Riverbank News

The Wedding Crashers

2008-07-15T12:42:00.008+01:00

On July 6th Lal Zareen woke up a happy man. This was the day his daughter and son were staging a double wedding. People came from miles around to join the revelry. There was laughter and merriment aplenty as the happy group wound their way towards the ceremony when some unexpected guests arrived.

A young American pilot in a war plane swooped low over the wedding party and dropped a bomb on them. This blew up a considerable number of the guests although some escaped the first blast and so the pilot returned to drop another bomb on the survivors. This killed off most of the women and children, but with admirable attention to detail, he then came back for thirds to be absolutely sure.

It seems safe to assume the wedding party was not a success.

Alastair Leithead, visiting the site as a BBC correspondent, says around 53 people died. Most of them women and children.

For two days after the attack the US military denied being wedding crashers, saying they had bombed insurgents. However, now Lt Nathan Perry says 'I assure you we do not target civilians and that our forces go to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties."

My thoughts go out to the unfortunate pilot who now has to live with his contribution to raising the human condition. Around fifty women and children blown to smithereens by your hand is a lot of conscience to take to sleep with you every night.

Einstein

2008-05-15T16:24:00.002+01:00

A few thoughts by Albert Einstein:

The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this.

Through the reading of popular scientific books, I soon reached the conviction that much in the stories of the Bible could not be true. The consequence was a positively fanatic orgy of freethinking coupled with the impression that youth is intentionally being deceived by the state through lies, it was a crushing impression.

Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible laws and connections, there remains something subtle, intangible, and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion. To that extent I am, in fact, religious.

Them that know.

2008-04-23T20:37:00.010+01:00

Them that know. Know that they know.
And them that don’t know. They don’t know they don’t know.

What I know is. The Catholic Robert Mugabe has a dark agenda. His choices have disempowered Millions. His behavior has caused immeasurable suffering and misery. And its all done in the name of greed, vanity and ego. In a riotous celebration of the base emotions.

Almost everyone in the entire world knows that Robert Mugabe is a dark entity. And yet he is still in power. His ‘where did you put your cross’ campaign sends his thugs to assault voters who did not put their cross on his name. Democracy in action.

Come on. How far down the bottom of belief do we have to beggar before the will of world opinion finds an executive voice.

What I know is. Tony Blair and George Bush serve dark agendas. Their choices have disempowered Millions. Their behavior has caused untold suffering and misery. And its all done in the name of greed, vanity and ego. Not forgetting the one to whom they give the praise and the credit. The big Guy. God.

Almost everyone in the entire world knows that Bush is a dark entity. Around the globe he is commonly reviled as a power crazed village idiot creating immeasurable karmic debt. Most people in Britain feel betrayed by Blair. And yet Bush is still in power while Blair rakes in Millions dispensing his Godly wisdom. A million British people came out to say NO to his Iraq war intentions, but Blair insisted. God was his excuse, and considerable personal profit was the outcome. A Million lives ruined was the price of their promotion.

If alcoholism has taught us anything it is that without admission of a problem, no resolution is possible. Is there a problem with the world today?

If so, who heads the task force to make things better for the race of man. Surely – our elected leaders – in hierarchical order from the most powerful nation downwards. If things are bleak – are they in any way responsible. Should our leaders be able to use that most ridiculous of justifications – God told me to, whilst remaining immune to the obvious fact that they are NOT serving the planets best interests whilst remaining unaccountable for their actions. Be they criminal or moral.

Without accountability for personal actions, no forward progress is possible. Without making those leaders whose choices were so far from the will of the electorate – in particular Bush and Blair, the Iraq brothers whose joint efforts surely ruined a Million lives in order that their careers would progress them to ‘Very Rich’ status, whilst crediting God as their motivation - accountable, we remain as a race attached to the same blind malaise as the alcoholic. Address the problem or die because of it. God and stupidity.

Blair and Bush betrayed the popular will of those supposedly empowered to elect them as representatives. Just as the majority in Zimbabwe could not possibly have voted for a leader selling what:
The lowest mortality rate in the world, 150,000 % inflation and a track record of 100% failure in every department. Its easy to see how 50% of Zimbabweans voted for him then.
Similarly the majority of the US and UK electorate could not possibly have voted for what Bush and Blair achieved.

The disaster that their intelligent guidance had every opportunity to prefer instead of what their selfish – God driven profit motivated stance brought into fruition – has led to a terrible lowering of the bar in the human condition.

There is no getting away from it. Bush and Blair have achieved in leadership terms, a new low. Only the spin for ‘Them that don’t know’ can hope to hide this glaring fact. Not since the persecution of those claiming the Flat Earth was a myth can leadership be considered to have failed to represent ‘those that know’ to such a degree.

Not only has so much ‘3 trillion dollar’ ruination visited Iraq because of these dreadful deceits, but on a more far reaching scale, a new generation of voters look at what happened there – courtesy of Bush an Blair – and see no reason not to demonstrate the same moral barbarism. Look no further for a social explanation as to why the wide reaching instances of morally bankrupt behavior goes on in our communities. Why should any kid behave with a sense of moral compass when world leaders like Bush, Blair and Mugabe so obviously provide a moral compass suggesting what is obvious to those who knows:

The rich empower a leader to represent their interests. Spin and money. The majority are duped with a God driven – fear based agenda - that ensures their submission in moral and economic enslavement.

'The rich get richer – the poor get children.'

Those who know know.
And those that don’t know. They don’t know they don’t know.

And they that don’t know – statistically - represent 90%.
90% of people alive on Earth believe in God. The poorer and least educated being the most affected.

This demonstrates that 90% of people have abrogated personal responsibility for the far easier expedient of God. God rules – because – with God nothing is ever your fault. There is no accountability with God. After all – the devil exists to provide a watertight excuse for any personal failure to exercise wise decision-making.

How anyone still falls for this exposed and ridiculous idea can best be explained by motive. The motive exists for a minority of those empowered by privilege to ensure the continuing subjugation of those disempowered by ignorance into a God driven position of submission to the fortunes of their dominant masters. To the majority of us in recent times, this refers specifically to Messrs Bush and Blair.

Men made immensely wealthy by their betrayal of the office to which they were – seemingly elected – by their choice to use God as the shameful deceit by which they employ spin masters to manipulate the compliant majority of - basically poor people – driven by poverty consciousness toward a belief in a mysterious God figure who will – despite all common sense and all evidence to the contrary – reveal himself to make things better.

And for this vanity driven sickness, a Million people in Iraq, many of whom are no different to the English people who pay the taxes that pay for the bombs that blights their lives, find their lives ruined beyond repair. This happens while Blair and Bush enjoy ever growing prosperity in direct proportion to the misery that finances this unhappy balance.

How will this ever change. There are so many now who are empowered by choice. Who are able to formulate opinions on what is – and what should be. Based on a personal experience of common sense and not simply a Mugabe style version of ‘Where did you put your cross.’

Should the day ever come where the elected minority accurately express the will of the majority – one thing is for sure. Accountability must accompany the position. Without accountability – just as an alcoholic cannot recover without first admitting the root of the problem, we must recognize accountability in those who accepted the office – and the benefits of celebrity leadership – whilst pursuing a failed agenda.

