by me going through the hearing and the second week would be dominated by Britain claiming that I'd lost because I was an unreliable witness. However because it turns out espionage agencies aren't really that bothered by things like gagging orders everybody had already seen the case file so could tell that wasn't the case. Britain and the US are still desperate to know how exactly that happened and the Vatican have been going on about little else for the past year through their Popes Butler saga.
So yeah the US is now playing at the same level as the Vatican - a nation whose power and influence in indisputably in free-fall.
16:55 on 11/11/12.
Friday 9 November 2012
F*king Weak A*sed Sh*t.
Yesterday Rihanna did some live Facebook webchat. During this she was asked the direct question of whether she was dating Chris Brown. Everybody in the business knows this was the absolute worst thing for anyone to do following what I had to say earlier in the day. In order to promote discussion over who asked this question (the presenter btw) the Americans announced that they'd prosecuted some US Navy SEALS for helping design a computer game. This was an ill advised swipe at Israel and it's army of bloggers because everybody knows that Facebook and the CIA are the same thing although the Americans were hoping this would promote the discussion about whether or not the Facebook IPO is the start of the CIA getting their money out of Facebook. Sadly everybody knew that already though.
Of course I might be wrong about that because I don't use Facebook and haven't been bothered to look up the transcript. One of those things will have to change though because along with Twitter and smartphones in my line of work Facebook has unfortunately become compulsory. In fact the plan was to get to grips with Twitter before moving on to Facebook but as I'm sure you've noticed there this very annoying thing blocking the first part of that plan. So in summary I would say that Chris Brown now represents a greater threat to the safety and wellbeing being of a greater number of Americans then the fiscal cliff. Unfortunately the Uber Alles brigades and sadly now the President are trying to convince everyone that Rihanna must request that the restraining order must be re-instated. Although I will need to check the exact terms of the order I very much doubt this. Besides under mental health legislation he can be detained indefinitely as a threat to public safety. Of course in reality what the California Brigades are actually trying to do is give Brown enough plausible denability that Rihanna takes him back in the hope and the world is once again captivated by the scandal. However if we have to roll on that one it truly will be the living end.
On the plus side though at around 00:00GMT Rihanna and Jay-Z will be hosting some sort of meet and greet in a nightclub in New York. As at local time this fits into that gap between the school day ending and the working day ending I suspect Jay-Z is being cast in the role of Kindergarten teacher and today's lesson is going to be what it actually takes to run a town. Hopefully some of that lesson will rub off on the President because unless someone tightens Brown's leash the best you can hope for from his tour is that everybody ignores it without getting too p*ssed off.
Of course I might be wrong about that because I don't use Facebook and haven't been bothered to look up the transcript. One of those things will have to change though because along with Twitter and smartphones in my line of work Facebook has unfortunately become compulsory. In fact the plan was to get to grips with Twitter before moving on to Facebook but as I'm sure you've noticed there this very annoying thing blocking the first part of that plan. So in summary I would say that Chris Brown now represents a greater threat to the safety and wellbeing being of a greater number of Americans then the fiscal cliff. Unfortunately the Uber Alles brigades and sadly now the President are trying to convince everyone that Rihanna must request that the restraining order must be re-instated. Although I will need to check the exact terms of the order I very much doubt this. Besides under mental health legislation he can be detained indefinitely as a threat to public safety. Of course in reality what the California Brigades are actually trying to do is give Brown enough plausible denability that Rihanna takes him back in the hope and the world is once again captivated by the scandal. However if we have to roll on that one it truly will be the living end.
On the plus side though at around 00:00GMT Rihanna and Jay-Z will be hosting some sort of meet and greet in a nightclub in New York. As at local time this fits into that gap between the school day ending and the working day ending I suspect Jay-Z is being cast in the role of Kindergarten teacher and today's lesson is going to be what it actually takes to run a town. Hopefully some of that lesson will rub off on the President because unless someone tightens Brown's leash the best you can hope for from his tour is that everybody ignores it without getting too p*ssed off.
Lord McAlpine: Too Easy.
In order to pour fuel on the flames of the Schofield list Conservative peer Lord McAlpine has today issued a strongly worded statement denying that he is a paedophile. Apart from dropping in some hints about Rolls Royce cars, Gold Cards, Harrods account cards and aftershave designed to remind everyone that Jimmy Savile is at the centre of the paedophile ring at the Wrexham children's home that spawned the Schofield list meaning that Savile is probably second only to the Crown in terms of running one of the largest paedophile rings in history McAlpine spoke heavily about the Conservative Party Home Secratery's statement to the Commons on the investigation. As that investigation is widely considered to be massive and blatant government cover-up citing his government colleague as proof of his innocence merely makes McAlpine look more guilty. In order to sweeten the pot McAlpine also commented at his frustration at "innuendo." As this can be pronounced to sound like "In-your-end-oh!" it won't be long until someone says; "McAlpine's sick of innuendo - imagine how the boys he's been buggering must feel." This of course will give McAlpine opportunity to sue people (probably Twitter users) for libel dragging the whole sorry saga out even further.
As for the Schofield list there's actually dozens of different versions doing the rounds. Most have been created and circulated by the government itself in order to promote discussion about whether the several thousand copies of my grandmother's case files that are doing the rounds are the same as the copy I'm looking at. I do hope they shut up before the COP/CMP though because that name "Al Capone" just keeps coming up doesn't it even though Brown will be doing a European headcount before shipping off to Africa to sell the nig nogs the Yanks version of events.
15:20 on 9/11/12.
As for the Schofield list there's actually dozens of different versions doing the rounds. Most have been created and circulated by the government itself in order to promote discussion about whether the several thousand copies of my grandmother's case files that are doing the rounds are the same as the copy I'm looking at. I do hope they shut up before the COP/CMP though because that name "Al Capone" just keeps coming up doesn't it even though Brown will be doing a European headcount before shipping off to Africa to sell the nig nogs the Yanks version of events.
15:20 on 9/11/12.
The Schofield List.