Bush and Blair must be made accountable before a new era of considered leadership based on a considered representation of the majority can commence. Don’t do the crime if you cant do the time.

Mugabe – Bush and Blair have betrayed the interests of those who looked to them for leadership. The semantics of how they can be tried in law is secondary to what ‘Them that knows. Knows.’

The damage their abuse of privileged position has caused is far worse than almost any other criminal activity you could think of like say – a mass murderer. And yet - they are somehow disenfranchised from accountability. Praise the Lord. That really is a miracle in operation.

Unless these leaders who have palpably failed to deliver the basic charter for which they were elected be held accountable, how can we ever hope for change toward a more enlightened condition. We as a human race need accept and address the faults in our condition – or succumb entirely to their consequences.

Bush Blair and Mugabe. Bought to trial for crimes against Humanity – will be when you know the worm has turned.

In the meanwhile agitating for a better world by proclaiming objection to – environment – crime – child abuse – asylum quotas – petrol prices - etc… should be seen in the appropriate context. Small, irrelevant distraction from the central issue.

The central issue is – 90 % or so of the Earths population is mired in the philosophy of ignorant bliss. They have no accountability to themselves. They believe their God will provide a heaven if they conform to a rigid set of rules that makes an enemy of anyone who does not conform to the same ridiculous nonsense.

All pain and no gain it seems to me. A life spent punishing yourself with guilt and attachment to base values,living in fear while looking forward to a happy period after you die. We elect leaders in this same image, and the world burns. Wars create millionaires to keep things ticking along, and as ‘Them that don’t know. Don’t know they don’t know’ but continue to grow in number, apocalyptic melt down becomes inevitable. Indeed, desirable to millions of American christians who yearn for the reassurance of their biblical interpretation requiring Apocalypse to fulfill their deluded prophecy belief.

Until we establish a new system of accountable leadership that represents the will of the people who have retained the option of free choice, we can rely on one thing only. More God – more war.

Can every vote really be considered equal in the system we call democracy when the vast majority don’t have the basic capacity to exercise the most basic precepts of free choice. Money and spin can turn them any which way. They would even vote in a village idiot with a little god driven spin. Really - I am not making this up.

My hope is that ‘Them that know’ will increase in number until a tipping point is reached.

Perhaps a future generation will look back on the ‘God’ era of man – with the same incredulity that we now look back just a few hundred years to when God made the Earth Flat. Those blasphemers who challenged the Church view that the Earth was flat - were liable to grisly death.

Paul Kruger, the elected leader of the Republic of the Transvaal died in 1904. Little over a hundred years ago, he died convinced of two things. God. And that the Earth was Flat.

Them that don’t know. Don’t know they don’t know.

For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

Travel and Islam

2008-03-26T11:50:00.005Z

Andrew Brown, 43, from Middlesex has a lesson for anyone considering a visit to Dubai. His reward for visiting Dubai last Month is a 4 year jail sentence. A .0003 gram speck of cannabis, too small for the naked eye to see, was detected on the sole of his shoe (the outside part) by the drug detector at Dubai airport.

Tracy Wilkinson, 45, from West Sussex was stopped at Dubai Airport and arrested. She was carrying codeine pills, for back pain. She spent 8 weeks in a Dubai prison before being released. Being caught at Dubai airport with over the counter cold remedy's which include codeine will land you in jail for 4 years.

Still thinking of traveling to Dubai or the UAE? Or investing in their fabulous Environmentally catastrophic developments?

Dubai airport has state of the art detection equipment. They have a list of prohibitive substances that includes poppy seeds - as used in many a British sandwich - and they have a mandatory four year jail term for any offender, no matter how small the amount.

So - best you not eat a sandwich at Heathrow before flying to Dubai. If it has a poppy seed covering, you will not be the first to face a mandatory 4 year jail term for this offense.

Possession of prohibited substances is not limited to actual physical possession as in Western law. Arrests and mandatory 4 year jail terms will follow if, for instance, you have smoked cannabis within 6 weeks of entering Dubai or UAE. This is because residue in the bloodstream is considered as possession in their law. Traces of prohibited substances in hair, blood and urine have been used to secure 4 year convictions.

As is well known in the UK and the US, most used bank notes have a residue of cocaine. This means your Gran could be locked up for 4 years for carrying cash in her wallet through Dubai Airport. That is if she wasn't done for the residue of codeine found in a hair sample from medication she took to calm her on the flight.

Before you visit Dubai or UAE, ask yourself what the Prophet would do. Praise be upon his shame.

Athanase Seromba

2008-03-12T16:33:00.004Z

Here is a gentleman with a lesson for those battling to understand the problems that beset the dark continent.

Athanase is a man of God. A Pope man, spreading the Catholic word around Africa. After doing much good work with the people in his home parish in Rwanda, Athanase moved to Italy continuing his work as a Catholic priest near Florence. Neither he nor his employers saw any contradiction between spreading Catholicism and Athanase's tribal recidivism that saw him kill thousands of his own parishiners. (He locked them inside his church, got his mate the bulldozer man to crush the building, making sure that any survivors were dispatched to the Lord via Panga and pistol.)

Now those pesky Athiests from The United Nation War Crimes tribunal have interpreted Athanases good use of his Church in what is quite obviously a racist way that makes him sound like a criminal. For heavens sake. They have sentenced the poor fellow to life imprisonment.

We hope the Pope will intervene and save him from what is clearly a racist attack on his good character by the United Nations tribunal. I can only assume it because he is Black?

As the Catholic church has already paid out over 1 Billion US Dollars to US victims of, how shall I put this, Athanasetic conduct in the US, it is easy to see how God works in mysterious ways for the Catholics. Surely they can just spend a bit more to pay off the alleged 'victims' and send Athanase back to minister to the Catholic demands in his home country.

My hope is that the Catholic lawyer Tony Blair and his Barrister wife Cherie will direct their collective legal expertise towards a defence for Athanase and restore him to his rightful place, where he is needed most, doing Gods work in Africa once more.

Jay Zee

2008-02-14T10:53:00.003Z

Recently, while reading a South African news web forum, I viewed a list of African National Congress Council members who have criminal records, or who are under a cloud of suspicion. The ANC have an 80 member National Executive committee. These 80, elected by the 3,800 delegates of the ANC are effectively the leadership of the rainbow nation. Quite how this conforms to the accepted principles of Democracy in which fundamental human rights of individual citizens are protected by the collective and in which the views of the population-at-large, not just a ruling elite, are reflected in the actions of government, I have no idea. Perhaps it would more accurately be described as Democracy3,800.

One third (33%) of the ANC National Executive Committee have, or soon, to various degrees, will have criminal records. This includes conviction for crimes such as kidnapping (see the bio of Africa’s favorite killing kidnapper/fraudster Winnie Mandela), although mostly they are convicted or charged with fraudulent activity.