In case you haven't heard from the Crown down the British Establishment is absolutely riddled with paedophiles. In the latest twist the Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday appeared on a daytime TV presented by Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby called "This Morning" for what everybody expected to be a soft interview. However during the interview Schofield presented Cameron with a list that's been widely circulating on the Internet including the names of senior members of the governing Conservative Party who have been photographed literally raping young children. However that list was not shown on screen. In order to maximise the controversy the Prime Minister responded by comparing homosexuality with paedophilia. This created a firestorm that quickly sucked in gay rights, paedophilia, press freedoms, restrictions on the Internet, the validity of the British legal system, the Freemasons, Margret Thatcher, the miners strike, the Poll Tax, Hillsborough and remember the battle of the Beanfield, Grr!
This was all a distraction though because in a dry run for the COP18/CMP Summit Doha, Qatar is currently hosting a summit on Syria, specifically the Syrian opposition. So the Schofield list was actually Britain admitting that it carried out the October 19th (19/10/12) killing of Lebanese intelligence chief Wissam al-Hassan by way of a car bombing. The primary objective of the attack was of course for it to be blamed on Hezbollah bringing about the collapse of the Lebanese government allowing it to be replaced by a puppet regime that wouldn't contain Hezbollah and would be as anti-Syrian as the Saudis, Qatari's and Brits tell it to be. However Britain's secondary objective was to promote discussion about the killing by Hezbollah of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri in 2005 or more specifically the United Nations investigation into the killing. That highly technical report primarily relies on information obtained by intercepted telephone calls and explains in minute detail exactly who within Hezbollah ordered and carried out the killing of Hariri. Britain is now starting to think that maybe the report was also the UN tapping them on the shoulder over my case and reminding them there could well be a cell waiting for them at the Hague. Of course the fact that Hariri can be pronounced Ha-Rih-Rih doesn't hurt much either.
Today's big British news story looks like it's going to be all about the issue of 'illegal immigrants.' So I should explain the Queen's German and her husband's Greek and if the EU doesn't behave we may well be returning them at speed.
09:45 on 9/11/12.
This was all a distraction though because in a dry run for the COP18/CMP Summit Doha, Qatar is currently hosting a summit on Syria, specifically the Syrian opposition. So the Schofield list was actually Britain admitting that it carried out the October 19th (19/10/12) killing of Lebanese intelligence chief Wissam al-Hassan by way of a car bombing. The primary objective of the attack was of course for it to be blamed on Hezbollah bringing about the collapse of the Lebanese government allowing it to be replaced by a puppet regime that wouldn't contain Hezbollah and would be as anti-Syrian as the Saudis, Qatari's and Brits tell it to be. However Britain's secondary objective was to promote discussion about the killing by Hezbollah of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri in 2005 or more specifically the United Nations investigation into the killing. That highly technical report primarily relies on information obtained by intercepted telephone calls and explains in minute detail exactly who within Hezbollah ordered and carried out the killing of Hariri. Britain is now starting to think that maybe the report was also the UN tapping them on the shoulder over my case and reminding them there could well be a cell waiting for them at the Hague. Of course the fact that Hariri can be pronounced Ha-Rih-Rih doesn't hurt much either.
Today's big British news story looks like it's going to be all about the issue of 'illegal immigrants.' So I should explain the Queen's German and her husband's Greek and if the EU doesn't behave we may well be returning them at speed.
09:45 on 9/11/12.
Thursday 8 November 2012
This Would be so Much Better on the Phone.
And ideally should be done in person. However it's clear that the Kate Moss hint fell on stony ground so splashed up on the Internet it must go.
In the weeks following the para-Olympic closing ceremony Rihanna and I had something of a shared consciousness thing going on. If you've ever picked up the phone to call someone only for it to suddenly ring and it's that person calling you you'll know exactly what this is. It's actually quite common amongst people in close relationships such as sharing a home and people who have just gone through an intense emotional experience together. That's because if you have people thinking about the same problems at the same time it's quite likely their thoughts will occasionally coincide. During the Cold War both the USA and the USSR spent small fortunes researching shared consciousness as a way to run spies in order to reduce of them being uncovered by removing the need for them to physically meet up with their handler. Although this research did establish that the phenomenon exists it was always found to be a bit more miss then hit.
Although amongst nations that haven't spent millions researching shared consciousness this obviously perpetuates the myth that Rihanna somehow controls the weather through some sort of psychic power it was actually a bit of a laugh. Then Chris Brown turned up. A significant way in which Brown has engineered his reunion with Rihanna has been to get her to play about with this shared consciousness thing as a way to try and control me. For the most part this involved things like trying to wake me up in the middle of the night but also included the just and righteous war against the current UK season of X-Factor. This is actually a well established mentalist trick which is frequently used by con artists. By placing the victim in the role of the puppet master they gain a sense of power and control which boosts their confidence and distracts them from the fact they're actually the one being manipulated. UK viewers of the recent "Derren Brown: Apocalypse" special would have seen something very similar where the victim of the stunt was given a young black girl to take care of in order to prevent him questioning the rather ridiculous proposition that he was one of only a handful of survivors after the earth had be struck by meteorites.
Matters really came to a head though this past weekend when Brown joined Rihanna on a short holiday to Barbados. Apart from having one last crack at the US election Brown's handlers arranged this through the recording of Rihanna's album in the hope that the scandal would attract professional attention to Rihanna's forthcoming, and by my reckoning ill-conceived, 777 tour and Brown's much longer upcoming tour. On the African leg especially Brown's safety and security is already becoming an inter-governmental issue although I'm not sure why because the last time I checked he doesn't have formal diplomatic status. For his part Brown was desperate to make the trip in order that he would be glued to Rihanna's side while my relationship with her and my opinion of their relationship was called into sharp focus by provoking me into a slanging match. His hope was that this would allow Brown to gain much more information about how Rihanna thinks and the allegations against him. This would allow him to be better able to control Rihanna for example by making sure his carefully rehearsed "Oh baby I've changed!" lines more likely to press exactly the right buttons.