Most recently a new leader has been appointed to the ANC. JZ as his supporters call him. (Jay Zee). Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma. Zuma, a practicing Polygamist is best known outside of the townships for successfully defending an allegation of rape, leveled at him by a trusted family friend and house guest who was HIV positive when they had, according to Zuma, unprotected sex. I have wondered why, if this girl lied about the rape which is the only conclusion following a Not Guilty verdict, she was not subsequently prosecuted. Rape is a heinous allegation to be unjustly accused of. Making a false allegation of rape perverts the course of justice and is a criminal offense. Why was this young lady not prosecuted?

In the corruption Court, Zuma escaped conviction along with his financial adviser, Schabir Schaik, who was imprisoned for 15 years in connection with his corrupt relationship with Zuma. Allegedly over a corrupt arms deal made possible by Zuma’s office in the ANC. Zuma’s case was scheduled to start in September 2006, but struck off the roll by Judge Herbert Msimang after the state unsuccessfully applied for a postponement. The new date for the hearing is August 4, 2008. Or is it?

Corruption is endemic in African politics and South Africa is no exception. Just google keywords like ‘corruption, ANC’ and see how many stories come up. (The leader of the ANC and the chief of Police, Jackie Selebi, head a very long list.) The real surprise is when you hear about an ANC politician who is not corrupt. The idea of creating an anti corruption unit in South Africa, given independent powers to investigate and pursue corrupt figureheads was a good one. The Scorpions (Directorate of Special Operations unit) was formed in January 2001, 16 months after President Mbeki promised the national legislature that the government would set up a squad to fight so-called priority crimes. This was a reaction to concerns over the staggering crime wave sweeping South Africa, elevating it to the top of the Worlds charts in terms of murders per capita and jeopardizing prospects for the foreign investment that would help to sustain the growing economy.

The Scorpions had some notable successes, including the Schabir Schaik/Jacob Zuma Arms dealing story. Their evidence would have formed the case for Zuma’s August hearing.

So far so good?

Following his election to the leadership of the ANC Zuma has made his first major initiative, ordering the government of President Thabo Mbeki to dismantle the country's highly successful organized crime fighting unit, the Scorpions.

Lets consider this fact momentarily. In a Country beset with heinous crime, ravaged by an epidemic of aids, mired in a cycle of illiteracy and poverty where the number of people living on less than one dollar a day has doubled since the end of Apartheid, and with only the gift of hope bequeathed by the Mandela effect to light a way forward, the new leader makes his first initiative one that effectively removes the corruption case against him, and rubber stamps the opportunity for unregulated excesses to characterize his term in office. Way to go Jay Zee. Kick the downtrodden when they’re down.

I watched Fergal Keane’s BBC Panorama last Monday which includes an interview with Jacob Zuma. Keane points out the disturbing reluctance by the ANC to confront the Mugabe ‘Black Apartheid’ still decimating the lives of so many Millions in Zimbabwe. A disaster of monumental proportions, even by the elevated standards already made commonplace by Africa’s prevailing Muntocracy. 4 Million Zimbabweans have arrived in South Africa. Mostly unskilled, mostly desperate. Some, like Adonis Musati die of starvation just waiting outside the office for the ineffective South African bureaucracy to process their papers. Others just work illegally. There are good opportunities for a man made fearless by desperation, such as knocking down and stealing power cables and selling the metals contained inside. The Chinese are always on hand to buy up any raw materials on offer.

Quiet how a Country already beset by poverty and crime will absorb another 4 Million needy cases, mostly unskilled, mostly impoverished, is unlikely to surprise anybody.

Instead of intervening in Zimbabwe, as befitting South Africa’s position of moral and economic power in Africa, ANC leadership instead sanction Mugabe’s excesses with their silence, recognizing him as ‘The spiritual father of Africa’. Mbeki is invariably seated at his right hand when African leaders meet and award their usual standing ovation to Mugabe’s entrance. To add a typically South African touch of irony to the ANC’s Zimbabwe effect, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was robbed at gunpoint by three (veterans) shortly after arriving at the MDC’s office in exile in Johannesburg's district of Bryanston to meet foreign journalists. With next Months Zimbabwe election looming, losing his documents and his laptop surely represents more of a loss to Mr Tsvangirai than a profit for the thieves whilst adding another nail to his impossible quest, leaving Southern Africa facing the prospect of a Zuma led South Africa and a Mugabe led Zimbabwe.

As Desmond Tutu observed with a pained voice on Mondays Panorama program, ‘Surely South Africa deserves better.’

I however disagree. The reality, for me, is that you get what you deserve. It’s a law of the Universe. A karmic law. One action causes another. The very essence of balance. You reap what you sow. Hoping for better days is not the same as starting the journey in that direction.

Consider alcoholics. Drinking themselves to death saying, ‘surely I deserve better’ while their livers rot. This condition changes with two events:
~ The will to change and ~ the knowledge with which to effect change.
Effective knowledge in the alcoholics case directs – admit you are an alcoholic and treatment can begin. Starting with the admission ‘My name is.... and I am an alcoholic’ the alcoholic can hope to recover. There is no recovered alcoholic I know who has not traveled this route.

My point?

Africa and South Africa in particular manifest a condition of national denial. The nature of the survival instinct is to invent and then rely on convenient reality. Delusion. Reliance on feelgood fabrication without considering the wider picture. The disease of Africa has to be addressed before it can be remedied. The disease is best described as Muntusim.

Muntuism is a base philosophy that disregards all of mans advances in evolving workable codes to live by. Muntuism is a unique blend of nihilism and total thoughtlessness. A process that places the individuals base needs at the front and end of everything. Muntuism disregards all value in anything beyond short-term need gratification. This includes the value of life. Muntuism recognises no connection between cause and effect. It has no accountability, no conscience and no concept of mercy. Although there are many examples of Muntuism, I will refer to just one. The Muntu’s who shot the beautiful human being that was Lucky Dube for no more than the possibility of a joyride in a BMW. Researching Muntuism, as I have done for many years, reveals that allowed to progress unchecked, Muntuism conforms to a model of social and evolutionary anarchy that will with all certainty consume not only itself, but all with whom it comes in contact. Allowed unchecked Muntuism is a terminal social cancer.

Unlike cancer there is a cure for Muntuism. This takes the form of enlightenment. Education. Education when used in conjunction with an effective rule of law will work. In another of Africa’s beautifully ironic references that characterize the denial based reality of South Africa, the current Aids education initiative is headed by none other than Jacob Zuma. A man whose reputation for wisdom in the HIV area has been reported world-wide.

It is a curiosity to me, listening to the various arguments being put forward in Western media for South Africa, a Country which has an outstanding track record for producing high intelligence individuals, that they appear to anyone listening from a first world perspective, to be the work of clueless gormless proponents of Muntuism. What on Earth is going on. Jay Zee leading the worlds front line in the Aids battle?

It is clear that unless the Muntuism issue is addressed South Africa will ensure that Africa’s 100% record of failed Governments maintaining their kleptocracies in the guise of denial based Democracy, will be complete.

Is the polygamist Jay Zee really the best that South Africa can come up with to lead the way forward from what even that denial steeped culture must surely accept, is a crisis?

Or, considering Mbeki’s famous ‘I don’t know anyone who has it’ remark on Aids, which made him the only person on South Africa for whom that would be true, I guess the new line for the ANC will be ‘Crisis, what crisis.’

My name is Jacob and I am a .....

Bobby Fischer.

2008-01-18T12:28:00.000Z

Bobby Fischer (64) died yesterday. I read this on the BBC web site and immediately went to his Wikipedia page where I read the line 'Rumors abound that he was strangled by his own beard.'
Curiously when I went back to the same page two days later, this line was removed, confirming that he had in fact died of Kidney failure. I wonder who would post a line suggesting he was killed by his own beard. The plot thickens.

Apart from becoming World chess champion, Fisher was a unique character. Despite his Jewish parentage, he declared that his life's work was to 'expose the Jews for the criminals .....the murderers they are' and argued that the United States is "a farce controlled by dirty, hook-nosed, circumcised Jew bastards."

Undeniably he was poorly treated by the US, being criminalised for playing a chess game in Yugoslavia while Bush Senior had an embargo in place. The US government that feted his American superiority when the cold war made it expedient to do so, subsequently turned on him with especial viciousness, leaving Fisher convinced of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy perpetrated by "the Jew-controlled U.S. Government" to defame and destroy him.

Bobby Fisher touched great heights on one level, but seemingly had a tortured life filled with frequent visitations from misfortune.

I always find it interesting to see where those possessed of great intellectual gifts turn their attentions, and the resulting consequences of these attentions.

No doubt the movie will follow soon.

The Wikipedia link is on the name tag above.

Let he who cast the first stone against ISLAM

2008-01-15T11:59:00.000Z

Consider this.

Many possessed of double figure IQ consider Islam to be an oppressive belief system which devalues the life experience and degrades the human condition. A common charge leveled against proponents of Islam is that its barbaric practices are inhumane and indefensible in this age where many can read, write and do basic math, and are therefore not able to cite total blithering idiocy as a reason for belief.

In the eyes of senior Islamic belief I am considered 'An offense against God'. Because I make my living out of creating beautiful consciousness raising music using musical Instruments. (Really. I am not making this up. I have had it confirmed and I am 'an offense against God.' Don't be too smug though, if you have a guitar or a piano in the house.)

Many of those able to read write and do basic math are totally bemused by the idea that anyone given a choice would opt for Islam and the intellectual submission this requires. This bemusement is frequently accompanied by feelings of superiority, which in turn is commonly based on the premise that our social order (Western secular humanism)is shown in any intelligent argument to be superior in every way that serves to improve the individuals life experience.

Well blow me over with a whiff of onion yoghurt breath. I was wrong. Islam is not rooted in the dark ages of black ignorance. They do have scientific consideration for their logic.

I have just read Article 104 of the Iranian Penal code.

This deals with the size of stones to be used in the punishment of the Adulterer. Specifying that the stones used should "Not be large enough to kill the person by one or two strikes, nor should they be so small that they could not be defined as stones."

Evidently over enthusiastic Muslims were using stones too large for purpose and the whole event was over too quickly. Women in this scenario are buried up to their chests before the stoning begins. Hardly worth coming out for if its over with the first, second, or third stone.

I am sure you will share my relief in learning that Islam incorporates science so intelligently into the legal process and that the wasteful nature of a quick end for adulterers has now been put to rights.

Nine women and two men in Iran are currently waiting to experience the benefits of this law.

Perhaps LastMinute.com will do a weekend package to coincide with the occasions of public stoning. A chance for us to sample local culture and witness Sharia law in action. Would certainly make for a memorable trip I think. The holiday rep could hand out copies of this 'appropriate stone size law' to prevent any holiday makers keen on participating in local customs from falling foul of the accepted conventions.

Mordechai Vanunu

2008-01-11T14:50:00.001Z

I have followed the story of Mordechai Vanunu since he made the Sunday Times so famously in 1986. Israels treatment of Vanunu since the famous honeytrap incident by Cheryl Bentov that led to his kidnapping by Israel in September 1986 serves as an ongoing manifestation of the turpitude that characterises Israeli morality.

Cheryl Bentov is a good example of prevailing Israeli moral culture. Here is a girl who enthralls a man through inferred promise in the guise of loving attraction. (See message below) Drugs him and enthusiastically conspires in his kidnapping and incarceration, knowing that he will spend most of the rest of his life in a degrading and obscene violation of his human rights. And all this with the encouragement of her husband, the man from Mossad.

And the crime Vanunu is guilty of?

Revealing the secret presence of Middle Eastern 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' to the West.

Obviously as President Bush's is now in Israel and given his famous interest in uncovering Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East, one might consider his continuing support of the human rights violations that the Israeli government visits on the unfortunate Mr Vanunu in the form of the massive and ongoing American investment in Israels position, surprising.

The European Parliament has condemned Israels treatment of Vanunu repeatedly. Calling for immediate action. Many of the first world Countries have recognised his plight and called for an immediate end to his persecution by the Israelis.

Try as I might though, I see no record of any similar call from the Bush regime.

This leads me to wonder why there is no similar outcry from the US. Is this because the US have an interest in the Israeli Nuclear armaments that Vanunu exposed? There are plenty of articles on google that support this position.

Whatever the reasons, every day that passes with this man being subject to ongoing atrocity by the Israeli regime is a measure of the shamefulness of those empowered by democratic election to do something about it, and who have done nothing.

Tony Blair, the pious Christian, charged with bringing peace to the Middle East (in between building up his multi Million pound American 'business to Blair' fund), has not seen fit to extend the same Christian concern he shows for remunerative opportunities to the position of a human being who we all owe a debt to.

And we do owe Vanunu a debt.

Nuclear weapons should not be secreted away under the control of those with no regard for international law and with no history of conscience or responsibility. Vanunu blew the whistle, quite possibly forcing a note of caution into their proceedings that may well have averted a nuclear strike in the intervening 21 years.

But still Mr. Vanunu rots away in Israel while so many call for his freedom in equal measure to the indifference of those empowered to enable it.

Let us hope Republican voter Cheryl Bentov, now selling real estate in Longwood Florida, where she lives the Millionaire lifestyle whilst providing good Zionist training for her two daughters, manages to dodge the ghosts of her karma. At least in this life time. Ironic perhaps that one prepared to debase the human condition so readily in the service of Israel does not extend her servitude to actually living there.

I would hope Cheryl would join me in wishing Mr Vanunu all the best for 2008.

You can find out more by visiting Eileen's site We Are Wide Awake

No End In Sight - Charles Ferguson.

2007-12-10T15:55:00.000Z

News is a bustling industry. Its success depends on the commercial relationship between truthfulness and popular taste. As Paul Simon observed many years ago
“I don’t believe what I read in the papers – they’re just out to capture my dime.’
Finding truthful sources of news is a skill of tremendous complexity requiring considerable investment in time and thoughtfulness. It’s the same with developing a capacity for interpreting news. At times of War such as these where British and American servicemen are dying in numbers, any news of the War is most likely to have been processed to suit the agenda of the governments involved.

And so what a pleasure it was to watch the work of Charles Ferguson. The acclaimed movie, ‘No end in sight’. I watched this movie because of its 8.6 ranking on IMDB. At the end of the movie, my first question was ‘Who paid for this’.