As I like to think the best of people up until this point I had actually been giving Brown the benefit of the doubt over the 2009 beating. However this pattern of behaviour along with the New York nightclub incident which could be tried as a rape offence in the UK has left me convinced that Brown is an extremely predatory and dangerous individual. As this comes after some three years of rehabilitation it seems very likely that this behaviour is pathological rather then being the result of immaturity. This means that even with hospitalisation and years of intensive cognitive therapy it is extremely unlikely that he will change. The fact that he isn't actually particularly good at this manipulative behaviour massively increases the risk he will become frustrated putting Rihanna at a high risk of further physical violence. Even without physical attacks the relationship with Brown is already clearly having a negative effect on Rihanna. Over this last month I have watched opportunity after opportunity go up in smoke and although it's small and almost imperceptible at this point you can already see Rihanna's world starting to shrink. That's because I'm clearly not the only one beginning to ask themselves whether they can be bothered to put up with the person Rihanna becomes when she is with Brown.
So I think the only question left is why Brown's probation officer has not yet intervened and at the very least re-instated the restraining order although 1 year in prison has also been suggested. That is because it seems to me that everybody in the business knows exactly what's going on except for the one person whose opinion actually matters and you can already hear her defensive walls going up.
16:40 on 8/11/12.
In the weeks following the para-Olympic closing ceremony Rihanna and I had something of a shared consciousness thing going on. If you've ever picked up the phone to call someone only for it to suddenly ring and it's that person calling you you'll know exactly what this is. It's actually quite common amongst people in close relationships such as sharing a home and people who have just gone through an intense emotional experience together. That's because if you have people thinking about the same problems at the same time it's quite likely their thoughts will occasionally coincide. During the Cold War both the USA and the USSR spent small fortunes researching shared consciousness as a way to run spies in order to reduce of them being uncovered by removing the need for them to physically meet up with their handler. Although this research did establish that the phenomenon exists it was always found to be a bit more miss then hit.
Although amongst nations that haven't spent millions researching shared consciousness this obviously perpetuates the myth that Rihanna somehow controls the weather through some sort of psychic power it was actually a bit of a laugh. Then Chris Brown turned up. A significant way in which Brown has engineered his reunion with Rihanna has been to get her to play about with this shared consciousness thing as a way to try and control me. For the most part this involved things like trying to wake me up in the middle of the night but also included the just and righteous war against the current UK season of X-Factor. This is actually a well established mentalist trick which is frequently used by con artists. By placing the victim in the role of the puppet master they gain a sense of power and control which boosts their confidence and distracts them from the fact they're actually the one being manipulated. UK viewers of the recent "Derren Brown: Apocalypse" special would have seen something very similar where the victim of the stunt was given a young black girl to take care of in order to prevent him questioning the rather ridiculous proposition that he was one of only a handful of survivors after the earth had be struck by meteorites.
Matters really came to a head though this past weekend when Brown joined Rihanna on a short holiday to Barbados. Apart from having one last crack at the US election Brown's handlers arranged this through the recording of Rihanna's album in the hope that the scandal would attract professional attention to Rihanna's forthcoming, and by my reckoning ill-conceived, 777 tour and Brown's much longer upcoming tour. On the African leg especially Brown's safety and security is already becoming an inter-governmental issue although I'm not sure why because the last time I checked he doesn't have formal diplomatic status. For his part Brown was desperate to make the trip in order that he would be glued to Rihanna's side while my relationship with her and my opinion of their relationship was called into sharp focus by provoking me into a slanging match. His hope was that this would allow Brown to gain much more information about how Rihanna thinks and the allegations against him. This would allow him to be better able to control Rihanna for example by making sure his carefully rehearsed "Oh baby I've changed!" lines more likely to press exactly the right buttons.
As I like to think the best of people up until this point I had actually been giving Brown the benefit of the doubt over the 2009 beating. However this pattern of behaviour along with the New York nightclub incident which could be tried as a rape offence in the UK has left me convinced that Brown is an extremely predatory and dangerous individual. As this comes after some three years of rehabilitation it seems very likely that this behaviour is pathological rather then being the result of immaturity. This means that even with hospitalisation and years of intensive cognitive therapy it is extremely unlikely that he will change. The fact that he isn't actually particularly good at this manipulative behaviour massively increases the risk he will become frustrated putting Rihanna at a high risk of further physical violence. Even without physical attacks the relationship with Brown is already clearly having a negative effect on Rihanna. Over this last month I have watched opportunity after opportunity go up in smoke and although it's small and almost imperceptible at this point you can already see Rihanna's world starting to shrink. That's because I'm clearly not the only one beginning to ask themselves whether they can be bothered to put up with the person Rihanna becomes when she is with Brown.
So I think the only question left is why Brown's probation officer has not yet intervened and at the very least re-instated the restraining order although 1 year in prison has also been suggested. That is because it seems to me that everybody in the business knows exactly what's going on except for the one person whose opinion actually matters and you can already hear her defensive walls going up.
16:40 on 8/11/12.
Wednesday 7 November 2012
It's True: Obama's Won.
Due to the issuing of an unusually high number of provisional ballots (around 350,000 each) caused by controversial new voter ID laws Ohio (18) and Florida (29) are not expected to finish their counts and award their electoral college votes until November 17th. However with Obama currently leading Romney by 303 electoral college votes to 206 this difference of 47 votes is not enough to alter the result so Obama wins. The Democrats retain the senate and the Republicans retain the House of Representatives meaning that there is likely to be further deadlock in Washington over the budget which will possibly push the US over the so-called 'fiscal cliff.' This is why the New York Stock Exchange has plunged some 300 points on the news of the election result.
So yeah the American voters - nowhere near as stupid as the George W Bush years would have had you believe.
16:30 on 7/11/12.
So yeah the American voters - nowhere near as stupid as the George W Bush years would have had you believe.
16:30 on 7/11/12.
Tuesday 6 November 2012
For the First Time in History.