Charles Ferguson is a remarkable fellow. Amongst his many academic achievements lies the story of Vermeer technologies. A Software company he founded in 1994 and sold in 1996 for $133 Million. Unlike the example of so many of those suddenly possessed of a quick fortune, Charles Ferguson saw fit to finance a movie to provide an honest and reliable source of news on a matter that concerns us all, but especially those paying taxes to the American regime who have brought their Country into such spectacular disrepute.

I never understood the achievements of Messrs Rumsfeldt, Cheney, Wolfowitz and Bush with such clarity before watching this movie. Because the motivation in the delivery of this program is not commercial, but quite clearly based on an intelligent and informed desire to report objectively on matters of importance, the outcome is inspiring. The credibility of the author and his production skills in pacing the information evenly by clever choices of commentary and edits serves as an important reminder that we are living in the shadow of the worst atrocity by government office since Adolf saw fit to turn his fabulous nation against the Russians.

The American and British attacks on Iraq that have destroyed not only the entire cultural base of this ancient civilization, in the looting and burning of the museums and libraries containing artifacts and documents going back 7,000 years, but also directly causing what will eventually be shown as a death toll in the Millions.

There is little doubt that the war on Iraq will go down as the highest death count of any war since WW2. With every passing day hundreds of Iraqi’s, women, children, young and old are dying. Many there believe these are the lucky ones, spared from a life that is worse than death.

Through the intellectual and material benevolence of Charles Ferguson, you can inform yourself more reliably on the subject by watching NO END IN SIGHT.

The link is here.

Carroll Quigley

2007-11-29T10:34:00.000Z

Here is a gift for you. A remarkable gift. The opportunity to read the works of Carroll Quigley. Historian and Philosopher extraordinaire. With the wonder of the Internet, you can now read his works for free.

Here are his three major books.

Tragedy and Hope.
The Anglo American Establishment
The Evolution of Civilizations.

Celtic Inspiration

2007-11-27T12:15:00.000Z

Happily my new album with Hugh Burns, CELTIC INSPIRATION is finding its feet in the big wide world.

The prestigious New Age reviewer - CYGNUS REVIEW - has included a nice review in the December issue.

My local coffee shop - Mada Cafe - play this album all the time, which is a good sign I think. Its been interesting hearing this music in the context of a listener rather than creator. Made me aware of just how complex the arrangements are to make it end up sounding so simple.

This album took around 6 Months to make. Hugh brought a collection of his fantastic nylon strung guitars. As ever his playing is quite magnificent. Celtic Inspiration is my 5th in the 'New Age Ambient' genre. It also includes a vocal by the legendary Alan Tarney, writer of 'Its so funny how we don't talk anymore', 'Orchard Road' and producer of 'Take on Me' by Aha. Charlotte's all time favorite song.

Swavek Zaks amazing daughter, ZOE ZAK, all of 17, was booked for what I suspect was her first professional session, to sing arranged vocal parts on two tracks. A feat she accomplished with tremendous dexterity and artfulness. Well worth checking out I think.

You can preview tracks on CD BABY

Or go to my store and just buy a copy HERE

Charlie Morgans new studio

2007-11-20T16:28:00.000Z

My business partner from Bridge Recordings, who is also known as a 'legendary' British drummer for his work with Phil Lynott, Gary Moore, Nik Kershaw, Kate Bush, Paul McCartney, Eros Ramazotti, Tina Turner and Pete Townshend, has moved to Nashville where he has set up a new studio.

If its anywhere near the standard that Charlie maintained in his time here, then its sure to be a great studio.

Check out the contact details
here. ManicDrums Studio.

And if you are making an album in Nashville, why not have a drum legend on your next album?

Charlie is the only person I know who has played a 90 minute stadium gig with a headline act (Billy Joel) without any rehearsal whatsoever and earned a standing ovation from the artist as well as the crowd.

Kaveh Golestan, Terry Lloyd and the Iran Iraq War.

2007-11-10T20:20:00.000Z

Having recently neared the exhaustive end of my book about the South African Bush war, my ongoing research into other conflicts has been extensive. I came across an outstanding ITN documentary by journalist Terry Lloyd, which I have just watched.

Modern Warfare. The Iran Iraq war, 1980 – 1988.

I have some insight into this particular conflict as I was good friends with Kaveh Golestan, the fabulous Iranian photographer who covered the Iran/Iraq war for many major publications including Time magazine. Kaveh won many prestigious photography awards during this time. He would spend 6 months of the year in the war zone and 6 Months back in his Eton Terrace home, where I would join him and his lovely wife Hengameh for coffee, endless cigarettes and long conversations about the circumstances of his experiences on the Iranian front line. As a participant in war myself, I found our conversations to be especially insightful and rewarding. It was he who first made me aware of the Iranian military tactic of child sacrifice. Mothers so demented by the heady cocktail of Islamic belief and Nationalist rhetoric that they would drive their children to the front line to deliver them to certain death. Kaveh showed me incredible sequences of photos of mothers with faces aglow with pride and joy, the reason for which was revealed as being the moment they see their young child die in the name of Allah.

John Lloyds documentary reminded me of this phenomenon in conflict. At the stage in the war where both sides were reduced to a first world war style trench conflict, separated by a heavily mined no mans land, the Iranians faced a dilemma on how best to mount an attack on the Iraqi defensive line considering the minefield issue. With an arms embargo in place and without the means to produce their own minefield clearing vehicles they contrived an ingenious solution. One entirely unique to this time and place.

Word went out to Mothers across the land to bring their young children to the front line to become martyrs for Islam. Mothers arrived in droves bringing their young to act as mine clearers. This is not a complicated task for any nine year old. You take them to the edge of the minefield and send them walking away. This technique proved highly effective at protecting the lives of the more valuable soldiers who could then cross the ‘safe’ ground to pursue their enemy. Thousands of children died in this way. Martyrs for Islam. The kids were issued with a 'Paradise' key before being sent off. The Ayatolah ordered 500,000 plastic keys from Taiwan for this exact purpose. These plastic keys were hung around the necks of the youngsters before they were sent out. This the Mullahs ensured all concerned would guarantee instant access to heaven the moment their little bodies were blown into small bits of bloody gore.

The Mullahs, aware that their knowledge of military tactics was not up to par, rejected conventional wisdom in their approach, deciding instead that GOD sanctioned their struggle. So with Gods guidance (Sorry thats Allah's guidance)they contrived a creative new way to make the Iraqi soldiers feel bad about themselves.

The Human Wave.

As witnessed by Penthouse journalist Bob Cringely

'I took a taxi to the front, introduced myself to the local commander, who had gone, as I recall, to Iowa State, and spent a couple days waiting for the impending human wave attack. That attack was to be conducted primarily with 11-and 12-year-old boys as troops, nearly all of them unarmed. There were several thousand kids and their job was to rise out of the trench, praising Allah, run across No Man's Land, be killed by the Iraqi machine gunners, then go directly to Paradise, do not pass GO, do not collect 200 dinars. And that's exactly what happened in a battle lasting less than 10 minutes. None of the kids fired a shot or made it all the way to the other side. And when I asked the purpose of this exercise, I was told it was to demoralize the cowardly Iraqi soldiers.

Waiting those two nights for the attack was surreal. Some kids acted as though nothing was wrong while others cried and puked. But when the time came to praise Allah and enter Paradise, not a single boy tried to stay behind.'

In 1989 I was sitting in Kaveh’s splendid front room in Eton Terrace looking through a box of some 200 large black and white prints of his photos detailing the minutiae of this horrendous illustration of the dire consequences of blind faith. ‘Total War’ as it has been described. Kaveh famously was the first cameraman to send back pictures proving the Iraqis were using chemical weapons (Nerve gas) in the conflict. (Chemical and biological weapons were supplied to Saddam Hussein by his allies - the USA, as well as Britain, Italy and France. Having supplied these WMD's to Saddam, imagine Bush's surprise when none could be found to suit his political convenience.)

As I had very little knowledge of Islam and its ways at that time (The late 80’s) I was thrilled by the opportunity to be informed first hand by such a knowledgeable and articulate source. I remain amazed by how little seemingly erudite non Muslims know about Islam.

The box before me contained pictures Kaveh had chosen as the best of his 8 years covering the war. He had hoped to have them published as a coffee book style record of the conflict. Essentially this was his life’s work. He was visibly saddened to report to me that no one would publish. ‘No one want to know about this’ he told me. I was stunned. The pictures I saw that day were the most remarkable record of war that I had ever seen. Black and white imagery tells a tale that no words can fully describe. I came away convinced that everyone should be given the opportunity to experience this wonderful lesson on what War really means. And see the ineluctable connection between religion and war. However it is clear to me that only those directly affected by war have any idea of the enormity of its horrors and perhaps for this reason there is little demand for promoting any insight into wars horrors.

Kaveh was also extremely knowledgeable on the Shia fundamentalist Ayatollah Khomeini. The man essentially responsible for creating the conditions in Iran that motivated US interest in removing him from power and leading to the Iraqi attack that started the Iran Iraq war. It was he who declared the fatwa on Salman Rushdie. (That stands to this day as another pillar of Islamic credibility.) Memorably Kaveh told me that this fellow lived on a diet of – Onions and yogurt, surviving to the ripe old age of 88, before departing to join the 70 allotted virgins awaiting his attentions. Considering how long eternity is, I think 70 virgins is a pretty ungenerous number. Lets face it, after 70 goes, you'd have to spend the rest of eternity without so much as a single virgin.

But again I digress. In 2003 I was watching news TV when I heard ‘BBC reporter Kaveh Golestan was killed today in Iraq.’ I shed a tear at the tragic irony. He stood on a landmine. An Iranian killed standing on an Iraqi landmine. An introduction to his amazing photographic legacy can be seen in part on the web as presented by his wife Hengameh on
kavehgolestan.com

And so, as I watched the remarkable documentary by Terry Lloyd I was reminded of this wonderful friendship from my past. I was particularly pleased to see that his journalism appeared to be true to the stories I recalled from Kaveh. Especially the circumstances of American support for Iraq, motivated by anti Iran feeling. To emphasise this resolve, in 1988, after Reagan announced to the World that ‘Iran will never be allowed to win this war’, American ship USS Vincennes fired on an Iranian airlines Boeing 737 killing all 290 people on board. I imagine this, along with the powerful US military support for Iraq sent a firm message to the Ayotolah. (Eventually, long after the war ended, the US paid out 131 Million dollars compensation to those civilian victims without ever apologising.)

So moved was I by this fine body of work that I googled Terry Lloyd in order to contact him with congratulations.

Sadly I learned that he too had died in Iraq. In March 2006, in suspicious circumstances.
‘Unlawfully killed’ by American bullets whilst reporting for ITN. His death is, according to the National Union of Journalists, a war crime for which American soldiers should be brought to trial.
BBC article
I can almost hear President Bush explaining that one as ‘It will be a cold day in hell before we punish honest American Patriots for a small mistake like this. After all, this guy was not on our side.’

So there you have it. I hope I have piqued your interest in finding out more about a conflict which holds many lessons for us, especially in light of the breakdown in relations between America and Iraq and the subsequent developments in Iran and indeed the world of Islam. Has mankind ever contrived a more heinous weapon of War than Religion. Of course, those who ignore the mistakes of History are condemned to repeat them.

Wikipedia article

Louis Ribeiro. 23 October 2007.

2007-10-17T10:19:00.000+01:00

I am sad to report that Louis Ribeiro died today. He had been ill and in pain for some months, weakened by cancer. He held on just long enough to see his beloved 'Bokke' prevail in Paris on Saturday night before slipping into a coma from which he was released this morning with his wife Christine at his side.

A lovely musician and a gentle soul.

The Jive Nation Web Page

Who had Rugby thrown out of the Olympics?

2007-10-11T09:07:00.000+01:00

Who holds the only gold medal for Rugby at the Olympic games?

With the World Cup semi between England and France looming, it is surely incumbent upon the English press to diminish the French by all means possible. This includes scouring the History books for stories of French Rugby's previous form. Here is my favorite Rugby tale.

Its 1924.

Rubgy is included in the Olympic games for the third games running. The final is to be in Paris, at the Stade Colombe. The finalists are France and America.

The American team comprises volunteers, mostly from Stanford University football and basketball teams. They have not played much Rugby before and the French expect the gold medal. The US team travel some 6,000 miles by boat to reach this game. In France prior to the match, every possible hardship is visited upon the American team. A TV crew documenting their progress is banned from the ground. The team are denied proper training facilities. They are banished to a local park where their personal belongings are promptly stolen as they train. They are roundly shunned and disrespected by every French person they come in contact with.

Matchday. 40,000 French fans fill the ground. Its the first final of the games and they expect the gold. They have sung their national anthem with tremendous vigor. They are proud to be French.

The Americans however are pissed off by the way they have been treated. They raise their game spectacularly and triumph. 17 - 3.

The French react badly. They start by knocking out Gideon Nelson, one of the American reserves, who is felled by a walking stick to the back of the head. The crowd then turn on the small pockets of American fans, beating them mercilessly. The heady brew of defeat and disappointment in the face of raging nationalism has turned the French crowd into a pack of rabid dogs. Broken American bodies are carried down to pitchside to be rushed to Hospital.

The star American player, Norman Cleaveland reported 'I thought they were dead. We were sure it was only a matter of time before they got to us.'

Rugby was thrown out of the Olympics.

Those who perpetuate the myth that 'rugby is a hooligans game played by gentlemen' should consider the French.

This incident may also help explain America's interest in the game of Rugby, despite being the only nation to hold double Olympic gold for Rugby. (America also won the Rubgy gold at the previous Olympics of 1920 in Antwerp, defeating France 8 - 0). America remain the Olympic champions of rugby, having never lost the gold.

3 remarkable people. Joni, Kurt and Dmitry

2007-09-28T10:30:00.000+01:00

Joni Mitchell has a new album. The title track SHINE is quite remarkable. While I was listening to this inspiring music, I came across two more remarkable people.

Kurt Knispel. Possibly the most remarkable tank warrior ever. 168 confirmed tank kills before dying in his Tiger Tank in 1945 aged just 23.