The time difference is actually going to go my way. So now I'm going to go to bed only to awake bright eyed and refreshed in time for a sleep deprived and bedraggled TV new person to hand the the certified, verified and confirmed result of the 2012 US Presidential Election. No, who am I kidding the results are going to be stretched out all the way until the Chinese declare their result. Of course the fact the Chinese know more about the US system then the US know about the Chinese system means that in my mind that's a suicide mission. However the sad fact is there's a large element within the US Establishment who dream about the day they live in China. Fortunately though unlike the SQIA they fly the right flag!
Seriously I've been up for so long even the TV strippers have started putting their clothes back on.
06:20 on 7/11/12.
Seriously I've been up for so long even the TV strippers have started putting their clothes back on.
06:20 on 7/11/12.
The Polls Are Still Open.
I'm back from the pub and not obviously burgled however the polls in the US Election are still very much open. If you are in the US I strongly suggest that you use this opportunity to go and vote. That's because the latest polls I've seen for swing state Florida show Obama on 49.74% and Romney on 49.73% so seriously every vote will matter.
20:00 on 6/11/12.
20:00 on 6/11/12.
Please Vote.
The polls have opened in the final day of voting in the 2012 US Presidential Election. Therefore there is nothing left for me to do expect urge everybody to vote even if they don't agree with my choice. I don't mean this in the sense that in a healthy democracy everybody needs to participate. I mean it in the sense that the scenario all the pollsters are talking about will see both candidates receiving 269 electoral college votes making it a dead heat. If that happens the House of Representatives will choose the President and the Senate will choose the Vice President meaning that will be very little difference between the way the US chooses it's leaders and the way China chooses it's leaders.
So whether or not you personally choose to vote could well be what decides the outcome of the election.
12:00 on 6/11/12.
So whether or not you personally choose to vote could well be what decides the outcome of the election.
12:00 on 6/11/12.
Monday 5 November 2012
Quick bit of House Keeping.
I am now following the Governors of New York and New Jersey along with the Mayor of New York on Twitter. They shouldn't take this too personally because I'm only really using them as a bridgehead in order to expand out and find out exactly what's going on with the Sandy recovery. Unfortunately that's something I'm going to have to play with over the next couple of days so won't be yielding results until about Wednesday (7/11/12). I have to say though the two main priorities remain getting the power back on and getting the people who've been made homeless by the storm out of the weather. New York state is talking about 30-40,000 households being destroyed so unless they can get those people into trailers or hotels it might be time to start thinking about shipping them out of state because that will be a long term problem throughout the winter.
In other news I've been on to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and cancelled my appointment for Wednesday morning and they were actually quite reasonable about it. So it looks like my election night drinking binge is back on! Now all we need to do is find away for the Department of Justice to keep the Tea Party's thugs, er sorry 'election observers' on the leash and there might be a danger of democracy breaking out tomorrow because seriously predominately white mobs starting fights to keep predominately black voters out of polling stations I thought that went out with the Jim Crowe laws.
16:45 on 5/11/12.
In other news I've been on to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and cancelled my appointment for Wednesday morning and they were actually quite reasonable about it. So it looks like my election night drinking binge is back on! Now all we need to do is find away for the Department of Justice to keep the Tea Party's thugs, er sorry 'election observers' on the leash and there might be a danger of democracy breaking out tomorrow because seriously predominately white mobs starting fights to keep predominately black voters out of polling stations I thought that went out with the Jim Crowe laws.
16:45 on 5/11/12.
Sunday 4 November 2012
The US Presidential Election: Time to Decide.
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past year you will be painfully aware that on Tuesday (6/11/12) voters in the United States of America will chose their President for the next four years. Unlike in 2008 which saw two untested candidates vying for the top job the 2012 race is between the Republican challenger Mitt Romney and the Democrat incumbent Barack Obama who has been doing the job for the past four years. Therefore I consider the most important factor in deciding which candidate to back is Obama's record as President. Obviously I have neither the time nor the space to review every decision he's made and every policy Obama's implemented over the past four years so instead I will concentrate on what I consider to be his greatest success and his greatest failure.
Obama's greatest success has undoubtedly been the economy. I know that with unemployment up close to 8% this might seem like a controversial thing to say but the important thing to remember is that in the months leading up to Obama taking up office the US and world economies experienced one of the worst collapses in history which left the US in deep recession with GDP shrinking by an average of 3.2% a quarter and close to 1 million jobs being lost a month. Following that Britain went into a double-dip recession from which it is only just beginning to emerge, Portugal and the Republic of Ireland both required IMF bailouts and Greece went into a such a deep depression that in several parts of the country people have actually given up on capitalism and started to use a barter system instead. During this time the only two western nations that have consistently recorded growth month on month are the US and Germany. The Germans are actually cheating slightly because along with the rest of the former Soviet bloc East Germany is still woefully underdeveloped meaning that getting economic growth there is a bit like playing tennis with the net down. So although his main objective has been to limit the damage Obama has excelled on the economy and probably would have been able to do more if it hadn't been for an obstructive Republican dominated Congress that seemed to be trying to make the US economy worse in order to use it as an election issue to help their candidate take back the White House.