Kurt Knispel was born in 1922 in the former Sudetenland. He had a carefree childhood and grew up to be a broad shouldered lad of medium height, whose dark hair was always a little too long, something he would be chided for later in life.

After completing his apprenticeship in an automobile factory in 1940 Knispel applied to join the armored forces. For his basic training Knispel went to the Panzer Replacement Training Battalion at Sagan in Lower Silesia.

On 1 October 1940 (Aged 18) he was transferred to the 3rd Company of the 29th Panzer Regiment, 12th Panzer Div. Knispel completed his training as a loader and gunner in a Pz IV.

Knispel was gunner in Pz IV under Lt. Hellman at the time of Barbarossa, where he participated in the initial assault as part of Panzergruppe 3, LVII Army Corps (later LVII Panzer Corps) commanded by General Adolf Kuntzen. Knispel saw action from Yarzevo to the gates of Stalingrad, in the North around the Leningrad-Tikhvin area and also in the Caucasus under Mackensen.

Knispel returned to Putlos at the end of January 1943 and became familiar with the new Tiger tanks, at this time, Knispel was credited with 12 kills.(Aged 21)

From Putlos, a group of men was sent to 500th Panzer Battalion at Paderborn. This group was led by Oberfeldwebel Fedensack and included Kurt Knispel, it was to become the 1st Company of the elite 503rd Heavy Panzer Battalion, and fought at Kursk as flank cover to 7th PzDiv (Armee Abteilung Kempf). Knispel saw further action during the relief attack on the Cherkassy Pocket (a.k.a. Khorsun Pocket), Vinnitsa, Jampol, Kamenets-Podolsk. The Company re-equipped with Tiger IIs and fought around Caen and the retreat from Normandy. From there back to the Russian front and action around Mexotur, Tookszentmiklos, Cebled, Kekskemet, the Gran bridgehead, Gyula, Neutra, Bab Castle. (In one action, Knispel reports 24 enemy hits on his Tiger II), Laa and finally Wostitz, where he was killed in action.

With 168 (all confirmed, possibly as high as 195) kills, Kurt Knispel was by far the most successful tank soldier of the Second World War. He fought in virtually every type of tank as loader, gunner and commander. He was awarded the Iron Cross, First Class after destroying his fiftieth enemy tank and the Tank Assault Badge in Gold after far more than 100 tank battles. When Knispel had destroyed 126 enemy tanks (with another 20 unconfirmed kills) he was awarded the German Cross in Gold.

Kurt became the only non-commissioned officer of the German tank arm to be named in the Wehrmacht communique. As commander of a Tiger and then a King Tiger Knispel destroyed another 42 enemy tanks. This raised his total to 168 enemy tanks destroyed, making him by far the world's top "tank killer". Although it was richly deserved, he was never awarded the Knight's Cross although he was recommended four times. Possibly because his hair was too long and his appearance too scruffy.

And then theres the quite remarkable Russian, Dmitriy Lavrinenko.

Dmitry took his tank into battle 28 times, scoring 52 victories before he was killed defending Moscow in 1941. Aged 27.

In October of 1941 his T-34 destroyed 16 German tanks in a single combat.

What a shame Dmitry and Kurt never had Joni Mitchell to inspire them to direct their remarkable talents towards a higher purpose.

Farewell to 'Special J'. ( Jose Mourinho)

2007-09-20T10:22:00.000+01:00

It came as no surprise to me to see Special J ousted from the Abramovich toy box. Two principal reasons. 1. He is not Israeli and 2. He is not willing to be an AA (Abramovich acolyte).

Special J brought Chelsea unprecedented success.

Abramovich brought Chelsea unprecedented revulsion amongst football fans.

As that great revealer, the passage of time, will surely show. Special J will continue making valued contributions to the game while Abramovich will enjoy ever increasing revulsion amongst all (Non Israeli) football fans for diminishing the beautiful game in the way that his 'Money is everything no matter where it came from and what was done to get it' philosophy, unsurprisingly, promotes.

Michel Platini's views should be considered here. (See his letter to Gordon Brown of yesterday... google 'Platini letter Brown').

How Frank, Terry, Joe Cole and the rest who enjoyed Special J's ways so abundantly can bring themselves to take orders from a trained Israeli soldier (What is Avram's personal count of dead Palestinians one should wonder) whilst playing alongside another trained killer, Ben Sahar, will decide the future of both their reputations (outside of Israel), as well as Chelsea's.

As Special J considers his In-Box this morning, one can imagine Barcelona, LA Galaxy and any other number of major players in World Football lining up to court his services.
When Avram leaves it is unlikely that there will be interest beyond Tel Aviv Rangers.

And what of Abramovich and Chelsea?

Are the Chelsea fans really that dumb?

Carbon Footprint

2007-08-02T08:45:00.000+01:00

There are now no cars on Riverbank. Yes its true. Both cars were sold ten days ago. I now use a bicycle for transport. The advantages are obvious. Improved fitness and tremendous financial saving. The disadvantages are mostly to do with the weather. Cycling in a downpour is not fun.

My goal is to make it to the one Month mark without buying a car. And in this time my reduced carbon footprint will help redress the imbalance caused by the Chinese and their dreadful disregard for the environment.

Having no car has introduced us to the joys of home delivered online supermarket goods. And what a great discovery that has been.

Maroon 5 and Mel Gibson

2007-05-29T10:11:00.000+01:00

Over the weekend we had two new experiences. One was the new Maroon 5 album, received with keen interest after the superb songs on the first album suggested the emergence of a great talent. This album is Pants. Big girls pants. All girth and no lace. More sweat than perfume. In fact I feel wasting the 30 minutes of my listening time that it took to see this body of work for what it is will take some getting back from. All the band qualities that made the songs on the first album come to life are absent.

Instead we have a sorry array of production techniques by a number of very different and unconnected producers stamping their ego's over what turns out sounding like what the son of Prince and Michael Jackson would do if he was 3 years old, and stumbled into the room marked 'Daddy's crap songs of 80's groove music that never made it past the demo phase because they have no groove and no lyric and are crap.'

The best thing I can say about this experience is that if and when Maroon 5 ever release another album, I will not be conned out of a half hour of my listening life again.

Then theres Mel Gibson. We sat down to watch his movie APOCALYPTO with some trepidation. Forewarned that we were in store for a blood fest featuring a cast of unknown Indians and Mexicans, and without a word of English being spoken. Some three hours later I stood up to applaud the masterwork by Mr Gibson, who has undoubtedly achieved a level of excellence quite rare in this throw away entertainment industry.

So - in conclusion. Avoid Maroon 5 (Unless you have issues with Bulimia that prohibit the use of fingers in the mouth) and make sure you get to see APOCALYPTO.

The Olver Mothers

2007-04-25T10:17:00.000+01:00

Zara Olver, 21, her 48-year-old mother Carole, and sisters Serenza Olver, 29, and Danielle Olver, 19 were all round Zaras place. Her two kids, a boy of 2 and a girl of 3 were in the room. Whereupon the 4 adults present encouraged the children to attack each other. Motivated I suspect by boredom.

Toddler fight.