Obama's greatest failure has undoubtedly been in foreign policy specifically in dealing with Iran and the so-called Arab Spring. The first mistake was the failure to recognise the fact that no-one in Israel is actually that bothered about Iran's nuclear program. However Zionist hawks within Israel have always been very keen to use the issue as an excuse to mount an unsuccessful attack on Israel in the hope of provoking a counter attack on Israel from Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah would then be very quickly defeated allowing Israel to seize great swathes of territory in southern Lebanon possibly going as far as the Litani river. Although Israel would eventually give most of the territory back this would significantly alter peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine over the two state solution. By attempting to avoid war and contain the situation by placing truly crippling sanctions in Iran all Obama has done is spoil the very delicate diplomatic dance that all sides in the region have happily been doing for years. By taking Iranian oil off the world market Obama also succeed in weakening the US' global strategic position by making the nation more dependent on Saudi Arabia - a bunch of people so unpleasant US support for the Saudi Monarchy was one of the major reasons Al Qadea attacked the US on 9/11. This strategic problem was compounded by the decision to intervene in Libya which also took Libyan oil off the global market. Although the US President's first responsibility is to the US people that intervention had a very negative effect for people living across the middle-east and north Africa. For example more then a year after the fall of Muammer Qaddafi Libya is still sadly looking closer to a failed state then a prosperous democracy. The massive influx of weapons into the region allowed Al Qaeda backed fighters to seize control of a very large area in the north of Mali. The chaos caused also served to destabilise Egypt and derail the promise of their revolution leaving them still without a constitution, a mildy Islamist President who rules by diktat and power saving measures being introduced to deal with daily blackouts. From the US perspective though the biggest failure of the Libya intervention is that it has left the country so hugely dependent on Saudi Arabia and it's oil that it had no choice other then to go along with the bloodbath that is currently taking place in Syria that will kill more people then the civil war in Iraq, could well re-ignite the civil war in Iraq and will certainly dump a large number of heavily armed and battle hardened Jihadists right on Israel's border. Therefore I seriously think that Hillary Clinton and Susan Rice should now both be in prison for their support for the Libya intervention. However I seem to remember that the Republicans only contribution to the debate was to call for more and faster military intervention in Iran, Libya and Syria.
As for Mitt Romney while he is clearly more intelligent, compassionate and capable then the last Republican President I am struggling to find something positive to say about him. For example his economic plan to increase the US national debt through $5 trillion of tax cuts and $2 trillion of spending increases is nothing short of idiotic. Although it clearly has a lot of support across the Republican base the only way Romney supporters have found to justify the plan to people who work in economics and finance (such as the Economist magazine) is to claim that Romney is simply lying in order to get elected and has no intention of actually implementing such a stupid plan.
Even Romney's most frequently claimed qualification for the job of President - his time spent in business - actually counts as a disadvantage in my eyes. That's because the world of business and the world of politics are very different places. In the world of business two people will agree on a plan because it will make them both money. Therefore they will shake hands on a deal before going off and trying their hardest to make that plan a success. The world of politics, especially international diplomacy is much more about power, domination, manipulation, exploitation and point scoring. Therefore two people will often shake hands on a deal before going off and trying their hardest to stab each other in the back.I think Romney will find it very difficult to adapt to this world which brings me on to Romney's greatest weakness - his lack of charisma and his rather robotic way of talking to people. Although it is stupid and irrational the ability to read and talk to people is very important to a world leader. Having watched him throughout the campaign and especially during the debates Romney is clearly nowhere near as good as Obama at this and is prone to making school boy errors. This is a major disadvantage in a President because if you have a President that is weak on an area of policy they can always bring in an expert in the field to act as an adviser and help them out. However when it comes to sitting down with another world leader at something like a G20 Summit and talking them into seeing things America's way that is something the President can only do for himself. Obama's strength in this area has clearly helped the US significantly over the past four years because while Obama has made some mistakes the fact he's been able to get the international community to go along with those mistakes owes a lot to the fact that most other world leaders actually like Obama on a personal level and enjoy spending time with him. Therefore they don't want to upset him by saying no to him.
So in summary if I was able to vote in the US Presidential Election I would vote for Barack Obama because I happen to think the Republican's 2008 slogan was correct. The White House is no place for on the job training and the US really can't afford to start having to train another one so soon.
18:25 on 4/11/12
Obama's greatest success has undoubtedly been the economy. I know that with unemployment up close to 8% this might seem like a controversial thing to say but the important thing to remember is that in the months leading up to Obama taking up office the US and world economies experienced one of the worst collapses in history which left the US in deep recession with GDP shrinking by an average of 3.2% a quarter and close to 1 million jobs being lost a month. Following that Britain went into a double-dip recession from which it is only just beginning to emerge, Portugal and the Republic of Ireland both required IMF bailouts and Greece went into a such a deep depression that in several parts of the country people have actually given up on capitalism and started to use a barter system instead. During this time the only two western nations that have consistently recorded growth month on month are the US and Germany. The Germans are actually cheating slightly because along with the rest of the former Soviet bloc East Germany is still woefully underdeveloped meaning that getting economic growth there is a bit like playing tennis with the net down. So although his main objective has been to limit the damage Obama has excelled on the economy and probably would have been able to do more if it hadn't been for an obstructive Republican dominated Congress that seemed to be trying to make the US economy worse in order to use it as an election issue to help their candidate take back the White House.
Obama's greatest failure has undoubtedly been in foreign policy specifically in dealing with Iran and the so-called Arab Spring. The first mistake was the failure to recognise the fact that no-one in Israel is actually that bothered about Iran's nuclear program. However Zionist hawks within Israel have always been very keen to use the issue as an excuse to mount an unsuccessful attack on Israel in the hope of provoking a counter attack on Israel from Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah would then be very quickly defeated allowing Israel to seize great swathes of territory in southern Lebanon possibly going as far as the Litani river. Although Israel would eventually give most of the territory back this would significantly alter peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine over the two state solution. By attempting to avoid war and contain the situation by placing truly crippling sanctions in Iran all Obama has done is spoil the very delicate diplomatic dance that all sides in the region have happily been doing for years. By taking Iranian oil off the world market Obama also succeed in weakening the US' global strategic position by making the nation more dependent on Saudi Arabia - a bunch of people so unpleasant US support for the Saudi Monarchy was one of the major reasons Al Qadea attacked the US on 9/11. This strategic problem was compounded by the decision to intervene in Libya which also took Libyan oil off the global market. Although the US President's first responsibility is to the US people that intervention had a very negative effect for people living across the middle-east and north Africa. For example more then a year after the fall of Muammer Qaddafi Libya is still sadly looking closer to a failed state then a prosperous democracy. The massive influx of weapons into the region allowed Al Qaeda backed fighters to seize control of a very large area in the north of Mali. The chaos caused also served to destabilise Egypt and derail the promise of their revolution leaving them still without a constitution, a mildy Islamist President who rules by diktat and power saving measures being introduced to deal with daily blackouts. From the US perspective though the biggest failure of the Libya intervention is that it has left the country so hugely dependent on Saudi Arabia and it's oil that it had no choice other then to go along with the bloodbath that is currently taking place in Syria that will kill more people then the civil war in Iraq, could well re-ignite the civil war in Iraq and will certainly dump a large number of heavily armed and battle hardened Jihadists right on Israel's border. Therefore I seriously think that Hillary Clinton and Susan Rice should now both be in prison for their support for the Libya intervention. However I seem to remember that the Republicans only contribution to the debate was to call for more and faster military intervention in Iran, Libya and Syria.