The girl was made to smack the boy in the face. He cried. They shouted at him to smack her back. The adults were royally entertained. Better than raising fighting dogs, and cheaper. One threw a hair brush into the fight to encourage a participant to use it as a weapon.

The women video taped the amusing and entertaining spectacle. Laughing and shouting encouragement on the video as the fight progressed. 'Hit her in the face you wimp.' Both children appeared extremely traumatised in the video.

The childrens father - a soldier - serving in Iraq, returned home on leave. Saw the vidio and called in social services. Faced with the criminal nature of their behaviour, the women said they saw nothing wrong with 'toughening up' the kids.

The judge sentenced them to 12 Months each for child cruelty -suspended. The children were placed in the care of the Fathers Mother.

Zara, Serenza, Danielle and their mum Carol see nothing wrong with their behavior.

So truth is what you choose to believe. And ignorance is king in the house of Olver.

Did the Judge get that one right I wonder.

My Space

2007-04-12T09:52:00.000+01:00

Due to unprecedented public demand, I have now put a few songs onto a myspace account.

Listen here

Israeli/American attack on Iran.

2007-04-03T13:11:00.000+01:00

I have received an extraordinary number of emails today - suggesting that a Nuclear attack on Iran is imminent. The prevailing thinking in these e-mails can be summarised in these points:

The 15 British sailors currently under arrest in Teheran. This prepares the British public for adjusting their thinking to an American/Israeli attack on Iran as being justified. Saving our own is a noble cause.

The chain-smoking single mom sailor - LEADING SEAMAN FAYE TURNEY (26) was interviewed by the BBC hours before her arrest. Suggesting some advance knowledge of events.

Huge resources, warships such as the USS John C. Stennis, a Carrier of such staggering might that the Gods themselves would tremble at her thundering Horn, are moving into convenient positioning for a strike on Iran.

http://www.cvn74.navy.mil/operationIngulf_27Mar07.html

Americans Christians would not accept another batch of body bags coming back from the Middle East. Ground offensive resources would not be sufficient without a draft. A draft would end Bush’s ongoing popularity with Middle America. So, the only way forward is a nuclear strike.

Tony’s hopes of being remembered as a great leader – especially in this time of Thatcher praising for her fine warmongery in the 80’s, seem destined for dashing on the rocks of his broken Iraqi dreams. Its Tony’s last chance saloon for spectacular success in War.

Varying intelligence reports, purportedly originating from Russia, suggesting that this Easter weekend is a target date for such an attack. http://www.rense.com/general76/hit.htm

Israeli concerns over Iran's nuclear advances demand a characteristic reaction.

Although these various points do suggest a trend, I for one do not think that President Bush would risk his considerable reputation by becoming only the second US President to use Nuclear weapons against a foe. Not yet anyhow.

Andrew. 3 April,07.

Cooper Thames Ditton

2007-03-29T12:14:00.000+01:00

Last week I took my car for a routine service to BMW to Cooper Thames Ditton. The service was disgusting. A 300 pound routine service bumped up to 800 pounds with sundries like - 125 pounds to change the coolant. Generally shocking experience, topped off by fact that the central locking was not working after the service.

I wrote to BMW. And they agreed to fix the damage they had done. I dropped the car off as agreed, and went to collect it when called. The car had been damaged. Hit by another car during the night on the BMW forecourt. The Coopers supervisor said they would 'sort it out'. The next day Bernie Smythe called from Coopers to say 'Yes it was hit on our forecourt, but as we had not checked the car in we are not liable, so sort it out yourself.'

If you are considering buying a BMW, or having your BMW services by Cooper Thames Ditton you may wish to watch developments in this matter. My letter to BMW is copied below.

29 March 2007.
Cooper Thames Ditton.

Dear Sir,

Further to my last letter of 21 March 2007, I write as follows:

1. The matters raised within the above letter were further discussed in a telephone call from your office on 22 March. Amongst other things, we agreed that I would return the car in order for the door lock to be looked at again as it had not been properly fixed on the first visit to your garage.

2. We agreed that I would leave the car (as had happened previously) on your forecourt the evening before and the keys left in the deposit box.

3. On Monday night at approximately 7.30pm, I parked the car on your forecourt as instructed. I deposited the keys through the security slot into the care of BMW Thames Ditton. The car was therefore within your custody and control from that point.

4. On Tuesday 27th March 2007, I came to collect the car. I noted that:

(i) The passenger door lock issue that I was previously charged £40 to inspect - was repaired - however I was charged a further £146.00, apparently representing 50% of the labour charge. This would mean that the normal labour charge would have been £300, which I find hard to believe.

(ii) The car was not cleaned despite you having advised me that it had been.

(iii) There was a substantial and noticeable dent on the driver side. I pointed this out to the attending mechanic. He told me that it was there when the car was checked in. I assured him it was not there when I left the vehicle. The supervisor was called and both he and the mechanic looked at the car and told me they would establish who damaged the vehicle by CCTV. The supervisor assured me, ‘not to worry, we will take care of it.’ On that basis I left with my car.

7. On Wednesday 28th March, I received a call from ‘Bernie Smythe.’ He advised me that you had established that the vehicle was indeed damaged whilst parked on your forecourt in advance of the service. He told me that you had identified the offending vehicle, however because you had not signed the vehicle in, the damage is not your responsibility.

8. I felt his tone throughout the conversation was supercilious, and aggressive. I pointed out to him that I had parked the car where instructed, and I had left the keys in the drop box as agreed with yourselves. I suggested that it appeared to me that Cooper Thames Ditton were simply fobbing off a problem with no regard for the customer. To this he said nothing. I then told him that I was deeply unsatisfied with this explanation, and unless he reviewed his position, my next call would be to my solicitor. To which he replied.

“Good, well off you go then.”

To recap:

I brought my car in for a service and it was damaged whilst in your care and control. I was told that you would take care of the damage however instead I was subjected to a telephone call from Mr Smythe, whose competence in customer relations must be considered grievously inadequate, telling me that your company are having nothing to do with the incident. I find this insulting, and a sorry reflection on the prevailing management policy at Coopers Thames Ditton.

I do not believe your cavalier disregard for BMWs reputation as demonstrated by your representative Mr Bernie Smythe should pass unchallenged.

Before I conclude my report to Jim O’Donell, I will await your comments for inclusion.

Yours sincerely,

Andrew Brel.

English Footballers

2007-03-29T10:48:00.000+01:00

After last nights debacle, a glaring truth becomes obvious.
English footballers are thick.
Not thick as in 'excuse me, how do I tie a shoe lace' but seriously thick.

Perhaps the massive earnings these lads are subject to at such an early age contributes towards a delusional sense of self importance whereby the need to develop a brain that works is lost to the need to buy a better baby Bentley than Blackburns Bentley.

When a team of amateurs like Andorra can play 11 men who match Englands 11, as was the case last night, certainly for the first half, an explanation is required.

The way forward for English football lies in the head. Players displaying the stupidity of an Ashley Cole for instance should be forcibly taught to read and write, no matter how determined their resistance.

One can only speculate on whether the total collective IQ of the England team would exceed triple figures.

Thank you Ronnie Johnson for pointing out the achilles heel of English football.