As for Mitt Romney while he is clearly more intelligent, compassionate and capable then the last Republican President I am struggling to find something positive to say about him. For example his economic plan to increase the US national debt through $5 trillion of tax cuts and $2 trillion of spending increases is nothing short of idiotic. Although it clearly has a lot of support across the Republican base the only way Romney supporters have found to justify the plan to people who work in economics and finance (such as the Economist magazine) is to claim that Romney is simply lying in order to get elected and has no intention of actually implementing such a stupid plan.
Even Romney's most frequently claimed qualification for the job of President - his time spent in business - actually counts as a disadvantage in my eyes. That's because the world of business and the world of politics are very different places. In the world of business two people will agree on a plan because it will make them both money. Therefore they will shake hands on a deal before going off and trying their hardest to make that plan a success. The world of politics, especially international diplomacy is much more about power, domination, manipulation, exploitation and point scoring. Therefore two people will often shake hands on a deal before going off and trying their hardest to stab each other in the back.I think Romney will find it very difficult to adapt to this world which brings me on to Romney's greatest weakness - his lack of charisma and his rather robotic way of talking to people. Although it is stupid and irrational the ability to read and talk to people is very important to a world leader. Having watched him throughout the campaign and especially during the debates Romney is clearly nowhere near as good as Obama at this and is prone to making school boy errors. This is a major disadvantage in a President because if you have a President that is weak on an area of policy they can always bring in an expert in the field to act as an adviser and help them out. However when it comes to sitting down with another world leader at something like a G20 Summit and talking them into seeing things America's way that is something the President can only do for himself. Obama's strength in this area has clearly helped the US significantly over the past four years because while Obama has made some mistakes the fact he's been able to get the international community to go along with those mistakes owes a lot to the fact that most other world leaders actually like Obama on a personal level and enjoy spending time with him. Therefore they don't want to upset him by saying no to him.
So in summary if I was able to vote in the US Presidential Election I would vote for Barack Obama because I happen to think the Republican's 2008 slogan was correct. The White House is no place for on the job training and the US really can't afford to start having to train another one so soon.
18:25 on 4/11/12
Hypothermia Warnings Issued for New York.
With some 2.5 million households still without power following Super storm Sandy and night time temperatures dropping below freezing the Mayor of New York yesterday issued a warning to the cities residents about the dangers of hypothermia in a speech that can be read here; http://tinyurl.com/d6bjlsb
The cities main response though has been to set up a series of day time warming centres that can be found here; http://www.nyc.gov/html/misc/html/2012/warming_ctr.html
And night time shelters that can be found here; http://www.nyc.gov/html/misc/html/2012/overnight_shelter.html
Obviously the best advice is to use those shelters but failing that the best guide I've been able to find online about how to avoid hypothermia is this from WikiHow; http://www.wikihow.com/Prevent-Hypothermia which really can be summed up in four simple rules; Stay Dry, Stay out of the Wind, Avoid sleeping on the ground and Wear a hat.
As very few people in the affected areas have Internet access it would be useful if those who do print out this advice and pass it around as widely as possible. In fact it might helpful if the relief agencies could put together a short (2xA4) information pack including where to get help along with some basic advice such as how to avoid hypothermia and basic hygiene information. For example if you're living somewhere like Breezy Point where the water supply has been damaged and you don't have power to boil drinking water you can always purify it by added 8 drops of household (chlorine) bleach to every gallon of water and leaving it for 30 minutes. It will taste horrible but it won't kill you.
12:10 on 4/11/12.
The cities main response though has been to set up a series of day time warming centres that can be found here; http://www.nyc.gov/html/misc/html/2012/warming_ctr.html
And night time shelters that can be found here; http://www.nyc.gov/html/misc/html/2012/overnight_shelter.html
Obviously the best advice is to use those shelters but failing that the best guide I've been able to find online about how to avoid hypothermia is this from WikiHow; http://www.wikihow.com/Prevent-Hypothermia which really can be summed up in four simple rules; Stay Dry, Stay out of the Wind, Avoid sleeping on the ground and Wear a hat.
As very few people in the affected areas have Internet access it would be useful if those who do print out this advice and pass it around as widely as possible. In fact it might helpful if the relief agencies could put together a short (2xA4) information pack including where to get help along with some basic advice such as how to avoid hypothermia and basic hygiene information. For example if you're living somewhere like Breezy Point where the water supply has been damaged and you don't have power to boil drinking water you can always purify it by added 8 drops of household (chlorine) bleach to every gallon of water and leaving it for 30 minutes. It will taste horrible but it won't kill you.
12:10 on 4/11/12.
Saturday 3 November 2012
How Terrible is This.
I feel I actually need to put out a public statement saying that Rihanna is under no obligation whatsoever to help out with the Sandy recovery operation. That's because from what I know of her seeing all those people suffering will make her want to try and pay for everything and nobody is that rich.
The rest of you though should seriously think about getting in touch with these people; https://www.redcross.org/donate/index.jsp?donateStep=2&itemId=prod10002 because with 1/5th of the US population having their lives seriously disrupted apparently they're looking for blood donors too.
17:05 on 3/11/12.
The rest of you though should seriously think about getting in touch with these people; https://www.redcross.org/donate/index.jsp?donateStep=2&itemId=prod10002 because with 1/5th of the US population having their lives seriously disrupted apparently they're looking for blood donors too.
17:05 on 3/11/12.
Friday 2 November 2012
Apparently the Marathon's Off.
Although it didn't make it into the final edit I like to think the line that sealed it was my suggestion that Micheal Bloomberg should be force to run the entire 26.2m course dressed as the state of Florida. Hopefully we can still hold him to that promise.
03:20 on 3/11/12.
03:20 on 3/11/12.
That Bloomberg's a Bit of a One Isn't He.
After actively supporting Mitt Romney throughout the election campaign by trying to force the issue of gun control onto the Presidential agenda New York Mayor Micheal Bloomberg yesterday (1/11/12) sensationally switched sides and threw his support behind Barak Obama. Sadly I think this is only an indication that Bloomberg now intends to do everything in his power to make sure that the recovery from Sandy goes as badly as possible in the hope that his failure will be projected onto Obama nationally helping Mitt Romney to win. So publicly endorsing the guy he wants to see lose. You wouldn't think it would be that easy to tie Bloomberg to Chavez and Castro but look I just managed it with out using the world "authoritarian" once.
Of course the fact that last comment is a reference to recent Republican ads in Florida means that if pressed Bloomberg will deny everything and try to claim he's only trying to promote discussion about vote rigging. Unfortunately his play ties in perfectly with the Republican Party's play which today has seen Republican owned voter machines in Ohio recording votes for Obama when the voter wishes to select Romney. This is simply an attempt by the Republicans to give the Tea Party enough of a claim of irregularity on both sides so it becomes harder for the Democrats to prove the widespread fraud that will help the Republicans steal the election. The US Justice department have responded by announcing they will be sending a election observers to a number of states including Texas and Ohio. In the meantime everybody else is just wondering why the US can't use the pencil and paper that has served all other democracies so well for hundreds of years.
I do though I have to say that I am now starting to get a little worried about New Jersey. That's because the state was the most hard hit by Sandy and it's geography - basically being a series of small islands - means that even with all the money and personnel in the world it will take the longest to recover. A winter storm is predicted to hit them in the middle of next week so if they haven't got power back on by then (7-10 days is a reasonable estimate) they are seriously going to have to start thinking about evacuating people. Fortunately this should have little to no impact on the election because you simply evacuate people according to electoral district and then allow them to vote at the evacuation centres.
The important thing to remember though is try not to panic because in my experience panicking only ever leaves you with the same problems just with less energy to deal with them.
20:50 on 2/11/12.
Of course the fact that last comment is a reference to recent Republican ads in Florida means that if pressed Bloomberg will deny everything and try to claim he's only trying to promote discussion about vote rigging. Unfortunately his play ties in perfectly with the Republican Party's play which today has seen Republican owned voter machines in Ohio recording votes for Obama when the voter wishes to select Romney. This is simply an attempt by the Republicans to give the Tea Party enough of a claim of irregularity on both sides so it becomes harder for the Democrats to prove the widespread fraud that will help the Republicans steal the election. The US Justice department have responded by announcing they will be sending a election observers to a number of states including Texas and Ohio. In the meantime everybody else is just wondering why the US can't use the pencil and paper that has served all other democracies so well for hundreds of years.
I do though I have to say that I am now starting to get a little worried about New Jersey. That's because the state was the most hard hit by Sandy and it's geography - basically being a series of small islands - means that even with all the money and personnel in the world it will take the longest to recover. A winter storm is predicted to hit them in the middle of next week so if they haven't got power back on by then (7-10 days is a reasonable estimate) they are seriously going to have to start thinking about evacuating people. Fortunately this should have little to no impact on the election because you simply evacuate people according to electoral district and then allow them to vote at the evacuation centres.
The important thing to remember though is try not to panic because in my experience panicking only ever leaves you with the same problems just with less energy to deal with them.
20:50 on 2/11/12.
All Hail the Whiskey!
And despite the deceptive packaging it most certainly was a whiskey although this close to a US Election I dare not speak it's name. However after mixing it with boiling water, sugar, lemon juice and erm, more whiskey it broke my cold to the point where today I was able to to the gym before lying myself down in a range of pastures in a vast number of colours. It's a bit annoying really because I was starting to enjoy the woozy and no it looks like I'm going to have to invent my own.
Oh and are NBC still doing that Hurricane Sandy live telethon because at this rate it looks like it's going to be a bigger disaster then the storm.
16:00 on 2/11/12.
Oh and are NBC still doing that Hurricane Sandy live telethon because at this rate it looks like it's going to be a bigger disaster then the storm.
16:00 on 2/11/12.
Thursday 1 November 2012
Yeah I've Got a Cold.
And it's really putting woo into woozy at the moment. However it has served to remind me that homelessness and cold temperatures really do not mix. Following Superstorm Sandy there are currently around 7000 extra homeless people across the eastern United States with millions more without power and night time temperatures are expected to drop from around 40F (3C) to around 30F (-2C) over the coming days. So if you are in the US and you have some spare cash knocking about I strongly suggest you go and speak to these guys; https://www.redcross.org/donate/index.jsp?donateStep=2&itemId=prod10002
If you're not in the US I strongly suggest you go and speak to these guys; https://www.wfp.org/donate/fillthecup?icn=homepage-donate-cup&ici=big-button-link
Because in places like Haiti which was also struck by Sandy they already had mass homelessness and no electricity. Now they're dealing with things like a Cholera outbreak and a predicted food crisis following the destruction of a years worth of crops. No wonder the Brazilians who are currently charged with keeping the peace were so keen to have the island mentioned in the para-Olympic closing ceremony.
20:55 on 1/11/12.
If you're not in the US I strongly suggest you go and speak to these guys; https://www.wfp.org/donate/fillthecup?icn=homepage-donate-cup&ici=big-button-link
Because in places like Haiti which was also struck by Sandy they already had mass homelessness and no electricity. Now they're dealing with things like a Cholera outbreak and a predicted food crisis following the destruction of a years worth of crops. No wonder the Brazilians who are currently charged with keeping the peace were so keen to have the island mentioned in the para-Olympic closing ceremony.
20:55 on 1/11/12.
Chris Christie's in Trouble Then.
On Tuesday (30/10/12) in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy the Republican Governor of New Jersey broke with his party's campaign position and publicly congratulated Democrat President Obama for his response to the storm. This included making sure that declaration of a federal disaster zone (quite a bureaucratic process) was completed while the storm was hitting so all the federal funds and resources were available to help the moment the storm had passed. As New Jersey was undoubtedly the area most hard hit by the storm Obama visited the state yesterday in his role as President to see for himself the extent of the damage done and exactly what help was required to assist with the recovery.
In the hours before the President's visit New Jersey was hit by a second disaster when a gas main set fire to a number of houses in Mantoloking. As the area was cut off by floodwater the fire department had no option other then to watch the houses burn in scenes similar to the fire in Breezy Point in New York. To me this seemed like an attempt to put extra pressure on both Christie and Obama ahead of the meeting between the two men. For Christie's part it was simply meant to serve as a sharp warning that unless he got back to toeing the party line more accidents could happen. For Obama it was meant to get him talking about the Breezy Point fire in the hope he would reveal details about what if any investigation is going to take place because it turns out a lot of retired police live in Breezy Point.
As for the Breezy Point fire I'm now almost 100% certain that was an arson attack because if you were looking in the right places it fits perfectly into a pattern. First I Tweeted some sexual innuendo about things not coming up when I visited my doctor. Then about an hour later a construction crane went all floppy in Manhattan. Next Chris Brown (nicknamed Breezy) Tweeted some photograph which due to power cuts I've still not seen. About an hour later the facade of a building in Chelsea suddenly collapsed. Then after I'd gone to bed Chris Brown Tweeted a link to some website or another and about an hour later the fire broke out at Breezy Point. The hope was that ahead of the COP18/CMP8 the outside world would view this as me, Chris Brown and Rihanna (still sounds weird to say) having some massive argument and that argument being played out through the changing forces of the storm. The hope was that this would restart the very real debate that's been going on at the fringes (in the bars mainly) of the COP/CMP process since that Umbrella record came out about whether or not Rihanna controls the weather. The reason why this argument is so important to certain camps within the climate change/global warming debate is that with the evidence mounting up those who argue that climate change/global warming isn't a man-made phenomenon are really starting to run out of counter arguments. The Rihanna proposition makes for a perfect blocking tactic because while it is extremely unlikely that she does control the weather the vast gaps in our knowledge about things like the Quantum field and the Higgs Boson means it's impossible to definitively argue that she doesn't so the argument just goes round and round in circles wasting everybody's time and because it's Rihanna it drags in all the other stuff too. This is a bit of a shame because while I think it's a little strong to blame Sandy entirely on global warming things like melting ice caps causing increased sea levels have certainly been significant factors in the storm and the damage it's done.
To give you an idea of how stupid this Rihanna argument is getting within the COP/CMP process the most recent round saw the World Meteorological Organisation strip El Azizia in Libya of the hottest place on earth title and hand it instead to Death Valley in California, USA. The Gulf Monarchies responded to this by comparing it to Apollo's Curse while the Russians compared it to Dostoyevsky's the Idiot. So there you go a little bit of light reading to help with the recovery effort.
12:00 on 1/11/12
In the hours before the President's visit New Jersey was hit by a second disaster when a gas main set fire to a number of houses in Mantoloking. As the area was cut off by floodwater the fire department had no option other then to watch the houses burn in scenes similar to the fire in Breezy Point in New York. To me this seemed like an attempt to put extra pressure on both Christie and Obama ahead of the meeting between the two men. For Christie's part it was simply meant to serve as a sharp warning that unless he got back to toeing the party line more accidents could happen. For Obama it was meant to get him talking about the Breezy Point fire in the hope he would reveal details about what if any investigation is going to take place because it turns out a lot of retired police live in Breezy Point.
As for the Breezy Point fire I'm now almost 100% certain that was an arson attack because if you were looking in the right places it fits perfectly into a pattern. First I Tweeted some sexual innuendo about things not coming up when I visited my doctor. Then about an hour later a construction crane went all floppy in Manhattan. Next Chris Brown (nicknamed Breezy) Tweeted some photograph which due to power cuts I've still not seen. About an hour later the facade of a building in Chelsea suddenly collapsed. Then after I'd gone to bed Chris Brown Tweeted a link to some website or another and about an hour later the fire broke out at Breezy Point. The hope was that ahead of the COP18/CMP8 the outside world would view this as me, Chris Brown and Rihanna (still sounds weird to say) having some massive argument and that argument being played out through the changing forces of the storm. The hope was that this would restart the very real debate that's been going on at the fringes (in the bars mainly) of the COP/CMP process since that Umbrella record came out about whether or not Rihanna controls the weather. The reason why this argument is so important to certain camps within the climate change/global warming debate is that with the evidence mounting up those who argue that climate change/global warming isn't a man-made phenomenon are really starting to run out of counter arguments. The Rihanna proposition makes for a perfect blocking tactic because while it is extremely unlikely that she does control the weather the vast gaps in our knowledge about things like the Quantum field and the Higgs Boson means it's impossible to definitively argue that she doesn't so the argument just goes round and round in circles wasting everybody's time and because it's Rihanna it drags in all the other stuff too. This is a bit of a shame because while I think it's a little strong to blame Sandy entirely on global warming things like melting ice caps causing increased sea levels have certainly been significant factors in the storm and the damage it's done.
To give you an idea of how stupid this Rihanna argument is getting within the COP/CMP process the most recent round saw the World Meteorological Organisation strip El Azizia in Libya of the hottest place on earth title and hand it instead to Death Valley in California, USA. The Gulf Monarchies responded to this by comparing it to Apollo's Curse while the Russians compared it to Dostoyevsky's the Idiot. So there you go a little bit of light reading to help with the recovery effort.
12:00 on 1/11/12
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